Israel launched a massive airstrike attack on the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Tuesday morning. 

At least 404 people were killed, including many children. That total is expected to rise as more rubble is cleared, according to Al Jazeera. 

By resuming its assault on the region, Israel has effectively abandoned the two-month-old ceasefire agreement and in-progress truce talks with international mediators. The action throws the fate of the two million displaced persons in Gaza, and the two dozen hostages in Hamas custody who are still alive, into jeopardy. 

The series of missile strikes happened throughout the night as Palestinian families prepared for another day of Ramadan, the holy month of Islam. Gazan health officials said the attack is quickly turning into one of the deadlier days of the last year and half, Reuters reported. 

“It was a night of hell. It felt like the first days of the war,” Rabiha Jamal, a mother of five from Gaza City told Reuters. 

According to the outlet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ramp up of military action will continue. 

Yet in the lead up to the attack, citizen pressure was mounting on the Israeli government to maintain the ceasefire. Those who returned from captivity reported harsh conditions and strongly urged the government to protect the period of relative peace for the sake of the remaining hostages. This message was echoed by mass demonstrations of Israelis, The Associated Press reported. 

The primary reason Israeli leaders provided for resuming airstrikes is that Hamas turned down a new proposal to release half of the remaining hostages in return for an extended ceasefire and peace talks. 

However, this proposal was a deviation from the multi-step ceasefire agreement both sides had already agreed upon. The first phase, now concluded, resulted in the successful exchange of about three dozen hostages for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, per AP.

Yet implementing phase two, which involved a reduction of Israeli troops in Gaza in exchange for more hostages, had stalled as Israel strayed from the timeline and accelerated its demands. The Trump administration supported this change — and was also given advance notice of the plan to resume airstrikes, according to Axios. 

The threat of this scenario had grown as the fragile ceasefire progressed. Israel claimed Hamas had resumed military activities, while Israel itself continued to attack and kill dozens of Palestinians, AP reported.

Plus, Netanyahu cut off the flow of all humanitarian aid into Gaza at the beginning of March in an apparent negotiation tactic. The international community, including the United Nations, decried this use of urgently needed food and medical supplies as leverage, Al Jazeera explained. 

In an apparent counterattack to the breached ceasefire, Houthi forces in Yemen launched two missiles of their own targeting Israel’s Nevatim Airbase on Tuesday. However, the Israeli military claims to have intercepted the strike from the Iran-backed group, according to Al Jazeera. 

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