March 2025 Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip

In the early hours of 18 March 2025, Israel launched a surprise attack on the Gaza Strip, effectively ending the January 2025 Gaza war ceasefire. Israel's missile and artillery attack killed more than 400 Palestinians, including 263 women and children according to the Gaza Health Ministry, making it one of the deadliest in the Gaza war. Codenamed Operation Might and Sword (Hebrew: מבצע עוז וחרב, Mivtza Oz VaḤerev) by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it was carried out in coordination with the United States. The next day, the Israeli military announced that it was conducting a ground offensive to retake the Netzarim Corridor, from which it had withdrawn in February.

On 17 January, Israel and Hamas agreed to a 42-day ceasefire. Under the agreement, all Israeli hostages would be released by the end of the second phase and the Gaza war would permanently end. After the first phase ended on 1 March, Hamas intended to move to the second phase of negotiations – as envisioned in the original ceasefire deal – while Benjamin Netanyahu and the Trump administration insisted on renegotiating the overall terms. Israel also refused to withdraw from sites in the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that it had agreed to do so in the ceasefire agreement. Furthermore, Israel killed more than 140 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire, and prevented all food and medicine from entering Gaza from March; it later shut off electricity to the Gaza Strip's main desalination plant, effectively cutting off water. These actions have been deemed war crimes by aid organizations and human rights organizations, including Médecins Sans Frontières and Amnesty International.

The Israeli military's renewed offensive from 18 March affected large parts of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, Khan Yunis, and Rafah, and killed more than 591 people, mostly women and children. The airstrikes struck homes and set at least one tent camp on fire. Hospitals were overwhelmed by dead and wounded. Israel's government stated that the strikes targeted leadership figures, mid-ranking military commanders, and the operational infrastructure of Hamas, such as Issam al-Da'alis. This has been disputed by experts such as Miranda Cleland of Defence for Children International and Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares, who believe Israel "indiscriminately attacked" the Gaza Strip. Several Palestinian families were killed en masse as a result of the attacks.

Hamas condemned the strikes as a violation of the ceasefire, accusing Israel of endangering the remaining Israeli hostages. It began responding militarily to the Israeli strikes on 20 March, when it fired rockets at Tel Aviv. The Israeli government said it carried out the attack in response to Hamas' refusal to extend a ceasefire through additional hostage releases. Hamas had agreed to the second phase of the original ceasefire agreement, under which Israeli hostages would have been released in exchange for a permanent end to the Gaza war. The Israeli government did not consider its attack to be a breach of the ceasefire agreement, arguing that there was "no automaticity" between the phases. The escalation drew large-scale international attention, with the United Nations Security Council convening an emergency session to address the crisis.