Tensions in the Gaza Strip surmounted high on Thursday as Hamas fired rockets at Tel Aviv, responding to Israel’s revived aerial and ground stance that’s killed scores of non-none assistance.
Israel’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed branch, asserted the rocket assaults were carried out in response to Israel’s “genocidal massacres of Gaza civilians.” The Israeli army acknowledged that they had intercepted one rocket, while two others hit uninhabited areas without any damage.
Israel launched major military operations on Tuesday (March 18, 2025) after a fragile truce that had been holding since January 19 broke down. At least 504 people have been killed in the recent aggression, including 190 children, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported. 
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) widened their ground offensive, sealing the main north-south highway in Gaza, and stemming civilian movement even further. The army assures 58,000 citizens would be transferred, an army spokesperson, Avichay Adraee stated, the ground operation sought to ‘expand the security strip’ between northern and southern Gaza.
International pressure is growing as the humanitarian disaster worsens. The head of the agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, described the violence as “an unbridled release of the most cruel treatment.”
In the meantime, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described as a “catastrophic crime” Israel’s actions and also accused the US of being partially responsible for the growing crisis.
The Gaza war, restarted by Hamas’s 2023 shooting onto Israel, persists in causing massive damage on both sides with no apparent route to peace in the making.
