section_path: Attacks/18 March
section_name: 18 March
paragraph_text: 18 March
  
  The attacks began on 18 March 2025, at approximately 2:20 a.m. local time during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Following a ceasefire instituted around two months prior, the Israeli strikes of 18 March 2025 were a surprise attack, with the Israeli military stating that their attack "plan was kept in closed circles in the IDF to create an element of surprise and deception."
  
  Israeli warplanes began entering Gaza at 2:30 a.m., and the Israel Defense Forces announced on Telegram that it and the Israeli Security Agency were "conducting extensive strikes on terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip". According to the Associated Press, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after ceasefire talks appeared to stall. The strikes have targeted Rafah, Khan Yunis, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat, Bureij, Al-Zaytoun, Al-Karama, and Beit Hanoun, according to the IDF. Al Jazeera reported strikes in Al-Mawasi, Rafah.
  
  An unidentified Israeli military official stated to Reuters that they would continue the attacks indefinitely, and would incorporate further military elements beyond airstrikes.
  
  An Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza stated that heavy shelling from Israeli tanks targeted eastern sections of Abasan, Khan Yunis. Six family members travelling in a car in Abasan were killed in one of the strikes. The shelling reportedly killed thirteen people. One strike in Rafah reportedly killed seventeen members of a single family. The Al-Tabi'in School in Gaza City, which was sheltering refugees at the time of the attacks, was struck, causing segments of the building to collapse. A Gaza City prison in the Al-Shati refugee camp was hit in an airstrike, collapsing the building and killing over thirty-six prisoners and prison guards.