section_path: War in Israel and Gaza/Israeli attacks resume (March–April 2025)
section_name: Israeli attacks resume (March–April 2025)
paragraph_text: Israeli attacks resume (March–April 2025)
  
  On 18 March, Israel launched a surprise attack which included airstrikes across Gaza, killing over 400 (per Gaza officials) and ending the ceasefire. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz then declared that Israel has "returned to fighting in Gaza". Israel stated the attack was due to the refusal of Hamas to extend the first phase of the ceasefire by releasing more hostages, and was also in response to Hamas's rearming and reorganizing over the course of the two months of ceasefire. Hamas said that it had adhered to the ceasefire agreement, implementing it precisely, and that Israel had resumed aggression and war. Internationally, the strikes were seen to stymie hopes for a lasting ceasefire. Observers have noted that Israel chose to launch the attack on the day Netanyahu would testify in his corruption trial, forcing the legal proceedings to be postponed.
  
  Multiple senior members of Gaza's government and the Hamas political bureau were killed during this round of fighting, including Issam al-Da'alis, whose position is akin to the Prime Minister of Gaza, Salah al-Bardawil and Ismail Barhoum (members of the political bureau), Mahmoud Abu Watfa (undersecretary of the Interior Ministry of the Gaza Strip) and Bahjat Abu Sultan (chief of internal security). Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza was also killed in the airstrikes. The Popular Resistance Committees announced the death of Muhammad al-Batran, commander of its artillery unit and a member of its Central Military Brigade Council.
  
  On 19 March, the IDF said that it had launched "targeted ground activities" in the Gaza Strip to create a "partial buffer" in the territory, partially recapturing the center of the Netzarim Corridor. The IDF also bombed the UN Office for Project Services building in Deir al Balah, killing a UN staffer and six other international workers. Two days later, the IDF destroyed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital via controlled demolition. On 23 March, IDF troops fired on several humanitarian vehicles, including five ambulances, a fire truck, and a United Nations vehicle, in Al-Hashashin area in southern Rafah, killing 15 Palestinian medics. It was not until 30 March that their bodies were discovered in a mass grave.
  
  On 25 March, amid the Israeli operation, hundreds to thousands of Palestinians in Gaza rose up in protest against Hamas and the continued war, calling for an end to the war and an end to Hamas's rule over the Gaza Strip. The protests were caused by war-weariness and dissatisfaction with Hamas, specifically their alleged misuse of humanitarian aid intended for Gazans, suppression of the freedom of speech and of the press, and abuse of Palestinian civilians.
  
  On 27 March, an Israeli airstrike on a tent in Jabalia killed Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua. The same day, a World Central Kitchen volunteer was killed in an Israeli strike on a WCK supported community kitchen as meals were being served. On 9 April, Israeli warplanes bombed a multi-story residential building in Shuja'iyya, killing over 35 Palestinians and wounding at least another 70. On 12 April, the IDF announced that it had encircled Rafah, and planned to seize portions of it while ordering large-scale evacuations of its population. On 13 April, two Israeli missiles hit Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, forcing patients to evacuate and destroying its emergency department. On 15 April, Yahya Fathi Abd al-Qader Abu Shaar, the head of Hamas' weapons smuggling network, was killed by the Israeli army in the area of Khan Younis. On 22 April, an attack on a residential building in Khan Younis started a fire that killed at least 11 Palestinians. On 23 April, Israel bombed a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced families, killing at least 10.