More than 300 people were reported killed after Israel launched deadly air strikes in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and southern Syria in what it said were targeted attacks against extremists planning terror assaults, reigniting tensions that threatened to engulf the region in a new, bloody conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he instructed the military to take "strong action" against Iran-backed Hamas -- deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and EU -- in response to the Islamist group's refusal to release all remaining hostages and its rejection of new cease-fire proposals.
SEE ALSO: US Strikes On Yemen's Houthis A Message To Iran"Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
The strikes represent the biggest escalation in the conflict since the cease-fire was reached in mid-January.
Citing medical officials under the control of Hamas, several media outlets reported that the death toll across the Gaza Strip had reached at least 326 people from the attacks.
The information could not independently be confirmed.
The United Nations' Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory called the strikes "unconscionable" and demanded an immediate reinstatement of the ceasefire.
"People in Gaza have endured unimaginable suffering. An end to hostilities, sustained humanitarian assistance, release of the hostages and the restoration of basic services and people’s livelihoods, are the only way forward," Muhannad Hadi said in his statement.
Israel's military said the Gaza strikes targeted mid-level Hamas commanders and leaders and the group's infrastructure.
Along with the strikes against Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli military said it conducted air strikes in southern Lebanon and southern Syria as well.
It said it was prepared to continue attacks against Hamas for as long as necessary and would expand the campaign beyond air strikes. Israeli tanks and soldiers operated extensively in Gaza during the previous retaliatory action.
SEE ALSO: Egypt Developing Alternate Plan To Rebuild Gaza Without Forcing Out PopulationThe White House was consulted by Israel in its latest strikes on Gaza, a White House spokeswoman told Fox News.
"As President [Donald] Trump has made it clear -- Hamas, the Houthis [in Yemen], Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose," press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox.
Trump on March 5 warned Hamas that there would be “hell to pay” if it does not immediately release all hostages after the White House confirmed that it had conducted secret talks with the extremist group.
Reuters quoted a senior Hamas official as saying that Israel is "unilaterally ending" the Gaza cease-fire agreement and that the action put the fate of the remaining Israeli hostages in jeopardy.
The violence comes amid disputes between Israel and Hamas over ways to maintain the three-phase cease-fire that began on January 19, including the exchange of remaining hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Two weeks ago, Israel cut off all food, medicine, fuel, electricity and other supplies to the territory’s around 2 million people to pressure Hamas to accept a new proposal to extend the cease-fire.
Much of Hamas's leadership was killed during Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza following the extremist group’s bloody cross-border attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Hamas-led militants' attack on settlements in southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, with 251 hostages being taken to Gaza. Some two dozen remain in Hamas control.
Israel struck back by launching a devastating war in the Palestinian enclave that has killed tens of thousands of people, according to local authorities, and displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
Following the cease-fire agreement – which led to the release of numbers of hostages and prisoners -- the Israeli military has often conducted attacks against Hamas as well as strikes against Hezbollah locations in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah has also been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, while the EU has deemed its armed wing but not its political section as a terror group. Much of its leadership was also killed during Israel's 14-month war against the group prior to a US-brokered cease-fire in November.
In the renewed attacks, Israel said it struck two Hezbollah leaders in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor. It said the men were “observation operatives.”
The military said other, unspecified strikes were carried out against Hezbollah sites in Lebanon.
SEE ALSO: What Data Tells Us About The Violence In SyriaIn Syria, Israel has seized a buffer zone in the south after the collapse the brutal autocratic regime of Bashar al-Assad in December. It described the move as a preemptive measure against the former Islamist insurgents who overthrew Assad and now control Syria.
On March 17, Syrian authorities said Israeli strikes hit a residential area in the southern city of Daraa, killing three people. The report could not be verified.
Israeli said it was targeting military command centers and weapons sites in southern Syria belonging to remnants of Assad’s forces and that they posed a threat to Israel.
Assad fled Syria and in December and was reported to be in Russia, which along with Iran, was a major backer of his regime. Assad assumed power in 2000 upon the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad.