More than 200 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-ruled enclave's Ministry of Health said, as Hamas accused Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire deal.

After negotiations to extend the first phase of a ceasefire deadlocked, Israel conducted airstrikes against terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Resistance Committees acknowledged the deaths of several leaders.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had ordered the aerial attacks after Hamas’s “repeated refusal” to release the remaining hostages it holds. “This is just the beginning,” he said.