• At least 183 children among the dead
• Thousands flee after new evacuation order 
• Hamas says 'not closed the door' on talks

At least 970 Gazans have been killed in the span of 48 hours, according to Gaza's health ministry, as Israel continued its renewed bombardment of the territory for a second day, despite a chorus of calls from foreign governments to uphold a fragile January ceasefire.

Long lines of fleeing civilians filled the roads of the tiny, war-ravaged Palestinian territory as the Israeli army yesterday dropped leaflets in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, ordering residents to evacuate their homes, warning they were in "dangerous combat zones".

The war death toll, updated daily by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, showed an increase of 970 in the span of 48 hours, though AFP could not confirm how many of them were recorded as casualties from the strikes. The ministry said 183 children were among the dead.

As of yesterday, the ministry reported a death toll of 49,547 since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza on October 7, 2023. Just a day earlier, on Tuesday, the toll stood at 48,577.

Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching the truce, which had offered a respite for Gaza's 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war that has reduced the enclave to rubble and forced most of its population to evacuate multiple times.

A Hamas official said the group was open to talks on getting the ceasefire back on track but rejected Israeli demands to renegotiate the three-stage deal agreed with Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators.

"Hamas has not closed the door on negotiations but we insist there is no need for new agreements," Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

"We have no conditions, but we demand that the occupation be compelled to immediately halt its aggression and war of extermination, and begin the second phase of negotiations."

The renewed bloodshed followed one of the deadliest days so far in the Israeli assault on the Palestinian territory with Israeli airstrikes killing more than 430 people on Tuesday, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase expired in early March, with Israel and Hamas disagreeing on whether to move to a new phase intended to bring the war to an end.

Israel and the United States have sought to change the terms of the deal by extending stage one.

That would delay the start of phase two, which was meant to establish a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and was swiftly rejected by Hamas, which demanded full implementation of the original deal.

Israel and the US have portrayed Hamas's rejection of an extended stage one as a refusal to release more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu's office said he ordered the renewed strikes on Gaza after "Hamas's repeated refusal to release our hostages".

In a televised address late Tuesday, the premier said, "Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you –- and them –- this is only the beginning."

The White House said Israel consulted US President Donald Trump's administration before launching the strikes.

The intense Israeli bombardment sent a stream of new casualties to the few hospitals still functioning in Gaza and triggered fears of a return to full-blown war after two months of relative calm.

Two people, including a United Nations employee, were killed when a UN building in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, was hit, according to a UN source.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN office for Project Services, said: "Israel knew that this was a UN premises, that people were living, staying and working there, it is a compound. It is a very well-known place.

An explosive device was dropped or fired on the premises, he told a press conference in Brussels.

"This was not an accident," he said. "What's happening in Gaza is unconscionable."

However, the Israeli military denied that it struck the UN facility.

DHAKA JOINS GLOBAL CALL FOR PEACE

Bangladesh yesterday joined governments in the Middle East, Europe and beyond and called for the renewed hostilities to end.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement expressed, its "strongest condemnation and profound concerns" over the resumption of Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip.

 It said the renewed cycle of violence represents a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and a grievous disregard for established ceasefire agreements.

"Bangladesh unequivocally denounces the Israeli occupation forces' continued indiscriminate airstrikes on densely populated civilian areas," it said, urging Israel to immediately cease all military operations.

Bangladesh further called upon the international community, particularly the United Nations, to take urgent and decisive measures to ensure the cessation of hostilities, protect civilian lives, and facilitate the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Israel's raids on Gaza "are shattering the tangible hopes of so many Israelis and Palestinians of an end to suffering on all sides".

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she told her Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar that the new strikes on Gaza were "unacceptable".

Both Egypt and Qatar, which brokered the Gaza ceasefire alongside the United States, condemned Israel's resort to military action.

Israel's resumption of military operations in Gaza, after it already halted all humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza this month, drew an immediate political dividend for Netanyahu.

The far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which quit his ruling coalition in January in protest at the Gaza ceasefire, rejoined its ranks with its firebrand leader Itamar Ben Gvir again becoming national security minister.