From the start of this, Israel’s fifth recent war in Gaza, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and government have insisted that every possible care is being taken to minimise civilian casualties. But this week, its airstrikes reportedly killed 183 Palestinian children and wounded another 220 on the first day of Israel ending the ceasefire.
In total, 436 Gazans died on 18 March alone, making it one of the deadliest days since the war started 18 months ago.
A day later, as the bombing continued, Binyamin Netanyahu made clear that this will be a prolonged war that will continue until Hamas is destroyed. Ruling out any future ceasefire, the Israeli prime minister said future negotiations “will take place only under fire”.
