GAZA - More than 700 Palestinians were killed in overnight air strikes, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday, the highest 24-hour death toll since Israel began a bombing campaign to crush Hamas militants who stunned the country with a deadly Oct 7 attack.

Israel said on Tuesday that it had killed dozens of Hamas fighters overnight in strikes on Gaza, including three deputy battalion commanders, and indicated that it had no intention of easing its bombardment of the Palestinian enclave.

As aid agencies warned that a humanitarian catastrophe was unfolding in Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron flew to Israel to offer support.

He told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that France stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Israel in its war with Hamas, while also saying it must not fight “without rules”.

Speaking alongside him, Mr Netanyahu said that after the conflict, no one would live “under Hamas tyranny” but warned that the war would take time.

The United Nations urged Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, saying what had been let in so far met a tiny fraction of the needs of the beleaguered population. Fuel, still blocked, remains crucial for medical operations.

“We are on our knees asking for that sustained, scaled up, protected humanitarian operation,” said WHO regional emergencies director, Dr Rick Brennan.

UN agencies say they have no assurances their aid workers will be safe to reach those in need. But there appeared to be little prospect of a ceasefire any time soon in the bloodiest episode in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in decades.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed since Oct 7, including 2,360 children. A total of 704 were killed in the previous 24 hours alone, it said.

Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said it was the highest number of deaths in a 24-hour period in the two weeks of Israeli strikes.

After his daughter was killed in an air strike in southern Gaza, Mr Abdallah Tabash refused to let her go, holding her body in his arms. Blood stained her face and hair as people begged him to hand her over so they could bury her.

“This is my girl, I want to see her as much as I can,” he said in the city of Khan Younis.

The bombardments were unleashed in response to a Hamas attack on southern Israel in which militants killed more than 1,400 people – mostly civilians – in a single day.

Hamas on Monday freed two Israeli women who were among the more than 200 hostages taken during the Oct 7 assault on southern Israel. They were the third and fourth hostages to be released.

On the border

Israeli tanks and troops are massed on the border between Israel and the Hamas-ruled enclave awaiting orders for an expected ground invasion – an operation complicated by concerns over the hostages.

The Israeli military said it had hit over 400 militant targets in Gaza overnight.

Among the targets hit was a tunnel that allowed Hamas to infiltrate Israel from the sea and Hamas command centres in mosques, it said.

Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, said the military was “ready and determined” for the next stage in the war and was awaiting political instructions.

But how soon Israel might launch a full-scale invasion is not clear. The Middle East’s most powerful military faces a group that has built up a powerful arsenal with Iran’s help, using a vast tunnel network.

Wide areas of Gaza have been flattened by Israeli bombs, forcing more than one million residents to seek shelter elsewhere. Food, clean water, medicine and fuel are fast running out.

Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi earlier suggested it had no intention of curbing its strikes. “We want to bring Hamas to a state of full dismantling,” he said.

“We are well prepared for the ground operations in the south,” he added. “Troops who have more time are better prepared, and that is what we are doing now.”

Residents said an Israeli missile hit a petrol station in Khan Younis, where workers, families and others were gathered. Several were killed or wounded, they said.

“This a petrol station and there is solar panel power here, so people come to charge their devices and fill water. They bombed them in their sleep,” said Mr Abdallah Abu Al-Atta, who lives by the petrol station.

More than 40 medical centres stopped operations after they ran out of fuel and after some of them were damaged by Israeli bombing, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said.

No green light

Foreign governments have expressed concern that the conflict could ignite the whole of the Middle East. Already, clashes have taken place in the West Bank and along the Lebanon-Israel border.

The ruling emir of Qatar, which has tried to mediate between Israel and Hamas, urged the international community to rein in Israel in its fight against Hamas.

“We say, enough. Israel shouldn’t be granted an unconditional green light and unrestricted authorisation to kill,” Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said in a speech to the Gulf state’s Shura council.

US President Joe Biden welcomed the release of the two hostages and underscored the need to sustain “a continuous flow” of humanitarian assistance into Gaza in a telephone call with Mr Netanyahu, the White House said.

In public, the United States has said Israel has the right to defend itself but two sources said the White House, Pentagon and State Department have stepped up private appeals for caution in conversations with the Israelis.

An American priority is to gain time for negotiations to free other hostages, said the sources, who spoke before the latest releases were announced on Monday.

Asked about the possibility of a ceasefire, Mr Biden said: “We should have those hostages released and then we can talk.”

REUTERS