Gaza civil defence says 504 killed since Israel resumed strikes

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Gaza's civil defence agency said Thursday that 504 people had been killed since Israel resumed intense strikes on the Palestinian territory.

"The total number of martyrs since the resumption of the aggression at dawn on Tuesday until noon today is 504 martyrs, including more than 190 children," the agency's spokesman Mahmud Bassal said in a statement.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that US President Donald Trump "fully supports" Israel's deadly resumption of air and ground operations in Gaza, , blaming Hamas for the violence.

"He fully supports Israel and the IDF and the actions that they've taken in recent days," Leavitt told reporters when asked if Trump was trying to get a Gaza ceasefire back on track.

The Israeli army banned traffic Thursday on Gaza's main north-to-south artery, a day after announcing renewed ground operations in the Palestinian territory.

Israel resumed ground operations in Gaza on Wednesday and issued what it called a "last warning" for Palestinians to return hostages and remove Hamas from power.

The operation followed Israel's most intense air strikes on Gaza since a truce took hold in January, killing more than 400 people, according to the territory's health ministry.

The Israeli military said it had "begun targeted ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip to expand the security perimeter and create a partial buffer between the north and south".

As Israel defied calls from foreign governments to preserve the ceasefire, Gazans were left to once again comb through rubble to find the bodies of their loved ones.

"We're digging with our bare hands," said a man trying to dislodge a child's body from a heap of concrete in Gaza City.

After Israel urged civilians to leave areas it described as "combat zones", families with young children filled the roads leading out of northern Gaza.