On March 18, 2025, a relative held the body of a child who had died after an Israeli air strike in the morgue of a hospital in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, while grieving.

     On March 18, 2025, immediate family members grievingly hold the body of a child who died after an Israeli airstrike at a hospital morgue in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. The southern city of Khan Younis was engulfed in explosions and plumes of smoke. Ambulances carried the casualties to Nasser Hospital, where patients lay on the floor and screamed.

     Israeli forces launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip in the early hours of March 18, the heaviest offensive in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire took effect in January, targeting Hamas in a hypothetical attack. Palestinian authorities reported that at least 200 people were killed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the airstrikes because of the lack of progress in negotiations to extend the ceasefire. Israeli officials said the operation is expected to be expanded indefinitely. U.S. officials expressed support for Israel's military action. The war has fully resumed, and the fate of some 20 Israeli hostages held by Hamas is now unknown.

     The March 18 airstrikes erupted two months after a temporary cease-fire in the war was reached. For six weeks, the Hamas side released 25 Israeli hostages and eight bodies in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as the first phase of the ceasefire. When the ceasefire ended two weeks ago, the remaining 59 hostages (35 of whom were killed) were released, and a second phase of the ceasefire could not be agreed upon.

Warning: A man holds the body of a dead child after Israeli airstrikes at the morgue of the hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on March 18, 2025. (Mohammad Jahjouh/Ap)