Nearly 1,000 people, including dozens of children and women, have been killed and injured across Gaza since the Israeli occupation announced Tuesday the resumption of its war on the devastated enclave. The escalation has included a major military assault on most areas of the Strip, targeting residents during the pre-dawn meal, displaced persons' tents, and schools housing hundreds of families.

The Gaza Ministry of Health confirmed that 420 people were killed and more than 500 injured in Israeli airstrikes on several areas in the Gaza Strip, adding that "a number of victims are still under the rubble and efforts are underway to recover them."

Earlier, the government media office in Gaza confirmed in a statement that more than 322 people were killed and dozens more injured in the five hours of Israeli aggression, including entire families, some of whom were taken to hospitals.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced early Tuesday morning the resumption of attacks on what it claimed were Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Ministry of Defense confirmed that military operations would escalate gradually and with great force in the coming hours. The Israeli army has named its military operation against Gaza "Courage and Sword."

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office stated that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz had directed the army to carry out intensive strikes against Hamas. The Israeli army, in a joint statement with the Shin Bet security service, confirmed that it was "targeting extensively the movement's sites in the Gaza Strip, based on directives from the political echelon."