By ADAM RASGON NYTimes News Service
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JERUSALEM — The latest round of Israeli attacks in a renewed military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed dozens of Palestinians, the territory’s Health Ministry said Saturday.

The ministry said that 92 dead and 219 wounded people had arrived at hospitals over the past 48 hours. Gaza health officials do not differentiate between civilians and combatants in casualty counts.

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Since the collapse last month of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israel’s military has embarked on a major bombing campaign and seized territory in Gaza. Israeli officials have said that the military is targeting militants and weapons infrastructure in a bid to compel Hamas to release more hostages held in the enclave.

More than 1,700 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire fell apart, and more than 51,000 people have been killed since the war began in October 2023, according to the Health Ministry.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel indicated that talks to free hostages and stop the war in Gaza were still at an impasse. He insisted that the Israeli government would not end the war until Israel destroys Hamas in Gaza; ensures the territory will no longer pose a threat to Israelis; and returns all the hostages.

“As a nation that desires life, we have no alternative other than to continue fighting for our very existence until we achieve victory,” Netanyahu said.

Hamas has said it will not free all of the hostages unless Israel ends the war permanently.

Israel’s renewed offensive has exacted a heavy price on civilians struggling to find places to shelter.

On Friday, the Israeli military told The New York Times that Muwasi, a narrow strip of coastal land in southern Gaza, was no longer considered a “humanitarian zone.” Earlier in the war, the Israeli military repeatedly instructed Palestinians to go to Muwasi, which it had described at the time as a “humanitarian zone.”

Large numbers of Palestinians are still living in the Muwasi area in tent encampments.

Since the ceasefire broke down, Avichay Adraee, an Arabic-language spokesperson for the military, has instructed some Palestinians to go to shelters in Muwasi without describing the area as a “humanitarian zone.”

While many Palestinians in Gaza were still under the impression that the area held a special status, it is not clear whether the Israeli military ever informed them that it was no longer designated a “humanitarian zone.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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