Israel bombarded Gaza and pressed its ground operations on Thursday after issuing what it called a “last warning” for Palestinians to return hostages and remove Hamas from power.

The renewed offensive shattered a relative calm that had pervaded since truce took hold mid-January.

Heavy air strikes began strafing Gaza early Tuesday, killing more than 400 people, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Gaza rescuers said at least 10 more people were killed in a pre-dawn bombing near Khan Yunis Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military announced it had resumed 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.