Israel declared Gaza’s largest city a dangerous combat zone and recovered the remains of two more hostages on Friday as the army launched the initial stages of a planned offensive that has drawn international condemnation.

As the military announced the resumption of fighting that could prevent residents from receiving food and other supplies, aid groups and a church sheltering people said they would stay, refusing to abandon the hungry and displaced who depend on them.

The shift comes weeks after Israel first announced plans to widen its offensive in Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands are sheltering while suffering famine and the military has ramped up strikes in neighborhoods on the city’s outskirts.

While UN agencies and aid groups condemned Israel’s decision, people in Gaza City there said it made little difference because strikes already were intensifying and the aid reaching them was insufficient.

Mohamed Aboul Hadi said the suspension made no difference.

“The massacres never stopped, even during the humanitarian pauses,” he said in a text message sent from Gaza City.

Israel on Friday said its military had recovered the remains of two hostages, including an Israeli man who was killed in the October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war.

The remains of Ilan Weiss and another unnamed hostage were returned to Israel.

“The campaign to return the hostages continues continuously. We will not rest or be silent until we return all of our hostages home — both the living and the dead,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement.

Weiss, 55 at the time of his death, was killed in the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the southern Israel communities near Gaza that Hamas-led militants stormed on Oct. 7.

The day of the attack, Weiss vanished after heading to the community’s weapons storehouse to fend off the militants. His wife and daughter were also taken hostage and released after fifty days.

For the families of hostages, the return of their remains meets a central demand and brings a measure of closure, but also is a reminder of the bloodshed and the hostages who remain in Gaza.

“At least they have closure,” said Rubi Chen, whose son was abducted during the Oct. 7 attack and is believed to be dead. “There are still 49 families waiting to have that closure.”

Of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants almost 22 months ago, roughly 50 remain in Gaza including 20 that Israel believes to be alive.

Midway through Friday, the military said it suspended pauses to fighting, which had allowed food and aid supplies to enter from 10am to 8pm, marking the latest escalation after Israel has reported strikes in some of the city’s key neighbourhoods and called up tens of thousands of reservists.

“We will intensify our strikes until we bring back all the kidnapped hostages and dismantle Hamas,” Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said.

Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, has for days urged Palestinians in Gaza City to flee south, calling the evacuation “inevitable”, even as aid groups warn of severe obstacles.

The UN said Thursday that 23,000 people had evacuated over the past week, but many Palestinians in Gaza City say they are exhausted after multiple displacements and question leaving when there is nowhere safe and any journey is costly.