Israeli jets strike Gaza refugee camp, as US fails to win immediate support for pause in fighting

KHAN YUNIS – Israeli warplanes struck a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, killing no less than 33 other people and wounding dozens, well being officers mentioned. The strike got here as Israel mentioned it will press on with its offensive to weigh down the territory’s Hamas rulers, in spite of U.S. appeals for a pause to get support to determined civilians.

The hovering demise toll in Gaza has sparked rising world anger, with tens of thousands from Washington to Berlin taking to the streets Saturday to call for an immediate cease-fire.

Israel has rejected the theory of halting its offensive, even for temporary humanitarian pauses proposed by way of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken all through his present excursion of the area. Instead, it mentioned that the besieged enclave’s Hamas rulers have been “encountering the full force” of its troops.

“Anyone in Gaza City is risking their life,” Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant mentioned.

Large columns of smoke rose as Israel’s army mentioned it had encircled Gaza City, the preliminary goal of its offensive in opposition to Hamas. Gaza’s Health Ministry has mentioned greater than 9,400 Palestinians had been killed in the territory in just about a month of battle, and that quantity is most likely to upward thrust as the attack continues.

Early Sunday, airstrikes hit the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, killing no less than 33 other people and wounding 42, mentioned Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesman for the Health Ministry.

He mentioned first responders, aided by way of citizens, have been nonetheless looking out the rubble for lifeless or imaginable survivors.

The camp is positioned in the evacuation zone the place Israel’s army had prompt Palestinian civilians in Gaza to search safe haven as it focuses its army offensive in the northern spaces.

Despite such appeals, Israel has persisted its bombardment throughout Gaza, pronouncing it’s focused on Hamas combatants and property all over the place. It has accused Hamas of the usage of civilians as human shields.

Critics say Israel’s moves are ceaselessly disproportionate, bearing in mind the huge collection of girls and kids killed in such assaults.

Blinken met with Arab foreign ministers in Jordan on Saturday after talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insisted there may well be no transient cease-fire until all hostages held by Hamas are released.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi mentioned Arab international locations need an immediate cease-fire, pronouncing “the whole region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come.”

Blinken, alternatively, mentioned “it is our view now that a cease-fire would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7.” He mentioned humanitarian pauses may also be crucial in protective civilians, getting support in and getting overseas nationals out, “while still enabling Israel to achieve its objective, the defeat of Hamas.”

As he left church in Delaware on Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden hinted at progress in efforts to convince Israel to agree to a humanitarian pause, responding “Yes,” to reporters’ questions about any forward movement on the subject. He did not elaborate.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told reporters in Beirut that Blinken “should stop the aggression and should not come up with ideas that cannot be implemented.” The spokesman of the Hamas military wing, who goes by Abu Obeida, said in a speech that fighters had destroyed 24 Israeli vehicles and inflicted casualties in the past two days.

Egyptian officials said they and Qatar were proposing humanitarian pauses for six to 12 hours daily to allow aid in and casualties to be evacuated. They were also asking for Israel to release a number of women and elderly prisoners in exchange for hostages, suggestions Israel seemed unlikely to accept. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press on the discussions.

Israel has repeatedly demanded that northern Gaza’s 1.1 million residents flee south, and on Saturday it offered a three-hour window for residents to do so. An Associated Press journalist on the road, however, saw nobody coming. The head of the government media office in Gaza, Salama Maarouf, said no one went south because the Israeli military had damaged the road.

Israel asserted that Hamas “exploited” the window to move south and attack its forces. There was no immediate Hamas comment on that claim, which was impossible to verify.

Some Palestinians said they didn’t flee because they feared Israeli bombardment.

“We don’t trust them,” said Mohamed Abed, who sheltered with his wife and children on the grounds of al-Shifa hospital, one of thousands of Palestinians seeking safety at medical centers in the north.

Swaths of residential neighborhoods in northern Gaza have been leveled in airstrikes. U.N. monitors say more than half of northern Gaza’s remaining residents, estimated at around 300,000, are sheltering in U.N.-run facilities. But deadly Israeli strikes have also repeatedly hit and damaged those shelters. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees has said it has lost contact with many in the north.

On Saturday, two strikes hit a U.N. school sheltering thousands just north of Gaza City, killing several people in tents in the schoolyard and women who were baking bread inside the building, according to the U.N. agency. Initial reports indicated that 20 people were killed, said spokeswoman Juliette Touma. The health ministry in Gaza said 15 people were killed at the school and another 70 wounded.

Also Saturday, two people were killed in a strike by the gate of al-Nasser Hospital in Gaza City, according to Medhat Abbas, health ministry spokesman. And a strike hit near the entrance to the emergency ward of al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, injuring at least 21, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The World Health Organization called attacks on health care in Gaza “unacceptable.”

At least 1,115 Palestinian dual nationals and wounded have exited Gaza into Egypt, but on Saturday authorities in Gaza didn’t allow foreign passport holders to leave because Israel was preventing the evacuation of Palestinian patients for treatment in Egypt, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority.

The U.N. said about 1.5 million people in Gaza, or 70% of the population, have fled their homes.

Food, water and the fuel needed for generators that power hospitals and other facilities is running out.

Turkey said it was recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations, and Turkish media reported that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he could no longer speak to Netanyahu in light of the bombardment.

Thousands of Israelis protested outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem, urging him to resign and calling for the return of roughly 240 hostages held by Hamas. Netanyahu has refused to take responsibility for the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed greater than 1,400 other people.

“I to find it tough to perceive why vehicles with humanitarian support are going to monsters,” mentioned Ella Ben Ami, whose oldsters have been kidnapped. She known as for support to be halted till the hostages are launched.

Thousands of other people additionally joined an indication of hostages’ households in Tel Aviv.

Air raid sirens sounded Saturday night time in southern Israel as Hamas introduced rockets into Ashkelon. Rocket fireplace has persisted in the world during the battle, forcing tens of hundreds of other people to evacuate their properties.

Fears persisted of a brand new entrance opening along Israel’s border with Lebanon. The Israeli army mentioned it had struck militant cells in Lebanon making an attempt to fireplace at Israel, as neatly as an commentary post for Hezbollah, an best friend of Hamas. Throughout the battle, Israel and Hezbollah have traded fireplace virtually day by day. Hezbollah and Israel fought a monthlong battle in 2006 that ended in a worrying stalemate.

“We are not interested in a northern front, but we are prepared for any task,” Gallant, Israel’s protection minister, mentioned after traveling the border. He mentioned the Air Force is “preserving most of its might for the Lebanon front,” according to a video statement.

Among the Palestinians killed in Gaza are more than 3,900 Palestinian children, the Gaza Health Ministry said, with out offering a breakdown of civilians and combatants.

The Israeli military said four more soldiers have died during the Gaza ground operation, bringing the confirmed death toll to 28.

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Mroue reported from Beirut and Anna reported from New York. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Amman, Jordan; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Julia Frankel and Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem; and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this story.

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Full AP protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war