Israeli strikes in Gaza killed more than 200 people in 24
hours, Hamas-controlled authorities said Saturday, as the United States again
pressed its ally to do more to protect civilians.
Despite growing calls for restraint and for more aid to
reach war-stricken Palestinians, Israel showed little sign of modulating its
11-week-old “Operation Swords of Iron” — which aims to rout Hamas.
Fighting is now centred on Gaza City and the southern city
of Khan Yunis, both considered strongholds of the Palestinian militant group
that carried out bloody October 7 raids into Israel.
After reports of heavy Israeli shelling, grey and black
smoke rose over the north of the coastal territory and in Khan Yunis.
The refugee camp-turned-city is the birthplace of Yahya
Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in Gaza and the man Israel holds most responsible for the
October attacks.
The Israeli Army chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, visited
troops on the ground in Khan Yunis, telling them that the operation had been
“very impressive, truly very impressive, both the attack here and carrying out
the operation in a secure manner”.
Outside a morgue at the city’s Nasser Hospital, grieving
relatives prayed, wept and stared vacantly as they tried to process
incalculable loss.
Hamas authorities said the death toll from this war has now
surged beyond 20,000.
“This is a genocide,” said resident Rafat Al Aydi.
Israel denies directly targeting civilians and says the war
against Hamas is vital to ensure the October raids on farms, villages and
kibbutzim that killed an estimated 1,140 people can never be repeated.
‘We want a ceasefire’
In Washington, President Joe Biden said he had another “long
talk” with Israel’s hawkish prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The White House said the discussion focused on the
“objectives and phasing” of Israel’s military operation, as well as “the
critical need to protect the civilian population including those supporting the
humanitarian aid operations”.
Israeli officials gave a terse readout of the call, saying
“the Prime Minister made it clear that Israel would continue the war until all
of its goals have been achieved”.
A total of 144 Israeli troops have been killed since the
ground offensive began almost a month ago.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has had
testy relations with a string of US presidents. But disagreements over how the
Gaza war is being prosecuted, when it will end, and what happens the day after,
have strained ties ever further.
On Friday, the United States allowed the passage of a UN
Security Council resolution that effectively called on Israel to allow
“immediate, safe and unhindered” deliveries of life-saving aid to Gaza “at
scale”.
World powers had wrangled for days over the wording, and at
Washington’s insistence toned down some provisions — including removing a call
for a ceasefire.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has accused Israel of
“creating massive obstacles” for aid deliveries.
For Palestinians in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, the
prospect of aid alone was not enough.
“We don’t want food, we want a ceasefire,” said Mahmud
al-Shaer.
Ahmad al-Burawi, who was displaced from Beit Lahia further
north, added: “We just want to return to our lands, that’s all. We want a
solution” to end the war. “People are dying,” he said.
The war has displaced about 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million
population, according to UN estimates.
‘Lost contact’
Israelis, including friends and relatives of the 129
captives still believed held in Gaza, demonstrated again on Saturday in Tel
Aviv.
Hamas’s armed wing said it “lost contact” with militants
tasked with guarding five of the hostages, including three elderly men who
appeared in a hostage video the group released this week.
“We believe that those hostages have been killed” in Israeli
strikes, said spokesman Abu Obeida without providing evidence.
Talks aimed at resuscitating a truce and prisoner swap
appeared to be stalled.
An earlier truce allowed 80 Israeli hostages to be released
in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners, but ended after one week.
Drone strike off
India
Far from Gaza, a new attack on shipping Saturday showed the
war is already spilling over into the broader region.
Maritime agencies said a drone strike damaged a chemical
tanker in waters off Veraval, India.
There was no claim of responsibility, but the Pentagon said
it was a “one-way attack drone fired from Iran”.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels have repeatedly fired
drones and missiles at ships in the Red Sea, saying they are targeting
Israeli-linked vessels in solidarity with Gaza.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri on Saturday said
the Huthis act on their “own decisions and capabilities”.
There also have been cross-border skirmishes between Israeli
forces and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement which, like Hamas, is backed
by Iran.
AFP
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