Israeli strikes on Gaza kill at least 16 as war rages on after the opening of a new front with Iran
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — At least 16 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight and into Saturday, according to local health officials. The 20-month war with Hamas has raged on even as Israel has opened a new front with heavy strikes on Iran that sparked retaliatory drone and missile attacks.
Another 11 Palestinians were killed overnight near food distribution points run by an Israeli- and U.S.-supported humanitarian group in the latest of almost daily shootings near the sites since they opened last month. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have fired on the crowds, while the military says it has only fired warning shots near people it describes as suspects who approached its forces.
The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest shootings. The sites are located in military zones that are off limits to independent media.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private contractor that operates the sites, said they were closed Saturday. But witnesses said thousands had gathered near the sites anyway, desperate for food as Israel's blockade and military campaign have driven the territory to the brink of famine.
The al-Awda Hospital said it received eight bodies and at least 125 wounded people from a shooting near a GHF site in central Gaza.
Mohamed Abu Hussein, a resident of the built-up Bureij refugee camp nearby, said Israeli forces opened fire toward the crowd about a kilometer (half-mile) from the food distribution point. He said he saw several people fall to the ground as thousands ran away.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, the Nasser Hospital said it received 16 dead, including five women, from multiple Israeli strikes late Friday and early Saturday. It said another three men were killed near two GHF aid sites in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone.
Israel and the United States say the new system is intended to replace a U.N.-run network that has distributed aid across Gaza through 20 months of war. They accuse Hamas of siphoning off the aid and reselling it to fund its militant activities.
U.N. officials deny Hamas has diverted significant amounts of aid and say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs. They say the new system has militarized aid by allowing Israel to decide who has access and by forcing Palestinians to travel long distances or relocate again after waves of displacement.
They say the U.N. has meanwhile struggled to deliver aid even after Israel eased its blockade last month because of military restrictions and rising lawlessness.
Hamas, which is allied with Iran, sparked the war when its fighters led a rampage into southrn Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They still hold 53 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in count.
The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90% of the population of some 2 million Palestinians, leaving them almost entirely reliant on international aid.
The war has drawn in Iran and its other allies across the region, igniting a chain of events that led to Israel's major strikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities on Friday.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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Follow AP's war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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Some people could be seen leaving the area with suitcases. Another four people, including a 13-year-old, were killed and 24 wounded when a missile struck a building in the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel. A strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42. The Weizmann Institute of Science, an important center for research in Rehovot, said 'there were a number of hits to buildings on the campus.' It said no one was harmed. Israel has sophisticated multi-tiered air defenses that are able to detect and intercept missiles fired at populated areas or key infrastructure, but officials acknowledge it is imperfect. Urgent calls to deescalate World leaders made urgent calls to deescalate. The attack on nuclear sites set a 'dangerous precedent,' China's foreign minister said. The region is already on edge as Israel seeks to annihilate Hamas, an Iranian ally, in the Gaza Strip, where the war is still raging after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. 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2 hours ago
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The death toll is growing as Israel and Iran exchanged missile attacks for a third consecutive day on Sunday, and Israel is warning that worse is to come. Israel targeted Iran's Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran and sites it alleged were associated with Iran's nuclear program, while Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses and slammed into buildings deep inside Israel. The region braced for a drawn-out conflict after Israel's strikes hit nuclear and military facilities, killing several senior generals and top nuclear scientists. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump also had a warning for Tehran, saying it can expect 'the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces' if it retaliates against the United States. Trump insisted that Washington had nothing to do with Israel's attack on Iran. Israel launched its attacks after weeks of escalating tensions between Israel and Iran over Iran's nuclear program. Iran announced Thursday that it planned to activate a third nuclear enrichment facility shortly after the U.N. nuclear watchdog censured Iran for failing to comply with nonproliferation obligations. ___ Death toll grows in Israel At least 10 people in Israel were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service, bringing the country's total death toll to 13. At least six people, including two children, were killed when a missile hit an apartment building in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. Daniel Hadad, a local police commander, said 180 people were wounded and seven are still missing. An Associated Press reporter saw streets lined with damaged and destroyed buildings, bombed out cars and shards of glass. Responders used a drone at points to look for survivors. Some people could be seen leaving the area with suitcases. Four people were killed when a missile struck a building in the northern Israeli town of Tamra, and another 24 were wounded. A strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42 people. Explosions in Tehran New explosions echoed across Tehran and were reported elsewhere in the country early Sunday, but there was no update to a death toll put out the day before by Iran's U.N. ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded. Semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported that an Israeli drone strike had caused a 'strong explosion' at an Iranian natural-gas processing plant, in what could be the first Israeli attack on Iran's oil and natural gas industry. Israel's military did not immediately comment. World leaders are issuing urgent calls to deescalate. But Israeli's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel's strikes so far are 'nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days.' Trump warns Tehran not to target U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. had 'nothing to do with the attack on Iran' and warned Tehran against targeting U.S. interests in retaliation. 'If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before. However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!' Trump wrote on Truth Social late Saturday. Nuclear talks called off Planned talks on Iran's nuclear program, which could provide an off-ramp, have been called off. The Arab Gulf country of Oman, which has been mediating indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, said a sixth round planned for Sunday would not take place. Iran's top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said Saturday that the nuclear talks were 'unjustifiable' after Israel's strikes, which he said were the 'result of the direct support by Washington.' Iran has always said its nuclear program was peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed it has not pursued a weapon since 2003. But it has enriched ever larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have been able to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so.
