Israeli strike in Gaza kills dozens, including children sheltering in tent
At least 38 people have been killed in the latest Israeli strikes on Gaza, including a mother and her two children sheltering in a tent, according to local health officials.
The strikes came on Sunday local time as part of Israel's renewed offensive in the enclave, which the Gaza Health Ministry says has killed at least 3,785 people since March.
Israeli authorities have vowed to destroy Hamas with the offensive and force the return of 58 hostages the terror group still holds from the October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.
Hamas has said it would only release the hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
The new strike on a tent housing displaced people that killed a mother and her children occurred in the central city of Deir al-Balah, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Another strike in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza killed at least five people, including two women and a child, the health ministry said.
The strike in Jabalia also killed local journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several family members, while another strike in Nuseirat killed Ashraf Abu Nar, a senior official in the territory's civil emergency service, and his wife, local medics said.
The attacks followed a trickle of humanitarian aid that was allowed into Gaza last week by Israel, after months of the country blocking the import of all food, medicine and fuel in a move that has sparked experts' warnings about famine.
United States Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was scheduled to visit Israel on Sunday and expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel has been pursuing a new plan to tightly control all aid to Gaza, which the United Nations has rejected.
The executive director of the UN World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, told CBS she has not seen evidence to support Israel's claims that Hamas is responsible for the looting of aid trucks.
"These people are desperate, and they see a World Food Programme truck coming in and they run for it," she said.
Israel also says it plans to seize full control of Gaza and facilitate what it describes as the voluntary migration of much of its population of over 2 million Palestinians.
That plan has also been rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community, with some experts saying it would likely violate international law.
In a separate Israeli strike that hit Gaza on Friday, only one of paediatrician Alaa al-Najjar's 10 children survived at their home near the southern city of Khan Younis.
The 11-year-old and Ms al-Najjar's husband Hamdi al-Najjar, who is also a doctor, were badly hurt.
The charred remains of the children were put into a single body bag according to Alaa al-Zayan, a fellow paediatrician at Gaza's Nasser Hospital.
The home was struck minutes after Mr al-Najjar had driven his wife to the hospital.
His brother, Ismail al-Najjar, was first to arrive at the scene and said the youngest child to be killed in the strikes was seven months old.
"And my brother has no business with [Palestinian] factions."
Israel said on Saturday that "the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review".
It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because it operates in densely populated areas. There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces on the latest strikes.
In Khan Younis on Friday, two staffers of the International Committee of the Red Cross were killed when shelling struck their home, the ICRC said.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 150 emergency responders from the Red Crescent and Civil Defense, most of them on duty, since the war started, according to the UN.
"This is not an endless war," Israel's military chief of staff, said Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir during a visit to Khan Younis.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 people. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's 19-month offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead. It does not provide figures for the number of civilians or combatants killed.
The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 per cent of the territory's population, often multiple times.
The strikes on Gaza came on the same day that European and Arab leaders gathered in Madrid, Spain for talks aimed at urging an end to Israel's offensive in the enclave.
Some of Israel's long-standing allies have added their voices to growing international pressure after it expanded its operations against Hamas.
On Sunday, Spain's foreign minister declared that the international community should look at sanctions against Israel in a bid to end the war.
"Silence in these moments is complicity in this massacre … that is why we are meeting," Jose Manuel Albares told reporters before the talks.
Mr Albares also said the discussions were focused on putting a stop to Israel's "inhumane" and "senseless" war, and that humanitarian aid must enter Gaza "massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel".
Representatives from European countries including France, Britain, Germany and Italy joined envoys from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at the meeting in Madrid.
After the European Union decided this week to review its cooperation deal with Israel, Mr Albares told reporters Spain would request its "immediate suspension" and promote a two-state solution to the conflict.
The country will also look to urge partners to impose an arms embargo on Israel and "not rule out any" individual sanctions against those "who want to ruin the two-state solution forever", he added.
The diplomatic drive comes one month before a UN conference on the Israel-Palestinian conflict presided over by France and Saudi Arabia.
AP
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