Baby girl killed with her parents in Gaza airstrike
The baby's body, wrapped in blue, was placed on those of her parents as Palestinians prayed over them. Motasem al-Batta, his wife and the child were believed to have been killed in their tent in the crowded Muwasi area.
'Two and a half months, what has she done?' neighbour Fathi Shubeir said. 'They are civilians in an area designated safe.'
Israel's military said it is dismantling Hamas's military capabilities and takes precautions not to harm civilians. It said it could not comment on the strike without more details.
A Palestinian man carries the body of his seven-year-old nephew who, according to the family, was killed in an Israeli army airstrike on Friday night (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)
Muwasi is one of the heavily populated areas in Gaza where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel plans to widen its coming military offensive.
The mobilisation of forces is expected to take weeks, and Israel may be using the threat to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages taken in its October 7 2023 attack that sparked the war.
Families of hostages fear the coming offensive further endangers the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, just 20 of them thought to be alive.
They and other Israelis were horrified by the recent release of videos showing emaciated hostages, speaking under duress, pleading for help and food.
A group representing the families has urged Israelis onto the streets on Sunday.
'Across the country, hundreds of citizen-led initiatives will pause daily life and join the most just and moral struggle: the struggle to bring all 50 hostages home,' it said in a statement.
Palestinian and Israeli activists took part in a protest against the killing of journalists in Gaza as they gathered in the West Bank town of Beit Jala on Friday (Mahmoud Illean/AP)
The United Nations is warning that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. Palestinians are drinking contaminated water as diseases spread, while some Israeli leaders continue to talk openly about the mass relocation of people from Gaza.
Another 11 malnutrition-related deaths occurred in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said on Saturday, with one child among them. That brings malnutrition-related deaths during the war to 251.
The UN and partners say getting aid into the territory of more than two million people, and then on to distribution points, remains highly challenging with Israeli restrictions and pressure from crowds of hungry Palestinians.
The UN human rights office says at least 1,760 people were killed while seeking aid between May 27 and Wednesday.
It says 766 were killed along routes of supply convoys and 994 in the vicinity of 'non-UN militarised sites', a reference to the Israeli-backed and US-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which since May has been the primary distributor of aid in Gaza.
The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 61,897 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
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Irish Times
19 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Thousands of Israelis join one-day general strike in support of hostages
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Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Israeli police use water cannons, arrest dozens as protesters demand hostage deal
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RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Israel attacks Gaza hospital, advances displacement plans
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Protest organisers and the main campaign group representing the families of hostages also called for a general strike today. "I think it's time to end the war. It's time to release all of the hostages. And it's time to help Israel recover and move towards a more stable Middle East," said Doron Wilfand, a 54-year-old tour guide, at a rally in Jerusalem. However, some government members who oppose any deal with Hamas slammed the demonstrations. Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decried "a perverse and harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas". He argued that public pressure to secure a deal effectively "buries the hostages in tunnels and seeks to push the State of Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardise its security and future". Footage showed protesters at a rally in Beeri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was one of the hardest-hit communities in the Hamas attack, and Israeli media reported protests in numerous locations across the country.
