Gaza:
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed more than 200 people in 24 hours, Gaza officials said, as the United States again pressured its ally to do more to protect civilians.
Despite growing calls for restraint and more aid to reach war-torn Palestinians, Israel shows no sign of revising its 11-week-old “Operation Swords of Iron” – which aims to defeat Hamas.
Fighting is now focused on Gaza City and the southern city of Khan Younis, both considered strongholds of the Palestinian resistance group.
Following reports of heavy Israeli shelling, brown and black smoke began rising north of the besieged coastal area and in Khan Yunis.
The town turned into a refugee camp is the birthplace of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza and the man Israel holds most responsible for the October attacks.
Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Harzi Halevi, visited troops on the ground in Khan Yunis, and told them that the operation was “very impressive, really very impressive, both the attack here and carrying out the operation safely”.
Outside the morgue of the city’s Nasser Hospital, grieving relatives prayed, cried and tried to make amends for the irreparable loss.
Palestinian officials said the death toll from the war has now exceeded 20,000.
“This is a massacre,” said resident Rafat al Ayadi.
In Washington, President Joe Biden said he had another “long conversation” with Israel’s hawkish prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The White House said the discussions focused on the “objectives and phasing” of Israel’s military campaign as well as “the critical need to protect civilian populations, including those supporting humanitarian assistance operations.”
“The prime minister made it clear that Israel will continue the war until all of its goals are achieved,” Israeli officials said in a brief statement of the call.
A total of 144 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began nearly a month ago. The actual toll is likely to be higher.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has had poor relations with several US presidents. But disagreements over how the Gaza war is being prosecuted, when it will end and what happens the day after that have further strained relations.
On Friday, the United States allowed passage of a UN Security Council resolution effectively allowing “immediate, safe and uninterrupted” delivery of “large-scale” life-saving aid from Israel to Gaza. The call was made.
World powers wrangled for days over the wording, and at Washington’s insistence some provisions were watered down – including removing the call for a ceasefire.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has accused Israel of “creating massive obstacles” to aid delivery.
For Palestinians in Rafah, the southern city of Gaza, the prospect of aid alone was not enough. Mahmoud al-Shayer said, “We don’t want food, we want a ceasefire.”
Ahmed al-Burawi, who was displaced from Beit Lahiya in the north, said: “We just want to return to our land, that’s all. We want a solution to end the war”. “People are dying,” he said.
According to UN estimates, the war has displaced about 80 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.4 million.
Israelis, including friends and relatives of 129 detainees believed to still be in Gaza, demonstrated again in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
Hamas’ armed wing said it had “lost contact” with fighters responsible for the security of five detainees, including three elderly men who appeared in a hostage video released by the group this week.
Spokesman Abu Obaida said, “We believe those hostages have been killed in Israeli strikes”. Talks aimed at reviving a ceasefire and prisoner exchange appeared to have stalled.
An earlier ceasefire had allowed for the release of 80 Israeli detainees in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners, but it expired after a week.
Off Gaza, a new attack on shipping on Saturday showed that the war is already spreading across the wider region.
A drone strike damaged a chemical tanker in waters off Veraval, India, maritime agencies said. There was no claim of responsibility, but the Pentagon said it was a “unilateral strike drone fired from Iran”.
Yemen’s Houthi fighters have repeatedly fired drones and missiles at ships in the Red Sea and said they were targeting ships linked to Israel in a show of solidarity with Gaza.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri said on Saturday that the Houthis act on their “own decisions and capabilities.”
There have also been cross-border clashes between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement.
