海角大神

Israeli shifts offensive to crowded southern Gaza, orders evacuation

Following a weeklong truce, Israel is pounding targets in southern Gaza even as the U.S. urges it to protect civilians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will continue the war 鈥渦ntil we achieve all its goals.鈥�

First Look

Israel pounded targets in crowded southern Gaza on Saturday and ordered more neighborhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more to protect civilians a day after a truce collapsed.

The prospect of further cease-fires in Gaza appeared bleak, as Israel recalled its negotiators and Hamas鈥� deputy leader said any further swap of Gaza-held hostages for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel would only happen as part of ending the war.

鈥淲e will continue the war until we achieve all its goals, and it鈥檚 impossible to achieve those goals without the ground operation,鈥� Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address Saturday night.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the聽fighting resumed Friday morning聽following the weeklong truce with the territory鈥檚 ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Several multi-story residential buildings were hit on Saturday, engulfing neighborhoods in huge clouds of smoke.

Separately, the ministry said the overall death toll in Gaza since the Oct. 7 start of the聽war聽had surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300 on Nov. 20. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it said 70% of the dead were women and children. It said more than 40,000 people had been wounded since the war began.

鈥淭oo many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating,鈥� U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters during the聽the COP28 climate conference聽in Dubai.

Appeals from the U.S., Israel's closest ally, to protect civilians came after an offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza. Some 2 million Palestinians, almost Gaza's entire population, are now crammed into the territory's southern half.

Israel鈥檚 military said it had hit more than 400 Hamas targets across Gaza over the past day, including over 50 in Khan Younis city and surrounding areas in the south.

Palestinian Red Crescent spokesman Mahmoud Basal told broadcaster Al-Jazeera that there were more than 300 鈥渕artyrs鈥� in Gaza City鈥檚 Shujaia neighborhood and that homes were flattened. Israel's military said it killed Hamas鈥� Shujaia battalion commander but gave no details on the operation. Residents could not be reached.

In northern Gaza, an airstrike flattened a building hosting families in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya on Gaza City's outskirts. It left dozens dead or wounded, said residents Hamza Obeid and Amal Radwan.

鈥淭he building turned into a pile of rubble,鈥� Obeid said. AP video showed smoke rising as men, some in sandals, picked their way over debris. The Israeli military confirmed it was operating in Jabaliya and said it had found and destroyed Hamas tunnels in the surrounding area.

And a powerful strike hit a cluster of multi-story buildings in Hamad City, a Qatari-funded housing development on the outskirts of Khan Younis. Smoke engulfed the complex. There was no immediate word on casualties.

鈥淲here is it safe? I swear to God, no one knows, where are we going?鈥� asked Zohair al Raai, who said his family received a recorded message saying their building should evacuate.

Also in the south, at least nine people, including three children, were killed in a strike on a house in Deir al-Balah, according to the hospital where bodies were taken.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they fired a barrage of rockets on southern Israel. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesperson, said Hamas had launched more than 250 since the cease-fire ended. There were no immediate reports injuries.

With the resumption of fighting, the Israeli military published an online map carving up Gaza into hundreds of numbered parcels and asked residents to familiarize themselves with the number of their location ahead of evacuation warnings.

On Saturday, the military listed more than two dozen parcel numbers around Gaza City and east of Khan Younis. Separately, it dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis.

One Khan Younis resident said a neighbor received a call from the Israeli army warning that houses in the area would be hit. 鈥淲e told them, 鈥榃e have nothing here, why do you want to strike it?鈥�" said the resident, Hikmat al-Qidra. Al-Qidra said the house was destroyed.

The maps and leaflets generated panic and confusion, especially in the crowded south. Unable to go to northern Gaza or neighboring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometer area.

鈥淭here is no place to go,鈥� said Emad Hajar, who fled to Khan Younis a month ago. 鈥淭hey聽expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south."

Mark Regev, a senior advisor to Netanyahu, said Israel was making 鈥渕aximum effort" to protect civilians and the military has used leafleting, phone calls, and radio and TV broadcasts to urge Gazans to move from specific areas.

Mr. Regev added that Israel is considering a future security buffer zone that would not allow Gazans direct access to the border fence on foot.

Israel says it targets聽Hamas operatives聽and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the offensive in northern Gaza.

Also Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received the first convoy of aid trucks through the Rafah crossing with Egypt since fighting resumed. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said 100 trucks entered including three carrying 150,000 liters of fuel.

Meanwhile the U.S. vice president聽said in a meeting聽with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that 鈥渦nder no circumstances鈥� would the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, an ongoing siege of Gaza or redrawing of its borders, according to a U.S. summary.

The聽Oct. 7 attack聽by Hamas and other militants聽killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel. Around 240 people were taken captive.

The renewed hostilities have heightened聽concerns for 137 hostages聽who, according to the Israeli military, are still held after 105 were freed聽during the truce. A 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, according to her kibbutz, bringing the number of known dead hostages to eight.

At a rally of tens of thousands in Tel Aviv, released hostages called for the rest to be freed. In a video address, Yaffa Adar, 85, spoke up specifically for children being held, saying, 鈥淚 want to see them now 鈥� not when I鈥檓 in a coffin."

Hamas and Israel differed on who was still being held.

Hamas' deputy leader, Saleh Arouri, told Al-Jazeera that any remaining hostages are men, 鈥渁ll of whom served in the (Israeli) army.鈥� That contradicted another top Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, who told The Associated Press on Friday the group was willing to trade more hostages but rebuffed an Israeli demand to release 10 female soldiers.

Israel鈥檚 Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas violated the truce agreement by refusing to return two children and 15 women.

During the truce,聽Israel freed 240 Palestinians. Most of those released by both sides were women and children.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. Mroue reported from Beirut and Anna reported from New York. AP writers Julia Frankel and Iris Samuels in Jerusalem contributed to this report.