DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours killed at least 38 people in Gaza, including a mother and her two children sheltering in a tent, local health officials said Sunday, with no data available for a second straight day from now-inaccessible hospitals in the north.
Further details emerged of the Palestinian doctor who lost nine of her 10 children in an Israeli strike on Friday.
Gaza's Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed in the territory since Israel ended a ceasefire and renewed its offensive in March, vowing to destroy Hamas and return the 58 hostages it still holds from the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Hamas has said it will only release the hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
Israel also blocked the import of all food, medicine and fuel for 2 1/2 months before letting a trickle of aid enter last week, after experts' warnings of famine and pressure from some of Israel's top allies.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was visiting Israel on Sunday and was 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 U.N. World Food Program, 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 Program 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, a plan rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community. Experts say it would likely violate international law.
More on the killing of a doctor's 9 children
The new strike on the tent housing displaced people that killed the mother and children occurred in the central city of Deir al-Balah, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. A strike in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza killed at least five, including two women and a child, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
In Friday's strike, only one of pediatrician Alaa al-Najjar's 10 children survived at their home near the southern city of Khan Younis. The 11-year-old and al-Najjar’s husband, also a doctor, were badly hurt.
The charred remains of the children were put into a single body bag, said a fellow pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, Alaa al-Zayan.
The home was struck minutes after Hamdi al-Najjar had driven his wife to the hospital. His brother, Ismail al-Najjar, was first to arrive at the scene.
“They were innocent children," the brother said, with the youngest 7 months old. "And my brother has no business with (Palestinian) factions.”
Israel on Saturday said “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 military on the latest strikes.
Also Friday in Khan Younis, 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 U.N.
“This is not an endless war," Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said during a visit to Khan Younis. Recent ceasefire talks in Qatar gained no ground.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 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 over 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 around 90% of the territory's population, often multiple times.
A missile from the Houthis
Separately, Israel's military said it intercepted a missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Sunday. It triggered air raid sirens in Jerusalem and other areas. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The Iran-backed Houthis have launched repeated missile attacks targeting Israel as well as international shipping in the Red Sea, portraying it as a response to Israel's military campaign in Gaza. Most of the targeted ships had no relation to Israel or the conflict.
The United States halted a punishing bombing campaign against the Houthis earlier this month, saying the rebels had pledged to stop attacking ships. That informal ceasefire did not include attacks on Israel.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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