Dozens killed in Gaza as Israeli strikes hit civilians seeking aid, health workers say

Israeli strikes and gunfire killed more than 35 people early Saturday in Gaza, hospital sources said, as civilians seeking aid and health workers were among those killed. A strike on a house in central Gaza left at least 11 people dead, more than half of them women and children, according to officials at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City. Nine members of the same family were among those killed in an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp, and at least six people were reported killed while seeking aid in central and southern Gaza.

Israel’s military says it has hit about 120 targets across the Strip since Friday, including buildings used by terror groups, terror operatives and other infrastructure. The fighting comes as an expanded ground offensive against Hamas remains focused on Gaza City, which the army says is Hamas’s last stronghold. Hundreds of thousands of residents have fled the territory’s biggest urban center, where a famine was confirmed last month by a UN-backed body. But hundreds of thousands more remain in dire humanitarian conditions, with health and other essential services collapsing. “They tell us go there, then come back here... People are in the streets, in the south scattered everywhere. Where should we go?” Salwa Subhi Bakr told AFP. “What does the world want from us? What does Netanyahu want? What does Hamas want?”

Several members of the Bakr family were killed during a strike on Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency.

International calls for a ceasefire have intensified, bolstered by multiple recognitions of Palestinian statehood at the UN this week. Israel remains determined to maintain pressure on Hamas to compel surrender. That was the message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday, where many delegates walked out during his remarks.

U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed optimism about a deal that would secure hostages’ release and a new Gaza ceasefire. Top aides say the administration is pursuing a 21-point peace plan for the Middle East and Gaza, described by media reports and officials as a framework that could include not only hostage release and a ceasefire, but also a pathway to a future Palestinian state. The Times of Israel said it had seen a copy of the plan, which reportedly would require Hamas disarmament, the demilitarisation of Gaza, and a process to deradicalise the population. Netanyahu rejected the plan in his UN address. If confirmed, such provisions would require major concessions from both sides.

The Israeli military launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. At least 65,549 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Foreign journalists have been barred from entering Gaza independently since Israel launched its 2023 offensive following the Hamas attacks. With the two-year anniversary of the Hamas-led assault on Israel just over a week away, there are many in Israel and Gaza who hope they will not have to endure a third year of war.