Israeli strikes kill 11 overnight in Gaza, including a family of 3 at a refugee camp
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Palestinian health officials in the Gaza Strip said Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people overnight into Tuesday, including a family of three in the built-up Bureij refugee camp and eight police officers.
In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said it killed two Palestinian militants who were attempting to launch a shooting attack toward Israeli communities.
A cease-fire proposal announced by United States President Joe Biden has placed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a crossroads. The proposal offers the possibility of ending Israel’s war against Hamas, returning scores of hostages held by the militant group, quieting the northern border with Lebanon and potentially advancing a historic agreement to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia.
Israeli bombardments and ground operations in Gaza have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel’s expanding offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians facing widespread hunger.
Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. Israel’s military confirmed the deaths Monday of four more hostages held by Hamas. Around 80 hostages captured on Oct. 7 are believed to still be alive in Gaza, alongside the remains of 43 others.
Currently:
— The U.S. urges U.N. Security Council to support a cease-fire plan in Gaza announced by President Biden.
— Proposed Gaza cease-fire puts Netanyahu at a crossroads that could shape his legacy.
— Iran’s acting top diplomat dismisses U.S.-proposed Gaza cease-fire deal in visit to Lebanon.
— Palestinian officials apply to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the top U.N. court.
— Israeli airstrikes near Syria’s Aleppo kill several, including an Iranian adviser, reports say.
— Israel declares four more hostages are dead in Gaza.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s the latest:
PALESTINIANS RETURN TO KHAN YOUNIS TO FIND HOMES DESTROYED AND NO INFRASTRUCTURE
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Palestinians displaced from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis are setting up tents atop the ruins of their obliterated homes.
Many residents who fled fighting in the city months ago were once again forced to flee Israel’s offensive in the southernmost city of Rafah. The returnees came home to a barely recognizable city, their homes part of a vast landscape of ruin.
“This is my house but I cannot see where its foundations or borders are. I cannot find where it used to begin and end,” said Ayad Abu Khries, who returned to Khan Younis after being displaced to Rafah.
In one gutted second-floor apartment, a woman heated a pot on a makeshift stove — the building a shell surrounded by rubble. One family’s laundry hung from a rope and dangled above piles of stone, metal rods and other debris.
Israel withdrew troops from Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest city, in April. Residents quickly returned to find what remained of their homes. The incursion into Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were sheltering before fleeing again, prompted a new influx of returnees back into Khan Younis. The United Nations says more than 1 million Palestinians have fled Rafah, many of them having already been displaced multiple times.
Those who have returned to Khan Younis have struggled to find services. Some returned residents said they must walk a mile or more to access food and water.
“The infrastructure is destroyed. There is no electricity or sewage system or water of anything. We live in tents and life is exhausting,” said Basima Moammar, who is living in a tent near her destroyed home.
ISRAELI STRIKES KILL 11 PALESTINIANS OVERNIGHT IN THE GAZA STRIP
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian health officials in the Gaza Strip said Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people overnight into Tuesday, including a family of three and eight police officers.
A strike on a home in the built-up Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza late Monday killed two parents and their young daughter, while a second strike early Tuesday hit a police vehicle in the central town of Deir al-Balah, killing eight officers with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies as they arrived Tuesday at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah and confirmed the details with hospital records.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militant group places fighters, underground tunnels and rocket launchers in dense, residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes.
President Joe Biden detailed an Israeli cease-fire plan that the sides were considering.
The war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally. Many of the dead have been women and children, the ministry says.
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