Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to continue the offensive until “total victory” over Hamas and to extend it to Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza.
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 18 people overnight and into Sunday, doctors and witnesses said, as the United States said it would veto another draft cease resolution. -UN fire.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, instead hopes to broker a ceasefire deal and the release of hostages between Israel and Hamas, and is considering a broader resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes Hamas’ demands as “delirious” and rejects U.S. and international calls for a path to Palestinian statehood.
He pledged to continue the offensive until the “total victory” on Hamas and to extend it to Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza, where more than half of the population of the enclave, or 2.3 million Palestinians, have sought refuge.
An airstrike in Rafah killed six people overnight, including a woman and three children, and another strike killed five men in the southern town of Khan Yunis, the main target of the offensive over the past two months. Associated Press journalists saw the bodies arriving at a hospital in Rafah.
In Gaza City, which was isolated, largely evacuated and suffered extensive damage in the first weeks of the conflict, an airstrike leveled a family home, killing seven people, including three women, according to Sayed al -Afifi, a relative of the deceased.
The Israeli military rarely comments on individual strikes and blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militants operate in dense residential areas.
Nasser Hospital of Khan Younes
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Nasser Hospital, the main medical center serving southern Gaza, was no longer able to function after Israel carried out a raid on the establishment at the end of last week.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a WHO team was not allowed to enter the hospital “to assess patient conditions and critical medical needs.”
He said there were still about 200 patients at the hospital, including 20 who need urgent referral to other hospitals.
Israel says it has arrested 70 suspected militants, including 20 believed to have participated in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, without providing evidence. The military says it is searching for the remains of hostages inside the facility and is not targeting doctors or patients.
American veto at the UN
Algeria, the Arab representative to the UN Security Council, has circulated a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access, as well as an end to the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement Saturday that the draft resolution runs counter to Washington’s efforts to end the fighting and “will not be adopted”.
“It is essential that other parties give this process the best chance of success, rather than imposing measures that jeopardize it – and the opportunity for a lasting resolution to hostilities.”she indicated.
The United States used its veto on similar previous resolutions and President Joe Biden bypassed Congress to send weapons to Israel, while urging it to take greater steps to spare civilians and facilitate the delivery of the ‘humanitarian aid.
