Smoke rises from several houses in Gaza City that were attacked by the Israeli military (IDF) on Saturday, several news agencies say.
According to IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, up to 15 Hamas members were killed during a battle north of the city. The operation was carried out in an area “where many attempts to attack the IDF forces through tunnel shafts and military facilities are taking place,” Hagari said.
During Saturday morning, 15 people were also reported to have been killed in an Israeli attack on a UN school in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health care authority in the area. The UN agency UNRWA confirms the attack, but not the death toll.
Blink in meeting
Israel said in the afternoon that it would give residents of northern Gaza three hours to head south, and that those fleeing would be protected from attacks, AFP said. There has been no information on how many tried to move south.
During Saturday, US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken met colleagues from several Arab countries in Jordan.
In addition to Jordan’s foreign minister, representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Palestine will attend the meeting.
After the meeting, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said according to the AP that “no sane person” can deny and minimize the pain Israel suffered in the Hamas attacks on October 7.
A sea of hate
But he said at the same time that Jordan cannot see Israel’s actions in and against Gaza as self-defense.
– It cannot be justified in any way and will not give Israel security, or peace in the region. The entire region is sinking into a sea of hatred that will define generations to come.
Ayman Safadi and his colleagues told Blinken that an immediate ceasefire is a must to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. Blinken, however, stuck to the US and Israeli line that a ceasefire would benefit Hamas, which could use the situation to regroup.
At least 9,488 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip so far, according to data from the Hamas-run health authority in the area. A large number of those killed, over 3,900, are children, the authority states.
The attacks, and the war, began after the Palestinian Islamist movement’s widespread attack on Israel on October 7, in which more than 1,400 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage. The largest part of the hostages is still being held captive by Hamas.