Israeli strikes raise Gaza death toll as Blinken heads to Mideast
CTV
The death toll in the Gaza Strip has increased following the latest airstrikes on the Palestinian territory, where the Israeli military is working to root out the leaders of Hamas and to destroy the militant group that attacked southern Israel almost four months ago.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip has increased following the latest airstrikes on the Palestinian territory, where the Israeli military is working to root out the leaders of Hamas and to destroy the militant group that attacked southern Israel almost four months ago.
Strikes hit two houses and a mosque in central Gaza on Sunday, killing 29 people and wounding at least 60 others. Separate airstrikes in Rafah, the enclave's southernmost city, killed two children, ages 12 and 2, according to the registration office at the hospital where the bodies were taken.
Israel's military said it raided the headquarters of Hamas' brigade in the southern city of Khan Younis and found what it called training materials for the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The materials included “models simulating entrance gates of Israeli kibbutzim, military bases and IDF armored vehicles,” the military said.
The offensive in Gaza that Israel launched in response to the attack had killed 27,365 people and wounded more than 66,000 in Gaza as of Sunday morning, the Hamas-ruled territory's Health Ministry reported. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, but says most of those killed were women and children.
The White House has urged Israel to make a greater effort to avoid harming civilians and to allow more aid into besieged Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to return to the region this week, beginning Monday in Saudi Arabia and with planned stops in Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank.
Here's the latest:
CAIRO - A United Nations official has accused Israel's navy of striking an aid convoy carrying food destined for hard-hit northern Gaza.
