DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said Tuesday, as Israel pushed on with a new incursion in an area that had largely been spared heavy fighting during the 21-month war.
The expansion of Israel’s ground invasion comes as Israel and Hamas have been considering terms for a ceasefire for Gaza that would pause the fighting and free at least some hostages.
The latest round of talks have dragged on for weeks with no signs of breakthrough, though negotiators have expressed optimism. With Israel expanding its control over large chunks of Gaza, an expected pullback of troops is a major point of contention in the talks.
The Trump administration has been pushing Israel to wrap up the war and has shown signs of impatience. On Monday, President Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was “caught off guard” by a recent Israeli strike on a Catholic church in Gaza.
Top Christian clergy visited that church last week and in a press conference Tuesday in Jerusalem called for the war to end.
At least 20 killed in Israeli strikes, health officials say
One strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up, seaside Shati refugee camp on the western side of Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to the city’s Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.
The dead included three women and three children, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of the hospital told The Associated Press. Thirty-eight other Palestinians were wounded, he said.
The strike tore apart tents, and left some of the dead laying on the ground, according to footage shared by the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service.
An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Ahmed Mhana, who said he was waiting on a coastal road for aid trucks, said the crowd was struck twice by Israeli aircraft.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas. It accuses the group of prolonging the war because Hamas has not accepted Israel’s terms for a ceasefire — including calls to give up power and disarm.
Heavy explosions heard in area that avoided major fighting
In Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, which previously has not seen major ground operations or widespread devastation, Palestinians reported heavy explosions from strikes and tank shelling overnight.
“It was non-stop,” Ayman Aby Hassan said. “We felt that the area was shaking, as if there was an earthquake.”
The man, who is in his 40s, fled an area in the southwestern side of Deir al-Balah that was invaded by the military earlier this week. He headed to the Muwasi area near the sea.
The Israeli military ordered evacuations from parts of the city earlier this week.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.
More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Church leaders witnessed an ‘almost totally destroyed’ Gaza
In Jerusalem, top church leaders called on the international community to help bring an end to the war in Gaza after making a rare visit to the conflict-ridden territory last week.
Their visit came a day after Gaza’s only Catholic church was struck by an Israeli shell in an attack that killed three people and wounded 10, including a priest who had developed a close friendship with the late Pope Francis.
The strike drew condemnation from Pope Leo XIV and Trump, and prompted statements of regret from Israel, which said it was an accident.
“It is time to end this nonsense, end the war,” Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa told reporters.
Israel has heavily restricted access to Gaza since the start of the war, though church leaders have entered on previous occasions, usually to mark major holidays.
Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III said they witnessed a Gaza that was “almost totally destroyed.” They said they saw older people, women and boys “totally starved and hungry” and called for urgent humanitarian aid.
“Every hour without food, water, medicine, and shelter causes deep harm.” Pizzaballa said. “It is morally unacceptable and unjustifiable.”
Israel has greatly reduced the amount of aid being let into Gaza and aid that does enter is often met by chaos and violence at distribution points.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Jerusalem.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
