Israeli strikes on Gaza kill at least 32, mostly women and children

 

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to the United States to discuss the war with President Donald Trump, local health officials reported on Sunday that Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip had resulted in the deaths of at least 32 people, including more than a dozen women and children. Israel last month ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground offensive, carrying out waves of strikes and seizing territory to pressure the militant group to accept a new deal for a truce and release of remaining hostages.  It has also prevented humanitarian aid, fuel, and food from entering the coastal territory, which is heavily dependent on outside assistance, for more than a month. On social media, the United Nations refugee agency stated, "Stocks are getting low and the situation is becoming desperate." MIDDLE EAST

 Israel presents a new ceasefire proposal as it intensifies its military campaign in Gaza. According to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies, the most recent Israeli strikes struck a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis overnight into Sunday, killing five men, five women, and five children. A female journalist was among those killed.  "My daughter is not guilty. She had no involvement, she loved journalism and adored it," said her mother, Amal Kaskeen.

 One child's under-two-year-old body occupied only one end of an emergency stretcher. "Trump wants to end the Gaza issue.  Mohammad Abdel-Hadi, the deceased woman's cousin, asserted, "He is in a hurry, and that is clear from this morning." Israeli shelling killed at least four people in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.  According to an Associated Press journalist in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, the bodies of seven people, including a child and three women, arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. And a strike in Gaza City hit people waiting outside a bakery and killed at least six, including three children, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government.

 Netanyahu visits Trump amid anti-war protests

 In Jabaliya, a new round of protests against the war saw dozens of Palestinians take to the streets. Social media videos showed protesters marching and chanting against Hamas. Such protests, while rare, have occurred in recent weeks.

 There is also anger inside Israel over the war's resumption and its effects on remaining hostages in Gaza.  Families of hostages along with some of those recently freed from Gaza and their supporters on Saturday urged Trump to help ensure the fighting ends.

 Netanyahu on Monday will meet with Trump for the second time since Trump began his latest term in January.  The prime minister said they would discuss the war and the new 17% tariff imposed on Israel, part of a sweeping global decision by the new U.S. administration.

 "There is a very large queue of leaders who want to do this with respect to their economies.  I think it reflects the special personal connection and the special connection between the United States and Israel, which is so vital at this time," Netanyahu said while wrapping up a visit to Hungary.

 Along with Egypt and Qatar, the United States, a mediator in ceasefire efforts, supported Israel's resumption of the war last month. The effects of war Hundreds of Palestinians since then have been killed, among them 15 medics whose bodies were recovered only a week later.  Israel's military this weekend backtracked on its account of what happened in the incident, captured in part on video, that caused anger by Red Cross and Red Crescent and U.N. officials.

 Mourners gather around the bodies of eight Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, March 31.  (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

 MIDDLE EAST CRISIS — EXPLAINED

 Palestinian medics say a video of Gaza rescue crews under fire refutes Israeli claims

 The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.  Fifty-nine hostages are still held in Gaza — 24 believed to be alive — after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.

 The Gaza Health Ministry says that Israel's offensive has killed at least 50,695 Palestinians. It doesn't say how many of them were civilians or soldiers, but more than half of them were women and children. It says another 115,338 people have been wounded.  Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.