US and Arab partners disagree on the need for a ceasefire as Israeli airstrikes kill more and more civilians

Turkey said it was recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations, and Turkish media reported that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he could no longer speak to Netanyahu in light of the bombing.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip: The United States and Arab partners disagreed on Saturday over the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli military strikes killed civilians at a UN shelter and a hospital, and Israel said the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip besieged enclave “encountered the full force” of his forces.

Large columns of smoke rose as the Israeli army said it had surrounded Gaza City, the target of its offensive to crush Hamas. Gaza’s health ministry has said that more than 9,400 Palestinians have been killed in the territory in nearly a month of war, and that number is likely to rise as the onslaught continues.

“Everyone in Gaza City is risking their lives,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Arab foreign ministers in Jordan a day after talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insisted there could be no temporary ceasefire until all those held by Hamas hostages have been released.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Arab countries want an immediate ceasefire, saying “the entire region is sinking into a sea of ​​hatred that will define generations to come.”

However, Blinken said: “We now believe that a ceasefire would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7.” He said humanitarian pauses could be critical in protecting civilians, obtaining aid and removing foreigners, “while still enabling Israel to achieve its goal of defeating Hamas.”

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told reporters in Beirut that Blinken “must stop the aggression and not come up with ideas that cannot be implemented.” The spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, named Abu Obeida, said in a speech that fighters had destroyed 24 Israeli vehicles in the past two days, causing casualties.

Egyptian officials said they and Qatar are proposing humanitarian breaks of six to 12 hours a day to deliver aid and evacuate victims. They also asked Israel to release some women and elderly prisoners in exchange for hostages held by Hamas; suggestions that Israel would probably not accept. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press about the discussions.

Israel has repeatedly demanded that northern Gaza’s 1.1 million residents flee south, and on Saturday it offered residents a three-hour window to do so. However, an AP journalist who was on his way did not see anyone coming. The head of the government media office in Gaza, Salama Maarouf, said no one went south because the Israeli army had damaged the road.

But Israel claimed Hamas “exploited” the window to move south and attack its forces. There was no immediate comment from Hamas on this claim, which was impossible to verify.

Some Palestinians said they did not flee because they feared Israeli bombing.

“We don’t trust them,” said Mohamed Abed, who sheltered with his wife and children on the grounds of Shifa hospital, one of thousands of Palestinians who sought safety in medical centers in the north.

Large parts of residential areas in northern Gaza have been razed by airstrikes. UN observers say more than half of northern Gaza’s remaining residents, estimated at around 300,000, are sheltering in UN-run facilities. But deadly Israeli attacks have also repeatedly hit and damaged these shelters. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said it has lost contact with many in the north.

On Saturday, two attacks took place on a UN school-turned-shelter housing thousands of people just north of Gaza City, killing several people in schoolyard tents and women baking bread in the building. the UN agency said. Initial reports indicate that twenty people have died, spokeswoman Juliette Touma said. The Health Ministry in Gaza said 15 people were killed at the school and another 70 were injured.

Also on Saturday, two people were killed in a strike at the gate of Nasser Hospital in Gaza City, Health Ministry spokesman Medhat Abbas said. And an attack took place at the entrance to the emergency room of Gaza City’s Al-Quds Hospital, wounding at least 21, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The World Health Organization called attacks on healthcare in Gaza “unacceptable.”

The family home of exiled Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Shati refugee camp on the northern outskirts of Gaza City was also hit, according to the Hamas-run media agency in Gaza. There were no immediate details on damage or casualties.

Israel has continued bombing in the south, saying it is hitting Hamas targets.

An airstrike early Saturday destroyed a family’s home in the southern city of Khan Younis, with first responders pulling three bodies and six injured people from the rubble. A child was among the dead, according to an Associated Press cameraman at the scene.

“The sound of explosions never stops,” said Raed Mattar, a resident who took shelter in a school in Khan Younis after fleeing the north.

At least 1,115 Palestinian dual nationals and injured people have left Gaza for Egypt, but on Saturday authorities in Gaza did not allow foreign passport holders to leave as Israel prevented the evacuation of Palestinian patients for treatment in Egypt, Wael Abu Omar said, a spokesperson. for the Palestinian Transitional Authority.

According to the UN, about 1.5 million people in Gaza, or 70% of the population, have fled their homes.

Food, water and fuel needed to power the generators that power hospitals and other facilities are running low.

Anger over the war and civilian deaths in Gaza led to large demonstrations in Paris, Washington, London, Pakistan and elsewhere on Saturday. “Against apartheid, free Palestinians,” read a banner in Rome.

Turkey said it was recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations, and Turkish media reported that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he could no longer speak to Netanyahu in light of the bombing.

Thousands of Israelis protested outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem, urging him to resign and calling for the return of about 240 hostages held by Hamas. Netanyahu has refused to take responsibility for the October 7 attack.

“I find it difficult to understand why trucks with humanitarian aid go to monsters,” said Ella Ben Ami, whose parents were kidnapped. She called for a halt to aid until the hostages are released.

Fears of a new front opening along Israel’s border with Lebanon persisted. The Israeli army said it had struck militant cells in Lebanon that tried to fire on Israel, as well as an observation post for Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas. During the war, Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire almost daily along the border.

“We are not interested in a northern front, but we are prepared for any task,” Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said after a tour of the northern border. He said the air force “reserves most of its power for the Lebanese front,” according to a video statement released by his office on Saturday.

Palestinians killed in Gaza include more than 3,900 Palestinian children, the Gaza Health Ministry said, without providing a breakdown of the number of civilians and fighters.

More than 1,400 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’s first attack. The Israeli army confirmed that four more soldiers were killed during the ground operation in Gaza, bringing the death toll to 28.

(By NAJIB JOBAIN, BASSEM MROUE and CARA ANNA Associated Press. Mroue reported from Beirut and Anna reported from New York. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Amman, Jordan; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Julia Frankel and Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem; and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this story.)