Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza kill at least 38 people, including children

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes over the last 24 hours killed at least 38 people in the Gaza Strip, including a mother and her two children sheltering in a tent, local health officials said Sunday, with no data available for a second straight day from now-inaccessible hospitals in the north.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed in the territory since Israel ended a ceasefire and renewed its offensive in March, vowing to destroy Hamas and return the 58 hostages whom the militant group still holds from the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.

Israel also blocked the import of all food, medicine and fuel for 2½ months before letting a trickle of aid enter last week, after experts’ warnings of famine and pressure from some of Israel’s top allies.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was visiting Israel on Sunday and was expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel has been pursuing a new plan to tightly control all aid to Gaza, which the United Nations has rejected. The executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, Cindy McCain, told CBS that she has not seen evidence to support Israel’s claims that Hamas is responsible for the looting of aid trucks. “These people are desperate, and they see a World Food Program truck coming in and they run for it,” she said.

COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid for Gaza, said 107 trucks of aid entered Sunday. The U.N. has called the rate far too low. About 600 trucks a day entered during the ceasefire.

Israel also says it plans to seize full control of Gaza and facilitate what it describes as the voluntary migration of much of its population of more than 2 million Palestinians, a plan rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community. Experts say it would probably violate international law.

The new strike on the tent housing displaced people that killed the mother and children occurred in the central city of Deir al Balah, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. A strike in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza killed at least five, including two women and a child, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, further details emerged of the local doctor who lost nine of her children in an Israeli strike Friday. Only one of pediatrician Alaa al-Najjar’s 10 children survived the Israeli strike on their home Friday near the southern city of Khan Yunis. The 11-year-old boy and Al-Najjar’s husband, also a doctor, were badly hurt.

The charred remains of the other children were brought to the morgue in a single body bag, said a fellow pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, Alaa al-Zayan.

The home was struck minutes after Hamdi al-Najjar had driven his wife to the hospital. His brother Ismail was first to arrive at the scene.

“They were innocent children,” the brother said, with the youngest 7 months old. “And my brother has no business with [Palestinian] factions.”

Israel on Saturday said that “the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review.” It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because it operates in densely populated areas. There was no immediate comment from the military on the latest strikes.

Also Friday in Khan Yunis, two staffers with the International Committee of the Red Cross were killed when shelling struck their home, the agency said. Israeli strikes have killed more than 150 emergency responders since the war started, many of them from the Red Crescent and Civil Defense and mostly while on duty, according to the U.N.

“This is not an endless war,” Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said during a visit to Khan Yunis. Recent ceasefire talks in Qatar gained no ground.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted about 250 people. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s 19-month offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead. It does not provide figures for the number of civilians or combatants killed. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of the territory’s population, often multiple times.

Speaking on the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem reiterated the Lebanese militant group’s stance that it will not discuss giving up its remaining weapons until Israel withdraws from the five border points it occupies in southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes.

The speech came nearly six months after the latest Israel-Hezbollah war ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Under the deal, Israel and Hezbollah were supposed to withdraw forces from southern Lebanon.

Israeli officials have said they plan to remain at the five points indefinitely to secure their border. Israel has also continued to carry out near-daily airstrikes in southern Lebanon and sometimes in Beirut’s suburbs.

“We adhered completely” to the agreement, Kassem said, adding: “Don’t ask us for anything else from now on. Let Israel withdraw, stop its aggression, release the prisoners and fulfill all obligations under the agreement. After that, we will discuss each new development.”

Separately, Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Sunday. It triggered air raid sirens in Jerusalem and other areas. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The Iran-backed Houthis have launched repeated missile attacks targeting Israel as well as international shipping in the Red Sea, portraying it as a response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Most of the targeted ships had no ties to Israel or the conflict.

The United States halted a punishing bombing campaign against the Houthis this month, saying the rebels had pledged to stop attacking ships. That informal ceasefire did not include attacks on Israel.

Shurafa and Magdy write for the Associated Press and reported from Deir al Balah and Cairo, respectively. AP writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.