Gaza (AP) —At least six people were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on a home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have crammed into Rafah, one of the areas where Israel has told people to seek refuge. But Israeli forces continue to strike all parts of the besieged territory.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says several thousand Hamas fighters remain in northern Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been blasted into rubble. Heavy fighting is also underway in central Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli officials say Hamas’ military structure is still largely intact.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, and some 250 others were taken hostage. Israel’s air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 22,400 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
— Families in Gaza search desperately for food and water.
— Israeli defense minister lays out vision for next steps of Gaza war.
— Blinken heads to the Mideast again as fears of regional conflict surge.
— Israel’s Mossad chief vows to hunt down Hamas members.
— The mother and American uncle of a U.S. service member are rescued from Gaza in a secret operation.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s what’s happening in the war:
UNICEF SAYS NUTRITION NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND PREGNANT WOMEN ARE UNMET IN GAZA
JERUSALEM — The U.N. children’s agency says most young children and pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are not able to meet their basic nutrition needs.
Only a trickle of humanitarian aid has entered the Palestinian territory Oct. 7, when Hamas’ deadly attack into southern Israel ignited the war. Fewer than 200 aid trucks enter each day, less than half the prewar level, and aid groups say the fighting hinders distribution.
A survey by UNICEF released Friday found that 90% of children under age 2 are eating two or fewer food groups each day, mainly bread or milk. A quarter of pregnant women said they only eat from one food group per day.
U.N. officials previously said that one in four Gazans were enduring famine-like levels of starvation.
UNICEF says cases of diarrhea among children under 5 have risen from 48,000 to 71,000, an indication of poor nutrition. Normally, only 2,000 cases of diarrhea are reported each month in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli authorities say there is enough food in the territory, and that they have taken the necessary steps to allow aid in, blaming any shortages on U.N. bodies.
U.N. officials say aid operations are hindered by the Israeli inspections, as well as fighting and road closures within the territory, and have long been calling for a humanitarian cease-fire.
ISRAELI ALLY GERMANY PRESSES FOR BETTER PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN GAZA
BERLIN — Germany’s foreign minister is insisting ahead of a trip to the Middle East that “Israel must do more for the protection of the civilian population” in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
Annalena Baerbock reiterated staunch ally Germany’s solidarity for Israel in its fight against “blind terror” and underlined its right to defend itself.
But she called for more “humanitarian pauses” and said Friday that “peace can’t be won if the prospect of a life in dignity dries up, if Gaza is uninhabitable after the war.”
Baerbock said there must be no postwar occupation of the Gaza Strip, no expulsion of Palestinians and no reduction of the territory’s size, but “at the same time there must no longer be any danger to Israel from the Gaza Strip.”
The minister is due to depart Sunday on a trip to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Lebanon.
6 KILLED IN APPARENT ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE ON SOUTHERN GAZA HOME
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — At least six people were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on a home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight. Officials at the local morgue say the strike occurred late Thursday, just before midnight.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have crammed into Rafah, one of the areas where Israel has told people to seek refuge. But Israeli forces continue to strike all parts of the besieged territory.
Sohad al-Derbashi, whose sister was killed in the strike, said, “They were innocent civilians who had nothing to do with what is going on.” She says the man who was the apparent target of the strike was a civil servant in the Hamas-run government and not a fighter.
Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths. Some 1.9 million people, about 85% of Gaza’s population, have fled their homes, and U.N. officials say one in four Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing famine-like starvation.
The war was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and around 250 were taken hostage.
SOUTHERN ISRAELI COMMUNITY SAYS ONE OF ITS RESIDENTS HAS DIED IN CAPTIVITY
JERUSALEM — A community that was attacked during Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault into southern Israel says one of its residents, who was taken hostage, has died in captivity.
The Kibbutz Nir Oz community did not give a cause of death Friday for Tamir Adar, 38. Of some 250 people captured during Hamas’ attack, around 80 were taken from Nir Oz alone, out of a population of around 400.
Tamir’s grandmother, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, was also abducted by militants that day. She was among more than 100 hostages released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
The Israeli government says militants are still holding 113 hostages, including 19 women and two children under the age of 5, as well as the bodies of 24 others.
Hamas has said it will not release any more hostages until Israel ends its military offensive and withdraws from Gaza. Israel has vowed to crush the militant group and return all the captives.
IRAQ’S PRIME MINISTER CONDEMNS US STRIKE ON A HIGH-RANKING MILITIA COMMANDER
BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Friday condemned the United States’ strike in central Baghdad that killed a high-ranking militia commander as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. He reiterated recent calls for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.
A U.S. defense official confirmed Thursday that U.S. forces carried out the strike, saying that Abu Taqwa was targeted because he was actively involved in attacks on U.S. personnel. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, a group of Iranian-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has carried out more than 100 attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. The group has said the attacks are in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel and that they aim to push U.S. forces out of Iraq.
Sudani said Friday that the U.S. had bypassed the Iraqi government, which is “the body authorized to impose the law.” He added that the Popular Mobilization Force “represent an official presence affiliated with the state … and an integral part of our armed forces” and that “attacks targeting our security forces go beyond the spirit and letter of the mandate that created the international coalition,” referring to a U.S.-led coalition that assisted in the fight against the Islamic State militant group and maintains forces in Iraq.
He said his government is following up on procedures that would end in the coalition’s withdrawal from Iraq.
