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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to defend a new military attack in one of Gaza’s most populous regions on Sunday by declaring that Israel “has no choice but to finish the job and complete Hamas defeat.”
He spoke with foreign media before the UN Security Council emergency meeting on Gaza. In particular, Netanyahu said he had recently directed the Israeli military to “take more foreign journalists.” This will be a significant development as it has not been able to enter Gaza beyond military embedding during the 22-month war.
“Our goal is not to occupy Gaza. Our goal is to liberate Gaza,” Netanyahu asserted. He also opposed what he called a “global campaign of lies.” And German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz, one of Israel’s strongest supporters, said Germany had “give in” by announcing that it would not allow military equipment to Israel to be used in Gaza until further notice.
Netanyahu said he has “a rather short timetable” in mind for his next step in Gaza, but has not provided details. He said the goals there include the unarmed territory, the Israeli military, with “effective security controls” there, and non-Israel civilian governments in charge.
Netanyahu again condemned many of the issues of Gaza regarding Hamas’ militant groups, including civilian death, destruction and lack of aid. “There are still thousands of armed terrorists in Gaza in Hamas,” he insisted, adding that the Palestinians are “pleading” the world to be free from them.
The prime minister, who argued that “there is no starvation in Gaza,” admitted his hunger there, saying, “There is a problem of deprivation and there is no doubt about that.” He said Israel wanted to increase the number of aid distribution sites, but he refused to provide details.
Netanyahu is to speak later on Sunday for Israeli audiences.
More Palestinians were killed when they asked for assistance
At least 26 Palestinians have been killed, hospitals and witnesses said as Israeli hostage families called for a general strike to protest Netanyahu’s plan to expand military operations in Gaza city.
Hospital officials said they received bodies from areas where Palestinians are seeking assistance, along the routes of the food convoys or along privately operated aid delivery points across Gaza.
According to Nasser Hospital, 15 people have been killed in the deaths, near the Morag Corridor, near the Morag Corridor, near the newly constructed Morag Corridor.
Six more people died while awaiting assistance in northern Gaza near the Jikim intersection, according to Gaza Ministry of Health and Shifa Hospital.
In central Gaza, witnesses said they heard warning shots before they set out for crowds of donors trying to reach an Israeli-backed and US-funded food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The AP could not independently confirm who fired the shot. AWDA hospital in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp said four people had been killed in Israeli shootings.
“First of all, it was in the air and then they started firing at people,” said Sayed Awda, who was waiting hundreds of meters (yards) from the GHF site.
Six other aiders were killed while trying to reach the GHF site in Khan Younis and Rafah, Nasser Hospital said.
The GHF site opened in May as an alternative to the UNRUN aid system, but its early operations have been eroding death and confusion, and aiders become gunmen near the route leading to the site.
In response to an AP inquiry, the GHF Media Office stated: “There are no incidents on or near today’s site, and these cases seem to link to crowds trying to loot the convoy.”
The Israeli military said there were no incidents involving Israeli military near aid sites in central Gaza.
At a local hospital, seven people said they were killed in the airstrikes. Three, four and two children collided with Khan Eunice’s tent near the port of a fisherman in Gaza city. Israeli forces did not immediately comment on the strike, but accused Hamas of being active from the civilian region.
Hungry deaths among children hit 100
Israeli air and attacks on the ground have driven out most of Gaza’s population and pushed the territory into starvation. Two more Palestinian children died on Saturday from malnutrition-related causes, killing 100 since the war began.
A total of 117 adults have been killed from malnutrition-related causes since late June when the province began counting its age categories.
Hunger sacrifices are not included in the death toll in the 61,400 Palestinian province during the war. The ministry, part of Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, does not distinguish fighter jets from civilians, but says that about half of the deaths were women and children. The United Nations and independent experts consider it the most reliable source of information on victims of war.
In Israel, labor force has been urged to push off aggressively.
The families and relatives of hostages still held in Gaza have urged Israeli businesses to declare a general strike next week. Tens of thousands of Israelis in Tel Aviv rallied on Saturday night in what local media called one of the biggest anti-government protests in recent months.
The family and their supporters fear that by expanding the war, they will put their loved ones at risk. The 50 hostages filmed in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 are believed to be alive in Gaza, with 20 of them alive.
Richey Milan Ravi, whose husband Omri is hostage, appealed to US President Donald Trump and special envoy group Steve Witkov to stop the fight.
“The decision to send the troops deep into Gaza is dangerous for my husband Omri, but we can still stop this disaster,” she said.
Also on Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz toured the northern western bank of Israeli people, where around 40,000 Palestinians were kicked out of their homes this year, as Israel’s largest evacuation in the West Bank since Israel acquired territory in 1967.
Israel says operations are needed to boost extremists as violence has surged from all sides since the war began in Gaza. Katz said the troops will remain in refugee camps in the area until at least the end of the year, and said the number of warnings about attacks on Israelis in the West Bank has fallen by 80% since it began in January.
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Shurafa reported from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip and Cairo from Magdy. Associated Press Writer Melanie Ridman was a contribution from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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Follow AP war reports at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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