Israeli strikes kill at least 90 people, Gaza officials say
Editor's Note: For the latest on the Israel-Hamas war, please see our live updates file here.
The number of people killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes in the Gaza Strip was over 90, officials in Gaza said Saturday, as Israel's offensive against Hamas continued.
The Health Ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas and doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, said Saturday that 201 people had been killed over the past 24 hours.
The strikes Friday flattened the two homes, one in Gaza City and the other in the refugee camp of Nuseirat. Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense department, said the dead included women and children, and included over 70 members of the al-Mughrabi family in Gaza City.
Among the dead were Issam al-Mughrabi, a U.N. Development Program employee, and his wife, the agency said.
"The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all. The U.N. and civilians in Gaza are not a target,” Achim Steiner, the head of the agency, said in a statement. “This war must end. No more families should endure the pain and suffering that Issam's family and countless others are experiencing."
Israel's military on Saturday said it killed Hamas militants by luring them into a building that served as Hamas headquarters using decoy shots, then carried out an airstrike on the building. The IDF also said troops used sniper fire and airstrikes on other armed militants, including some trying to attack Israeli soldiers.
Israel declared war after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel. Hamas also took about 240 people hostage; around half remain in Gaza after an exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel last month.
In over two months of bombardment of the Gaza Strip, over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, officials there said on Friday. More than half-a-million people in Gaza are starving, a U.N. report said Thursday, amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the occupied territory that has also seen vast numbers of people displaced from their homes.
Latest developments:
∎ Mohammed Khalifa, a local TV journalist, and at least 14 others were killed in the Israeli airstrike that flattened a home in Nuseirat Friday, according to officials at the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital.
∎ Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel's military spokesman, said late Friday that forces are widening the ground offensive “to additional areas of the strip, with a focus on the south.” Earlier in the war, Israel warned Palestinian civilians to leave north Gaza and head to areas it said were safe in the south.
Biden speaks with Netanyahu about updates on war
U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Saturday about the latest developments in the war, the White House said.
Netanyahu "expressed his appreciation for the US position at the UN Security Council," according to a statement from the prime minister's office.
After days of delays, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling for crucial humanitarian supplies for Gaza on Friday, dropping language from an earlier draft that called for an "urgent cessation of hostilities" to appease the U.S., which vetoed two previous resolutions.
Before the vote, the U.S. negotiated the removal of language from the resolution that would have given the U.N. authority to inspect aid going into Gaza, which Israel says it must continue to do itself to ensure material does not reach Hamas.
Contributing: The Associated Press