An Israeli airstrike yesterday killed 20 people in central Gaza, mostly women and children, as fighting raged across the north while Israel’s leaders aired divisions over who should govern Gaza after the war, now in its eighth month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced criticism from his own War Cabinet, with his main political rival, Israeli Minister Without Portfolio Benny Gantz, threatening to leave the government if a plan is not formulated by June 8 that includes an international administration for postwar Gaza.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was yesterday expected to meet with top Israeli leaders to discuss an ambitious US plan for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and help the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza in exchange for a path to eventual statehood.
Photo: Reuters
Netanyahu, who is opposed to Palestinian statehood, has rejected the proposals, saying that Israel would maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with local Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
Gantz’ withdrawal would not bring down Netanyahu’s coalition government, but it would leave him more reliant on far-right allies who support the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, full military occupation and the rebuilding of Jewish settlements there.
Even as the discussions of postwar planning take on new weight, the war is still raging with no end in sight. In the past few weeks, Hamas has regrouped in parts of northern Gaza that were heavily bombed in the early days of the war and where Israeli ground troops had already operated.
The airstrike in Nuseirat, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, killed 20 people, including eight women and four children, according to records at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, which received the bodies.
A separate strike on a street in Nuseirat killed another five people, the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said.
In Deir al-Balah, a strike killed Zahed al-Houli, a senior officer in the Hamas-run police, and another man, al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Programme says a famine is under way.
The Palestinian Civil Defense said the strikes hit several homes near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya, killing at least 10 people.
Footage released by rescuers showed them trying to pull the body of a woman out of the rubble as explosions echo in the background and smoke rises.
In the nearby urban Jabliya refugee camp, residents reported a heavy wave of artillery and airstrikes.
“The situation is very difficult,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old in Jabaliya.
He said the whole eastern side has become a battle zone where the Israeli fighter jets “strike anything that moves.”
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