Al-Aqsa hospital overwhelmed as Gaza camp bombed

An Israeli strike killed 31 Palestinians and wounded 20 more in a family house in the central Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza's civil defence agency said yesterday, as White House national security adviser travelled to the region amid US calls for a more focused military campaign.

Rescue workers were continuing to search for missing people under the rubble, the agency said. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital had said it had received the bodies of 20 people killed in the strike which witnesses said occurred around 3:00am local time.

The attack was not carried out in Nuseirat only. In the north of the enclave, there were two strikes. One targeted an evacuation centre. Three Palestinians have been reported killed in that attack. Six people were killed when the Israeli army targeted a residential building, reports Al Jazeera online.

Residents in the enclave said Israeli planes and tanks pounded areas across the Strip overnight. Israel has been pushing into the Rafah city that it says is the last bastion of Hamas forces. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled the area that was one of their few remaining places of refuge.

Israeli forces also pushed deeper into the narrow alleyways of Jabalia in northern Gaza, returning to an area that they said they had cleared earlier in the conflict, residents said.

The Israeli military has said its operations in Jabalia - the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps - are precise and meant to stop Hamas from reestablishing its grip there. Two more Israeli soldiers were killed in a battle in southern Gaza, reports Reuters.

At least 35,456 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since October 7, according to the enclave's health ministry yesterday. The toll includes at least 70 deaths over the past 24 hours, it said.

The UN said on Saturday that 800,000 people had been "forced to flee" Israel's assault in Rafah. Aid agencies have warned of widespread hunger and shortages of fuel and medical supplies.

Amid the political turmoil, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was scheduled to hold talks yesterday with his Israeli counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi and with Netanyahu on the Gaza offensive, after earlier meeting Saudi de facto ruler Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the kingdom.

Washington has pushed for a post-offensive plan for Gaza involving Palestinians and supported by regional powers, as well as for a broader diplomatic deal under which Israel and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia would normalise relations.

Riyadh has demanded deeper security ties with the United States and that Israel agree to steps on ending the decades-old conflict and towards the creation of a Palestinian state, reports AFP.

Saudi state media said Prince Mohammed and Sullivan discussed "the semi-final version of the draft strategic agreements between the Kingdom and the United States of America, the work on which is close to being completed".

They had also discussed "the situation in Gaza and the necessity of stopping the war there and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid" as well as "the Palestinian issue" and ways "to find a credible path towards a two-state solution".

• Israeli forces push deeper into Jabalia 
• 8 lakh Palestinians flee fierce fighting in Rafah 
• Death toll in enclave rises to 35,456