Airstrikes in central Gaza kill 15 overnight while fighting intensifies in the enclave’s south

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on the Nuseirat urban refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip overnight killed at least 15 people, including a 5-month-old baby, as health authorities in the besieged territory said the death toll since the start of the war has surpassed 26,000.

In southern Gaza, Israeli forces pushed further into the city of Khan Younis, where the intensity of the fighting has increased in recent days. The Israeli military on Friday ordered residents of three neighborhoods and the Khan Younis refugee camp to evacuate to a coastal area.

The camp, like others in Gaza, was initially settled by Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and has since been built up into a district of the wider city. The leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar, and the commander of the group’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, both grew up in the Khan Younis refugee camp.

The intense fighting came as the United Nations’ top court on Friday stopped short of ordering a cease-fire in Gaza, as sought by South Africa, which has accused Israel of genocide in its military offensive. Instead the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, demanded that Israel try to contain death and damage. The court also rejected a request by Israel, which rejects the genocide accusation, that the case be thrown out.

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Gaza’s Health Ministry said Friday that the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the war stood at 26,083, with 64,487 Palestinians wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its death toll, but has said about two-thirds of those killed were women and children.

Over the last 24 hours, 183 people were killed and 377 others were wounded, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas’s unprecedented attack into Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. Israel says about 130 hostages remain in Gaza after a round of releases during a brief cease-fire in November, although about 30 are believed to no longer be alive. Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll for positioning fighters and military hardware in dense residential neighborhoods.

Israel’s near-complete seal on Gaza has left almost the entire population of 2.3 million reliant on a trickle of international aid able to enter the territory each day. U.N. officials say about a quarter of the population now faces starvation.

Aid groups have struggled to bring food, medicines and other supplies to northern Gaza, where Israel’s ground invasion first targeted and where Israel says it now largely has control.

Uday Samir, a 23-year old Gaza City native, said many of the basic foods such as flour, lentils and rice are now impossible to find across the city.

“Now, what is available is animal feed,” said Samir. “We grind it and bake it.”

All supplies enter Gaza in the south, either through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing or Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing. Aid groups say fighting and Israeli restrictions have made deliveries to the north difficult. When convoys do travel north, supplies are often snatched by hungry Palestinian before the trucks reach their destination.

Israel’s assault is now focused on Khan Younis and a number of refugee camps in central Gaza,

The Israeli military said its troops were engaging in close urban combat with Hamas fighters across neighborhoods of Khan Younis, calling in airstrikes and attack helicopters to hit militants spotted with RPGs and weapons. Earlier this week, it also ordered the evacuation of most of the western half of the city. Hamas has also reported that its fighters are battling Israeli forces in the heart of the city.

Further north, the bodies of 15 people, including seven members of one family, were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, an AP journalist at the hospital said. The 15 were killed during separate strikes on two apartment buildings in Nuseirat, which lies just below the demarcation line between the northern and southern portions of the territory, drawn by Israel early in the war.

The offensive has decimated large swathes of the territory, and the United Nations and other aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian disaster. More than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced.

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Jeffery reported from London.

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Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war