US reaffirms support for ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza as Israeli strikes continue

GAZA/AMMAN, Jordan – Washington’s top diplomat on Saturday heard Arab demands for a ceasefire, as Gaza health officials reported that at least 32 people were killed in three separate

Israeli air strikes on an ambulance

, hospital and a school serving as a refugee shelter.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed US support for “humanitarian pauses” in fighting between Israel and Hamas to ensure those in the besieged Gaza Strip get help.

“We believe pauses can be a critical mechanism for protecting civilians, for getting aid in, getting foreign nationals out while still enabling Israel to achieve its objectives to defeat Hamas,” he said.

Mr Blinken met the Saudi, Qatari, Emirati and Egyptian foreign ministers, as well as Palestinian representatives in Amman, Jordan.

He said at a news conference after the meeting that about 100 trucks were moving through the border passing in Rafah in southern Gaza, “but that is not nearly enough”.

Mr Blinken said he also discussed with the Arab leaders ongoing efforts to release hostages in Gaza.

Qatari Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, told Mr Blinken efforts to mediate the release of hostages held by Hamas were complicated by the continued bombardment of the enclave Gaza.

The depth of feeling among the Arab nations was evident in the news conference. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza without conditions, while Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi bluntly told Mr Blinken: “Stop this madness.”

Witnesses said an Israeli strike hit Al-Fakhoura school in Jabalia refugee camp, killing and wounding many of the evacuees who had taken shelter there.

At least 15 people died and dozens more were wounded, the head of Al Shifa Hospital, Mr Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, said of the school incident.

Reuters pictures of the aftermath showed broken furniture and other belongings lying on the ground, patches of blood and people crying.

“People were preparing breakfast when suddenly bombing started. I found my two girls, one of them was martyred, and her head was hit, the second was wounded in her leg… the other girl as well was wounded with shrapnel,” one man said in video footage obtained by Reuters.

Nearby, a resident comforted a woman in shock.

One man asked angrily: “Since when has it become normal to strike shelters? This is so unfair.”

Ms Juliette Touma, director of communications for the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, confirmed to Reuters that the UN-run school, which is in the Gaza City area, had been hit.

She said there were children among the casualties, but that UNRWA had not yet been able to verify the exact death toll.

“At least one strike hit the schoolyard where there were tents for displaced families. Another strike hit inside the school where women were baking bread,” Ms Touma said by phone.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said another Israeli missile strike killed two women at the door of the Nasser Children Hospital. Several more people were injured, it added.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on either reported strike, and Reuters was not immediately able to verify any more details.

Hours earlier, Gaza health officials said 15 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on an ambulance on Friday evening that was part of a convoy carrying injured Palestinians at Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al Shifa.

“Upon their arrival at Al Shifa, (Israel) directly targeted the convoy’s second vehicle, committing a terrible massacre that claimed the lives of 15 and wounding more than 60,” Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said.

Israel’s military said it identified and hit an ambulance “being used by a Hamas terrorist cell”, and that a number of Hamas fighters were killed.

“We emphasise that this area is a battle zone. Civilians in the area are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southwards for their own safety,” the military said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry challenged Israel to provide proof the ambulance was carrying militants. Israel said it intended to release additional information.

“The occupation conducted an ugly massacre in which… 15 people were martyred, and 60 other people were wounded, including a number of the displaced,” Mr Al-Qidra said.

Israel has accused Hamas of concealing command centres and tunnel entrances in Al Shifa, something Hamas and the hospital denies.

Israel’s ground forces encircled Gaza City on Thursday after stepping up a bombing campaign it said aims at wiping out Hamas, after the militant group killed 1,400 people and took more than 240 hostages in an Oct 7 assault in southern Israel.

Israel in October

ordered all civilians to leave the northern part of the Gaza Strip

, including Gaza City, and head to the south of the enclave, which it has also continued to bomb.

Gaza’s living conditions, already dire before the fighting, have deteriorated further.

Food is scarce, residents have resorted to drinking salty water, medical services are collapsing, and Gaza health officials say more than 9,250 Palestinians have been killed.

On Friday morning, an Israeli air strike killed three people, including two women, in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to Gaza health officials.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that nearly 1.5 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are internally displaced.

‘Continuing full force’

Hamas has prepared for a protracted war in Gaza and believes it can hold up Israel’s advance long enough to force its arch enemy to agree to a ceasefire, two sources close to the organisation’s leadership said.

The group believes international pressure for Israel to end the siege could force a ceasefire and negotiated settlement in which the militant group would get a tangible concession, such as the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, the sources said.

On a visit to the region, Mr Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday and

called for a humanitarian pause

in fighting that he said would facilitate work to release hostages, allow aid into Gaza but not prevent Israel from defending itself.

In a televised address, Mr Netanyahu rejected the idea of a pause unless hostages are freed.

“I made clear that we are continuing full force and that Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire which does not include the release of our hostages,” he said.

A senior Biden administration official said on Friday that the United States has “indirect engagement” aimed at freeing the hostages.

Explaining why it was taking “so long” to get foreign nationals out, the official said Hamas initially conditioned the release of foreigners on wounded Palestinians being able to exit as well, but one-third of the Palestinians on the list turned out to be Hamas members.

Washington has maintained robust military and political support for Israel, while calling on its ally to take steps to avoid civilian deaths and address Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

Second or third front

While Mr Blinken was in Israel, the leader of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group warned the US that if Israel does not stop its assault on Gaza, the conflict could widen into a regional war.

Mr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in his first speech since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted, also threatened the US, hinting his paramilitary group was ready to confront American warships in the Mediterranean.

A heavily armed ally of Hamas, Hezbollah has been engaging Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border in the biggest flare-up since it fought a war with Israel in 2006.

“You, the Americans, can stop the aggression against Gaza because it is your aggression,” Mr Nasrallah said.

“Whoever wants to prevent a regional war, and I am talking to the Americans, must quickly halt the aggression on Gaza.”

He added that Hezbollah, the spearhead of a Teheran-backed regional alliance hostile to Israel and the US, did not fear the US naval firepower Washington has assembled in the region since the crisis erupted.

Other Iran-aligned groups have entered the fray since Oct 7, with Iran-backed Shi’ite groups firing on US forces in Iraq and Syria, as well as Yemen’s Houthis launching drones at Israel. REUTERS