Israel faces growing US calls for restraint amid renewed Gaza fighting By Reuters

By Suhaib Salem and Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) -Israel confronted rising U.S. calls to keep away from additional hurt to Palestinian civilians in its struggle in opposition to Hamas militants in Gaza, because the warring sides on Sunday confirmed no signal of shifting towards reviving their collapsed truce.

As Israeli forces pounded the enclave after the breakdown of a truce, Vice President Kamala Harris stated too many harmless Palestinians had been killed in Gaza, and Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin deemed it a “ethical duty” for Israel to guard civilians.

The senior U.S. officers’ remarks on Saturday bolstered stress from Washington for Israel to make use of extra warning because it shifts the main focus of its navy offensive additional south within the besieged Gaza Strip.

With renewed preventing stretching into a 3rd day, residents feared the air and artillery bombardment was simply the prelude to an Israeli floor operation within the southern strip that will pen them right into a shrinking space and probably attempt to push them throughout into Egypt.

On Sunday morning, the Israeli navy’ posted a press release on X ordering Palestinians the Gaza Strip to instantly evacuate half a dozen areas in and round Khan Younis.

The navy’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee instructed them to maneuver to what he described as “well-known IDP (internally displaced individual) shelters” west of the town, together with south towards Rafah, and included a map highlighting the areas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Saturday that Israel was coordinating with the U.S. and worldwide organisations to outline “secure areas” for Gaza civilians.

However U.N. officers and folks in Gaza say it’s tough to heed Israeli evacuation orders in actual time due to patchy web entry and no common provide of electrical energy amid Israel’s navy offensive.

‘SCALE OF SUFFERING DEVASTATING’

Seven Palestinians had been killed and a number of other injured in an Israeli raid on a home east of Rafah metropolis in southern Gaza, the Hamas-led inside ministry stated on Sunday.

Planes destroyed a number of homes in Al-Karara city close to Khan Younis in a single day, killing a number of individuals, together with youngsters, in line with Palestinian well being officers.

Gaza’s well being ministry stated earlier at the least 193 Palestinians had been killed for the reason that week-long truce ended on Friday, including to the greater than 15,000 Palestinian lifeless for the reason that begin of the warfare. Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas following its Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, through which it says 1,200 individuals had been killed and greater than 200 taken hostage.

Talking in Dubai, Harris stated Israel had a proper to defend itself, however worldwide and humanitarian legislation should be revered and “too many harmless Palestinians have been killed”.

“Frankly, the size of civilian struggling, and the photographs and movies coming from Gaza, are devastating,” Harris advised reporters.

Austin weighed in with maybe his strongest feedback but on Israel’s want to guard civilians in Gaza, calling it a “ethical duty and strategic crucial”.

“In the event you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you change a tactical victory with a strategic defeat,” Austin advised a defence discussion board in Simi Valley, California.

Austin, who pledged the U.S. would stand by Israel as its “closest good friend on the planet”, stated he pressed Israeli officers to dramatically increase Gaza’s entry to humanitarian assist.

Senior Netanyahu adviser Mark Regev stated when the warfare was over, Israel would search a “safety envelope” to forestall Hamas from positioning itself on the Gaza border.

SOUTH TARGETED

Gaza well being officers stated that along with the loss of life toll, 650 individuals had been wounded for the reason that truce collapsed.

The primary assist vehicles for the reason that finish of the truce entered from Egypt via the Rafah crossing on Saturday, Egyptian safety and Purple Crescent sources stated. Some 100 vehicles handed via, they stated.

The warring sides blamed one another for the collapse of the truce, throughout which Hamas had launched hostages in change for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Israel stated it had recalled a staff from Qatar, host of oblique negotiations with Hamas, accusing the Palestinian faction of reneging on a deal to free all the ladies and kids it was holding.

The deputy head of Hamas, nonetheless, stated not one of the individuals the group was holding could be exchanged with Israel until there’s a ceasefire and all Palestinian detainees in Israel are launched.

Saleh Al-Arouri advised Al Jazeera TV that Israeli hostages held by Hamas had been troopers and civilian males who beforehand served within the military.

French President Emmanuel Macron stated he was heading to Qatar to work on a brand new truce.

The southern a part of Gaza, together with Khan Younis and Rafah, the place a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals displaced from the north of the enclave had sought refuge, was pounded on Saturday.

The Palestinian Information Company quoted native sources as saying warplanes bombed two houses within the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at the least 13 individuals. Gaza well being officers stated three Palestinians had been killed in an Israeli air strike on a home in Rafah.

Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the accounts.

Hamas stated it focused Tel Aviv with a rocket barrage. There have been no experiences of injury, however paramedics stated one man was handled for a shrapnel damage in central Israel.