U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to build support Saturday for planning a postwar future for Gaza as he met with wary Arab leaders.
by NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMY MAGDY and DAVID RISING | Associated PressPalestinians look at the destruction after Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip in Khan Younis, Saturday, Now. 4, 2023. Israeli military strikes killed multiple civilians Saturday at a U.N. shelter and hospital in the main combat zone in the Gaza Strip as theon the besieged enclave's Hamas rulers, while the United States and Arab partners disagreed on the need for an immediate cease-fire.
Blinken, however, said that "it is our view now that a cease-fire would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7." He said the U.S. believes that humanitarian pauses can be a "critical mechanism in protecting civilians, in getting aid in and getting foreign nationals out, while still enabling Israel to achieve its objective, the defeat of Hamas.
With wide swaths of residential neighborhoods leveled in airstrikes, most of northern Gaza's remaining residents, estimated at around 300,000, have sought shelter in U.N.-run schools and in hospitals where they hope they'll be safe. But deadly Israeli strikes have also repeatedly hit and damaged those shelters. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees has said it has lost contact with many in the north.
Also Saturday, two people were killed in a strike by the gate of Nasser Hospital in Gaza City, according to Medhat Abbas, Health Ministry spokesman.About 1.5 million people in Gaza, or 70% of the population, have fled their homes, according to the U.N. Another strike hit near the entrance to the emergency ward of Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City on Saturday afternoon, injuring at least 21, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Throughout the war, Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire almost daily along the Lebanese border, raising fears of a new front opening there.
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