Israeli push against Hamas sparks more fighting, deaths in Gaza cities

Hundreds more Palestinians were killed as Israel fought Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip's biggest cities on Thursday, and almost two million displaced Gazans struggled to find food and refuge.

Residents reported fierce battles east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza's largest city, and Palestinian health officials said three Gazans were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.

Israel said its forces killed a number of gunmen in Khan Younis, including two who emerged firing from a tunnel.

Israeli TV showed footage, which Reuters could not independently verify, of what it said were captured Hamas fighters, stripped to their underwear with heads bowed, sitting in a Gaza City street.

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Some Palestinians recognized relatives and denied they had any links to Hamas or other militant groups.

Hani Almadhoun, a Palestinian American based in Virginia, saw relatives in the picture and told Reuters they were "innocent civilians with no links to Hamas or any other faction."

"They took them from a housethat belongs to the family, in the area of the market. They detained my brother Mahmoud, 32, his son Omar, 13, my other nephew Aboud, 27, and my father, 72, and several of our in-laws."

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagarisaid soldiers were fighting against militants in Hamas "centres of gravity."

He said that, when people come out of tunnels or houses in areas where there is fighting, "we investigate and check who is linked to Hamas and who is not;we detain and interrogate all of them."

Hagaridid not speak directly about the images but said that hundreds of suspected militants have been interrogated so far and that many have surrendered in the past 24 hours.

Civilians crowd Rafah area

Gazans have crammed into Rafah on the southern border with Egypt, heeding Israeli messagesthat they would be safe in the city after successive warnings to head south.

But more than 20 people were killed in apartments there late on Wednesday, said Eyad al-Hobi, a relative of some of those killed.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 17,177 Palestinians had been killed since Oct. 7, when Israel began bombing Gaza in response to an assault by Hamas militants who control the enclave. In the past 24 hours alone, 350 people had been killed, ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said.

The surprise Hamas incursion into Israelon Oct 7. killed 1,200 people including Canadians with 240 people taken hostage, according to Israel's tally.

Israel says it must wipe out Hamas and is doing everything possible to get civilians out of harm's way.

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With no endto the fighting in sight, a top White House national security aide, Jon Finer, said the United States had not given Israel a firm deadline to end major combat operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

There are many "legitimate military targets" remaining in south Gaza, including "much if not most" of the Hamas leadership, Finer said at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington.

Apriorhumanitarian pause had allowed moremuch-needed aid to be delivered to the Palestinian enclave and allowed Israel and Hamas to exchange hostages and prisoners.

On Thursday, White House security spokesperson John Kirby told a press briefing that "we're not close to inking another deal on humanitarian pause."

U.S. reiterates 'need to protect civilians'

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke separately by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan's King Abdullah.

Biden "emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas, including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities," the White House said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered similar messages to Israel at a news conference in Washington following a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

"It remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection," he said.

"And there does remain a gap betweenexactly what I said when I was therethe intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we're seeing on the ground."

Blinken is due to meet top diplomats from Arab states, including Egypt, on Friday in Washington.

Egypt, along with the United Nations, has been lobbying Israel to speed up an inspection process for aid trucks that requires the vehicles to drive to Egypt's border with Israel before looping back to Rafah.

The number of trucks crossing daily has dropped in recent days to fewer than 100, from nearly 200 when the week-long truce was in place, according to the United Nations.

Israel has agreed, at the request of the United States, to open the Kerem Shalom border crossingfor screening and inspection of humanitarian aid into Gaza, a senior U.S. official said. The crossing is near Israel's border with Egypt.

Struggle for necessities

Israeli troops reached the heart of Khan Younis on Wednesday in a new phase of the war, now entering its third month.

Ambulances and relatives rushed the wounded into the city's Nasser hospital, but even the floor space inside was full. Two badly wounded children lay on a trolley and a bloodstained young boy lay screaming among the patients on the floor.

"The injuries are very severe," said Dr. Mohamed Matar. "The situation is catastrophic in all senses of the word... We can't treat the injured in this state."

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Those who escape violence face an increasingly desperate struggle to survive.

Ibrahim Mahram, who fled to Al Mawasi, a former Bedouin village in the south that Israel said would be a safe zone,said five families were sharing a tent in the village, which refugee organizations say lacks shelter, food and other necessities.

"We suffered from the war of cannons and escaped it to arrive at the war of starvation," he told Reuters.

The UNPalestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) said 1.9 million people 85 per cent of Gaza's population had been displaced and its shelters were four times over capacity.