DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike killed 27 people in central Gaza, mostly women and children, and fighting with Hamas spread across the north on Sunday as Israel’s leaders aired divisions over who should rule Gaza after the war. , now in its eighth month.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces criticism from other members of his War Cabinet, and his main political rival, Benny Gantz, threatens to leave the government if a plan is not created by June 8 that includes an international administration for Gaza. postwar. His departure would leave Netanyahu more dependent on far-right allies who support the full military occupation of Gaza and the reconstruction of Jewish settlements there.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Netanyahu to discuss an ambitious US plan for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and help the Palestinian Authority govern Gaza in exchange for a path to an eventual state. Netanyahu’s office in a statement said they focused on Israel’s military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, humanitarian aid and hostages held in Gaza.
Netanyahu opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, saying Israel will maintain indefinite security control over Gaza and partner with local Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
The United States said Sullivan said Israel should “connect its military operations with a political strategy” and proposed measures to ensure more “waves” of aid to Gaza.
In recent weeks, Hamas militants have regrouped in parts of northern Gaza that were heavily bombed in the early days of the war.
The airstrike on Nuseirat, a Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza that dates back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, killed 27 people, including 10 women and seven children, according to records at the Gaza Martyrs’ Hospital. Al-Aqsa in nearby Deir al-Balah, which received the bodies.
Another attack on a street in Nuseirat killed five people, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service. In Deir al-Balah, an attack killed Zahed al-Houli, a senior officer in the Hamas-led police, and another man, according to the hospital.
Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says famine is underway.
The Civil Defense said the attacks hit several houses near the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, killing at least 10 people. And in the nearby Jabaliya urban refugee camp, residents reported a heavy wave of artillery and airstrikes.
Abdel-Kareem Radwan, 48, said the entire eastern side has become a battle zone where Israeli fighter jets “hit everything that moves.”
Mahmoud Bassal, Civil Defense spokesman, said rescuers had recovered at least 150 bodies, more than half of them women and children, since Israel launched the operation in Jabaliya last week.
Israel launched its offensive after the Hamas attack on October 7, in which militants swept into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. Mourners gathered on Sunday for the funeral for one of the four hostages killed in the attack whose bodies were recently found by Israeli troops in Gaza.
The war has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. About 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced within the territory, often multiple times.
“We need a decent life to live,” said Reem Al-Bayed, who left Gaza City and took refuge with thousands of others in the coastal Muwasi camp in the south, without basic facilities such as wells. “Every country lives a decent life except us.”
He took a quick bite of bread before breaking the rest into pieces for half a dozen children and then served them a can of beans.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames the high death toll on Hamas, which it claims operates in dense residential areas.
Netanyahu’s critics, including thousands of Israeli protesters, accuse him of prolonging the war and rejecting a ceasefire deal to avoid a reckoning over security failures. They are also seeking early elections in which polls show Gantz, a centrist politician, would likely succeed Netanyahu. That would expose Netanyahu to prosecution over long-standing corruption allegations.
Netanyahu denies any political motive and says the offensive must continue until Hamas is dismantled and the approximately 100 hostages still being held along with the remains of more than 30 others are returned.
Netanyahu also faces pressure from Israel’s closest ally, the United States, which has provided military aid and diplomatic cover for the offensive while expressing growing frustration with Israel’s conduct in the war and humanitarian crisis.
President Joe Biden’s administration recently halted a shipment of 3,500 bombs and said the United States would not provide offensive weapons for a large-scale invasion of Rafah, citing fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
But last week, after Israel launched what it called a limited operation in Rafah, the Biden administration told lawmakers it would move forward with $1 billion worth of arms sales, according to congressional aides.
The Palestinian Crossings Authority said in a statement that humanitarian aid has not entered through the vital Rafah border crossing with Egypt since the military operation began almost two weeks ago.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Krauss from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed.
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