Latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war
What you need to know:
- Israel has relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip and sent in ground troops, with the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory saying 9,488 people have been killed, around two-thirds of them women and children.
Fighting raged in Gaza Sunday for the 30th day since Hamas militants stormed across the Israeli border and, according to Israeli officials, killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and abducted over 240 others.
Since then, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip and sent in ground troops, with the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory saying 9,488 people have been killed, around two-thirds of them women and children.
Here are key developments from the past 24 hours:
Israel says struck 2,500 targets in ground op
The Israeli army said Sunday its forces had "struck over 2,500 terror targets" since ground troops entered the Palestinian territory late last month.
"IDF (army) troops are continuing to eliminate terrorists in close-quarters combat" and to direct aircraft to hit Hamas targets, the army said, including a "military compound" hit overnight.
"During the combined activities of ground, air and naval forces in the Gaza Strip, over 2,500 terror targets have been struck."
Israel on Thursday said it had bombed 12,000 targets across Gaza during the war since October 7, one of the fiercest bombing campaigns in recent memory.
Refugee camps hit
The Hamas-run health ministry said more than 30 people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza late Saturday.
An Israeli military spokesperson said they were looking into whether its troops had been operating in the area at the time.
Earlier on Saturday, the health ministry said at least 15 people were killed when Israel struck the Al-Fakhura school in Jabalia refugee camp, operated by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians were sheltering at the school in the north of the Palestinian territory when it was hit, a ministry spokesperson said.
Blinken in regional tour
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced a rising tide of anger in meetings with five Arab foreign ministers in Jordan on Saturday, a day after Israel rebuffed his efforts to secure humanitarian "pauses" in its war to destroy Hamas.
President Joe Biden, when asked later on Saturday whether progress had been made on the issue, replied "yes" but did not offer any further details.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, whose country has been acting as the sole conduit for foreigners to escape Gaza and for aid to get in, called for an "immediate and comprehensive ceasefire".
Blinken has left Amman and was set to hold talks in Turkey later on Sunday.
Turkey breaks off Israel contacts
Turkey said it was recalling its ambassador to Israel and breaking off contacts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in protest at the bloodshed in Gaza.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of siding "with the Hamas terrorist organisation".
Hamas welcomed the moves by Ankara and urged it "to put pressure on President Biden and his administration" so that "humanitarian and medical help can reach our besieged people in the Gaza Strip".
Hamas halts evacuations
Gaza's Hamas government suspended the evacuation of foreign passport holders to Egypt Saturday after Israel refused to allow some wounded Palestinians to be evacuated to Egyptian hospitals, a border official said.
"No foreign passport holder will be able to leave the Gaza Strip until wounded people who need to be evacuated from hospitals in north Gaza are transported through the Rafah crossing" to Egypt, the official said on condition of anonymity.
On Friday, a senior White House official accused Hamas of abusing a US-brokered deal to open the crossing to get its fighters out of Gaza.
The official said that one-third of the names on a list provided by Hamas of Palestinians needing medical evacuation were those of Hamas members and fighters.