Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed dozens of people, including two children ages 12 and 2, while the Israeli army said Monday its ground forces were fighting Hamas militants who remain in northern and central Gaza, reports AP.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 113 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours alone, raising the known Palestinian death toll to 27,478 people after nearly four months of war.
A quarter of Gaza's residents are now starving and 85 per cent of the population has been driven from their homes, with hundreds of thousands crammed in makeshift tent camps.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shortly after arriving in the kingdom Monday. It's Blinken's fifth visit to the Mideast since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, when Hamas stormed into southern Israel.
Blinken is seeking progress on a possible cease-fire deal that could free around 100 Israelis still being held hostage in Gaza. He'll also try to tamp down regional tensions ignited by the war, as a flurry of strikes and counterstrikes have raised the risk of a wider conflict.
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