Biden, Netanyahu talk 'tactical pauses' in Gaza

WASHINGTON, Nov 07 (AFP/AP): US President Joe Biden and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday discussed the potential for "pauses" in the Israeli military's operations in Gaza, as the death toll in the territory surpassed 10,000.
"The two leaders discussed the possibility of tactical pauses to provide civilians with opportunities to safely depart from areas of ongoing fighting, to ensure assistance is reaching civilians in need, and to enable potential hostage releases," the White House said in a statement.
The fighting in the Palestinian territory raged for a 31st day Monday since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel October 7 in which 1,400 people were killed.
Civilians flee northern
Gaza's combat zone
What was once Gaza's busiest thoroughfare has become a terrifying escape route for Palestinian civilians fleeing combat on foot or on donkey carts. On their way south, those running for their lives said they raised their hands and waved white flags to move past Israeli tanks along the four-lane highway.
Some reported Israeli soldiers firing at them and said they passed bodies strewn alongside the road.
Many escaped with just the clothes on their back. One woman, covered head-to-toe in a black veil and robe, cradled a toddler and clutched a black purse. A man walked alongside a covered donkey cart that transported his family. It was piled high with mattresses.
In the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli ground forces backed by relentless airstrikes have encircled Gaza City, the base of Hamas ' power, since the weekend. They cut the strip in half and sought to drive Palestinians from northern Gaza as troops advanced.
From early on in the war, now in its second month, the army has urged civilians to move south, including by announcing brief windows for what it said would be safe passage through Salah al-Din, which runs through the center of the besieged enclave.
UN chief says Gaza becoming
'graveyard for children'
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that the bombarded Gaza Strip was becoming a "graveyard for children," as he urged an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
"The unfolding catastrophe makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with every passing hour," he told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.
"The parties to the conflict-and, indeed, the international community-face an immediate and fundamental responsibility: to stop this inhuman collective suffering and dramatically expand humanitarian aid to Gaza," he said.
"The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity."
Hamas militants stormed into Israel from Gaza on October 7, killing some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including through targeting homes and revelers at a music festival.
Israeli forces cut off north
Gaza to isolate Hamas
The Israeli army severed northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory and pounded it with airstrikes Monday, preparing for expected ground battles with Hamas militants in Gaza's largest city and an even bloodier phase of the month-old war.
Already, the Palestinian death toll surpassed 10,000, the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Monday. The ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. About 1,400 people in Israel have died, mostly civilians killed in the Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas that started the war.
The war has quickly become the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence since Israel's establishment 75 years ago, with no end in sight as Israel vows to remove Hamas from power and crush its military capabilities.