GAZA, Feb 01 (AP/AFP/Reuters): Gaza's Health Ministry says 150 people have been killed in the territory in the last 24 hours and an additional 313 were wounded as Israeli forces continue to battle militants, even in the northern part of the territory.
The north, where entire neighborhoods have been flattened, was the initial target of Israel's ground offensive in late October.
Israel's military said Wednesday that its forces killed more than 15 Hamas militants in northern Gaza over the past day and targeted militant infrastructure in a school.
The latest deaths bring the Palestinian death toll from Israel's offensive to 26,900, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths but says most of those killed were women and children.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call for a cease-fire in Gaza. Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that sparked the war killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and about 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Hamas head due in Cairo
for truce discussions
The leader of Hamas was expected in Cairo on Thursday for talks on a proposed truce in Gaza, as Israel kept up its offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Hamas was reviewing a proposal for a six-week truce in its war with Israel, a source told AFP, after mediators gathered in Paris, with international efforts towards a new pause in the devastating war gathering pace.
In Gaza, there was no let-up in fighting or aerial bombardment, with the current focus of combat in the main southern city Khan Yunis, where Israel says leading Hamas militants are hiding.
Overnight, witnesses said several Israeli air strikes hit the city, while aid and health workers have for days reported heavy fighting, particularly around two hospitals.
"There is a massacre taking place right now," said Leo Cans, head of mission for international NGO Doctors Without Borders for the Palestinian Territories.
Israel accuses Hamas of operating from tunnels under hospitals in Gaza and of using medical facilities as command centres, a charge denied by the Islamist group, designated a "terrorist" organisation by the European Union and the United States.
Netanyahu says UN agency
for Palestinians must close
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Wednesday for the closure of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) as his forces conducted more air strikes in Gaza amid diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire and release of hostages in the enclave.
Israel has accused some UNRWA staff of involvement in the Oct 7 Hamas assault in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. Donors including the United States have paused funding pending an investigation, but aid agencies say ending UNRWA operations would wreck humanitarian efforts in devastated Gaza.
The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA, which was set up to help refugees of the war at Israel's founding in 1948 and to which more than half Gaza's population look to for day-to-day assistance.
"It's time the international community and the UN itself understand that UNRWA's mission has to end," Netanyahu told visiting UN delegates, according to his office.
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