DEIR AL BALAH, Apr 03 (AP): Overnight strikes by Israel killed at least 55 people across the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Thursday, a day after senior government officials said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and establish a new security corridor across the Palestinian territory.
Israel has vowed to escalate the nearly 18-month war with Hamas until the militant group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel has imposed a month-long halt on all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle.
Officials in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the strip, said the bodies of 14 people had been taken to Nasser Hospital - nine of them from the same family. The dead included five children and four women.
The bodies of another 19 people, including five children aged between 1 and 7 years and a pregnant woman, were taken to the European hospital near Khan Younis, hospital officials said. In Gaza City, 21 bodies were taken to Ahli hospital, including those of seven children.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel was establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas, suggesting it would cut off the southern city of Rafah, which Israel has ordered evacuated, from the rest of the Palestinian territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Budapest early Thursday on his first trip to Europe since 2023 and in defiance of the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s arrest warrant against him.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban extended an invitation to Netanyahu last November, a day after the ICC issued the arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Orban vowed the EU member would not execute the warrant, despite being an ICC member, saying the court's decision "intervenes in an ongoing conflict... for political purposes".
"Welcome to Budapest, Benjamin Netanyahu!" wrote Hungary's Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky on Facebook as Netanyahu began his visit, and after greeting him at the airport in capital Budapest.
Netanyahu was welcomed with military honours, after which he will hold talks with Orban.
A joint news conference is expected around 12:30 pm (1030 GMT).
Experts say the Israeli premier, who is scheduled to stay in Hungary until Sunday, is trying to diminish the impact of the court's decision, while hoping to drive attention away from tensions at home as he meets like-minded ally Orban.
Hungary announces
ICC withdrawal
Hungary on Thursday said it will quit the International Criminal Court, just as Prime Minister Viktor Orban hosted his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the tribunal has accused of war crimes in Gaza.
The government announcement to start the year-long withdrawal process came as Orban welcomed Netanyahu in the capital Budapest on his first trip to Europe since 2023.
Orban, who has promised not to execute an ICC warrant for Netanyahu, received the Israeli premier with military honours, with both men walking the red carpet before pausing in front of their national flags.
