Israeli airstrikes pound southern Gaza as more countries pull funding for UN agency

Israel pressed ahead on Saturday with its campaign against Hamas in Gaza's Khan Younis area, while bad weather hit displaced Palestinians seeking refuge further north in the battered enclave.

Residents reported heavy aerial and tank fire across Khan Younis, a part of southern Gaza that has become the focus of Israel's ground offensive against Hamas, and around two main hospitals there

Hamas said its fighters fired a missile against an Israeli tank in southwest Khan Younis.

The Israeli military said it killed at least 11 gunmen who were trying to plant explosives near troops and others firing rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at soldiers in Khan Younis. Over the past week, it added, commandos killed more than 100 militants and raided weapons warehouses.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, allied with Hamas, said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces in the Khan Younis area and had fired rockets into Israel.

Palestinian health officials said Israeli strikes hit near the largest functioning medical facility in the south, Nasser Hospital, and Al-Amal Hospital, where one person was killed in the courtyard, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

The Israeli bombardment was compromising health care and endangering the lives of doctors, patients and displaced people, said Ashraf Al-Qidra, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it is in contact with hospital directors and medical staff by phone and on the ground to make sure that they are running and accessible. Israel said Hamas operates in and around medical facilities, an allegation the group denies.

In a ruling on Friday, the International Court of Justice, also called the World Court, stopped short of ordering a ceasefire but ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said afterward that the war aimed at eliminating Hamas would continue.

WATCH | Breaking down the Israel-Gaza ICJ ruling:

Breaking down the Israel-Gaza ICJ ruling and its impact

1 day ago

Duration 6:21

The UN’s International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to take measures to prevent acts of genocide in its war against Hamas in Gaza, although it stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. The National’s Ian Hanomansing asks international law experts Ardi Imseis and Sarah Teich to break down the ruling and its potential impact on the war.

In the southern city of Rafah, Zainab Khalil, 57, displaced with her family several times until reaching shelter not far from the border with Egypt, said the ICJ's ruling on the temporary measures was important, but not enough.

"We want a ceasefire now," she said.

Israel launched its air, sea and land offensive after militants from the Hamas group that rules Gaza stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, More than 1,200 people were killed during the attack, and 253 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Some 26,257 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 65,000 wounded so far, including 174 killed in the last 24 hours, Palestinian health officials said on Saturday. The majority of the enclave's 2.3 million population has been displaced.

In Rafah, where over half of Gaza's people are now taking cover in shelters and tents, Gaza health officials said an Israeli air strike killed three people in a house there.

It was not immediately clear who the casualties were and there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

In the occupied West Bank, one man was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces near Jenin, residents said.

Israel says 220 soldiers have died since it launched its ground offensive. It says it has killed at least 9,000 Gaza militants so far, a figure that Hamas has dismissed.

Residents and Hamas militants reported fighting on Saturday in the central and northern parts of the enclave, where heavy rain flooded tents of those displaced, forcing some to seek alternative shelter in the middle of the night.

Countries pull funding from UNRWA

Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Finland became the latest countries on Saturday to pause funding for the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), following allegations that some of its staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

The U.S., Australia and Canada had already paused funding to the aid agency, a critical source of support for people in Gaza, after the allegations by Israel. The agency said on Friday it had opened an investigation into several employees and severed ties with those people.

The Palestinian foreign ministry criticized what it described as an Israeli campaign against UNRWA, and Hamas condemned the termination of employee contracts "based on information derived from the Zionist enemy."

UNRWA was set up to help refugees of the 1948 war at Israel's founding and provides education, health and aid services to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. It helps about two thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million population and has played a pivotal aid role during the war.