Israel targets South Gaza as world leaders call for pause in fighting

Israel intensified its bombing of southern Gaza overnight, with officials in the Hamas-run enclave saying record numbers had been killed again, as violence flared elsewhere in the region and a showdown loomed at the UN over desperately needed aid.

Many of those killed were in the south, Gaza health officials said on Wednesday, where hundreds of thousands fled after Israel warned them it would attack the north to wipe out Hamas after its killing spree in Israel on Oct. 7.

The Palestinian death toll now exceeds 6,500, they said.


One strike brought down several apartment buildings in Khan Younis. "This is something not normal, we have not heard something like this before," said Khader Abu Odah, one of many stunned residents waiting for an excavator to lift rubble so they could look for survivors.

Palestinian anger over the deaths has been increased by a sense of betrayal as many of those who obeyed the order to move south are also being killed. The Israeli military says that Hamas, which took control in Gaza in 2005, has entrenched itself among the civilian population everywhere.

The US and Russia are leading rival calls at the United Nations for a pause in fighting to allow aid into Gaza, where living conditions are harrowing. Limited deliveries of food, medicine and water from Egypt restarted on Saturday through Rafah, the only crossing not controlled by Israel, which announced it had sealed off the coastal enclave for good after this month's attack from Hamas.