Heavy fighting continues in Gaza as Israel, US reject ceasefire

Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters are locked in heavy, close-quarters fighting in Gaza City, with the White House announcing that Tel Aviv has agreed to daily four-hour military pauses in northern Gaza but rejecting a full ceasefire.

Palestinian fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and assault rifles were clashing on Thursday with Israeli soldiers backed by armored vehicles in the ruins of the besieged territory’s north.

Israeli airstrikes kept pounding Gaza City and other areas across the Palestinian enclave, with plumes of smoke rising from newly leveled homes and other civilian infrastructure.

Over a dozen Palestinians were killed after Israelis struck against the cities of Rafah and Deir al-Balah. At least 25 people were killed in fresh attacks on the Jabalia camp and in Khan Yunis.

Elsewhere, Israeli warplanes once again hit the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical complex. The regime’s jets also shelled al-Nasr Children's Hospital in Gaza City.

Tom Potokar, chief surgeon at the International Committee of the Red Cross, described the scene at the European hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza as "catastrophic".

After more than a month of intense bombardment, hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in a "dire humanitarian situation" in urban battle zones without enough food and water, the United Nations said.

The health ministry said the Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has climbed to 10,812. The victims include 4,412 children, 2,918 women and 676 elders, while more than 26,000 people were injured, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told a press conference in Gaza City.

He said 2,650 people, including 1,400 children, were also reported to be trapped under the rubble.

“The Israeli aggression has left 195 medics dead and 51 ambulances destroyed,” the spokesman added.

"We bury the dead in football fields and other vacant lots because the proper burial grounds are full," said Shihteh Nasser, 48, who had helped in the burials.

Bodies have piled up outside hospitals, on roads and in parks, in refrigerated trucks and even in a repurposed ice-cream van.

UN rights chief Volker Turk condemned Israel over its bombardment and its orders for Gazans to flee.

"The collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians amounts also to a war crime, as does the unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians," he told reporters at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the only route out of Gaza not controlled by Israel.

Israel's extremist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected a ceasefire. The United States has backed Israel's rejection of a ceasefire.

MG