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Three babies among 11 killed in Israeli strike - Gaza rescuers

A woman inspects the damage on a house from an Israeli strike in Khan Younis today
A woman inspects the damage on a house from an Israeli strike in Khan Younis today

Gaza's civil defence agency has said that an overnight Israeli strike on the Khan Younis refugee camp killed at least 11 people including three babies up to a year old.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal reported 11 killed "after the bombardment of the Al-Bayram family home in the Khan Younis camp" in southern Gaza at around 3am local time.

Mr Bassal said that eight of the dead had been identified and were all from the same extended family, including a boy and girl, both one years old, and a month-old baby.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike.

Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on 18 March after a two-month truce in its war against Hamas that was triggered by the Palestinian militant group's 7 October 2023 attack.

Yesterday, the civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 42 people across the war-ravaged territory, which has been under a total Israeli blockade since 2 March.

Israel halted aid deliveries to Gaza, saying Hamas had diverted supplies. Israel says the blockade is meant to pressure the militants into releasing hostages held in the Palestinian territory.

UN agencies have urged Israel to lift restrictions, saying that Gazans were experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe and warning of famine.

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Israel urged to give media 'unrestricted' Gaza access

Meanwhile, the Foreign Press Association has called on Israel to allow news media "unrestricted" access to Gaza, off-limits to outside journalists operating independently since the war there began in October 2023.

"We call on Israel to stop the never-ending delays, uphold the fundamental principles of press freedom and allow unrestricted entry for journalists to Gaza," the Jerusalem-based association wrote in a statement to mark World Press Freedom Day.

The FPA has more than 350 members working for foreign media outlets in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

The association criticised Israel for an "unprecedented ban preventing foreign journalists from entering Gaza", calling the decision a "mark of shame for a country that claims to be a beacon of democracy".

The FPA, which has filed an appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court challenging the ban, said its members "salute our Palestinian colleagues who continue to report the story at great personal risk".

"Nonetheless, the Israeli restrictions have severely hindered independent reporting and robbed the world of a full picture of the situation in Gaza," the association added.

The war that continues to devastate Gaza was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.


Read more: 'We have nothing to give them,' says aid worker in Gaza


With the exception of a journalist for US outlet CNN who entered a field hospital in Rafah operated by the United Arab Emirates in 2023, the only outside journalists allowed into Gaza, which is under Israeli blockade, did so with Israeli forces.

Their reports were subject to military censorship.

The UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said it "sombrely marks World Press Freedom Day as Palestinian journalists continue to be killed or injured at an alarming rate with impunity".

The office said it had independently verified the killing of 211 journalists in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, including 28 women.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of their destroyed homes following an Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis

Israel issues call-up notices to thousands of reservists

The Israeli military was issuing call-up notices to thousands of reservists on Saturday to support an expansion of its offensive in Gaza, Israeli media reported, after the prime minister announced that his upcoming visit to Azerbaijan was postponed.

The reservists will be deployed to Israel's border with Lebanon and in the occupied West Bank, replacing regular soldiers who will lead a new offensive in Gaza, the news site Ynet reported.

The military had no immediate comment.

Earlier, the prime minister's office announced that Benjamin Netanyahu was rescheduling his visit to Azerbaijan, citing recent developments in Gaza and Syria.

The office, which also cited "the intense diplomatic and security schedule", did not announce a new date for the visit.

Israeli media reported that the security cabinet had approved plans for an expanded operation in the Gaza Strip.

Israel broke a fragile ceasefire with Hamas in March after seeking to extend it without engaging in talks to permanently end the war.

Hamas says it would release the remaining hostages in Gaza only in exchange for an end to the war.

The Israeli military has since intensified its bombing campaign and carved out wide buffer zones in Gaza, squeezing the 2.3 million population into an ever narrower zone in the centre of the enclave and along the coast and shutting off aid supplies.

According to health ministry figures in Gaza, the overall death toll from Israeli attacks in the territory since the war broke out is more than 52,400.

The UN considers these figures to be reliable.

Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.