Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 38 people across Gaza on Saturday, according to health officials, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed at the United Nations General Assembly to press ahead with Israel's military offensive despite growing global demands for a ceasefire.
Casualties mounted overnight in Gaza City and surrounding areas. Strikes leveled a house in the Tufah neighborhood, killing at least 11 people - more than half of them women and children - according to Al-Ahly Hospital. In central Gaza, a strike on a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed nine members of the same family, staff at Al-Awda Hospital said. Four more were killed when an airstrike hit a home in the Shati camp, and six others were fatally shot while seeking aid in southern and central Gaza, according to hospital reports.
The latest attacks followed Netanyahu's defiant UN address Friday, where he declared that Israel "must finish the job" in Gaza. His speech was met with a mass walkout by dozens of delegates from Arab, Muslim, and several European nations, underscoring Israel's diplomatic isolation as the war grinds on.
International pressure on Israel has intensified in recent days. A UN commission of inquiry has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, and a wave of countries - including the U.K., France, Canada, and Australia - have announced recognition of Palestinian statehood. Protesters rallied outside the UN during Netanyahu's speech, calling for an immediate ceasefire.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that the U.S. is "close to achieving a deal" that would "get the hostages back" and "end the war," adding that negotiations with regional partners are ongoing. He is expected to meet Netanyahu at the White House on Monday to push for a resolution.
Inside Gaza, conditions continue to deteriorate rapidly. Nearly two weeks into Israel's latest offensive, two hospitals have been forced to shut down after sustaining damage from strikes, two clinics have been destroyed, and others are barely functioning as fuel, medicine, and food supplies run critically low.
Doctors Without Borders announced Friday it had suspended its operations in Gaza City, citing the encirclement of its facilities by Israeli forces. "We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces," said Jacob Granger, the group's emergency coordinator. "This is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous, with the most at-risk people - infants in neonatal care, people with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses - unable to move and in grave danger."
The Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed and 167,000 wounded since the war began, with women and children accounting for roughly half of the deaths. U.N. agencies consider the ministry's tolls the most reliable estimates available despite Israel's disputes over the figures.
Israel launched its campaign after Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in an Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, roughly 20 of them believed alive.
