They’re just kids playing soccer

A Gaza family sat weeping yesterday over children killed by an Israeli strike as they were getting ready to play soccer, amid an intensified bombardment that Palestinian health authorities said has killed 44 people over the past 24 hours.

The strike was in Mawasi, a southern coastal area where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter after Israel's military told them to leave other areas it was bombing in its war against Hamas.

"The rocket struck them. There were no wanted or targeted people there and there was nobody else in the street. Just the children who were killed yesterday," said Mohammed Zanoun, a relative of the dead children.

Palestinian health authorities say Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,500 people, with another 10,000 believed to be dead and uncounted under the rubble since Israel launched its offensive on October 7, 2023.

The conflict has expanded, with Israel also fighting the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

An Israeli strike on Tyre in southern Lebanon killed at least seven people yesterday, Lebanese health authorities said.

The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday that nearly 70 percent of fatalities it had verified in Gaza were women and children. Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva, where the office is based, said it categorically rejected the report, saying it did not accurately reflect realities on the ground.

Strikes overnight and yesterday morning also killed four Palestinians east of Gaza City including two journalists, four people in a house in Beit Lahiya, and two people in a tent at al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, medics said.

Israel's military did not immediately respond yesterday to a request for comment on strikes on areas where displaced people were sheltering.

It has previously said Hamas fighters hide among the civilian population and it hits them when it sees them. Hamas denies hiding among civilians.

For the past month, Israel's main military focus has been in northern Gaza, the first part of the tiny, crowded territory that its troops overran early in the conflict last year.

A committee of global food security experts warned on Friday that there was a strong likelihood of imminent famine in northern Gaza amid the renewed fighting.

Israel's military said 11 trucks of food, water and medical supplies had been delivered into the north Gaza areas of Jabalia and Beit Hanoun on Saturday and said the famine assessment was based on "partial, biased data".

It said was preparing to open the Kissufim crossing into Gaza to expand aid routes.

On-off peace talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have made little progress over months. Qatar yesterday said it will pull out of Gaza ceasefire mediation until Hamas, Israel commit to talks.

On Friday, a US official said Washington had asked Qatar to close the Hamas office in Doha after the group rejected a ceasefire proposal.