Israel presses on in southern Gaza as death toll surges

Israel is pressing its push southwards of the Gaza strip whose health ministry reported a surging death toll.

Gaza's health ministry reported at least 165 people killed over the previous 24 hours -- by far the largest such toll it has issued in days, and more than double the previous day's figure.

An AFP correspondent reported gunfire, air strikes and tank shelling into the morning, particularly in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis city.

Israel army in early January said the Hamas command structure in northern Gaza had been dismantled, leaving only isolated fighters.

The military said troops backed by air and naval support were striking Hamas infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip, including the north yesterday.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday at least 24,927 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since October 7.

A ministry statement said at least 165 people were killed over the past 24 hours, while another 62,388 have been wounded since the war began.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday he told US President Joe Biden that he rejected Palestinian sovereignty in the Gaza Strip, in a call the day before.

The two leaders spoke by phone on Friday for the first time in nearly a month, with Biden saying following the call that he believed it was still possible Netanyahu could agree to some form of Palestinian state.

• 24,927 killed, 62,388 wounded in Gaza since October 7
• 165 killed over 24 hours in the enclave
• Gunfire, air strikes, tank shelling reported in Khan Yunis
   

"In his conversation with President Biden, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated his policy that after Hamas is destroyed Israel must retain security control over Gaza to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, a requirement that contradicts the demand for Palestinian sovereignty," Netanyahu's office said in a statement issued on Saturday.

On Thursday, Netanyahu had rejected Palestinian sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, saying it was incompatible with Israel's need to have "security control over all the territory west of the (River) Jordan".

Biden had said after the call on Friday that it was possible Netanyahu could come round to some form of two-state solution, seen for decades by diplomats as the best way to bring peace to the Middle East.

"There are a number of types of two-state solutions. There's a number of countries that are members of the UN that... don't have their own militaries," Biden told reporters after an event at the White House.

A senior Hamas official yesterday dismissed Biden's comments about the possibility of Israel agreeing to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"The illusion that Biden is preaching about a state of Palestine and its characteristics does not fool our people," Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Islamist group's political bureau, said in a statement.

"Biden is a full partner in the genocidal war and our people do not expect any good from him."