By 
(AP) — Israel showed no sign of responding to allies’ calls to halt its new military offensive in Gaza as health officials said airstrikes killed at least 85 Palestinians overnight into Tuesday, but Israel said it was allowing in dozens more trucks of aid.
It was not immediately clear whether the desperately needed aid was reaching any of Gaza’s over 2 million people, who had been under an Israeli blockade for nearly three months. Experts have warned of famine.
Under pressure, Israel agreed this week to allow a “minimal” amount of aid into Gaza after preventing the entry of food, medicine and fuel in an attempt to pressure Hamas.
After the first five trucks entered on Monday, dozens began entering via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday afternoon, Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said. They included flour for bakeries, food for community soup kitchens, baby food and medical supplies.
Organizations in Gaza did not immediately confirm whether they had received anything. Marmorstein said Israel would allow dozens of aid trucks per day — far less than the 600 that entered daily during the latest ceasefire that Israel ended in March. Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian agency, said the world body had received approvals for about 100 trucks to enter Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he decided to let in limited aid after pressure from allies, who told him they couldn’t support Israel while devastating images of starvation were coming out of Gaza.
But some close allies say his decision is not enough.
The British government on Tuesday said it was suspending free trade negotiations with Israel and was leveling new sanctions targeting settlements in the occupied West Bank. Its came a day after the U.K, France and Canada condemned Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza and its actions in the West Bank and threatened to take action.
“I want to put on record today that we’re horrified by the escalation from Israel,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the U.K.’s Parliament.
Israel’s Marmorstein called the new sanctions “unjustified and regrettable” and claimed Israel and the U.K. hadn’t been talking about free trade.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot denounced the Israeli government’s “blind violence” in Gaza that he said has turned the Palestinian territory into a “place of death.”
“This must stop,” Barrot told French radio France Inter on Tuesday.
Israel launched its new military operation in Gaza over the weekend, saying it aims to return dozens of hostages held by Hamas and destroy the militant group. More than 300 people have been killed in Gaza during the latest onslaught, according to health officials.
Israeli politician criticizes killing ‘babies as a hobby’
Criticism against Israel’s conduct in Gaza also came at home. A leader of center-left politics said Tuesday that Israel was becoming an “outcast among nations” because of the government’s approach to the war.
“A sane country doesn’t engage in fighting against civilians, doesn’t kill babies as a hobby and doesn’t set for itself the goals of expelling a population,” Yair Golan, a retired general and leader of the opposition Democrats party, told Reshet Bet radio.
His comments were rare criticism from inside Israel of its wartime conduct in Gaza. Many Israelis have criticized Netanyahu throughout the war, but that has been mostly limited to what opponents argue are his political motives to continue the war. Criticism over the war’s toll on Palestinian civilians has been almost unheard.
Netanyahu swiftly slammed Golan’s remarks, calling them “wild incitement” against Israeli soldiers and accusing him of echoing “disgraceful antisemitic blood libels” against the country.
Golan, who donned his uniform during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023. attack to join the fight against the militants, previously sparked an uproar when as deputy military chief of staff in 2016, he likened the atmosphere in Israel to that of Nazi-era Germany.
Strikes pound Gaza
Over recent days, Israel has issued evacuation orders for Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, which endured a previous offensive that left vast destruction.
In the latest strikes, two in northern Gaza hit a family home and a school-turned-shelter, killing at least 22 people, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas command center and warned civilians ahead of time.
A strike in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed 13 people, and another in the nearby built-up Nuseirat refugee camp killed 15, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Two strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis killed 10 people, according to Nasser Hospital. Israel said it was targeting militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the group operates in densely populated areas.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.
