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GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Israel kept up deadly strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip on Sunday despite growing international calls for a ceasefire and pleas from desperate relatives to bring home the remaining hostages.

Fighting raged on in the bloodiest ever Gaza war, now in its third month, that started with the Hamas sudden attacks of October 7 and has devastated much of the Palestinian territory, sparking global concern.

The health ministry in the Gaza Strip said "24 Palestinians were killed this morning in Jabalia camp by an Israeli bombardment. Many are still missing under the rubble".

It also said at least 12 people died in strikes on the central city of Deir Al Balah, while witnesses reported bombardment of Bani Suhaila east of Khan Yunis, Gaza's second city.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, the latest foreign envoy visiting Israel, called for an "immediate and durable" truce leading to a lasting ceasefire, stressing that "too many civilians are being killed".

Her British and German counterparts, David Cameron and Annalena Baerbock, also bemoaned the high civilian toll but voiced a different stance on the conflict, in a joint Sunday Times article.

The pair wrote that they "support a ceasefire, but only if it is sustainable ... We do not believe that calling right now for a general and immediate ceasefire, hoping it somehow becomes permanent, is the way forward".

According to health ministry in Gaza, Israel's offensive, including over two months of sustained aerial bombardment and a ground invasion, has killed 18,800 people, mostly women and children.

The Israeli forces said Sunday two more soldiers had been killed in Gaza, bringing the total to 121 since ground operations began in late October.

Hospital 'bloodbath' 

Israel's bombardment of Gaza has left much of the territory in ruins, with the UN estimating 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced by the war and warning of a "breakdown of civil order".

"I would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity," said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

The UN's World Health Organisation also sounded the alarm over Gaza's humanitarian disaster after visiting the largest hospital, Gaza City's Al Shifa, weeks after it was raided by Israeli forces in pursuit of Hamas militants.

The visiting WHO team "described the emergency department as a 'bloodbath', with hundreds of injured patients inside, and new patients arriving every minute", the organisation said.

"Patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor," it said, while "tens of thousands of displaced people are using the hospital building and grounds for shelter" amid "a severe shortage" of water and food.

The Israeli government has come under growing pressure, including from its top ally the United States, but also from families of hostages, to either slow, suspend or end the military campaign.

Relatives of hostages again rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for an urgent deal to bring them home after the army admitted to mistakenly killing three captives in Gaza.

Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old soldier Itai, who is among the remaining 129 captives, said: “We feel like we’re in a Russian roulette game [finding out] who will be next in line to be told the death of their loved one.”

Nonetheless, according to reports, talks involving mediator Qatar have resumed toward another truce after a week-long ceasefire last month allowed for the hostages-for-prisoners swap.

News platform Axios said Israeli spy chief David Barnea met Friday in an unspecified European location with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who helped negotiate the earlier truce.

Qatar in a statement Saturday reaffirmed its “ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause”.

But Hamas said on Telegram it was “against any negotiations for the exchange of prisoners until the aggression against our people ceases completely”.

The Gaza war has also seen violence spiral in the occupied West Bank.

Five Palestinians were killed Sunday morning in an Israeli forces operation at the Tulkarem refugee camp, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

More than 290 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the war erupted, health officials say.

The war has also raised fears of a broader Middle East conflict, with Israel exchanging regular fire with Iran-backed Hizbollah across its northern border with Lebanon.

And Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched repeated attacks at Israel and on passing vessels, causing major disruption to the key Red Sea shipping lane.

Major shipping companies have said they would redirect their vessels, among them Mediterranean Shipping Company, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said late Saturday he was travelling to Israel, Bahrain and Qatar to highlight Washington’s “commitments to strengthening regional security and stability”.

KUWAIT CITY — The ruling emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, died on Saturday aged 86, the royal court said.

"With great sadness and sorrow, we mourn... the death of Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, Emir of the State of Kuwait," said a statement aired on state television.

In November, Sheikh Nawaf was hospitalised "due to an emergency health problem", according to the official KUNA news agency. Sheikh Nawaf ascended to the role of crown prince in 2006, appointed by his half-brother Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. He assumed the position of emir upon Sheikh Sabah's death in September 2020 at the age of 91.

In 2020, Sheikh Nawaf faced the challenge of navigating the economy through a crisis triggered by a fall in oil prices.

Sheikh Nawaf’s reign, though not the shortest in Kuwait’s history, was notable for issuing numerous amnesties, earning him the title “emir of pardons”, according to Bader Al Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University.

Last month, Kuwait’s Council of Ministers approved a draft royal decree calling for pardons for political prisoners convicted during the past decade. Similar pardons were also issued in 2021.

Sheikh Nawaf would also “be remembered for his unique personal attributes: Soft spoken, devout, modest, low profile”, Saif said.

Sheikh Nawaf’s rule also saw the Gulf country hold three parliamentary elections in as many years.

Born in 1937, Sheikh Nawaf was the fifth son of Kuwait’s late ruler from 1921 to 1950 Sheikh Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah.

He started his political career at the age of 25 as governor of Hawalli province, remaining in the position until 1978 when he began a decade-long tenure as interior minister.

DUBAI — Two of the world's largest shipping firms, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, said on Friday they were suspending passage through a Red Sea strait vital for global commerce, after Yemeni rebel attacks in the area.

The Iran-backed Houthis, who control much of Yemen but are not recognised internationally, say they're targeting shipping to pressure Israel during its two-month-old war with Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.

The maritime tensions have added to fears that the Gaza conflict could spread.

German transport company Hapag-Lloyd said it was halting Red Sea container ship traffic until December 18, after the Houthis attacked one of its vessels.

"Hapag-Lloyd is interrupting all container ship traffic across the Red Sea until Monday," the company said in a statement sent to AFP.

The Danish firm Maersk made a similar announcement, a little earlier.

"We have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab Al Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice," it said.

Maersk said this followed a "near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday" as well as Friday's attack, in which the rebels struck a Hapag-Lloyd cargo ship in the Red Sea.

A US defence official identified it as the Liberia-flagged Al Jasrah, a 368-metre container ship built in 2016.

"We are aware that something launched from a Houthi-controlled region of Yemen struck this vessel which was damaged, and there was a report of a fire," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity so that he could discuss intelligence matters.

The US Central Command in the Middle East (CENTCOM) confirmed on X, formerly Twitter, that "a UAV" l struck the Al Jasrah causing a fire that was successfully extinguished.

Vessel seized 

A Hapag-Lloyd spokesman told AFP: "There has been an attack on one of our ships."

It was en route from the Greek port of Piraeus to Singapore. There were no casualties and the ship was travelling onward to its destination, he added.

Later in the day during a pro-Palestinian rally in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, the rebels said they attacked two other ships in the area.

"Container ships MSC Palatium and MSC Alanya were targeted by two naval missiles as they were heading toward the Israeli entity," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a broadcast on the rebels' television channel.

The rebels said that, in an earlier attack, the Maersk Gibraltar vessel was “targeted with a drone and the hit was direct”. According to a US official, the missile missed.

Saree said the attack came after the ship’s crew “refused to respond to the calls of the Yemeni naval services”, and that it was intended as retaliation for the “oppression of the Palestinian people”.

CENTCOM said that the MSC Alanya was only threatened but not struck, while the Palatium was hit by one of two ballistic missiles fired.

In a statement posted December 9 on social media, the Houthis said they “will prevent the passage” of ships heading to Israel, regardless of ownership, if food and medicine are not allowed into besieged, Hamas-ruled Gaza.

On Tuesday, they claimed responsibility for a missile strike on a Norwegian-flagged tanker.

Last month, they seized an Israel-linked cargo vessel, the Galaxy Leader, and its 25 international crew members.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday said the Houthi attacks “endanger not only Israel’s security” but also international shipping routes.

Speaking in Tel Aviv, United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed similar concern and said Washington is working with the international community “to deal with this threat”.

Oil, gas route 

Asked at a press conference in Oslo about the potential for broader conflict after the Houthi attacks, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said: “Our region is very complex and we do not need any other conflicts to erupt.”

A Saudi-led military coalition has for years backed the Yemeni government against the Houthis, but a United Nations-brokered ceasefire has largely held since expiring over a year ago.

Iran’s Defence Minister Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani warned on Wednesday against the possible deployment of multinational forces in the Red Sea, which he said would lead to “extraordinary problems”, the ISNA news agency said.

The attack on the Al Jasrah occurred near Bab Al Mandab, the narrow strait between Yemen and northeast Africa through which around 20,000 ships pass annually.

The area leads to the Red Sea, Israel’s southern port facilities and the Suez Canal, making it part of a strategic route for Gulf oil and natural gas shipments.

The Houthis have declared themselves part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran-affiliated groups.

Western warships are patrolling the area and have shot down Houthi missiles and drones several times.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel approved Friday the "temporary" delivery of aid into Gaza via its Kerem Shalom border crossing, the prime minister's office said, opening a new route for supplies after weeks of pressure.

The Gaza Strip is facing dire humanitarian conditions after more than two months of war, but prior to Friday's decision, all aid entering the territory had to pass through the Rafah crossing on its border with Egypt.

Kerem Shalom, which sits on Gaza's border with Israel, recently began inspecting shipments of aid bound for the territory, but the trucks still had to travel to Rafah afterwards to enter.

Israel's cabinet "approved today a temporary measure of unloading the trucks on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing" in order to increase the amount of aid getting into the territory, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who was wrapping up a trip to Israel on Friday, called the decision a "significant step".

"President (Joe) Biden raised this issue … and it was an important topic of discussion during my visit to Israel over the past two days," he said.

The United States hopes “this new opening will ease congestion and help facilitate the delivery of life-saving assistance”, Sullivan added.

A World Health Organisation representative said the announcement was “very good news”, while a spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres also welcomed Kerem Shalom’s reopening.

“The fast implementation of this agreement will increase the flow of aid,” said spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “A humanitarian ceasefire will increase the distribution of that aid across Gaza even more.”

BEIRUT — The Israeli forces dropped leaflets on parts of south Lebanon on Friday for the first time since the Israeli war on Gaza began, warning residents not to help Hizbollah, inhabitants said.

Since October 8, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen deadly exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hizbollah movement, which says it is acting in support of Hamas.

"Early Friday morning, a drone dropped leaflets over the village that landed between the houses," said a resident of Kfarshuba near the border, requesting anonymity due to security concerns.

Another resident said leaflets were dropped twice after the wind blew many from the initial batch away.

"To the residents of south Lebanon, we inform you that the terrorist Hizbollah is infiltrating into your homes and your lands," read a copy of a leaflet seen by AFP.

"You must stop this terrorism for your own security," the text added, warning the population that assisting Hizbollah would expose them "to danger".

Residents along the Lebanese border have said the Israeli army has stepped up its bombardment of frontier villages in recent days.

Israel also dropped leaflets over parts of south Lebanon during a 2006 war with Hizbollah.

Since the cross-border exchanges of fire began in October, more than 120 people have been killed on the Lebanese side of the frontier, most of them Hizbollah fighters but also including a Lebanese soldier and 17 civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP tally.

More than 64,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, mostly in the south, figures from the International Organisation for Migration show.

On the Israeli side, at least six soldiers and four civilians have been killed, authorities there have said.

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Israel bombarded the Gaza Strip on Thursday as a top White House adviser travelled to occupied Jerusalem with a rift growing over civilian casualties.

The war, now in its third month, began after the Palestinian resistance group's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel. Israel launched relentless bombardment and ground invasion that has left swathes of Gaza in ruins. According to the health ministry's latest toll, 18,608 people, mostly women and children, have been killed

Israeli air strikes across Gaza overnight killed at least 67 more, the health ministry said.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where violence since October 7 has surged to levels unseen in nearly two decades, the Palestinian health ministry said "a young man died from his wounds" as a result of ongoing Israeli "aggression" in Jenin, a fighters' stronghold.

US President Joe Biden, whose government has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, delivered his sharpest rebuke of the war on Wednesday. He said Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza was eroding international support.

But Israeli occupation’s embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry on “until victory, nothing less than that”, and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the war would continue “with or without international support”.

On Thursday, Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was due in Jerusalem for talks with Netanyahu and his war Cabinet, a sign of the US pressure.

Sullivan told a Wall Street Journal event ahead of his trip that he would discuss a timetable to end the war and urge Israeli leaders “to move to a different phase from the kind of high-intensity operations that we see today”.

Qatar-based Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that “any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion”.

A poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research showed Haniyeh had the support of 78 per cent of people in the Palestinian territories, compared with 58 per cent before the war.

CNN reported, citing US intelligence, that nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions used by Israel in Gaza since October 7 have been unguided, which can pose a greater threat to civilians.

International pressure is mounting on Israel to better protect non-combatants. This week, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly supported a non-binding resolution for a ceasefire.

While Washington voted against, the resolution was supported by allies Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In a rare joint statement, the three countries said they were “alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza”.

 The UN estimates 1.9 million out of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced.

The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Wednesday that Gazans were “facing the darkest chapter of their history”.

He said they are “now crammed into less than one-third” of the territory, and hinted there could be an exodus to Egypt, “especially when the border is so close”.

Cold wintery rain has lashed the makeshift tents where the homeless struggle to survive without sufficient food, drinking water, medicines or fuel for cooking.

“Where do we migrate to? Our dignity is gone. Where do women relieve themselves? There are no bathrooms,” said Bilal Al Qassas, 41, who fled to the southern city of Rafah which has become a vast camp.

Despite the needs, aid distribution has largely stopped in most of Gaza, except on a limited basis in the Rafah area, the UN says.

Disease spreading

Samar Mohammed, a 38-year-old teacher, fled with her family to a friend’s home in Rafah. They have been told they could pay thousands of dollars in bribes to get out, “but haven’t found anyone we trust not to steal from us”, she said.

The UN warned the spread of diseases, including meningitis, jaundice and upper respiratory tract infections, had intensified.

Fewer than one-third of Gaza’s hospital are partly functioning, the UN says, and Hamas authorities said vaccines for children have run out, with “catastrophic health repercussions”.

The World Health Organisation called for the “protection of all people inside” Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza. The Hamas-controlled health ministry said Israeli forces had opened fire on wards of the facility.

The Palestinian health ministry said 10 people have been killed since Tuesday when Israeli forces began raiding Jenin, where the Israeli military says it has seized weapons, dismantled explosives laboratories, tunnel shafts and other military facilities.

The Hamas-Israel war has led to increased popular support for Hamas in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

In Israel, the army is coming under growing pressure to limit troop deaths, it says 116 have been killed in Gaza, and secure the release of remaining hostages.

PARIS — The spike in attacks claimed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea is dangerously increasing tensions in a bottleneck for international maritime trade and fuelling fears of an uncontrolled regional spillover of Yemen’s longstanding conflict.

Since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have threatened to attack any ship heading to Israeli ports and stepped up their raids.

On Tuesday, Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile strike on a Norwegian-flagged tanker, an attack the Iran-backed group said was part of its military campaign against Israel.

Last month, they seized an Israel-linked cargo vessel, the Galaxy Leader, and its 25 international crew.

The Houthis, who control much of Yemen but are not recognised internationally, are part of the Iran-backed so-called “axis of resistance” arrayed against Israel.

They say they are defending the Palestinians from an Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, and have launched a series of drones and missiles towards Israel. US and French warships patrolling the Red Sea have shot down Houthi missiles and drones several times since the militants began the attacks.

A vital link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea is a key trade route for global shipping and energy supplies.

Some 40 per cent of international trade passes through the Strait of Bab Al Mandeb, or the “Gate of Tears”, a narrow waterway which separates the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa.

“This is a rather dangerous moment for the stability of this strategic region,” said Camille Lons, a researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Fabian Hinz of the International Institute for Strategic Studies added: “The Houthis have the capacity to cause considerable damage.”

While warships passing through the Red Sea are well equipped and can retaliate, commercial vessels do not have the same protections. “The US Navy cannot escort every civilian vessel in the Red Sea,” said Hinz.

Iran influence 

In recent years ties have grown between the Houthi rebels and Iran but the extent of their cooperation and coordination remains a major question.

The Houthis say they manufacture their drones domestically, although analysts say they contain smuggled Iranian components.

“The big question of course is the exact nature of Iranian involvement in these strikes,” said Hinz.

“Houthi equipment is mostly Iranian technology, but we know very little about Tehran’s involvement in decision-making.”

Many experts insist on the degree of autonomy of the Yemeni rebels.

Lons said that Houthis “don’t answer to Tehran like the Lebanese Hizbollah does, the jewel in the crown of Iranian proxies in the region”.

“The Houthis would exist with or without Iran,” Franck Mermier, a Yemen expert at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, told AFP.

“They have a religious and ideological closeness to Iran, but they are Yemeni fighters first and foremost”, he said.

“I’m not sure the Iranians push the button on every attack,” added Mermier.

In contrast to Hizbollah’s creation during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, Iran had had no role in the birth of the Houthi movement.

The rebels adhere to a branch of Shiite Islam known as Zaidism.

‘Unpredictable and dangerous’ 

At the weekend Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi urged the international community to rein in the Yemeni rebels.

“If the world does not take care of it,” Hanegbi warned, “we will take action.”

Analysts said that the tensions could get out of hand quickly.

“The Houthis are totally unpredictable and dangerous. And the processes that trigger war are always unpredictable,” said Mermier.

“So far the Houthis have struck without attracting massive retaliation, but it can get out of hand,” added Mermier.

Lons said that so far Iran has demonstrated it has no interest in letting the situation escalate regionally.

“However, Tehran has less leverage over groups like the Houthis,” added Lons.

Noam Raydan, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in a note to clients that since the capture of the Galaxy Leader some companies have been re-routing their ships around the Cape of Good Hope, opting for a longer and costlier route.

“The risk of major disruption to global trade will remain high as long as commercial ships operated by various nationalities are being targeted,” she said.