Gaza officials say Israeli fire strikes a crowd waiting for aid, killing at least 20

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli fire struck a crowd of people waiting for humanitarian aid at a roundabout in Gaza City on Thursday, killing at least 20 and wounding 150. The Israeli military says it was looking into the reports.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a strike the day before on a crowded shelter in Gaza rose to 12, with over 75 wounded, according to Thomas White, a senior official with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.

The agency did not directly blame Israel, which is the only party to the conflict that has tanks. The Israeli military said it has “currently ruled out” that the strike was carried out by its aircraft or artillery but was still investigating. It says the building might have been hit by a Hamas rocket.

The fighting in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis has isolated its two main hospitals, stranding hundreds of patients and thousands of displaced people inside. A third hospital was evacuated overnight, White said. Thousands of people rushed to escape farther south in recent days, crowding into shelters and tent camps near the border with Egypt.

The Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 25,700 people have been killed and another 63,000 wounded in the enclave since the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, when militants from Gaza killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.

Here’s the latest:

TURKEY’S ERDOGAN TELLS SOUTH AFRICAN LEADER HE WELCOMES HIS COUNTRY’S GENOCIDE CASE AGAINST ISRAEL

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday that he welcomes its case at the United Nations’ top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

South Africa has also asked the International Court of Justice to order Israel to halt its attacks — the first such challenge made at court in The Hague, Netherlands, over the current war. Israel swiftly rejected the filing “with disgust” and asked the court to throw out the case.

Erdogan told Ramaphosa in a telephone call that Turkey would work to ensure the case concludes in accordance with international law and human rights and that “Israel receives the punishment it deserves,” according to a statement from Ankara.

The court is scheduled to issue a decision Friday on South Africa’s request for interim orders, including that Israel halt its offensive in Gaza.

Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, has said that Ankara had provided documents being used in the case against Israel.

ISRAELI FIRE STRIKES CROWD WAITING FOR AID IN GAZA CITY, KILLING AT LEAST 2O, GAZA’S HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS

BEIRUT — Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli fire has hit a crowd of people waiting for humanitarian aid at a roundabout in Gaza City on Thursday, killing at least 20.

Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra says another 150 people were wounded in the attack and that the death toll is likely to rise as dozens of seriously wounded people were brought to the city’s Shifa Hospital.

The ministry did not specify what type of weapons were involved. The Israeli military says it is looking into the reports.

Israeli troops and tanks pushed into Gaza City shortly after the ground invasion began and have been battling militants there for nearly two months. The military says it has largely defeated Hamas in northern Gaza but is still facing pockets of resistance.

The offensive has obliterated entire neighborhoods and caused widespread destruction across northern Gaza, raising concerns over whether the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who heeded Israeli orders to flee south will be able to return.

The north has also been largely cut off from humanitarian aid, even as tens of thousands of people have remained there.

‘FAUDA’ ACTOR WILL BE RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL AFTER HE WAS WOUNDED IN GAZA

TEL AVIV — Israeli singer and actor Idan Amedi, known for his role in the popular series “Fauda,” is being released from the hospital Thursday after he was seriously wounded on Jan. 8 while his unit was laying explosives to destroy a tunnel in central Gaza.

Six Israeli soldiers were killed in the operation and dozens were injured when a tank shell prematurely ignited the explosives before the soldiers had cleared the area.

“Although I was seriously injured, my spirit is strong,” Amedi said in a news conference upon his release to home rehabilitation. “I refuse to make this injury the story of my life; it’s just another milestone. I will come back to sing and act, and with God’s help, I will also return to fight for my country.”

Amedi, 35, has been on reserve duty in the Israeli military since Hamas launched its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel has enlisted roughly 360,000 reserve soldiers from all walks of life in its war against Hamas.

Amedi said he plans to return to act in Fauda after his rehabilitation. “Fauda” follows a team of undercover agents from Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, in their operations against Palestinians. While the show is critically acclaimed, some Palestinians say it trivializes their experience under Israel’s open-ended military occupation of the West Bank. Amedi played Sagi Tzur, a rookie undercover agent, during the series’ second to fourth seasons, and is also a successful singer-songwriter in Israel.

DEATH TOLL RISES TO 12 WITH DOZENS WOUNDED AFTER A STRIKE ON A CROWDED GAZA SHELTER, UN OFFICIAL SAYS

JERUSALEM — A United Nations official says the death toll from a strike on a crowded shelter in Gaza has risen to 12, with over 75 wounded.

Thomas White, a senior official with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said Thursday that 15 of those wounded were in critical condition. UNRWA says two tank shells hit a building in a shelter housing thousands of displaced Palestinians on Wednesday in the southern city of Khan Younis, which has seen heavy fighting in recent days. The building caught fire, it said.

It did not directly blame Israel, which is the only party to the conflict that has tanks.

The Israeli military said it has “currently ruled out” that the strike was carried out by its aircraft or artillery but was still investigating. It says the building might have been hit by a Hamas rocket.

The fighting in Khan Younis has isolated its two main hospitals, Nasser and Al-Amal, stranding hundreds of patients and thousands of displaced people inside.

White says a third hospital was evacuated overnight, and that among the patients who departed were women who had just undergone cesarean sections.

BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY APPEALS TO NETANYAHU FOR AN IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE DURING HIS MIDEAST TRIP

LONDON — British Foreign Secretary David Cameron says he has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there should be an “immediate humanitarian pause” in the fighting in Gaza that can lead to a permanent cease-fire.

Cameron is due to visit Qatar later Thursday to push for more aid to get into Gaza. A consignment of 17 tonnes (19 tons) of tents from the United Kingdom was due Thursday to be flown from Qatar to Egypt on its way to the territory.

The U.K. is a strong ally of Israel but is increasingly critical of its conduct of the war against Hamas.

Cameron said that “the scale of suffering in Gaza is unimaginable. More must be done, faster, to help people trapped in this desperate situation.” He called for Israel to fully restore water, fuel and electricity supplies to Gaza. “We need an immediate humanitarian pause to get aid in and hostages out, followed by a sustainable cease-fire, without a return to hostilities.”