DEIR EL-BALAH – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel “has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas.”

While addressing foreign media in Jerusalem, he defends an upcoming military operation, stating, “our aim is not to occupy Gaza, but to liberate it.” He also counters what he describes as a “global campaign of lies,” as opposition to the plan intensifies both within Israel and globally.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hospitals and witnesses report that at least 26 Palestinians lost their lives while seeking aid in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the families of Israeli hostages have called for a general strike to oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intentions to escalate military operations in the region.

Netanyahu is set to hold a press briefing for both foreign and domestic media later on Sunday in the midst of widespread disapproval of his initiatives. His remarks will precede an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council discussing Israel’s agenda to gain control over Gaza City.

Hospital officials have indicated they received the bodies from regions where Palestinians were in pursuit of aid, either along food supply routes or near privately managed aid distribution sites within Gaza.

Among the deceased are 10 individuals who were killed while waiting for aid vehicles near the recently constructed Morag corridor, which divides Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, as per Nasser hospital.

Moreover, another six individuals were killed while awaiting aid in northern Gaza near the Zikim crossing, as reported by the Gaza Health Ministry and the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which handled the casualties.

In central Gaza, witnesses said they first heard warning shots before the fire was aimed toward crowds of aid seekers trying to reach a food distribution site operated by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. AP cannot independently confirm who fired the shots. The Awda hospital in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp said four people were killed by Israeli gunfire.

“First, it was in the air, then they started to fire at the people,” said Sayed Awda, who waited hundreds of meters (yards) from the GHF site in the area.

Six other aid seekers were killed while trying to reach GHF sites in Khan Younis and Rafah, Nasser hospital said.

The U.S. and Israel backed the foundation months ago as an alternative to the U.N.-run aid system, but its early operations have been marred by deaths and chaos, with aid-seekers coming under gunfire near the routes leading to the sites.

Responding to Associated Press inquiries, the GHF media office said: “There were no incidents at or near our sites today and these incidents appear to be linked to crowds trying to loot aid convoy.”

Israel’s military also said there were no incidents involving Israeli troops near central Gaza aid sites.

Seven people were killed in airstrikes, local hospitals reported — three people near the fishermen’s port in Gaza City and four people, two of them children, in a strike that hit a tent in Khan Younis. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes, but has accused Hamas of operating from civilian areas.

Hunger deaths mount, toll among children hits 100

Israel’s air and ground offensive has displaced most of the population and pushed the territory toward famine. Two more Palestinian children died of malnutrition-related causes on Saturday, bringing the death toll among children in Gaza to 100 since the war began.

A total of 117 adults have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June when the ministry started to count this age category, it said.

The toll from hunger isn’t included in the ministry’s death toll of 61,400 Palestinians in the war. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, doesn’t distinguish between fighters or civilians, but says around half of the dead have been women and children. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties.

Labor strike urged in Israel over looming Gaza City offensive

The prospect of expanding the war has sparked outrage both internationally and within Israel, where bereaved families and relatives of hostages still held in Gaza urged companies to declare a general strike next week.

Tens of thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night in what local media called one of the largest anti-government protests in recent months.

The families and their supporters hope to pressure the government to reverse its decision to take over Gaza City, warning that expanding the war will endanger their loved ones.

Of the 251 people abducted when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200, around 50 remain in Gaza, with 20 Israel believed to be alive.

Lishay Miran-Lavi, whose husband Omri is among the hostages, also appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff to halt the war.

“The decision to send the army deeper into Gaza is a danger to my husband, Omri. But we can still stop this disaster,” she said.

Also Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz toured the northern part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He said Israel’s military would remain in the area’s refugee camps at least until the end of the year.

Approximately 40,000 Palestinians have been driven from their homes this year in the West Bank’s largest displacement since Israel captured the territory in 1967. Israel says the operations are needed to stamp out militancy, as violence by all sides has surged since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited war in Gaza.

Katz on Sunday said the number of warnings about attacks against Israelis in the West Bank had decreased by 80% since the operation began in January.

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Metz reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.

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