Israel sharply ramps up Gaza strikes

Israel sharply ramped up strikes on the Gaza Strip, pounding the length of the Palestinian enclave and killing hundreds in a new, expanded phase of the war that Washington said veered from Israeli promises to do more to protect civilians. The Israeli military said on Friday it had struck more than 450 targets in Gaza from land, sea and air over the past 24 hours – the most since a truce collapsed last week and about double the daily figures typically reported since then. Gaza’s health ministry reported 350 people killed on Thursday, bringing the death toll from Israel’s two-month campaign in Gaza to more than 17,170, with thousands more missing and presumed buried under rubble. More strikes were reported on Friday morning in Khan Younis in the south, the Nusseirat camp in the centre and Gaza City in the north. “As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south… it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a press conference in Washington on Thursday. “And there does remain a gap between… the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground.” Israel launched its campaign to annihilate the Hamas group that rules Gaza after Hamas fighters went on a rampage through Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and seizing more than 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, many forced to flee three or four times, with only the belongings they can carry. With the fighting now extended across both halves of the Gaza Strip at the same time, residents say it has become almost impossible to find refuge. Israel says it is providing more detail than ever about which areas are safe and how to reach them, and blames Hamas for harm that befalls civilians by operating among them, which Hamas denies. Hamas reported the most intense clashes with Israeli fo