United Nations leaders call for ceasefire in Hamas-Israel conflict: 'No one is safe'
Israel has rejected a ceasefire until Hamas returns hostages seized on Oct. 7; thousands dead in conflict
Israeli fighter jets struck 450 Hamas targets in Gaza, and troops seized a militant compound in the past 24 hours, the Israel Defence Forces said on Monday, while the Palestinian enclave's Health Ministry said the airstrikes killed dozens of people.
Israel, which says its forces have encircled Gaza City, faces mounting pressure to avoid civilian casualties. Both Israel and Hamas have rebuffed increasing international pressure for a ceasefire. Israel says Hamas should release the hostages first; Hamas says it will not free them or stop fighting while Gaza is under assault.
Israeli strikes have claimed more than 10,000 lives, according to Palestinian health authorities. The war, about to enter its second month, has inflamed tensions elsewhere in the region.
Calls for humanitarian ceasefire
At least 10,022 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,104 children, in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Monday. Some Western intelligence agencies have disputed the figures being given by the Health Ministry, though its reporting in previous conflicts has been viewed as generally accurate.
A Reuters journalist in the Gaza Strip described the overnight bombardment from the air, ground and sea as one of the most intense since Israel launched its offensive in response to a surprise attack by Hamas on southern Israel on Oct. 7. The attack killed about 1,400 people, including several Canadians.
The heads of several major United Nations bodies on Monday made a united call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
The 18 signatories include Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization; and Martin Griffiths, UN aid chief.
"It's been 30 days," they said in a joint statement. "Enough is enough. This must stop now."
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, at a briefing with reporters, called for a ceasefire as well, adding that clear violations of international humanitarian law were being committed.
"Ground operations by the Israel Defence Forces and continued bombardment are hitting civilians, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches and UN facilities including shelters. No one is safe," Guterres told reporters.
"Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day."
Israel considers 'tactical little pauses' in Gaza fighting
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire until the return of over 200 hostages captured by Hamas, which was founded in 1987 and designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, Canada and the European Union.
In an interview with a U.S. television network on Monday, he said Israel would consider "tactical little pauses" in fighting.
"As far as tactical little pauses — an hour here, an hour there — we've had them before," Netanyahu said. "I suppose we'll check the circumstances, in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods, to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages, to leave."
Netanyahu made the comments in an interview with ABC News, during which he was asked who should govern Gaza after the fighting is over.
"I think Israel will for an indefinite period will have the overall security responsibility because we've seen what happens when we don't have that security responsibility," Netanyahu said.
Military 'closing in'
A spokesperson for Gaza's Health Ministry said on Monday that an Israeli airstrike hit a building in the Al-Shifa Hospital complex, killing one Palestinian, but Israel denied it attacked the hospital.
Hundreds of displaced Palestinians and 170 patients were in the hospital building at the time, the spokesperson said, adding several Palestinians were wounded.
Israel had called on civilians in northern Gaza — the heart of Hamas's forces — to evacuate to the south for their own safety before Sunday. However, UN monitoring showed that relatively few have left, citing fear, heavy damage to roads and lack of information due to limited communications, a UN humanitarian briefing said.
The Israeli military said its forces had taken a militant compound and were poised to attack Hamas fighters hiding in underground tunnels and bunkers in the northern Gaza Strip, having isolated the area with troops and tanks. It released video of tanks moving through bombed-out streets and groups of troops moving on foot.
"Now we are going to start closing in on them," Lt.-Col. Richard Hecht told reporters.
Israel said 31 soldiers have been killed since it began expanded ground operations in Gaza on Oct. 27.
Jordan sends aid
UN Palestinian refugee agency shelters in the south are overcrowded and unable to take new arrivals, and many displaced people are sleeping in the streets, near the shelters, the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said.
Jordan's air force air-dropped urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza early on Monday, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from Jordan's king and reports in state media.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, after meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara on Monday, said he expects humanitarian assistance to expand "in significant ways" in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Gaza border officials said the Rafah crossing into Egypt has resumed operation. Foreign nationals, including from Canada, continue to amass at Gaza's border with Egypt in hopes of leaving the territory.
"We're very happy to see the border reopen today," Louis Dumas, Canada's ambassador to Egypt, told Power & Politics host David Cochrane on Monday. "As you know, it was closed for a few days, but in the next few days, at the very least, we hope to see a full load of foreign nationals coming from Gaza into Egypt.
"Canada is still in the mix to receive its nationals within the next few days."
With files from CBC News