Palestinians report deadly Israeli airstrikes as US urges humanitarian pause

New Delhi: The US is trying to persuade Israel to take a humanitarian pause from airstrikes on Gaza, where Palestinians reported on Saturday that there were multiple fatalities across the besieged enclave.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making a new push to help civilians, and met with Arab foreign ministers on Saturday in Jordan. That was after his talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insisted there could be no temporary cease-fire until all hostages held by Hamas are released. President Joe Biden suggested Saturday that progress is being made on the humanitarian pause.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,448, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids. The UNRWA says 72 of its staff members have been killed.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.

Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday under an apparent agreement among the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.

President Joe Biden suggested Saturday there have been some advances in US attempts to persuade Israel to pause military strikes on Gaza for humanitarian reasons.

In a brief exchange with reporters as he left St. Edmond Roman Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Biden was asked if there was progress, and he responded, "Yes," but did not share specifics.

This comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Arab counterparts Saturday. He disagreed with them on the need for an immediate cease-fire and made clear the furthest he would go was backing a pause for aid to reach civilians in Gaza. Blinken said a cease-fire would leave Hamas in place.

Thousands of people have joined a demonstration in Tel Aviv organised by families of some 240 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.

"Now!" the crowd chanted repeatedly, calling for hostages to be freed without delay after nearly a month in captivity. Many held pictures of the hostages, who include children and older people.

Hadas Kalderon of Kibbutz Nir Oz whose two children were kidnapped, ages 16 and 12, called for a cease-fire in exchange for the return of the hostages.

Hamas militants abducted the hostages in an Oct 7 cross-border raid that triggered the latest Israel-Hamas war. The plight of the hostages and their families has captured the nation's attention.

Ella Ben-Ami, a 23-year-old Israeli whose parents were abducted, said she held Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible.

She called for a halt in all humanitarian aid to Gaza until the hostages are freed.

Thousands of mostly young people filled the streets of downtown Washington DC on Saturday afternoon to protest the Biden administration's support of Israel and its continued military campaign in Gaza.

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," chanted demonstrators. They wore black and white keffiyehs as an enormous Palestinian flag was unfurled by a crowd that filled Pennsylvania Avenue, the street leading up to the White House.

Dozens of small white body bags with the names of children killed lined the street and demonstrators held signs calling for an immediate cease-fire.

The US Central Command says the Dwight D Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East and the CENTCOM area of responsibility as part of the increase in regional posture.

The Eisenhower sailed into the Mediterranean last Saturday as the American forces expand their presence in the Middle East to deter Iran and its proxy militant groups from trying to widen the Israel-Hamas war.

The USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier and its strike group had moved through the Strait of Gibraltar earlier this week, putting two American carriers in the Mediterranean Sea, a rare sight in recent years.

The USS Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group is already in the eastern Mediterranean, part of a buildup of forces as the US supports Israel in its war against Hamas.

Thousands of Israelis are protesting outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence in central Jerusalem, calling on the Israeli leader to resign in the wake of the bloody Oct 7 Hamas rampage that sparked the latest Israel-Hamas war.

Netanyahu has so far refused to take responsibility for the Oct 7 attack, in which several thousand Hamas militants burst into Israel and killed over 1,400 people and took some 240 hostages back to Gaza. He says officials, including himself, will have to give answers to the public, but only after the war.

Israel has carried out weeks of airstrikes and launched a ground offensive in Gaza, with Palestinian health officials saying over 9,000 people were killed in the fighting.

During Saturday night's protest, demonstrators called on Netanyahu to step down and called for the return of the hostages. They also held a moment of silence for victims of the attack and those in captivity. (AP)