Israel resists US pressure to pause the war to allow more aid to Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday pushed back against growing US pressure for a "humanitarian pause" in the nearly month-old war to protect civilians and allow more aid into Gaza, insisting there would be no temporary cease-fire until the roughly 240 hostages held by Hamas are released.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his third trip to Israel since the war began, reiterating American support for Israel's campaign to crush Hamas after its brutal October 7 attack in southern Israel.

He also echoed President Joe Biden's calls for a brief halt in the fighting to address a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Alarm has grown over spiralling Palestinian deaths and deepening misery for civilians from weeks of Israeli bombardment and a widening ground assault that risks even greater casualties.

Overwhelmed hospitals say they are nearing collapse, with medicine and fuel running low under the Israeli siege. About 1.5 million people in Gaza, or 70 per cent of the population, have fled their homes, the UN said Friday.

After talks with Netanyahu, Blinken said a temporary halt was needed to boost aid deliveries and help win the release of the hostages Hamas took during its brutal October 7 incursion.

But Netanyahu said he told Blinken that Israel was "going with full steam ahead," unless hostages are released.

US officials say they are not seeking a cease-fire but short pauses in specific areas to allow aid deliveries or other humanitarian activity, after which Israeli operations would resume. Netanyahu has not publicly addressed the idea and has instead repeatedly ruled out a cease-fire.

In Gaza, Israeli troops tightened their encirclement of the largest city amid continued battles with Hamas militants.

Strikes hit by the entrances of three hospitals in northern Gaza just as staff were trying to evacuate wounded to the south, hospital directors said.

Footage showed the aftermath outside Gaza's largest hospital, Shifa, where more than a dozen bloodied bodies of men, women and young children were strewn next to damaged cars and ambulances. One bleeding boy screamed as he huddled on top of a woman sprawled on the pavement.

At least 10 people were killed outside Shifa Hospital, its director, Mohammed Abu Salimia, told Al Jazeera TV. At least 50 others were killed or wounded in a strike outside the Indonesian Hospital, its director said.

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