Fighting rages across Gaza where martyrs' toll surges to 24,927

GAZA, Palestine (AFP) - Fighting raged on Saturday across the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, whose health ministry reported a surging death toll.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 24,927 people have been martyred in the Palestinian territory since the war with Israel broke out on October 7. A ministry statement said at least 165 people were martyred over the past 24 hours, while another 62,388 have been wounded since the war began.

It came even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden discussed the post-war future of Gaza where the humanitarian situation remains dire. An AFP correspondent reported gunfire, air strikes and tank shelling into the morning, particularly in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis city. Israel is pressing its push southwards against Hamas militants, after the army in early January said the Hamas command structure in northern Gaza had been dismantled, leaving only isolated fighters.

But the armed wing of Hamas reported fierce combat with Israeli troops in north Gaza on Saturday. The military said troops backed by air and naval support were striking militant infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip, including the north.

Neither bread, nor water

Bread is a staple food for Palestinians but aid agencies said only 15 bakeries were operational across Gaza, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported. The availability of water for drinking and domestic use "is shrinking every day", OCHA added. Nearly 20,000 babies have been born in conditions "beyond belief" in Gaza since the start of the Israeli offensive, the UN children's agency UNICEF said.

Thousands of Gazan men may have been detained by Israeli forces during the war, often facing conditions that could amount to torture, the UN's human rights representative in the Palestinian territories, Ajith Sunghay, said. Israel's military responded that individuals suspected of involvement in "terrorist activities" were being detained and questioned. It said they are treated in accordance with international law.

Violence has also surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 360 people since October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The White House said Friday it was "seriously concerned" about reports a Palestinian teenager with US citizenship had been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank.