The Japan Times - Gaza rescuers say 37 killed in Israel attacks, as aid group reopens centres

The Israeli military has recently stepped up its campaign in Gaza in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war.

But Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rejected the term "war" to describe the conflict in the devastated Palestinian territory, accusing Israel instead of carrying out "premeditated genocide".

Gaza civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said that "37 people have been martyred in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip", reporting attacks up and down the length of the territory.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

Calls have mounted for a negotiated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but indirect talks between the parties have failed to yield a breakthrough since the collapse of the last brief truce in March.

"What is happening in Gaza is not a war. It's a genocide being carried out by a highly prepared army against women and children," said Brazil's Lula, who has previously used the legal term to describe the conflict.

"It's no longer possible to accept," he added.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has declined to use the term himself, vowed at a joint appearance with Lula to "ramp up pressure in coordination with the Americans to obtain a ceasefire".

France is due later this month to co-host with Saudi Arabia a United Nations conference in New York on a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

- Aid sites reopen -

Israel has also faced mounting international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, after it imposed a more than two-month blockade that led to widespread shortages of food and other essentials.

It recently eased the blockade and has worked with the newly formed, US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to implement a new aid distribution mechanism via a handful of centres in south and central Gaza.

But since its inception, GHF has been a magnet for criticism from the UN and other members of the aid world -- which only intensified following a recent string of deadly incidents near its facilities.

The United Nations and other aid groups have declined to work with GHF, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals.

Reports from Gaza that dozens were killed over the course of three days as they attempted to reach the group's aid sites drew sharp condemnation.

GHF shut down its distribution centres on Wednesday for what it called "reorganisation" to improve its work, but said it had reopened two of them on Thursday.

"GHF can confirm that we were open for distribution today," it said in an email to AFP, adding it had delivered 1.4 million meals at two sites on Thursday and more than 8.4 million since opening a little over a week ago.

Gaza rescuers and eyewitnesses implicated Israeli troops in the instances of deadly gunfire near a GHF centre in Rafah.

Israel's military has maintained it does not prevent Gazans from collecting aid, but army spokesperson Effie Defrin said after one such incident on Tuesday that soldiers had fired towards suspects who "were approaching in a way that endangered" the troops.

He added that the incident was under investigation.

- Hostage bodies recovered -

During their October 2023 attack, militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains of two Israeli-Americans killed on October 7 had been recovered in Gaza and returned to Israel.

"In a special operation by the Shin Bet (security agency) and the (military) in the Gaza Strip, the bodies of two of our hostages held by the murderous terrorist organisation Hamas were returned to Israel: Judy Weinstein Haggai and Gad Haggai from Kibbutz Nir Oz, may their memory be blessed," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 4,335 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,607, mostly civilians.

M.Saito--JT