Dozens killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza

The Israeli military killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in air strikes on southern Gaza on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.

Israel previously ordered civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south to avoid air strikes amid an expected ground invasion. 

The Palestinian government said 57 people were killed in the strikes, which Israel said were targeting Hamas hideouts and other military locations.

One Israeli missile struck and destroyed a pair of houses in southern Gaza, killing 12 people in two families, the AP reported. 

Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli towns and military outposts from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing hundreds of civilians in the worst attack on Israeli soil in its history. Israel has said 1,400 people were killed in the attacks.

Hamas, which controls Gaza and is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government, also took 199 hostages. It released its first hostage video Monday.

Israel has responded with a furious aerial assault on Gaza, which appears to be a precursor to a ground invasion.

Palestinian officials say at least 2,800 people have been killed in the strikes, which have injured another 10,000, according to The New York Times. At least two-thirds of the Palestinians confirmed killed in the conflict are children, Gaza Health Ministry official Medhat Abbas said.

President Biden is scheduled to visit Israel on Wednesday in what would be a major symbolic show of support for that country. Biden has supported Israel’s right to overthrow Hamas, but U.S. officials have warned it must do everything it can to limit civilian casualties.

“Israel is going after a group of people who have engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust. And so I think Israel has to respond,” Biden said in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday.

“They have to go after Hamas. Hamas is a bunch of cowards,” Biden continued, adding he believes “the Israelis are gonna do everything in their power to avoid the killing of innocent civilians.”

Strikes on southern Gaza have closed the territory’s only outside border crossing with Egypt in Rafah, preventing humanitarian aid from entering the enclave.

International aid groups have warned Gaza is running out of food, water, fuel and medical supplies, increasing the potential for mass civilian casualties.

Egypt reportedly negotiated a brief cease-fire in Rafah on Monday to transport aid into Gaza, but the border crossing was still closed Tuesday. An Egyptian official said Tuesday an aid convoy would enter Israel to be inspected by the Israeli military before being allowed into Gaza, the AP reported.

A United Nations agency in Palestine warned Monday that Gaza is “running out of life,” amid shortages of basic needs.

“In fact, Gaza is being strangled and it seems the world right now has lost its humanity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the East. “If we look at the issue of water, we all know water is life. Gaza is running out of water and Gaza is running out of life.”

“Soon, I believe, with this there will be no food or medicine either,” he continued.