Israel ratcheted up its attacks in the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden discussed differences over a post-war future for Palestinians that have suggested a rift between the two allies.
Witnesses said the Israeli bombardment was again focused overnight on Khan Yunis, the largest city in Gaza's south, although Palestinian media also reported intense fire around Jabalia in the north early on Saturday.
Biden and Netanyahu held their first call since December 23 a day after the Israeli leader reiterated his rejection of any form of Palestinian sovereignty, deepening divisions with Israel's key backer over the war.
While the two leaders spoke of what might come next, the reality of the war was all too clear in Khan Yunis and elsewhere in Gaza.
A child with a bloodied face cried on a gurney at Al-Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, while ambulances carrying the wounded and the dead arrived to the sound of automatic weapons in the distance.
The United Nations says the war has displaced roughly 85 percent of Gaza's people and warns better aid access is needed urgently as famine and disease loom.
The White House also said after Friday's call that Israel will allow flour shipments for Palestinians through its port of Ashdod. Nearly 20,000 babies have been born "in hell" in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli offensive, the UN children's agency UNICEF said on Friday.
A week-long communications blackout in Gaza has amplified the challenges, although the telecommunications ministry and operator Paltel said internet services were starting to return on Friday.
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