ISRAELI air attacks killed at least 21 Palestinians across Gaza on Friday.
The attacks came as key ministers in Israel’s right-wing coalition slammed the United States Vice-President Kamala Harris for calling for a ceasefire.
The latest attacks on Khan Younis in the central Gaza Strip left 18 dead. One person is known to have died after a residential building in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp was targeted by the Israelis.
At least two people were killed in an Israeli raid on another residence on al-Sahaba Street in central Gaza City.
Israeli forces also bombed a residential apartment in the Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City, injuring a number of people, including children and women.
Meanwhile Ms Harris has been accused of playing into the hands of Hamas by calling for an end to the war and highlighting the “dire humanitarian crisis” faced by the Palestinians.
Ms Harris met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he delivered an uncompromising speech to the US Congress on Wednesday.
During the speech, he vowed to achieve “total victory” against Hamas and denounced US opponents of the war in Gaza as “idiots.”
During what Ms Harris described as a “frank” meeting the vice-president and likely Democratic Party candidate to challenge Donald Trump for the presidency in November, urged Mr Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas soon so that dozens of hostages held by the militants in Gaza since October 7 could return home.
Ms Harris said that a two-state solution is the only path to ensure it remains a “secure, Jewish and democratic state,” while providing Palestinians with the “freedom” they “deserve.”
Ms Harris pleaded with US citizens to condemn acts of hate, anti-semitism, Islamophobia and violence.
Ms Harris said she would not “be silent” to the suffering of the Palestinians.
Urging a ceasefire, she said: “Let’s get the deal done. Let’s bring the hostages home, and let’s provide much-needed relief to the Palestinian people.”
But Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told her “there will be no end to the war, Mrs candidate.”
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed Ms Harris had “revealed” that a ceasefire deal amounted to surrendering to Hamas.
Mr Ben-Gvir and Mr Smotrich are opposed to a ceasefire deal in Gaza and insist that Israel should continue fighting until Hamas is completely destroyed.
Mr Netanyahu is accused by many in Israel of drawing out the war, partially to appease these two central members of his right-wing coalition to remain in power.
