Gaza City

Some of Gaza's greatest historical treasures are safe in a warehouse in Switzerland for the past 16 years thanks to the blockade and the red tape that delayed their return.

Troop reinforcements from Israel's ally the United States headed to the region on Saturday, with fears of wider war growing more than six months into Israel's assault in the Gaza Strip.

After pulling forces from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis one week ago, Israel's military said Saturday it was continuing to operate against militants in central Gaza.

Three sons and four grandsons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip. Hamas officials and Haniyeh's family confirmed the deaths. The Israeli army acknowledged the attack, identifying the three sons as members of Hamas' armed wing. Hamas stated that the victims were traveling in a car when it was targeted in the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza.

U.S. President Joe Biden has called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza a mistake and called for his government to flood the beleaguered territory with aid, ramping up pressure on Israel to reach a cease-fire and widening a rift between the two staunch allies.

Eyewitnesses report that the Israeli army is pulling back from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, as confirmed by an AFP journalist. Tanks are seen withdrawing from the premises, with the IDF allegedly firing shells to cover their exit before heading southwest of Gaza City.

The southern Gaza Strip came under intense Israeli bombardment overnight, despite international pressure for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory where famine is looming.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported an initial death toll of nine, and the Hamas press office later issued a statement raising it to 19.

"The Israeli occupation commits a massacre, killing 19 and injuring 23 civilians while thousands of citizens were waiting for flour and aid near Al-Kuwait roundabout," the Gaza Media Office said on Saturday in a recent statement.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to visit Egypt's border with Gaza on Saturday, after Israel said it would send in troops to fight Hamas in the nearby city of Rafah, even without U.S. support.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has announced that the Israeli army has begun its aggression on Rafah and launched airstrikes in the southern Gaza city without any prior notice or "waiting for permission from anyone."

U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to send a team to Washington to discuss how to avoid an all-out assault in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.