Arab leaders press US for Gaza ceasefire as 68 dead in fresh Israeli strikes

Egypt and Jordan have pressed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza even as fresh bombardments by Israeli forces hit a UN-run school being used as a shelter, a hospital and a refugee camp, killing 68 people.

At a press conference, Blinken, who was flanked by his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts, echoed Israel's call, saying a ceasefire meant allowing Hamas, the Palestinian terror group controlling Gaza, to regroup.

In Amman, Jordan, Blinken met with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt and Jordan. But, there were differences between the Arab leaders and the US over an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The UN and world powers are yet to arrive at a consensus on how to deal with the war, which broke out on October 7, when Hamas launched a multi-pronged attack on Israel by air, land and sea, killing more than 1,400 people and taking 240 civilians as hostages.

Israel has responded with a brutal counteroffensive, striking Gaza from the air, imposing a blockade and subsequently, widening its ground operations in the densely populated Palestinian enclave. The deadly strikes have claimed nearly 9,500 lives.

According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, 51 people, mostly women and children, were killed and several others were injured after Israel bombed Maghazi camp in central Gaza Strip on Saturday night.

Hamas-run Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said earlier that several people were killed and scores were injured and lay on the ground of a hospital's emergency ward.