Israel kills 51 Palestinians in Gaza as countries reject new aid plan
GAZA CITY
Internally displaced Palestinians who fled from the east of Gaza City and northern Gaza Strip move in the streets of Gaza City on, 11 May 2025.
Israeli forces have killed 51 Palestinians in recent attacks on the Gaza Strip, including women and children, the Palestinian news agency WAFA said Wednesday, as most U.N. Security Council members expressed their rejection Tuesday of Israel's reported aid delivery control plan for Gazans via third-party contractors.
WAFA reported that Israeli troops targeted homes in the south and north of Gaza throughout the night.
The release of 21-year-old Israeli-American Edan Alexander, who had been in Hamas captivity since their October 2023 attack on Israel, offered a brief pause in the fighting on Monday.
But the strikes resumed amid fierce new criticism of Israel's tactics in the war.
U.N. relief chief Tom Fletcher called on the U.N. Security Council to take action "to prevent genocide" in Gaza as he gave a scathing account of Israel's actions in the territory.
Fletcher briefed the Security Council, describing this work as a “grim undertaking” since Israel began blocking all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza more than 10 weeks ago.
He went as far as saying that the council must “act now” to “prevent genocide," a claim that Israel vehemently denied.
“I ask you to reflect — for a moment — on what action we will tell future generations we each took to stop the 21st-century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza,” said Fletcher, a longtime British diplomat who took up the U.N. post in November. “It is a question we will hear, sometimes incredulous, sometimes furious — but always there — for the rest of our lives.”
In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron said that Netanyahu's actions in blocking aid to Gaza were "shameful."
"The U.K. calls on Israel to lift its block on aid," U.K. envoy Barbara Woodward said at the council's session on Gaza, which was requested by the U.K., France, Denmark, Slovenia, and Greece.
France’s envoy to the U.N., Jerome Bonnafont, also rejected the Israeli aid plan.
"The modalities planned within this mechanism run counter to international law and do not allow to meet the needs of the people," he said.
"Israel has to comply with international humanitarian law.”
Denmark's U.N. envoy Christina Markus Lassen echoed her European colleagues and emphasized that the people of Gaza do not need a new humanitarian mechanism but an end to the aid blockade at the borders without conditions.
Slovenia's Samuel Zbogar argued that the council members are "obviously not" doing all that they could for Gaza and stressed the need for Israel to end the aid blockade.
China’s envoy to the U.N., Fu Cong, emphasized the need to resume humanitarian assistance and strongly rejected the Israeli plan.
Attacks continue
Earlier, the Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants inside "a command and control center" at Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Younis.
Gaza's health ministry said that the strike killed two people. One of the dead was journalist Hassan Aslih, the civil defense said.
"In the very coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation," Netanyahu was quoted as saying in a statement released on Tuesday.
"Completing the operation means defeating Hamas. It means destroying Hamas," Netanyahu had said in the remarks made late Monday.
"There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way."
Late Tuesday, the Israeli military urged civilians in several parts of northern Gaza to evacuate after it intercepted "two projectiles" fired from the territory.
The armed wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for rocket fire into Israel, which has been rare in recent weeks.
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid a deadlock over how to proceed with a January 19 ceasefire.
The Israeli government this month approved plans to expand its offensive, with officials talking of retaining a long-term presence in Gaza.
Israel says that its renewed bombardments are aimed at forcing Hamas to free hostages.
Netanyahu credited Alexander's release on Monday to a combination of "our military pressure and the political pressure exerted by (US) President (Donald) Trump."
This has been rejected by Hamas, which has revealed it was engaged in direct talks with Washington on a ceasefire in Gaza.
Netanyahu thanked Trump for helping in the release and said he would be sending negotiators to Qatar on Tuesday to discuss remaining captives.
'Over 50 percent will leave.'
Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to start a Gulf tour that will also take him to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Netanyahu said late Monday that Israel was working to find countries willing to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli ministers have seized on a proposal initially floated by Trump for the voluntary departure of Gazans to neighboring countries such as Jordan or Egypt, which have flatly rejected the proposal.
"We've set up an administration that will allow them (Gaza residents) to leave, but... we need countries willing to take them in. That's what we're working on right now." Netanyahu estimated that "over 50 percent will leave" if given the option.
Nearly 52,900 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in an Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
