Israel-Hamas war: Too many Palestinians killed — Blinken

Israeli officers shot a young girl while responding to an apparent car-ramming incident at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, Israeli police said on Sunday.

Footage shared by Israeli police showed a vehicle swerving into officers at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah. The officers opened fire in response.

"As a result of shooting at the terrorists, a girl who was in another vehicle at the checkpoint was hurt," police said.

Israeli paramedics said the girl was three years old, while Palestinian sources told the Palestinian WAFA news agency that she was four years old.

The girl was pronounced dead by Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service.

Israeli police also said that a man and a woman driving the vehicle in the attack had been "neutralized" without providing further details.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated calls to protect civilians in Gaza during a visit to Qatar on Sunday.

"Far too many Palestinians, innocent Palestinians, have already been killed," the top US diplomat said.

He also said the death of Al Jazeera journalists Hamza Wael al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya in a strike earlier in the day was an "unimaginable tragedy."

Blinken said Palestinians must be allowed to return home after the fighting and must not be displaced from the Gaza Strip.

At the same press conference, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that the killing of a senior Hamas official in Lebanon on Tuesday has affected Qatar's efforts to negotiate between Israel and Hamas militants.

Blinken's visit to the Gulf state was part of a week-long tour of the Middle East.

He will visit Israel later in the week, where he said he will raise the imperative of doing more to prevent civilians casualties in Gaza.

Israel has named its former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak as an ad-hoc judge to join judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The court will hear South Africa's application for Israel's military operation in Gaza to be declared a genocide.

The Reuters news agency reported that Barak will be on the bench when the court decides whether to order Israel to cease its military operations in Gaza as a provisional measure, pending a later decision on whether its actions contradict the Genocide Convention. The first hearings are expected to take place later this week. 

South Africa has asked its former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke to join the panel.

Countries that don't have a judge of their nationality already on the bench can select an ad hoc judge to sit in.

South Africa, which has often condemned Israel's treatment of Palestinians and drawn comparisons to its own history as a former apartheid state, accused Israel of acting "with the requisite specific intent ... to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group."

Israel has denied it is committing genocide and has accused South Africa of assisting Hamas by bringing the case to the ICJ.

An Israeli air strike killed two journalists in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run Health Ministry and the journalists' union in the territory said.

Freelance journalists Hamza Wael al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya died when their car was struck while driving between Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza. According to the BBC, the group of journalists were hit as they were en route to report on areas designated as safe "humanitarian zones" by the Israeli military but which had recently been bombed. 

Hamza's father, Wael al-Dahdouh, is Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief.

"Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns the Israeli occupation forces' targeting of Palestinian journalists' car," the broadcaster said in a statement, accusing Israel of "violating the principles of freedom of the press."

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident. In the past, it has denied targeting journalists deliberately. 

A video posted on an Al Jazeera-linked YouTube channel showed Wael al-Dahdouh crying next to his son's body and holding his hand. 

The veteran correspondent's wife, another son, daughter and grandson were killed in an Israeli strike in late October. He was himself injured in December by shrapnel to his hand and waist. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international media rights watchdog, said that as of Saturday, 77 journalists and media workers had been killed while covering the conflict. This includes 70 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese, all working for a wide variety of media organizations, including Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.

Jordan's King Abdullah II has urged visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to push for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The top US diplomat is on his fourth tour of the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict. 

King Abdullah warned Blinken against "the catastrophic repercussions of continuation of the aggression against Gaza, underlining the necessity of ending the tragic humanitarian crisis" there, a statement from the palace said.

He emphasized the crucial role of the United States in pressuring for a ceasefire and ensuring aid delivery.

"We have an intense focus on preventing this conflict from spreading," Blinken said in Amman.

The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip said that 113 people have been killed and 250 more injured in the past 24 hours.

In a social media statement, the ministry put the toll of those killed since October 7 last year in Gaza at 22,835, mostly women and children. Some 58,416 have also been injured, it added.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for sustainable peace and security in the Middle East, as she left Berlin on Sunday for another visit to the region exactly three months after Hamas' attack.

"We all feel that this story of terror should not be allowed to go on," Baerbock said. "The terror must stop. The humanitarian plight of people must stop. The region must break out of this eternal cycle of violence."

For this to happen, Baerbock said Gaza "must no longer pose a threat to Israel's existence," urging Hamas to lay down its arms. 

Baerbock also said that to achieve this the people in Gaza and the West Bank needed the chance to live in "security, dignity and self-determination," and that Gaza also needed more humanitarian aid in the immediate term. 

"As distant as this might seem right now: Israelis and Palestinians will only be able to live side by side in peace when the security of one means the security of the other," Baerbock said. "That will only succeed if each recognizes the other's suffering. It is our task to try everything we can on the route toward a two-state solution." 

Baerbock emphasized that Israel had the right to "defend itself against terror," but also the duty to "protect civilians much better in its military action."

She also addressed fears of a potential spillover, saying that people in neighboring Lebanon were worried "just one more spark could ignite the entire region."

She said rocket fire from two additional directions besides Gaza, from Hezbollah in Lebanon and from the Houthis in Yemen, was further destabilizing the situation, urging both groups to halt hostilities. 

Six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike in the West Bank on Sunday, while an Israeli police officer was killed in a roadside bomb explosion, sources on both sides said.

Israel said its air strike targeted Palestinian militants who had attacked troops in the city of Jenin. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah, run by the Palestinian Authority, meanwhile said the strike hit "a gathering of civilians in Jenin." 

Four of those killed were brothers, family members said.

Israeli police also said one of its vehicles was hit by an explosive device during an operation in Jenin refugee camp. One police officer was killed, with three others wounded.

The military said a helicopter was sent to their aid, adding that an aircraft fired at a "terrorist squad that hurled explosives and endangered our forces." It said that "a number of terrorists were killed." 

The Health Ministry reports that at least 327 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7. According to UN figures, 2023 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since it started recording casualties in 2005.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will visit Israel on Sunday to start a fresh tour of the Middle East.

In Israel, she is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Israel Katz and President Isaac Herzog.

She is expected to discuss efforts to free hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, as well as raise the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and a potential two-state solution to the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Out of the 240 people taken hostage by Hamas, around 105 have been freed, including 14 German citizens. The Israeli military says that there are still 135 hostages in Gaza, among which there are multiple German citizens.

Hamas is classified as a terror organization not only by Israel, but also the US, Germany, the EU and others.  

On Monday, Baerbock is scheduled to speak to Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, who belongs to the Palestinian National Authority, which is based in the occupied West Bank.

Then, she will meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and visit Lebanon as well.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the Jordanian capital Amman early Sunday following a visit to Turkey and Greece.

It's the latest trip by Blinken to the Middle East and other countries surrounding the region since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7.

After Jordan, Blinken is set to visit Qatari capital Doha and the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi.

Washington aims to prevent the conflict from sparking a broader war in the region after the killing of Hamas senior figure Saleh Arouri in a strike in Beirut. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

"We have an intense focus on preventing this conflict from spreading," Blinken said before leaving for Jordan.

"There is clearly a strong desire among the majority of people in the region for a future that is one of peace, of security, of de-escalation of conflicts, of integration of countries," Blinken said.  

sdi/wd (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)