CAIRO (AP) — The bodies of 79 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, Gaza 's Health Ministry said Saturday, a toll that doesn't include hospitals in the battered north that it said are now inaccessible.
Nine of a doctor's 10 children were among those killed in Israel’s renewed military offensive, colleagues and the Health Ministry said.
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Israeli activists hold photos of Palestinian children killed during the Israel air and ground operation in the Gaza Strip, calling for an end to the war, during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A Palestinian mother cooks beans over a fire fueled by burning plastic at a tent sheltering displaced families in Gaza City, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Children from the Saqr family eat lentil soup cooked by their mother at their family tent in Gaza City, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
In this frame grab from a video released by Gaza Civil Defense, workers collect human remains after an Israeli strike on a home in Khan Younis killed nine of a doctor's ten children while she was at work, according to Ahmad al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Gaza Civil Defense via AP)
In this frame grab from a video released by Gaza Civil Defense, workers collect the remains a a child after an Israeli strike on a home in Khan Younis killed nine of a doctor's ten children while she was at work, according to Ahmad al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Gaza Civil Defense via AP)
In this frame grab from a video released by Gaza Civil Defense, workers collect human remains after an Israeli strike on a home in Khan Younis killed nine of a doctor's ten children while she was at work, according to Ahmad al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Gaza Civil Defense via AP)
Alaa Najjar, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty at the time and ran home to find her family's house on fire, Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital's pediatric department, told The Associated Press.
Najjar's husband was severely wounded and their only surviving child, an 11-year-old son, was in critical condition after Friday's strike in the southern city of Khan Younis, Farra said.
The dead children ranged in age from 7 months to 12 years old. Khalil Al-Dokran, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Health Ministry, told the AP that two of the children remained under the rubble.
Israel's military in a statement said it struck suspects operating from a structure next to its forces, and described the area of Khan Younis as a “dangerous war zone.” It said it had evacuated civilians from the area, and “the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review.”
Earlier on Saturday, a statement said Israel's air force struck over 100 targets throughout Gaza over the past day.
The Health Ministry said the new deaths brought the war's toll to 53,901 since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the 19 months of fighting. The ministry said 3,747 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed the war on March 18 in an effort to pressure Hamas to accept different ceasefire terms. Its count doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel's pressure on Hamas has included a blockade of Gaza and its over 2 million people since early March. This week, the first aid trucks entered the territory and began reaching Palestinians since the blockade began.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid for Gaza, said 388 trucks had entered since Monday. About 600 trucks a day had entered during the ceasefire.
Warnings of famine by food security experts, and images of desperate Palestinians jostling for bowls of food at the ever-shrinking number of charity kitchens, led Israel's allies to press the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow some aid to return.
Netanyahu's government has sought a new aid delivery and distribution system by a newly established U.S.-backed group, but the United Nations and partners have rejected it, saying it allows Israel to use food as a weapon and violates humanitarian principles.
Israel may now be changing its approach to let aid groups remain in charge of non-food assistance, according to a letter obtained by the AP. Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid but the U.N. and aid groups deny there is significant diversion.
Hospitals in Gaza are again reporting attacks and other Israeli pressure.
The Health Ministry said 11 security personnel have been trapped at the European Hospital in southern Gaza following heavy gunfire and airstrikes since at least Tuesday. Dr. Saleh Hams, director of the nursing department, said patients were evacuated after an Israeli strike on May 13. Hams said the security staff stayed behind to protect from looting, and that it was the only hospital in Gaza offering neurosurgery, cardiac care and cancer treatment.
Israel said it will continue to strike Gaza until Hamas releases all of the 58 remaining Israeli hostages and disarms. Fewer than half of the hostages are believed to be alive since the Oct. 7 attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others.
Hamas has said it will only return the remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from the territory. Netanyahu has rejected those terms and has vowed to maintain control over Gaza and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its Palestinian population.
“The Israeli government and its leader have a clear choice: deal or war, saving lives or abandonment,” Liran Berman, brother of hostages Gali and Ziv Berman, told a weekly rally in Tel Aviv as families and supporters again demanded an agreement that would bring everyone home.
AlJoud reported from Beirut.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Israeli activists hold photos of Palestinian children killed during the Israel air and ground operation in the Gaza Strip, calling for an end to the war, during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A Palestinian mother cooks beans over a fire fueled by burning plastic at a tent sheltering displaced families in Gaza City, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Children from the Saqr family eat lentil soup cooked by their mother at their family tent in Gaza City, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
In this frame grab from a video released by Gaza Civil Defense, workers collect human remains after an Israeli strike on a home in Khan Younis killed nine of a doctor's ten children while she was at work, according to Ahmad al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Gaza Civil Defense via AP)
In this frame grab from a video released by Gaza Civil Defense, workers collect the remains a a child after an Israeli strike on a home in Khan Younis killed nine of a doctor's ten children while she was at work, according to Ahmad al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Gaza Civil Defense via AP)
In this frame grab from a video released by Gaza Civil Defense, workers collect human remains after an Israeli strike on a home in Khan Younis killed nine of a doctor's ten children while she was at work, according to Ahmad al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Gaza Civil Defense via AP)
U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has proposed negotiations after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic as an ongoing crackdown on demonstrators has led to hundreds of deaths.
Trump said late Sunday that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports mount of increasing deaths and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night.
Iran did not acknowledge Trump’s comments immediately. It has previously warned the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has accurately reported on past unrest in Iran, gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran cross checking information. It said at least 544 people have been killed so far, including 496 protesters and 48 people from the security forces. It said more than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
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A witness told the AP that the streets of Tehran empty at the sunset call to prayers each night.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, addressed “Dear parents,” which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
—- By Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Iran drew tens of thousands of pro-government demonstrators to the streets Monday in a show of power after nationwide protests challenging the country’s theocracy.
Iranian state television showed images of demonstrators thronging Tehran toward Enghelab Square in the capital.
It called the demonstration an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism,” without addressing the underlying anger in the country over the nation’s ailing economy. That sparked the protests over two weeks ago.
State television aired images of such demonstrations around the country, trying to signal it had overcome the protests, as claimed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier in the day.
China says it opposes the use of force in international relations and expressed hope the Iranian government and people are “able to overcome the current difficulties and maintain national stability.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday that Beijing “always opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs, maintains that the sovereignty and security of all countries should be fully protected under international law, and opposes the use or threat of use of force in international relations.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned “in the strongest terms the violence that the leadership in Iran is directing against its own people.”
He said it was a sign of weakness rather than strength, adding that “this violence must end.”
Merz said during a visit to India that the demonstrators deserve “the greatest respect” for the courage with which “they are resisting the disproportional, brutal violence of Iranian security forces.”
He said: “I call on the Iranian leadership to protect its population rather than threatening it.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday suggested that a channel remained open with the United States.
Esmail Baghaei made the comment during a news conference in Tehran.
“It is open and whenever needed, through that channel, the necessary messages are exchanged,” he said.
However, Baghaei said such talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that is one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation.”
The semiofficial Fars news agency in Iran, which is close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, on Monday began calling out Iranian celebrities and leaders on social media who have expressed support for the protests over the past two weeks, especially before the internet was shut down.
The threat comes as writers and other cultural leaders were targeted even before protests. The news agency highlighted specific celebrities who posted in solidarity with the protesters and scolded them for not condemning vandalism and destruction to public property or the deaths of security forces killed during clashes. The news agency accused those celebrities and leaders of inciting riots by expressing their support.
Canada said it “stands with the brave people of Iran” in a statement on social media that strongly condemned the killing of protesters during widespread protests that have rocked the country over the past two weeks.
“The Iranian regime must halt its horrific repression and intimidation and respect the human rights of its citizens,” Canada’s government said on Monday.
Iran’s foreign minister claimed Monday that “the situation has come under total control” after a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests in the country.
Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim.
Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.
Iran’s foreign minister alleged Monday that nationwide protests in his nation “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene.
Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim, which comes after over 500 have been reported killed by activists -- the vast majority coming from demonstrators.
Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.
Iran has summoned the British ambassador over protesters twice taking down the Iranian flag at their embassy in London.
Iranian state television also said Monday that it complained about “certain terrorist organization that, under the guise of media, spread lies and promote violence and terrorism.” The United Kingdom is home to offices of the BBC’s Persian service and Iran International, both which long have been targeted by Iran.
A huge crowd of demonstrators, some waving the flag of Iran, gathered Sunday afternoon along Veteran Avenue in LA’s Westwood neighborhood to protest against the Iranian government. Police eventually issued a dispersal order, and by early evening only about a hundred protesters were still in the area, ABC7 reported.
Los Angeles is home to the largest Iranian community outside of Iran.
Los Angeles police responded Sunday after somebody drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with the the demonstrators, causing protesters to scramble out of the way and then run after the speeding vehicle to try to attack the driver. A police statement said one person was hit by the truck but nobody was seriously hurt.
The driver, a man who was not identified, was detained “pending further investigation,” police said in a statement Sunday evening.
Shiite Muslims hold placards and chant slogans during a protest against the U.S. and show solidarity with Iran in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Activists carrying a photograph of Reza Pahlavi take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Activists take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Protesters burn the Iranian national flag during a rally in support of the nationwide mass demonstrations in Iran against the government in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
