Israeli strikes kill more than 40 people in Gaza, say health officials, ahead of UN meeting

CAIRO (AP) — Israeli strikes in Gaza City and at a refugee camp killed more than 40 people, including 19 women and children, health officials said Sunday, as several European countries and leading U.S. allies moved to recognize a Palestinian state.

Health officials at Shifa Hospital, where most of the bodies were brought, said the dead included 14 people killed in a strike late Saturday which hit a residential block in the southern side of the city. Health staff said a nurse who worked at the hospital was among the dead, along with his wife and three children.

Another strike that targeted a group of people in front of a clinic in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least eight Palestinians, according to the Al-Awda Hospital. The dead include four children and two women, the hospital said. Another 22 people were wounded, it said.

Israel did not comment on the strikes.

The latest Israeli military operation, which began this week, further escalates a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushes any ceasefire further out of reach. The Israeli military, which has told Palestinians to leave, hasn’t given a timeline for the offensive, but there were indications it could take months. Israel says the operation is meant to pressure Hamas into freeing hostages and surrendering.

Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, peace activists in Israel have hailed the planned recognition of a Palestinian state. On Sunday, a group of more than 60 Jewish and Arab organizations representing about 1,000 activists, including some veteran organizations promoting peace and coexistence, known as It's Time Coalition, called for an end to the war, the release of the hostages and the recognition of a Palestinian state.

“We refuse to live forever by the sword. The UN decision offers a historic opportunity to move from a death trap to life, from an endless messianic war to a future of security and freedom for both peoples," said the coalition in a video statement.

On Saturday night, tens of thousands of people in Israel protested, calling for an end to the war and a hostage deal.

Yet a ceasefire remains elusive. Israeli bombardment over the past 23 months has killed more than 65,000 people in Gaza, destroyed vast areas of the strip, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.

On Sunday, Australia, Canada and the U.K. announced formal recognition of Palestinian statehood. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the move is intended “to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the announcement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the establishment of a Palestinian state “will not happen.” In an angry statement after the coordinated initiative from the Commonwealth nations was announced, he accused the foreign leaders of giving a “prize” to Hamas.

“It will not happen,” he said. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”

Netanyahu said he would announce Israel’s response after a trip next week to the U.S., where he is to meet President Donald Trump at the White House.

Other prominent Western countries are preparing to recognize Palestinian statehood at the gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, including France.

French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas, calling it a “failure” because the group continues to recruit more fighters. In a CBS interview Sunday, Macron said that while Israel has succeeded in killing Hamas leaders, it has been unable to dismantle it during the nearly two-year conflict in Gaza. Macron told CBS that Israel’s approach undermines the country’s credibility by killing civilians, and that the war creates “an unsustainable framework of security in the whole region.”

In a statement Sunday, the military stated it killed Majed Abu Selmiya, who it said was a sniper for Hamas’ military wing and was preparing to carry out more attacks in the Gaza City area, without providing evidence.

Majed was the brother of the director of Shifa hospital, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, who called the allegations a lie and said Israel was trying to justify the killing of civilians. Dr. Selmiya told The Associated Press that his brother, 57, suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and had vision problems.

As the attacks continue, Israel has ordered hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in Gaza City to move south to what it calls a humanitarian zone and opened another corridor south of the city for two days this week to allow more people to evacuate.

Palestinians were streaming out of Gaza City by car and on foot, though many are unwilling to be uprooted again, too weak to leave or unable to afford the cost of moving.

Along the coastal Wadi Gaza route, those too exhausted to continue stopped to catch their breath and give their children a much-needed break from the difficult journey.

Aid groups have warned that forcing thousands of people to evacuate will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis. They are appealing for a ceasefire so aid can reach those who need it.

Pope Leo XIV criticized what he described as the “forced exile” of Palestinians from Gaza, saying there was no future for the “martyred” Gaza Strip based on violence and vendetta.

During his Sunday noon blessing, Leo issued another appeal for peace and expressed appreciation for the work of Catholic organizations active in helping Palestinians, which had representatives present in St. Peter’s Square.

Families of hostages still held by Hamas have accused Netanyahu of condemning their loved ones to death by continuing to fight rather than negotiating an end to the war.

Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting that Israel’s victories in Lebanon against Hezbollah “have opened a window for the possibility of peace with our neighbors to the north.”

“We are holding talks with the Syrians -- there is some progress, but still a vision for the future,” he said.

Israel has occupied parts of southwest Syria since the overthrow of then-Syrian President Bashar Assad in December. Relations with the new Syrian government have been tense, with Israel carrying out airstrikes over the summer in what it says were steps to protect Syria’s Druze community.

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa said in an interview on Syrian state television on Sept. 12 that negotiations with Israel for a security deal are still ongoing. He hopes that Israeli troops will return to where they were before the fall of Assad’s government under a disengagement agreement in 1974.

“Israel considered the fall of the regime as Syria’s withdrawal from the 1974 agreement, even though Syria showed its commitment from the very beginning,” said al-Sharaa.

Associated Press writers Nicole Winfield in Rome, Italy, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Displaced Palestinians walks through a tent camp in Muwasi, an area that Israel has designated as a safe zone, in Khan Younis southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Displaced Palestinians walks through a tent camp in Muwasi, an area that Israel has designated as a safe zone, in Khan Younis southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches along the Muwasi, an area that Israel has designated as a safe zone, in Khan Younis southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Smoke rises following an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

People hold a banner reading "Peace for Gaza' as Pope Leo XIV recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip, in a position near the Israel-Gaza border on, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Smoke rises following an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli tanks at a staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Smoke rises following an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers drive on their armored personnel carrier inside the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City, carrying their belongings along the coastal road in Nuseirat toward the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City, by foot and vehicles, carrying their belongings along the coastal road in Nuseirat toward the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest demanding their release from Hamas captivity and calling for an end to the war, outside the Old City of Jerusalem, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Holding a banner with a message in Hebrew asking for help, relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip take part in protest demanding their release from Hamas captivity and calling for an end to the war, outside the Old City of Jerusalem, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Coco Gauff and Venus Williams could meet in the second round of the Australian Open, another potential chapter in a tennis tale that started with a 15-year-old on her Grand Slam debut beating a seven-time major winner at Wimbledon.

Gauff thanked Williams for being such an inspiration for her career after that win at the All England Club in 2019, saying “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”

She followed it up with a first-round win at the Australian Open in 2020.

Now she’s the No. 3 seed and a two-time major winner. The 45-year-old Williams has a wild-card entry for the Australian Open, where she’s playing for the first time in five years.

The tournament starts Sunday at Melbourne Park. When the draw was conducted Thursday, Gauff was drawn to open against No. 91-ranked Kamilla Rakhimova and No. 576-ranked Williams — who made her Australian Open debut in 1998 and has twice reached the final — was drawn to face No. 68-ranked Olga Danilovic in the first round.

Williams is set to become the oldest woman to compete in an Australian Open main draw, surpassing the record previously held by Japan’s Kimiko Date, who was 44 when she lost in the first round at Melbourne Park in 2015.

To have any chance of facing Gauff again, she needs to do something she hasn't done in 2026: record a win. In the last two weeks, Williams played tournaments in New Zealand and in Hobart, losing in the first round at both.

After a 6-4, 6-3 win over Williams on Tuesday, Tatjana Maria said it was a tough one because “everyone loves Venus. I love her, too."

Gauff and Williams are in the same half of the draw as top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who won back-to-back Australian Open titles before losing last year's final to Madison Keys.

Sabalenka, who opened her season with a title in Brisbane last week, has a potential third-round meeting against 2021 U.S. Open winner Emma Raducanu.

Defending champion Keys, who lost her quarterfinal match at the Adelaide International to rising Canadian star Victoria Mboko in three sets on Thursday, was drawn into the same quarter as No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 4 Amanda Anisimova.

No. 2-ranked Iga Świątek, seeking a career Grand Slam with her first title at Melbourne Park, is in the bottom quarter on that side of the draw and has a potential fourth-round match against four-time major winner Naomi Osaka.

Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic landed in the same half of the draw, setting up a potential semifinal between the defending champion and the 24-time major winner.

Djokovic, who has won 10 Australian titles but hasn't gone past the semifinals at Melbourne Park since 2023, played an exhibition against Frances Tiafoe on Rod Laver Arena hours after the draw was made. He withdrew last week from a warmup tournament in Adelaide to give himself more time to be ready for the Open.

Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz is on the opposite side to Sinner and Djokovic, and has Tiafoe and local hope and sixth-seeded Alex De Minaur in his quarter of the draw.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Coco Gauff of the United States plays a forehand return during a practice session ahead of the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)