The head of the United Nations was "horrified" by a strike by Israeli forces on a convoy of ambulances in Gaza on Friday, he said in a statement, adding that the conflict "must stop."
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said one of its ambulances was struck "by a missile fired by the Israeli forces" just feet from the entrance to the hospital in Gaza City, in an attack it says killed 15 people and wounded more than 60 others.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Jordan's King Abdullah II Saturday after leaving Israel empty-handed in his efforts to secure humanitarian "pauses" in its war to destroy Hamas.
Blinken arrived late Friday in Amman where he will also join a meeting of foreign ministers of five Arab countries which will be attended by a representative of the Palestinian Authority (PA) led by president Mahmud Abbas, a rival of Hamas.
Talks are being held on a "very significant" pause in the Middle East conflict to win the release of dozens of hostages taken by Palestinian militant group Hamas, a senior White House official said Friday.
"It is something that is under a very serious and active discussion. But there is no agreement as of yet to actually get this done," the official said, as fighting between US ally Israel and Hamas raged in the Gaza Strip.
With Israel's campaign against Hamas raging, the United States has renewed calls to work toward a Palestinian state, but few expect success now after decades of failure.
President Joe Biden's administration, which has faced heated criticism in the Arab world for supporting Israel's retaliation over an October 7 Hamas attack that largely targeted civilians, has in recent days subtly changed tone by emphasizing the need to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians.
The remaining residents of Israel's northern town of Kiryat Shmona, those who have not fled rising cross-border fire from militants in Lebanon, said Friday they were ready for whatever happens.
The Israel-Lebanon border has seen escalating tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, since Palestinian militants of Hezbollah ally Hamas launched a shock attack on Israel on October 7, stoking fears of a wider regional conflict.
Both Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon are backed by Iran, Israel's sworn enemy.
Three Palestinian militants were buried in the occupied West Bank on Friday after mourners marched through streets still smouldering from a night of violence triggered by an Israeli raid.
"They can do anything they want -- on our side, we are ready, we will fight and we will resist," 18-year-old militant Majid Abu Zmawa told AFP outside the mortuary in the northern city of Jenin where the bodies were prepared for burial.
They arrived at the border crossing with the Gaza Strip in a constant stream, many of them exhausted and still bearing the scars of time spent in an Israeli jail.
Some had raw wrists from being handcuffed and still had prison numbers tied round their ankles.
On Friday, Israel began to forcibly repatriate to the besieged and battered Palestinian territory thousands of Gazans who had been working in Israel.
An Israeli strike on a Gaza ambulance convoy has killed 15 people, Palestinian medics said Saturday, spurring concerns for health workers' safety as Israel accused Hamas of using the vehicles to transport fighters.
Since a shock Hamas attack on October 7, which Israeli officials say has killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, Israel has bombarded the besieged Gaza Strip, where some hospitals have been damaged and faced severe shortages of fuel and supplies.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began meetings with Arab foreign ministers in Jordan on Saturday, seeking to mitigate the nearly month-long Gaza war after Israel resisted his calls for a humanitarian pause.
The Israeli army said its ground forces had operated in southern Gaza overnight, after deadly strikes hit an ambulance convoy and a school-turned-refugee shelter in the besieged Palestinian territory.
The day after an explosion that seriously damaged AFP's Gaza office, the Israeli army, which has shelled the Palestinian territory for weeks, claimed Friday it carried out a strike "nearby" to the agency's bureau without having "in any way" targeted it.
AFP is the only one of the world's three major international news agencies currently operating a live video feed from Gaza City which has not been interrupted despite the damage, seen by an AFP employee Friday.
