Women, children among 17 killed in Israeli strikes

Hunger is spreading and deepening, deliberate and manmade. Aid is being used as a bargaining chip anda weapon of war, says UN

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Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 17 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and destroyed bulldozers and other heavy equipment that had been supplied by mediators to clear rubble.

Separate strikes killed two people in Lebanon.

"Gaza has become a land of desperation,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, said on X on Tuesday.

“Hunger is spreading and deepening, deliberate and manmade. Humanitarian aid is being used as a bargaining chip and a weapon of war.”

Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump spoke by phone, two weeks after the two met in Washington.

Trump wrote on his social networking site Truth Social that the two spoke about trade and Iran, among other issues. “The call went very well-We are on the same side of every issue,” he wrote.

Netanyahu's office did not have an immediate comment, but his hastily-arranged visit to Washington was not deemed a rousing success after he appeared to fail to secure the support he wanted from Trump on issues such as stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons, reducing Trump's tariffs, the influence of Turkey and the war in Gaza.