Gaza fighting intensifies despite Israeli promise to scale back conflict

Israeli strikes in southern and central Gaza intensified Wednesday despite a pledge by Israel that it would pull out some troops and shift to a more targeted campaign, and pleading from its ally Washington to reduce civilian casualties.But the fighting appears to be as intense as ever, especially in the southern and central areas where Israeli forces launched ground advances last month.The World Health Organization cancelled a planned medical aid mission to Gaza due to security concerns, the sixth such cancellation in two weeks.The Palestinian Red Crescent said six of its staffers were killed when their ambulance was hit by an Israeli strike on the main road near Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 23,357 people have been killed in more than three months of the war.The toll includes 147 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while 59,410 people have been wounded across the Palestinian territory since war erupted on October 7.Israel has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza since launching its campaign to eradicate the resistance movement Hamas group that runs the enclave.Gaza's health authorities have estimated that about 40% of those killed were aged under 18.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his fourth trip to the region since the war began, went to Ramallah Wednesday and met Palestinian leaders, including Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.The State Department said Blinken expressed support for a Palestinian state, discussed efforts to protect and aid civilians in Gaza, and encouraged "administrative reforms" of the PA.Blinken has also met Israeli leaders and visited nearby Arab states in search of a future settlement for the Gaza Strip and its 2.3mn residents.Washington fears that the Gaza war could spread violence across the region, with armed groups backed by Israel's arch-enemy Iran launching solidarity attacks in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been attacking one of the world's busiest shipping lanes at the mouth of the Red Sea, forcing Washington to send warships for protection.Speaking in Bahrain on the next leg of his trip, Blinken said there would be consequences of continued attacks on commercial shipping.In Rafah, on the southern edge of the enclave, relatives wept by the bodies of 15 members of the Nofal family laid out at a hospital morgue after their home was obliterated by an Israeli air strike overnight.