At least 17 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza as Western countries recognise Palestinian statehood

At least 17 people were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza on Thursday, according to local health officials, who feare dozens more could be trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

According to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, at least 12 people, including eight children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent and a house in the central town of Zawaida.

While in the southern city of Khan Younis, another Israeli strike hit an apartment building, killing four people, according to the Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were taken.

The hospital said another girl was killed, with dozens injured, in an airstrike that hit a tent in Deir al-Balah.

The latest deaths come as Israel continues its renewed offensive to seize Gaza City which Israeli officials say is a main hub for Hamas operations.

Palestinian state recognition

Several Western countries gave their renewed backing for a two-state solution to the conflict this week, with Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Luxembourg, Malta and Portugal all recognising Palestinian statehood.

Around three-fourths of the 193-member United Nations now officialy recognise a Palestinian state.

On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, French President Emmanuel Macron told French broadcaster France 24 his country had recognised a Palestinian state on the basis that it "is the only way to isolate Hamas," which has survived as an entity despite many of its leaders having been killed.

"Total war in Gaza is causing civilian casualties, but can't bring about the end of Hamas," he said in the interview on Wednesday. "Factually, it’s a failure."

He said he had been lobbying US President Donald Trump to press Israel again for a ceasefire, telling him, "You have an important role to play - you who support peace, who want to bring peace to the world."

"You cannot stop the war if there is no path to peace," Macron added.

Western countries denounced

Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed Western countries that have recently recognised Palestinian statehood.

"At the UN General Assembly, I will speak our truth," he told reporters before leaving for New York.

"I will denounce those leaders who, instead of denouncing the murderers, the rapists, and the child burners, want to give them a state in the heart of the land of Israel. It will not happen."

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff both offered optimistic views about what Witkoff called a "Trump 21-point plan for peace" that was presented to Arab leaders on Tuesday.

The US has not released details of the plan or said whether Israel or Hamas accepts it, but Netanyahu suggested Israel's position has not changed, vowing there will never be a Palestinian state.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

Hamas took 251 people as hostages, and is currently holding 48, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.

A subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed at least 65,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.