Star Metro - Israel army says biggest Hamas tunnel found

The bloodiest ever Gaza war started with the Hamas attacks of October 7 and has devastated much of the Palestinian territory, sparking global concern.

Dozens more were killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday, said the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory where authorities say more than 18,800 people, mostly women and children, have been killed.

The Israeli army said it uncovered the biggest Hamas tunnel so far near the border crossing at Erez -- large enough for small vehicles to use, an AFP photographer reported.

Israel said the tunnel cost millions of dollars and took years to construct, featuring rails, electricity, drainage and a communications network.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed "we will fight until the end. We will achieve all of our aims -- eliminating Hamas, freeing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will not again become a centre for terrorism."

But French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was the latest envoy to call for an "immediate and durable" truce as she visited Tel Aviv, stressing that "too many civilians are being killed".

France separately condemned an Israel bombardment that killed one of its foreign ministry officials in Gaza.

Colonna's British and German counterparts, David Cameron and Annalena Baerbock, also bemoaned the high civilian toll but said it was not the right time for a ceasefire because it would not be sustainable.

"Calling right now for a general and immediate ceasefire, hoping it somehow becomes permanent... ignores why Israel is forced to defend itself: Hamas barbarically attacked Israel and still fires rockets to kill Israeli citizens every day. Hamas must lay down its arms," they wrote in Britain's Sunday Times.

The Gaza war started when Hamas militants burst through Gaza's high-security border fence on October 7 and carried out the worst-ever attack on Israel, killing 1,139 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250, according to updated Israeli figures.

The Israeli army says 121 soldiers have died in the ground operations that began late October, accompanied by relentless aerial and artillery bombardment.

- Hospital 'bloodbath' -

Pope Francis deplored the death of a Christian mother and daughter who, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, were shot dead by an Israeli soldier at Gaza's only Catholic church, where families were sheltering.

Israel's bombardment has left much of Gaza in ruins, with the UN estimating 1.9 million Gazans -- around 80 percent -- have been displaced by the war.

"I would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity," said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

The UN's World Health Organisation described the territory's largest hospital, Gaza City's Al-Shifa, as a "bloodbath, with hundreds of injured patients inside, and new patients arriving every minute".

"Patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor," the WHO said after a visit, while "tens of thousands of displaced people are using the hospital building and grounds for shelter" amid "a severe shortage" of water and food.

The Israeli government has come under growing pressure, including from its top ally the United States, but also from families of hostages, to either slow, suspend or end the military campaign.

Washington provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid.

There are 129 hostages still in Gaza, Israel says, and relatives again rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for a deal to bring them home after the army admitted to mistakenly killing three captives in the territory.

On Sunday weeping relatives of one of the three men, Alon Shamriz, 26, wept and clung to each on grief at his burial near Tel Aviv.

At the funeral, Shamriz's brother said the government "abandoned" and "murdered you".

Netanyahu said the killing of the three "broke my heart. It broke the whole nation's heart."

But he added that, "with all the deep sorrow, I want to clarify: the military pressure is necessary both for the return of the kidnapped and for achieving victory over our enemies".

Qatar, which helped mediate a truce last month that saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 jailed Palestinians, said there were "ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause".

News platform Axios said Israeli spy chief David Barnea met Friday in an unspecified European location with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

But Hamas said on Telegram it was "against any negotiations for the exchange of prisoners until the aggression against our people ceases completely".

- Red Sea ship attacks -

The Gaza war has also seen violence spiral in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces killed five Palestinians Sunday morning at a West Bank refugee camp, according to the Palestinian health ministry, as the Israeli army said air strikes targeted militants who had endangered soldiers.

More than 290 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the war erupted, health officials say.

The war has also raised fears of a broader Middle East conflict.

Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants are exchanging regular fire across Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels, saying they want to pressure Israel, have launched repeated attacks on passing vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping zone.

Major companies have redirected their vessels, among them Mediterranean Shipping Company, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday he was travelling to Israel, Bahrain and Qatar to highlight Washington's "commitments to strengthening regional security and stability".

burs-er/it

S.Cloutier--SMC