The Latest | Israeli strikes kill dozens of Palestinians in Gaza, including in 'safe zone'

Israeli airstrikes killed more than 60 Palestinians in southern and central Gaza overnight and into Tuesday, as Israel and Hamas weigh the latest cease-fire proposal. One strike tore into a main street lined with market stalls in the heart of an Israeli-designated “safe zone” for displaced people. Another hit a U.N. school where families were sheltering.

Also Tuesday, Israeli police said officers shot and killed a 19-year-old Palestinian after he stabbed a police officer in the occupied West Bank, the latest in violence surging there since the start of the war in Gaza. And the Israeli military says it will begin sending draft notices to Jewish ultra-Orthodox men on Sunday, a step that could destabilize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Hamas' Oct. 7 attack sparked the war when militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting about 250. Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,600 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

Two international courts have accused Israel of war crimes and genocide – charges Israel denies. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crammed into squalid tent camps in central and southern Gaza. Israeli restrictions, fighting and the breakdown of law and order have limited humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine.

Currently:

— Israeli strikes in southern and central Gaza kill more than 60 Palestinians, including in ‘safe zone.’

— Far-right groups that block aid to Gaza receive tax-deductible donations from U.S. and Israel.

— Israeli military says it will begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men. That could rattle the government.

— Two attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels strike ships in the Red Sea.

— Israel targeted Hamas’ military leader in Gaza. Who is he and what does it mean for the war?

Here’s the latest:

The troubled US pier off Gaza’s coast will be replaced by a dedicated facility in an existing Israeli port

JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister says Israel will soon replace the U.S. military’s offshore pier for delivering aid to the Gaza Strip with a dedicated facility in a southern Israeli port.

Defense Minister Yoav Galant said Tuesday that “Pier 28” will be established in Israel’s Ashdod port to help deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. He did not say when it would begin operating.

The American temporary pier, located off Gaza’s coast, has been beset by ongoing weather and security problems since it was installed in May. The U.S. has said it is winding down the project, although officials say it has been a success in delivering badly needed food aid to the territory.

Gallant announced the decision after a meeting with Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, the head of the U.S. Central Command.

“The minister emphasized the defense establishment’s commitment to working with international partners to ensure the entry of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza,” his office said.

Gallant’s office also said he has instructed the military to set up a field hospital in Israel to treat Palestinian children who are unable to leave Gaza for medical care abroad.

It said the decision was made because of the extended closure of Gaza’s Rafah crossing into Egypt. The crossing has been closed since Israeli forces captured it in early May. Egypt has refused to reopen the crossing while it remains under Israeli control.

“This is a significant short-term solution that will address immediate humanitarian needs until a permanent mechanism is established to evacuate and treat ill children,” his office said.

It was not clear when the hospital would open.

Families of female Israeli soldiers held captive in Gaza call for a hostage release deal

TEL AVIV, Israel — Families of five female Israeli soldiers held hostage in Gaza demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a deal with Hamas to release the captives. International mediators are pushing Israel and Hamas to agree to halt the war and free roughly 120 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

On Tuesday evening, the parents of the soldiers released a photo taken in the early days of the girls’ captivity, showing them bruised and bloodied on mattress on the floor. One of the hostages, whose parents said she was kept separately, has a black eye and swollen face.

Ayelet Levy Shachar, mother of hostage soldier Naama Levy, said she had declined an invitation from Netanyahu to accompany him to Washington next week to address Congress. “I cannot and will not feel comfortable joining him until I see that the negotiations regarding my Naama’s release are completed,” she said Tuesday night.

During a press conference in Tel Aviv, other parents said they saw swelling and bruising on their daughters' wrists, which they said was evidence the women had been handcuffed for long periods of time.

Also on Tuesday evening, Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog were heckled at a state ceremony marking 10 years since the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, causing a delay in the ceremony.

In May, a group representing the families of hostages held in Gaza released video footage showing Hamas’ capture of five female Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. The video showed several of the young soldiers bloody and wounded.

The footage was taken by Hamas militants who stormed the Nahal Oz military base, as part of the wider assault on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 people.

The Israeli military has acknowledged a string of errors in its response to the Oct. 7 surprise attack, including slow response times and disorganization, as it released the results last week of its first investigation into failures during the assault that triggered the war in Gaza.

2 Israeli airstrikes kill five Syrians in Lebanon, including three children

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says two separate Israeli airstrikes in south Lebanon have killed five Syrian citizens, including three children.

NNA said the first drone strike Tuesday afternoon killed two Syrian citizens who were riding a motorcycle near the southern village of Kfar Tibnit.

It added that the three children were killed later in the day in an airstrike on an agricultural land in the village of Im al-Tout near the border.

On Monday, an Israeli airstrike on a home in the southern town of Bint Jbeil killed a member of the militant group Hezbollah and his two sisters.

Since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza started on Oct. 7, Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed over 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members but also include about 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed.