Gaza: More than 30 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a camp in central Gaza late Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry there said, amid ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas militants. With this, the death toll in Gaza will cross 9,500. 

"More than 30 martyrs arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the massacre committed by the occupation in Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip," health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a statement. An eyewitness told AFP that multiple houses had been impacted by an air strike.

Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed on Saturday that Israeli forces would "find and eliminate" Yahya Sinwar, the head of Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"We will find Sinwar and will eliminate him," Gallant told a news conference, as Israeli forces fought street battles with Hamas militants inside the Palestinian territory.

"I tell the residents of Gaza - if you reach him before us, it will shorten the war."

Soon after the war between Israel and Hamas erupted, Israel said that Sinwar was a "dead man walking," and that he and the leader of the group's armed wing, Mohammed Deif, were the army's top targets.

Security sources outside Gaza say Sinwar and Deif are now holed up in a network of tunnels built to resist the ferocious bombardment Israel launched in response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas which killed more than 1,400 people, mainly civilians.Gallant said Israeli forces were fighting "hard" inside Gaza.

"We have finished and completed the encircling (of Gaza City). The IDF (Israeli army) forces are operating from south and north (of Gaza City) and have entered populated areas," Gallant said.

Arab nations demand ceasefire

Israel battled into the fifth week Saturday of its war to crush Hamas, showing no signs of letting up even as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced a rising tide of anger in meetings with Arab foreign ministers. Blinken reaffirmed US support for "humanitarian pauses" in the fighting in Gaza to ensure desperate civilians get help a day after Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the idea short shrift.

However, US President Joe Biden said progress had been made on securing a so-called "humanitarian pause", without elaborating.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, whose country has been acting as the sole conduit for foreigners to escape the Gaza Strip and for aid to get in, called for an "immediate and comprehensive ceasefire".

Hamas said late Saturday the evacuation of dual nationals and foreigners from Gaza was being suspended until Israel lets some wounded Palestinians reach Rafah so they can cross the border for hospital treatment in Egypt.

The fighting has provoked anti-Israeli protests around the world, and political opposition from key regional powers, including influential Turkey, which on Saturday recalled its ambassador from Israel.

Palestinian ally Turkey had been mending torn relations with Israel until last month's start of the Israel-Hamas war.But Ankara's tone hardened against both Israel and its Western supporters -- particularly the United States -- as the fighting escalated and the death toll among Palestinian civilians soared. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters he held Netanyahu personally responsible for the growing civilian death toll in Gaza.

"Netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to. We have written him off," Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said the move was "another step by the Turkish president that sides with the Hamas terrorist organisation".Hamas hailed the move and urged Ankara to "put pressure on President (Joe) Biden and his administration" so that "humanitarian and medical help can reach our besieged people in the Gaza Strip".

The Israeli military describes Gaza City as "the centre of the Hamas terror organisation", but the US special envoy for aid assistance, David Satterfield, said between 350,000 and 400,000 civilians remained in the city and adjacent areas. Amid the fierce fighting, thousands of people protested in Israel on Saturday as pressure mounts on Netanyahu over his government's lack of preparedness for the October 7 attacks and its handling of the hostage crisis.