Israeli air strikes hit three Gaza hospitals and a school on Friday, killing at least 22 people, and a ground battle was under way at another hospital, Palestinian officials said, as Israel's forces took on Hamas in the heart of the enclave. 

Officials said missiles landed in the courtyard of Gaza's biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, in the early hours, damaged the Indonesian Hospital and reportedly set fire to the Nasser Rantissi pediatric cancer hospital. 

The hospitals are in northern Gaza, where Israel says the Hamas militants who attacked it last month are concentrated, and are full of displaced people as well as patients and doctors. Israel says Hamas is using them as human shields, which the group denies.

Blinken: Too many Palestinians have been killed

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday denounced the soaring number of Palestinians killed as Israel pushed ahead with its war against Hamas in Gaza, saying more needs to be done to protect the civilians.

In his strongest comments to date on civilians bearing the brunt of the war, Blinken welcomed the four-hour humanitarian Israeli pauses the White House announced on Thursday but said further action was required to protect Gaza's civilians.

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Speaking to reporters in New Delhi as he wrapped up a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Asia, he said: "Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks.

"And we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximize the assistance that gets to them," he said, adding that Washington would be discussing further steps with Israel to advance these objectives."

Palestinian envoy criticizes Western support for Israel

A Palestinian envoy on Friday criticized Western states for supporting Ukraine by calling out Russia's violations of international law while stopping short of naming what he said were breaches by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. 

Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN in Geneva, was speaking alongside more than 40 ambassadors assembled to observe a minute of silence for thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza since the start of Israeli bombardments more than a month ago. The Israeli attacks by air, land and sea were triggered by deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 that killed 1,400. 

"There are a plethora of international laws that can be applied. They are applied fully when it comes to Ukraine. When it comes to us they are put aside, they're violated, they're not used, they're belittled," he told a gathering of diplomats and reporters.

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