The Latest | 12 killed in airstrikes in Central Gaza as strikes targeting Houthi rebels kill 16

At least a dozen people were killed in two airstrikes Friday in Central Gaza. Two children and four women were among the dead.

Palestinians in the border city of Rafah have reported heavy fighting in recent days as Israel’s military widened its offensive in the south, seizing control of the entire length of Gaza’s border with Egypt. Fighting in Rafah has spurred more than 1 million Palestinians to flee, most of whom had already been displaced earlier in the war. They now seek refuge in makeshift tent camps and other war-ravaged areas, where they lack shelter, food, water and other essentials for survival, the United Nations says.

Joint British-United States airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others, the rebels said Friday. That’s the highest publicly acknowledged death toll from the multiple rounds of strikes carried out over the rebels’ attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.

Currently:

— Houthi rebels say at least 16 killed and 35 others wounded in joint U.S.-British airstrikes in Yemen.

— Slovenia’s government endorses recognition of a Palestinian state.

— A pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State is dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement.

— A global aid group asks warring forces to respect its neutrality, saying 24 of its aid workers have been killed.

Follow news agencies’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Here’s the latest:

DEIR AL-BALAH — At least a dozen people were killed, including children, in two airstrikes Friday in Central Gaza, according to hospital officials and media journalists who counted the bodies.

The strikes hit Nuseirat and Bureij, two children and four women were among those killed and the bodies were brought to the Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

A funeral for all 12 people was held Friday.

Israel’s campaign of bombardment and offensives in Gaza has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 80,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.