Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill at least 85 Palestinians in Gaza, hospitals say

Israeli airstrikes overnight into Thursday struck several homes in the Gaza Strip and killed at least 85 Palestinians, according to local health officials. Among those pulled alive from the ruble was a month-old baby girl, but her parents and brother were killed.

Hamas fired three rockets at Israel on Thursday without causing casualties. It was the first such attack since Israel resumed heavy bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday, shattering the ceasefire that had halted the 17-month war. The Israeli military is again enforcing a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City, and its forces have moved to retake a strategic corridor dividing north from south.

In Israel, hundreds of people demonstrated outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem to protest his handling of the hostage crisis and his plan to fire the country’s head of internal security.

Here’s the latest:

The Israeli military says the missile was intercepted before reaching Israeli territory. The launch came hours after Israel said it intercepted another missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group.

The Iranian-backed Houthis resumed attacks on Israel this week following the collapse of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas

A Georgetown University researcher who is married to a Palestinian American was detained by immigration agents who told him his visa had been revoked, prompting another high-profile legal fight over deportation proceedings against foreign-born visa holders authorized to live in the U.S.

Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown University and citizen of India, was arrested Monday night outside of his Virginia home by officers who identified themselves as Department of Homeland Security agents, according to a legal filing by Suri’s lawyer.

Hassan Ahmad, Suri’s Virginia-based attorney, wrote in a court filing that Suri was targeted because of his wife’s “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech.”

Suri was later taken to a detention facility in Louisiana, according to a government website.

Suri was accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media” and determined to be deportable by the Secretary of State’s office, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said

Marin Valev Marinov, 51, was a member of the U.N. Office for Project Services, which carries out infrastructure and development projects around the world. The U.N. agency issued a statement Thursday confirming Marinov was “hit by an explosion” in Gaza, while five wounded U.N. staff remain hospitalized.

Marinov was “supporting the delivery of life-saving aid to the civilian population” in Gaza and was one of at least 280 U.N. personnel killed there since the war began, the statement said. A “seasoned mariner and vessel Master,” he had previously worked as a U.N. maritime inspector in Yemen and for the U.N. humanitarian office.

The United Nations has not said who was behind Wednesday’s strike on a U.N. guesthouse. Israel has denied responsibility, but there were no reports of rocket attacks by Hamas that day.

The head of the U.N. Office for Project Services said strikes exploded near the compound on Monday and hit it directly on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. He said the agency had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike.

“The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.

“And unfortunately Hamas chose to play games in the media with lives. This situation, let’s not forget, is completely the fault of Hamas. When they launched that brutal attack on Israel on October 7th,” Leavitt said. “And the president has made it very clear that he wants all of those hostages to come home. And he fully supports Israel and the IDF and the actions that they’ve taken in recent days.”

The U.S. and Israeli demand for Hamas to release more hostages before negotiations on ending the war could proceed was not part of the ceasefire agreement in January.

Sharabi told the U.N. Security Council he was beaten, chained and starved in Gaza for 491 days: “If you stand for humanity – prove it” and bring back the hostages.

He said that while the council talked about humanitarian aid, he saw Hamas militants carrying and eating dozens of stolen boxes of humanitarian aid with U.N. emblems, while the hostages starved.