GAZA - At least 12 Palestinians were killed on Sunday by Israeli airstrikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip, including civilians near humanitarian aid distribution sites, according to local health officials.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces fired on crowds near food distribution points run by an Israeli and US-supported humanitarian group.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel’s forces recovered the remains of two additional hostages.

This siege mentality may have undermined more proactive Israeli Jewish public support for a ceasefire and ‘day-after’ concessions when the conflict finally ends.

U.S. allies sanction far-right Israeli officials Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich over "extremist rhetoric" calling for "Palestinians to be driven from their homes."

Israel’s defense minister has ordered the military to prevent a Gaza-bound aid flotilla carrying Greta Thunberg from reaching its destination, citing national security concerns and a refusal to allow any breach of Israel’s blockade.

The decision by Western governments friendly to Israel was a sharp rebuke of Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank and of settler violence.

American supporters of Israel, many of them affiliated with the political right, are using recent episodes of appalling violence against Jews as an excuse

Israel signaled no letup in its campaign to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, with risks in the oil-rich region rising as the nations bombarded military and civilian targets alike.