Israel has said Hamas' main command center is located underneath the hospital, claims Hamas and Shifa staff deny. On Saturday, Palestinians said Israeli troops were within view of Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest. Blinken said these principles include "no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no use of Gaza as a platform for launching terrorism or other attacks against Israel, no diminution in the territory of Gaza, and a commitment to Palestinian-led governance for Gaza and for the West Bank, and in a unified way." Fighting around hospital concerns has grown in recent days as fighting through the dense neighborhoods of Gaza City has come closer to hospitals, which Israel claims are being used by Hamas fighters. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking to reporters Friday during a tour of Asia, laid out what he said were fundamental principles for a post-war Gaza, some of which seemed to run counter to Israel's narrow approach. Israel has said a key goal of the war is to crush Hamas, a militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years. Netanyahu and military leaders have said this needs to be dictated solely by Israel's security needs, such as ensuring no threats emerge from the territory. The US and Israel also have diverging views on what a post-war Gaza should look like. Palestinian civilians and rights advocates have pushed back against Israel's portrayal of the southern evacuation zones as "relatively safe," noting that Israeli bombardment has continued across Gaza, including airstrikes in the south that Israel says target Hamas leaders, but that have also killed women and children. Tens of thousands more remain in northern Gaza, many sheltering at hospitals and overcrowded U.N. On Saturday, the military announced a new evacuation window, saying civilians could use the central road and a coastal road. Since these evacuation windows were first announced a week ago, more than 150,000 civilians have fled the north, according to U.N. However, Israel has so far only agreed to the brief daily periods during which civilians are able to flee the area of ground combat in northern Gaza and head south on foot along the territory's main north-south artery. The US has been pushing for temporary pauses that would allow for wider distribution of badly needed aid to civilians in the besieged territory where conditions are increasingly dire. But now into the second month of war, there are growing differences in how many feel Israel should conduct its fight. 7 attack on Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed, Israel's allies have defended the country's right to protect itself. He said that while Israel has urged civilians to leave combat zones, "Hamas is doing everything it can to prevent them from leaving." His statement came after French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for a cease-fire and urged other leaders to join his call, telling the BBC there was "no justification" for Israel's ongoing bombing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas, repeating long-standing allegations that the militant group uses civilians in Gaza as human shields. On Saturday, the military for the first time announced a brief pause in combat as part of an evacuation window, specifically naming the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya next to Gaza City. Israel has been opening the main road leading south each day for several hours to allow civilians to flee.
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