Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 32, mostly women and children

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 32 people, including over a dozen women and children, local health officials said Sunday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to the United States to meet with President Donald Trump about the war.

Israel last month ended its ceasefire with Hamas and has seized territory to pressure the militant group to accept a new deal for a truce and release of remaining hostages. It has blocked the import of food, fuel and other supplies for over a month to the coastal territory heavily reliant on outside assistance.

Israel's military late Sunday ordered Palestinians to evacuate several neighborhoods in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah shortly after about 10 projectiles were fired from Gaza — the largest barrage from the territory since Israel resumed the war.

The military said about five were intercepted. Hamas’ military arm claimed responsibility. Police said a rocket fell in Ashkelon city and fragments fell in several other areas. The Magen David Adom emergency service said one man was lightly injured. The military later said it struck a rocket launcher in Gaza.

Israeli strikes overnight into Sunday hit a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.

The body of a toddler took up one end of an emergency stretcher.

A female journalist was among the dead. “My daughter is innocent. She had no involvement, she loved journalism and adored it,” said her mother, Amal Kaskeen.

“Trump wants to end the Gaza issue. He is in a hurry, and that is clear from this morning,” said Mohammad Abdel-Hadi, cousin of a woman killed.

Israeli shelling killed at least four people in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The bodies of seven people, including a child and three women, arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to an Associated Press journalist there.

And a strike in Gaza City hit people waiting outside a bakery and killed at least six, including three children, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government.

Dozens of Palestinians took to the streets in Jabaliya for new anti-war protests. Footage on social media showed people marching and chanting against Hamas. Such protests, while rare, have occurred in recent weeks.

There is also anger inside Israel over the war's resumption and its effects on remaining hostages in Gaza. Families of hostages along with some of those recently freed from Gaza and their supporters have urged Trump to help ensure the fighting ends.

Netanyahu on Monday will meet with Trump for the second time since Trump began his latest term in January. The prime minister said they would discuss the war and the new 17% tariff imposed on Israel, part of a sweeping global decision by the U.S.

“There is a very large queue of leaders who want to do this with respect to their economies. I think it reflects the special personal connection and the special connection between the United States and Israel, which is so vital at this time,” Netanyahu said while wrapping up a visit to Hungary.

The U.S., a mediator in ceasefire efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, had expressed support for Israel's resumption of the war last month.

Hundreds of Palestinians since then have been killed, among them 15 medics whose bodies were recovered only a week later. Israel's military this weekend backtracked on its account of what happened in the incident, captured in part on video, that angered Red Cross and Red Crescent and U.N. officials.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Fifty-nine hostages are still held in Gaza — 24 believed to be alive.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 50,695 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says more than half were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Early Monday, strikes hit inside the compound of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where an Associated Press camera caught the sound of the explosions. Smoke and fire were seen from distance, and there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank said one Palestinian-American teen was killed and two others were injured — one in critical condition — and asserted that Israeli settlers had shot them.

Israel's military said it was looking into the incident in Turmus Ayya town, which is near Jerusalem and has a large population of Palestinian-Americans.

The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, with Israel's military carrying out military operations that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has been a rise in settler violence as well as Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Associated Press writer Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

The body of Palestinian Ramzi Abu Maghaseem killed by an Israeli army bombardment is brought to a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip on Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry the bodies of two of the 15 people killed overnight in two Israeli army strikes during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The body of journalist Islam Meqdad, killed along with her son and five other family members in an Israeli army strike on their house, lies on the floor at Nasser Hospital before her burial in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Children walk by the destroyed house of journalist Islam Meqdad, where she was killed along with her son and five other family members in an Israeli army strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Oman looks at the destroyed house of journalist Islam Meqdad, where she was killed along with her son and five other family members in an Israeli army strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Children walk by the destroyed house of journalist Islam Meqdad, where she was killed along with her son and five other family members in an Israeli army strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Children look at the destroyed house of journalist Islam Meqdad, where she was killed along with her son and five other family members in an Israeli army strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A man passes by the destroyed house of journalist Islam Meqdad, where she was killed along with her son and five other family members in an Israeli army strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A woman holds a sign as people take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 5,2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Palestinians pray over the bodies of some of the 15 people, including 5 children and 5 women, killed in two Israeli army strikes during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Brody Penn tried every sport as a kid. He started with gymnastics, but his parents worried the gym was too far away. So they signed him up for baseball and soccer, only to have a familiar scene play out over and over.

The games would start, and Penn would inevitably find himself turning cartwheels.

“My family was like, ‘You know what? Maybe you should just be in gymnastics,'" said Penn, now a student at Ohio State. “And so I went back to gymnastics.”

More specifically, Penn went back to men's gymnastics. He competed as a Level 10 in the USA Gymnastics system in high school, one step short of elite.

Penn just didn't find happiness. Not true happiness anyway. Asked what drew him to the sport in the first place, Penn doesn't talk about pommel horse or parallel bars — two of the six men's apparatuses — but floor routines set to music, a staple on the women's side.

“It's about artistry, it's about emotion," he said. “I couldn't stop watching it."

He just couldn't do it. Sure, there were times when Penn would hop on the balance beam during practice, but only when his coach's head was turned. Why?

“It was always sort of like a forbidden thing,” he said.

It's not in the National Intercollegiate Association of Gymnastics Clubs, which has taken the sport's gender norms and practically erased them. The NAIGC gives its athletes the freedom to compete in whatever discipline they want.

For Penn, now a member of the Ohio State University Club Gymnastics Team, that meant the opportunity to lean into the things that made him fall in love with the sport in the first place. He's hardly the only one. The NAIGC offers “Unified Artistic Gymnastics,” which lets athletes compete in any event they like, a la carte style.

Want to do men's floor exercise and uneven bars? Sure. Still rings and balance beam? Go for it.

Nearly a quarter of the over 1,700 competitors who participated in the NAIGC's 2025 national competition in Pittsburgh this month tried at least one UAG event. Nearly 100 gave “the decathlon” — performing all six men's disciplines and all four women's disciplines — a shot.

During the all-around or individual events at nationals, the athletes are eligible for awards based on whichever gender group they registered under (women's-plus or men's-plus), their skill level, and whether they're part of a college or community team.

It's not that way in the decathlon and the omnithon — which are the 10 artistic events plus trampoline and tumbling. In those events, athletes compete against everyone else at their level, regardless of gender identity.

“It's pretty beautiful, really,” said Penn, who took first in the decathlon in the open/advanced group at nationals. “It's a great vibe.”

It's also, in a way, a great equalizer.

Julia Sharpe had two brothers who did men’s gymnastics growing up. She joined the gym on the women's side and had plenty of success. But it was kind of boring. Sharpe started experimenting with men's events during what the MIT club gymnastics team called “switch day" more than a decade ago. She was hooked.

“The men actually have variety,” said Sharpe, who finished third in the decathlon at nationals behind Penn and just ahead of her husband, Nate. “There's all these different things that they get to do. Rings and parallel bars are just completely different. I just thought it would be cool to try those other things."

Now, a full 10 years-plus into competing while also teaching men's and women's gymnastics to beginners, Sharpe has learned that while there are some events in which cisgender men may have a potential advantage because of their body composition — like say, still rings, which requires significant upper-body strength — there are also events in which a man's body might struggle.

Sharpe pointed out that in the lower level of NAIGC men's artistic gymnastics events, the women are “destroying the men” in part because the women typically come to the men's events with an established background in the sport; most novice men are typically completely new to it.

During nationals, for example, the highest score on pommel horse in the development group was an athlete from the women's-plus division.

The vast majority of NAIGC athletes don't compete to win, but to explore and experiment. Some of the loudest cheers during nationals came when an athlete competed on an event that didn't necessarily align with a gender norm.

Morgan Kessler, a student at Texas State University, has bounced around the sport. He reached Level 10 in men's gymnastics before reaching elite in trampoline and tumbling. He's returned to artistic gymnastics as a college student, but on his terms, which is exactly the point the NAIGC is trying to make.

“It's just a really inclusive environment,” Kessler said after an impressive women's floor exercise routine in which he mixed powerful tumbling with dance elements that allowed him to showcase his more creative side. “Whether you're out on the floor competing with the women's floor team or men's, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. Everyone is going to cheer for you.”

The only thing most athletes who spoke to the AP agree on is that pretty much nobody wants to do the pommel horse, the event that gymnast-turned-“Dancing With The Stars” winner Stephen Nedoroscik drilled to help the U.S. men win a team bronze at the Paris Olympics last summer.

“Pommel horse is the devil,” said Fay Malay, a member of the Jurassic Gymnastics club who competes in women's artistic gymnastics but hopes to give the decathlon a shot one day. “And then whoever invented that, like, hated men and everybody else. But mostly men.”

There is another piece to this. Men's gymnastics has struggled to gain traction in the U.S. for years, and the number of NCAA Division I programs is dwindling. There are obvious reasons — most notably the lack of community gyms that even have men's equipment — but also an underlying one: the way the sport can be perceived.

Penn says he's been through his “fair share” of harassment. Find a social media account showcasing a man doing what is considered a “women's” event and you don't have to scroll down too far before the trolls come out. Asked if it bothers him, Penn shrugged.

“That says more about their character than mine,” he said.

Eric Petersen does not fit the profile of someone who would be open to hopping up on the balance beam. He competed for the Air Force Academy men's team 30 years ago, then took a decadelong break before getting back into the sport.

The married father of two teenagers admits the kid who suited up for the Falcons would never have thought one day he'd be saluting women's floor exercise judges.

Yet there Petersen was, rocking multicolored leggings and a shirt that read “Kenough” while “I'm Just Ken” from the blockbuster movie “Barbie" blared over the speakers and everyone nearby roared with delight as he competed his floor routine for the final time.

Petersen will put together another one with new music and a new theme for next season, when he will be 50. He has no plans on “retiring.” Why would he? Gymnastics has never been more fun in part because it's never been more open.

“All that stuff, the idea that men do this and women do that and never the ‘twain shall meet,' it's all arbitrary," he said. “It's made up. Why are we self-selecting out of it? I'm just a guy right? Why can't I do that? Why can't we do that? Why does it have to be that way? It doesn't.”

AP Sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

Ten Harder, of Boston University Gymnastics Club in Boston, dismounts the balance beam at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Raiden Hung, of Jurassic Gymnastics in Boston, competes on the balance beam at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Julia Sharpe, left, of the MIT Gymnastic Club of Boston, finishes her warm up before competing in the floor exercise at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Raiden Hung, center, of Jurassic Gymnastics from Boston, to compete on the balance beam with teammates Eric Petersen, left, and Fay Malay at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Brody Penn of Ohio State Club Gymnastics team puts chalk on his feet before warming up on the balance beam at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Brody Penn of Ohio State Club Gymnastics team competes on the uneven bars at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Julia Sharpe, of the MIT Gymnastic Club of Boston, competes on the parallel bars at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Brody Penn of Ohio State Club Gymnastics team warms up on the balance beam at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)