Israeli strikes kill at least 25 in Gaza and Huckabee makes first appearance as US ambassador

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed at least 25 people on Friday including children, hospital workers said, as the new U.S. ambassador to Israel made his first public appearance in Jerusalem.

The dead included 15 people killed in three strikes on the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Ten people were killed in Jabaliya, including eight from the same home, according to the Indonesian Hospital, where the bodies were brought.

The strikes came a day after more than two dozen people died in Gaza as Israel continued attacks, pressuring Hamas to disarm and return hostages it took in October 2023.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited the Western Wall on Friday, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City. He inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by U.S. President Donald Trump. "Those are his initials, D.T.,“ said Huckabee while showing the note to the media.

In his first act as ambassador, Huckabee said Trump told him to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Huckabee also said every effort was being made to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas. A one-time presidential hopeful, Huckabee has acknowledged his past support for Israel’s right to annex the West Bank and incorporate its Palestinian population into Israel but said it would not be his “prerogative” to carry out that policy.

During his first term, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital over Palestinian objections and moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv. Palestinians seek the eastern part of the city, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, as their future capital.

Huckabee's arrival comes at a pivotal time in the 18-month war, as international mediators including the U.S. are trying to get a broken ceasefire back on track.

Israel is demanding that Hamas release more hostages at the start of any new ceasefire and ultimately agree to disarm and leave the territory. Israel has said it plans to occupy large “security zones” inside Gaza.

Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas’ negotiating delegation, said Thursday the group had rejected Israel’s latest proposal along those lines. He reiterated Hamas’ stance that it will return hostages only in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal and a lasting truce, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire agreement reached in January.

Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.

Friday’s airstrikes came a day after aid groups raised alarm over Israel’s blockade of of Gaza, where it has barred entry of all food and other goods for more than six weeks. Thousands of children have become malnourished, and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, the United Nations said.

Israel’s Defense Minister says the blockade is one of the “central pressure tactics” against Hamas, which Israel accuses of siphoning off aid to maintain its rule. Aid workers deny there is significant diversion of aid, saying the U.N. closely monitors distribution. Rights groups have called it a “starvation tactic.”

As Israel continued its offensive, Palestinian Christians gathered inside Gaza’s Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrios to mark the Good Friday holiday. Worshippers clad in black bowed their heads in prayer and lit votive candles to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus.

A building in the St. Porphyrios compound was hit soon after the war began in October 2023, killing more than a dozen people taking refuge there. Friday’s holiday was the second Good Friday celebrated in Gaza since then. St. Porphyrios is believed to be the third oldest church in the world, according to the World Council of Churches.

Gaza was home to about 1,300 Christians before the start of the war, according to the U.S. State Department.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food production capabilities. The war has displaced around 90% of the population, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed-out buildings.

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Khaled reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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

Christian pilgrims carry crosses during Good Friday procession in the Old City of Jerusalem on Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Catholic clergymen take part in a Good Friday ceremony reenacting the funeral of Jesus Christ at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site where according to tradition Jesus was crucified and buried, in the Old City of Jerusalem on Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Traders hold a demonstration against Israeli airstrikes and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza, in Peshawar, Pakistan Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Traders hold a demonstration against Israeli airstrikes and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza, in Peshawar, Pakistan Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Traders hold a demonstration against Israeli airstrikes and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza, in Peshawar, Pakistan Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Traders hold a demonstration against Israeli airstrikes and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza, in Peshawar, Pakistan Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Traders chant slogans during a demonstration against Israeli airstrikes and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza, in Peshawar, Pakistan Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Supporters of the Pakistani religious group "Jamaat-e-Islami" take part in a rally against Israeli airstrikes and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza, in Multan, Pakistan Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Asim Tanveer)

Palestinian Christians light candles during Good Friday mass at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinian Christians attend a Good Friday Mass at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians prepare for burial the bodies of several members of the al-Atal family, killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent in the Jabalia refugee camp, at the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians prepare for burial the bodies of several members of the al-Atal family, killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent in the Jabalia refugee camp, at the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians inspect the remains of a displacement tent hit by an Israeli airstrike overnight, killing 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians inspect the remains of a displacement tent hit by an Israeli airstrike overnight, killing 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Ahmed Dalloul mourns over the body of his 4-year-old daughter, Siwar, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, at the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, center, visits the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

The US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee holds a note given to him from US President Donald Trump to be placed in the cracks of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

The US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee holds a note given to him from US President Donald Trump to be placed in the cracks of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Mourners carry white sacks covering the bodies of members of the Abu Al-Rous family, killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their displacement tent overnight, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

BEIRUT (AP) — Four days of clashes between pro-government gunmen and members of a minority sect in Syria have left nearly 100 people dead and raised fears of deadly sectarian violence. The country is deeply divided as it tries to emerge from decades of dictatorship.

The clashes are the worst between forces loyal to the government and Druze fighters since the fall of President Bashar Assad in early December whose family ruled Syria with an iron grip for more than five decades.

The situation between the two sides has been tense for weeks and a smaller clash broke out in March in a suburb of Damascus.

Here are the main reasons the clashes expanded in recent days and background on the two sides:

The Druze religious sec t is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.

The transitional government has promised to include the Druze, but has so far kept authority in the hands of the Islamist former insurgents who toppled Assad in December — Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS.

The new 23-member government in Syria announced in late March only has one Druze member, Minister of Agriculture Amjad Badr.

Under the Assad family's tight rule, religious freedom was guaranteed as the country then boasted about its secular and Arab nationalist system.

The Druze have been slightly divided over how to deal with their issues with the new status quo in the country. Most Druze support a dialogue with the government while others support a more confrontational approach, so the reactions have differed while they are all concerned about the safety of their people.

Syria’s religious and ethnic communities are worried about their place in Syria’s new system that is mostly run by Islamists including some who have links to extremist groups.

The country’s new President Ahmad al-Sharaa himself is a former militant who once was a member of al-Qaida and was held for years in jails in neighboring Iraq for his role in the anti-American insurgency. Although al-Sharaa had said that the right of ethnic and religious minorities will be protected, there have been several rounds of sectarian killings since Assad’s fall.

The Assad family rule that was dominated by members of the Alawite sect had oppressed much of the country’s Sunni majority while giving minorities some powers. Being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest Islamic group in the country decades ago, was punishable by death as of the 1980s.

The Druze have major concerns about Muslim groups since they came under attack by members of the Islamic State group in 2018 in the southern Sweida province. It left dozens killed or wounded and more than two dozen people were taken hostage for nearly four months. Muslim extremists consider the Druze heretics.

During Syria's 14-year conflict, the Druze had their own militias.

The clashes broke out around midnight Monday in the southern Damascus suburb of Jaramana after an audio clip circulated on social media of a man criticizing Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The audio was attributed to a Druze cleric. But cleric Marwan Kiwan said in a video posted on social media that he was not responsible for the audio, which angered many Sunni Muslims.

The fighting later spread to the outskirts of the southern town of Sakhnaya triggering the first Israeli airstrike against pro-government gunmen. Israeli officials, whose country has its own Druze community, have vowed to protect the Druze of Syria and warned Islamic groups form entering predominantly Druze areas.

The clashes have pulled Israel further into the conflict with the airstrike two days ago and Friday marked a major increase in tensions with an attack close to the presidential palace in Damascus in what Syria’s presidency called a major escalation.

Israel does not want what it calls Islamic extremists near the country’s northern border. Since Assad’s fall, Israel has carved a buffer zone in southern Syria and has destroyed much of the Syrian army’s assets so they don’t fall into the hands of groups that removed him from power.

Israel had been warning for decades that Iran and its proxies pose a danger along its northern border, and now it is doing the same with the new authorities in Syria who are backed by Turkey.

Other sporadic attacks in different areas as well as an ambush on the Damascus-Sweida highway made the situation worse until a deal was reached early Friday after which Interior Ministry forces and local Druze gunmen deployed in different areas.

The Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 99 people were killed over the past four days, of which 51 were killed in Sakhnaya and the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana. Among them were local gunmen and security forces.

The clashes near Damascus and in southern Syria came nearly two months after an ambush by fighters loyal to Assad triggered days of sectarian and revenge attacks. The fighting in the country’s coastal region left more than 1,000 people dead. Many of the dead were civilians who were gunned down because they belonged to the minority Alawite sect that Assad belongs to.

Security forces deployed in the coastal province of Latakia and Tartus but activists say that sectarian killings against Alawites are still taking place albeit at a much slower pace when compared to the early March attacks.

Members of religious minorities in Syria such as Alawites, Christians and Druze fear persecution by the main Sunni Muslim groups. Videos have circulated on social media showing Islamist fighters insulting Druze detainees and humiliating them such as shaving their mustaches.

Associated Press writer Ibrahim Hazboun contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

A Druze man, center, stands next to Syrian security forces who reached a deal with Druze gunmen to deploy around the southern Damascus suburb of Jaramana that has witnessed fighting earlier this week in Damascus, Syria, early Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)