Explosions and shootings shook the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital and surrounding neighborhoods as Israeli forces stormed through the facility for a second day Tuesday. The military said it had killed 50 Hamas militants in the hospital, but it could not be independently confirmed that the dead were combatants.

The raid was a new blow to the Shifa medical complex, which had only partially resumed operations after a destructive Israeli raid in November. Thousands of Palestinian patients, medical staff and displaced people were trapped inside the sprawling complex Tuesday as heavy fighting between troops and Hamas fighters raged in nearby districts.

Purim is widely depicted as the most thoroughly joyful of Jewish holidays — highlighted by celebrations that include costumes, skits, noisemakers and varying degrees of rowdiness.

It celebrates the biblical story of how a plot to exterminate Jews in Persia was thwarted, and thus is embraced as an affirmation of Jewish survival throughout history. For many Jews, it will have extra significance this year during a war in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel in which Hamas killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage.

Turkey carried out a new round of airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq on Tuesday, Turkey's defense ministry said, hours after a Turkish soldier was killed and four others were wounded in an attack in the region.

Turkey often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq it believes to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a banned Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s.

Mourners held funeral prayers Wednesday morning outside a hospital in central Gaza for 28 people killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes on urban refugee camps.

Associated Press footage showed mourners praying over the bodies, which were wrapped in funeral shrouds, before the bodies were taken away in donkey carts for burial.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he remains determined to carry out a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite the misgivings of U.S. President Joe Biden.

Netanyahu told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that he would wait to hear proposals from the U.S. “out of respect to the president” about ways to protect the civilian population in Rafah before ordering the operation.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin next week in Washington, a U.S. defense official confirmed Tuesday.

The official, who spoke under condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public, said Austin and Gallant plan to discuss securing the release of Hamas-held hostages, humanitarian aid to Gaza and protecting those in Rafah.

Global heat records were "smashed" last year, the U.N. confirmed Tuesday, with 2023 rounding out the hottest decade on record, as heatwaves stalked oceans and key glaciers suffered record ice loss.

"The state of the climate in 2023 gave ominous new significance to the phrase 'off the charts'," the World Meteorological Organization said as it published an annual report on the global climate, confirming that last year was the hottest on record, and 2014-2023 was the hottest decade ever measured.

Real Madrid filed a new complaint with Spanish state prosecutors on Monday following reports of more hate chants aimed at forward Vinícius Júnior in the Spanish league.

The club also filed a complaint with the Spanish Football Federation disciplinary committee against the referee of Saturday's match at Osasuna for not including in his match report the alleged "Die, Vinícius" chants by local fans at El Sadar Stadium.

The German football federation is targeting racism and discrimination among fans and amateur players with a new campaign ahead of this summer's European Championship.

The federation presented its two-pronged strategy on Monday with a video message under the motto "Football time is the best time against racism."

Romelu Lukaku will miss Belgium's friendly in Ireland this weekend because of a groin problem.

Lukaku missed a Europa League match last Thursday because of a recurring hip injury, then played 85 minutes on Sunday in Roma's 1-0 win against Sassuolo in Serie A.