The Israeli military ordered another mass evacuation in large areas around Khan Younis in southern Gaza, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian rocket fire. The second largest city in Gaza, Khan Younis suffered widespread destruction during air and ground operations earlier this year.
Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza, where they had fought previous battles against Hamas and other militants since the start of the 10-month war.
Loop faces a serious humanitarian crisis with Israeli restrictions on aid and ongoing fighting limiting access to crucial medical, food and other supplies. He Ministry of Health in Gaza It says the death toll in the territory is approaching 40,000.
Regional tensions have soared since Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31 in Iran for an alleged Israeli attack. Retaliation was expected. French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call to do everything in his power to avoid a new military escalation that he said would cause lasting damage to regional stability.
World leaders have been pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, and US President Joe Biden spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Tuesday about his hopes for a deal that would be reached. calm tensions in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet over the weekend that Israel is already in a “war on multiple fronts.” with Iran and its representatives.
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Here’s the latest:
JERUSALEM – The Palestinian emergency response agency says Israeli airstrikes on two schools serving as shelters in Gaza City have killed at least a dozen people, the latest in a series of attacks on Gaza schools that, according to Israel, they provide cover for Hamas fighters.
The Israeli military said it had attacked Hamas “command and control centers” hidden inside the Zahraa and Abdelfattah Hamouda school complexes in eastern Gaza City. It said it had taken “numerous measures to mitigate the risk of harming civilians,” such as precision munitions, surveillance and intelligence, but did not elaborate on how it had done so.
The Palestinian Civil Defense, which sent teams to recover the bodies from the scene, said seven people died at the Zahraa school and five at Abdelfattah Hamouda. It was not clear if any of the dead were militants.
The latest attacks add to the growing Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now approaching 40,000 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.
A recent United Nations assessment found that nearly 85% of schools in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war.
JERUSALEM – The Israeli military ordered another mass evacuation in southern Gaza, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian rocket fire.
The orders announced Thursday cover large areas in and around Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city. which suffered widespread destruction during air and ground operations earlier this year.
Associated Press video captured loud explosions and smoke rising over the city on Thursday.
Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza, where they had fought previous battles against Hamas and other militants since the start of the 10-month war. The military ordered the evacuation of much of Khan Yunis at the beginning of july. The vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced in the war, often multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are crammed into squalid tent camps.
Others have remained in their homes despite being ordered to leave, saying that nowhere in the isolated coastal territory feels safe.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Thursday that the Scandinavian government was told that Israel “will no longer facilitate Norwegian diplomats to work in Palestine.”
“This is an extreme act that primarily affects our ability to help the Palestinian population,” Barth Eide said, adding that it demonstrates that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “actively opposes working toward a two-state solution.” “.
He told a news conference that this meant Norway could no longer work from its representations in the occupied territories. Her representation in the West Bank city of Al Ram opened in 1995.
Thursday’s decision will have consequences for Norway’s relationship with the Israeli government and they are considering next steps, he said.
In May, Norway – along with Spain and Ireland – They announced that they would recognize a Palestinian state..
JERUSALEM – Human Rights Watch says Israeli soldiers killed at least seven people and seriously injured two, including a five-year-old boy, when they attacked a house in Gaza City where a Palestinian family was sheltering in December.
The New York-based human rights group published a report Thursday based on interviews with two members of the al-Khalidi family who witnessed the attack and on video footage released by the Israeli military, which stationed forces in the vicinity of the house at the time.
Relatives said there were no militants or weapons inside the house and that the family had no connection to any armed group. They said troops burst in without warning, threw grenades and opened fire.
The dead included a pregnant woman and the five-year-old boy is being treated for serious injuries in Qatar.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, and Human Rights Watch said the military had not responded to detailed questions sent in July.
Israel says it is trying to avoid harming civilians as it seeks to destroy Hamas following the militant group’s attack on Israel on October 7, which sparked the ongoing war. But Israel’s incessant aerial bombardments and ground operations They have eliminated entire Palestinian families. The International Court of Justice is investigating accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gazasomething that Israel has flatly denied.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Saudi Arabia condemned the targeted killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran as a “flagrant violation” of international law.
The statement issued early Thursday by Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed ElKhereiji came after the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the largest bloc of Muslim countries, issued a similar statement following a high-level meeting the previous day.
Iran has vowed to avenge the July 31 explosion that killed Ismail Haniyeh, which was widely attributed to Israel, raising fears of a regional war. Israel has not said whether it was involved.
ElKhereiji said Haniyeh’s assassination was a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and constitutes a threat to peace.” and regional security. .”
The statement does not directly blame Israel, but refers to Israeli attacks against Palestinians “inside and outside the Palestinian territories.”
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