Families bid a tearful farewell as 21 seriously ill children left Gaza for treatment abroad on Thursday. It is the first medical evacuation since the territory’s only border crossing was closed in early May after Israeli forces captured it, Palestinian officials say.
The children and their adult companions left Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, bound for the Kerem Shalom freight crossing with Israel. It was unclear where they would receive treatment.
Kamela Abukweik burst into tears after her son boarded the bus heading to the intersection with his mother. Neither she nor her husband received permission to leave.
“He has tumors spread throughout his body and we don’t know what the reason is. And he has a fever constantly,” she said. “I still don’t know where she’s going.”
He Nearly nine-month war between Israel and Hamas has devastated Gaza’s healthcare sector and forced most of its hospitals to close. Dr. Mohammed Zaqout, director of Gaza hospitals, said more than 25,000 patients need treatment abroad, including some 980 children with cancer, a quarter of whom need “urgent and immediate evacuation.”
International criticism grows over Israel’s campaign against Hamas as Palestinians face severe and widespread hunger. The eight-month war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and basic goods to Gaza, and the people there are now totally dependent on aid. The highest court of the United Nations has concluded that there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza – an accusation that Israel strongly denies.
Israel launched war in Gaza after Hamas attack on October 7in which militants swept into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250.
Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombings have killed more than 37,600 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s report. Ministry of Healthwhich does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
At the moment:
—Shooting, anarchy, and gang-like looters are prevent aid distribution in Gaza, says an official.
— A Palestinian was shot, beaten and tied to an Israeli army jeep. The military says he poses no threat.
— The US military shows journalists the Gaza dock project while another attempt to deliver aid is needed.
— Ship attacked in the Red Sea in the latest maritime assault likely carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
— Man what the police say. urged the ‘Zionists’ to get off the New York subway faces criminal charges.
— Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza on https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s the latest:
BEIRUT – Israel’s military says it has killed a Hezbollah member who participated in launching explosive drones into Israel.
The military released video of Thursday’s drone strike that killed a Hezbollah member while riding a motorcycle in the village of Sohmor in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
Hezbollah previously said that one of its members, Ali Ahmad Alaeddine, was killed, adding that his funeral will be held on Friday in Yohmor.
The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen almost daily exchanges of gunfire since the war between Israel and Hamas began in early October. Hezbollah says it will only stop fighting when Israel ends its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah and other militants, but also more than 80 civilians and non-combatants. In northern Israel, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed in attacks launched from Lebanon.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip – Twenty-one seriously ill children were set to leave Gaza on Thursday in the first medical evacuation since the territory’s only transit crossing was closed in early May, Palestinian officials said.
He Nearly nine-month war between Israel and Hamas has devastated Gaza’s healthcare sector and forced most of its hospitals to close.
Relatives bid a tearful farewell to the children as they and their escorts left Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, bound for the Kerem Shalom freight crossing with Israel. It was unclear where they would receive treatment. The Israeli military body that coordinates civil affairs in Gaza did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference at Nasser Hospital on Thursday, Dr. Mohammed Zaqout, director of Gaza hospitals, said the evacuation of the 21 children was being carried out in coordination with the World Health Organization and three American charities. .
Zaqout said more than 25,000 patients in Gaza need treatment abroad, including some 980 children with cancer, a quarter of whom need “urgent and immediate evacuation.”
He said the cases included in Thursday’s evacuation are “a drop in the ocean” and that the complicated route through Kerem Shalom into Egypt cannot serve as an alternative to the Rafah crossing.
The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only one available for people to enter or leave, was closed after Israeli forces captured it during their operation in the city early last month. Egypt has refused to reopen its side of the crossing until the Gaza side is returned to Palestinian control.
Six of the children were transferred to Nasser Hospital from Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City earlier this week. Five suffer from malignant cancer and one suffers from metabolic syndrome. That evacuation was organized by the World Health Organization, which could not immediately be reached for comment.
JERUSALEM – The Israeli military has ordered new evacuations of Gaza City neighborhoods that were heavily bombed and largely emptied at the start of the war. The latest orders apply to Shijaiyah and other neighborhoods where residents reported heavy shelling on Thursday.
First responders from the Gaza Civil Defense, which is part of the Hamas-led government, said the airstrikes hit five homes, killing at least three people and wounding six others. He said rescuers were still digging through the rubble in search of survivors.
Gaza City was heavily bombed in the first weeks of the war, which began with Hamas’ October 7 surprise attack on Israel. Israel ordered the evacuation of all of northern Gaza, including the territory’s largest city, by the end of that month. Hundreds of thousands of people have remained in the north, even as Israeli troops have largely surrounded and isolated it.
Shijaiyah residents in a messaging group shared a video showing large numbers of people fleeing the neighborhood on foot with their belongings in their arms. They said several families were isolated by the fighting.
There was no immediate word from Gaza’s Health Ministry, which tracks victims of the conflict.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A ship sailing through the Red Sea on Thursday reported being hit in an attack probably carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebelssaid a private security company, the latest in the campaign targeting shipping in connection with the war between Israel and Hamas.
The ship issued a radio call off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeidah saying it had been hit, private security company Ambrey said. A warship in the area was responding to the attack, Ambrey added.
It was unclear if anyone was injured or if the ship was damaged in the assault on the ship. Neither the British nor the American military immediately reported the attack.
The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack. However, it may take hours or even days for them to recognize their aggression.
TEL AVIV, Israel – The Israeli military says one soldier was killed and 16 others were wounded during a military operation in the West Bank overnight. He said Thursday that an explosive device detonated in the area of the northern city of Jenin, which has seen frequent raids and shootouts with militants in recent years.
There were no immediate reports of Palestinian casualties. Israel says it has arrested more than 4,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack sparked the war in Gaza, including about 1,750 suspected Hamas members.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 550 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of the latest war between Israel and Hamas. Most have been killed during Israeli raids and violent protests, although the dead also include innocent bystanders and Palestinians killed in attacks by Jewish settlers. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
JERUSALEM – The Israeli military has released photographs it says show a staff member of the aid group Doctors Without Borders wearing military uniform at a meeting of Gaza militants.
The military says Fadi al-Wadiya, who was killed in an airstrike earlier this week, was a “major operative” of the Islamic Jihad group and was involved in its rocket program.
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, did not respond to a request for comment on the photographs, which were published late Wednesday. The aid group previously said it had no indication he was a militant.
Photographs released by the military appear to show al-Wadiya wearing military uniform at meetings with Islamic Jihad militants, but they could not be independently authenticated.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman who shared the photos on social media platform
“Al-Wadiya took advantage of his position in a humanitarian organization to promote terrorist operations,” Shoshani said.
Doctors Without Borders said al-Wadiya, a doctor and physiotherapist, worked for the group between 2018 and 2022, before resuming his work with the charity during the war. He said he was killed while riding his bike to work on Tuesday.
The group said he was the sixth of its employees killed in Gaza since October 7, calling their deaths “unacceptable.”
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, when asked about the competing claims on Wednesday, said the United States was unable to resolve them immediately.
The armed wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups are highly secretive, and fighters rarely identify themselves publicly for fear of being targeted by Israeli attacks.
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