Women and children among 37 killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza

Women and children among 37 killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza
Displaced Palestinians douse a burning car with water after it was hit in an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip city on October 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 01 October 2024
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Women and children among 37 killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza

Women and children among 37 killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza
  • US imposes sanctions on ‘extremist’ Israeli settler group

CAIRO: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 37 people in Gaza on Tuesday, local medics said and fighting ramped up, as the Israeli military said it had been targeting command centers used by Hamas.

Palestinian health officials said at least 13 people, including women and children, were killed in two Israeli strikes on two houses in Nuseirat, one of the enclave’s eight historic refugee camps.

Another strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City killed at least seven people, medics added.

The Israeli military said in a statement the airstrike targeted Hamas militants operating from a compound that had previously served as Al-Shejaia School.

It accused Hamas of using the civilian population and facilities for military purposes, which Hamas denies.

Later on Tuesday, two separate Israeli attacks killed five Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, medics said.

In Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a tent housing displaced people, medics said.

Hours later, an Israeli airstrike on a car in western Khan Younis, killed six Palestinians, medics said. Footage circulated on social media, which Reuters could not immediately authenticate, showed a mangled, burnt-out vehicle.

Some Palestinians said they feared that Israel’s shift in focus to Lebanon could prolong the conflict in Gaza, which marks its first anniversary next week.

“The eyes of the world now are on Lebanon while the occupation continues its killing in Gaza. We are afraid the war is going to go on for more months at least,” said Samir Mohammed, 46, a father of five from Gaza City.

“It is all unclear now as Israel unleashes its force undeterred in Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and God knows where else in the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, the US unveiled further sanctions against Israeli settlers over attacks on Palestinians and destruction of property in the West Bank.

The latest sanctions target the Hilltop Youth, which the US Treasury Department described as a “violent extremist group,” and comes amid soaring tensions in the region nearly a year after Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel.

The US sanctions follow similar moves targeting the group by Australia, Britain and the EU.

“The worsening violence and instability in the West Bank are detrimental to the long-term interests of Israelis and Palestinians, and the actions of violent organizations like Hilltop Youth only exacerbate the crisis,” said Acting Treasury Under Secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Bradley Smith.

In the past year, the US issued a series of sanctions targeting Israeli settlers, while repeatedly voicing concern to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the West Bank violence.

It has however made little impact on the decision-making of the Israeli government, a hardline pro-settler coalition.

“Hilltop Youth has conducted a campaign of violence against Palestinians, engaging in killings, arson, assaults, and intimidation intended to drive Palestinian communities out of the West Bank,” the US Treasury said.

The US State Department also announced it was designating two individuals: Eitan Yardeni, over his connection to violence or threats targeting civilians in the West Bank; and Avichai Suissa, who leads a group which provided support to previously sanctioned individuals.


Jordan, UN aid body discusses urgent needs in Palestinian refugee camps

Jordan, UN aid body discusses urgent needs in Palestinian refugee camps
Updated 1 min 39 sec ago
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Jordan, UN aid body discusses urgent needs in Palestinian refugee camps

Jordan, UN aid body discusses urgent needs in Palestinian refugee camps
  • Israel’s actions against UN workers condemned by Jordan, other officials

AMMAN: Jordan’s Department of Palestinian Affairs and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East held talks on Sunday to address the growing needs and challenges of the displaced and vulnerable in camps across the country.

During the meeting, Department of Palestinian Affairs Director-General Rafiq Khirfan condemned what he described as a “systematic campaign and political assassination” aimed at weakening UNRWA’s role, according to reports.

He pointed to Tel Aviv’s recent actions, including a decision by the Israeli Knesset to restrict UNRWA activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, such as East Jerusalem, and to withdraw diplomatic privileges from its staff.

Khirfan said the measures were a violation of international law and an attempt to undermine UNRWA’s mission of supporting Palestinian refugees, advocating for their right to return, and compensation.

Despite these challenges, Khirfan underscored Jordan’s continued commitment to backing UNRWA at regional and international levels, recognizing the agency’s critical role in providing services and stability for Palestinian refugees.

UNRWA’s Jordan Affairs Director Olaf Becker thanked Amman for the ongoing support of the agency’s work in the refugee camps.


Hezbollah says launched ‘big rocket salvo’ at Israel’s Safed

Hezbollah says launched ‘big rocket salvo’ at Israel’s Safed
Updated 3 sec ago
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Hezbollah says launched ‘big rocket salvo’ at Israel’s Safed

Hezbollah says launched ‘big rocket salvo’ at Israel’s Safed

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it fired rockets at the northern Israeli city of Safed on Monday, the latest attack in more than a month of war.
Hezbollah fighters launched a “big rocket salvo” at the city, the group said in a statement.


Iran executes Jewish Iranian man in murder case: NGO

Iran executes Jewish Iranian man in murder case: NGO
Updated 13 min 30 sec ago
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Iran executes Jewish Iranian man in murder case: NGO

Iran executes Jewish Iranian man in murder case: NGO
  • Arvin Ghahremani was hanged in prison in the western city of Kermanshah after being convicted of a murder during a street fight
  • Ghahremani’s mother, Sonia Saadati, had asked for his life to be spared

PARIS: Iran on Monday executed a member of the country’s Jewish minority who had been convicted of murder, an NGO said, at a time of rising tensions with Israel.
Arvin Ghahremani was hanged in prison in the western city of Kermanshah after being convicted of a murder during a street fight, said the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group.
“In the midst of the threats of war with Israel, the Islamic republic executed Arvin Ghahremani, an Iranian Jewish citizen,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, adding the legal case had “significant flaws.”
“However, in addition to this, Arvin was a Jew, and the institutionalized anti-Semitism in the Islamic republic undoubtedly played a crucial role in the execution of his sentence,” Amiry-Moghaddam added.
The once sizeable Jewish community in Shiite Muslim-dominated Iran has dwindled since the 1979 Islamic Revolution but remains the largest in the Middle East outside Israel.
While Jewish Iranians were executed in the immediate aftermath of the revolution, the execution of a Jewish Iranian is unprecedented in recent years.
Ghahremani’s mother, Sonia Saadati, had asked for his life to be spared.
His family urged the victim’s relatives to accept blood money under Iran’s Islamic law of retribution (qesas), which permits this alternative.
The Mizan Online website of the Iranian judiciary confirmed Ghahremani’s execution, saying the victim’s family had “refused to give consent” to such a deal.
Iran and Israel have traded unprecedented air attacks this year following the outbreak of Israel’s wars with armed groups backed by the Islamic republic in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.


Two Iran Guards killed in helicopter crash during combat: state media

Two Iran Guards killed in helicopter crash during combat: state media
Updated 17 min 17 sec ago
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Two Iran Guards killed in helicopter crash during combat: state media

Two Iran Guards killed in helicopter crash during combat: state media

TEHRAN: An Iranian Revolutionary Guards general and pilot were killed in a helicopter crash during an anti-terror operation in the country’s restive southeast, state media reported on Monday.
The “ultra-light gyroplane” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “had an accident while conducting combat operations” in a border area, IRNA news agency said.
It said the crash happened in Sirkan, a city in Sistan-Baluchistan province, and identified the dead as General Hamid Mazandarani, the commander of the Nineveh Brigade of Golestan province, and Hamed Jandaghi, a pilot of the IRGC ground forces.
Iran’s armed forces have been mounting an operation in the region since October 26, when 10 police officers were killed in an attack claimed by Sunni Muslim militants.
They have killed several militants and arrested others during the operation, according to Iranian media outlets.
Sistan-Baluchistan borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, and is one of the most impoverished provinces in the Islamic republic.
It is home to a large number of the Baluch minority, an ethnic group spread between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan who practice Sunni Islam in contrast to the country’s predominantly Shiite population.
The province has experienced recurring clashes between Iranian security forces and rebels from the Baluch minority, radical Sunni groups and drug traffickers.
Helicopter accidents are a rare sight in Iran, but former president Ebrahim Raisi was killed when his helicopter crashed into a mountainside in May, triggering snap elections in the country.
The ultra-conservative president was accompanied by then foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six other people who were all killed.


Jordanian field hospital delivers services in northern Gaza

Jordanian field hospital delivers services in northern Gaza
Updated 44 min 54 sec ago
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Jordanian field hospital delivers services in northern Gaza

Jordanian field hospital delivers services in northern Gaza

IYADH: Medical teams at Jordan field hospital Gaza 80 began receiving patients on Sunday, reported state news agency Petra.

Staff started work in the morning, treating people with various medical conditions, according to a statement by the military hospital’s commander.

The statement added that the facility highlighted how King Abdullah II, the supreme commander of the Jordanian Armed Forces, was keen to stand alongside those in the Gaza Strip.

Residents and patients expressed their thanks for his support and pride in the relentless efforts of Jordan’s armed forces to provide medical and humanitarian aid.