Israeli airstrike kills 28 people sheltering in Gaza school

Mourners react next to the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in Israeli strikes, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip on Oct. 8, 2024. (Reuters)
Mourners react next to the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in Israeli strikes, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip on Oct. 8, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 10 October 2024
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Israeli airstrike kills 28 people sheltering in Gaza school

Mourners react next to the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in Israeli strikes, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
  • The strike occurred in the city of Deir Al-Balah where a million people have taken shelter after fleeing fighting elsewhere after more than a year of war

DEIR AL-BALAH: An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 28 people including women and children on Thursday, while three hospitals in the north were told to evacuate, putting patients’ lives at risk, medics said.
The strike, in which many more were wounded, occurred in the city of Deir Al-Balah where a million people have taken shelter after fleeing fighting elsewhere after more than a year of war.
The Israeli military said on Thursday it had carried out a “precise strike on terrorists” who had a command and control center embedded in a school.
“This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organization’s systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law,” a military statement said.
The Palestinian militant group denies such accusations. Medics said 54 other people were injured at the school.
In Gaza’s north, the Israeli military was pursuing an offensive begun six days ago when it sent its troops into Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.
Palestinian health officials say at least 130 people have been killed so far in the operation, which Israel says is aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.
The military has told residents to evacuate an area in which the UN estimates more than 400,000 people are trapped.
The health officials said the Israeli military on Wednesday gave patients and medics 24 hours to leave the Indonesian, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals or risk being stormed as happened earlier in the war at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Israel, which has not yet commented on evacuation orders for medical facilities, has said Hamas has command facilities concealed within the hospitals, which it denies.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said eight patients, mostly children with critical shrapnel wounds, were at risk inside intensive-care units should the army force their evacuation, and the hospital was also running out of fuel.

Appeal for help
Abu Safiya called for international pressure on Israel to allow medical staffers in north Gaza’s three hospitals to continue to operate, saying: “Our message is a message of peace for the sake of those children.”
Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said an OCHA-World Health Organization team could not reach Kamal Adwan Hospital despite having secured a green light from the Israeli military.
“The team was forced to wait at the holding point for hours, and ultimately, the mission had to be aborted. And that’s not an unusual practice,” Rajasingham told a UN meeting. “In September, less than 10 percent of coordinated missions to the north (of Gaza) were facilitated by the Israeli authorities.
“The essential conditions for effective aid operations are severely lacking or entirely absent,” he added.
Israeli bombardment near Kamal Adwan Hospital has already caused some damage to the facility, medics said. They said they know of many dead bodies lying on the roads outside the hospital because of Israeli fire.
The Israeli military told residents of Jabalia and nearby areas to head to humanitarian-designated zones in southern Gaza, but Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe places to flee to in the densely populated enclave.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, told the UN Security Council: “Hundreds of thousands of people are again being pushed to move to the south, where living conditions are intolerable.”
Residents said Israeli forces had encircled Jabalia and ordered them to leave through one corridor. They said troops were interrogating those leaving and making arrests, while anyone trying to leave via a different route gets fired at.
Hamas and ally Islamic Jihad said they continued to fight Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
The Israeli military said it killed dozens more militants, seized arms and dismantled militant infrastructure in the north.
Israel began its offensive after Hamas-led militants carried out a cross-border attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, the Gaza health ministry says. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of the enclave has been laid to waste.


Israel passes 2 laws restricting UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza

Israel passes 2 laws restricting UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza
Updated 9 sec ago
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Israel passes 2 laws restricting UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza

Israel passes 2 laws restricting UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza
  • Legislation risks collapsing already fragile process for distributing aid in Gaza
  • Under first law, UN agency for Palestinian refugees will be banned in Israel 

JERUSALEM: Israeli lawmakers passed two laws on Monday that could threaten the work of the main UN agency providing aid to people in Gaza by barring it from operating on Israeli soil, severing ties with it and deeming it a terror organization.
The laws, which do not immediately go into effect, signal a new low for a long-troubled relationship between Israel and the UN Israel’s international allies said they were deeply worried about its potential impact on Palestinians as the war’s humanitarian toll is worsening.
Under the first law, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, would be banned from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, while the second would sever diplomatic ties with it. The legislation risks collapsing the already fragile process for distributing aid in Gaza at a moment when Israel is under increased US pressure to ramp up aid.
Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s thousands of staff members participated in the Hamas attacks last year that sparked the war in Gaza. It also has said hundreds of UNRWA staff have militant ties and that it has found Hamas military assets near or under the agency’s facilities.
The agency fired nine employees after an investigation but denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants from its ranks. Some of Israel’s allegations prompted major international donors to cut funding to the agency, although some of it has been restored.
The first vote passed 92-10 and followed a fiery debate between supporters of the law and its opponents, mostly members of Arab parliamentary parties. The second law was approved 87-9.


CIA boss floats 28-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Axios reports

CIA boss floats 28-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Axios reports
Updated 29 October 2024
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CIA boss floats 28-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Axios reports

CIA boss floats 28-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Axios reports
CIA Director Bill Burns floated a deal for a 28-day Gaza ceasefire, the freeing of around eight hostages by Hamas and the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, Axios reported on Monday, citing three Israeli officials.
Burns discussed the idea during a meeting on Sunday with Israeli and Qatari counterparts, Axios said.

Israel, Iran trade charges of endangering Mideast peace

Israel, Iran trade charges of endangering Mideast peace
Updated 29 October 2024
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Israel, Iran trade charges of endangering Mideast peace

Israel, Iran trade charges of endangering Mideast peace
  • Israeli aggression against Iran is obvious and does not occur in isolation

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Israel and Iran accused each other Monday of endangering Middle East peace, in a heated exchange at a UN meeting called after Israel attacked Iranian military targets.
On Saturday, Israel carried out air strikes on military sites in Iran in response to Tehran’s October 1 missile barrage on Israel. The latter was in retaliation for the killing of Iran-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.
At a meeting of the UN Security Council that was requested by Iran, each country asserted its right to self-defense.
“Israeli aggression against Iran is obvious and does not occur in isolation. This aggressive attack is part of a broader, sustained pattern of aggression and unchecked impunity with which Israel continues to destabilize the entire region,” Iran’s ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the council.
He added that Israel’s “persistent and systematic violation of international law,” and military engagements in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen should spark “unequivocal condemnation” by the council.
The ambassador repeated Iran’s threat to retaliate after Israel’s weekend air strikes, but said Tehran preferred diplomacy.
Israeli ambassador Danny Danon said his country had defended itself after the October 1 missile attacks by Iran.
“We promised that their actions would not go unanswered,” said Danon.
“Iran has seeded violence, chaos and destruction throughout the Middle East. But this violence is not limited to Israel’s borders. It threatens regional stability, global security and economic stability,” the ambassador said.
“Today, it is us. It is Israel in their crossroads. But tomorrow, it could be any of the nations represented here. Don’t be mistaken,” Danon said, calling for strong sanctions against Iran, especially to keep it from developing nuclear weapons.
The United States defended its ally Israel.
“Our message for Iran remains clear, as well: should it choose to undertake further aggressive acts against Israel or US personnel in the region, there will be severe consequences,” US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the meeting.
“We will not hesitate to act in self defense,” she said, adding however that the United States wants to avoid escalation.


US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza

US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza
Updated 29 October 2024
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US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza

US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza
  • The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies

WASHINGTON: The US State Department warned on Monday that humanitarian assistance was not getting to people that need it in Jabalia in northern Gaza, which spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US does not accept.
“That’s one of our assessments, is that the food and water and medicine that needs to get to people in Jabalia, they aren’t getting it right now. And we want to see that change,” Miller said.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies. Reuters could not verify the number independently.
The emergency service said its operations had come to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into the north, an area where the military said it had wiped out Hamas combat forces earlier in the year-long war.
Israeli forces began the recent operation in the north with the declared aim of preventing Hamas from regrouping. The operation has intensified since the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar over a week ago.
Miller said Washington would clearly reject any effort to create a siege, starve civilians or wall northern Gaza off from the rest of the enclave.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised with Israel a so-called “generals plan,” published by retired military commanders and floated by some parliament members this month, suggesting Palestinian civilians would be instructed to evacuate northern Gaza, which would then be declared a closed military zone.
Israel told the US they are not carrying out the plan, Miller said.
But he warned that Israel was not meeting all of the conditions laid out in a letter the US sent to Israel earlier this month urging it to take steps in 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid, according to US officials.
“They have not fully implemented all of the changes that we called for in that letter,” he said, adding that the US would wait until the expiration of the 30 days before offering a final assessment.
The Israeli parliament passed a law on Monday to ban UN relief agency UNRWA from operating inside the country. Miller, before the passage of the law, said the US has made it clear to Israel it is deeply concerned by the legislation, as UNRWA has an irreplaceable role in delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza.


Germany ‘sharply’ criticizes Israeli bill to ban UN Palestinian refugee agency

Germany ‘sharply’ criticizes Israeli bill to ban UN Palestinian refugee agency
Updated 29 October 2024
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Germany ‘sharply’ criticizes Israeli bill to ban UN Palestinian refugee agency

Germany ‘sharply’ criticizes Israeli bill to ban UN Palestinian refugee agency
  • Amtsberg said the implementation of the law as it currently stands “would be a fateful step” and that “our efforts to bring peace to the Middle East would be hindered”

BERLIN: The German government on Monday said it “sharply” criticized a bill passed by Israel’s parliament to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from working in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem.
Germany’s Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Assistance, Luise Amtsberg, also warned the move would “effectively make UNRWA’s work in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem impossible... jeopardizing vital humanitarian aid for millions of people.”
The vote in Israel’s parliament followed years of harsh Israeli criticism of UNRWA, which has only increased since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas’s deadly October 7 attacks last year.
Amtsberg said the implementation of the law as it currently stands “would be a fateful step” and that “our efforts to bring peace to the Middle East would be hindered.”
“The Israeli action against a UN-mandated organization that has been doing vital work since 1950 is a dangerous signal of disrespect for the United Nations and for international cooperation,” she said.
In January, Israel accused a dozen of UNRWA’s Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7 attack by Hamas, which sparked the deadliest war in the Palestinian territory.
A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, and determined that nine employees “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack, but found no evidence for Israel’s main allegations.
Amtsberg acknowledged that “UNRWA has taken measures to address allegations of support for terrorist organizations by individual staff members and to reform internal procedures.”
She said the UN agency “must continue to implement these reforms as a high priority and further strengthen its neutrality.”