Hamas says it shot dead 12 fighters of Israel-backed Gazan militia
However aid group says the men were workers risking life to provide help
©Associated Press
Today at 21:30
A unit of Gaza's Hamas-run police force says it has killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia after detaining them, but an Israel-supported aid group said the dead were its workers.
It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed.
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Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
27 Palestinians killed in latest violence in Gaza
At least 16 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight and into Saturday, according to health officials. The 20-month war with Hamas has raged on even as Israel has opened a new front with heavy strikes on Iran that sparked retaliatory drone and missile attacks. Another 11 Palestinians were killed overnight near food distribution points run by an Israeli and US-supported humanitarian group, in the latest of almost daily shootings near the sites since they opened last month. Families react after the death of relatives at an aid distribution hub in Rafah (Mariam Dagga/AP) Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces fired on the crowds, while the military said it has only fired warning shots near people it described as suspects approaching its forces. The sites are in military zones that are off limits to independent media. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private contractor that operates the sites, said they were closed on Saturday, but witnesses said thousands had gathered desperate for food as Israel's blockade and military campaign have driven the territory to the brink of famine. The al-Awda Hospital said it received eight bodies and at least 125 wounded people from a shooting near a GHF site in central Gaza. Mohamed Abu Hussein, a resident of the built-up Bureij refugee camp nearby, said Israeli forces opened fire towards the crowd about a half a mile from the food distribution point. He said he saw several people fall to the ground as thousands ran away. Palestinians carry food and humanitarian aid in Rafah (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) In the southern city of Khan Younis, the Nasser Hospital said it received 16 dead, including five women, from multiple Israeli strikes late on Friday and early on Saturday. It said another three men were killed near two GHF aid sites in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone. Israel and the US say the new system is intended to replace a UN-run network that has distributed aid across Gaza through 20 months of war. They accuse Hamas of siphoning off the aid and reselling it to fund its militant activities. UN officials deny Hamas has diverted significant amounts of aid and say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs. They say the new system has militarised aid by allowing Israel to decide who has access and by forcing Palestinians to travel long distances or relocate again after waves of displacement. They say the UN has struggled to deliver aid even after Israel eased its blockade last month because of military restrictions and rising lawlessness. Palestinians receive donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Hamas, which is allied with Iran, sparked the war when its fighters led a rampage into southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They still hold 53 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90% of the population of two million Palestinians, leaving them almost entirely reliant on international aid. The war has drawn in Iran and its other allies across the region, igniting a chain of events that led to Israel's major strikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities on Friday.
Irish Independent
14 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Hamas says it shot dead 12 fighters of Israel-backed Gazan militia
However aid group says the men were workers risking life to provide help ©Associated Press Today at 21:30 A unit of Gaza's Hamas-run police force says it has killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia after detaining them, but an Israel-supported aid group said the dead were its workers. It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed.
Irish Daily Star
15 hours ago
- Irish Daily Star
Israel destroys one of Iran's main plants for producing uranium in devastating blow
Israel claims to have destroyed the facility where Iran was producing enriched uranium in its quest to create nuclear weapons . In a statement on X on Friday evening , the Israeli Defense Forces said they targeted the nuclear site in the Isfahan region, which is believed to be the location where Iran was attempting to produce the weapons. "At this moment, Air Force fighter jets have completed an attack on the Iranian regime's nuclear site in the Isfahan area, under precise intelligence guidance from the Intelligence Branch. The site is undergoing a process of 'reconversion' of enriched uranium," the IDF wrote at 8:39 p.m. local time. Read More Related Articles Melania 'says what we're all thinking' in awkward red carpet display with Trump Read More Related Articles Experts track three tropical waves as fears of extreme weather grow "This is the next stage after uranium enrichment in the process of producing nuclear weapons," the IDF wrote. "The attack destroyed a structure for producing metallic uranium, infrastructure for converting enriched uranium, laboratories, and other infrastructure." Israel described the ferocious attack at the "heart" of Iran's nuclear program as just the beginning as it vowed to eradicate the program once and for all as well as launch a more full-scale war with its main Middle Eastern rival. The assault, which occurred overnight on Thursday, is the most severe attack Iran has endured since the 1980s, when it was in conflict with Iraq. Iran retaliated on Friday evening by sending missiles flying into Israel (Image: AP) Iran swiftly unleashed a barrage of drones toward Israel in retaliation, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowing "severe punishment." The counterstrike came after a reprimand from the U.N.'s atomic watchdog the day prior, which criticized Iran for failing to adhere to agreements designed to block its path toward developing nuclear weapons. Israel hinted about the possibility of such an attack on Iranian nuclear infrastructure for years and finally carried it out this week. The U.S. attempted to enter it, concerned that it might spark what it now has — a broader conflict in the Middle East that might not result in the effective dismantlement of Iran's nuclear program. The initial Israeli strikes struck several locations, including the one in Isfahan and the main one in Natanz, where plumes of black smoke were observed. Later in the day, Israel announced it had taken out several radar installations for surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the operation had "significantly damaged" the facility in Natanz, but added that the mission was "still in the beginning." Iran's top military leaders Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, Gen. Hossein Salami and Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh were all killed in the strikes. The first of them oversaw all the armed forces. The second was the leader of the parliamentary Revolutionary Guard. And the third directed the Guard's ballistic missile program. Protests against the strikes from Israel croped up in several other Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq (Image: AP) Taking to his Truth Social account early Friday morning, U.S. President Donald Trump penned a scathing message about the deal with Iran as he warned the country that everyone in it would be "dead" if leaders don't come to the table to finish the nuclear deal — which would prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons. "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done," Trump wrote. He also claimed he warned Iran that an Israeli attack might be imminent and how much damage one would cause, should one occur. "I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it," the president wrote. Trump added that "certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely" but ultimately "didn't know what was about to happen." He used their alleged subsequent deaths to bolster his warning message to the Middle Eastern state. "They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!" he wrote. "There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!" In another post on Friday morning, Trump pressured Iran to get the nuclear deal done, noting the 60-day ultimatum he gave the country to reach an agreement — a timeframe that passed. He said they "perhaps" have a second chance now, however.
