Israeli attacks kill 82 amid forced displacement plans, truce talks in Gaza
Among those killed on Thursday, 15 people, including nine children and four women, were killed in an Israeli air attack while waiting in line for nutritional supplies for children in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.
At least 30 others were wounded, including 19 children, during the Israeli attack.
Catherine Russell, the director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), condemned the attack on aid seekers and said the killing of families trying to access aid was 'unconscionable'.
'This is the cruel reality confronting many in Gaza today after months of insufficient aid being allowed into the territory and parties to the conflict failing to uphold basic responsibilities to protect civilians,' the UNICEF official said.
'The lack of aid means children are facing starvation while the risk of famine grows. The number of malnourished children will continue to rise until life-saving aid and services are resumed at full scale,' she added.
Russell called on Israel to ensure 'full compliance with international humanitarian law' and to conduct an investigation into the incident.
Separately, Hamas condemned the attack and said it was part of Israel's 'ongoing campaign of genocide in the Strip'.
Israel is 'escalating its brutal massacres against innocent civilians in schools, streets, displacement camps, and civilian centres, in a systematic behaviour that amounts to a full-fledged ethnic cleansing crime, perpetrated in full view of the world', the Palestinian group said.
Since Israel began its war on Gaza after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks that killed 1,139 people in Israel, at least 57,762 Palestinians have been killed, and 137,656 others have been wounded, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.Since Sunday, Israel and Hamas, through mediators including the United States, Qatar and Egypt, have been involved in intense negotiations to come to a ceasefire deal that will pause Israeli attacks on the enclave and return the captives.
While Hamas said that it had agreed to release 10 captives in what is expected to be a 60-day ceasefire, the group said on Thursday that issues remained on the flow of aid into Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was preparing to leave the US on the last day of a series of meetings in Washington, DC, said Israel continues to pursue a deal for a 60-day pause in the fighting and the release of half the 50 captives remaining in Gaza.
Once that deal is in place, Israel is prepared to negotiate a permanent end to the war, Netanyahu said – but only on the condition that Hamas disarms and gives up its governing and military capabilities in Gaza.
'If this can be achieved through negotiations, so much the better,' he said in a video statement. 'If it is not achieved through negotiations in 60 days, we will achieve it in other ways; by using force.'
This comes as Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced earlier this week a plan to forcibly transfer Palestinians to a tent city in Rafah, southern Gaza, potentially affecting any ceasefire deal.
Tamara Alrifai, a senior communications director at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), told Al Jazeera that the plan would 'de facto create massive concentration camps at the border with Egypt for the Palestinians'.
'We cannot be silent and complicit of such large-scale forced displacement,' she said.
Beyond the front lines, European officials struck a new deal with Israel to allow desperately needed food and fuel into Gaza, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Thursday.
The agreement could result in 'more crossings open, aid and food trucks entering Gaza, repair of vital infrastructure and protection of aid workers', said Kaja Kallas, the 27-member EU's top diplomat.
'We count on Israel to implement every measure agreed,' she said in a post on social media.
Aid groups say Israeli military restrictions and recurring violence have made it difficult to deliver assistance in Gaza even after Israel eased a total blockade in May. Experts have warned that the territory is at risk of famine, 21 months into Israel's war.
Kallas said the deal would reactivate aid corridors from Jordan and Egypt and reopen community bakeries and kitchens across Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar acknowledged the deal while attending a conference in Vienna, saying it came 'following our dialogue with the EU'. He said the deal includes 'more trucks, more crossings and more routes for the humanitarian efforts'.
Neither Saar nor Kallas said whether the aid would go through the UN-run system or the controversial alternative, US- and Israeli-backed GHF mechanism that has been marred by violence and controversy.
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CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
As ceasefire talks stutter, dozens are being killed every day in Gaza
The talks on a new ceasefire for Gaza have stuttered in Doha – while in Gaza itself dozens of people are being killed every day as the Israeli military consolidates its control over large parts of the territory. Hope had been high for the latest negotiations but after days of negotiations the two sides accused each other of blocking an agreement while on the ground there has been no let-up in Israel's military campaign, which resumed when the last ceasefire collapsed in March. The Palestinian health ministry reported Sunday that 139 bodies had been brought to Gaza hospitals in the past 24 hours, with a number of victims still under the rubble. The number is the highest reported since July 2. The ministry said the latest casualties brought the total number of people killed since October 7, 2023 to 58,026. In just one incident on Saturday, the ministry said 27 were killed and many more injured when Israeli troops opened fire on people trying to obtain aid from a distribution site near southern Rafah run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). GHF denied the claim, saying 'there were no incidents at or in the immediate vicinity of our sites' on Saturday. The Israeli military also denied that anyone was injured by gunfire from its troops in the vicinity of the site but said it continued to review the reports. It told CNN Sunday it had no further comment. However, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its field hospital near the site had received 132 patients suffering from weapon-related injuries. Twenty-five were declared dead on arrival and six more died after being admitted – the largest number of fatalities since the hospital began operations in May 2024, according to the ICRC. 'This situation is unacceptable. The alarming frequency and scale of these mass casualty incidents underscore the horrific conditions civilians in Gaza are enduring,' the ICRC added. Nearly 800 Palestinians were killed while trying to access aid in Gaza between late May and July 7, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), when the GHF began operating. Elsewhere in Gaza, 13 people were killed Saturday in airstrikes in Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City, in the north of the territory, according to Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital. Salmiya told CNN that 40 injured people had been admitted. Geolocated video showed at least one child among the victims. On Sunday morning, six children were among ten people killed in an airstrike close to a water distribution site in Nuseirat in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital. It said it had received 16 injured people. Also in central Gaza, 11 people were killed and more than 50 injured when an Israeli airstrike targeted a crowded junction in central Gaza City, according to Civil Defense officials. The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday it had destroyed weapons and tunnels used by Hamas in northern Gaza and the air force had carried out attacks on more than 150 targets across the Gaza Strip, including 'booby-trapped buildings, weapons depots, anti-tank missile and sniper positions.' The spike in casualties in Gaza comes as talks on agreeing a new ceasefire deal and hostage continue in Doha, with optimism having faded that an agreement can be quickly reached. US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday he was hopeful of a deal by the end of the week. 'We had four issues, and now we're down to one after two days of proximity talks,' Witkoff said. The same day Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Gaza at length at the White House. 'We got to get that solved,' Trump said. But despite days of proximity talks in Doha between Israel and Hamas, significant gaps remain between the warring parties. An Israeli source familiar with the matter said last week that the outstanding issue was where the Israeli military would redeploy in Gaza once the ceasefire takes effect. The latest proposal called for the military to withdraw from parts of northern Gaza on the first day of a ceasefire and from parts of southern Gaza on the seventh day. The detailed maps were left to negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and that appears to be the main sticking point. The talks had 'stalled,' a senior Hamas official told CNN on Saturday, claiming Israel had added new conditions, 'the latest being new deployment maps for the Israeli army's presence in the Gaza Strip.' But an Israeli political source told CNN Saturday that 'Israel has shown willingness to be flexible in the negotiations' and that 'Hamas remains obstinate, sticking to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement.' Netanyahu is set to meet Sunday with his national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to discuss the negotiations, according to a source familiar with the matter. Ben Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich – the far-right members of Netanyahu's government – have both been vocal critics of any deal with Hamas, instead calling for Israel to cut off aid to Gaza and escalate its war until the militant group is destroyed. Recent opinion surveys in Israel suggest overwhelming approval for a deal that would end the war and return all the hostages, living and dead. A poll for Israel's Channel 12 Friday said that 74% of the public believes that Israel should end the war in Gaza in exchange for the return of all the abductees in one step, with only 8% supporting the phased deal that the government is trying to promote. Netanyahu has insisted that Israel has the right to return to combat at the end of the 60-day ceasefire now on the table. Hamas is demanding a pathway to an indefinite cessation of hostilities, with the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.


New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Israeli Strike in Gaza City Kills at Least 11 People
At least 11 people were killed and dozens were wounded on Sunday afternoon in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded junction in Gaza City, officials in the enclave said. Gaza's Civil Defense, an emergency rescue group under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said that Israel's military had struck a crowded junction in city's downtown. The rescue group said in a post on social media that in addition to those killed, more than 50 people were wounded. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. Fadel Naim, a doctor at the nearby Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, said that the medical center had received a number of casualties from the attack. He added that Ahmad Qandil, also a doctor at the hospital, was among the dead, and that the toll was expected to rise given the condition of the wounded. The attack came as recent efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas have yet to yield results. Israeli officials and President Trump had projected high optimism for an agreement ahead of a visit last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to Washington. But the talks appear to have stalled for the time being amid gaps between the two sides. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have continued to attack in Gaza, part of a 21-month campaign that began after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed around 1,200 people. The Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday that more than 100 people were killed in Gaza on Saturday alone. The ministry's casualty lists do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but they include thousands of children. While the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the strike in Gaza City, it said on Sunday that its air force had attacked more than 150 targets across the enclave over the past 24 hours, including weapons storage facilities and sniper posts.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
59 Palestinians in Gaza are killed by Israeli airstrikes or shot dead while seeking aid
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — At least 31 Palestinians were fatally shot on their way to an aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, while Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians including four children, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said. There were no signs of a breakthrough in ceasefire talks following two days of meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump had said he was nearing an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would potentially wind down the war. The 31 Palestinians shot dead were on their way to a distribution site run by the Israeli-backed American organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation near Rafah in southern Gaza, hospital officials and witnesses said. The Red Cross said its field hospital saw its largest influx of dead in more than a year of operation after the shootings, and that the overwhelming majority of the more than 100 people hurt had gunshot wounds. Airstrikes in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah killed 13 including the four children, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said. Fifteen others were killed in Khan Younis in the south, according to Nasser Hospital. Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Intense airstrikes continued Saturday evening in the area of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Israelis rallied yet again for a ceasefire deal. 'Arrogance is what brought the disaster upon us,' former hostage Eli Sharabi said of Israeli leaders. Teen's first attempt to pick up food ends in death The 21-month war has left much of Gaza's population of over 2 million reliant on outside aid while food security experts warn of famine. Israel blocked and then restricted aid entry after ending the latest ceasefire in March. 'All responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites,' the Red Cross said after the shootings near Rafah, noting the 'alarming frequency and scale' of such mass casualty incidents. Israel's military said it fired warning shots toward people it said were behaving suspiciously to prevent them from approaching. It said it was not aware of any casualties. The GHF said no incident occurred near its sites. Abdullah al-Haddad said he was 200 meters (655 feet) from the aid distribution site run by the GHF close to the Shakoush area when an Israeli tank started firing at crowds of Palestinians. 'We were together, and they shot us at once,' he said, writhing in pain from a leg wound at Nasser Hospital. Mohammed Jamal al-Sahloo, another witness, said Israel's military had ordered them to proceed to the site when the shooting started. Sumaya al-Sha'er's 17-year-old son, Nasir, was killed, hospital officials said. 'He said to me, 'Mom, you don't have flour and today I'll go and bring you flour, even if I die, I'll go and get it,'' she said. 'But he never came back home.' Until then, she said, she had prevented the teenager from going to GHF sites because she thought it was too dangerous. Witnesses, health officials and U.N. officials say hundreds have been killed by Israeli fire while heading toward GHF distribution points through military zones off limits to independent media. The military has acknowledged firing warning shots at Palestinians who it says approached its forces in a suspicious manner. The GHF denies there has been violence in or around its sites. But two of its contractors told The Associated Press that their colleagues have fired live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scramble for food, allegations the foundation denied. In a separate effort, the U.N. and aid groups say they struggle to distribute humanitarian aid because of Israeli military restrictions and a breakdown of law and order that has led to widespread looting. The first fuel — 150,000 liters — entered Gaza this week after 130 days, a joint statement by U.N. aid bodies said, calling it a small amount for the 'the backbone of survival in Gaza." Fuel runs hospitals, water systems, transport and more, the statement said. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war and abducted 251. Hamas still holds some 50 hostages, with at least 20 believed to remain alive. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 57,800 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, under Gaza's Hamas-run government, doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. A Palestinian-American killed in the West Bank Friends and relatives paid their respects a day after Palestinian-American Seifeddin Musalat and local friend Mohammed al-Shalabi were killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Musalat was beaten to death by Israeli settlers on his family's land, his cousin Diana Halum told reporters. The settlers then blocked paramedics from reaching him, she said. Musalat, born in Florida, was visiting his family home. His family wants the U.S. State Department to investigate his death and hold the settlers accountable. The State Department said it was aware of the reports of his death but had no comment out of respect for the family. A witness, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid Israeli retaliation, said the settlers descended on Palestinian lands and 'started shooting at us, beating by sticks and throwing rocks." Israel's military has said Palestinians hurled rocks at Israelis in the area earlier on Friday, lightly wounding two people and setting off a larger confrontation. Palestinians and rights groups have long accused the military of ignoring settler violence, which has spiked — along with Palestinian attacks and Israeli military raids — since the war in Gaza began. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at