Israel seeks to 'exterminate Palestinians'
Activists, heading towards Gaza by land, wave the Palestinian and Tunisian flags as they arrive in Zawiyah, Libya. Photo: AFP
An independent United Nations commission said on Tuesday that Israeli attacks on schools, religious and cultural sites in Gaza amount to war crimes and the crime against humanity of seeking to exterminate Palestinians.
"In killing civilians sheltering in schools and religious sites, Israeli security forces committed the crime against humanity of extermination," the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a report.
17 killed at Gaza aid site
Israeli gunfire killed at least 17 Palestinians and wounded dozens as thousands of displaced people approached an aid distribution site run by a US-backed humanitarian group in central Gaza on Tuesday, local health authorities said.
Medics said the casualties were rushed to two hospitals, the Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, and the Al-Quds in Gaza City, in the north.
Two killed in Nablus
Nablus. At least two Palestinians were killed Tuesday as Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry and the Israeli army said.
The military said troops opened fire and "eliminated" two Palestinians who had attempted to steal a soldier's weapon as the "counterterrorism operation" was underway in the old city of Nablus.
Meanwhile, Israel deported campaigner Greta Thunberg on a flight to Sweden via France on Tuesday, after detaining her along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat.
Of the 12 activists on board the Madleen, which was carrying food and supplies for Gaza, four including Thunberg agreed to be deported, the rights group that legally represents some of them said in a statement.
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