Israeli strikes in north and south Gaza leave 14 dead
GAZA CITY : Gaza's civil defence agency said today that Israeli strikes killed 14 people in the north and south of the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
The emergency service said fighter jets conducted air strikes and there was artillery shelling and gunfire in the early morning in areas north of the southern city of Khan Younis.
Agency official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said 10 people were killed in two separate strikes in the Khan Younis area, with one hitting a house and the other tents sheltering displaced people.
In Gaza's north, four people were killed in an air strike in the Jabalia al-Nazla area, he added.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which asked for exact coordinates to look into the reports when contacted by AFP.
The latest strikes came after Israel said it mistakenly hit Gaza's only Catholic church with a 'stray' round yesterday, killing three and provoking international condemnation.
On Wednesday, at least 20 people were killed in a crush at a food aid distribution centre in the south of the territory run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas began in the Qatari capital Doha on July 6 to try to agree on a 60-day ceasefire after 21 months of hostilities.
The war was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023 which led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 58,667 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- New Straits Times
UK, 24 allies urge immediate end to Gaza war
LONDON: Britain and 24 Western allies, including Australia, Canada, France and Italy, declared on Monday that the war in Gaza "must end now", arguing that civilians' suffering had "reached new depths." "We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire," the grouping added in a joint statement. "Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this." The signatories – which also included Japan, several EU countries, Switzerland and New Zealand – added they were "prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire." The wide-ranging statement branded the controversial Israeli-supported relief effort in Gaza as "dangerous" and said it deprives Gazans of "human dignity." "We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food," the statement said. "The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable," it added, urging Israel to "comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law." The statement called for the Israeli government "to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively." The UN said last week that it had recorded 875 people who had been killed in Gaza while trying to get food via the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). It has replaced UN agencies as the main distributor of aid in the territory. The 25-nation statement also condemned the continued detention of hostages in Gaza by Hamas, demanding "their immediate and unconditional release" and noting a negotiated ceasefire "offers the best hope of bringing them home." Meanwhile, the signatories said they "strongly oppose any steps towards territorial or demographic change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories" and said an Israeli plan to shift Palestinians into a so-called "humanitarian city" was unacceptable. "Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law," they warned.
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
110,000 at risk as settlers attack Palestinian water system
From his monitoring station on a remote hill in the occupied West Bank, water operator Subhil Olayan keeps watch over a lifeline for Palestinians, the Ein Samiyah spring. So when Israeli settlers recently attacked the system of wells, pumps and pipelines he oversees, he knew the stakes. "There is no life without water, of course," he said. The attack temporarily cut off water supply to nearby villages. The spring, which feeds the pumping station, is the main or backup water source for 110,000 people, according to the Palestinian company that manages it—making it one of the most vital in the West Bank, where water is in chronic short supply. "The settlers came and the first thing they did was break the pipeline. And when the pipeline is broken, we automatically have to stop pumping" water to nearby villages, some of which exclusively rely on the Ein Samiyah spring. "The water just goes into the dirt, into the ground," said Olayan, adding that workers immediately fixed the damage to resume water supply. Just two days after the latest attack, Israeli settlers—some of them armed—splashed in pools just below the spring, while Olayan monitored water pressure and cameras from a distance. His software showed normal pressure in the pipes pulling water from the wells and the large pipe carrying water up the hill to his village of Kafr Malik. But he said maintenance teams dared not venture down to the pumping station out of fear for their safety. Since the start of the war in Gaza, deadly settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have become commonplace. Recently, settlers beat a 20-year-old dual US citizen to death in the nearby village of Sinjil. Issa Qassis, chairman of the board of the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, which manages the Ein Samiyah spring, said he viewed the attacks as a tool for Israeli land grabs and annexation. "When you restrict water supply in certain areas, people simply move where water is available," he said at a press conference. "So in a plan to move people to other lands, water is the best and fastest way," he said. Since the start of the war in Gaza, several Israeli politicians and officials have become increasingly vocal in support of annexing the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Most prominent among them is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, who said in November that 2025 would be the year Israel applied its sovereignty over the Palestinian territory. Qassis accused Israel's government of supporting settler attacks, such as the one on Ein Samiyah. The damage to Ein Samiyah's water facilities was not an isolated incident. In recent months, settlers in the nearby Jordan Valley took control of the Al-Auja spring by diverting its water from upstream, said Farhan Ghawanmeh, a representative of the Ras Ein Al Auja community. He said two other springs in the area had also recently been taken over. In Dura al-Qaraa, another West Bank village that uses the Ein Samiyah spring as a back-up water source, residents are also concerned about increasingly long droughts and the way Israel regulates their water rights. "For years now, no one has been planting because the water levels have decreased," said Rafeaa Qasim, a member of the village council, citing lower rainfall causing the land to be "basically abandoned." Qasim said though water shortages in the village had existed for 30 years, residents' hands were tied in the face of this challenge. "We have no options; digging a well is not allowed," he said, pointing to a well project that the United Nations and World Bank rejected due to Israeli law prohibiting drilling in the area. The lands chosen for drilling sit in the West Bank's Area C, which covers over 60 per cent of the territory and is under full Israeli control. Israeli NGO B'Tselem reported in 2023 that the legal system led to sharp disparities in water access within the West Bank between Palestinians and Israelis. Whereas nearly all residents of Israel and Israeli settlements have running water every day, by contrast, only 36 per cent of West Bank Palestinians do, said the report.
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Settler attacks threaten West Bank communities
From his monitoring station on a remote hill in the occupied West Bank, water operator Subhil Olayan keeps watch over a lifeline for Palestinians, the Ein Samiyah spring. So when Israeli settlers recently attacked the system of wells, pumps and pipelines he oversees, he knew the stakes. "There is no life without water, of course," he said. The attack temporarily cut off water supply to nearby villages. The spring, which feeds the pumping station, is the main or backup water source for 110,000 people, according to the Palestinian company that manages it—making it one of the most vital in the West Bank, where water is in chronic short supply. "The settlers came and the first thing they did was break the pipeline. And when the pipeline is broken, we automatically have to stop pumping" water to nearby villages, some of which exclusively rely on the Ein Samiyah spring. "The water just goes into the dirt, into the ground," said Olayan, adding that workers immediately fixed the damage to resume water supply. Just two days after the latest attack, Israeli settlers—some of them armed—splashed in pools just below the spring, while Olayan monitored water pressure and cameras from a distance. His software showed normal pressure in the pipes pulling water from the wells and the large pipe carrying water up the hill to his village of Kafr Malik. But he said maintenance teams dared not venture down to the pumping station out of fear for their safety. Since the start of the war in Gaza, deadly settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have become commonplace. Recently, settlers beat a 20-year-old dual US citizen to death in the nearby village of Sinjil. Issa Qassis, chairman of the board of the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, which manages the Ein Samiyah spring, said he viewed the attacks as a tool for Israeli land grabs and annexation. "When you restrict water supply in certain areas, people simply move where water is available," he said at a press conference. "So in a plan to move people to other lands, water is the best and fastest way," he said. Since the start of the war in Gaza, several Israeli politicians and officials have become increasingly vocal in support of annexing the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Most prominent among them is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, who said in November that 2025 would be the year Israel applied its sovereignty over the Palestinian territory. Qassis accused Israel's government of supporting settler attacks, such as the one on Ein Samiyah. The damage to Ein Samiyah's water facilities was not an isolated incident. In recent months, settlers in the nearby Jordan Valley took control of the Al-Auja spring by diverting its water from upstream, said Farhan Ghawanmeh, a representative of the Ras Ein Al Auja community. He said two other springs in the area had also recently been taken over. In Dura al-Qaraa, another West Bank village that uses the Ein Samiyah spring as a back-up water source, residents are also concerned about increasingly long droughts and the way Israel regulates their water rights. "For years now, no one has been planting because the water levels have decreased," said Rafeaa Qasim, a member of the village council, citing lower rainfall causing the land to be "basically abandoned." Qasim said though water shortages in the village had existed for 30 years, residents' hands were tied in the face of this challenge. "We have no options; digging a well is not allowed," he said, pointing to a well project that the United Nations and World Bank rejected due to Israeli law prohibiting drilling in the area. The lands chosen for drilling sit in the West Bank's Area C, which covers over 60 per cent of the territory and is under full Israeli control. Israeli NGO B'Tselem reported in 2023 that the legal system led to sharp disparities in water access within the West Bank between Palestinians and Israelis. Whereas nearly all residents of Israel and Israeli settlements have running water every day, by contrast, only 36 per cent of West Bank Palestinians do, said the report.
