Latest news with #IsraeliMilitary
Al Arabiya
33 minutes ago
- Health
- Al Arabiya
Israeli airstrike kills hungry Gaza family in their sleep
The al-Shaer family went to bed hungry at their home in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike killed them in their sleep. The family - freelance journalist Wala al-Jaabari, her husband and their five children - were among more than 100 people killed in 24 hours of Israeli strikes or gunfire, according to health officials. Their corpses lay in white shrouds outside their bombed home on Wednesday with their names scribbled in pen. Blood seeped through the shrouds as they lay there, staining them red. 'This is my cousin. He was 10. We dug them out of the rubble,' Amr al-Shaer, holding one of the bodies after retrieving it. Iman al-Shaer, another relative who lives nearby, said the family hadn't eaten anything before the bombs came down. 'The children slept without food,' he said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike at the family's home, but said its air force had struck 120 targets throughout Gaza in the past day, including 'terrorist cells, military structures, tunnels, booby-trapped structures, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites.' Relatives said some neighbors were spared only because they had been out searching for food at the time of the strike. Ten more Palestinians died overnight from starvation, the Gaza health ministry said, bringing the total number of people who have starved to death to 111, most of them in recent weeks as a wave of hunger crashes on the Palestinian enclave. In a statement on Wednesday, 111 organizations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Refugees International, said mass starvation was spreading even as tons of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside Gaza, where aid groups are blocked from accessing them. Israel, which cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's 2.2 million people. Israel has also accused the United Nations of failing to act in a timely fashion, saying 700 truckloads of aid are idling inside Gaza. 'It is time for them to pick it up and stop blaming Israel for the bottlenecks which are occurring,' Israeli government spokesman David Mercer said on Wednesday. The United Nations and aid groups trying to deliver food to Gaza say Israel, which controls everything that comes in and out, is choking delivery, and Israeli troops have shot hundreds of Palestinians dead close to aid collection points since May. 'We have a minimum set of requirements to be able to operate inside Gaza,' Ross Smith, the director of emergencies at the UN World Food Program, told Reuters. 'One of the most important things I want to emphasize is that we need to have no armed actors near our distribution points, near our convoys.' Faltering peace talks The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging for nearly two years since Hamas killed some 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages from southern Israel in the deadliest attack in Israel's history. Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, decimated Hamas as a military force, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times. US Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to hold new ceasefire talks, travelling to Europe this week for meetings on the Gaza war and a range of other issues, a US official said on Tuesday. Talks on a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which would include the release of more of the 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt with Washington's backing. Successive rounds of negotiations have achieved no breakthrough since the collapse of a ceasefire in March. A senior Palestinian official told Reuters Hamas might give mediators a response to the latest proposals in Doha later on Wednesday, on the condition that amendments be made to two major sticking points: details on an Israeli military withdrawal, and on how to distribute aid during a truce. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet includes far-right parties that oppose any agreement that ends without the total destruction of Hamas. 'The second I spot weakness in the prime minister and if I come to think, heaven forbid, that this is about to end with us surrendering instead of with Hamas's absolute surrender, I won't remain (in the government) for even a single day,' Finance Minister Belalel Smotrich told Army Radio.
Reuters
an hour ago
- General
- Reuters
Israeli strike kills hungry Gaza family in their sleep
GAZA/CAIRO July 23 (Reuters) - The Al-Shaer family went to bed hungry at their home in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike killed them in their sleep. The family - freelance journalist Wala al-Jaabari, her husband and their five children - were among more than 100 people killed in 24 hours of Israeli strikes or gunfire, according to health officials. Their corpses lay in white shrouds outside their bombed home on Wednesday with their names scribbled in pen. Blood seeped through the shrouds as they lay there, staining them red. "This is my cousin. He was 10. We dug them out of the rubble," Amr al-Shaer, holding one of the bodies after retrieving it. Iman al-Shaer, another relative who lives nearby, said the family hadn't eaten anything before the bombs came down. "The children slept without food," he said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike at the family's home, but said its air force had struck 120 targets throughout Gaza in the past day, including "terrorist cells, military structures, tunnels, booby-trapped structures, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites". Relatives said some neighbours were spared only because they had been out searching for food at the time of the strike. Ten more Palestinians died overnight from starvation, the Gaza health ministry said, bringing the total number of people who have starved to death to 111, most of them in recent weeks as a wave of hunger crashes on the Palestinian enclave. In a statement on Wednesday, 111 organisations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Refugees International, said mass starvation was spreading even as tons of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside Gaza, where aid groups are blocked from accessing them. Israel, which cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's 2.2 million people. Israel has also accused the United Nations of failing to act in a timely fashion, saying 700 truckloads of aid are idling inside Gaza. "It is time for them to pick it up and stop blaming Israel for the bottlenecks which are occurring," Israeli government spokesman David Mercer said on Wednesday. The United Nations and aid groups trying to deliver food to Gaza say Israel, which controls everything that comes in and out, is choking delivery, and Israeli troops have shot hundreds of Palestinians dead close to aid collection points since May. "We have a minimum set of requirements to be able to operate inside Gaza," Ross Smith, the director of emergencies at the U.N. World Food Programme, told Reuters. "One of the most important things I want to emphasize is that we need to have no armed actors near our distribution points, near our convoys." The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging for nearly two years since Hamas killed some 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages from southern Israel in the deadliest attack in Israel's history. Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, decimated Hamas as a military force, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times. U.S. Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to hold new ceasefire talks, travelling to Europe this week for meetings on the Gaza war and a range of other issues, a U.S. official said on Tuesday. Talks on a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which would include the release of more of the 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt with Washington's backing. Successive rounds of negotiations have achieved no breakthrough since the collapse of a ceasefire in March. A senior Palestinian official told Reuters Hamas might give mediators a response to the latest proposals in Doha later on Wednesday, on the condition that amendments be made to two major sticking points: details on an Israeli military withdrawal, and on how to distribute aid during a truce. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet includes far-right parties that oppose any agreement that ends without the total destruction of Hamas. "The second I spot weakness in the prime minister and if I come to think, heaven forbid, that this is about to end with us surrendering instead of with Hamas's absolute surrender, I won't remain (in the government) for even a single day," Finance Minister Belalel Smotrich told Army Radio.
The National
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Israel kidnaps two Syrians in south Lebanon raid
Israeli soldiers kidnapped two Syrian agricultural workers when they raided houses in a south Lebanon border area at dawn on Wednesday. Involving about 20 troops, the unit also interrogated a number of others and searched houses, some inhabited, others not, in the raid near Mari, Lebanon's state news agency reported. The Israeli soldiers captured the two Syrians, who were working in the area, taking them as they retreated. The Syrians were later released near to border. The Israeli military did not initially comment on the raid. Al Mari Plain is an agricultural area near the Blue Line that separates Israel and Lebanon. In January the Israeli military kidnapped two beekeepers from the plain and later released them. Israel already occupies five points of Lebanese territory despite being required to withdraw under the terms of a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah that came into force in November. The Israeli military regularly carries out ground raids in pursuit of alleged Hezbollah infrastructure, pressing further into Lebanese territory before retreating. A number of brigades pressed further into south Lebanon this month and destroyed underground networks and weapons allegedly belonging to Hezbollah. Last week, Israel carried out a major aerial bombing campaign on the Bekaa Valley, killing 12 people including seven Syrian refugees. The Israeli military claimed it was destroying training facilities operated by Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force. Hezbollah was severely weakened during a year-long war with Israel that ended with a ceasefire in November. Israel's military campaign destroyed much of the group's infrastructure and killed its leaders and senior commanders. Israel continues to bomb south Lebanon on a daily basis. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah must pull all military equipment and fighters out of southern Lebanon, and all non-state militant groups must be disarmed across the country. Israel was supposed to withdraw and cease its attacks. Lebanon has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire terms about 4,000 times. Lebanon is under pressure externally and internally to disarm these groups, including Hezbollah and Palestinian factions that have a presence in the country. US envoy Tom Barrack arrived in Beirut on Sunday for discussions on the disarmament of Hezbollah, a previously taboo topic.
Irish Times
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Israeli military raids UN facility as it expands offensive in Gaza
The Israeli military has expanded its operations in a part of the central Gaza Strip that had remained relatively unscathed during the war with Hamas, raiding a UN facility and prompting panic among Palestinians who had sought refuge in the area. In the raid on the UN facility, a World Health Organisation (WHO) building in the city of Deir al-Balah, Israeli forces handcuffed and stripped male staff and family members and held them at gunpoint, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the agency, said in a statement. Women and children were forcibly evacuated south in the raid, which took place on Monday, he added. The Israeli military said its forces had come under fire while operating in the area. It did not deny raiding the WHO facility but said that any 'suspects' had been treated 'in accordance with international law'. READ MORE Israeli troops have swept through much of Gaza, backed by extensive air strikes, during the 21 months of the war. But the city of Deir al-Balah had been left largely untouched, partly because Israeli officials said they believed hostages were being held there. On Sunday, the Israeli military ordered residents in parts of the city to leave or face life-threatening danger. Some Palestinians thought those warnings suggested that Israel was poised to launch a ground offensive in the city. The Israeli military launched strikes and ground operations around Deir al-Balah, but it was unclear how far the operations would expand. Israeli troops had not advanced into the densely populated city centre, but residents were already fleeing. Deir al-Balah has became an informal refuge for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza, and huge tent camps have sprang up in the city. In the relative calm, a modicum of normalcy had survived. The city also hosts large warehouses for the United Nations as well as guest houses for the organisation's staff. [ Israel sends tanks into Gaza's Deir Al-Balah, where it believes hostages are Opens in new window ] Many Palestinians fled to the north of the city, seeking safety in areas that Israeli authorities had not declared potential combat zones. According to the United Nations, tens of thousands of people have been sheltering at dozens of displacement sites in the area. But there are few places left to flee to in Gaza. More than 85 per cent of the enclave is under direct Israeli military control or subject to Israeli evacuation orders, according to the United Nations. The rest of Gaza's nearly two million residents have been mostly hemmed into the shrinking parts that remain. More than 57,000 people, including thousands of children, have been killed in the Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. For the families of Israeli hostages, the potential attack in the city has also fuelled renewed fears for the lives of their loved ones. About 50 of the 250 captives seized during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7th, 2023 remain in Gaza, though dozens of those are presumed dead by Israeli authorities. The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group, has demanded that the Israeli government explain how an attack in central Gaza would avoid putting captives' lives at risks. 'The people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages,' the forum said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Tuesday that its aid stocks are completely depleted in Gaza, with some of its staff now starving, and the organisation accused Israel of paralysing its work. The council's comments echo those made earlier on Tuesday by the head of Unrwa, the Palestinian refugee agency, who said the agency's staff were fainting on the job from hunger and exhaustion. The NRC says that for the last 145 days, it has not been able to get hundreds of truckloads of tents, water, sanitation, food and education materials into Gaza. COGAT, the Israeli military aid co-ordination agency, and Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has denied accusations that it is preventing aid from reaching Gaza, and has accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing food, which Hamas denies. 'Hundreds of truckloads have been sitting in warehouses or in Egypt or elsewhere, and costing our western European donors a lot of money, but they are blocked from coming in ... That's why we are so angry. Because our job is to help,' Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the council, said. . 'Israel is not yielding. They just want to paralyse our work,' he added. The NRC said its supplies of safe drinking water are also running out, due to dwindling supplies of fuel to run desalination plants. The water has reached 100,000 people in central and northern parts of Gaza in recent weeks. An Israeli official told Reuters there is about a half a million litres of fuel that the UN has been given approval to bring in. 'They're bringing in fuel and collecting, but they can bring in and they can collect more, and we are having discussions with them,' the official said. This article originally appeared in the New York Times
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
WHO slams Israeli raid on Gaza staff compound as forces push into Deir al-Balah
In this episode of W News, presented by Jono Hayes, we report on the war in Gaza, as the World Health Organization issues a sharp rebuke of the Israeli military. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says Israeli troops stormed a staff residence, forcing women and children to evacuate and subjecting male staff to handcuffing, strip searches, and interrogation at gunpoint. The condemnation comes as Israel expands its ground operations in Deir al-Balah, following heavy shelling of the area in central Gaza. Guests: William Denselow – Correspondent Ahmed Bayram – NRC Middle East spokesperson Fabrizio Poli – Aviation analyst Patrick Fok – Correspondent
