CAIRO: Eight Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli air strike on a training college near Gaza City being used to distribute aid, Palestinian witnesses said, as Israeli tanks pushed further into the southern city of Rafah.
The strike hit part of an industrial college run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA now providing aid to displaced families, the witnesses said. UNRWA and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Some people were coming to receive coupons and others had been displaced from their houses and they were sheltering here. Some were filling up water, others were receiving coupons, and suddenly we heard something falling. We ran away, those who were carrying water let it spill,” said Mohammed Tafesh, one of the witnesses.
A Reuters photographer saw a low-rise building completely demolished and bodies wrapped in blankets laid out beside the road, waiting to be taken away.
“We pulled out martyrs [from beneath the rubble], one who used to sell cold drinks and another who used to sell pastries and others who distributed or received coupons,” Tafesh said. “There are about four or five martyrs and 10 injured. Thank God, the condition of the injured is good.”
More than eight months into Israel’s war in the Hamas-administered Palestinian enclave, its advance is focused on the two areas its forces have yet to seize: Rafah on Gaza’s southern tip and the area surrounding Deir Al-Balah in the center.
Residents said Israeli tanks had advanced to the edge of the Mawasi displaced persons’ camp in the northwest of Rafah in fierce fighting with Hamas-led fighters, part of a push into western and northern Rafah in which they had blown up dozens of houses in recent days.
Images of two Israeli tanks stationed on a hilltop overlooking the coastal area went viral on social media, but Reuters could not independently verify them.
“The fighting with the resistance has been intense. The occupation forces are overlooking the Mawasi area now, which forced families there to head for Khan Younis,” said one resident, who asked not to be named, on a chat app.
The Israeli military said it was continuing “intelligence-based, targeted operations” in the Rafah area and had located weapons stores and tunnel shafts, and killed Palestinian gunmen.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement said their fighters had attacked Israeli forces in Rafah with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs and pre-planted explosive devices.
Another strike killed two people in Nuseirat in central Gaza.
On Saturday, Palestinian health officials said at least 40 Palestinians had been killed in separate Israeli strikes in some northern Gaza districts, where the Israeli army said it had attacked Hamas’s military infrastructure. Hamas said the targets were the civilian population.
In Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, health officials at Kamal Adwan Hospital said a baby had died of malnutrition, taking the number of children dead of malnutrition or dehydration since Oct. 7 to at least 30, a number that health officials say reflects under-recording.
Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The offensive has left Gaza in ruins, killed almost 37,600 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and left nearly the entire population homeless and destitute.
Israeli strike kills eight at Gaza aid center, witnesses say
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Israeli strike kills eight at Gaza aid center, witnesses say
- “Some people were coming to receive coupons and others had been displaced from their houses and they were sheltering here,” witness says
UN: Gaza healthcare nearing ‘total collapse’ due to Israeli strikes
- ‘Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza, and associated combat, pushed the health care system to the brink of total collapse’
GENEVA: A United Nations report published Tuesday found that Israeli strikes on and near hospitals in the Gaza Strip had left health care in the Palestinian territory on the verge of collapse.
The report by the UN human rights office said such strikes raised grave concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law.
“Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza, and associated combat, pushed the health care system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect on Palestinians’ access to health and medical care,” the UN human rights office said in a statement.
Its 23-page report, entitled “Attacks on hospitals during the escalation of hostilities in Gaza,” looked at the period from October 7, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
It said that during this time, there were at least 136 strikes on 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, claiming significant casualties among doctors, nurses, medics and other civilians and causing significant damage to, if not the complete destruction of, civilian infrastructure.
The report noted that medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit, or are not used to commit, acts harmful to the enemy outside their humanitarian function.
It found that Israel’s repeated claims that Gaza hospitals were being improperly used for military purposes by Palestinian groups “vague.”
“Insufficient information has so far been made publicly available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information,” the report said.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Gaza hospitals had become a “death trap.”
“As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap,” he said.
“The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times.”
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
That resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 45,500 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
The report concluded with a call for credible investigations into the incidents detailed, and said they had to be independent given the “limitations” of Israel’s justice system in respect of the conduct of its armed forces.
“It is essential that there be independent, thorough and transparent investigations of all of these incidents, and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which have taken place,” said Turk.
“All medical workers arbitrarily detained must be immediately released.
“It must also be a priority for Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure and facilitate access to adequate health care for the Palestinian population, and for future recovery and reconstruction efforts to prioritize the restoration of the medical capacity which has been destroyed over the last 14 months of intense conflict.”
Syria’s new rulers confirm appointment of Murhaf Abu Qasra as defense minister
DUBAI: Syria’s new rulers confirmed the appointment of Murhaf Abu Qasra as defense minister in the new interim government, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
Reuters reported from an official source on Dec. 21 the appointment of Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar Assad.
Iraqi, Syrian foreign ministers discuss cooperation against Daesh threat
- Stability along shared border a priority, say officials
- Concern over threat to neighbors, Palestinian cause
DUBAI: Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and his Syrian counterpart Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani spoke telephonically on Monday to discuss various issues, including the ongoing threat posed by Daesh along the two nations’ shared border, the Iraqi News Agency reported.
Hussein, who is also Iraq’s deputy prime minister, emphasized the importance of enhanced cooperation to counter the danger posed by the group. Al-Shaibani confirmed Syria’s readiness to coordinate efforts to confront terrorist groups.
This call follows discussions between Iraq’s intelligence chief, Hamid Al-Shatri, and Syrian officials during a recent visit to Damascus, the INA reported.
Hussein also congratulated Al-Shaibani on his new role as Syria’s top envoy. He further praised the Syrian government’s efforts to safeguard Iraq’s diplomatic mission in Damascus.
He reiterated Iraq’s commitment to resume all functions of the mission, while Al-Shaibani underlined Syria’s aim to strengthen ties between the two nations.
Meanwhile, Nouri Al-Maliki, the head of Iraq’s State of Law Coalition, reiterated his nation’s foreign policy, stating that “Iraq does not help divide Syria and does not interfere in its affairs.”
Al-Maliki highlighted the broader regional implications of instability in Syria, including the potential threats to neighboring nations and the Palestinian cause.
He further called for political unity within Iraq and collaboration with various factions, including the Sadrist movement, to bolster the country’s internal stability.
Al-Maliki also discussed ongoing efforts to amend Iraq’s election law after the legislative recess and emphasized the importance of maintaining state control over armed groups, including the Popular Mobilization Forces, to bolster national security.
These developments underscore the deepening of Iraqi-Syrian relations and the commitment of both nations to addressing common challenges while reinforcing regional stability, the INA reported.
WHO demands Israel release Gaza hospital director
- Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital director is being held by Israel’s military following a major raid on facility
- Assault on Kamal Adwan left northern Gaza’s last major health facility out of service, says WHO
GENEVA: The WHO chief called Monday for the immediate release of Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, who is being held by Israel’s military following a major raid on the facility.
The Friday-Saturday assault on Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahia left northern Gaza’s last major health facility out of service and emptied of patients, the World Health Organization said.
“Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza is out of service following the raid, forced patient and staff evacuation and the detention of its director. His whereabouts are unknown. We call for his immediate release.”
Israel’s military said Sunday that its forces had killed approximately 20 Palestinian militants and apprehended “240 terrorists” in the raid, calling it one of its “largest operations” conducted in the territory.
The military also said had detained Abu Safiyeh, suspecting him of being a Hamas militant. When asked if he had been transferred to Israeli territory for further questioning, the military did not offer an immediate comment.
Tedros said the patients in critical condition at Kamal Adwan had been moved to the Indonesian Hospital, “which is itself out of function.”
“Amid ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today delivered basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to Indonesian Hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to Al-Shifa Hospital,” he said.
“We urge Israel to ensure their health care needs and rights are upheld.”
He said seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remained at the “severely damaged” Indonesian Hospital, “which has no ability to provide care.”
“Al-Ahli Hospital and Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City also faced attacks today and both are damaged,” Tedros added.
“We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid.”
Since October 6 this year, Israeli operations in Gaza have focused on the north, with officials saying their land and air offensive aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Gulf cooperation council chief affirms support for Syria during visit
- Al-Budaiwi condemned the repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory
RIYADH: Jasem Al-Budaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), met on Monday with Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa in the capital Damascus, the Saudi Press Agency said.
Al-Budaiwi said the visit affirms the GCC’s support for Syria’s unity and stability to achieve security, prosperity, and development for the Syrian people.
The secretary-general, who was accompanied by Kuwait’s FM Abdullah Al-Yahya, said that the Gulf countries have always stressed the need to respect Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, reject foreign interventions, and combat terrorism and extremism, while respecting religious and cultural diversity in the country.
He condemned the repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, calling on Israel to withdraw its forces from occupied Syrian lands.
Al-Budaiwi stressed that the Golan Heights are Syrian land and rejected any Israeli settlement expansion in the plateau.
He reiterated the need to lift economic sanctions on Syria and provide humanitarian and economic support to the Syrian people to alleviate their suffering and enhance efforts to rebuild the country.
He stressed the importance of supporting national reconciliation, rebuilding the Syrian state, ensuring civilian safety, the decision to dissolve militias and armed factions, and confining weapons to the state’s control.
The GCC “welcomes the UN's call to establish a special mission to support the political transition process in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter to help the Syrian people achieve a Syrian-led political process,” Al-Budaiwi said.
