Medical officials in Gaza say that it seems like an Israeli bombing killed four aid workers from the World Central Kitchen charity and their Palestinian driver. They had just delivered food and supplies to northern Gaza that had come in by ship earlier than expected.
Video showed the bodies of five people who had died at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the middle of Gaza in Deir al-Balah. Many of them wore safety gear with the charity’s symbol. Staff displayed the passports of three people who died- one was from Britain, one was from Australia, and one was from Poland. We didn’t know what country the fourth aid worker was from right away.
The workers’ car got hit by an Israeli attack after leaving northern Gaza. They had just delivered aid from a ship that came from Cyprus. Mahmoud Thabet, a paramedic from the Palestinian Red Crescent, was in the team that brought the bodies to the hospital and told The Associated Press. It’s not clear where the fire started, and the Israeli military did not say anything about it when asked.
On Monday, ships brought 400 tons of food and supplies as part of a donation from the United Arab Emirates and the World Central Kitchen, led by chef José Andrés. Last month, a boat brought 200 tons of help in a test delivery. The Israeli military helped to send both deliveries.
The United States sea route has been promoted as a new way to bring much-needed help to northern Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians there are in urgent need of food, but can’t get enough because Israeli forces have blocked off the area from the rest of the territory. organization responsible for Palestinian refugees, from operating in Jerusalem. Israel has accused UNRWA of promoting anti-Israeli propaganda and incitement. This decision has been criticized by the international community and human rights organizations. A group in Gaza that delivers supplies is having trouble sending trucks to the north because it’s not safe. Other aid groups also say it’s too dangerous because the military isn’t making sure the trucks can go safely.
The Israeli army left Gaza’s biggest hospital on Monday after being there for two weeks and fighting in the area. Video showed a lot of damage, with the main buildings completely destroyed by fire.
The army said the attack on Shifa Hospital was a big win in the war. They said they killed 200 fighters, but it’s not confirmed if all of them were fighters.
The attack happened when many people in Israel were getting more and more frustrated. Thousands of people were protesting on Sunday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They wanted him to work harder to bring back the many people who were being held captive in Gaza. It was the biggest protest against the government since the war began.
In another place, Syrian officials and state media said an Israeli attack destroyed Iran’s consulate in Syria, causing the deaths of two Iranian generals and five officers.
The attack shows that Israel is stepping up its efforts to attack Iranian military officials and their friends in Syria. The focus on attacking has increased since Hamas fighters, who are backed by Iran, attacked Israel on October. Rewrite this text using simpler words:
The attack destroyed Iran’s consular building, but its main embassy building in Syria was not damaged.
Israel did not say anything about the strikes. Iran’s ambassador, Hossein Akbari, promised to take revenge for the attack with the same severity.
In other news, Netanyahu said he would close down the TV channel Al Jazeera right away. Netanyahu promised to shut down the “terror channel” after the parliament passed a law on Monday allowing the country to stop the Qatari-owned channel from broadcasting in Israel.
Netanyahu said that Al Jazeera is hurting Israel’s security and was involved in the October incident. 7 Hamas carries out attacks and encourages violence against Israel.
Al Jazeera criticized what he said and called it a dangerous and ridiculous lie. They said it was Netanyahu’s way of justifying the ongoing attack on the media and press freedom. In a statement, the network promised to continue reporting with confidence and skill.
The hospital was badly damaged during a raid and it used to be very important for Gaza’s healthcare. Even though doctors and staff tried to get it working again after an attack in November, it was still not working well.
Israel said it attacked Shifa because they believed top Hamas leaders were there getting ready to launch more attacks. Israeli officials found and confirmed that six members of Hamas’ military group were killed in the hospital during the attack. Israel also said it took weapons and important information.
Altogether, the military claimed to have killed 200 fighters in and around Shifa, but they didn’t show proof that all of them were fighters.
The attack caused a lot of fighting near Shifa for several days. People saw bombs being dropped and houses being shot at. Soldiers went from house to house making people leave.
After the soldiers left, many Palestinians came back to look for their family members who were missing or to see the destruction.
Ahmed Maqadma and his mother were both doctors at Shifa hospital. They were among the people who died. Dr(someone’s name) said Ahmed’s cousin also died in the attack. Ghassan Abu Sitta is a doctor from Palestine and Britain. He helped at Shifa and other hospitals during the beginning of the war. Later, he went back to Britain.
The three people had not been heard from since they spoke on the phone with their family while trying to leave Shifa almost a week ago, and then the call suddenly ended. On Monday, family members found their bodies with gunshot wounds near the hospital, said Abu Sitta, who is in contact with the family.
Mohammed Mahdi said everything was destroyed. He saw many buildings burned and found six dead bodies, two of which were in the hospital yard. It’s unclear when they died.
Videos on the internet showed Shifa’s main buildings burned and badly damaged. Many people saw military bulldozers digging up a grave in Shifa’s courtyard. This uncovered a lot of bodies that had been buried there in November.
At least 21 people died during the attack, according to the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
He said more than 100 patients were still in the compound during the operation. This included four children, 28 very sick patients, and many others who had infections and were very thirsty.
The army said its soldiers did not hurt any people inside the area. Israel says that Hamas is using hospitals for military reasons and has attacked many hospitals in the area.
Critics say the army is putting civilians in danger and making it harder for the already-busy health sector to help people who are hurt.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the head military spokesman, said that Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group have set up their main headquarters in the hospital in the north. He talked about fighting in close quarters for many days. He said that Hamas caused a lot of damage. Some fighters hid inside hospital rooms and others shot mortar rounds at the area.
Hagari said that the soldiers caught around 900 people they thought were militants during the attack. This included over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters. They also took over $3 million in different types of money and weapons.
He said the army helped more than 200 out of 300 to 350 sick people leave and gave food, water, and medicine to the others. Two Israeli soldiers died in the attack, according to the military.
The war started on October. In 2007, militants from Hamas attacked southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They also held about 250 people as hostages.
Israel attacked by air, land, and sea, and it has killed at least 32,845 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them were women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry counts everyone the same, whether they are regular people or fighters. The Israeli military says that civilian people are being hurt because Palestinian fighters are hiding in neighborhoods where many people live.
The war made most people leave their homes and a third of them are close to starving. Northern Gaza, where Shifa is, has been very damaged and cut off from the rest of the world for a long time. This has caused a lot of people to go without food.
At the same time, more food arrived by a boat from Cyprus using a new route across the sea. One of the three boats was visible from the shore, and the foreign minister of Cyprus said they were allowed to unload. We didn’t know exactly how the delivery works yet.
Netanyahu promised to continue attacking until Hamas is defeated and all hostages are released. He says Israel will soon send more soldiers into the southern city of Rafah, where over half of Gaza’s population have gone for safety.
However, many Israelis are putting more and more pressure on him because they think he is responsible for the security mistakes in October. Some families of the hostages are mad at him because they think he is the reason a deal was not reached, even though the United States, Qatar, and Egypt tried to help with the talks for weeks. Other countries, like the United States, have told him not to invade Rafah.
Hamas and other fighters still have about 100 people captive and the bodies of 30 others. They let most of the other captives go last November when there was a break in the fighting, in exchange for Palestinians who were in prison in Israel.