Israeli Premier Leagueside Beitar Jerusalem FC has announced the signing of Ghanaian striker Patrick Twumasi during the current transfer window.
The 30-year-old forward joins Beitar Jerusalem on a permanent transfer following his tenure with Cypriot club Pafos FC.
Twumasi, who previously played for Astana, Alaves, and Hannover 96, will wear jersey number 27 and is anticipated to be a key player for the team in the 2024/25 season.
While the club revealed the signing, they chose not to disclose the specific details of the contract, though it is understood that Twumasi has agreed to a one-year deal.
“Welcome Patrick! The midfielder signed his contract at the club this morning and then received the number 27.” The club wrote on Facebook.
Last season, the Ghanaian attacker made 24 appearances for Pafos FC, scoring 3 goals and providing five assists across the period.
Noted for his experience across Europe, the Ghanaian attacker is expected to contribute immensely towards the success of the club in the upcoming season.
Twumasi has had stints with a hosts of clubs in Europe including, Deportivo Alaves, Hannover 96, FC Astana, and others.
In a devastating incident at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli air strike on a UN-run school has resulted in the deaths of at least 16 people, with dozens more injured.
The school was serving as a shelter for thousands of displaced individuals amid ongoing conflict.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, the commercial vehicle (trotro) that carried out the strike lost control and veered into the traders selling along the road’s shoulders, leading to the tragic accident.
The trotro, with registration number AS 4719-18, was en route from Gbawe Zero when its brakes reportedly failed, causing it to ram into the unsuspecting traders.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the strike, stating that it targeted Hamas “terrorists operating in structures located in the area of Al-Jaouni School.”
The IDF claimed that the location was being used by Hamas militants as a hideout to conduct attacks against Israeli troops. The IDF emphasized that it had taken “numerous steps” to minimize civilian casualties, including the use of precise aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.
However, local sources reported that the attack specifically targeted a room allegedly used by Hamas police. Eyewitnesses described scenes of chaos, with adults and children screaming and running to help the wounded in a street covered in dust and rubble. The upper floors of the school, which is situated near a busy market, were reportedly hit during the attack.
A spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Juliette Touma, expressed deep concern over the incident, calling the claims “very, very serious” and demanding an investigation. She noted that this was not the first time an UNRWA facility had been struck and emphasized the need for accountability.
The tragic event has drawn widespread condemnation. Hamas described the attack as a “massacre” of “defenceless displaced civilians,” asserting that many of the victims were women, children, and the elderly. Video footage from the scene showed the immediate aftermath, with people scrambling to assist the injured amidst the debris.
This attack has occurred amid rising hopes for a potential deal between Israel and Hamas to end the ongoing conflict. Israel has announced plans to send a team of negotiators to discuss a hostage release deal with Hamas. This follows a senior US administration official’s statement that Hamas had agreed to significant adjustments regarding a potential ceasefire.
The strike on the Nuseirat school is not an isolated incident. In June, another attack on a packed UN-run school in the same area resulted in at least 35 deaths. Israel claimed that strike was aimed at a Hamas compound within the school, a claim that was met with skepticism and calls for investigation by UNRWA officials.
The conflict, which has raged for nearly eight months, has seen more than 38,000 Palestinian fatalities, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israel’s military actions are a response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the abduction of 251 others.
The fire in the tent camp has made many people around the world very angry. Even Israel’s friends are upset about the military’s attacks in Rafah. Israel is becoming more and more isolated in the world. On Tuesday, Spain, Norway, and Ireland officially acknowledged that there is a Palestinian state.
The Israeli military said that the fire on Sunday at the tent camp might have been caused by more explosions, maybe from weapons belonging to Palestinian militants. Israel released its findings about the fire on Tuesday. Daniel Hagari said the fire is still being looked into, but the weapons used by Israel were too small to cause the fire.
The strike or the fire could have also started the fuel, cooking gas canisters, or other things in the camp. The fire killed 45 people from Gaza, as reported by their health officials. Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu said the fire was a very sad accident.
Israel attacked Rafah on May 6, causing over one million people to leave the city, according to the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees. Many people had to move many times during the almost eight-month war between Israel and Hamas. The families are living in temporary tent camps and other areas that have been destroyed by war.
On Monday night and Tuesday morning, bombs hit the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, and at least 16 people were killed, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Seven people died in tents next to a UN building about 200 meters from where the fire happened on Sunday.
“Muslim Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail, a person from Gaza City, said it was a very scary night. He has been living in Tel al-Sultan since December. ” He said he heard lots of explosions all night and on Tuesday, and saw fighter jets and drones flying above.
He said it made him think of when Israel attacked his neighborhood of Shijaiyah in Gaza City. They bombed it a lot and then sent in soldiers in late 2023. “We have seen this before,” he said.
The US and other friends of Israel have said not to launch a big attack in the city. The Biden administration has said this would be very bad and they won’t give weapons for that kind of action. On Tuesday, a spokesperson from the US State Department, Matthew Miller, said that the administration does not think Israel has gone too far in attacking Rafah. He said the attack is not as bad as the ones on other parts of Gaza.
The International Court of Justice told Israel to stop its military operation in Rafah. This is because South Africa accuses Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
On Tuesday afternoon, a drone from Israel attacked tents near a hospital by the coast, west of Rafah. At least 21 people were killed, including 13 women, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Ahmed Nassar, a person who saw what happened, said that his four relatives and some of their family members were killed in the attack. Some tents were also damaged or destroyed. Many of the people who lived there had run away from the same area in Gaza City during the war.
“He said they don’t have anything to do with anything. ”
The Israeli military looked into the strike and fire that happened on Sunday and shared pictures taken from space that show where they believe Hamas shot rockets from. They said it was only about 40 meters away from some sheds that were hit. In the picture, it didn’t look like the launcher was hit.
He said Israeli planes used really small bombs – two bombs with 17-kilogram warheads. “We don’t have enough weapons to start a fire this big,” he said.
Hagari said that the fire was a very bad thing that we didn’t think would happen, and it started because of unexpected things.
However, the bombings have caused many people to leave areas to the west of Rafah. Sayed al-Masri, who lives in Rafah, said lots of families were going to the busy Muwasi area or to Khan Younis, a city in the south that was badly damaged during months of fighting.
“Things are getting worse,” al-Masri said about the situation in Rafah.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said two hospitals in Tel al-Sultan cannot operate because of heavy bombing nearby. Medical Aid for Palestinians, a charity that helps people in the area, said that the Tel al-Sultan medical center and the Indonesian Field Hospital are unable to operate. Medics, patients, and displaced people are stuck inside.
Many of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer working. Rafah’s Kuwait Hospital closed on Monday because two health workers were killed in a strike near the hospital entrance.
A person from the World Health Organization said that there were too many people hurt in the strike and fire on Sunday. The hospitals there didn’t have enough supplies to help the people with bad burns.
Dr Margaret Harris said that it needs a lot of attention, electricity, and advanced medical care.
As the extremely cold liquid turned into gas, the temperature in the tanks went up and ruined over 4,000 embryos, as well as 1,000 sperm and unfertilized eggs stored at Al Basma IVF center in Gaza City.
The explosion had a big effect and showed how much the 2.3 million people in Gaza have been hurt by Israel’s six-and-a-half-month attack.
The tiny babies in the tanks were the only chance for many Palestinian couples who couldn’t have children.
At least half of the couples who can’t make babies anymore won’t have another chance to have a baby, he said.
“My heart is broken into so many pieces,” he said.
Reuters asked the Israeli military about the incident on Wednesday, and they said they are checking the reports. Israel says they did not mean to damage civilian buildings and accused Hamas of using hospitals for fighting, but Hamas disagrees.
Seba Jaafarawi went through three years of fertility treatment, and it was really tough on her emotions. Getting her eggs taken out of her ovaries hurt a lot, the hormone shots made her feel really sick, and it was really hard to handle the sadness when she couldn’t get pregnant two times.
Jaafarawi, who is 32 years old, and her husband couldn’t have a baby on their own. They decided to try in vitro fertilization (IVF), a method to help people have babies, that is easily found in Gaza.
Many families in the enclave are big, with almost half the people being under 18 years old. The fertility rate is high at 3. 38 births per woman, as reported by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics. The average number of babies a woman has in Britain is 1. 63
Even though many people in Gaza are poor, some couples who can’t have a baby on their own are trying IVF. They are even selling their TVs and jewelry to pay for the treatment, according to Al Ghalayini. No time for partying or enjoying.
At least nine hospitals in Gaza helped women have babies using IVF. They collect eggs from the woman and fertilize them with sperm in a lab. The fertilized eggs, called embryos, are usually frozen and stored until they are ready to be put into a woman’s uterus at the best time. Many frozen embryos in Gaza were kept at the Al Basma centre.
In September, Jaafarawi got pregnant for the first time with the help of IVF.
“I didn’t even have time to party when I heard the news,” she said.
Hamas attacked on the Oct, just two days before her ultrasound appointment. Seven attacks happened in Israel, and 1,200 people were killed. Also, 253 people were taken hostage, as per Israeli records.
Israel promised to defeat Hamas and started a big attack that has killed over 33,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
Jaafarawi was concerned about how she would go through her pregnancy. She was worried about what would happen to her and to the babies growing inside her womb.
Her ultrasound appointment was cancelled and Ghalayini shut down his clinic, where five more of Jaafarawi’s embryos were kept.
As the Israeli attacks got worse, Mohammed Ajjour, the main scientist at Al Basma, began to worry about running out of liquid nitrogen for the five specimen tanks. Every month, the tanks need to be filled up to keep the temperature below -180C. They don’t use electricity to work.
After the war started, Ajjour got one delivery of liquid nitrogen. But Israel stopped the electricity and fuel to Gaza, and many suppliers closed.
In late October, Israeli tanks went into Gaza, and soldiers surrounded the streets near the IVF center. It became too unsafe for Ajjour to inspect the tanks.
Jaafarawi needed to rest to keep her pregnancy safe, but it was hard because there were dangers everywhere. She had to climb six flights of stairs to her apartment because the elevator wasn’t working. A bomb destroyed the building next door and broke the windows in her flat. It was also difficult to find enough food and water.
Instead of taking a break, she felt anxious.
“I was really scared and it seemed like I might lose the baby,” she said.
Jaafarawi had a small amount of blood come out of her body after she and her husband left their home and moved to the southern town of Khan Younis. The bleeding stopped, but she was still very scared. ‘5,000 people in one place’
But a few days later, she had strong stomach pains, bleeding, and her belly felt different. She got to the hospital, but she was already having a miscarriage.
“I can still hear the sounds of me crying and screaming at the hospital,” she said.
She said only people who have gone through IVF really know how difficult it is, no matter what I imagine or tell you.
Jaafarawi wanted to go back to the place where there is fighting, get her frozen embryos and try to get pregnant again using IVF.
Ghalayini said that one shell from Israel hit the corner of the center and exploded the ground-floor embryology lab. He doesn’t know if the attack was aimed at the lab or not.
“He said 5,000 lives were lost from one bomb. ”
In April, the embryology lab was still a mess with broken walls, damaged lab equipment, and liquid nitrogen tanks scattered among the rubble. This information was gathered by a journalist hired by Reuters who went to the lab.
The covers were off and you could still see a basket at the bottom of one of the tanks. The basket was full of small straws of different colors with damaged tiny embryos inside.
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.
Blinken had an important meeting with important Arab leaders in Egypt to talk about stopping the fighting in the Middle East. This is his sixth time going there since the war started. They also discussed plans for what will happen in Gaza after the war is over. He said we need to stop fighting right away and release the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. The US, Egypt, and Qatar have been working on negotiations and getting closer to an agreement. The talks will keep going in Qatar on Friday with important people.
Blinken is going to Israel on Friday to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team that makes decisions about war. The fighting between Netanyahu and President Biden about how to fight the war will probably be more important than their discussions. Netanyahu really wants to start a ground attack on Rafah, where a lot of Palestinians are hiding from Israeli attacks.
Netanyahu said that Israel needs to invade Rafah in order to destroy Hamas after the deadly October events. Israel started bombing Gaza and launching an attack after 7 people were taken as hostages.
“We don’t think it’s a good idea to have a big military operation in Rafah. ” “We don’t need to work with Hamas, and that’s important,” said Blinken at a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. A big attack would cause more innocent people to die and make the situation in Gaza even worse, Blinken said. He also said that he will be talking about different plans with Israeli officials in the coming days, to find a better solution.
The US has changed its stance on a Rafah operation a lot in the past few days. At first, US officials said they couldn’t agree to a big attack on the city unless there was a safe plan to get civilians out. US officials said they have looked into it and think it’s not possible because there are too many people living there. They are suggesting that the only way to prevent harm to civilians is to use operations that specifically target known Hamas fighters and leaders.
However, Netanyahu promised to disregard warnings and proceed with the Rafah operation during a 45-minute call with GOP senators on Wednesday. He also criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for speaking out against the number of innocent people killed in Gaza and for calling for new elections in Israel in a speech that Biden later said was âgood. â
Netanyahu said Israel will continue in Rafah, as per the senators in the meeting. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, said Netanyahu clearly stated that he and the people of Israel plan to fight the war with all their strength and won’t let Senator Schumer or President Biden tell them what to do.
Israeli critics say that Netanyahu is causing damage to American support by making strong connections with Republican leaders.
When Blinken and the Arab ministers got together, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that almost 32,000 Palestinians have died since the war started there. Furthermore, UN officials have increased their warnings that there could be a famine very soon in northern Gaza.
Blinken met with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates in Cairo. They also met with a leader from the Palestine Liberation Organization, a group that represents the Palestinian people. They also talked about how to send help to Gaza quickly by land, air, and sea.
During a previous meeting, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi told Blinken that it’s important to stop fighting right away and cautioned against any Israeli attack in Rafah. This was reported by el-Sissi’s spokesperson.
Both groups said they still don’t want Gazans to be forced out of their homes and they agreed it’s important to do everything they can to make sure that food and supplies get into Gaza.
Blinken said the differences are getting smaller in talks about stopping the fighting, but we still have more work to do. “He said there are still difficult problems to solve. ” “We’ve fixed some problems, but there are still more to fix. ”
Netanyahu’s office announced that the leader of the Mossad spy agency will go back to Qatar on Friday. He will meet with CIA chief William Burns and other important people involved in the talks. On Thursday, the office announced that the prime minister of Qatar and the intelligence chief of Egypt will also participate in the discussions.
At the same time, the United States wants a fast vote on a new UN resolution that asks for a quick and lasting stop to the fighting, to keep people safe and allow aid to be given. Robert Wood, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, said he wants to have a vote by the end of the week. The decision is important because it doesn’t insist on stopping the fighting to free the hostages.
Still, Blinken said the two must go together. “He said we need to stop fighting right now and let the hostages go. ”
Netanyahu has disagreed with the Biden administration’s repeated warnings that Israel needs an independent Palestinian state for long-term security.
A clear plan and deadline for creating a Palestinian state are important for Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to be friends with Israel. This is something Netanyahu really wants to make happen. Blinken spent a lot of time in Jeddah with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talking about making things more normal between the US and Saudi Arabia.
Biden and Netanyahu finally talked on the phone after not speaking for a month. They agreed that experts from Israel would go to Washington to talk about the Rafah plans. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is going to Washington next week for a visit.
The fighting started when Palestinian fighters killed about 1,200 people in a surprise attack in October. 7 attacks from Gaza started the war and kidnapped 250 people. It is believed that Hamas is still keeping about 100 people as hostages and the remains of 30 other people.
The Rape Crisis Centers in Israel have proof that Hamas fighters purposely and repeatedly committed sexual crimes during the attacks on October 7th.
A report from a group that oversees many organizations says that the same kind of sexual violence is happening at different places.
These supposedly involved groups of people watching or participating in violent rapes of women.
Hamas says that its fighters did not sexually attack women during the attacks.
On 7 October, many people from the Palestinian armed group crossed into southern Israel, where they killed around 1,200 people and captured 253 others.
Caution: This story includes detailed descriptions of rape and sexual violence.
Hamas, a group seen as a terrorist organization by Israel and the UK, has been reported for committing sexual violence starting from October 7th and the reports have been increasing.
Last month, a high-ranking Israeli police officer told British lawmakers that there was strong evidence, gathered from forensic investigations and many witness statements, showing that a large number of sexual crimes had been committed. The scale of these crimes was significant enough to be considered a crime against humanity.
The media has witnessed and heard about cases of rape, sexual violence, and harm to women.
The report from the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel(ACCRI) puts together a lot of information that has been reported, as well as other information it says it got directly from professionals and private calls.
The attacks on 7 October included very violent rapes, where women were threatened with weapons.
The report says that there were many rapes, done by a group of terrorists working together. “In some situations, rape was done in front of other people like partners, family, or friends to make everyone feel more pain and shame. ”
“Hamas members chased after people who escaped the massacre, pulling them by their hair and screaming. ” Most of the victims were then killed during or after being sexually assaulted.
It also says that many victims were found with their bodies hurt and tied up. Sometimes their private parts were hurt, and in some cases, weapons were put inside them.
The report says that the same things happened in all the places where attacks took place – at the Nova festival, in homes in kibbutzim and villages near the Gaza border, and at Israeli military bases.
Many people who survived the Nova festival said that women were hurt, beaten, and killed by a group of terrorists.
People who were the first to help and volunteers who picked up dead bodies in border areas saw evidence that women and girls had been sexually attacked. The same signs were seen by those who found the bodies of female soldiers who had been killed at military bases.
The report says that people who were freed after being held captive have said they were mistreated, which Hamas denies.
The BBC’s Paul Adams in Jerusalem says that Israeli officials don’t want to openly discuss this, because they want to be respectful to the worried family members. But some people say that Hamas is still keeping female hostages because they don’t want their stories to be shared.
At a recent meeting, a senior official from Israel didn’t want to give details about the reports when asked. He just said, “Trust me. ” We understand
The ACCRI sent its report to the UN person in charge of investigating sexual violence in war. This person, Pramila Patten, also came to Israel to do research recently.
Israel said that the UN and other international groups have been taking too long to respond to the accusations. The ACCRI’s executive director said their report now gives them no way to deny or ignore the allegations.
On Monday, a group of UN experts said they are worried about reports of Israeli forces hurting Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the West Bank.
They said that there are strong claims that women and girls were killed unfairly in Gaza, and that others who were held in Gaza and the West Bank were also sexually assaulted in many ways.
Israel said the accusations were very bad and not true.
The Foreign Minister of South Africa, Naledi Pandor, says that Israeli intelligence has tried to scare her after the Gaza case at the International Court of Justice. This was reported by the local media.
Ms Pandor said she was worried about her family’s safety because people were targeting her on social media.
The minister talked to Police Minister Bheki Cele about increasing her protection because she got scary messages.
“The Israeli agents and intelligence services are trying to scare us, but we should not let them intimidate us. ” “There is a reason why it’s happening,” she said.
Israel has not said anything about the minister’s comments yet.
The ICJ told Israel to do things to stop killing Palestinians in Gaza and report back in a month.
South Africa took Israel to court because they believed Israel broke the rules about how people should be treated in the conflict.
Ms Pandor said the government is committed to making sure the ICJ case is completed.
She made these comments a few days after President Cyril Ramaphosa talked about a potential campaign to resist South Africa’s actions following the ICJ ruling.
For the third day in a row, the demonstrators went to the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza to try to stop aid from getting into Gaza. A line of trucks with aid supplies, some with Egyptian flags, waited for a long time at the crossing. The protesters wanted the government to stop sending aid until Hamas releases the rest of the captives.
The UN office that helps with emergencies (OCHA) said that on Wednesday, the first day of the protests, only nine trucks could go through at Kerem Shalom. They sent 114 trucks to the Rafah crossing in Egypt instead.
The UN said that only 153 trucks went into Gaza on Wednesday, which was much less than usual.
The government of Israel is being asked by many countries to let more help into Gaza. They are also feeling pressure from people in their own country to bring the hostages back home.
The protestors think it’s wrong to send aid to Gaza while their loved ones are still being kept by Hamas. They believe it’s not morally right.
They are worried that the help might go to the group.
Israeli news says that some of the people protesting have family members who are being held hostage, some are parents of soldiers in Gaza, and others are right-wing activists who want Jewish settlements to be brought back to Gaza.
There was a protest and some people said that officials from Israel and America will have important talks about hostages in Europe soon. They will talk with mediators from Qatar and Egypt.
The CIA director, William Burns, and the Mossad chief, David Barnea, are going to meet with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, to talk about getting more than 100 Israeli hostages released and stopping the fighting in Gaza for a while.
The White House said the discussions were serious and involved important people who helped make a deal in November.
However, Hamas still wants a complete stop to fighting and for Israeli soldiers to leave Gaza.
A leader from Palestine said to the BBC that people who are helping to make peace have suggested letting Israeli hostages go little by little in exchange for a truce that can be continued, letting Palestinian prisoners go, and giving more help.
There is still a lot of fighting in Gaza. Israeli planes bombed many Hamas targets around Khan Younis during the night.
The health ministry run by Hamas says that Israeli attacks in the last day have killed 183 people and hurt almost 400 others.
Israel started a military attack to destroy Hamas because Hamas killed 1,300 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 others as hostages in an attack on southern Israel on 7 October last year.
Since then, more than 26,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza according to health officials.
Eli Albag told the media that he believed the people who were freed from being hostages with his daughter Liri knew something about what happened, but they didn’t tell him to protect his feelings.
He said the pain was making him feel really bad and he felt like he was barely alive. He could only keep going by taking medicine.
Israel says they cannot find over 130 people who were taken away during the attacks by Hamas on October 7th. Over 100 prisoners were set free when fighting stopped for six days in late November.
Some former captives say they were informed by other female captives that they were sexually attacked. Doctors told the Associated Press that 10 people who were let go were attacked or mistreated.
Mr Albag and three other family members of hostages have come to London to ask the UK Government to push Qatar to release the hostages. Qatar is involved in negotiations to release the hostages but also supports Hamas leaders.
They want the Gulf state to decide if it still wants to have Hamas there or if it wants to be part of Western culture.
Mr Albag says Liri is his youngest daughter. She is very happy, loves music, likes to dance, and has friends all over the world.
He says he’s tough, but he can’t sleep and has trouble talking because he’s worried about what might be happening to her.
“The family is falling apart. She has two sisters and a little brother. We haven’t been living together since October 7th,” he explains. In the morning, I am awake and alive. At night, I go to sleep and I am not awake or alive. Every This is what’s happened to us all the time, day and night.
He was told by the hostages that his daughter was alive and okay after 50 days of being held captive. They were living in a tunnel with no food, water, fresh air, or electricity. He says she couldn’t take a shower the whole time.
We hope she comes back to us in good shape.
“We are worried because some girls were attacked sexually by others and they have not been released. ”
Liri’s dad said there are young women between 18 and 30 who have not been let go.
He said the ex-hostages didn’t answer his tough questions about sexual abuse and looked away.
I know they don’t want to discuss this because they don’t want to upset us. But we get it. “We understand very well,” he says.
“It’s hard to say and hard to think, but I’m worried that they have done something bad to these girls. ” I don’t know what they are saying, and I don’t know what these animals are doing.
It’s been more than three months since the hostages were taken, and now there is another important problem.
Due to worries that some people may have been sexually assaulted, it might be too late to end any pregnancies that they don’t want.
Mr Albag is scared and knows that time is running out to fix the problem.
On Monday, later in the day, four Israelis went to a meeting hosted by Conservative Friends of Israel. Eli Albag gave UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a dog tag that said “Bring them home”.
Another one of the four, Liran Berman, whose brothers Gali and Ziv are still being kept against their will, explained what they wanted to say to the people from Qatar.
He said Qatar is very important. “They are welcoming the leaders of Hamas and also spending money on Western culture, purchasing football teams and properties in London, Europe, and the US. ”
“They have to pick a team. ” If they want to join Western culture, that’s fine, but they can’t let Hamas leaders stay there.
A Qatari leader said sorry to the families of the hostages. They are still talking to everyone involved and trying hard to bring the hostages back home and stop the war.
“Qatar has been trying very hard to free the hostages and stop more violence since the crisis started,” the official said.
“This involves using its way of talking with Hamas, which was set up over ten years ago with the help of the United States. ”
“Right now, 109 people who were held captive in Gaza have been set free because of these actions. Also, last week, Qatar helped make a deal to bring medicine to the hostages and send help to the people living in Gaza. “
CBS News says that after some families of hostage visited Qatar, they told the mediators that their loved ones needed important medicine.
The medicine has not been sent yet, and we don’t know how it will be moved.
Israel thinks there are about 105 people being kept against their will in Gaza.
About 240 people were captured by Hamas in October, but later on 105 people were let go during a six-day ceasefire in November. It’s thought that at least 25 of the captives have died.
Both Hamas and Israel have agreed to let the medicine reach the captives, according to a diplomatic source quoted by CBS News, a partner of the BBC.
Mediators are helping both sides and international organizations figure out what medicines are needed, how many are needed, and how they can be delivered.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said on Friday that the medicine will arrive in a few days.
The statement also said that the agreement was made after David Barnea, who is the leader of Israel’s national intelligence agency Mossad, talked to Qatar.
A Palestinian leader told the BBC that they are talking about sending medical help to Gaza, including for the Israeli captives there.
In a letter to the Israeli war leaders, the Hostages Families HQ group said they have good information that some abducted people are in worse condition and in danger.
They said that at least 33% of the hostages were sick and needed to see a doctor regularly. Not seeing a doctor could be very harmful.
Since the attacks on October 7th, over 23,350 people, mostly children and women, have been killed in Gaza. This happened during Israel’s military response to the attacks, according to the health ministry run by Hamas.
Israel reports that about 1,300 people, mostly innocent civilians, were killed in the Hamas attack.
According to the United Nations, about 150,000 Palestinians are being forced to flee areas in central Gaza, as Israeli forces advance toward refugee camps.
Witnesses and the military wing of Hamas reported that tanks had reached the eastern outskirts of the Bureij camp.
The Israeli army recently expanded its ground offensive against Bureij and the neighboring camps Nuseirat and Maghazi. Israeli bombing also killed dozens of people in Gaza on Thursday, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said.
Egypt confirmed it had put forward a three-phase proposal to end the fighting, ending with a ceasefire. A Hamas delegation is said to have arrived in Cairo to give feedback on the project.
The war was sparked by an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas gunmen into southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed – mostly civilians – and about 240 others were captured hostage.
According to the Health Ministry, more than 21,300 people have been killed in Gaza – mostly children and women – in 11 weeks of fighting.
The Israeli military called for the evacuation of the strip stretching across central Gaza, including the Bureij and Nuseirat camps, and ordered nearly 90,000 residents and 61,000 displaced people from affected areas to move south to the town of Deir al-Balah.
However, the United Nations warned on Thursday that they had nowhere to go because Deir al-Balah was overcrowded, with hundreds of thousands of displaced people sheltering there.
The United Nations says Rafah – which has become Gaza’s most populous city – has welcomed about 100,000 new arrivals in recent days as Israeli ground forces move into new residential areas. Omar, 60, said he was forced to leave Bureij with at least 35 family members.
“This moment has come, I wish it never happened, but it seems this move is necessary,” he told Reuters news agency by phone. “Now we are in a tent in Deir al-Balah because of Israel’s brutal war.
” Tom White, Gaza director for the UN humanitarian agency UNRWA, said more and more people were being pushed towards the town of Rafah in southern Gaza, “so there are more and more people in a very small strip of land. ” cannot meet their needs.
On Thursday night, Gaza’s Health Ministry announced that 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a building in Rafah that appeared to house displaced civilians.
On Thursday morning, a ministry spokesman announced that 50 people were killed in Israeli attacks in Maghazi, the northern town of Beit Lahia and the southern town of Khan Younis.
The deadliest incident occurred in Beit Lahia, where Palestinian media reported 30 people were killed in the demolition of a block of four buildings.
A local television journalist, Bassel Kheir al-Din, told the Associated Press that 12 members of his family were buried under the rubble of one of the buildings and were presumed dead, leaving nine remaining. Their neighbors are missing.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 10 people were killed when Israeli artillery shelled an apartment near al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, a day after a similar incident outside the facility left 31 people died.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters on Wednesday that the city is “a major terrorist center for Hamas”.
He also said the army fought in the Bureij region for the third day, adding that they “killed many terrorists and destroyed terrorist infrastructure”.
Residents told Reuters that heavy fighting continued on Thursday, with Israeli tanks advancing towards the densely populated Bureij camp from the north and east.
Hamas released a video showing what it said was its warplanes targeting Israeli soldiers and vehicles.
Elsewhere, the IDF said it regretted the “damage to unrelated civilians” caused by an airstrike in Maghazi on Sunday that killed at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Their statement said that the fighters “attacked two adjacent targets where Hamas members were present. ” In Israel, thousands of teenagers participated in marches demanding a new agreement to return more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.
Many protesters came from communities hardest hit by the October 7 attacks. “I come from Kibbutz Kfar Aza,” Shiri Khiyali told the BBC.
“I was there on October 7. My people were kidnapped. We want them back. We want them back now. ” Separately, United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk issued a fresh appeal calling on Israel to end what he called “illegal” killings in the occupied West Bank.
A report says the United Nations has verified the killing of 300 Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers since October 7.
A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister called the report ridiculous and said it downplayed major threats to Israel’s security.
Israel’s military is currently fighting Hamas fighters in Gaza, and some experts believe that this could lead to a bigger ground operation in the area.
Public Kan Radio says that Israeli air strikes are targeting Khan Younis because they think top Hamas leaders, like Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, are hiding there. Yahya Sinwar is the leader of Hamas in Gaza and Mohammed Deif leads the military.
According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the fighting in Khan Younis is expected to be very difficult. The situation is complicated because there are a lot of Palestinians who had to leave their homes in the north and are now living there. There may also be Israeli hostages in the area.
One thing Israelis are still dealing with from the 7 October attacks is accusations of Palestinian fighters committing sexual violence against women.
Collecting evidence is really hard, and it’s upsetting that UN Women waited so long to say something about the terrible things Hamas did to Israelis.
Ruth Halperin Kaddari is a lawyer from Israel who fights for women’s rights. She was part of a UN group for 12 years that focused on stopping discrimination against women.
She said on BBC Radio 4 that she saw many people who were victims of sexual violence, including a paramedic who treated a woman who said she had been raped by four men.
Kaddari saw videos and photos of bodies in many places and is sure that rape happened.
She said that there must have been a plan to use sexual violence as a weapon of war because there are a lot of cases in a short time and in many places.
The uncle of two Israeli siblings who were kidnapped and then set free yesterday is talking about how happy he is that they are safe now.
Ahal Besorai’s nephew, Noam Or, who is 17, and his sister Alma, who is 13, were taken from their home in Kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October.
Besorai talked to the media about a scary conversation he had and how he later talked to them on a video call at a hospital.
“They have tough stories to share about how they were taken and treated. ” “They didn’t know that their mom, who is my sister, was killed,” Berosai said.
“We had to tell them the bad news. ” It was a really upsetting conversation and their dad was not there. They were kept apart.
In the lead-up to the scheduled truce, Gaza experienced both sides exchanged fire and bombs until the last minute before the pause in hostilities took effect.
Israeli planes conducted bombing raids, resulting in billows of smoke engulfing the region. The tumultuous atmosphere was punctuated by the cacophony of gunfire and cannon blasts, creating a distressing backdrop.
In Israeli villages near Gaza, sporadic gunshots and sirens served as harbingers of incoming missiles or mortar fire, alerting residents to potential threats.
While the recent escalation is disconcerting, historical patterns indicate that this has been the trend preceding truces or longer ceasefires in past wars.
In Israel, families of hostages are upset and want the government to give them information about their loved ones and make a deal for their release.
I want them to promise that everyone will come back home. All the people who were kept against their will. “We need written promises and answers,” said Shai Wenkert, whose son Omer is being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
Wenkert talked to the news on Monday, before he and other family members met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war team in Tel Aviv.
Only a few families have met with Netanyahu. This has made many other relatives of hostages angry because they feel the government isn’t doing enough to help free them.
However, for some people, the meeting made them even more frustrated. Udi Goren left the meeting early because he felt there was no new information about his cousin who was taken captive. He wanted to know more about a possible deal to release the hostages, but the war cabinet didn’t provide any details.
About 239 people are being held captive in Gaza after they were taken during an attack by Hamas on Israel. This attack was the biggest one on Israel since it was formed in 1948 and it resulted in the death of about 1,200 people.
On October 20, two Americans named Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie Raanan were released because of serious reasons after Qatar and Hamas talked and made a deal.
two Israeli women, Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, were also released
Lifshitz said it was a really terrible experience. She was taken from her home, put on a motorbike and driven to a network of tunnels.
Israel declared a war on Hamas and stopped goods from getting into Gaza after the October 7 attacks. This caused a very bad situation for the people living in Gaza. Approximately 12,700 Palestinians have passed away since the war started, as reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank, which gets its information from health authorities in the Gaza Strip run by Hamas.
Many people in Israel still strongly support the war against Hamas, but more and more people are criticizing Netanyahu and his government. They think they should have known about the October 7 attack and done more to free the hostages.
Ben-Gvir is a politician in Israel who wants to make the country bigger by taking over land that belongs to Palestinians. He also wants to make a new law that would give the death penalty to people who commit terrorist acts.
However, a lot of families with hostages believe that Ben-Gvir is putting their loved ones in more danger. They think that Hamas may not want to release the hostages if they think Israel will kill Palestinian prisoners.
During the meeting in the parliament, people showed pictures of their family and spoke out their anger and disappointment. “Bring our loved ones back. ” shouted Gil Dickmann, whose cousin is trapped in Gaza.
Don’t talk about hurting Arabs. “This is what you need to do. ” yelled Hen Avigdori, whose wife and daughter were taken on October 7th.
Almog Cohen, who works with Ben-Gvir in the Jewish Power party, responded to family members. “You are not the only one who feels pain. ” “We also put more than 50 friends in the ground,” Cohen said.
Ben-Gvir is working to make a new law and it is being reviewed by the government. It still needs to go through a few more steps before it can become a law and there’s still a possibility that it could be taken back.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Telegram that his group is almost at a peace deal with Israel. The United States, Israel, and Qatar have been helping with the negotiations.
The message came after Hamas had given an answer to the mediators in Qatar. “Haniyeh said that the group gave their answer to the brothers in Qatar and the mediators, and they are close to agreeing to a truce. ”
Haniyeh didn’t give more information about the possible agreement.
There is still no agreement, and many issues still need to be solved. However, the people involved in the negotiations are feeling hopeful.
Netanyahu has said two things he wants to achieve in the war – to free all the hostages and to defeat Hamas. Israel has said no to requests from other countries to stop fighting until their hostages are returned.
Palestinian workers who were sent back to Gaza from Israel last week say that Israeli authorities treated them very badly. They claim that they were forced to remove their clothes, kept in cages, severely beaten, and one worker even said they were given electric shocks.
“They hurt us and hit us with batons and metal sticks. they made us feel embarrassed. they made us suffer from hunger and thirst,” said Muqbel Abdullah Al Radia, another worker, to CNN.
Most people from Gaza who have jobs work in building things or growing crops. They usually stay away from home for weeks instead of traveling back and forth, which is why many of them were in Israel when Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on Saturday, October 7th.
Al Radia said that when the war started, he and some of the other workers from Gaza ran away to Rahat, a city mostly inhabited by Arab Bedouins in the south of Israel. He claims that the local people gave them to the Israeli army.
“They took away our phones and money, so we couldn’t talk to our families. They gave us food on the ground in plastic bags,” he explained.
When the attack by Hamas on Israel happened on October 7, the Israeli media initially worried that the attackers were among the workers who had permits to be in the country. However, a security official from Israel later said to CNN that the men were actually detained because their work permits were taken away, not because they were suspected of being terrorists.
The security official said that sometimes, they kept certain people in detention to keep them safe because they were in danger of being harmed by Israeli communities.
Six groups in Israel that protect people’s rights have asked a court to review and decide if these detentions were done against the law and without a good reason.
Gisha, an organization in Israel that helps Palestinians move freely, said last week in a statement that it believes the conditions for people held in these facilities were very bad. They think the detainees were treated badly, including being hurt physically and emotionally, and that the conditions were not humane.
A lot of the workers are saying they didn’t know where they were being brought to. The Palestinian Prisoners Society, a human rights group in the occupied West Bank, said that a lot of people were kept in two detention places – one in Ofer near Ramallah and another in Salem near Jenin.
Another worker from Beit Lahiya, Mahmoud Abu Darabeh, said that he was beaten by Israeli forces.
Abu Darabeh said that he was captured on the second day of the war. “He said that we were locked up in cages like dogs. They hurt us, said mean things to us, and didn’t care if we were sick or not. Some of us got hurt, and our feet became infected because we didn’t receive any medical help. ”
The men had to answer a lot of questions every day from the Israeli authorities about their houses and family.
If one of your family members is a police officer of Hamas, you might get physically hurt. I know some people whose rib cage was completely broken, and sadly, some people even died because they were tortured. ” He shared this with CNN.
He also explained how some of the workers died while they were in detention or when they were trying to cross into Gaza.
“Abu Darabeh mentioned that a few individuals passed away while coming here because they were physically attacked and given electric shocks. ” He said he saw other people being shocked while they were detained.
A person from Israel said to CNN that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) knew about some cases where IDF soldiers treated Gazan workers badly.
There have been incidents of mistreatment of people who are being held outside of the authorized detention centers. These incidents were taken very seriously, and the people responsible were punished,” the official said using a translator. They told us that four soldiers were fired from the IDF because of abusive behavior, and two soldiers were put in military prison for their actions.
When the official was asked if any of the prisoners died because they were treated badly, they said that they knew about two deaths of workers from Gaza who were held in custody. However, they explained that these deaths were not caused by mistreatment, but by existing health problems that the workers had before they came to Israel.
The official said that, as far as he knew, these abuses did not involve electric shocks.
CNN watched some of the videos that show the claimed mistreatment, but they are not able to confirm if they are true or not. They have videos of people who are being kept somewhere against their will, with their hands and feet bound, sitting under the hot sun, and being hurt and moved forcefully. There is a video where a lot of people on a bus are blindfolded and their hands are tied.
The security official told CNN that the IDF is looking into these videos. They confirmed that two of the videos are real. One video shows IDF soldiers kicking someone who was detained, and another video shows a big group of detainees who were tied up, blindfolded, and treated badly. The IDF punished soldiers who were in these videos, according to the official.
The army says that the behavior shown in the video is terrible and goes against their rules. The text says that some soldiers and reserve soldiers in the videos have been temporarily stopped from doing their jobs.
The people that CNN talked to were some of the workers from Gaza who had permission to work in Israel. Hamas attacked Israel and killed many people, including kidnapping others.
As a reaction to the attacks, Israel started a non-stop bombing on Gaza. The defense minister, Yoav Gallant, also ordered a total blockade on the area.
Before the October 7 attacks, around 18,000 people from Gaza had permission to go to Israel for work. This is because the wages in Israel are much higher, sometimes ten times more, than in Gaza.
Before anyone was given a permit, the Israeli authorities would have made sure they were thoroughly checked for security purposes.
Right after the attack, Israel took away the workers’ permits from Gaza. This made it against the law for them to stay in the country. Because they couldn’t go back to Gaza, many people attempted to escape to the occupied West Bank.
“They stopped us from doing what we needed to do. We tried to go to the West Bank, but they stopped us and kept us in unknown places. They tied our arms, covered our eyes, and took us on buses. There were around 200 to 300 of us trapped between metal fences. They hurt us and questioned us every day and night,” said one worker who spoke to CNN. Another man, who did not give his name, shared a similar story of mistreatment.
Many workers told CNN that they were forced to have their eyes covered and their hands tied up for a long time. Some people said they were kept in a separate area that was enclosed by a fence. They mentioned that this made the weather extremely hot during the day and very cold during the night.
The security official said that in the beginning, some places didn’t have shade, but they fixed this within a few days. The person in charge said that the detainees were only held down when moving from one place to another.
On Friday, when they went into Gaza, a lot of men seemed very filled with strong feelings. When CNN asked people questions, many were too afraid to share their personal information because they were worried about being treated badly.
One man, who lives in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, cried as he explained how they were forced into small metal enclosures and not allowed to sleep, which is a well-known type of torture.
Every so often, they approached us and requested us to get up. “Get up, sit down, get up, sit down, get up,” he said. In one spot, there were about 150 of us inside a metal box. It had a strong, unpleasant smell. I believe it was previously used for raising chickens or rabbits.
Another worker from Al-Zaytun Quarter in Gaza City also told CNN that he and other detainees were forced to repeatedly stand up and sit down.
“They harmed us, stole our money, removed our clothes, and left us naked. ”
He said that he had been wearing only his underwear for more than 20 days.
Dehumanization and Insults
Amani Sarahneh, who speaks for the Palestinian Prisoners Society, said that some of these men were taken into custody while traveling to the West Bank, while others were detained within the West Bank itself.
The men wanted to go to the occupied West Bank, but Israel took away their permits. This made their stay in Israel illegal, but it was difficult for them to go back to Gaza because the border crossings were closed by both Israel and Egypt. They thought it would be safer for them to be in an area controlled by Palestinians instead of needing permits for the West Bank.
Sarahneh told CNN that the organization doesn’t know how many men were held, even though they tried many times to get information from the Israeli authorities.
Sarahneh told CNN that many of the workers shared similar experiences.
She said that many people talked about being very hungry and getting hurt every day. They were tied up and kept away from others. Some videos have been shared online, showing how the Palestinians in jail are treated badly and not like humans.
“They were not accused of any wrongdoing, but they were questioned and subjected to severe torture, abuse, and physical violence. They were treated inhumanely and were insulted,” she explained.
Dror Sadot, who speaks for B’Tselem, an organization that advocates for human rights in the areas under Israeli control, stated that the recent attacks by Hamas on October 7th have resulted in a significant increase in violence against Palestinians.
She said on CNN that the mistreatment of Palestinians is happening from the highest authority, with important people not considering Palestinians as human.
She said that the strong words and the intense anger about the crimes committed by Hamas slowly affects the individual soldiers, who then treat any Palestinian with extreme anger.
Sadot said that they are not convinced by the IDF’s handling of abuse cases based on their long-term experience.
“She said that we have been looking into this for a long time. The military system of enforcement acts as a way to cover up wrongdoing, hardly leading to any charges. ” “So people might argue that those cases are rare and not typical, but if soldiers keep getting away with their actions, and if the military policy itself allows this, without any consequences for their actions, then things will just keep happening,” she said.
Tired and hurt, but extremely happy to be back
Some people look old, tired, and very sweaty, while others seem to be hurt.
At least three people have serious cuts on their wrists that look like they were caused by being tied up.
Most of the men don’t have any personal items except for the clothes they’re wearing.
A 58-year-old man named Mohamed Atallah was wearing a plastic tag on his wrist.
He showed CNN a list of his things taken away in prison that were never given back to him.
Some workers who returned to Gaza on Friday said that Israeli authorities put them on buses that took them to the crossing into Gaza, where they were left.
They had no choice but to walk for about three hours in order to enter the enclave, according to some people who spoke to CNN.
The workers went into the Gaza Strip, and a video from CNN showed that some of them knelt down and began to pray.
They knelt down and pressed their foreheads against the ground, expressing gratitude to God for returning to Gaza. It has become an unbearable place since they were last here.
We were in a very bad condition, I promise. Bilal Aysha said to CNN that every day felt awful and scary. I’m so grateful to be home again. “He said that he hopes God will bring happiness back for everybody. “
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly criticized a video released by Hamas that shows Israeli hostages who were captured during the 7 October attacks. He described the video as “cruel propaganda. ”
The video, which came out on Monday, shows three Israeli women. One of them scolds Mr. Netanyahu and asks for the hostages to be set free.
Hamas took more than 230 people as captives in the attacks and around 1,400 Israelis lost their lives.
Only four have been set free up until now.
Israel has started a big military action in Gaza, with the goal of getting rid of Hamas and their control over the area.
The Hamas health department says that around 8,000 Palestinians have died.
The armed group Hamas, specifically the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, posted a video showing the hostages.
We have no information about how the video was made.
Only one of the people being held captive talks to the camera in the video.
We will not share or release the video. Prisoners of war and hostages are covered by rules that protect them according to world laws. The BBC doesn’t show any videos or materials that might have been made when people were forced or threatened.
MrNetanyahu said in a statement that the actions of Hamas-Isis are a form of psychological manipulation that is unkind.
We are giving hugs to the families. We will do whatever it takes to bring back all the people who were kidnapped or missing back to their homes.
He also said that the hostages are named Elena Trupanov, Danielle Aloni, and Rimon Kirsht.
“MrNetanyahu said, ‘I give you a hug. ‘”
Ms Aloni’s five-year-old daughter, along with her sister, brother-in-law, and their three-year-old twin daughters, were also taken by kidnappers on 7 October.
During a press conference on Monday, Ms. Aloni’s father expressed that he was extremely shocked and frightened when he saw her picture. He asked the leader of Qatar, who has been helping with negotiations, to do everything possible to bring the hostages back. On 21 October, two weeks after the first attacks, Hamas let go of two hostages, a mother and her daughter named Judith and Natalie Raanan.
The group said that the couple, who have dual US-Israeli citizenship, were released because of compassionate reasons.
Two days later, two more women named Nurit Cooper, aged 79, and Yocheved Lifschitz, aged 85, were also set free. They are both from Israel but were set free in Egypt.
Hamas once again stated that they released the individuals for reasons related to their health and well-being. However, they accused Israel of not accepting them. Both women’s husbands are still in custody.
There is a reason why we have only seen pictures of women who were taken as hostages since their violent kidnapping.
There is no doubt that the video was released to make all Israelis feel emotional and make Mr. Netanyahu’s situation even more difficult.
He is feeling a lot of stress because the families of hostages are asking him to do more to free their loved ones. Two days ago, he mentioned that destroying Hamas was more important to him than anything else, including what he is talking about now.
In the video, Ms Aloni strongly criticizes Mr Netanyahu for not keeping the civilians safe on 7 October.
Even if it was said when someone was very anxious and stressed, it adds to a heated discussion in Israel about why the government and the military allowed any of this to occur.
During a press conference on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu expressed sympathy for the families of the hostages but emphasized that taking action on the ground was the most effective way to rescue them.
Hamas will not do it unless they feel forced to do so. They just won’t do it. He explained that this causes stress.
I recently attended a press conference given by Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, an organization that helps Palestinian refugees. We have been discussing this conference in our previous posts.
He said the United Nations really wants fuel to go to Gaza to provide electricity for essential services. Israel says that Hamas took fuel from UNRWA and has about 500,000 liters of it. Earlier this week, the Israeli army mentioned that UNRWA should seek permission from Hamas if they want to obtain something.
I asked Lazzarini further if this is true. He said he had seen news about Hamas having enough fuel for six weeks, but he admitted that he didn’t know anything about it at all. “He said to me that he doesn’t know what Hamas has or doesn’t have in Gaza. ”
He said that there is a store of fuel in Gaza that holds up to 400,000 liters. This fuel was brought in as part of a previous agreement between Qatar and Israel before the conflict started on October 7th.
Lazzarini explained that in order for UNRWA to obtain the fuel, they need agreements called “deconfliction” with Israel. This means that the UN wants assurance from Israel that the area is secure for its workers and will not be targeted for bombing. He said in the past few days, UNRWA was able to get “some fuel” from this storage place after an agreement was made. However, he said that there were still things left to discuss and it is Israel’s decision whether or not to allow access.
When asked if Hamas took the UN fuel, Lazzarini said “no” once more.
Reports from Israeli media indicates that, the city of Eilat in southern Israel is thinking about creating a temporary area with tents to accommodate the many people who have relocated there since the war began.
The mayor of Eilat, which is a vacation spot on the Red Sea, stated that the number of people living in the city has doubled because more than 60,000 individuals who had to leave their homes arrived there.
Until now, they have stayed in 12,000 hotel rooms, 4,000 privately rented places, and special hospitality centers.
Mayor Eli Lankri said that we are considering different options, which may even include setting up a tent city.
We have finished the plans we made last week and we will show them to the people who make the decisions.
The Israeli government says that over 200,000 Israelis have had to leave their homes because of the attack on October 7th. They are leaving because they live near the border with Gaza and Lebanon.
Israel has reported that 222 individuals are being held captive in Gaza after the attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October.
Yarden Bibas, his wife Shiri, and their two children, four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old Kfir, were taken away from Nir Oz, a community in southern Israel.
Yarden’s sister, Ofri Bibas Levy, told the BBC that their family was hiding in a safe room when her brother sent a message in their family Whatsapp group saying “here we go again. ” They thought it was a rocket attack from Gaza.
Afterwards, a friend sent her a video of the family being taken by force, with Shiri holding her children.
Ofri says she was very scared, more scared than she has ever been before.
Three days later, she got pictures of her brother with a wound on his head and it looked like someone was holding a hammer. Two weeks later, Ofri still doesn’t know what happened to the family.
Pictures of a school in Israel were taken after an attack where Hamas fighters killed at least 100 people. The pictures show pools of blood and gun clips scattered among the children’s toys.
The pictures show the damage to a school for young children caused by a terrorist attack that led to a lot of fighting in the area last weekend.
Stay updated on the Israel-Hamas conflict by following our live coverage.
In one picture, there is a small pink bike and scooter among all the mess of things that were left behind at the school.
Hamas attacked and entered houses in the Israeli kibbutz called Be’eri, which is located four miles away from the Gaza Strip, on October 7.
People were trapped and unable to leave their homes while many people were hurt or killed soon after the fighting started last weekend.
The safe neighborhood was torn apart when scared moms and kids tried to hide and run away from the damage. In another picture, there are holes from bullets on a white wall in a nursery. Two bikes that belong to children are also on the ground.
Some parts of the ceiling in the Israeli school are hanging down and there are teaching tools on the desks.
An Israeli soldier said to the Sun newspaper, “There are many bad things hidden in this place, and unfortunately, we are discovering more of them every day. ”
“Many kids lost their lives here, and some were badly hurt. ”
Volunteers have been searching through the wreckage and destroyed houses, looking for people who are still alive and trying to find out the truth about what really occurred during the attack.
The Israeli military shared a video showing when armed fighters entered houses, holding guns and scaring families.
In a video, security cameras inside the kibbutz recorded Hamas members getting into the community. Security cameras captured footage of terrorists trying to sneak underneath the gates at the entrance.
When their first plan didn’t work, it seems like they tried to hide until a car came close, and then they attacked and killed the people inside. After that, they simply walked into the area.
A video shows the militants leaving the area from the same gate more than an hour later.
Be’eri was the home of Lianne Sharabi, who was born in Britain. She lived there with her daughters Yahel and Noiya, and her husband Eli.
Lianne and her 13-year-old daughter Yahel were murdered by soldiers from Hamas in the attack. In the beginning of the fighting, a group on the messaging app WhatsApp called Be’eri mum recorded what was happening. Parents were scared as they shared messages about armed people going to each house in the area and knocking on the doors.
Parents made a group with about 200 members. They used this group to tell other parents about the attacks and to give tips on how to keep safe by locking their rooms.
During a conversation, someone asked if there is something that can make us feel less worried. Very quickly, a neighbor replied and explained how the army could deal with the situation.
Many Arab citizens of Israel have been taken into custody because of what they said on social media about the war in Gaza.
One of them is a famous singer and influencer named Dalal Abu Amneh from Nazareth. She was kept in police custody for two days before being let go on Wednesday after paying bail. She is currently not allowed to leave her house until Monday.
As per Abeer Baker, her lawyer, she was accused by the police officers of behaving badly. They claimed that her posts could make her followers become violent.
The picture that caught the police’s attention was a photo of the Palestinian flag with a saying in Arabic that means “Only God wins. ”
Ms Baker says the singer, who is famous in the Arab world for singing about Palestinian culture, was expressing her religious beliefs. Israeli authorities believed that the singer’s post was encouraging Palestinians to take up weapons.
Since the war began between Israel and Hamas, the police in Israel have taken a strict approach towards social media posts that show support for Hamas. Hamas is a group that wants to destroy Israel and is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the US, UK, and other countries.
Ms Abu Amneh, who is an Arab citizen of Israel, was arrested along with many other people for posting about the war on social media.
A lot of people have been stopped from working or fired from their jobs, or face punishment from their universities.
Israeli Arabs, also known as Palestinian citizens of Israel, make up about 20% of the population in Israel.
The police have looked into and arrested over 100 individuals for their online activities since Hamas attacked. Sixty-three people have been arrested and questioned in Jerusalem only.
Israel’s Police Commissioner, Yaakov Shabtai, said that if anyone encourages others to oppose or harm Israel, its government, its elected officials, its military, or its police, the Israel Police will respond strongly and without being lenient.
Adalah, an organization that advocates for the rights of Arab minorities in Israel, thinks that more people are being held in custody because there have been more recent arrests.
During the Israel-Gaza conflict in May 2021, a report from Adalah stated that only 16 individuals were charged with inciting violence. Out of these 16 people, 15 were Arab.
Human rights advocates are concerned that the recent increase in arrests is because the police are now considering more behaviors as potentially encouraging violence.
In Rahat, a city in the desert, the police have arrested a person named Dr. Amer al-Huzail He was running for mayor in the past. He posted on social media a map of the Gaza Strip, along with his thoughts on what might happen if Israeli forces were to start a mission on the ground there.
Because of this, people have accused him of helping the enemy during a time of war. However, some people in Israel are still experiencing severe outcomes for their social media posts, even if they are not charged with any crimes.
According to lawyers from Adalah, they have received more than 40 cases where Israeli Arab workers were suspended or fired from their jobs unexpectedly.
Salam Irsheid, a lawyer at the organization, said that sometimes people’s jobs and way of making a living are in danger just because they give a like to a social media post. We have a worker who might lose their job for liking a news report about the Gaza situation on social media.
Arab students in Israel’s universities are also being disciplined by their schools.
Last week, the president of Tel Aviv University, Ariel Porat, mentioned that a small number of students were identified for showing “approval of the terrible actions by Hamas”.
“We will be very tough on these few students,” he wrote on the university’s website, “and if we believe their actions are against the law, we will inform the police. ” We will respond quickly, as needed in this sensitive situation, but we will make sure that every student gets a fair investigation.
Lawyers from Adalah have heard from 83 students who were suspended from schools in different parts of the country. In certain situations, these students were also asked to leave their housing suddenly.
None of the situations are about doing things, showing things, or taking part in things that are against the law. Hassan Jabareen, the general director of Adalah, says that they are mostly focused on the things people post on social media.
He says that most of the posts are against the war and Israel’s actions in Gaza. They also support the victims of the war in Gaza.
10% of the posts can be seen as indirectly supporting the actions of Hamas against innocent people.
“In usual circumstances, those posts wouldn’t be understood in that way, but nowadays Israel has a tendency to interpret them in the most severe manner. ”
The public is very angry about the attack by Hamas, which killed over 1,400 people, mostly innocent people, in areas close to the Gaza Strip. They are also upset with Jewish Israelis who are asking for things to calm down.
On the previous Sunday, Israel Frey, a well-known journalist from the left-wing ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, had to be taken away from his home in Tel Aviv by the police to keep him safe.
A group of people gathered outside the building and fired flares at his apartment because he posted a video on social media where he was praying for the people in Gaza.
And on Wednesday, Ofer Cassif, who is a Jewish lawmaker for the Arab-led Hadash-Taal alliance, was temporarily removed from the Israeli parliament for 45 days because he strongly criticized the bombing of Gaza.
He recently posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) and criticized the police for not acting quickly to protect Mr. Frey
“Police with weapons are sent to arrest anyone who displays even a small amount of understanding or compassion for the killings in Gaza,” he wrote.
However, the police do not want to keep a left-wing journalist safe when their life is at risk.
The Israeli defence minister says that after the war with Hamas is finished, Israel will stop taking care of life in the Gaza Strip.
Yoav Gallant told parliament’s foreign affairs and defence committee that Israel’s military campaign aims to cut off connections with the coastal enclave.
Gallant said he wants to get rid of Hamas completely, including both its military and governing abilities. He also wants to establish a new and safer situation in the region.
Israel moved its soldiers and people who lived there from Gaza in 2005, but it still has power over the airspace, shared border, and shoreline.
The West Bank, governed by Israel, witnessed six fatalities during confrontations with Israeli soldiers as reported by the Palestinian health ministry.
According to witnesses, Israeli soldiers went into the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm. They are currently fighting with Palestinian gunmen.
Earlier, the Israeli military detained more than 80 individuals in the West Bank. Among them, 63 individuals were identified as Hamas members involved in activities that result in terror.
They arrested five people in Nur Shams and the security forces are still working in the camp to stop terrorism.
The West Bank, which is controlled by Israel, is not connected to the Gaza Strip. Some of it is controlled by the Palestinian Authority, while Gaza is managed by Hamas. According to data from the United Nations, as of last night, at least 61 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 7 October. Over 1,200 people have also gotten hurt.
There have been more fights between people and the security forces of the Palestinian Authority recently. This is because protesters are angry about the war in Gaza and are demonstrating in the streets.
Israeli settlers have been committing more acts of violence, including attacking Palestinians. The Israeli human rights organization called B’Tselem has collected information and evidence of these attacks.
More than 100 Palestinians have died in air attacks in the southern part of Gaza, according to officials. Despite instructing civilians to seek shelter in that area, the Israeli military continues to attack it.
Many people who died had left their homes in the north to escape from a big attack on the group Hamas.
The military said it attacked several places belonging to Hamas in the southern area.
People are increasingly worried about the living conditions of people in Gaza.
The US said they had made a plan with Israel to help send aid to the people living in a place controlled by Hamas. This is because the United Nations (UN) aid agencies said that the hospitals did not have enough fuel and it would run out in less than a day. They also said that there was very little water and the stores only had a few days of food left.
There is a belief that Egypt’s Rafah crossing will be opened to allow important aid to enter and allow Palestinians with foreign passports to leave. However, on Monday, it is reported that a building at the crossing was damaged by an Israeli strike.
Israel stopped the supply of electricity, water, food, and medicine through its crossings because Hamas militants attacked its borders on 7 October. The attack resulted in the death of at least 1,300 people and 199 others being taken hostage.
Over 2,800 people have died in Israel’s attacks on Gaza, as reported by health officials. The situation in southern Gaza overnight is causing a lot of concern for the many people who followed the Israeli military’s order last Friday to leave northern Gaza for their own protection. The BBC’s Rushdi Abu Alouf in Khan Younis reported on this.
Local authorities in Khan Younis have reported that three Israeli airstrikes resulted in the deaths of over 100 individuals, with a majority of them being people who had been forced to leave their homes.
Amin Hneideq shared that his daughter got hurt when a bomb exploded and destroyed a house close by. Sadly, the bomb also took the lives of a family who were running away towards the south. “He told Reuters news agency that they brought them from the north only to attack them in the south. ”
The Israeli military said it attacked places where Hamas operates in Khan Younis, Rafah, Zeitoun, and Jabalia. They targeted command centres, military buildings with people inside, and places where Hamas members hide.
Many people who had to leave their homes in Khan Younis said to the BBC that they were getting ready to bring their things and go back to their houses.
A man said he had been sleeping on the street for a few days. He didn’t want to die of thirst and would rather die with respect.
Khan Younis, Rafah, and other towns in the south have struggled with the task of housing and providing food for over 600,000 people who have been forced to leave their homes. An additional 400,000 people have found a safe place to stay in another area of the Strip.
Filmmaker Yousef Hammash said that every day, people are struggling to find food for their children. This is causing a lot of stress and people are only focused on surviving. On Tuesday, a store in Gaza City sent water to Khan Younis. This was risky because there was no guarantee that the Israeli forces would not attack the trucks transporting the water.
The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, called Unrwa, stated that Israel allowed water to flow into southern Gaza for a short period of three hours on Monday. However, only 14% of the 2. 2 million people living in Gaza were able to use this water.
The seawater desalination plant in Gaza that was still working had to close because it didn’t have enough fuel. This is making people worry more about getting dehydrated and getting sick from dirty water.
The hospital in Khan Younis is having a hard time taking care of the many people hurt in air attacks. They said they will run out of fuel for their extra generators at midnight, and this will put the patients’ lives in danger.
People are trying to get more fuel from nearby gas stations and businesses so that the hospital can continue to operate.
The World Food Programme also mentioned that stores in Gaza only had enough food for about four or five more days. It said that there might be a few extra days in storage places, but the Israeli attacks were making it hard to get to them.
Even though people were warned, a speaker for the Israeli military said that there is no big problem that threatens people’s well-being in Gaza at the moment.
“We don’t have the promise to give Hamas electricity,” Lt Col Richard Hecht said to BBC Newsnight.
The people who attacked us have been in charge of the Gaza Strip for many years. They have power. I can also see water in the southern part of Gaza.
The UN human rights office stated that Israel’s request for 1. 1 million people to leave their homes, along with the blockage of goods entering Gaza, might be considered as forcefully moving civilians against the rules set by international law.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani also mentioned that there should be a separate investigation into the reports of attacks on civilians trying to escape. She also warned that punishing the entire population for the actions of a few militants is not fair.
The office has asked again for Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups to release all the hostages in Gaza right away and without any conditions. They also want them to stop shooting rockets randomly at cities and towns in Israel. Yesterday, Hamas shared a video of a young woman named Mia Shem. She is 21 years old and is from Israel and France. In the video, she said that she was taken captive at a music festival where more than 260 people were killed.
On Tuesday, Keren, the mother, spoke at a news conference and pleaded to the world to help bring her baby back home. She went to a party just to enjoy herself. And now she is in Gaza, and she is not the only person there.
There are babies, children, and old people who were survivors of the Holocaust and were taken away forcefully. This is a terrible crime against people.
The Israeli military strongly criticized the hostage video, calling it a form of psychological terrorism.
The Israel Defense Forces have reported that there was a small explosion that caused minor damage to a security fence on the border between Israel and Lebanon, close to the kibbutz of Hanita. The army is shooting artillery towards Lebanon, according to the IDF.
Moreover, a warning was triggered about terrorists coming into the area. Right now, IDF soldiers are looking for something in the area.
People are worried that a new part of the war might start if Hezbollah, a group in Lebanon, chooses to attack Israel in support of the Palestinians.
Kibbutz Kfar Aza is like a small version of what has happened in the beginning of this war. It also shows us a little bit of what might happen in the future.
On Tuesday morning, the fighting continued in the kibbutz, which is an Israeli community near Gaza. That’s why they are only now gathering the bodies of Israeli people who were killed when Hamas came into Israel from Gaza early on Saturday morning.
Soldiers who spent a lot of time searching for and finding dead bodies of regular people said there was a terrible event where lots of people were killed. It seems probable that most of the killing occurred in the early hours of the attack on Saturday.
The Israeli army was surprised and it took them 12 hours to reach the kibbutz, according to Davidi Ben Zion, who is the deputy commander of Unit 71. Unit 71 is a skilled group of paratroopers who led the attack.
“He said we helped many moms and dads and kids survive, thank God. ” Sadly, some people were harmed by Molotov cocktails being thrown at them. They behave very aggressively, just like animals do.
Mr Ben Zion said that the Hamas gunmen who killed families, even babies, were simply a group of people dedicated to killing everyone. Their victims were unarmed and defenseless, just normal citizens who only wanted to have their breakfast.
Some of the people had their heads cut off, he said.
“They murdered them and chopped off some of their heads. It’s really horrifying to witness. We need to always remember who the enemy is and what our goal is – to bring fairness where there is one clear side, and everyone in the world needs to support us. ”
Another police officer indicated a sleeping bag that was covered in blood and was the color purple. A toe that is bigger than normal popped out. He said that a woman was murdered and had her head cut off in her front yard. I didn’t tell the officer to check her body by moving the sleeping bag. A little distance away, there was a dead Hamas fighter whose body looked burned and puffy.
Kibbutz Kfar Aza provides more evidence that shows how Hamas gunmen have committed war crimes. The community was surprised, just like their Israeli neighbors. The first level of protection was the kibbutz guard. These were resident members who had military experience and they would patrol the area around the kibbutz. They died while trying to defend themselves against the people who were attacking them.
Their bodies were taken out this morning from where they were, in the middle of the kibbutz. Like the other Israeli people who died, their bodies were covered in black plastic. They were then carried on stretchers to a place where cars are parked, and placed in a row, waiting to be taken back.
The people who live in the Israeli border communities knew that they might get attacked by rockets sometimes because Hamas took over Gaza in 2007. They were okay with the danger that came with living in the countryside in a close-knit community, which still had some of the adventurous spirit of the first Jewish settlers.
People living in Kfar Aza and other Israeli communities near the Gaza wire had a good life, even though there was a risk of rockets from Hamas. In the houses, lawns, and open areas of the kibbutz, there was always a concrete shelter nearby.
All the houses had extra strong rooms for safety. They also had outdoor areas with open spaces, grills for cooking, swings for the kids, and clean air.
But no one in Kfar Aza or anywhere in Israel believed that Hamas would be able to break through Israel’s protections and cause the deaths of so many people.
Israeli people are feeling a mix of horror, anger, and shock because they can’t believe that their government and military didn’t do their main job of keeping them safe.
The bodies of dead Hamas fighters, who caused the death of many people, have been left to decay in the sun. They are lying uncovered in the places where they were killed, such as bushes, ditches, and the lawns of the kibbutz.
Next to their bodies are the motorcycles they used to quickly enter the kibbutz after getting past the border fence. The broken remains of a paraglider that was used to fly over Israel’s defenses can be seen there. It was knocked off its path and landed on a flower bed.
The Israelis had a tough fight to take back Kfar Aza from other border settlements.
This morning, when we got to the kibbutz entrance, there were many Israeli soldiers guarding its edges. We were able to hear what they were saying on the radio.
A leader told their soldiers to start shooting at a building in Gaza. Fire started from automatic weapons right away and was aimed across the border into Gaza.
The loud sound of bombs dropping from planes could be heard constantly in Gaza while we were in Kfar Aza.
Israel is going through a difficult time because many of their fellow citizens were killed on Saturday, which has caused a lot of emotional pain for everyone.
However, in Gaza, many regular people are also getting killed. International humanitarian law says that everyone fighting in a war should keep the civilians safe.
It is obvious that when Hamas attackers kill many innocent people, they are breaking the rules of war in a very serious way. Israelis do not agree with comparing how Hamas kills innocent people to how Palestinian innocent people die in Israeli air attacks.
Major General Itai Veruv, who was near the end of his military career when he led the battle to recapture the kibbutz, strongly believed that Israel was following the rules of war properly.
I believe we will defend our beliefs and customs with determination and strength, but we will also maintain our principles and ethical standards. We are from Israel and we practice the Jewish religion.
He said very firmly that they did not stop following the laws of war. It is sure that if more Palestinian civilians are killed, Israel will receive more and stronger criticism. This is a small view of what the future might look like in Kfar Aza. I spoke to a soldier who did not want to tell me his name, and he had a similar attitude. Just like many other Israelis, the first few days of this war and what he witnessed made him more determined to fight.
When they got there, he described it as a complete mess with terrorists all around.
I asked how hard the fighting was.
Have you ever done something similar as a soldier in the past.
I don’t understand, I just do what I am told to do. I want us to go inside.
Traveling into Gaza would be a very difficult and challenging battle. Okay We are prepared for it.
The soldiers were mostly from backup groups. In the past, serving in the military was seen as an important way to bring people together and create a strong nation, especially when there were disagreements and conflicts among the population.
Davidi Ben Zion, the leader of the first group to fight against the kibbutz and witness the destruction caused by Hamas, recognized that Israelis had strong differences in their political views. However, he stated that now they are all together in their response to the attack.
There was a very bad smell of rotting flesh in the hot autumn sun of the Mediterranean. Soldiers are being cautious as they clear out the bodies from destroyed houses. They are being careful because they are worried about finding explosives that could still be dangerous, and might even be set up as traps. There was a grenade on a path in the garden.
While they were trying to find and bring back the bodies, sometimes they had to hide because they were warned about rockets being launched by Hamas.
Gaza’s only power station will run out of fuel today, according to the Palestinian Energy Authority.
This week, Israel said they would surround Gaza to stop electricity, fuel, and water from getting in.
People in Gaza are going to schools and hospitals to protect themselves while Israeli planes are attacking certain places. The Israeli military has many soldiers near Gaza, who are prepared and waiting to carry out the task they have been assigned.
Over 1,200 people have died in Israel, with more than 900 people killed in Gaza due to Israeli air strikes.
Inanotherpart of the country, Israel has started a fightwithLebanonbecauseHezbollah attacked themfirst. The BBC has found out that 17 people from the UK have eitherdied or cannotbefound since Hamas startedtheir attacks on Saturday.
We saw dead bodies of Hamas fighters still on the ground – not removed like the Israeli victims – left to decay.
Additionally,We saw an Israeli person stop his truck to grab a rock and throw it at the body of a dead Hamas fighter. People on both sides of the border became very angry.
Israel’s soldiers, who are prepared and have been trained well, are working hard to get rid of the remaining terrorists that attacked. But at the same time, Hamas is constantly shooting many rockets across the border, both during the day and throughout the night.
Israel’s advanced air defences, known as the Iron Dome, have been working very hard. It cannot stop all the rockets fired from Gaza.
The cleanup in Gaza sometimes seems like a big military operation – with Israeli jets flying overhead and hitting many places inside Gaza.
But Israel is definitely making plans for a lot more. There are a lot of tanks, troops, and armored vehicles getting closer to Gaza’s border. It seems like getting ready for a big military action in Gaza.
Four hostages and the Hamas militants holding them were killed in airstrikes by Israel overnight and this morning in Gaza, according to a militant group spokesman.
Although the precise number of those seized in Israel and taken hostage by Hamas is unknown, the Israeli military confirmed this morning that there were “dozens” of them.
A mom is asking for help finding her daughter, who she thinks was taken away by Palestinian fighters at a festival close to the Gaza Strip.
Shani Louk, a tourist from Germany, was at a peace festival when Hamas fighters suddenly attacked the area.
Her mom said she watched a video of Shani being “asleep in a car” after she was taken away.
Hamas has taken some Israeli people as hostages, including civilians and soldiers, according to the Israeli military.
However, the BBC has not confirmed if Shani was the person held captive in the car.
Shani’s mother showed a picture of her daughter on her phone and said in a video that Shani was taken by Palestinian Hamas along with a group of tourists in southern Israel.
She told us that they sent us a video showing our daughter unconscious in a car with Palestinians, driving around the Gaza Strip.
Can you please send us any assistance or information. Thank you a lot.
More individuals at the festival have gone missing, including a British citizen named Jake Marlowe. However, the Israeli embassy in the UK told the BBC that they are uncertain if Jake Marlowe has been kidnapped.
His mother said to Jewish News that he was working as a security worker at a festival in Kibbutz Re’im, a community in the city of Ofakim, which is close to Gaza.
Videos on social media showed an Israeli woman named Noa Argamani being taken by force and held on a motorcycle by two men.
Gili Yoskovich, who was also there, said to the BBC that she hid under a tree in a field while some people with guns were going around shooting anyone they could see.
Fighting is still happening after Israel was unexpectedly attacked by Hamas this weekend.
The Palestinian fighters fired many rockets at Israel and attacked their fighters on Saturday morning. This caused many people to die and get injured.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, many people have died as a result of Israeli air strikes.
Israeli security forces are currently working to save people who have been captured by Palestinian militants from Gaza. They are also trying to regain control of places that were taken by the militants on Saturday.
The army said soldiers made sure that 22 places in southern Israel were safe, but they are still checking 8 more areas.
A lot of gunmen from Hamas launched a sudden attack on Israel while rockets were being fired. It is said that this attack has caused the deaths of at least 300 people in Israel.
Over 310 people in Gaza have died from Israeli attacks as an act of revenge.
Many people have gotten hurt on both sides, with many being very hurt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the people of Israel on Saturday night that they were about to enter a lengthy and challenging war. He also told Hamas, who is in charge of Gaza, that their hiding places will be destroyed completely.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh stated that they were very close to achieving a big win.
The worst day of violence in Israel in 50 years started early on Saturday, which was a special day for Jewish people called the Sabbath and Simchat Torah festival.
Gunmen used motorbikes, paragliders, and boats to cross the fence separating Gaza and southern Israel.
According to a spokesperson from the Israel Defense Forces, there were many militants involved, and they fired over 3,000 rockets towards different cities and towns in Israel throughout the day.
“They went to many Israeli towns and military bases and searched every house one by one,” said Lt Col Jonathan Conricus during a discussion on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Saturday night.
“They killed Israeli civilians in a cruel and heartless way inside their homes and then took additional Israeli civilians and military people to Gaza. ” “I want to discuss the group of people that include women, children, elderly individuals, and disabled individuals. ” The health ministry of Israel has not yet said how many people died, but Israeli media says that around 300 people have been killed. Over 1,860 other people have gotten hurt.
Yesterday, Israeli security forces saved a lot of people who were being held hostage. Almost 50 of them were trapped in the dining area of a small town.
At least 10 terrorists who had seized control of the police station in the town of Sderot were killed.
On Sunday morning, the IDF informed journalists that there were still eight areas where security forces were searching each house to ensure that they were free from terrorism.
This text could be rewritten as: They include Sderot and the kibbutz of Kfar Aza, where the IDF said soldiers were working to rescue more hostages.
The IDF said that over 400 gunmen were killed and many were arrested during the fighting in Israel.
The text is saying that all people who live near the Gaza border will be asked to leave their homes within 24 hours.
Worries are increasing for a large group of Israeli soldiers and civilians, including women and children, who Lieutenant Colonel Conricus mentioned are currently being held in Gaza.
Family members of the individuals who are missing have been requested to give their personal belongings to the local police stations. This is being done in order to collect DNA samples.
Recently, a man named Moshe Or saw a video on social media where his brother Avinatan and his girlfriend Noa Argamani were being taken by militants into Gaza. Moshe Or told this to Israeli media on Saturday.
“I watched a video where Noa appeared scared and frightened,” he explained. I can’t understand what she is thinking right now. She is very scared and screaming while riding a motorcycle. Some bad people are holding onto her and not allowing her to escape.
Mr Netanyahu told Hamas that Israel blamed them for the safety of the hostages and would take strong action against anyone who hurt them even a little bit.
He also said that the Israeli army would quickly and effectively destroy Hamas’s abilities. He advised people in Gaza to leave their houses and find a safe place to stay. The IDF said that by Sunday morning, they had attacked 426 places that belonged to Hamas. One of the places they attacked was a building owned by the head of Hamas’ intelligence department.
The tall Watan Tower in Gaza City, which housed many of the area’s internet companies, was also destroyed during the night.
Officials from the Palestinian health ministry have reported that in Gaza, 313 people have been killed, including 20 children, and 1,990 others have been injured. The BBC’s Rushdi Abu Alouf in Gaza City says that the mood has completely shifted since Saturday morning, when many Palestinians were happily celebrating on the streets. People are hiding inside buildings because there are explosions going off and smoke going up in the air.
Israel’s security cabinet has stopped providing Gaza with electricity, fuel, and goods.
On Sunday, the IDF announced that they had attacked targets in southern Lebanon and used a drone to strike “terrorist infrastructure” in response to an attack from the Hezbollah movement. The attack happened in the disputed Shebaa Farms/Mount Dov area. Nobody got hurt or injured.
Hezbollah fired rockets and shells at three Israeli positions because they supported the Palestinian resistance. This was done even though Israel and the US warned them not to, as it could lead to a big war in the region.
The Israeli military went into a refugee camp in the northern part of the West Bank to destroy a place where militant leaders were giving orders.
Bombs exploded and militants threw explosives at Israeli forces near Nour Shams camp, located about two miles east of Tulkarem.
The military found dozens of dangerous things used for making bombs.
The statement said that during the activity, the suspects shot guns and threw bombs at the forces. The forces defended themselves by shooting back with real bullets.
During a six-hour operation before dawn, two Palestinians were shot in the head and killed by live bullets fired by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Palestinian health officials have named the two people who were killed as Osaid Abu Ali, aged 22, and Abd al-Rahman Abu Daghash, aged 32.
According to Reuters, they included a Hamas fighter who is associated with their armed group.
The Israeli army said a soldier was injured by pieces of a bullet.
The roads got really messed up when engineering vehicles were searching for explosives. They dug around and there was metal roofing and building rubble all over the place.
Around 13,500 Palestinian refugees are listed in the camp, says the UN. The camp is known for having many problems, such as a lack of jobs, too many people, and no proper sewage system.
Tensions have increased in the northern West Bank, causing more violence. Many people see this region as a test for Israel’s plan to remove itself from the occupied territory. But Palestine says that Israel’s recent attacks are making their 56-year control of the West Bank even stronger, slowly weakening the Palestinian Authority government and not really stopping the fighting.
At least 190 Palestinians have died in the West Bank this year, as reported by The Associated Press.
Medical Aid for Palestinians, a non-profit organization in London, states that this year has been the most tragic for Palestinians in the region since the UN started keeping track in 2005.
Israel says that a lot of the people who were killed were fighters, and that 31 people were killed in Palestinian attacks on its soldiers this year.
A Palestinian driver crashed his truck into soldiers at a busy checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, killing one soldier before being shot and killed by Israeli authorities. This incident is part of ongoing violence in the region.
The violence happened the day after Israeli police shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who had stabbed a man at a train station in Jerusalem. Additionally, Palestinian militants set off a bomb near a group of Israeli soldiers who were protecting Jewish worshippers going to a sacred place in the West Bank, injuring four soldiers.
The unrest is a part of a wave of violence that has been happening for more than a year in the West Bank. It is the highest level of violence seen in this area in around twenty years.
According to Israeli officials, the person driving the car, who is a 41-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank, was going east towards the crossing when he saw the soldiers close to a bagel stand. He turned his vehicle around and crashed into the soldiers, who were wearing their official clothing.
An official from the Israeli military said that the driver had permission to work legally in Israel. He used a car with an Israeli license plate that he did not own to carry out the ramming. The person who spoke cannot be named because of military rules.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that during the attack, one Israeli person died, and later it was confirmed that the person was a soldier in the military. The military said that three more soldiers got hurt. The military officer said that a Palestinian citizen of Israel who sells bagels was also hurt.
A video on social media showed a white truck being approached by security guards at the second checkpoint while shots were being fired. Palestinian media says the driver’s name is Tahaer Daras and he lives in Deir Ammar close to the city of Ramallah in the West Bank.
The place where the truck crashed into the soldiers is located on a big road that goes from central Israel to the West Bank and Jerusalem, and is close to the city of Modiin in Israel. The checkpoint is usually filled with people going to work and guards or soldiers.
Attacks by Palestinians against Israelis have increased as Israel has stepped up its arrests in the West Bank since last year. Over 30 people have died in Palestinian attacks on Israelis since the beginning of 2023.
These frequent raids that happen almost every night have made tensions rise in the area and have caused some of the worst fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank since the last rebellion by the Palestinians in the early 2000s.
More than 180 Palestinians have died in the fighting, and almost half of them were part of militant groups, says an Associated Press count. Israel claims that the majority of those who were killed were militants, but there were also young people throwing stones to protest the invasions, as well as innocent people who were not involved but still died.
Israel says that the raids are being done to break apart groups of fighters who use violence, and to stop them from being able to plan and carry out more attacks in the future. Palestinians believe that these raids make their security forces weaker, encourage more violence, and strengthens Israel’s hold on the territories they want for their own state in the future.
Israel took control of the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip during the war in the Middle East in 1967.
An Iranian weightlifter has been punished by Iran’s weightlifting federation for talking to and shaking hands with an Israeli participant at the World Masters Championship. The punishment is a lifetime ban.
Mostafa Rajai came in second place and had his picture taken on a raised platform next to the Israeli athlete who won third place.
Iran’s highest weightlifting organization has prohibited him from using any sports facilities in the country forever.
The government of Iran does not allow their athletes to compete directly against athletes from Israel.
So, Iranian athletes sometimes use different ways like losing on purpose or pretending to be hurt to not have to play matches.
Rajai, who is 40 years old, was wearing his country’s flag and standing next to Maksim Svirsky from Israel on Saturday.
The two people were at a competition for weightlifters who were not professional. The competition was held in Wieliczka, Poland and featured athletes who were considered legendary in the sport of weightlifting.
Rajai was part of the Iranian national team in weightlifting. He also competed for Iran in the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Thailand in 2015.
State news agency Irna said he did something that was against the rules of the Islamic Republic.
The weightlifting federation in Iran fired the leader of their team, Hamid Salehinia, because of what happened at the contest.
Iran’s highest religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has encouraged athletes to avoid shaking hands with Israeli competitors in order to win a medal in 2021.
Some Iranians have left their country due to the ban and not wanting to tolerate the limitation.
Chess prodigy Alireza Firouzja had to leave his country because he was not allowed to participate in the 2019 world championship due to worries that he would have to compete against an Israeli player.
On social media, there is another video that appears to show bright flashes in the sky near Damascus.
In Syria, where Iran’s influence has risen in recent years, Israel’s military rarely confirms precise strikes on targets.
Israel and Iran are sworn enemies who have been fighting a “shadow war” of covert assaults on each other’s assets, infrastructure, and citizens in recent years.
Following the alleged murder of a Palestinian man in the West Bank, two Israelis have been detained and are being questioned, along with five other people, according to a statement from the Israel Police on Saturday.
Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are rarely detained. Even if they are arrested, they are nearly never charged.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported late Friday that an Israeli settler had shot and killed a Palestinian man in the village of Burqa, which is located close to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
It is the second time this year that the Ministry has claimed that settlers had killed a Palestinian villager, despite the fact that both Palestinian officials and international observers frequently record settler violence against Palestinians.
According to the ministry, Israeli settlers attacked Qusai Jamal Maatan’s hamlet and shot him in the neck, killing him instantly. He was 19 years old. According to the ministry, two further people were hurt.
Maatan was laid to rest early on Saturday.
In a statement, the IDF stated that they responded in response to reports of “violent clashes between Israeli civilians and Palestinians,” and that “it was reported that during the clashes, Israeli civilians shot towards the Palestinians and as a result, there was a Palestinian casualty.”
The IDF also stated that rocks were allegedly thrown at Israeli civilians, injuring them.
The Shomron (Samaria) Council, which speaks for settlers in the northern West Bank and ordinarily avoids making statements on Shabbat, made no immediate comments.
An Israeli shepherd was being harassed by Palestinian villagers when the settler who shot the Palestinian opened fire, according to a legal assistance organisation that represents settlers.
The shepherd from Oz Zion, a settler outpost, was intimidated by Palestinians from Burqa, which is against both Israeli and international law, according to Honenu, the legal organisation.
Several Palestinians attacked the Israelis with clubs, fireworks, and rocks after the shepherd appealed for additional settlers “to prevent deterioration,” according to Honenu.
According to Honenu, one of the settlers was struck in the head “at point blank range and was seriously injured,” but he was able to defend himself using a licenced rifle he was carrying.
According to Honenu, the man has been placed under arrest and is currently recovering in intensive care at the Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem.
According to Honenu, the second detained Israeli settler assisted in getting him to the hospital.
“My client acted according to the law, and as is required of any licenced firearm holder – to protect his life and the lives of other civilians,” Honenu attorney Nati Rom said.
According to a statement issued by the Israeli military, both Israelis and Palestinians threw stones during the altercation in the West Bank. While Israel Police and the Shin Bet security agency (ISA) continue their investigations, the army has declared the region a closed military zone.
The incident was classified as a “terrorist attack” by the US State Department.
We strongly condemn yesterday’s terrorist act by Israeli extreme settlers that killed a 19-year-old Palestinian, it was stated in a message posted on Twitter, now known as X.
“The US expresses its sincere condolences to his family and friends. We observe that Israeli authorities have detained several people and demand complete responsibility and justice.
Attacks carried out by what they termed to as “organised and armed terrorist settler militias” against unarmed Palestinian civilians of Burqa were harshly denounced by the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.
The ministry expressed worry about the absence of effective retaliation for settler attacks on Palestinian communities, claiming that these occurrences have given settlers more motivation to commit more crimes. The ministry charged incitement against Israeli government ministers and their supporters.
Two of the parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government are largely backed by settlers, Israelis who live in the West Bank to strengthen their nation’s control over the Palestinian region. International law considers settlements to be unlawful. Israeli claims that the West Bank is “disputed,” not “occupied,” and refutes the assertion that the settlements are unconstitutional.
With roughly 600 such events reported during the first half of the year, the United Nations issued a warning last month about a sharp increase in attacks by West Bank settlers against Palestinians and their property.
According to the UN humanitarian organisation OCHA, 591 settler-related incidents that caused Palestinian fatalities, property damage, or both throughout the area during the first half of 2023 were documented.
Israeli reservists, the backbone of the Israeli military, are threatening to skip work as the country descends into turmoil following the passage of the first bill of a contentious judicial overhaul by the country’s parliament. Furthermore, the Israeli government is raising the alarm over its readiness for war.
Due to a new rule that went into effect on Wednesday, the court no longer has the authority to overturn government decisions if it deems them to be “unreasonable.” Polls indicated that millions of people were opposed to the proposal, which opponents claimed would weaken the independence of the judiciary and destroy Israel’s democracy.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s chief spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday that the IDF is competent at the moment but conceded that the readiness of the nation’s armed forces could be impacted.
“The army’s capability will suffer if reservists don’t show up for a while. According to the presence of the reservists, the process would change gradually, he said.
The military has begged for reservists to stay in their positions because analysts think the scope of the threat is unprecedented.
In response to reservists who skipped out on duty on Tuesday, IDF Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi remarked, “The IDF needs you. Only together will we protect our common home.”
Before the contentious “reasonableness” bill was passed on Monday, about 10,000 military reservists declared that they would not sign up for duty under its terms. Additionally, more people are refusing, according to Hagari.
Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin spoke over the phone, and Austin reaffirmed the US’ commitment to Israel’s security. But he added that maintaining democracy required “wide consensus through political dialogue.”
Israel is at a historical “inflection point,” according to Chuck Freilich, a senior researcher at The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv who spent more than 20 years working in Israel’s national security establishment, where “extreme measures may have to be taken to endure Israel’s fundamental character of democracy.”
Freilich remarked of reservists who refused, “On the one hand, it is admirable.” However, he added, “it is a horrible thing for the IDF.” He continued that it was astonishing that one of the best militaries in the world “is threatening to come apart at the seams over domestic changes.”
After the vote was approved on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the IDF to “stay out of any political controversy,” claiming that “the call for refusal harms the security of all citizens of the country.”
Israel, a nation that started fighting wars soon after its formation in 1948, has been involved in seven wars and numerous other smaller conflicts with its neighbours.
An institution that is strongly ingrained in many Israelis’ sense of identity and nationhood is the requirement that every Jewish, Druze, or Circassian Israeli over the age of 18 serve in the military. Among others, those who are ultra-Orthodox Jews and Palestinian Israeli citizens are excused from swerving.
IDF reservists and veterans’ protest group Brothers and Sisters in Arms leader Yiftach Golov stated that “by definition, the reservists are the backbone of the IDF.”
According to Golov, “They comprise the majority, the bigger fraction of the IDF,” and they are stronger not just because of their sheer numbers but also because of their greater skill.
The nation’s reserve army, which has over 400,000 soldiers and is available for call-up at any time, is an option for soldiers once they have completed their mandatory service. Israelis may stay in the reserve well into their forties or even beyond.
More than 1,000 reserve members of the Israeli Air Force, which Golov refers to as one of the military’s “main, major forces,” defining its aerial capabilities, are among those threatening to leave. One-third of the IDF’s personnel are in the Israeli Air Force.
One reservist, who has been volunteering for 23 years, told CNN at a demonstration in Jerusalem on Tuesday, “We feel like we are doing the right thing and that we are fighting for the democracy of Israel.”
An further reserve member urged the administration to “stop the madness, stop the destruction of the army.”
Freilich noted that despite a little decline in influence over time, the military continues to play a significant role in Israeli culture and that more than half of Israelis today had served in the IDF. Military duty is a rite of passage for many Israelis.
According to Freilich, reservists are likely to report for service if there is a genuine threat to national security, but their protest still hurts the IDF.
“This isn’t a refusal to serve,” he declared. These are individuals who are fully devoted to Israel’s defence; if a security emergency arises tomorrow, they will all immediately report for service.
“What they’re saying is that this crisis is so important that there is a higher morality they have to report to,” he continued.
In addition to rising border tensions, Israel is currently experiencing an internal crisis.
Formally, the nation is still at war with a number of its neighbours, including Syria and Lebanon. Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, as well as Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, frequently engage in violent clashes.
When Israel and extremists in southern Lebanon exchanged a barrage of rockets in April, tensions along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon increased after years of peace. It was the worst escalation between the two sides since 2006. Israel attributed the rocket attacks to Hamas.
Some of Israel’s adversaries have been paying close attention to the turmoil.
Israel is “on a path of collapse, fragmentation, and disappearance,” according to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech broadcast on television on Monday, according to Reuters.
According to some of its citizens, today in particular is the worst day in Israel’s history.
Netanyahu and others have cautioned against skipping military duty, but Golov of Brothers and Sisters in Arms claims that the prime minister is using this as part of a “divide and conquer” strategy.
When the patriots turn traitors, the government will attempt to instill a sense of “an opposite world,” according to Golov.
According to Freilich, Nasrallah, Iran, Gaza, and the West Bank would take “a lot of pleasure in potentially witnessing Israel tear itself apart.”
“However, the demonstrators are not the issue. The administration and the prime minister are to blame for this, he claimed. “He (Netanyahu) is prepared to pay any cost to advance this.”
Golov interprets the threat of reservists abstaining from duty as a portent of far greater things.
Golov declared, “This is just the beginning.” But you’ll see that this movement is now affecting a large portion of the ground brigades, generally known as the army.
At least nine people were killed and about 100 others were injured as Israeli forces launched what a military source described as their greatest military operation in more than 20 years in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to Palestinian sources.
The continuing “extensive counterterrorism effort in the area of the city of Jenin and the Jenin Camp,” according to a statement from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), was initiated with the aim of attacking “terrorist infrastructure.”
Around ten drone airstrikes were conducted by the IDF, while hundreds of soldiers went for what they claimed to be a militant “command and control” centre as well as manufacturing facilities for explosives and weapons.
Videos obtained by CNN from Jenin show Israeli bulldozers tearing up streets to disarm potential explosives, as well as Israeli tanks outside the city limits.
Residents told CNN there were explosions and heavy gunfire in the area, while video from the scene showed wounded Palestinians being evacuated by ambulance to Jenin Government Hospital.
Hundreds of Palestinian families fled the area amid the destruction; Jenin deputy mayor Mohammed Jarrar said homes and infrastructure had been destroyed, cutting off electricity and water in the refugee camp.
Duha Turkman, a 16-year-old Jenin resident, said they were given two hours to evacuate.
“We ran out with people from the camp, so many children walked with their parents while terrified and crying, they didn’t understand what was happening to them and why,”she told CNN.“Many were missing; families were looking for members that they couldn’t get in contact with due to the electricity cut.”
Five of those killed in the attack were teenagers, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. A tenth Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces near Ramallah in the West Bank in a separate incident, according to the health authorities.
IDF chief spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari earlier told reporters “eight terrorists” were killed in Jenin and there are “no non-combatants that have died as far as we know.”
Hagari acknowledged that civilians were among the injured, but insisted the operation only meant to target “terrorists.” “It’s not an invasion on Jenin, it’s not against the Palestinian Authority. It’s not against innocent, innocent Palestinians. It’s against terrorists in this camp,” he said.
The raid sparked immediate condemnation. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the large-scale Israeli military operation “a new war crime.”
“Security and stability will not be achieved in the region unless our Palestinian people feel it. What the Israeli occupation government is doing in the city of Jenin and its camp is a new war crime against our defenseless people,” he said, according to presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.
Egypt also condemned the Israeli incursion, calling it an act of “aggression.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military acted “against terrorist strongholds in Jenin.”
“In recent months, Jenin has become a safe haven for terrorists from that safe haven. Terrorists perpetrated savage attacks, murdering Israeli civilians, men, women, and children, as many children as they could find,” Netanyahu said at a US embassy event in Jerusalem on Monday evening.
“As I speak, our troops are battling the terrorists with unyielding resolve and fortitude while doing everything, everything to avoid civilian casualties.”
Jenin resident Lina Amouri, 35, said her family hid from the gunfire until they heard mosques announcing the evacuation.
“We were all hiding in one apartment that didn’t have windows so we don’t risk anyone getting hit by a bullet. Three women and six children aged 1 to 9, since 5 a.m., with no electricity or internet connection. It was a horrifying day,” she said.
“The children were crying all day and we didn’t know how to calm them down, the only thing we could do is to pray together while we hear explosions and bulldozers outside.”
Amouri also compared the scene to a natural disaster.
“When we first went out to see what’s happening it was a totally different place, all streets were plowed, water and sewage pipes were broken, electricity poles were down, cars were piled one on the other. It felt like a storm with earthquake have just passed by.”
Turkman, the teenage resident, told CNN that before evacuating, her family’s home was taken over by Israeli forces as the operation got underway, leaving the apartment “upside down.”
“They invaded our house in the early morning, they locked us all in one room, five women and two children in one room, and in another room, they locked five men – my father, brothers and uncles,” she said.
“They took the house as snipers’ position to attack the camp, meanwhile we couldn’t use a toilet, get to the kitchen or do anything but sit in the room and listen to the explosions outside.”
CNN cannot independently verify the accounts of these two eyewitnesses.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland has said he was in direct contact with all relevant parties to urgently de-escalate the situation in Jenin and ensure humanitarian access.
“The operation comes after months of growing tension that once again reminds us of the extremely volatile & unpredictable situation across the occupied West Bank. All must ensure the civilian population is protected,” Wennesland said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said crews were prevented from operating within the camp, according to the director of the Palestinian Red Crescent society in Jenin, Mahmoud al-Saadi.
“The ambulance crews managed to evacuate a number of the injured they were able to access. The paramedic crews were brought from other governorates to provide help,” al-Saadi said.
The international medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also accused Israeli forces of impeding access to medical care in Jenin.
“MSF staff have been treating patients since 2 a.m. local time at Khalil Suleiman hospital, where several gas canisters landed in the courtyard during the attack. So far, staff have received 55 wounded patients, including people with gunshot wounds to their heads and some who were hit with tear gas canisters,” MSF said.
The military operation has not only caused casualties but also disrupted health structures, impeding the medical response, according to the MSF statement.
“We’ve been working for 15 hours and patients keep coming in,” said Jovana Arsenijevic, MSF operations coordinator in Jenin. “This is an unprecedentedly long military operation, and yet there are still victims that cannot be reached.”
“Raids on Jenin camp have started to follow a familiar pattern. For example, ambulances have been rammed by armored cars, and patients and health care staff have routinely been denied entry and exit in the camp,” Arsenijevic also said.
The IDF refuted claims that ambulance crews faced obstacles, with Hagari saying cars were denied movement within the camp, but that ambulances “have a free pass.”
The director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the West Bank, Adam Bouloukos, said the Israeli operation and the response of “armed actors” in Jenin has “tragic consequences” for Palestinian refugees.
“Humanitarian access is most urgent now,” Bouloukos said on Twitter.
The White House is also “closely” monitoring the situation in Israel, a National Security Council spokesperson told CNN.
The spokesperson added broadly, “We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups.”
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters Monday one of the goals of the operation was to break the “safe haven” mentality within the Jenin camp for militants, according to Hecht, who described it as a “hornet’s nest.”
“We’re not trying to hold the ground. We’re acting against specific targets,” Hecht said.
The first round of airstrikes were launched at 1:14 a.m. local time and were followed by IDF ground forces, Hecht said.
Some 50 shooting attacks against Israelis have emanated from Jenin, he said.
Hecht also said the Palestinian Authority and Jordan had been informed about the incursion in advance, but didn’t elaborate further.
Though the IDF spokesman declined to comment on the number of forces involved, he said it is around a brigade, which is approximately equivalent to at least 500 soldiers.
A spokesman said later an Israeli soldier was “slightly injured” by shrapnel from a grenade used during the incursion, and that they had been taken to a hospital for medical treatment.
The IDF said it struck a joint operational command center for the Jenin Camp and operatives of the Jenin Brigade, a Palestinian militant group associated with Islamic Jihad.
“The operational command center also served as an advanced observation and reconnaissance center, a place where armed terrorists would gather before and after terrorist activities,” the IDF said, adding that the camp was a “site for weapons and explosives” and “hub for coordination and communication among the terrorists.”
“Additionally, the command center provided shelter for wanted individuals involved in carrying out terror attacks in recent months in the area,” it said.
The IDF later said its forces targeted a weapons production and explosive device storage facility and confiscated an “improvised rocket launcher” and additional weapons during the operations, which were carried out in coordination with the Israel Securities Authority (ISA).
Later on Monday, an IDF aircraft struck near a mosque “to remove a threat” while soldiers engaged in a firefight with militants according to the IDF, without elaborating on the character of the “threat.” The IDF later said tunnels and weapons were found under the mosque.
Military bulldozers tore up streets in the camp, which the IDF said was to disarm potential explosive devices buried under the roads.
In response to Monday’s attacks, Hamas called on militants in the West Bank and Jerusalem to strike Israel “by all available means,” a statement by its military wing said.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it will “perform its duty” in stopping the “massacre” in Jenin.
Monday afternoon, Israeli police reported a Palestinian teenager stabbed an Israeli man in Bnei Brak, outside of Tel Aviv. Israeli police said the teen claimed “he stabbed the person in response to the events in Jenin.” The Israeli man was injured and moved to hospital.
The Jenin Brigade claimed it had severely damaged at least one Israeli military vehicle with improvised explosive devices and its militants continue to clash with Israeli forces “to prevent its advance inside the camp.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it will face its enemy “with all possible retaliation options,” in response to the Israeli operations in Jenin.
“The aggression on Jenin will not achieve its targets, Jenin will not surrender. We will face the enemy with all possible retaliation options in response to the enemy aggression on Jenin,” the militant group posted to its official Telegram channel.
As night fell, more than 500 Palestinian families began leaving the refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, out of fear of what the ensuing hours would bring.
Hagari told reporters the operation will end within the “next day or two.”
“It won’t be the last time we act,” he warned. “We act when we have intelligence. We act against terror before it happens, or we act after terror activities in order to reach the terrorists.”
A unusual border crossing event resulted in the deaths of three Israeli troops and an Egyptian policeman.
Details of the occurrence, which was the first of its sort in almost ten years, are still up for debate.
On Saturday, an Egyptian policeman allegedly crossed the border into Israel in search of narcotics smugglers. Egypt reports that after engaging the Israelis in a gunfight, both of them were murdered.
However, the Israel Defence Forces gave a different account of what happened. According to them, an Israeli border guard and an Egyptian policeman were killed in a firefight that started after the policeman had shot two Israeli border guards.
On Saturday, the IDF’s international spokesperson described the event as the first of its kind in at least a decade — since an Islamic State gunman crossed from Sinai into Egypt and killed a police officer and members of a family.
The first two IDF soldiers killed were discovered dead by their lieutenant when they did not answer their radio, according to the spokesman.
They had been on a 12-hour guard duty shift since 9pm on Friday night and were found dead some time after 6am on Saturday morning, he told reporters.
The gunman who was later killed by the IDF did not have a sniper rifle, so the soldiers who were killed in the guard post were probably shot at close range, the spokesman said.
Israel has named the three soldiers killed as Staff Sgt. Ohad Danan, 20, who was killed in the gun battle; and Staff Sgt. Ori Izhad Iluz and Sgt. Lia Ben nun, 19, who were killed in their guard post.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Israel was investigating the incident in conjunction with the Egyptian armed forces.
He did not directly address the Egyptian contention that the Egyptian policeman had entered Israel in pursuit of drug smugglers and that the three IDF troops were killed in a gunfight resulting from chasing the drug smugglers.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Twitter that Israeli and Egyptian defense ministers have agreed to work together to prevent attacks along their shared border following the incident.
“I spoke this evening with my Egyptian counterpart, Minister Mohamed Zaki. I emphasized the importance of our cooperation in the investigation of the severe attack in which three IDF troops were killed. We agreed to work together to prevent terrorism along our border and to further strengthen defense ties between our countries,” Gallant tweeted.
The Egyptian military said Zaki called Gallant “to discuss the circumstances” of Saturday’s accident and “to offer condolences to the victims of the accident from both sides.”
During their phone call, the ministers also discussed their intention to “jointly coordinate to take the necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such events in the future,” the Egyptian military said via Twitter.
Egypt and Israel have officially been at peace since 1979, when Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel.
After a tourist boat sank on Sunday night in northern Italy‘s Lake Maggiore, four people’s bodies have been found there, according to the country’s fire department.
The last body was found around 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), and as of today, search and rescue efforts have been completed, according to a tweet from the fire department Vigili del Fuoco.
Two Italian citizens, one Israeli citizen, and one Russian citizen were among the victims, according to a report from CNN affiliate Sky Tg24, which cited the district attorney. It was two males and two women that died.
The 16-meter (52-foot) houseboat had been carrying 24 people when it encountered difficulty during a “violent storm” and capsized shortly after 7:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. ET) on Sunday, Sky Tg24 reported.
There were 22 tourists on board, including British passengers, and two crew members, according to Sky Tg24.
Twenty people were rescued after the boat capsized, the fire and rescue service said.
Some of the 20 survivors reportedly managed to swim to the shore, according to Sky Tg24, adding that, although five were taken to the hospital, no survivors had sustained any serious injuries.
Divers and a helicopter were used as part of the search and rescue operation, according to the fire and rescue service.
Among those killed was the skipper of the boat’s girlfriend, while one of the bodies was found within the wreckage of the boat, roughly 15 meters (49 feet) below water, Sky Tg24 added.
An operation is now underway to recover the sunken boat.
A UK Foreign Commonwealth Development Office spokesperson told CNN, “we are in contact with local authorities in Italy after a boat accident and are ready to provide consular assistance to any British nationals involved.”
Lake Maggiore is a popular destination for tourists and is shared by Italy and Switzerland.
Passengers had been celebrating a birthday party when the boat, traveling between the Italian towns of Lisanza and Dormelletto, capsized, according to Sky Tg24.
13 Palestinians were murdered, including three Islamic Jihad commanders and numerous family members, after Israeli jets and helicopters attacked numerous targets in Gaza overnight as part of what Israel claimed as an operation against “kingpin terrorists.”
Three of its commanders, together with their wives and kids, were acknowledged by the Palestinian terrorist group to have died in the operation.
According to the group, the al Quds Brigades commanders who were killed included Tariq Muhammad Ezzedine, one of the leaders of the military wing of the al Quds Brigades in the West Bank, Khalil Salah al Bahtini, commander of the northern region, and Jihad Shaker Al-Ghannam, secretary of the military council.
It later vowed a “response” to Israeli airstrikes, calling the attacks an “aggressive, heinous massacre.”
Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement that runs Gaza, issued a similar statement, promising a “firm response from the unified resistance forces, whose unity is manifested in its greatest form in the field.”
The Al Shifa hospital in Gaza said those killed were members of four families plus one other individual.
The dead included five women and four children, a list of the dead released by the Al-Shifa Medical Complex showed.
One of the Palestinian men killed in Israeli airstrikes was a prominent dentist, Jamal Khaswan, who died along with his wife and son, the Ministry of Health added. Khaswan was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Wafa Hospital, the ministry said, praising him as a scientific and practical man of great determination.
He held Russian citizenship, according to the Russian Representative Office in Ramallah. The Russian Mission said Khaswan and his wife left behind two orphaned children who are also Russian citizens.
The Ministry of Health added that 20 people had been injured, including three children and seven women.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it launched pre-dawn airstrikes on Gaza, saying it was a “response to incessant aggression on the part of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.”
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht called the targets “kingpin terrorists” and insisted that the military “did as much as we could to focus on them.”
But he also conceded the IDF was “aware of some collateral,” an apparent reference to the wives and children who were also killed alongside those being targeted.
“If there were some tragic deaths, we’ll look into it and get back to you,” he said in response to reporters’ questions.
Islamic Jihad said Ghannam, 62, was also commander-in-chief of the al Quds Brigades and has been wanted for over 20 years, having survived five previous assassination attempts.
He had worked in Yasser Arafat’s Fatah and the Popular Resistance Committees, secular Palestinian militant groups that predate the emergence of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the group said.
The IDF accused Ghannam of coordinating weapons and money transfers between Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the militant group which runs Gaza. It called him one of the most senior members of Islamic Jihad.
Calling the strikes “Operation Shield and Arrow,” the IDF said its fighter jets and helicopters hit 10 Islamic Jihad targets, including what it said were “rocket production workshops in Khan Yunis,” weapon manufacturing sites, military compounds, a concrete manufacturing site and a military post in southern Gaza.
Video from Gaza showed explosions lighting up the night sky and the rubble from buildings hit by the strikes.
The latest violence came almost a week after Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza exchanged fire following the death of a prominent Palestinian hunger striker in an Israeli prison.
Israel conducted strikes on what it said were targets belonging to Hamas as dozens of rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel on May 2.
It followed the death of Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan, an Islamic Jihad former spokesman who became a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli detention policies, in Israeli custody after 87 days of hunger strike.
IDF spokesman Hecht said planning for Tuesday’s operation began after the rocket fire from Gaza last week.
The strikes took place overnight Monday because of a convergence of intelligence information, weather and permissions, he said, adding some 40 IDF aircraft were involved in the operation. Hecht tweeted Tuesday morning just before 8 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) that the IDF had “stopped our strikes for now.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen cut short a three-day official visit to India in the wake of the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
He said he had received a security update immediately on landing in New Delhi on Tuesday, when he was due to travel to the city of Agra and then to the financial capital Mumbai on Wednesday, according to an itinerary published by India’s Ministry of External affairs.
Gaza is one of the most densely packed places in the world, an isolated coastal enclave of almost two million people crammed into 140 square miles.
Governed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the territory is largely cut off from the rest of the world by an Israeli blockade of Gaza’s land, air and sea dating back to 2007. Egypt controls Gaza’s southern border crossing, Rafah.
Israel has placed heavy restrictions on the freedom of civilian movement and controls the importation of basic goods into the narrow coastal strip. Hecht said he did not know if there would be more follow up strikes.
“We don’t know yet where we go. It’s still early,” he said. “We’re ready for as long as it takes. The big question is Hamas. What will they decide to do?”
Local settler leader Yossi Dagan described the Sunday shooting and deaths of two Israeli settlers in the West Bank as “an exceedingly dangerous terrorist attack.” Following the shooting, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in retaliation, resulting in at least one fatality and multiple injuries.
The Israelis were shot at Huwara, south of Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, just days after a huge Israeli military assault into Nablus resulted in the deaths of at least 11 Palestinians while looking for wanted militants.
The brothers Hillel Menachem Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaakov Yaniv, 19, were identified as the settlers killed on Sunday, according to the local settler council.
“We embrace the family and will be with them as much as necessary,” the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council said. They were from the settlement of Har Bracha, council leader Yossi Dagan said.
Video from the scene showed that their car had crossed a median, and hit a vehicle going the other direction, suggesting they were shot while driving.
The two Israeli men were taken to a hospital after the attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, but they later died, the Magen David Adom medical agency said. The IDF added that it was pursuing the attacker.
Another local settler leader said he was present when the two were shot.
“The shooting took place right behind me. It looked terrible – the shooting was from point blank range,” said Shai Alon, the head of Beit El council, adding that Israel needed to “go to war against those who wish us harm.”
Hours after the incident, Israelis killed at least one Palestinian man and injured several others with stones or iron bars in and around Huwara, Palestinian medics and the Ministry of Health said Sunday night.
Sameh Hamdallah Mahmoud Aqtash, 37, was shot in the abdomen and killed in the town of Za’tara, between Huwara and the Israeli settlement of Kfar Tapuach, the ministry said.
In Huwara itself, at least one person was stabbed and another assaulted with an iron bar, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. The emergency service also reported its ambulances were attacked, and said Israeli military forces had prevented three ambulances from entering the town.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said a person had been treated for a minor injury from a metal rod in the face, and another had been treated for a skull fracture from being hit in the head with a stone.
Two Palestinian firefighters said that about 50 settlers had stoned their fire engine, injuring them as they attempted to respond to a fire at a Palestinian house in Huwara, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. The Red Crescent also said it had dealt with nearly 100 cases of smoke inhalation.
Social media video which CNN geolocated to Huwara appeared to show several dozen Israeli settlers walking down a main street as at least three fires burned by the side of the road. Other photographs and videos circulating on social media appeared to show fires burning in the town.
The Palestinian Authority Presidency accused the settlers of carrying out “terrorist acts… under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces, in Hawara, Burin, Einabus and other areas, which resulted in the injury of more than 100 Palestinians and the burning of shops, homes, cars and other public property.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the settler-based Religious Zionism party, of being responsible for the violence.
Linking the events to deconfliction talks between Israel and the Palestinians in Jordan earlier in the day, Lapid tweeted: “Smotrich’s militias set out to burn Hawara in order to torpedo the summit in Aqaba of Netanyahu and [Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant. This government is dangerous to Israel’s security.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement asking Israelis not to engage in revenge attacks for the killing of Hillel and Yagel Yaniv earlier in the day.
“I ask – even when the blood is boiling – not to take the law into one’s hands. I ask that the IDF and the security forces be allowed to carry out their work. I remind you that in recent weeks, they have targeted dozens of terrorists and thwarted dozens of attacks,” Netanyahu said.
The IDF are sending reinforcements to the West Bank to “thwart terror attacks and prevent violent riots,” it said Sunday night.
The “riots” – an apparent reference to the settlers carrying out revenge attacks against Palestinians – “are being handled by the IDF, Israeli Fire and Rescue Services, Israeli Border Police and additional security forces,” the IDF said.
On Sunday night, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi visited the site where the Yaniv brothers were shot, the IDF said, and “ordered the area to be reinforced with additional forces to thwart terror attacks and prevent violent riots, while increasing and expanding the efforts to capture the terrorists.”
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack on the Israeli brothers, but Lion’s Den had vowed revenge after Wednesday’s raid in Nablus.
Six of those who died there were members of the Palestinian militant group, which emerged in the city last year.
“As big as the pain filling Nablus, the occupation will taste twice the pain,” the group said, referring to Israel. “They will know that the fighters of the honorable groups in Nablus will not take a step back.”
Dagan, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, called after Sunday’s killings for Israel to break off ongoing security talks between Israel and the Palestinians brokered by Jordan, Egypt and the United States, saying: “I demand that the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense and all the ministers return the delegation from the idle talks in Aqaba…. We need to launch an operation against terrorism!”
Following the rare talks on Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian representatives “affirmed their commitment to all previous agreements between them, and to work towards a just and lasting peace,” they said in a joint statement.
Jordanian, Egyptian, and US senior officials attended the summit in Aqaba following an invitation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The joint statement said both sides reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground and to prevent further violence.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority confirmed their “joint readiness and commitment to immediately work to end unilateral measures for a period of 3-6 months. This includes an Israeli commitment to stop discussion of any new settlement units for 4 months and to stop authorization of any outposts for 6 months,” the statement read.
The five parties agreed to convene again in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in March.
“Jordan, Egypt and the United States consider these understandings as major progress towards re-establishing and deepening relations between the two sides, and commit to assisting and facilitating as appropriate their implementation,” the statement said.
Nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman, have been killed in an Israeli military raid in the occupied West bank, Palestinian officials say.
The Palestinian health minister warned that the situation was “critical” in Jenin, with many other people injured and ambulances unable to reach them.
The children’s ward of a local hospital was hit by Israeli tear gas, she said.
Israel’s military released few details, but Israeli media said it had acted to foil “a major attack” by militants.
The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they were battling Israeli troops in the flashpoint town, where there have been repeated Israeli raids.
Tensions have recently risen in the West Bank as the Israeli military continues what it describes as an anti-terrorism offensive.
At least 29 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank so far this year, including militants and civilians.
Last year, more than 150 Palestinians were killed, nearly all by Israeli forces, while a series of Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis, as well as militant gunfire at troops during arrest raids, killed more than 30 people, including civilians, police and soldiers.
In the midst of various punitive measures by the new right-wing government, theIsraeli entrance permits for the Palestinian foreign minister and three Fatah officials have been revoked.
As part of a series of sanctions against the Palestinians that Israel’s new hardline government declared days ago, the Palestinian foreign minister claims that Israel has withdrawn his travel authorization.
According to a spokesperson for the Israeli defense ministry, the action is part of the implementation of a cabinet decision made on Friday to punish the Palestinians for pressuring the world body with the highest authority on justice to express its position on the Israeli occupation.
On Saturday, Israel said it had revoked entry permits for three senior officials fromPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party after they visited a Palestinian citizen of Israel recently released from prison.
Mahmud al-Alul, Azzam al-Ahmad and Rawhi Fattouh had visited Karim Younis in his home village of Ara in northern Israel following his release on Thursday after serving a 40-year sentence for killing an Israeli soldier.
“The three men took advantage of their status and entered Israel this morning [Saturday] to travel to the home of the terrorist Karim Younis,” the office of defence minister Yoav Galant said in a statement later on Saturday. Galant ordered their Israeli entry permits be revoked in response, it said.
The moves follow a decision on Friday by Israel’s security cabinet to withhold $39m in revenues from the Palestinian Authority and impose a moratorium on Palestinian construction projects in most of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that decision was in response to the UN General Assembly’s recent vote to refer Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory to the International Court of Justice at the PA’s request.
Israel’s Security Cabinet also said it would further deduct revenue it typically transfers to the cash-strapped PA – a sum equal to the amount the authority paid last year to families of Palestinian prisoners and those killed in the conflict, including those implicated in attacks against Israelis.
The Palestinian leadership describes the payments as necessary social welfare, while Israel says the so-called Martyrs’ Fund incentivises violence. Israel’s withholding of the funds threatens to exacerbate the PA’s fiscal woes.
“Israeli blackmailing of our tax revenues will not stop us from continuing our political and diplomatic struggle,” said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. He added that the Israeli measures will deepen the Palestinian financial crisis and budget shortfall.
Netanyahu took office late last month at the head of a coalition with far-right and Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties that is regarded as the most right-wing in Israeli history.
