Israeli attacks kill dozens in Gaza as more gunfire reported near US aid centre
"Forty-four people have been killed in Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip," civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir told AFP.
"Twenty-three people were killed, others injured and several (are) missing following an Israeli strike on the Qreinawi family's home east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza."
Mughayyir also reported "two people killed and several injured by Israeli forces' gunfire this morning near the American aid centre in the Morag axis, southern Gaza Strip."
When asked by AFP about the strike in Al-Bureij and the gunfire near the aid centre, the Israeli military said it was looking into them.
The centre, run by a US-backed organisation, is part of a new plan for distributing aid in Gaza that Israel says is meant to keep supplies out of the hands of Hamas, but which has drawn criticism from the United Nations and the European Union.
AFP footage from Al-Bureij showed Palestinians searching through the rubble of a destroyed building.
In a statement, the military said it had struck "dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip" over the past day.
"Among the targets struck were terrorists, military structures, observation and sniper posts that posed a threat to IDF troops in the area, tunnels and additional terrorist infrastructure sites," it added.
Earlier this month, Israel stepped up its offensive in Gaza, triggered by an attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of some 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of 251 hostages seized during the October 7 attack, 57 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Mediators continue to push for a ceasefire that remains elusive.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday at least 3,986 people had been killed in the territory since Israel ended a two-month ceasefire on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,249, mostly civilians.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
5 minutes ago
- LeMonde
93 Palestinians killed by Israeli army in Gaza while trying to collect aid, civil defense says
Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the war-torn Palestinian territory on Sunday, July 20, killing 93 people and wounding dozens more. Eighty were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north, while nine others were reported shot near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier. Four were killed near another aid site in Khan Yunis, also in the south, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP. The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire" near Gaza City, soon after it crossed from Israel and cleared checkpoints. Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat posed to them" as thousands gathered near Gaza City. Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centers. The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys. 'Sniper' fire In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater, 36, told AFP he had rushed to try to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd of thousands and "deadly overcrowding and pushing." "The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest," he added. "Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone." The WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as "completely unacceptable." Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. The army says it works to avoid harm to civilians, and that this month it issued new instructions to its troops on the ground "following lessons learned" from a spate of similar incidents. Israel on Sunday withdrew the residency permit of head of the OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall, who has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a post to X, accused him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza. The war was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
LeMonde
3 hours ago
- LeMonde
The day Silicon Valley's oligarchs kissed Trump's ring
The seating plan, orchestrated by Donald Trump, had been deliberately designed to place them directly beneath a painting of a historic surrender: that of the British General John Burgoyne in 1777 to George Washington, the future first president of the United States, to whom Trump sometimes compares himself. But did they even notice? At that moment, the tech industry's leading executives seemed preoccupied with the cameras filming them, lined up in neat rows as they awaited the start of the inauguration ceremony on January 20. The whole world witnessed the scene, without knowing what was happening backstage. And yet, all the protagonists were there, at the heart of the Capitol, a symbol of American democracy that Trump supporters had stormed on January 6, 2021, or hidden away in the back rooms of power. Here is the place to start to understand this new nomenklatura, which made its fortune in less than a quarter-century by embedding itself into our lives. Even before entering the rotunda, where the crème de la crème of the guests were set to attend the ceremony, the first attendees heard the thunderous commotion that often signals Jeff Bezos's arrival, flanked by his assistants, a makeup artist and bodyguards. Within the empire that his company, Amazon, has become, he is a ruthless and blunt leader. With a "low tolerance for stupidity," his executives say, as if to excuse him. On the outside, he is the opposite: friendly, jovial, attentive to others and extremely flexible in his politics. In short, a good-natured person. Not long ago, the billionaire who transformed online retail – and, often, the labor market – with his all-encompassing delivery services, was still seen as a staunch Democrat. The Washington Post, the prestigious newspaper he bought in 2013, had endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and then Joe Biden in 2020. But business is business.
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
Pope urges immediate end to 'barbarity' of Gaza war
"I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict," Leo said at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence near Rome. The pope, who spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the morning after Thursday's strike, spoke of his "deep sorrow" for the attack on the Holy Family Church. The church was sheltering around 600 displaced people, the majority of them children and including dozens of people with special needs. Israel expressed "deep sorrow" over the damage and civilian casualties, adding that the military was investigating the strike. "This act, unfortunately, adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza," Leo said on Sunday. "I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations," he added. The Israeli military on Sunday issued an evacuation order for Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip, warning of imminent action against Hamas militants. The pope also expressed his "sympathy" for the plight of "beloved Middle Eastern Christians" and their "sense of being able to do little in the face of this dramatic situation".
