Gaza Tragedy
Live Reporting
Nuseirat school blast survivor says ‘women and children were blown to pieces’
One unidentified Palestinian man who survived the Nuseirat school blast expressed his anger about the latest Israeli assault on a shelter in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
“All of a sudden there was a huge explosion. Women and children were blown to pieces. This is the fifth time the school building was pounded by Israeli warplanes. It is supposed to be a safe sheltering area. What targets are the Israelis hitting in this school?” he asked.
Three killed in Israeli strike west of Gaza City
A spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence agency says at least three people have been killed and seven wounded in an Israeli air strike on Al-Nasr neighbourhood, Al Jazeera reports.
Israeli jets struck a group of people waiting to buy bread outside a bakery west of Gaza City.
Gaza health ministry says bombardment death toll at 41,084
The health ministry in Gaza has said that at least 41,084 people have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the territory, AFP reports.
The toll includes 64 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which says 95,029 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since fighting broke out on October 7.
Biden wants Israel to start ‘accountability’ on activist death
US President Joe Biden has called for Israel to provide “full accountability” after the killing of US-Turkish activist Aysenur Eygi in the West Bank by its forces, demanding the country “do more” to avoid such killings.
“There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again,” Biden said in a statement.
“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the death of Aysenur Eygi,” Biden said. “The shooting that led to her death is totally unacceptable.”
Israel conducts series of airstrikes across southern Lebanon
The national co-convenor for Students for Palestine Jasmine Duff said the police were to blame for violence.
“They used serious weapons on peace activists that should be banned for use on demonstrators, including pepper spray, which is classified as a chemical weapon,” Duff said in a statement.
“They hit us with batons, including hitting one man so hard he had to go to hospital and they shot us with rubber bullets,” she added.
Israel conducts series of airstrikes across southern Lebanon
The Israeli army’s warplanes carried out a series of overnight strikes across southern Lebanon amid the ongoing escalation of tensions with the Hezbollah resistance group, Anadolu reports.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that Israeli fighter jets bombed the forest areas surrounding the southern Lebanon towns of Zibqine, Chaaitiyeh, and Qlaileh 17 times.
However, the Israeli army claimed to have targeted 30 Hezbollah rocket launching sites and military infrastructure in southern Lebanon in overnight raids, according to the Times of Israel.
Iraq PM, hosting Iran president, rejects widening Gaza conflict
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, speaking alongside visiting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, has said that both governments oppose any widening of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, AFP reports.
“In light of the escalation that the region has been going through, we have spoken a lot about the importance of stability; this stability is threatened by the Zionist aggression in Gaza,” Sudani said.
“We have stated more than once our rejection of any extension of the conflict,” he added, underlining the two governments’ “common positions” on the situation.
People protesting against Gaza war clash with police at Australia arms fair
People protesting against the Gaza war clashed with police outside an arms fair in Australia.
About 1,200 people attended the protest, picketing the Land Forces 2024 exposition being held in Australia’s second largest city of Melbourne, authorities said. They demanded a change in Canberra’s stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Police used sponge grenades, flash-bang devices and irritant sprays against the crowd, and arrested dozens.
South Africa steps up in ICJ case against Israel
South Africa will file a memorial in the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in October, the presidency says in a statement.
“South Africa intends to provide facts and evidence to prove that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Palestine,” it said. “This case will continue until the court makes a finding. While the case is in progress, we hope that Israel will abide by the court’s provisional orders issued to date.”
The remarks come amid reports that Israeli diplomats are lobbying members of the US Congress to pressure South Africa into dropping the case.
“The case represents a growing global effort towards ensuring peace in the Middle East,” the statement added.
Nicaragua, Palestine, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Libya and Colombia have joined the South African case against Israel.
Two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza helicopter crash
Two Israeli soldiers were killed after a military helicopter crashed trying to rescue an injured soldier in Rafah, the Israeli army says.
“During the night, an ‘Owl’ helicopter of the Air Force, as part of a mission to evacuate an injured fighter for medical treatment at a hospital, crashed in the Rafah area during landing,” the army posted on X.
It added that, according to initial investigation, “it appears that the crash was not caused by enemy fire”.
Israeli forces arrest 17 Palestinians in Hebron
The Israeli military has arrested 17 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank’s Hebron governorate and set up military checkpoints in several areas, the Wafa news agency reports.
The army at dawn also apprehended two brothers from Kafr Rai village, south of Jenin, after raiding their home.
Two men were arrested during the raids on the towns of Beit Rima and Rantis, northwest of Ramallah city.
Israeli air strike in the West Bank kills five
CAIRO (Reuters) – At least five people were killed in an Israeli air strike on Tubas in the West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported on Wednesday.
Its crews were able to retrieve the bodies of five people from the bombing site, and they were transferred to the hospital, Red Crescent added.
"As part of the counter terrorism activity, an IAF aircraft struck an armed terrorist cell a short while ago in the area of Tubas", the Israeli army said in a statement.
Western powers unveil new sanctions on Iran for arming Russia with ballistic missiles
NEW YORK (AFP) - The US, UK, France and Germany on Tuesday announced new sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with short-range ballistic missiles to use in its war in Ukraine. US sanctions targeted Russian and Iranian entities while France, Britain and Germany canceled bilateral air agreements with Iran.
The United States on Tuesday unveiled fresh sanctions against more than a dozen firms and individuals in Russia and Iran in response to what it called Iran's "escalatory" decision to send ballistic missiles to Russia.
World leaders slam Israel for bombing Gaza 'safe-zone'
World leaders strongly condemned Israel for bombing the Al-Mawasi “safe-zone” in southern Gaza.
At least 19 people lost their lives in the attack, and 60 others sustained multiple injuries.
The toll is likely to climb.
Israel's bomb turns bodies to ashes
Gaza officials said the 2,000 pound weapon used by Israeli forces has “melted” the bodies of the victims who were in the center of the attack.
Media reported that Israel likely used the US-made MK 84 bomb in the attack.
Polio vaccination starts in north Gaza despite obstacles
GENEVA (AFP) - A campaign to vaccinate a final 200,000 children in north Gaza against polio began on Tuesday (Sep 10) although health and aid officials said the operation was complicated by access restrictions, evacuation orders and shortages of fuel.
The campaign in north Gaza, the part of the territory hardest hit by Israel's 11-month military offensive against Hamas militants, follows the vaccination of more than 446,000 Palestinian children in central and south Gaza earlier this month.
Israel defence minister says Gaza truce deal a 'strategic opportunity'
TEL AVIV (AFP) – Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant offered his support for a hostage release agreement in the first phase of a Gaza truce deal, saying it would give Israel a "strategic opportunity" to address other security challenges.
Bringing the hostages home is "the right thing to do", Gallant told foreign journalists.
EU fears Israeli-occupied West Bank becoming a 'new Gaza'
CAIRO (AFP) – The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell warned on Tuesday that increased violence in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war erupted meant it risked becoming "a new Gaza".
Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and is separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory, has flared alongside the war that began after Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
