At least 15 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli strike on a faculty sheltering displaced individuals in Gaza City late Saturday.
The assault got here simply hours after two strikes within the occupied West Bank killed 9 individuals, together with an area Hamas chief, Hamas mentioned.
The Israeli navy claimed the primary of two West Bank airstrikes hit a car in a city close to town of Tulkarm, concentrating on a navy cell of the group.
A Hamas assertion mentioned a kind of killed was a commander of its Tulkarm brigades, whereas its ally Islamic Jihad claimed the opposite 4 males who died within the strike as its members.
Hours later, a second airstrike within the space focused one other group, who had fired on troops, Israel’s navy mentioned, throughout what it described as a counterterrorism operation in Tulkarm.
Palestinian news company WAFA mentioned 4 individuals had died in that strike, and Hamas mentioned all 9 of these killed within the two Israeli assaults within the West Bank have been fighters.
Violence within the West Bank was on the rise earlier than the Israel-Hamas struggle in Gaza and has risen since, with frequent Israeli raids within the territory, which is amongst those who the Palestinians search for a state.
There has additionally been a rise in anti-Israeli avenue assaults by Palestinians.
The newest strikes within the Palestinian territories got here amid Israel’s rising tensions with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group which have fanned fears of a widened battle within the Middle East.
The U.S. and worldwide companions together with France, Britain, Italy and Egypt, continued diplomatic contacts Saturday in search of to forestall additional regional escalation.
Hamas mentioned it had begun a “broad consultation process” to decide on a brand new chief three days after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who was the face of the group’s worldwide diplomacy. Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel and vowed to retaliate. Israel has not claimed or denied accountability.
Gaza strikes
In the Gaza Strip, not less than 15 individuals have been killed within the Israeli strike on a faculty sheltering displaced individuals in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, the native media workplace mentioned.
The Israeli navy wrongly alleged the varsity was getting used as a command heart for Hamas, to cover members and manufacture weapons. Hamas has denied Israeli accusations that it operates from civilian amenities akin to faculties and hospitals.
Earlier Saturday, Israeli strikes within the enclave killed six individuals in a home within the southern space of Rafah and two others in Gaza City, Gaza well being officers mentioned.
The Israeli navy mentioned its forces had struck militants and destroyed Hamas infrastructure in Rafah and elsewhere within the enclave.
At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal marketing campaign in Gaza, in keeping with Gaza well being officers. The offensive was triggered by a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7 during which 1,200 individuals died and 250 kidnapped, in keeping with Israeli tallies.
A high-level Israeli delegation made a quick go to to Cairo on Saturday in an try to resume Gaza cease-fire negotiations, Egyptian airport authority sources mentioned. The Israeli officers returned to Israel hours later, Israeli media mentioned.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace accused Hamas of making an attempt so as to add modifications to the “outline” of a possible settlement, referring to a proposal U.S. President Joe Biden specified by May. Hamas has blamed Netanyahu, saying he doesn’t need to cease the struggle.
Chances of a breakthrough seem low as regional rigidity has soared following the assassination of Haniyeh, Hamas’s prime chief, on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a senior navy commander from Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran.
Haniyeh’s demise was one in a collection of killings of senior Hamas figures because the Gaza struggle nears its eleventh month, and it fuelled concern that the battle in Gaza was turning right into a wider Middle East struggle.
Israel has not mentioned whether or not or not it was behind Haniyeh’s assassination. But Netanyahu mentioned earlier this week that Israel had delivered crushing blows to Iran’s proxies of late, together with Hamas and Hezbollah.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke individually to French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Saturday on the necessity to attain a ceasefire and hostage launch deal in Gaza and to forestall the battle from spreading, the State Department mentioned.
Egypt’s international minister, Badr Abdelatty, confused in a cellphone name with Iran’s appearing international minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, that latest developments within the area have been “unprecedented, very dangerous” and threatening to stability, Egypt’s authorities mentioned.
In addition, the Italian Foreign Ministry mentioned: “Italy makes an appeal to Iran, calling on it for restraint and to contribute to a phase of de-escalation throughout the Mediterranean region and the Middle East.” It added that the message had been delivered to the Iranian ambassador in Rome.
Source: www.dailysabah.com