Israeli strike on Gaza school. At least 30 reported dead.
By Guardian - Amy Sedghi/Yohannes Lowe - Sat 27 Jul 2024
Israeli military says Hamas targets were inside the school compound, after Palestinian officials reported dozens of people killed
At least 30 Palestinians reported dead after Israeli strike on school compound, say health officials
At least 30 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a school in Deir al Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian health officials said, reports Reuters. The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas command centre.
According to the Reuters news agency, the Gaza health ministry and the Hamas-run government media office gave the toll for those killed in the strike on the school in Deir Al-Balah, one of the areas most populated with displaced families, and said more than 100 others were injured.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had targeted a “Hamas command and control center inside the Khadija school compound in central Gaza”. The statement said the school was being used to launch attacks against troops and as a weapons cache and that it warned civilians before the strike.
Reuters reports that at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Al-Balah, ambulances raced injured Palestinians into the medical facility. Some of the injured also arrived on foot, with their clothes stained with blood.
In previous such strikes that have hit civilian infrastructure, Israel’s military has blamed the militant Islamist group Hamas for putting civilians in harm’s way, accusing it of operating within densely populated neighbourhoods, schools and hospitals as cover. Hamas denies this.
In Al-Bureij refugee camp, five Palestinians were killed earlier in an Israeli airstrike on a house, while four others were killed in another strike on a house in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.
ShareUpdated at 12.22 BST14m ago14.01 BST
In the Khan Younis city area, around 170 people have been killed “and hundreds wounded” during an Israeli offensive over several days there, Gaza’s civil defence agency said.
Israel had warned last Monday that its forces would “forcefully operate” in the Khan Yunis region, including an area previously declared a safe humanitarian zone.
Khan Younis was left devastated after heavy fighting early in the year but the military withdrew in April saying it had “concluded its mission” there. Now it has returned in force.
Share24m ago13.51 BST
Israeli forces detained at least 40 Palestinians, including, children and former detainees, in the occupied West Bank over the past day, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported.
The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission and the Palestine Prisoners Society said the detention operations took place across the governorates of Qalqiliya and Nablus.
Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the occupied West Bank.
They have described alleged abusive and humiliating treatment, including holding blindfolded and handcuffed detainees in cramped cages as well as beatings, intimidation and harassment.
Share36m ago13.40 BST
We have a video of the aftermath of the Israeli strike on a school in Deir al-Balah earlier that has, according to officials, killed at least 30 people. You can watch it here:
The scenes we are seeing unfold in Israel and Gaza mark a new chapter in the Middle East conflict. The consequences and scale of losses are already devastating, and the recent attack – and the war that now follows – is likely to shape global politics for years to come.
With correspondents on the ground and reporters updating this liveblog 24/7, the Guardian is well-placed to provide comprehensive, fact-checked reporting, to help all of us make sense of this perilous moment for the region. Reader-funded and free from commercial influence, we can report fearlessly on world events as they develop.
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51m ago13.25 BST
'Like judgment day': evacuees tell of fleeing Israel’s assault on Khan Younis
The evacuation order jolted Munadil Abu Younes one morning earlier this week as he scrolled on his phone reading the news. Israeli forces ordered thousands to flee, including from the area where he was sheltering. His eighth displacement was like nothing that had come before.
“Israeli forces told us about the evacuation order as they entered the area,” he said.
“We barely had time to collect our things, most people fled without taking anything. During previous evacuation orders they gave us a day or two, but this time we didn’t even have half an hour.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a forcible order that covered much of western Khan Younis and part of Al Mawasi, a sandy strip previously designated a “humanitarian zone”.
Gaza’s second largest city was already reduced to little more than shattered cement and piles of rubble. Across Khan Younis, hundreds of thousands began to flee without knowing where to go. The order affected about 400,000 people.
The IDF said it was about to “forcefully operate” against militants in eastern Khan Younis, accusing Hamas of using the area to fire rockets into Israel.
You can read the full story by Malak A Tantesh and Ruth Michaelson here:
‘Like judgment day’: evacuees tell of fleeing Israel’s assault on Khan Younis
Share1h ago13.09 BST
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, has issued a statement condemning the Israeli airstrike that reportedly killed dozens of people after hitting a school being used by displaced people in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, on Saturday.
Hamas said the “massacre at Khadija School is a crime that confirms the Israeli enemy’s estrangement from all human values and its defiance of all laws of war”.
The statement added:
The occupation continues to commit massacres against civilians without any deterrence and with criminal cover provided by the American administration.
We call on the international community and the United Nations to break the policy of silence and take steps to force the occupation to stop its crimes.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said that the school was housing about 4,000 displaced people who had taken refuge there.
ShareUpdated at 13.10 BST1h ago12.50 BST
Toddler among those killed in strike on school - report
Near the Al-Aqsa hospital, Associated Press (AP) journalists reported seeing an ambulance rushing through a dusty road as a few people ran in the opposite direction. An injured man lay on a stretcher on the ground. A body covered with a blanket and a dead toddler lay inside the ambulance, they said.
Inside the school hit by an Israeli strike on Saturday, classrooms were in ruins, AP reporters said. People were seen searching for victims under the rubble and some were gathering remains of those who were killed.
Earlier, Israel’s military ordered the evacuation of a part of a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza ahead of a planned strike on Khan Younis on Saturday, but it has been criticised by a UN agency.
Juliette Touma, the director of communications for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said:
Referring to the orders as evacuation orders don’t do any justice to what this means. These are forced displacement orders. What happens is when people have these orders, they have very little time to move.”
ShareUpdated at 12.57 BST2h ago12.07 BST
At least 30 Palestinians reported dead after Israeli strike on school compound, say health officials
At least 30 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a school in Deir al Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian health officials said, reports Reuters. The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas command centre.
According to the Reuters news agency, the Gaza health ministry and the Hamas-run government media office gave the toll for those killed in the strike on the school in Deir Al-Balah, one of the areas most populated with displaced families, and said more than 100 others were injured.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had targeted a “Hamas command and control center inside the Khadija school compound in central Gaza”. The statement said the school was being used to launch attacks against troops and as a weapons cache and that it warned civilians before the strike.
Reuters reports that at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Al-Balah, ambulances raced injured Palestinians into the medical facility. Some of the injured also arrived on foot, with their clothes stained with blood.
In previous such strikes that have hit civilian infrastructure, Israel’s military has blamed the militant Islamist group Hamas for putting civilians in harm’s way, accusing it of operating within densely populated neighbourhoods, schools and hospitals as cover. Hamas denies this.
In Al-Bureij refugee camp, five Palestinians were killed earlier in an Israeli airstrike on a house, while four others were killed in another strike on a house in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.
ShareUpdated at 12.22 BST2h ago12.01 BST
At least 39,258 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, says Gaza health ministry
At least 39,258 Palestinians have been killed and 90,589 injured in Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry of health in Gaza does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
ShareUpdated at 12.02 BST2h ago11.58 BST
Here are some of the latest images via the newswires:
Share3h ago11.37 BST
Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi, has said the need for sustainable peace is urgent and international law should be applied to all. The comment from the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, was a veiled reference to recent decisions by two international courts over Israeli’s Gaza offensives, reports Reuters.
“We cannot continue closing our eyes to see the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza,” she said.
Share3h ago11.28 BST
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that on Saturday, the Saint Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East dating back to the fourth century, was added to a list of Unesco’s world heritage sites in danger due to the war in Gaza.
ShareUpdated at 11.29 BST3h ago11.15 BST
CIA director to meet his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts and Qatar's PM this weekend
CIA director William Burns will meet this weekend in Rome with his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts and Qatar’s prime minister for talks on a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Reuters reports that the source, who requested anonymity, said Burns would meet Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and the Egyptian and Israeli intelligence officials on Sunday. The CIA declined to comment.
The meeting was first reported by Axios.
It comes as Israel seeks changes to a plan for a truce in Gaza and the release of hostages by Hamas, complicating a final deal, according to a western official, a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources.
Share3h ago10.59 BST
US president Joe Biden spoke on Friday with Jordan’s King Abdullah, discussing the push to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, the two countries said.
“The president updated King Abdullah on his ongoing efforts to secure a hostage release and ceasefire deal, and preparations for a surge in humanitarian assistance during a ceasefire period,” the White House said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Jordan’s royal court confirmed the call, saying that King Abdullah “stressed the need to end the war on Gaza immediately and ensure the flow of sufficient aid through all crossings, while guaranteeing its delivery to civilians across the Strip without delay or hindrance.”
The US is pushing to bring the conflict to a close, and the news outlet Axios reported that CIA director Bill Burns was expected to hold talks on the issue in Rome on Sunday with Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials.
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‘Like judgment day’: evacuees tell of fleeing Israel’s assault on Khan Younis
By Guardian - Malak A Tantesh/Ruth Michaelson - Sat 27 Jul 2024
Given barely any warning, many people fled with nothing as bombs fell and bullets flew around them.
The evacuation order jolted Munadil Abu Younes one morning earlier this week as he scrolled on his phone reading the news. Israeli forces ordered thousands to flee, including from the area where he was sheltering. His eighth displacement was like nothing that had come before.
“Israeli forces told us about the evacuation order as they entered the area,” he said. “We barely had time to collect our things, most people fled without taking anything. During previous evacuation orders they gave us a day or two, but this time we didn’t even have half an hour.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a forcible order that covered much of western Khan Younis and part of Al Mawasi, a sandy strip previously designated a “humanitarian zone”.
Gaza’s second largest city was already reduced to little more than shattered cement and piles of rubble. Across Khan Younis, hundreds of thousands began to flee without knowing where to go. The order affected about 400,000 people.
The IDF said it was about to “forcefully operate” against militants in eastern Khan Younis, accusing Hamas of using the area to fire rockets into Israel.
Some received news of the evacuation order through voice messages on their phones. Muhanna Qudeih, 43, from Khuzaa neighbourhood in eastern Khan Younis was on his regular morning trip to the local market to buy vegetables when he began hearing people around him screaming about it.
“I started asking those around me, and they said there were recorded messages on mobile phones ordering everyone to evacuate the area,” he said. He grabbed some essentials and ran to his sister’s house to tell his family. His wife, Qudeih, and their three children have lived with his sister since their house was destroyed during the first Israeli ground invasion of Khan Younis. This would be their fifth displacement.
In Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, Younes and his wife and six children began frantically collecting their most important possessions and packing their car.
“The bombing was initially light, but an hour after the evacuation order it intensified,” he said. “Then, shells came at us from all directions. I wanted to move quickly, but suddenly the street was full of people.” The family drove east towards Salah al-Din Road, only to see Israeli tanks approaching.
“We found people running, racing to escape like judgment day had come,” he said. “Bullets were falling around us like rain, and many people got hit ... We prayed to be able to flee this disaster safely.”
When Qudeih and his family fled their house closer to the centre of Khan Younis, he said they encountered “a shower of bombardment” along with tank and helicopter fire. Several drones hovered above them, “watching everything and shooting,” he added.
People scattered in all directions in search of safety. Many, including Qudeih and his family, fled towards the Nasser hospital in the city, as hundreds of wounded people also poured into the grounds, overwhelming the already struggling facility.
Gaza health officials said that by the evening, the renewed bombing campaign had killed more than 70 people and wounded at least 200 more. Medics pleaded for blood donations and supplies to try to treat the injured, many of whom were laid out on the floor or between beds for lack of space.
Some of those gathered outside the hospital had fled there on foot, leaving their belongings behind in the rush to escape. “As we ran away from the bombings, I saw dead and wounded people laying on the ground,” said a woman who gave her name only as Amal.
“There was no way anyone could save them or even retrieve the bodies, because the bombing was so bad … aircraft of all kinds were hovering low to the ground the entire time.”
Israeli tanks drove deep into Bani Suhaila on the edge of Khan Younis, while soldiers positioned themselves on rooftops. Others reportedly searched the town’s cemetery, and the IDF later described fighting in “close-quarters combat,” amid reports of street battles with Palestinian militants.
For the thousands who escaped the bombs and artillery fire, their latest displacement brought new problems. With nowhere to run to, many like Amal spent the week sleeping in the open, unable to find a place in the shattered homes that remained in southern Gaza. Health officials said 30 more people had been killed and almost 150 injured by Thursday evening.
“We couldn’t find anywhere to settle as there were so many displaced people. Initially we sat on the rubble of a bombed-out mosque. Along with many of the displaced we’re just out in the open now. We’re somewhere with no water, we have to walk far to buy it, food is very scarce and the situation is very difficult,” Amal said.
“We’ve been displaced over and over again, but this time was different and we were stripped of our possessions. These have been the hardest days we have experienced in this brutal war.”
Younes said he eventually found refuge in a south-western area of Khan Younis, but within days it too had received an evacuation order.
“We wish to die, but we continue to live. We are tired, unable to go on,” he said. “We became twice our age during these 10 months.”
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