Gaza: 41 killed in Israeli strikes over past 24 hours

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Israeli security forces have launched an operation in the north of the occupied West Bank, a military spokesman said early Wednesday, with the Palestinian health ministry reporting two deaths in the city of Jenin.

"Security forces have now launched an operation to thwart terrorism in Jenin and Tulkarm," army spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a joint statement on Telegram with Israel's Shin Bet security service.

The Palestinian health ministry said that two men aged 25 and 39 had been killed by Israeli forces in Jenin.

The operation comes two days after Israel said it carried out an air strike on the West Bank that the Palestinian Authority reported killed five people.

Violence in the West Bank has surged alongside the war in Gaza, with more than 640 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops and settlers since 7  October attack, though a sharp uptick in Israeli violence against Palestinians preceded the war on Gaza.

An Israeli air strike hit a pickup truck traveling in northeast Lebanon late on Tuesday, two security sources told Reuters, with one of the sources saying it carried military equipment.

The two sources said the strike hit a pickup near Chaat, a remote area of Lebanon near the Syrian border, but that the driver survived.

One of the sources said it was likely the military equipment being transported was a damaged rocket launcher on the way to be repaired.

Two days earlier, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Israeli military engaged in one of the most intense exchanges of fire between them over the last 10 months amid fears that Israel's war in Gaza would become a wider regional conflict.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank reports that two individuals have been killed and two others wounded "as a result of the occupation's aggression on Jenin."

The ministry noted that the deceased were 25 and 39 years old, but provided no additional details.

Israeli military forces are conducting another night of violent raids in the occupied areas, with clashes also occurring in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. The Israeli military stated that its forces "have now begun an operation to counter terrorism in Jenin and Tulkarm."

A Palestinian child, one of many held under administrative detention in the occupied West Bank, has recounted how Israeli forces tortured him after his arrest, which took place on the day he was scheduled for surgery to treat a wound inflicted by live ammunition.

"The soldiers exploited my injury, forcing me to sit and kneel on my wounded knee for five hours. I was severely beaten if I moved due to the pain," the 16-year-old told the Geneva-based Defense for Children International.

"The soldiers transferred me to the Gush Etzion interrogation center and once again forced me to sit on my injured knee for six to seven hours, which caused the wound to reopen and bleed. The torture and beating did not stop during this time, and I was deprived of food, water, and sanitation."

Defense for Children spoke with several children who had been tortured by Israeli soldiers and interrogators while in detention. The organisation reported that one in three children detained by Israel in the occupied West Bank are held without charge or trial.

1 in 3 Palestinian child detainees in the occupied West Bank are held by Israeli forces without charge or trial. We spoke to several children who survived torture at the hands of Israeli soldiers and interrogators. https://t.co/eMeNF1BDty

— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) August 27, 2024

The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has confirmed that two young Palestinians, who were members of the group in the occupied West Bank, have been killed by Israeli forces.

Additionally, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad has reported that three of its fighters, including a field commander, were also killed.

United Nations aid operations in the Gaza Strip continued on Tuesday, a day after a senior U.N. official said humanitarian efforts had ground to a halt because new Israeli evacuation orders forced the shutdown of the main U.N. operations center.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday appeared to temper the remarks by the U.N. official, who spoke on Monday on condition of anonymity. When asked if conditions in Gaza had caused a halt to U.N. aid deliveries on Monday, Dujarric told reporters: "The conditions in Gaza yesterday made it extremely, extremely difficult for us to do our work."

"We are doing what we can with what we have," he said. "We've been saying from the beginning - this is aid delivery by seizing every opportunity, seizing every crack that we can fill. So every situation is assessed day by day, hour by hour."

U.N. safety and security chief Gilles Michaud said on Tuesday that over the weekend the Israeli military only gave a few hours notice for more than 200 U.N. personnel to move out of offices and living spaces in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.

He said the "the timing could hardly be worse" with a massive polio vaccination campaign due to start shortly that required large numbers of U.N. staff to enter Gaza.

"The United Nations is determined to stay in Gaza," he said in a statement. "Humanitarian aid delivery continues – a tremendous feat given that we are operating at the upper-most peripheries of tolerable risk."

The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza has reported that its emergency responders have recovered four bodies following an Israeli bombing of an apartment in northern Gaza.

According to the report, the strike targeted a family home in the Tal al-Hawa area, west of Gaza City.

UNRWA is working to support Gaza's children by providing activities amidst the ongoing devastation of the war.

A Palestinian child, displaced from Beit Hanoon in the north, shares how her life has been turned upside down.

"We are living in a school. I used to love school a lot, but now I don't like the classroom or the school because of the displacement. Tents, sewage, and it's disgusting."

Children's daily lives in #GazaStrip have been completely shattered since the war began, and are full of horror and fear.

Through sports and psychosocial activities, @UNRWA teams bring some respite to children in #Gaza and help them back to learning, offering a sense of normalcy pic.twitter.com/zQiV8hJeCz

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 27, 2024

The United States remains committed to defending Israel in any Iranian attack, and was hopeful about a possible Gaza ceasefire agreement, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday.

Kirby told Israel's Channel 12 that it was tough to predict the chances of an attack but the White House takes Iranian statements seriously.

"We believe that they are still postured and poised to launch an attack should they want to do that, which is why we have that enhanced force posture in the region," he said.

"Our messaging to Iran is consistent, has been and will stay consistent. One, don't do it. There's no reason to escalate this. There's no reason to potentially start some sort of all-out regional war. And number two, we are going to be prepared to defend Israel if it comes to that."

Negotiations on a ceasefire to end the war in Gaza are continuing in Qatar, a US official said Tuesday, after an earlier round of talks wrapped up in Cairo amid growing regional tensions.

US President Joe Biden's Middle East point man Brett McGurk is in Doha for the talks aimed at halting the 10-month conflict between Israel and Hamas, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reports that its first responders are continuing to provide aid to Palestinians injured in a series of Israeli attacks on southern Gaza.

🚨The Palestine Red Crescent Society’s EMS teams continue their work in providing first aid to the wounded and injured, and transporting the bodies of the victims in Khan Yunis Governorate, following the Israeli occupation’s targeting of civilians in various areas of the… pic.twitter.com/8W2eXe8aq8

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) August 27, 2024

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has reported that the Israeli Ministry of Heritage has allocated 2 million shekels (approximately $543,000) to support the activities of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir within the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, Al Jazeera reports.

According to the ministry, this move signals "an official Israeli policy aimed at intensifying the Judaization of Al-Aqsa and altering its status quo, which could escalate tensions in the West Bank."

Ben-Gvir, who has repeatedly entered the compound with armed security and extremist settlers, recently expressed his backing for the construction of a synagogue at the sacred Muslim site.

An Israeli delegation is heading to Qatar tomorrow to partake in ongoing ceasefire talks with US, Qatari and Egyptian officials to finalise a deal which has been at loggerheads for months.

Barak Ravid, reporter at US outlet Axios reported that "working-level officials from the Mossad, the IDF and the Shin Bet" will travel to Doha.

Read more about the latest ceasefire talks here.

Freed hostage Israeli-bedouin Kayed Farhan al-Qadi is in good health following medical tests, Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel said on Tuesday.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the 52-year-old from Rahat is fully conscious and that his general condition is good and has been received by family.

Kayed's brother Hatam told Haaretz that he first learnt of his release from the news and then received a message from the army with confirmation.

"We didn't believe it at first. But when the army told us it was true, we were very excited and very happy," he told Haaretz.

The First Photo of the Rescued Hostage, Qaid Farhan al-Qadi at the Hospital in Beersheba with his Family. pic.twitter.com/M3IJLh4uxa

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 27, 2024

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, umbrella groups connected to Iran, have claimed a drone attack on Haifa city in Israel on Monday night.

The Israeli military have not commented on the statement in which the group said it conducted the attack was in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

The Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah said on Tuesday it launched projectiles at a number of Israeli military outposts in northern Israel.

In a statement on Telegram, the group said it directly hit "new spy equipment" near the Dovev barracks in northern Israel.

In a second statement it said it struck "buildings used by enemy soldiers in the settlement of Natawa with appropriate weapons" in response to attacks on villages and sites in southern Lebanon.

The Iran-aligned group has been trading fire with Israel since 8 October in support of Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli army announced on Tuesday it released an Israeli-bedouin captive from the besieged coastal enclave without revealing details of the operation. 

"In a joint operation by the IDF and the Shin Bet, Kayed Farhan al-Qadi, the 52-year-old Israeli captive from Rahat, who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, was released today,” the Israeli army spokesman said in a statement. 

He explained that "the captive was released by members of the naval commando unit, the 401st Brigade, the Yahalom engineering unit, and members of the Shin Bet under the command of the 162nd Division in a complex liberation operation in the southern Gaza Strip."

Israeli media outlets reported that al-Qadi is from the Bedouin diaspora and is the father of 11 children. He lives near Rahat and works in a packaging factory in Kibbutz Magen, where he was captured.

Some outlets have reported that al-Qadi escaped from his kidnappers in the Rafah area of south Gaza, but this would be difficult considering the area is under Israeli military control. 

Any non-Israeli who infiltrates the area would likely face being shot or attacked, so it seems implausible that al-Qadi could have left alive.

Another narrative being shared by Israeli broadcaster Channel 14 seems more like. The channel reported that Israeli forces "rescued al-Qadi from the Rafah area, safe and sound, after finding him inside a tunnel 27 meters deep in good condition, without guards or other prisoners".

“He was transferred on a military plane to receive treatment at Soroka Hospital,” the channel added. 

Sources in Gaza told The New Arab that it is possible Hamas guards left him alone in a deliberate move so he could pass a message from Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar to Israeli leaders.

Israeli troops have recovered an Israeli hostage in "a complex rescue operation" in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was abducted by Hamas-led gunmen on Oct. 7.

It said 52 year-old Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a member of the Bedouin community in southern Israel, had been transferred to hospital and his medical condition was normal.

The operation, following the rescue of four Israeli hostages in June, comes as talks have continued to try to agree a halt to the fighting in Gaza and the return of more than 100 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

"We are doing everything to save the hostages," the head of the military Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said in a statement.

Israeli television stations showed a military helicopter landing at a hospital as medical staff stood by.

Alkadi was taken hostage in Kibbutz Magen, one of a string of communities around the Gaza Strip that were attacked by Hamas-led fighters on Oct. 7.

(Reuters)

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warns of the rapid spread of poliovirus in the Gaza Strip, stressing the need for a ceasefire to allow children to be vaccinated against the disease, which causes certain limbs to be immobile for the rest of their lives.

"The quick spread of polio threatens all children in Gaza, already weakened by displacement, deprivation & malnourishment," he said on X.

Urging an immediate three-day cease-fire, independent of wider negotiations, to enable WHO and UNICEF to conduct vaccinations, Borrell said: "Our humanity demands it."

The quick spread of polio threatens all children in Gaza, already weakened by displacement, deprivation & malnourishment.

I urge an immediate 3-day humanitarian ceasefire to enable vaccination by @WHO & @UNICEF – independent of wider negotiations.

Our humanity demands it.

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 27, 2024

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PCRS) said on Tuesday that its field hospital in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis received injured people following Israeli airstrikes in the area.

The medical organisation is working at the Kuwait Red Crescent field hospital, one of nine field hospitals operating in the Strip. Only 16 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are currently operation. Many have suffered damage and have been evacuated or besieged during Israeli assaults.

Today, the Kuwait Red Crescent field hospital, operated by the Palestine Red Crescent Society in #KhanYunis, received several injured individuals following Israeli airstrikes on various areas in central #KhanYunis. pic.twitter.com/tTMpeAe94H

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) August 27, 2024

Palestinian group Hamas called on people to respond to Monday's attack near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank in which a group of settlers opened fire on Palestinians.

One person was killed and three injured by gunfire when a group of Israeli settlers attacked the village of Wadi Rahal, according to local media reports. The Israeli army reportedly fired tear gas and stun grenades.

In a statement on Tuesday, Hamas, who governs Gaza but has factions in the West Bank said that today "will be a day of anger and alarm" and called for a strike.

"We call on the masses of our proud people in all governorates of the West Bank to continue the clash and public anger, confront the settlers by all means, and activate all means of resistance."

Al Jazeera has reported that an Israeli strike has killed at least three people in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.

The city has faced three major attacks throughout the day, as Israeli forces continue to infiltrate the enclave. Four people were killed by a bomb on their home in Tuffah, eastern Gaz City.

The central areas have faced a major incursion in the past week with hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

Al Jazeera quotes Gaza’s civil defence stating that 20 people have already died this morning in Gaza.

The Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab near the Israeli border was attacked by machine gun fire early on Tuesday which damaged buildings, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

Israeli warplanes and drones were sighted throughout the night over villages in the districts of Tyre and Bint Jbeil, the official state news agency reported.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday that three citizens were injured in an Israeli raid on the town of Majadil in southern Lebanon, one of them moderately, in addition to one person being moderately injured in a raid on Sheheen.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the raid on Majadil caused extensive damage to property and infrastructure.

An UNRWA official says that the situation in Gaza is "catastrophic" as thousands of families continue to face displacement, ten months into war.

Louise Wateridge, UNRWA spokesperson, who is working for the agency in Gaza said: "Day in, day out, thousands of families are forced from place to place, most on foot with few belongings. All while surrounded by tanks & bombs."

Israel’s latest evacuation orders issued over the weekend have impacted UNRWA’s operation center in Deir al Balah and have forced staff and aid workers to flee.

"All that is left for us is the sea"

Weeks of repeated displacement orders across south & middle #Gaza

The situation is catastrophic. Day in, day out, thousands of families are forced from place to place, most on foot with few belongings. All while surrounded by tanks & bombs. pic.twitter.com/UVmJhKfLrh

— Louise Wateridge (@UNWateridge) August 26, 2024

The health ministry in Gaza said Tuesday that at least 40,476 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, now in its 11th month.

The toll includes 41 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 93,647 people as wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.

Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with top Israeli defence leaders on Monday, and visited the military’s Northern Command headquarters.

Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey, Brown’s spokesperson, said the chairman met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in Tel Aviv, and he participated in operational updates with Israeli Defense Force senior leaders.

The leaders reaffirmed the importance of the US-Israeli strategic partnership while also discussing the most recent engagement across the Israeli-Lebanese border and the need to de-escalate tensions to avoid a broader conflict,! said Dorsey.

He said they also discussed Israel’s need to defend itself as well as the need to get more humanitarian support into Gaza and the importance of minimizing civilian casualties. Dorsey said they talked about Brown’s recent meetings with other partners in the region. He visited Jordan and Egypt.

Amnesty International on Tuesday called for an investigation into possible Israeli war crimes in the war in Gaza regarding an Israeli attack which killed at least 36 Palestinians in a displacement camp in west Rafah on May 26.

The report says that Israel failed to take “all feasible precautions” to avoid or minimise civilian harm in the attack which was targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders and fighters. At least four of those killed were fighters.

It says the strike was conducted with a US made guided bomb, which caused carnage as it hit a tented area killing at least six children and injuring more than 100.

"The use of these munitions, which project deadly fragments over a wide area, in a camp housing civilians in overcrowded temporary shelters likely constituted a disproportionate and indiscriminate attack, and should be investigated as a war crime."

Israeli protesters have blocked the Ayalon highway outside Tel Aviv demanding Israel’s government secure a hostage release deal.

There are some 100 captives believed to be remaining in Gaza, with around 30 estimated to be dead, according to the Israeli military.

Footage shared by Hebrew Channel 12 shows protesters blocking the six-lane highway with a pink banner and orange smoke flares, holding up large images of the captives.

Pressure has been mounting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal to release the hostages after the Israeli army rescued bodies of six dead Israelis from Khan Younis earlier this month.

נתיבי איילון דרום נחסמו כעת לתנועה ע"י בני משפחות החטופים ומוחים ממחאת הנשים. המפגינים קוראים "דורשים עסקה עכשיו! אין עסקה מופקרת, יש הפקרה". (קרדיט: דנור אהרון Danor Aharon ואביב אטלס) @N12News pic.twitter.com/TVW0kNSTVE

— אור רביד | Or Ravid (@OrRavid) August 27, 2024