Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza amid international condemnation over attack on UNRWA school

This blog has now wrapped up. The New Arab will be back at 9am with live updates from Gaza.

Several Palestinians were killed and others wounded when an Israeli strike hit a tent sheltering displaced people in the al-Attar area of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

The incident was reported by the Wafa news agency, citing Gaza's civil defense agency.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday one of its employees was killed this week during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, the first such death in more than a decade.

The agency, known as UNRWA, said the employee was "shot and killed on the roof of his home by a sniper", and that it was "the first time an UNRWA staff member has been killed in the West Bank in more than 10 years".

The incident took place in the Faraa refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the statement said.

It identified the slain employee as Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, who "worked as a sanitation labourer" in the camp and "is survived by his wife and five children".

Ministers from Muslim and European countries along with the European Union's foreign affairs chief gathered Friday in Madrid to discuss how to advance a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Together, we want to identify the concrete actions that will enable us to make progress towards this objective," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on social network X.

"The international community must take a decisive step towards a just and lasting peace in the Middle East," the Socialist premier added.

Sanchez welcomed participants at his official residence before the start of the meeting at the foreign ministry in central Madrid, hosted by his top diplomat Jose Manuel Albares.

"The implementation of the two-state solution is the only way to ensure a just and lasting peace in the region through the peaceful and secure coexistence of the state of Palestine and the state of Israel," Albares told a news conference.

In attendance were Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- all members of the Arab-Islamic Contact Group for Gaza -- as well as the heads of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

The European Union was represented by its foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell as well as the foreign ministers of Ireland, Norway and Slovenia in addition to Spain.

The WHO chief hailed Friday the success of the first phase of a giant polio vaccination campaign in war-ravaged Gaza after more than 560,000 children received a first dose.

"This is a massive success amidst a tragic daily reality of life across the Gaza Strip," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, formerly Twitter.

Disease has spread with Gaza lying in ruins and the majority of its 2.4 million residents forced to flee their homes due to Israel's military assault -- often taking refuge in cramped and unsanitary conditions.

According to the Wafa news agency, one Palestinian was killed and four others injured when an Israeli helicopter targeted them in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of northern Gaza City.

Paramedics reported that the wounded were transported to the nearby al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

In a separate attack on the southern city of Rafah, a father and his son were killed. Their bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

South Africa is determined to pursue its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and will next month file more evidence, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Friday.

South Africa filed the case in December alleging that Israel's Gaza offensive, launched in retaliation for Hamas' bloody October 7 attack, breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.

Israel has strongly denied the accusation.

"We are headstrong," Ramaphosa told journalists when asked about the case. "We are determined to go ahead with our case."

The country is due to file facts and evidence to the UN court next month to back up its case.

"Preparations are underway to present what they call the memorial, a huge tome of hundreds and hundreds of pages," the president said.

"We continue arguing that the genocide must stop and there must be a ceasefire, and similarly, there must be a return of the hostages."

South Africa's case has been joined by several countries, including Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Spain and Turkey.

Pope Francis on Friday decried the deaths of Palestinian children in Israeli military strikes in Gaza, calling bombings of schools, on the "presumption" of striking Hamas militants, "ugly".

On the flight back to Rome from Singapore, the pontiff expressed doubt that either Israel or Hamas, now at war for eleven months, were seeking to end the conflict. "I am sorry to have to say this," the pope said. "But I do not think that they are taking steps to make peace."

Francis was speaking in a press conference with journalists after a demanding 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania. He said he speaks on the phone with members of a Catholic parish in Gaza "every day" and "they tell me ugly things, difficult things".

"Please, when you see the bodies of killed children, when you see that, under the presumption that some guerrillas are there, a school is bombed, this is ugly," the 87-year-old pontiff said. "It is ugly."

The pope, who has supported calls for a ceasefire in the conflict and for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, said "sometimes I think it's a war that is too much, too much".

Israeli forces launched fresh attacks on several locations in southern Lebanon, including a residential apartment complex in Ahmadiyeh, located in the western Bekaa Valley.

According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, at least one person was killed in the airstrike on the building, and seven others were injured, including four children.

In addition, Israel's military fired artillery shells at Naqoura, Kfar Chouba, Tayr Harfa, and Hanine.

Hamas has welcomed Chile's request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to join the genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel.

In a statement on its official website today, Hamas said: "We consider this step as an affirmation of the humanitarian stances of the Republic of Chile, its siding with the values of justice and its rejection of the flagrant violations of international law and what our people are facing in the Gaza Strip at the hands of the extremist Zionist fascist group."

Hamas called on all countries across the globe to join the genocide case filed against Israel at the ICJ and escalate all forms of pressure to stop the "brutal war" against Palestinians.

In December 2023, South Africa filed a case at the ICJ over "genocidal acts" committed by Israel in Gaza.

The body of a US-Turkish activist, shot dead by Israeli forces while protesting against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, arrived in Turkey on Friday.

The killing last week of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, sparked international condemnation.

The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Eygi in the head.

The Israeli army has acknowledged opening fire in the area and has said it is looking into the case.

Turkish officials, including Istanbul governor Davut Gul, attended a ceremony at Istanbul's airport, where they prayed before the coffin wrapped in the Turkish flag, a special protocol applied to martyrs.

The body was later transferred to Turkey's third-biggest city Izmir, where an autopsy was being carried out.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the findings from the autopsy would be used as evidence for Turkey's own probe.

Four Palestinians have been killed in two separate strikes in central Gaza, the Palestinian Civil Defence has said.

Three members of Abu Zaid family were killed in an Israeli bombing of their home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, the group's spokesperson said in a statement.

Another strike on the Muharab family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed one person and wounded others.

UNRWA says it has completed the first round of polio vaccinations in Gaza was completed on Thursday.

The first round of the #polio vaccination campaign in #Gaza ended yesterday.@UNRWA and partners have vaccinated hundreds of thousands of children, successfully reaching 90% vaccination coverage.

Our next challenge will be providing the second dose, needed in the coming weeks. pic.twitter.com/cm5SGLaeoS

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) September 13, 2024

A spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defence has given an update on an attack on a house in Mawasi near Rafah, saying that the five people killed were from the Bardawil family. 

Among those killed were two children, the spokesman said on Telegram.

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun said Friday that "negotiation" was the only solution to conflicts such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine as he addressed a global gathering of military officials in Beijing.

Top military representatives from Russia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Iran and Germany are among more than 500 delegates in Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum, dubbed China's answer to the annual Shangri-La meeting in Singapore.

"To resolve hotspot issues such as the crisis in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, promoting peace and negotiation is the only way out," Dong said at the opening ceremony.

"There is no winner in war and conflict, and confrontation leads nowhere," Dong said.

Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has thanked Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah for his "solidarity" and vowed that Hamas would remain "steadfast" in the aftermath of the killing of late Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.

"Your solidarity was expressed by your blessed actions on the Axis of Resistance fronts, supporting and engaging in the battle," Sinwar was quoted by the Lebanese group's media arm Al-Manar on Friday morning.

"The martyrdom of our leader confirms that the blood of our leaders and fighters is not more precious than the blood of our people," Sinwar said.

"We confirm that the movement will remain as it has always been, steadfast on the path of loyalty to the blood of the martyrs," he added.

Egypt has joined in the condemnation of Israel's strike on the al-Jaouni school in a statement carried by Egyptian news site Al Ahram Online.

“This situation starkly highlights the failure of the international community to uphold its principles and values impartially, undermining its credibility and effectiveness. Therefore, it is essential for the UN Security Council to fulfil its responsibilities,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.

Five Palestinians were killed and others were injured when Israeli forces bombed a house in the Mawasi area of ​​the coastal city of Rafah, southern Gaza.

Hezbollah has said it has targeted the main air defence missile base of Israel's Northern Command with a barrage of Katyusha rockets.

The attack on the Biriya barracks came in response to "attack and assassination carried out by the Zionist enemy in the southern town of Kafr Joz (Kfarjoz)", the Lebanese group's media arm, Al Manar, reported.

It is the second such attack on the site, which houses the headquarters of the Patriot Battalion and the Iron Dome Battalion defence systems, according to Al-Manar.

It also houses command and control systems used for air defence missiles, it added. 

Yesterday, Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that three people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted two motorcycles on the road linking Nabatieh to Kfar Joz.

Hamas said it did not receive an Israeli offer for a safe exit for its leader Yahya Sinwar in exchange for the release of hostages, a source from the group told Al Arabiya al-Hadath TV today.

Tje denial came after Israel's coordinator for hostages and the missing, Gal Hirsch, told Bloomberg on Tuesday that Israel "proposed giving Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar safe passage out of Gaza in exchange for the group freeing the hostages it holds and giving up control of the strip".

The Hamas source told the channel that the Israeli official's talk "is not reasonable, acceptable or logical", stressing that this proposal is proof of "the political bankruptcy" of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.