Israel orders more Gaza evacuations after school strike kills over 90

Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades said its West Bank-based fighters killed an Israeli soldier at point-blank range near the settlement of Mehola in the Jordan Valley and "returned to their bases safely."

It said the operation came in retaliation for Israel's strike on a school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in Gaza City on Saturday, which the civil defence service said had killed at least 90 people.

The Israeli military said it was pursuing the suspected assailants, blocking routes and conducting searches.

Hamas on Sunday called on US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators to implement a ceasefire plan for Gaza put forward by US President Joe Biden, instead of holding "more talks".

"Hamas calls on the mediators to present a roadmap to put into action what was proposed to Hamas... based on the vision of Biden and the decisions of the UN Security Council, and to force the occupier (Israel) to implement it, rather than hold more talks or bring new proposals," the Palestinian movement said in a statement.

Mediators have invited both Israel and Hamas for a round of negotiations on Thursday.

 The Israeli intelligence community believes Iran has decided to attack Israel directly and may do so within days, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said on Sunday, citing two sources.

The attack would be in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July, Ravid added. Israel has not claimed or denied responsibility for the killing.

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said an Israeli air strike on Sunday killed two fighters from the Iran-backed group, with the health ministry reporting another death from an attack days ago.

Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israel ever since war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year.

A strike on Beirut's southern suburbs late last month killed Hezbollah's top military commander, Fuad Shukr, just hours before the assassination, blamed on Israel, of Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

An "Israeli strike that targeted the village of Taybeh today left two dead," the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.

Hezbollah confirmed the two were group fighters, killed in Taybeh near the border with Israel.

The official National News Agency reported that "a drone fired two missiles on the village of Taybeh".

A union of local governments in the area said at least three Syrians were killed in an Israeli strike on Derdghaiya.

Separately, the health ministry said a Lebanese civilian succumbed to injuries sustained in an Israeli strike "several days ago" on the southern village of Beit Lif.

Hezbollah claimed several attacks against military positions in northern Israel on Sunday, including at least two using attack drones.

The Iran-backed group said on Saturday it had launched "squadrons of explosive-laden drones" at a north Israel army base following the killing of a Hamas commander in the south Lebanon city of Sidon a day earlier.

Two people were killed in an Israeli air raid on the town of Taybeh in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry says.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society says Al-Amal Hospital in southern Gaza's Khan Younis has received injured people following Israeli attacks.

"Today, PRCS Al-Amal Hospital received multiple individuals injured in Israeli attacks in the Hamad City area", the humanitarian group says on X.

"The necessary medical care was provided to them."

Today, PRCS Al-Amal Hospital received multiple individuals injured in Israeli attacks in the Hamad City area of #KhanYunis. The necessary medical care was provided to them. pic.twitter.com/CrIgSjZsXL

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) August 11, 2024

UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA says children in Gaza "need to go back to playing & learning".

The agency posts on X that its workers "continue to offer them recreational & psychosocial activities, giving them a chance to socialise & forget the horrors of war for a while".

"This is a first, fundamental step to restore their childhood," UNRWA adds.

Children in #Gaza need to go back to playing & learning. Our @UNRWA colleagues continue to offer them recreational & psychosocial activities, giving them a chance to socialize & forget the horrors of war for a while.

This is a first, fundamental step to restore their childhood. pic.twitter.com/Rk66NO6YUK

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 11, 2024

Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, says it targeted an Israeli personnel with Al-Yassin 105 missile in the Zalata area east of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

An Israeli was killed and another wounded on Sunday by Palestinian gunmen who opened fire on a main road in the occupied West Bank, Israel's ambulance service and military said.

The military said it was pursuing the suspected assailants, blocking routes, and conducting searches.

(Reuters)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Moscow next week to discuss the Gaza war with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a Palestinian envoy said.

Russia's state-run TASS news agency cited the Palestinian ambassador in Moscow as saying Abbas will arrive on Monday and meet Putin on Tuesday.

Abbas heads the Fatah Palestinian movement, a rival to Hamas.

Ambassador Abdel Hafiz Nofal said the two leaders would discuss events in Gaza since the war began on 7 October. "They will talk about Russia's role, what can be done."

He added: "We have a very difficult situation, and Russia is a country that is close to us. We need to consult each other."

Palestinian Islamic Jihad's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, says it bombed an Israeli army command centre northeast of Khan Younis.

Ambulance crews recovered the corpses of two people who had been killed from the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood in south Gaza's Rafah, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

China supports Iran in defending its "sovereignty, security and national dignity", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iran's acting foreign minister in a phone call on Sunday, according to a statement by China's foreign ministry.

In the phone call, Wang repeated Beijing's denunciation of the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July, saying the strike had violated Iran's sovereignty and threatened regional stability.

Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out strike that killed Haniyeh.

Israel has not claimed or denied responsibility for the killing, which has fueled concern that the war on Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war.

Iran has vowed to "harshly punish" Israel over the assassination.

Wang told Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran's acting foreign minister, that the killing of Haniyeh had "directly undermined the Gaza ceasefire negotiation process and undermined regional peace and stability", China's foreign ministry said.

"China supports Iran in defending its sovereignty, security and national dignity in accordance with the law, and in its efforts to maintain regional peace and stability, and stands ready to maintain close communication with Iran," Wang was quoted as saying.

(Reuters)

Five Iran-backed fighters were killed on Sunday in a drone strike in Syria's east, near the Iraqi border, a war monitor said, adding it was not clear yet who was behind the attack.

"Five pro-Iranian fighters were killed and others were injured, some severely... after an unknown drone targeted the military vehicle they were in… near the Syrian-Iraqi border," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The strike occurred in Syria's eastern Deir Az-Zour province, where Iran wields significant influence and which is regularly targeted by Israel and the United States, according to the Britain-based monitor with a network of sources inside Syria.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed concern about a regional escalation of the Gaza war in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, his spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said in a statement.

Scholz "emphasised that now was the time to finalise the agreement on the release of the hostages and a ceasefire" and stressed that "an end to the war in Gaza would be a decisive step towards a regional de-escalation", Buechner said.

An emergency protest has been called in the British capital on Monday after an Israeli strike on Saturday killed more than 90 people at the Al-Tabin school in Gaza City.

"Join us tomorrow outside Downing Street in London to demand our government take immediate action to #StopTheMassacre in Gaza," the Palestine Solidarity Campaign says on X.

The demonstration is taking place at 6pm (5pm GMT).

🚨 Emergency Protest
⏰️ Monday 12 August, 6PM
📍 Downing Street, London

Israel has bombed a school in Gaza City, killing more than 100. Join us tomorrow outside Downing Street in London to demand our government take immediate action to #StopTheMassacre in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/EiycIEugJS

— PSC (@PSCupdates) August 11, 2024

Israeli helicopters opened fire on the east of the town of Al-Qarara in southern Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Four people were killed following Israeli bombing targeting a group of citizens in the Al-Sikka area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

The Palestinian armed group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade says it targeted Israeli forces and vehicles in the area around the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza using mortars, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Israeli artillery shelling has targeted the towns of ِAl-Zana and Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Five injured people arrived at Nasser Hospital after two residential towers were targeted in Hamad City in Khan Younis, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Friends and foes of Israel on Saturday denounced an Israeli strike that killed scores of displaced civilians in a Gaza school, renewing calls for an immediate ceasefire.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy wrote on X that he was "appalled by the Israeli military strike on Al-Tabeen school and the tragic loss of life," adding that "we need an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians, free all hostages, and end restrictions on aid".

A White House statement said it was "deeply concerned about reports of civilian casualties" following the strike and was seeking more information.

The strike "underscores the urgency of a ceasefire and hostage deal, which we continue to work tirelessly to achieve", the statement added.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said the strike "showed once again that Israel does not respect any of the rules and regulations of international law and moral and human principles."

Kanani called for "firm action by Muslim and freedom-loving countries around the world to support the Palestinian nation and its legitimate struggles and resistance against the occupation".