Israel kills 8 Palestinians sheltering in north Gaza school

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

The Wafa news agency reports that at least eight people have been killed and 15 injured in an Israeli attack that targeted tents where displaced Palestinians were sleeping at the Halimah al-Saadiyah School.

Two young men were detained by Israeli forces near the entrance of the Fawwar refugee camp, located south of Hebron, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The men, whose identities have not been disclosed, were in a vehicle stopped by Israeli forces stationed on a road leading to the camp, the report said.

The United Nations human rights office said Israeli forces shot and killed an American-Turkish activist on Friday during a West Bank protest at which the army has acknowledged opening fire.

"On 6 September ISF shot in the head and killed a 26-year-old American activist in Beita, Nablus, while she was participating in a peaceful anti-settlement protest," the office for the Palestinian territories said in a statement, referring to the Israeli security forces.

The Israeli army said it was "looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired".

Lebanon's health ministry reports that one person was injured after Israeli forces fired artillery shells on the southern town of Kfar Kila.

According to the state news agency NNA, the injured individual was transported to Marjayoun Governmental Hospital.

Another person was also taken to the same hospital after inhaling "phosphorous" from shells fired by Israeli forces on Burj al-Muluk, a town in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh region.

This report comes as the Israeli military announced it had targeted "more than 15 launchers and military infrastructures" allegedly linked to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

A shocking new case of sexual abuse by Israeli prison guards is being investigated by police, the latest in a series of accusations of torture and ill-treatment against Palestinian detainees at the hands of Israeli authorities.

A Palestinian man held in Israel’s Ketziot prison has been subjected to repeated violence and torture by Israeli guards while in custody, the detainee’s lawyer said.

The man, who is only being identified as 'S', is from the occupied West Bank town of Qalqilya and was first sentenced in 2004 for allegedly belonging to the military wing of Hamas.

Lawyer Weaam Baloum said that S had been "repeatedly tortured and humiliated" since the outbreak of the Gaza war last October.

Read more below.

Israeli troops launched an operation in Burin, accompanied by heavy gunfire, detaining at least one Palestinian, according to the Wafa news agency.

Local sources reported that several individuals experienced tear gas inhalation during clashes.

This raid follows the end of a large-scale, 10-day incursion by Israeli forces into Jenin and Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, which resulted in deaths, injuries, widespread destruction, and power outages.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday condemned what he called "Israel's barbaric intervention" which led to the death of a US-Turkish dual national activist in the occupied West Bank.

"I condemn Israel's barbaric intervention against a demonstration against the occupation in the West Bank and I pray for God's mercy for our citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who lost her life in the attack," he wrote on X.

At least six additional Palestinians have been killed in attacks on Gaza this evening, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Local medical sources reported that medics transported “martyrs and wounded individuals” to al-Awda Hospital in the central Nuseirat refugee camp after a residential home belonging to the Shehadeh family was hit.

One of the victims was killed when Israeli warplanes targeted people near a mosque in the al-Basra neighborhood of northern Gaza City.

These latest attacks bring the total number of Palestinians killed across Gaza on Friday to at least 33, according to medical sources.

Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz said Thursday that those protesting American support for Israel's war on Gaza are doing so for “all the right reasons," as the Democratic ticket looks to balance its support for Israel with the humanitarian plight of civilians in the war-torn enclave.

Walz's comments came in an interview with a local Michigan public radio station — a state with a large Muslim American population that is also a potentially pivotal swing state in this November's election. His comments appeared to mark tonal shift, though not a policy one, from the steadfast support for Israel that Vice President Kamala Harris espoused at the Democratic National Convention last month.

Walz said the 7 October attack by Hamas was “a horrific act of violence against the people of Israel. They certainly have the right to defend themselves.” But, he also said that, “we can’t allow what’s happened in Gaza to happen. The Palestinian people have every right to life and liberty themselves.”

The White House has said it is  'deeply disturbed' by killing of a Turkish-American dual national in the West Bank and is seeking an Israeli investigation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also gave a statement on the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot in the head by Israeli forces.

"We deplore this tragic loss," Blinken told reporters on a visit to the Dominican Republic, offering his "deepest condolences" to the victim's family.

Asked if the United States would take action against Israel, Blinken said: "First things first -- let's find out exactly what happened and we will draw the necessary conclusions and consequences from that."

"When we have more info, we will share it, make it available and, as necessary, we'll act on it," he said.

"I have no higher priority than the safety and protection of American citizens wherever they are."

Turkey has condemned Israel's killing of Turkish-American dual national Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank.

“We condemn this murder committed by the Netanyahu government,” the Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said in a statement.

“Israel is trying to intimidate all those who come to the aid of the Palestinian people and who fight peacefully against the genocide. This policy of violence will not work,” the statement continues.

"Today (Friday), during Israeli security forces activity adjacent to the area of Beita, the forces responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them.

"The IDF is looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review."

The Qassam Brigades broadcast a recording on Friday of deceased Israeli captive Almog Sarusi, which was filmed before his death.

"There is no food, no water, and no electricity," the 27-year-old says, before appearing to attack the Israeli army over alleged failures

"On October 7, you failed and neglected us... You neglected us because we asked you for help and you said, 'Help yourselves,' and there is no one to save you, which led to our capture." 

Sarusi is one of six Israeli captives whose bodies were retrieved by Israeli forces last week from Gaza.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame over responsibility for the the captives' deaths, with Hamas official Osama Hamdan on Thursday calling for an independent probe.

A US citizen taking part in a protest against settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank died of her wounds on Friday after being shot in the head by Israeli troops, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report. There was no immediate comment from the US embassy. 

(Reuters)

A number of Palestinians were injured when Israeli forces shelled an area housing displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Friday.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday that a military approach alone was not the solution to Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"The past weekend has dramatically demonstrated that a purely military approach is no solution to the situation in Gaza," she told reporters after meeting with her Israeli counterpart Israel Katz in the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

Baerbock was referring to the recovery of six more dead hostages announced on Sunday.

Twelve Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Friday in raids across the Gaza Strip, Palestinian media reported.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that medical teams were able to vaccinate 161,188 children on the first day of the second phase of the emergency vaccination campaign against polio in the southern Gaza strip, The New Arab's Arabic-language service reported.

Hamas called on the United States Thursday to "exert real pressure" on Israel to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no deal in the making.

Hamas's Qatar-based lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya called on the US to "exert real pressure on Netanyahu and his government" and "abandon their blind bias" towards Israel.

But Netanyahu said there is "not a deal in the making".

"Unfortunately, it's not close but we will do everything we can to get them to the point where they do make a deal," he told US media.

Netanyahu insists that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas. Egypt has denied that there are active tunnels along the border.

Hamas is demanding complete Israeli withdrawal from the area and on Thursday said Netanyahu's position "aims to thwart reaching an agreement".

Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin and its refugee camp following an operation that lasted 10 days, Wafa reported earlier on Friday.

The operation resulted in the killing of 21 Palestinians in Jenin, including teenagers and elderly, and left many injured, the report said. 

The attack is considered “the most violent” in Jenin since 2002, the report added. 

The Israeli army started a wide-scale operation, mainly on the northern districts of the occupied West Bank on 28 August which resulted in the killing of 40 Palestinians in Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas and Hebron. 

The Israeli army said in a post on X that remotely manned drones provided guidance to ground forces and “eliminated armed militants”, adding that “more than 20 armed militants have been targeted in airstrikes so far”.