Israeli strikes on Khan Younis kills 40 Palestinians in tent camp massacre

The New Arab's live coverage of the war on Gaza concludes for today. Join us again tomorrow for the latest from Israel's assault and ongoing offensive on the besieged strip, the occupied West Bank and neighbouring Lebanon.

The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Muhannad Hadi has said the United Nations and humanitarian organisations face "continuous obstruction and insecurity in their efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the devastated population in Gaza".

Hadi cited an incident on Monday in which a team of twelve UN staff members, whose movement was coordinated with the Israeli military, was stopped on its way to North Gaza to support the third phase of the Gaza Strip-wide polio vaccination campaign.

According to Hadi, soldiers pointed their weapons towards the convoy personnel. Then, they fired live shots, and tanks and bulldozers damaged UN vehicles, "endangering the lives of UN staff inside the vehicles".

After seven and a half hours at the checkpoint, the convoy returned to base without being able to fulfil its humanitarian mission to support the polio campaign, Hadi added.

"This incident highlights the ongoing dangers and obstacles humanitarian personnel face in Gaza. Despite daily coordination of humanitarian movements with the Israeli [military], our staff and assets were not provided with sufficient protection, hindering our work. Under international humanitarian law, such protection is mandatory," he said.

The family of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American citizen killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank, has condemned the Israeli army's preliminary investigation into her death as "wholly inadequate."

They expressed outrage at the suggestion that her death by a trained sniper could have been unintentional.

According to the family, Eygi was "taking shelter in an olive grove" during a protest, where she stood "peacefully for justice as an international observer and witness to Palestinian suffering" when she was shot by an Israeli soldier.

The family described the incident as "a deliberate, targeted, and precise attack by the military against an unarmed civilian."

They are now calling on President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to initiate an independent investigation into what they termed "the Israeli military's deliberate targeting and killing of a US citizen" and are seeking full transparency from Israeli officials.

Israeli news channel Channel 12 reports that the husband of a patient at Soroka Medical Center in the Israeli city of Be'er Sheva was detained by authorities, after threatening a Palestinian member of staff with a gun.

Channel 12 additionally reported that the suspect threatened a staff member upon learning that the latter would be present in the operating room where his wife was undergoing surgery.

The suspect, a resident of Be'ersheba, was escorted off the hospital premises by police, and his weapon was confiscated. Following his arrest and interrogation, he was released on bail.

In response, Soroka Medical Center has issued a public statement that it condemns all forms of violence against its staff and expects law enforcement to take appropriate action against the individual involved.

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health has reported that two Palestinians—a man and a woman—were killed in the northern occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem.

The man was taken to Tulkarem Governmental Hospital, while the woman was brought to al-Isra Hospital, both within the city.

Their identities have not yet been disclosed. Additionally, eight other individuals were injured when Israeli forces opened fire during a raid in Tulkarem.

The Israel Defence Forces also targeted the Palestine Red Crescent Society's emergency centre in Tulkarem, surrounding it and ordering paramedics and staff to leave, according to a statement from the PRCS on X.

🚨 The Israeli Occupation forces are currently storming the Palestine Red Crescent EMS center in #Tulkarm, have surrounded it, and are ordering the crews to evacuate the center. #WestBank #IHL #NotATarget pic.twitter.com/jz0qy1u12g

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) September 10, 2024

Jordan reopened a border crossing with the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday, two days after a truck driver shot dead three Israeli guards in a rare attack.

The Jordanian national carried out his attack at the Allenby Crossing on Sunday nearly a year into the war in Gaza, which has also seen a spike in violence in the West Bank.

Israel's military shot dead the attacker, saying that he had killed three Israelis working as "security guards" who were not in the army or police.

Jordan's authorities closed the crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, after the attack.

The shooting was the first such incident in the area since the 1990s.

The crossing, in the Jordan Valley, is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank that does not require entering Israel, which has occupied the territory since 1967.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Jordanian security source said Jordan had reopened the crossing to passengers, but that it would remain closed to freight traffic.

The Red Crescent reported on Tuesday that five Palestinians were injured by gunfire in the West Bank city of Tulkarm amid an Israeli raid.

Among the wounded was said to be a first aid volunteer from the organisation, though no serious injuries were sustained.

The latest attacks come just after less than a week since the Israeli army launched a 10-day assault across the city and devastated most of the refugee camp, according to local Palestinian reports.

The volunteer EMT with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Mohamed Abu Diya, was shot with live bullets while providing care to a wounded individual in #Tulkarm camp.#NotATarget ❌ #IHL #WestBank pic.twitter.com/ChWLS4VZJp

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) September 10, 2024

Lebanese and Israeli reports confirm an Israeli strike on Lebanon's Western Bekaa district has led to the killing of Hezbollah member Muhammed Qassem al-Shaer.

Israeli forces said the strike eliminated a a special unit "terrorist" of the Lebanese group, as Lebanon's state-run news agency NNA said al-Shaer was killed after a drone hit a motorcycle he was riding.

This comes after earlier accounts by local media reported that two people were wounded after an Israeli strike targeted a vehicle.

The killing of an American citizen during a protest last week in Israeli-occupied West Bank was "unprovoked and unjustified" and shows that the Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in their rules of engagement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.

"No one should be shot and killed for attending a protest," Blinken told a news conference in London, delivering his harshest comments to date against the Israeli military.

"In our judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement," he said. 

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has voiced concern over the missile strike in Gaza's al-Mawasi humanitarian zone during a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London.

"We're meeting at a critical moment – a critical moment for securing a ceasefire in Gaza, with the shocking deaths in Khan Younis this morning only reinforcing how desperately needed that ceasefire is," he stated.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it was highly likely its forces accidentally shot dead a US-Turkish activist during a protest in the occupied West Bank last week.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was killed on Friday in the West Bank town of Beita, the site of weekly demonstrations against Israeli settlements.

In a statement on Eygi's death, the Israeli military said an inquiry had "found that it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF (Israeli army) fire".

It added that the fire "was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot".

The United Nations rights office had earlier said Israeli forces killed Eygi with a "shot in the head".

The mayor of Beita, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa and her family also reported that Israeli soldiers killed her.

Turkey has condemned her killing, while the United States has called it "tragic" and said it was pressing for "a swift, thorough and transparent investigation".

Prior to Tuesday's statement the Israeli army acknowledged it had opened fire in the Beita area and said it was "looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired".

Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organisation, which on Saturday dismissed claims that ISM activists threw rocks at Israeli forces as "false" and said the demonstration was peaceful.

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland has released a statement, following the killing of dozens in the al-Mawasi camp in southern Gaza's Khan Younis.

"I strongly condemn today’s deadly airstrikes by Israel on a densely populated area in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in Khan Younis where displaced people were sheltering," Wennesland said on Tuesday.

"I reiterate my call for all sides to immediately reach an agreement that will bring about the release of all hostages and a ceasefire. The killing of civilians must stop, and this horrific war must end."

According to Gaza's health ministry, the bodies of 19 Palestinians who were killed by the Mawasi massacre were recovered and identified.

The Israeli attack, which took place in Khan Younis' al Mawasi area, has led to a casualty toll which is continuing to be confirmed.

"There are still a number of victims under the rubble, under the sand and on the roads," the ministry said.

"Ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them and rescue them, and they have not reached the hospitals yet."

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant offered his support for a hostage release agreement in the first phase of a Gaza truce deal, saying it would give Israel a "strategic opportunity" to address other security challenges.

Bringing the hostages home is "the right thing to do", Gallant told foreign journalists.

"Achieving an agreement is also a strategic opportunity that gives us a high chance to change the security situation on all fronts," he said.

Urging the international community to keep up the pressure on Hamas to reach an agreement, Gallant said he firmly supported the first stage of a three-phase ceasefire deal announced by US President Joe Biden on May 31, hoping to build on it for an eventual end to the war.

"Israel should achieve an agreement that will bring about a pause for six weeks and bring back hostages," Gallant told journalists at a sit-down on Monday at his office. His remarks were released for publication on Tuesday.

Gallant also said Hamas's military capabilities had been severely damaged after more than 11 months of war and that it no longer existed as a military formation in Gaza.

His comments came as mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt struggle to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,000 people.

More than 41,020 Palestinians have been killed and 94,925 have been injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. 

A campaign to vaccinate a final 200,000 children in north Gaza against polio began on Tuesday although health and aid officials said the operation was complicated by access restrictions, evacuation orders and shortages of fuel.

The campaign in north Gaza, the part of the territory hardest hit by Israel's 11-month military offensive in the devastated territory, follows the vaccination of more than 446,000 Palestinian children in central and south Gaza earlier this month.

Medical staff had started administering vaccines in the north despite a dire need for fuel, among other challenges, said Dr. Moussa Abed of the primary care unit in Gaza's health ministry.

Vaccination centres are in areas that are militarily very active, difficult to reach and isolated if things go wrong, said Sam Rose, a deputy director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

"There are some nerves, but we'll have to make it work," he told news agency Reuters by text message.

On Monday, Israel stopped a convoy that included vehicles and fuel for the vaccination campaign as well as a World Health Organization team trying to get to Gaza's Al Shifa hospital and the mission had to be aborted, the WHO's Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in a briefing.

Israel’s Civil Administration, part of the country’s Ministry of Defence, has issued a warning to Palestinians in the village of Khirbet Zanuta, located in the occupied West Bank, stating that their homes will be demolished by 1 October unless they vacate the area.

This notice comes just weeks after the villagers won a legal case in Israel’s High Court of Justice, which ruled that the military and police must allow them to return to their homes. The residents had originally fled the village in October due to repeated attacks and harassment from Israeli settlers.

Upon their return, the Israeli army prohibited the villagers from repairing their homes, including preventing them from reattaching the metal roofs they had removed when they initially left. As a result, many residents have been living in homes without proper roofs since their return.

Local media reports have confirmed the killing of five Palestinians by Israeli bombing at a food stall in northern Gaza's Gaza City.

Reports added that the five were killed at a popular falafel stand in the al-Shawa Square area in Gaza City.

More updates to come.

President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, spoke with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, a US official told news agency Reuters.

The two spoke about several regional issues in the Middle East and held a constructive call, according to the official, who declined to be named. 

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will host US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London on Tuesday, the British government said, with discussions to include support for Ukraine and the de-escalation of violence in the Middle East.

Lammy and Blinken will open talks on a UK-US Strategic Dialogue to strengthen ties which deliver growth and security, the British government said.

This will cover key elements of the UK-US relationship, including defence and security, Europe, Ukraine, the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific, and other global priorities, it added.

"In a more volatile and insecure world, it is even more important that we are highly aligned nations," Lammy said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

"Together we are re-energising our economic partnership, working together to tackle insecurity abroad and facing the future in unity and confidence." 

Palestinian group Hamas denied on Tuesday that its fighters were present at the scene of a strike on a humanitarian zone in Gaza that the Israeli military said had targeted one of the group's command centres.

"The occupation's allegations of the presence of resistance fighters are a blatant lie," the group said in a statement on Telegram.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it struck senior Hamas commanders who were operating in a command centre embedded inside a designated humanitarian area in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

"These [operatives] were directly involved in the execution of the October 7th Massacre and have been recently operating to carry out terror activities," it said.

The military argued that the casualty figure published by authorities in Gaza, "do not align with the information held by the [Israeli forces], the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike."

Those targeted in the strike included the heads of Hamas’ aerial unit and observation and targets department, the military said. 

Yemen's Houthis downed a US MQ-9 drone in Saada province, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Tuesday.

The United Nations agency in charge of aid for displaced Palestinians said the Israeli military stopped a convoy for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the troops.

The agency’s head Philippe Lazzarini said the staffers who were held had been trying to work on a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City.

“The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff,” he wrote on the social platform X. “Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armoured vehicles.”

He said the staff and the convoy later returned to a UN base but it was unclear if a polio vaccination campaign would take place Tuesday in northern Gaza.

“UN Staff must be allowed to undertake their duties in safety + be protected at all times in accordance with international humanitarian law," he wrote. “Gaza is no different.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Israeli Army stopped a UN convoy on its way to northern #Gaza for more than eight hours today (Monday) despite prior detailed coordination.

The convoy had both national & international staff traveling to roll out the #polio vaccination campaign for children in Gaza city and…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) September 9, 2024