Israel war on Gaza : Over 11,000 students killed in Gaza, West Bank
- Israeli attacks have killed more than 11,000 students in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank since October 7, the Palestinian Education Ministry says.
- At least seven people have been killed and many are feared trapped after Israeli forces bombed Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to rescuers.
Most schools in Gaza’s Beit Hanoon destroyed, Al Jazeera’s verification unit finds
Al Jazeera’s verification unit Sanad has found that Beit Hanoon, in the northern Gaza Strip, has seen most of its UNRWA and government schools and educational facilities destroyed in Israeli bombardments.
Satellite images revealed nine schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees were completely destroyed in addition to the partial destruction of three other schools sheltering displaced Palestinians.
Sources on the ground told Sanad that about 600 displaced families are now sheltering in three remaining schools, two governmental and one UNRWA-affiliated, on the city’s outskirts.
Hezbollah claims hitting Israeli artillery positions
The Lebanese armed group says its forces have targeted Israeli artillery positions in the Zaura area with rockets, achieving a direct hit.
Hezbollah said its fighters also hit a group of Israeli soldiers in Karantina Hill.
Three killed in Israeli strike on Lebanon’s Blida
We reported earlier of an Israeli air raid on the town of Blida, in southern Lebanon’s Marjayoun district.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health has now confirmed that three people were killed in the strike and two injured, the National News Agency reported.
‘Netanyahu using Philadelphi Corridor as a pretext to avoid ceasefire deal’
Former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas says Netanyahu is using the Philadelphi Corridor as a “pretext” to avoid a ceasefire deal.
“A host of Israeli generals who know the area and terrain, as well as the risks, have been saying that Mr Netanyahu has been mendacious about the Philadelphi Corridor, that this is not a major deal,” Pinkas, chief of staff under then-PM Ehud Barak, told Al Jazeera.
He said Israel is expecting Blinken to propose a new US plan for a deal in which it maintains only a “temporary control” of the corridor located between Gaza and Egypt.
“But again, the Philadelphi Corridor is a distraction,” he added.
Blinken is due back in the region this week to try to revive stalled ceasefire talks to end the 11-month-old war that has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians.
‘Unprecedented in recent history’: German media ask Israel to allow reporting from Gaza
German news media outlets have called on Israel to grant them access to Gaza, charging that the “almost complete exclusion of international media … is unprecedented in recent history”.
“After almost a year of war, we call on the Israeli government: allow us to enter the Gaza Strip,” a group of newspapers, agencies and broadcasters wrote in an open letter.
They also urged Egypt to permit them entry to the widely devastated Palestinian territory via the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians and destroyed large parts of Gaza since it launched war on October 7 following an attack inside Israel claimed by Hamas. More than 1,100 people were killed in the attack by Palestinian groups.
Seven members of one family killed in Bureij strike
Seven people from the same family have been pronounced dead in the aftermath of the strike on the Bureij refugee camp.
The victims of this air raid are displaced Palestinians who made their way back to their homes in the past few weeks after the situation in Deir el-Balah and other areas became unliveable.
They made their way back to the Bureij camp and that’s when they were attacked by the Israeli military.
For more than five hours now, paramedics have been largely unable to reach the site of the air strike and rescue those still trapped under the rubble.
Media watchdog slams Israel’s move to strip Al Jazeera journalists of press credentials
“The Israeli government’s decision to revoke Al Jazeera press passes highlights a broader and deeply alarming pattern of harassment of journalists and attacks on press freedom in Israel and the region,” Scott Griffen, IPI interim executive director, said.
Nitzan Chen, director of Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO), announced the decision on Thursday, accusing Al Jazeera of spreading “false content” and “incitement against Israelis”.
Griffen said the move was indicative of a “systematic effort” by Israeli authorities to “expand its control over media reporting about Israel, including reporting on and from Gaza”.
In May, Israel’s cabinet unanimously voted to shut down Al Jazeera in the country, immediately ordering the closure of its offices and a ban on the company’s broadcasts.
At the time, Al Jazeera described it as a “criminal act” and warned that Israel’s suppression of the free press “stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law”.
If you’re just joining us
Here’s a recap of some of the latest developments:
- At least 41,252 Palestinians have been killed and 95,497 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since October 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
- At least four people have been killed as Israel bombed a home in the Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. The civil defence said Israeli troops targeted them as they attempted to rescue dozens of people trapped under the rubble.
- Raids have also been reported in Gaza City, where at least one person was killed in a strike on al-Sahaba Street.
- In the West Bank, Israeli forces have arrested 30 Palestinians, including a child and former prisoners. The wife of Ahmed Saadat, the long-imprisoned leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was apprehended in the city of el-Bireh.
- US mediator Amos Hochstein has warned Israel over escalating the fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon after Israel’s security cabinet expanded its war objectives to include the return of the residents of the north to their homes.
