Over 50 killed in attacks across Gaza
- Israeli air strikes kill at least 22 Palestinians in central Gaza’s Deir al Balah region and 30 in Rafah in the south.
- Palestinians who fled the ongoing Israeli siege of al-Shifa Hospital say Israeli tanks and armoured bulldozers drove over at least four bodies and ambulances.
Israeli army says about 500 fighters arrested in al-Shifa Hospital operation
The Israeli army says some 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad members have been arrested since the week-old operation began at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.
It added that troops reportedly killed some 20 fighters in an ongoing and new offensive in Khan Younis’s al-Amal neighborhood in southern Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli jets attacked about 50 targets throughout the Gaza Strip with a military statement saying helicopters and drones struck several other targets and killed about 10 fighters.
China will support new Security Council draft resolution on Gaza ceasefire
China says it supports a new draft resolution at the UN Security Council on an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza, after it and Russia vetoed an earlier text proposed by the US.
“China supports this draft resolution and commends Algeria and other Arab countries for their hard work in this regard,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
“We hope the Security Council will pass it as soon as possible and send a strong signal for the cessation of hostilities.”
Israel trying to empty Gaza of Palestinians to re-establish settlements
Israel is using famine as a “weapon of war” in Gaza to put pressure on the Palestinian people to leave the besieged enclave, Adel Abdel Ghafar, an analyst at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, says.
He told Al Jazeera that the “dream” of many far-right politicians in Israel is to make Gaza “uninhabitable” for Palestinians, with the goal of re-establishing settlements for the Israelis.
“The destruction of schools, hospitals, infrastructure [is making Gaza] almost unlivable and it will force the international community to take further refugees and thin out the population of Gaza,” he said.
“I think Israel wants to have a big chunk of the population leave and become refugees elsewhere.”
Palestinians arrested, wounded by Israeli forces in occupied West Bank
The Israeli military has arrested a man from the Shuweika suburb, north of the city of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reports.
It also reported that Israeli forces arrested two men in the Qalandiya camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem.
Two Palestinian men have also been shot during confrontations with Israeli forces in the centre of the city of Nablus, while a third man has been injured by shrapnel.
