Gaza medical officials say Israeli strike kills 4 foreign aid workers

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DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An obvious Israeli airstrike killed 4 worldwide help employees with the World Central Kitchen charity and their Palestinian driver late Monday after they helped ship meals and different provides to northern Gaza that had arrived hours earlier by ship, well being officers in Gaza mentioned.

Footage confirmed the our bodies of the 5 useless at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital within the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. A number of of them wore protecting gear with the charity’s emblem. Workers confirmed the passports of three of the useless — British, Australian and Polish. The nationality of the fourth help employee was not instantly identified.

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The employees’ automotive was hit by an Israeli strike simply after crossing from northern Gaza after serving to ship help that had arrived hours earlier on a ship from Cyprus, Mahmoud Thabet, a paramedic from the Palestinian Crimson Crescent who was on the workforce that introduced the our bodies to the hospital, advised The Related Press. The supply of fireside couldn’t be independently confirmed and the Israeli navy didn’t reply to requests for remark.

The help ships that arrived Monday carried some 400 tons of meals and provides in a cargo organized by the United Arab Emirates and the World Central Kitchen, the charity based by superstar chef Jose Andres. Final month a ship delivered 200 tons of help in a pilot run. The Israeli navy was concerned in coordinating each deliveries. A spokesperson for the charity couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

The U.S. has touted the ocean route as a brand new technique to ship desperately wanted help to northern Gaza, the place a number of hundred Palestinians face imminent famine, largely reduce off from the remainder of the territory by Israeli forces. Israel has barred UNRWA, the primary U.N. company in Gaza, from making deliveries to the north, and different help teams say sending truck convoys north has been too harmful due to the navy’s failure to make sure protected passage.

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The strike got here hours after Israeli troops ended a two-week raid on Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, leaving the ability largely gutted and a swath of destruction within the surrounding neighborhoods. Footage confirmed Shifa’s most important buildings had been diminished to burned-out husks.

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Israel mentioned it launched the raid on Shifa as a result of senior Hamas operatives had regrouped there and had been planning assaults. The navy mentioned its troops killed 200 militants within the operation, although the declare that they had been all militants couldn’t be confirmed, and Palestinians coming to the location after the troops withdrew discovered our bodies of civilians.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS MONDAY:

Syrian officers and state media mentioned an Israeli airstrike destroyed the Iran’s consulate in Syria, killing two Iranian generals and 5 officers. The strike seems to suggest an escalation of Israel’s focusing on of Iranian navy officers and their allies in Syria. The focusing on has intensified since Hamas militants — who’re supported by Iran — attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

Israel, which hardly ever acknowledges such strikes, mentioned it had no remark. Iran’s ambassador, Hossein Akbari, vowed revenge for the assault “on the similar magnitude and harshness.”

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Additionally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned he would shut down satellite tv for pc broadcaster Al Jazeera instantly after parliament handed a regulation Monday clearing the way in which for the nation to halt the Qatari-owned channel from broadcasting from Israel.

Netanyahu referred to as the community the “terror channel” and accused it of harming Israeli safety, taking part within the Oct. 7 Hamas assaults and inciting violence towards Israel.

Al Jazeera condemned his remarks, calling them “a harmful and ridiculous lie” and saying they had been Netanyahu’s justification “for the continuing assault” on the media community and press freedom. In a press release, the community vowed to persist in its reporting with “boldness and professionalism.”

RAID LEAVES SHIFA IN RUINS

The Shifa raid gutted a facility that had as soon as been the guts of Gaza’s well being care system however which docs and employees had struggled to get even partially working once more after a earlier Israeli assault in November. A number of witnesses mentioned military bulldozers had plowed up a mass grave that had been dug in November in Shifa’s courtyard, leaving many our bodies uncovered.

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The most recent assault triggered days of heavy combating for blocks round Shifa, with witnesses reporting airstrikes, the shelling of houses and troops going home to deal with to drive residents to go away. Israeli authorities recognized six officers from Hamas’ navy wing they mentioned had been killed contained in the hospital in the course of the raid. Israel additionally mentioned it seized weapons and precious intelligence.

After the troops withdrew, a whole lot of Palestinians returned to seek for misplaced family members or study the injury.

Among the many useless had been Ahmed Maqadma and his mom — each docs at Shifa — and his cousin, mentioned Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a Palestinian-British physician who volunteered at Shifa and different hospitals in the course of the first months of the struggle earlier than returning to Britain.

The destiny of the three had been unknown since they talked by telephone with household as they tried to go away Shifa almost every week in the past and the road all of the sudden went useless. On Monday, relations discovered their our bodies with gunshot wounds a few block from the hospital, mentioned Abu Sitta, who’s in contact with the household.

Mohammed Mahdi, who was amongst those that returned to the realm, described a scene of “whole destruction.” He mentioned a number of buildings had been burned down and that he counted six our bodies within the space, together with two within the hospital courtyard, although it was not clear after they died.

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Not less than 21 sufferers died in the course of the raid, World Well being Group Director-Common Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted late Sunday on X, previously Twitter.

The navy denied that its forces harmed any civilians contained in the compound. Israel has accused Hamas of utilizing hospitals for navy functions and has raided many hospitals throughout the territory.

Critics accuse the military of recklessly endangering civilians and of decimating a well being sector already overwhelmed with wounded.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the highest navy spokesman, mentioned Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group established their most important northern headquarters contained in the hospital. He described days of close-quarters combating and blamed Hamas for the destruction, saying some fighters barricaded themselves inside hospital wards whereas others launched mortar rounds on the compound.

Hagari mentioned the troops arrested some 900 suspected militants in the course of the raid, together with greater than 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, and seized over $3 million in several currencies, in addition to weapons. He mentioned the military evacuated greater than 200 of the estimated 300 to 350 sufferers. Two Israeli troopers had been killed within the raid, the navy mentioned.

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The struggle started on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 folks, largely civilians, and taking round 250 folks hostage.

Israel responded with an air, land and sea offensive that has killed at the very least 32,845 Palestinians, round two-thirds of them girls and youngsters, in response to Gaza’s Well being Ministry. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its depend. The Israeli navy blames the civilian toll on Palestinian militants as a result of they struggle in dense residential areas.

The struggle has displaced a lot of the territory’s inhabitants and pushed a 3rd of its residents to the brink of famine.

Netanyahu has vowed to maintain up the offensive till Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are freed. He says Israel will quickly increase floor operations to the southern metropolis of Rafah, the place some 1.4 million folks — greater than half of Gaza’s inhabitants — have sought refuge.

However he faces mounting stress from Israelis who blame him for the safety failures of Oct. 7 and from some households of the hostages who blame him for the failure to succeed in a deal regardless of a number of weeks of talks mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt. Tens of 1000’s protested Sunday, demanding Netanyahu do extra to convey residence the hostages within the largest anti-government demonstration for the reason that begin of the struggle.

Hamas and different militants are nonetheless believed to be holding some 100 hostages and the stays of 30 others, after releasing a lot of the relaxation throughout a cease-fire final November in change for the discharge of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

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