Saturday 14 / September / 2024
Israel strikes Jenin, local Hamas leader 'eliminated'
The Israeli military said it struck the West Bank city of Jenin on the third day of heavy fighting in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had "struck a terrorist cell."
On X, formerly Twitter, the IDF said it had "eliminated" Wassem Hazem, the head of Hamas in Jenin, during an operation in the northern Samaria area.
The IDF said Hazem was identified alongside a terrorist cell in a vehicle in the area.
The Israeli military accused Hazem of being "involved in carrying out and directing shooting and bombing attacks, and continuously advanced terrorist activities in the Judea and Samaria area."
The IDF said that, shortly after the killing, one of its aircraft killed two Hamas fighters who it said were fleeing a vehicle they were traveling in, alongside Hazem.
UN calls on Israel to stop military operations in West Bank
Israeli evacuation orders leave Gaza residents in 'limbo,' says UN aid official
A top United Nations aid official has questioned "what has become of our basic humanity," as relief agencies struggle to respond to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The comments follow a halt to the movement of aid into the Palestinian territory due to Israel's latest evacuation order for the Deir al-Balah area.
"We cannot plan more than 24 hours in advance because we struggle to know what supplies we will have, when we will have them or where we will be able to deliver," Joyce Msuya, acting head of the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA) told the UN Security Council on Thursday.
"Civilians are hungry. They are thirsty. They are sick. They are homeless. They have been pushed beyond... what any human being should bear," Msuya added.
She said more than 88% of Gaza territory has at some point been given eviction notices since Israel launched its offensive against Hamas, in retaliation for the deadly attack on Israeli soil on October 7.
This had left Gaza residents "in a state of limbo," she added.
"What we have witnessed over the past 11 months... calls into question the world's commitment to the international legal order that was designed to prevent these tragedies," Msuya said.
"It forces us to ask: what has become of our basic sense of humanity?"
Israeli cabinet approves plan to keep control of Gaza-Egypt border — reports
Israel's security Cabinet plans to maintain control over the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt under any cease-fire deal in the conflict, Israeli media reported.
The Times of Israel and Haaretz newspapers cited sources as saying a large majority of the Cabinet voted in favor of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position during a meeting on Thursday evening.
According to these reports, only Defense Minister Yoav Gallant voted against it, while the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir abstained.
Israel claims that numerous tunnels operated by Hamas run under the approximately 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) "Philadelphi Corridor."
Netanyahu insists on maintaining control to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza.
Egypt denies the existence of these underground routes.
In the current cease-fire negotiations, Israel's demand for permanent control of the Philadelphi Corridor is one of the main points of contention.
Harris says won't change Biden policy on arms for Israel
US Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris has said she would not change President Joe Biden's policy on supplying Israel with arms for its war in Gaza if elected to the White House in November.
"No," the vice president said when asked during an interview with CNN if she would change course and withhold weapons to Israel, as demanded by some in her party.
She added that it was time for a cease-fire and hostage deal and to "end this war."
Harris attended a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday, which was briefly disrupted by demonstrators who were protesting Washington's involvement in the Israel-Hamas war.
WHO: 1.2 million polio vaccine doses delivered to Gaza
Some 1.2 million vaccine doses have already been delivered to Gaza ahead of a September 1 campaign to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against polio,
a World Health Organization official said on Friday.
Some 400,000 additional doses are en route to the territory, said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative for the occupied Palestinian territories.
On Thursday, the UN health agency said Israel had agreed to at least three days of "humanitarian pauses" in parts of Gaza, starting Sunday.
The WHO planned the vaccination drive after the first case of polio in a quarter of a century was recorded in the Palestinian territory.
