An Israeli bombardment left nine dead, including six children, all members of the same family, on the night of Friday to Saturday, April 20, in Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip, reports the Civil Protection of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian enclave.
“Nine martyrs, including six children, were pulled from the rubble after Israeli warplanes struck a house of the Radwan family in Tal Al-Sultan, Rafah”announces Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for the organization, in a press release sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The six children are aged between 1 and 16 years old, said staff at Al-Najjar hospital where they were admitted, adding that a woman and a man were among the victims.
Shortly after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel asked Palestinians living in the north of the territory to go to “safety zones” located in the South, notably in Rafah. Six months later, the city is under threat of an imminent ground offensive.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was determined to order an assault on the city where four Hamas battalions are, according to him, entrenched. Humanitarian organizations and a growing number of foreign chancelleries oppose this operation, fearing that it will cause many victims among the 1.5 million Gazans, many of them displaced, who are in Rafah.
The offensive carried out by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Hamas raid in the south of the Hebrew state on October 7 left 34,049 dead, the majority women and children, according to the latest assessment communicated Saturday by the Ministry of Health of the enclave administered by Hamas.
Ten “terrorists” killed in West Bank, Israeli army says
The Israeli army says it killed ten people and arrested eight others during an operation in the Nour Shams camp, near Tulkarem, in the northern occupied West Bank.
“Security forces eliminated ten terrorists during clashes”writes the army in a press release, adding to carry out this operation “for more than forty hours” against Palestinian armed groups.
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The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health, which reports “several killed and injured within the camp”, accuses the army of preventing medical teams from entering there. A rescuer was, according to him, among the injured.
“The siege of the Nour Shams camp has continued for more than forty-two hours”Muayad Shaaban, head of the Commission for Resistance to Settlement and the Separation Wall between Israel and the West Bank, told AFP. “This incursion is unprecedented (…). There are snipers on the roofs and special forces are deployed” in the camp, he added.
A 16-year-old boy died after being “hit in the head by Israeli fire” in the Tulkarem displaced persons camp, the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Palestinian news agency WAFa announced on Friday, which also reported the death of a 30-year-old man, also killed by gunfire. Traders were on strike Saturday in Tulkarem to protest against the raid, according to the agency.
Hamas leader received by Turkish president in Istanbul
Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh was received on Saturday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul. He was notably accompanied by his predecessor Khaled Mechaal, according to photos released by the Turkish presidency. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the head of the intelligence services (MIT), Ibrahim Kalin, also attended the meeting, which lasted two and a half hours, according to the Turkish press. No press conference is planned following this unprecedented meeting since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Turkey, which wants to be the spearhead of support for the Palestinian cause, provides solid and constant support to Hamas leaders, but it has found itself excluded from mediation between Israel and the Palestinian movement. This visit by Mr. Haniyeh comes at a time when Qatar, which assumes a pivotal role in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas, has said it wants “reevaluate” its role and while negotiations to secure a truce and the release of Israeli hostages are stalling. Qatari negotiators were particularly offended by Israeli criticism and that of certain American Democrats.