THERE were multiple explosions near a newly opened aid distribution point opened by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the centre of the Strip, as desperate Palestinians struggle to find food and the United Nations warns the “window to prevent famine is closing fast”.
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 70 people so far today, including nine killed in an Israeli bombing near as-Saraya junction in Gaza City.
The Israeli government has approved 22 illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, the largest one-time approval in history.
This is as the Israeli military has launched several air raids across south Lebanon, killing at least one person, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports, as it intensifies its attacks in the country, in the latest violations of a ceasefire agreement.
The strikes on Thursday targeted areas near the towns of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Beit Lif, Ramia, al-Bisariya, Wadi al-Safa and al-Sarira. Low-flying Israeli jets and drones were also reported in several regions of southern Lebanon.
An Israeli drone strike killed a municipal worker operating a water well in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, according to the town’s mayor, Zein Ali Ghandour.
Ghandour said on Thursday that the victim, Mahmoud Hasan Atwi, was “martyred” while on his official duty of trying to provide water for the people of the town.
“We condemn in the strongest terms this blatant aggression against civilians and civilian infrastructure as well as the Lebanese state and its institutions,” the mayor said in a statement.
Ghandour called on the international community to press the issue and put an end to Israeli violations.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 54,249 Palestinians and wounded 123,492, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
