Israel killed at least eight Palestinians in an airstrike that hit mourners attending a funeral in central Gaza on Friday, according to local health officials, in one of the deadliest attacks reported in the strip since a ceasefire took effect last October.
Medics said another 20 people were wounded when the strike hit the funeral in Nuseirat. The gathering was being held for a person who had been killed in an earlier Israeli strike on the same area.
Separate Israeli airstrikes elsewhere in Gaza killed at least three more Palestinians, taking Friday's death toll to at least 12, health officials said.
Hamas described the attack on the funeral as a "brutal massacre" of mourners and called on international mediators and the United Nations to intervene to stop Israeli strikes in Gaza.
The Israeli military said it had targeted a cell belonging to the Islamic Jihad militant group, which operates alongside Hamas in parts of the Gaza Strip.
It added that it was "aware of the claims that several uninvolved individuals were harmed as a result of the strike".
Residents living east of Deir al-Balah said Israeli drones broadcast messages ordering people to leave the area immediately, forcing families to flee their homes in search of safety.
The latest strikes come despite a ceasefire agreed in October that halted large-scale fighting but has failed to end regular violence.
According to Gaza health officials, more than 1,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israeli attacks since the truce began. Israel says its operations are aimed at militants. During the same period, four Israeli soldiers have been killed by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a U.S.-based organisation that monitors political violence, said Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas and other militant groups rose to more than 40 in June, the highest monthly figure since the ceasefire began.
The group said other attacks near the boundary between Israeli and Palestinian-controlled areas also killed and injured civilians, including women and children.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
Most of Gaza's population of around two million people has been displaced and is now living in makeshift shelters or damaged buildings along a narrow stretch of the coast.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source wh...
Central Asia’s economy has surpassed $543 billion, driven by Kazakhstan’s economic weight, strong exports and foreign investment, while growing tr...
The United Nations refugee agency is planning a settlement and carpet-weaving workshop for Afghan returnees in Kabul as the country grapples with larg...
One hundred years after the First World War and more than eighty years after the devastation of the Second World War gave rise to the United Nations, humanity once again finds itself living in an age of permanent crisis.
Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the U.S. must meet other conditions.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran seeks compensation and sanctions relief before reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
A criminal court in Damascus has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.
Central Asia’s economy has surpassed $543 billion, driven by Kazakhstan’s economic weight, strong exports and foreign investment, while growing trade across Asia points to an increasingly connected region.
The United Nations refugee agency is planning a settlement and carpet-weaving workshop for Afghan returnees in Kabul as the country grapples with large-scale returns and growing pressure on housing, jobs and basic services.
Iran will soon join the New Development Bank (NDB), the lender established by BRICS nations, Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said in a state media report on Wednesday ahead of a BRICS finance meeting in India.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has outlined an expanded vision for the Zangezur Corridor, describing it not simply as a transport route connecting mainland Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan exclave, but as a future platform for energy, telecommunications and wider regional integration.
Iran and Russia are seeking closer cooperation on arms control and Iran’s nuclear programme as the two countries deepen strategic ties amid heightened tensions with the U.S. and Israel.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment