The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said there were 25 dead and 50 injured in the shelling, which it blamed on Israel
UN secretary-general António Guterres has warned that the world cannot “afford Lebanon to become another Gaza” as tensions between Israel and the Hezbollah group in neighbouring Lebanon intensify.
“One rash move – one miscalculation – could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination,” he told reporters on Friday. “Let’s be clear: The people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”
Guterres also said it was Israel’s responsibility – as the occupying power in the Gaza Strip – to restore public order and safety in the Palestinian territory so humanitarian aid can be delivered. “Most of the trucks with humanitarian aid inside Gaza are now looted,” Guterres told reporters, adding that Israel prevented the UN from using Palestinian civil police for aid security. “There is total chaos in Gaza and there is no authority in most of the territory.”
A daily “pause” the Israeli military declared in Gaza last weekend to facilitate aid flows has had no impact on deliveries of badly needed aid, the UN’s health agency said Friday. “So overall, we the UN can say that we did not see an impact on the humanitarian supplies coming in since that, I will say, unilateral announcement of this technical pause,” said Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in the Palestinian territories. “That is the overall assessment.
Witnesses whose relatives died in one of the bombardments told the AP news agency that Israeli forces fired a second volley that killed people who came out of their tents. “Two tanks climbed a hilltop overseeing Mawasi and they sent balls of fire that hit the tents of the poor people displaced in the area,” one resident told the news agency Reuters.
The Israeli military said the episode was under review but that “there is no indication that a strike was carried out by the IDF” inside the safe zone, using an acronym for the Israeli forces. It did not provide details on the episode or say what the intended targets might have been.
At least 45 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza on Friday, Reuters reported. The dead included a father and son killed in an Israeli strike on Khan Younis and four municipal workers in Gaza City, with rescue workers still searching for more victims. More than 37,400 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli onslaught.
Qatar said Friday it was pursuing efforts to “bridge the gap” between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and release Israeli hostages held there. “We have continued our efforts without interruption over the last few days,” Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a news conference in Madrid with Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares.
Explosions were reported near a ship east of the Yemeni port city of Aden on Friday, Britain’s maritime safety agency UKMTO said. The agency, which did not identify the vessel, said the ship was able to continue its journey and “the crew are reported safe”.
Armenia announced Friday it was recognising the State of Palestine, the latest country to do so during the war in Gaza, saying it was against “violence towards civilian populations.” Shortly after the former Soviet republic announced the recognition, Israel’s foreign ministry said it summoned Yerevan’s ambassador for a “severe reprimand”.