Increased Israeli airstrikes jeopardise relief, leave neighbourhoods in shambles
Jerusalem, October 26
Increased Israeli airstrikes are devastating parts of the Gaza Strip, jeopardising relief operations and leaving neighbourhoods in shambles.
A strike in the Nusseirat refugee camp on Wednesday killed several family members of one of Al Jazeera TV’s chief correspondents, Wael Dahdouh. Strikes elsewhere destroyed homes and businesses and left many digging through the debris.
Health care facilities are doing their best to treat the wounded, but with supplies that are becoming scarce.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says its relief operations across the Gaza Strip will need to be curtailed amid the airstrikes.
The war, in its 19th day, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Wednesday that at least 6,546 Palestinians had been killed and 17,439 others wounded. In the occupied West Bank, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed and 1,650 wounded in violence and Israeli raids since October 7.
The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the death tolls cited by Hamas, which says it tallies figures from hospital directors.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, according to Israeli officials, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas rampage. Israel’s military on Wednesday raised the number of remaining hostages in Gaza to 222 people, including foreigners believed captured by Hamas during the incursion. Four hostages have been released.
US and other officials fear the fighting could spill over into a wider regional conflict.
Currently:
1. Al Jazeera Gaza correspondent loses family members in an Israeli airstrike.
2. Florida orders state universities to disband pro-Palestinian student group, saying it backs Hamas.
3. Biden condemns retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.
4. Leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah holds talks with senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures.
5. Israel accuses UN chief of justifying terrorism for saying Hamas attack didn’t happen in a vacuum.
Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
Families of abducted Israelis meet Italy’s prime minister.
Israeli strike kills family members of Al Jazeera bureau chief in Gaza
Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on Wednesday killed the wife, son and young daughter of Al Jazeera Arabic’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh.
Footage aired on the Qatar-based TV network showed the veteran journalist, still wearing his blue body armor marked “Press,” weeping over his son’s corpse on a hospital floor.
“They take vengeance on us through our children,” he sobbed.
UN security council fails again to pass resolution on Israel-Hamas war
United Nations — The UN Security Council has failed again to address the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, rejecting rival United States and Russian resolutions.
Iraqi militant group says it attacked base housing US forces in Syria
Baghdad — An Iranian-backed group in Iraq claimed responsibility for an attack on a military base housing US forces in eastern Syria on Wednesday, as a string of attacks targeting US military facilities in Iraq and Syria persist.
The Islamic Resistance group in Iraq, an umbrella organisation for several Iran-backed militias, said in a statement that it had struck the Kharab al-Jir base in the northeastern Hassakeh province with rockets. It said it hit its target, without making any mention of casualties.
Biden condemns attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers in West Bank
Washington — President Joe Biden on Wednesday said there is no going back to the “status quo” in Israel and the region following the deadly attack by Hamas on October 7.
Airstrike in Gaza city kills more than 2 dozen and injures over 100, Hamas says
Gaza City, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Wednesday killed at least 26 people and injured more than 100, Hamas’ Interior Ministry said.
Bodies of dead men and women were scattered in streets that had relatively little damage while a block of buildings lay in ruins with people searching for survivors.
France’s Macron angles for international coalition to fight Hamas
Paris — French President Emmanuel Macron is promoting, with little success so far, the creation of an international coalition to fight the armed Palestinian group Hamas.
He pitched the idea during a two-day trip to the Middle East that started in Israel.
US Embassy in Kuwait to limit activity on military bases after Iraqi militia’s threats
Jerusalem — The US Embassy in Kuwait is acknowledging an Iraqi militia’s threat to target US military bases in the Mideast nation over the Israeli airstrikes targeting the Gaza Strip in its war on Hamas.
Netanyahu says he will be held accountable for Hamas’ attack
Jerusalem — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will be held accountable for the bloody October 7 massacre by Hamas militants, but that will only come after Israel’s war against the Islamic militant group.
France to send navy ship to bring aid to Gaza Strip, Macron say
Cairo — French President Emmanuel Macron said France is going to send a Navy ship to bring aid to hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
The ship will leave the French military port of Toulon, in the Mediterranean Sea, within 48 hours, he said. He didn’t provide further details.
