Battles, bombings in Gaza as US says Israel talks back on
Attack on school bus wounds 3; US downs 4 Yemen-rebel drones in Red Sea
Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, Washington, March 28:
Battles and bombardment pounded the Gaza Strip on Thursday after Washington said Israel had agreed to reschedule talks that were cancelled amid tensions between the allies.
Meanwhile, medics and the Army said three people, including a boy, were wounded in a gun attack on Thursday that targeted a school bus near the city of Jericho in the Israelioccupied West Bank. After reports that a militant fired toward “a number of vehicles”, soldiers were sent to the scene near the town of Al-auja, the military said, adding that soldiers were pursuing the suspect. The military confirmed a school bus had been targeted.
The United States military said on Wednesday it had downed four drones launched by Iran-backed Huthi forces in Yemen aimed at a US warship in the Red Sea.
US Central Command said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that its forces had “engaged and destroyed four long-range unmanned aerial systems” at around 2 am Sanaa time (2300 GMT), adding there were no injuries or damage reported to US or coalition ships.
Israel’s military said it struck dozens of militant targets, including tunnels, over the previous day, and the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported at least 62 more deaths over a similar period.
The United States’ criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mounted over Gaza’s civilian death toll, dire food shortages, and Israeli plans to push its ground offensive against Hamas militants into Rafah.
Gaza’s far-southern city is crowded with displaced civilians and world leaders have warned against a Rafah offensive. They fear it would worsen a catastrophic humanitarian situation for the territory’s 2.4 million residents, many of whom are sheltering in Rafah along the Egyptian border.