Gunfire kills 7 in Gaza Strip border clashes
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Seven Palestinians were shot and killed during clashes Friday with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza Strip border, where Palestinians have been holding protests nearly every week since March.
Among the dead were a 12-year-old and a 14-yearold, the Health Ministry in Gaza said.
In addition, 506 Palestinians were injured, including 90 with gunshot wounds.
According to the Israeli army, 20,000 Palestinians gathered along various points of the border security fence and threw petrol bombs, explosives and stones at soldiers.
In reaction, the Israeli air force launched two airstrikes. One was aimed at a base of the Islamist Hamas group, Gaza’s ruling group. The other struck a target in the northern Gaza Strip.
Palestinians have been staging marches along the Gaza border since March, demanding an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, among other things. Israel says the marches are veiled attempts by Hamas to carry out attacks on the border area.
Iran blasts Netanyahu
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s foreign minister denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allegations against Tehran at the U.N. General Assembly as an “obscene charge,” the staterun IRNA news agency reported Friday.
The response came after Mr. Netanyahu on Thursday claimed that Iran has a “secret atomic warehouse” on Tehran’s outskirts and challenged U.N. inspectors to examine it.
It was unclear whether Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement sheds light on what U.N. inspectors already know, or whether it was intended to prove that Iran has been violating the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that followed years of Western sanctions over the country’s contested atomic program.
According to IRNA, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called Mr. Netanyahu a “liar who would not stop lying.”
Yemen probe goes on
GENEVA — Overriding the objections of Saudi Arabia and its allies, the U.N. Human Rights Council voted Friday to continue an investigation by a panel of international experts into the war in Yemen that is driving the country’s population toward famine.
The council’s action followed days of diplomatic maneuvering over a scathing report presented by experts earlier this month.
It detailed human rights violations by all parties to the conflict, which is in its fourth year, and said individuals in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen’s internationally recognized government were implicated in possible war crimes.
The 47-member council voted 21-8, with 18 abstentions, in favor of a resolution supporting the experts’ work.
The vote came minutes after the conclusion of days of discussions between the Saudi Arabia and its allies and a group of countries led by the Netherlands and Canada.
In the end, their quest for consensus hit a wall over Saudi calls for a review of the experts’ report and for changes in membership of the expert panel, said a senior diplomat involved in the discussions, who would not speak publicly because of the sensitivity of the issues.