Israeli forces strike U.N. food center in Gaza, killing at least 5
Israel’s military struck a United Nations food distribution center in the Gaza Strip late Tuesday, killing a staff member and at least four other people, according to the U.N. and Gaza health officials.
Over five months of war in Gaza, Israel has hit more than 150 facilities belonging to the main U.N. aid provider for Palestinians, UNRWA, according to the agency. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, the United Nations has warned.
In the West Bank, two Palestinians were killed overnight during confrontations with Israeli forces, bringing the overall death toll to six people in the past 24 hours. Israeli police also say a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two people at a checkpoint near Jerusalem before being shot Wednesday.
Violence has surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank amid the war in Gaza with at least 427 Palestinians killed, mostly during confrontations with Israeli forces, the Palestinian Health Ministry says.
More than 31,270 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and most of its 2.3 million people forced from their homes, Gaza’s
Health Ministry says.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the agency shares the coordinates of its Gaza facilities with
Israel every day, and called for an independent inquiry into attacks on its facilities.
“Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine,’’ Lazzarini said.
“Since this war began, attacks against U.N. facilities, convoys and personnel have become commonplace in blatant disregard to international humanitarian law,” he said.
Israel has accused 12 of UNRWA’s thousands of employees of participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
Last week, it escalated the accusations, alleging 450 UNRWA employees were members of militant groups in Gaza, though it has provided no evidence.
GAZA PIER, MARITIME CORRIDOR TO BECOME ONE OPERATION
Cyprus’ foreign minister says a U.S. initiative to build a pier off Gaza for large-scale aid deliveries to the territory by sea will eventually be folded into the Cyprus-Gaza maritime corridor that’s currently running.
Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Wednesday although the two initiatives are now separate, all aid reaching Gaza by sea will eventually have as its single departure point the Cypriot port of Larnaca.
That’s where all the aid will be collected and loaded onto ships after undergoing thorough security screening by Cypriot customs officials, with personnel from Israel and other countries acting as observers to ensure the integrity of the process.
Having such a single departure point would address the Israelis’ security concerns regarding inspections of all cargo to ensure that nothing is loaded on ships that Hamas could use against Israeli troops, Kombos said.
SECOND AID VESSEL PREPARES TO LEAVE CYPRUS FOR GAZA
A second vessel being loaded with aid for Gaza is currently docked at Larnaca port and is preparing to depart, Cyprus’ foreign minister said Wednesday.
The ship will begin its journey to Gaza once the ship operated by the Spanish charity Open Arms, which is now at sea, reaches the territory in the next few days, offloads and distributes its 200 tons of food, the minister said.
Kombos said Wednesday the larger vessel will carry more aid than the Open Arms ship, but he wouldn’t say when it would depart exactly.
He said that depends on whether all goes smoothly with the delivery of the Open Arms shipment and on weather conditions.
The vessel will tow a barge loaded with aid as well as carrying some in its internal bays.
PALESTINIAN EX-SOCCER PLAYER DIES IN AIRSTRIKE
The Palestinian soccer federation says former national team member Mohammed Barakat, 39, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
It says he was killed in a strike Monday on a residential building in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Affectionately known as “the lion” by fellow players, Barakat had played for the national team as well as a number of clubs in Gaza, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
He began his professional career in 2015 with Shabab Khanyounis, where he became the first player in Gaza to score 100 goals with a single team.
ISRAELI DRONE STRIKE KILLS HAMAS MEMBER AND A SYRIAN CITIZEN IN LEBANON
An Israeli drone strike Wednesday targeting a car in southern Lebanon near the coastal city of Tyre killed a member of Hamas and at least one other person.
Hamas identified the member who was killed as Hadi Mustafa. Lebanese state media said he is from the Rashidieh refugee camp near Tyre, where Hamas has a notable presence.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the other person killed was a Syrian citizen who was on a motorcycle near the targeted car.