Live blog: Israeli air strikes kill at least 30 people in northern Gaza

Saturday, October 26, 2024

1838 GMT –– At least 30 people have been killed in Israeli strikes targeting multiple houses in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, according to the official Palestinian news agency.

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1714 GMT –– 'Catastrophic' health crisis in northern Gaza — WHO

The World Health Organization has warned of a "catastrophic" situation in northern Gaza, highlighting the severe impact of military operations on healthcare facilities, particularly the recent siege at Kamal Adwan Hospital.

"Reports of the hospital facilities and medical supplies being damaged or destroyed during the siege are deplorable," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X.

He noted that 44 male staff members were detained by Israeli forces, leaving only female staff, the hospital director, and one male doctor to care for roughly 200 patients in urgent need of medical attention.

"Any attack on healthcare facilities is a violation of international humanitarian law," Ghebreyesus said.

He called for an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" as the only way to preserve Gaza's deteriorating health system.

1714 GMT –– Palestinian killed by Israeli army gunfire in West Bank's Tulkarem city

At least one Palestinian was killed and another injured by Israeli army fire in Tulkarem in northern occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

"Israeli occupation forces killed a young man, Isalm Odah, after besieging and shelling a residential building in Tulkarem, West Bank," the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

1702 GMT –– 2 more killed in Israeli strike near school sheltering displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza

Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike near a school that houses displaced people in the Jabalia refugee camp of the northern Gaza enclave.

The Israeli air strike targeted the vicinity near Al Fakhoura school in Jabalia refugee camp, killing two Palestinians, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.

Local Al-Aqsa Radio also confirmed that two Palestinians from the “Sheikh” family were killed in the Israeli strike on the school identified by eyewitnesses.

1553 GMT –– Death toll since start of Israeli onslaught on Lebanon tops 2,673

At least 19 people were killed and 108 others injured due to Israeli attacks across Lebanon on Friday, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

The death toll from Israel's onslaught on Lebanon since Oct. 8 of last year has surged to 2,653, with 12,360 injuries, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

1524 GMT –– Israeli attack on Gaza hospital a ‘war crime’: Palestinian health minister

Israel’s targeting of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza is a “war crime and a significant violation of human rights,” Palestinian Health Minister Majid Abu Ramadan said, following an Israeli military assault on the facility.

"Israeli forces have committed all forms of violation and destruction against all components of the health system in Gaza, setting the health situation back by decades," he added.

Abu Ramadan reiterated his “urgent call to the entire world to stop the Israeli occupation's aggression against our people and our collapsing health system,” warning that “the lives of thousands of patients and wounded individuals are in great danger.”

1315 GMT –– Israeli army reports intercepting 15 rockets, 4 drones launched from Lebanon

The Israeli army reported that it had intercepted 15 rockets and four drones launched from Lebanon targeting northern Israel.

In separate statements on X, the Israeli army reported: “Following sirens activated in the Western Galilee area, we identified approximately 15 rockets launched from Lebanese territory.”

“Some of these rockets were intercepted, while the remainder fell in open areas,” it added.

It also said it intercepted four drones that had entered from Lebanese territory towards Upper Galilee, starting with three drones launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel.

Later on X, the army said: “Following the alerts that were activated in the Western Galilee, the Air Force intercepted a fourth drone since this morning.”

1238 GMT –– Israel’s brief, deadly northern Gaza assault 'kills over 820'

More than 820 Palestinians have so far been killed in a 22-day Israeli military raid in northern Gaza, which Gaza officials describe as a "campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing," the Gaza Government Media Office said.

“The Israeli army has killed over 820 Palestinians within the span of just over three weeks in northern Gaza,” Ismail Thawabta, director of the Gaza Government Media Office, said in a statement.

“Dozens of bodies lie in the streets and inside destroyed homes, as countless Palestinians remain trapped in an area under relentless bombardment,” he added.

1236 GMT –– Palestinian injured when Israeli army shells residential building in Tulkarem, West Bank

At least one Palestinian was injured as the Israeli army shelled a residential building in Tulkarem in the northern occupied West Bank.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that Israeli forces deployed military reinforcements, including bulldozers, to Tulkarem and besieged the building.

The witnesses reported that the army fired at least one Energa shell at an apartment within the building. The status of the apartment’s residents remains unclear.

A military bulldozer reportedly began demolishing parts of the building during the raid.

In the ongoing clashes, a Palestinian was injured by live ammunition in the legs, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which confirmed that its teams in Tulkarem “treated a gunshot wound to the legs sustained during confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces in Harat Al-Salam.”

1137 GMT –– ‘Entire population of North Gaza at risk of dying’: UN humanitarian chief

In an urgent alarm, the UN’s top humanitarian aid official warned that amid a rapidly deteriorating situation and a fierce, weeks-long Israeli army push, “the entire population of North Gaza is at risk of dying”.

“Hospitals have been hit and health workers have been detained. Shelters have been emptied and burned down,” said Joyce Msuya, acting under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

The humanitarian chief expressed deep concern for the civilian population, reporting that “families have been separated and men and boys are being taken away by the truckload.”

1137 GMT –– Lebanon's Hezbollah says it launches drone strike at Israeli airbase

Lebanon's Hezbollah group said that it launched a drone attack against Israel's Tel Nof airbase, south of Tel Aviv, and had also targeted an intelligence base in the northern Israeli city of Safed with a rocket salvo.

1056 GMT — Death toll from Israel's war on Gaza rises to grim 42,924

The Gaza Health Ministry has reported that at least 42,924 people have been killed and 100,833 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023.

1030 GMT — Cairo, Washington discuss ceasefire efforts for Gaza, Lebanon

In a phone call, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed "efforts to achieve an immediate ceasefire and to establish calm in Gaza and Lebanon."

The phone call addressed ongoing efforts to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a broader deal for the release of hostages, said Egypt’s Foreign Ministry in a statement.

1007 GMT — Israeli army detains medical staff, patients at northern Gaza hospital

The Gaza Health Ministry announced that the Israeli army has detained medical staff, as well as wounded patients, at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which was stormed by Israeli forces on Friday amid an ongoing 22-day offensive.

In a statement, the ministry said: "The Israeli occupation forces have detained all-male medical personnel, in addition to wounded individuals and patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital."

0923 GMT — Hezbollah fires rockets at Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon

Hezbollah has said it fired a barrage of rockets at Israeli forces near a village in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army has carried out ground incursions for weeks.

The group said in a statement that its fighters had launched a "salvo of rockets" at Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of the village of Aita al-Shaab, the scene of regular clashes Hezbollah reported with Israeli forces over the past two weeks.

0807 GMT — Israeli army destroys houses in Lebanon's border village

Lebanon's state media has reported that the Israeli army has destroyed houses in a border village.

0319 GMT — Microsoft fires employees who organised vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza

Microsoft has fired two employees who organised a vigil at the company's headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel's war.

The two employees told The Associated Press they were fired by phone call, several hours after a lunchtime event they organised at Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington.

Both workers were members of a coalition of employees called “No Azure for Apartheid" that has opposed Microsoft's sale of its cloud-computing technology to the Israeli government. However, they contended that the event was similar to other Microsoft-sanctioned employee-giving campaigns for people in need.

Microsoft said Friday it has “ended the employment of some individuals under internal policy” but declined to provide details.

0213 GMT — Pro-Iran factions in Iraq claim responsibility for drone strike in Israel

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose network of pro-Iran factions, claimed responsibility early for a drone attack against a "military target" in northern Israel, following the announcement of Israeli strikes on Iran. "Islamic Resistance fighters in Iraq carried out a drone attack at dawn against a military target in Acre," in northern Israel, the group said in a statement on Telegram.

2242 GMT — Hezbollah says carried out 48 attacks against Israeli army in single day

Hezbollah has said that its members carried out 48 attacks and confronting operations against the Israeli army, marking the highest record of attacks since October 8 in a single day.

Separate statements by the Lebanese group said it targeted 31 groups of Israeli soldiers in northern Israel and southern Lebanon with rockets and artillery shells. The group also attacked seven Israeli Merkava tanks inflicting fatalities.

Hezbollah added that it targeted three settlements in Safed city two times, five military sites and an artillery bunker in northern Israel with barrages of rockets.

The attacks included forcing an Israeli drone to leave Lebanon's airspace after targeting it with a surface-to-air rocket.

The Israel Hayom newspaper said it was "a record breaking" number of attacks for Hezbollah in one day since October 8, 2023.

2130 GMT — Israeli army shoots inside Gaza hospital with 600 people inside

The Health Ministry in Gaza has said the invading Israeli military is searching and opening fire inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza with 600 people inside.

The ministry said in a statement that the Israeli military is risking the lives of 600 people inside, including 70 medical staff, 195 patients and wounded Palestinians, and their escorts.

It also said two children in the hospital's intensive care unit died as the Israeli army disrupted the work inside the hospital. The ministry added that the Israeli army destroyed three ambulances, a transport vehicle and a power-generating system in the hospital.

It urged the humanitarian organisations to urgently intervene to protect all inside the hospital, and provide them with their basic needs.

The ministry said Israel's military "stormed" the hospital, "detaining hundreds of patients, medical staff and some displaced individuals from neighbouring areas who sought refuge".

2100 GMT — Rocket attack from Lebanon injures Israeli soldiers

The Israeli army has reported that six soldiers were injured in a rocket attack from southern Lebanon targeting illegal settlements in northern Israel.

Israeli Army Radio confirmed that the soldiers sustained moderate to minor injuries when rockets struck the Shomera settlement in the Western Galilee region.

Earlier in the day, two Israelis were killed, and others were injured in another rocket strike from Lebanon that hit the Majd al-Krum area in northern Israel.

2000 GMT — 70 percent of Gaza genocide victims women and minors

Palestine's Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has said that women and children account for "around 70 percent of the victims of the Israeli genocide in the Gaza," the state-run WAFA news agency reported.

Marking the National Palestinian Woman's Day, Mustafa said that although women and children account for such a percentage of the total death toll in Gaza, "Palestinian women demonstrate daily steadfastness, resilience and defiance in their struggle to regain their human rights."

Mustafa said the Palestinian people were at a "historic and fateful juncture" at a time when Israel was continuing with the "genocidal and ethnic cleansing war in Gaza as well as with such an unprecedented escalation in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem."

For our live updates from Friday, October 25, 2024, click here.