Saturday, May 18, 2024
13:10 GMT — The Palestinian Civil Defense Service in Gaza said that the Israeli army has destroyed over 300 homes in Jabalia in northern Gaza as heavy fighting and bombardment rocked southern city of Rafah.
Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Anadolu Agency that “the Israeli army has completely destroyed more than 300 homes in Jabalia in northern Gaza since the be ginning of its offensive.”
"We are receiving distress calls about numerous bodies lying on the roads and beneath the rubble of destroyed homes," he said, adding that “rescue crews cannot reach them due to the intensity of the Israeli bombing."
Basal explained that the Israeli assault caused massive destruction to residential buildings and infrastructure in the town and Jabalia camp.
13:00 GMT — Bodies of 28 Palestinians arrive at hospital northern Gaza
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital reported that bodies of 28 Palestinians, including children and women, arrived at the hospital following an Israeli bombing near the facility in northern Gaza.
In a press statement, Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said: “28 Palestinian bodies, including 10 children and 10 women, arrived at the hospit al following Israeli bombing targeting the hospital vicinity.”
“We lost many of the wounded due to the lack of essential medical resources needed to save them,” he said.
“The situation is catastrophic due to the lack of a health system and the unavailability of medicines and basic medical supplies,” added Safiya.
11:19 GMT — Israel on losing end in Gaza war — Former Mossad deputy chief
Israeli Knesset member and former Mossad deputy chief Ram Ben-Barak said that the ongoing war in Gaza is “futile,” asserting that Israel is on the losing end and facing economic collapse.
“This war lacks a clear objective, and it's evident that we're unequivocally losing it,” Ben-Barak told the Israeli public radio.
“We are forced to engage in fighting in the same areas and end up losing more soldiers,” he said.
“We're also facing setbacks on the international stage, with our relations with the United States deteriorating significantly, and the Israeli economy in decline,” he said, adding: "Show me one thing we have succeeded in.”
11:06 GMT — Fighting rages in Gaza's Rafah after first aid delivery via pier
Heavy clashes and bombardment rocked Gaza's southern city of Rafah as the Israeli military announced the first humanitarian aid had entered the besieged territory via a US-built pier.
The military said its air forces "struck over 70 targets" across Gaza over the past 24 hours while ground troops "continue precise operations" in eastern Rafah.
The Kuwaiti hospital said an overnight Israeli strike killed two people in a displacement camp in Rafah, with witnesses reporting heavy gunfire and shelling in the city's southeast and jets bombarding its eastern areas.
AFP correspondents, witnesses and medics said there were intense battles overnight in the northern Jabalia refugee camp, after the Israeli army reported on Friday "perhaps the fiercest" violence in the town in more than seven months of war.
09:55 GMT — Gaza death toll nears 35,400
At least 35,386 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive on Gaza since last October, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said.
A ministry statement said that 79,366 other people have also been injured in the onslaught.
“Israeli attacks killed 83 people and injured 105 others in the last 24 hours,” the statement said.
“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
09:17 GMT — Palestinian youth injured by Israeli army gunfire in occupied West Bank
At least one Palestinian youth was injured by Israeli army gunfire at the Balata refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that its crew members dealt with “a live bullet injury to the shoulder of a 17-year-old boy during the Israeli army’s storming of Balata camp in Nablus city.”
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that “occupation forces accompanied by a bulldozer stormed the Balata camp amid heavy gunfire and raided several homes.”
09:14 GMT — CIDE condemns Gaza violence, calls for end to Israeli genocide
The Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) of Mexico released a powerful statement condemning the ongoing violence in Gaza.
"CIDE categorically condemns the events occurring in Gaza and calls for an end to the genocide by Israeli troops," CIDE said in a statement in response to recent inquiries from the CIDEOllín community.
It criticised Israel for ignoring international calls to halt "asymmetric warfare" and violating "recommendations from the International Court of Justice."
08:40 GMT — Battle in Gaza’s Jabalia ongoing as Rafah civilians fear attack
Israeli forces launched an offensive in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza overnight on Friday, while residents in Rafah expressed concern about having nowhere to seek refuge if Israel escalates its offensive on the southern city.
Air strikes targeted Jabalia overnight, following ground battles between Israeli tanks and troops and Palestinian fighters within the narrow alleys of Gaza's largest refugee camp.
Israel began its offensive in Jabalia a week ago, initially claiming to have cleared the area of Hamas fighters, but clashes have reignited since then.
06:12 GMT — Multiple casualties reported in Israeli strike on West Bank
A Palestinian man has been killed and eight other people wounded in an Israeli air strike on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Israeli media, including the Ynet news website, quoted an Israeli military statement that confirmed the strike on a Palestinian "armed cell" that claimed it was planning an attack against an Israeli target.
The Palestinian ministry said the eight wounded people were in stable condition and receiving treatment at hospitals. TRT Afrika could not immediately confirm their identities.
04:50 GMT — US evacuates 17 US citizen doctors from Gaza
The United States has evacuated out of Gaza 17 American doctors who had been stuck since an Israeli siege of the Rafah crossing closed the border with Egypt, official sources said.
US diplomats arranged for the 17 doctors to leave instead through the Karem Abu Salem crossing into Israel.
"Some of the US citizen doctors who had been stuck in Gaza have now safely departed and made their way to safety" a State Department spokesperson said.
04:00 GMT — Hamas says US pier not 'alternative to opening all land crossings'
Hamas resistance group has said the US-built temporary pier in Gaza to provide humanitarian aid cannot be an alternative to opening land crossings.
In a statement, the Palestinian group affirmed on "the right of [Palestinian] people to receive all the aid they need in light of the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the occupation after its brutal aggression against the Gaza Strip."
"We reaffirm our rejection to any military presence of any force on our Palestinian lands," the statement said.
For our live updates from Friday, May 17, click here.
