In a statement, the IDF said Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters who took part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel were operating from a compound inside a school belonging to UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, in the Nuseirat area. The IDF described the strike as precise and said steps were taken to minimize civilian harm.
UNRWA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel has alleged that some of the agency’s staff took part in the October attack and that some of its facilities were used for militant activity. An independent review concluded in April that Israel did not provide evidence that significant numbers of UNRWA workers are tied to militant groups, but added that the agency must implement more robust vetting of staff members to ensure neutrality.
Israel has drawn widespread international condemnation over the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza. At least 45 people were killed in a strike on a tent camp in Rafah last month, which the IDF said targeted two Hamas officials.
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The United States remains “incredibly concerned” about the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border, where fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has flared, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Wednesday. Top Israeli officials have said that Israel will soon decide whether to go on the offensive at its northern border. Miller said Israel has told the United States that it prefers a diplomatic resolution and does not want to see the conflict escalate.
Nine out of 10 children in Gaza are experiencing severe food poverty and surviving on two or fewer food groups a day, according to a UNICEF report published Thursday. “Months of hostilities in the Gaza Strip have brought the food and health systems to collapse and have had a catastrophic impact on children and families,” UNICEF said.
Thousands of Israelis, including many nationalists, marched through Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday for the annual Flag March, which draws settlers and other right-wing activists to mark the 1967 Israeli capture of the eastern part of the city. Some chanted anti-Arab slogans including “Death to Arabs,” the Associated Press reported. Israeli police arrested 18 people on suspicion of violent crimes, assault and threats, and disorderly conduct.
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At least 36,586 people have been killed and 83,074 injured in Gaza since the war started, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and it says 293 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operations in Gaza.
