Israel-Hamas war latest: The Israeli military strikes Jenin on Day 3 of its West Bank raid

The Israeli military struck the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, the third day of heavy fighting in the Palestinian territory. Such airstrikes, while common over the months-long Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, have been rare in the West Bank in the time since. Israel says the raids across the northern West Bank — which have killed at least 20 people, mostly militants, since late Tuesday — are aimed at preventing attacks. The Palestinians see them as a widening of the war in Gaza and an effort to perpetuate Israel’s decades-long military rule over the territory. In the Gaza Strip, where the Health Ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7 with Hamas’ attack on Israel, an Israeli missile hit a convoy carrying medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing several people from a local transportation company. Here’s the latest: Israeli military says it thwarted an attempted car bombing in the West Bank JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said early Saturday there was an attempted car bombing by a militant near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Israeli forces killed a suspected militant there, the military said. “The initial examination of the vehicle explosion at the Gush Etzion gas station indicated that the incident was an attempted car bombing,” the Israeli military said. 2 missiles target a ship in the Gulf of Aden DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Two missiles suspected to have been fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden late Friday, splashing down nearby without causing any damage, authorities said. The attack Friday saw two missiles “exploding in close proximity to the vessel” some 240 kilometers (150 miles) east of Aden, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The rebels’ campaign disrupts the $1 trillion in goods that pass through the Red Sea each year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, as well as halting some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen. Meanwhile, the U.S. military’s Central Command said Saturday it destroyed two drones over Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. Israeli soldiers shoot dead 2 Palestinians suspected of attempting to attack Israelis in West Bank JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers shot dead late Friday two Palestinians suspected of attempting to attack Israelis in two separate incidents the West Bank, the Israeli army said. The Palestinian Health Ministry on Friday reported the killing by Israeli forces of “an elderly man” in the city of Jenin, without specifying his age, bringing the total death toll from the military raids in the occupied territory to 20 since late Tuesday. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, said the Palestinians killed in the West Bank raids included a person with disabilities and a number of children, without specifying how many. The Israeli police on Friday said that their special forces had killed Wissam Khazem, a Hamas commander in Jenin, releasing video footage that purported to show the firefight that killed him. Israeli forces have killed over 663 Palestinians in the West Bank, including at least 150 children, since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The climbing deaths in the West Bank drew further international criticism of Israeli tactics on Friday, with European Union chief diplomat Josep Borrel saying that Israel’s operations were “worsening an already tense situation.” “Any escalation is a disaster in the making,” he added. “Israel’s genuine security concerns cannot justify civilian casualties and the destruction of infrastructure.” The Israeli incursion in Jenin left a trail of destruction and cut off running water, internet and electricity in the city. The Palestinians see them as a widening of the war in Gaza and an effort to perpetuate Israel’s decades-long military rule over the territory. Authorities are unloading thousands of pallets of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza JERUSALEM — Israel’s government body responsible for coordinating aid deliveries into Gaza says that authorities in the country’s southern port are unloading more than 3,500 pallets of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza. The Israeli agency COGAT said Friday that an American cargo ship, called Cape Trinity, departed Cyprus ferrying 3,577 wooden pallets of food, water and medical supplies from international relief organizations to the Israeli port of Ashdod, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Gaza. After the vessel docked in Ashdod on Thursday, COGAT said Israeli officials inspected and cleared the shipments for entry into the besieged enclave. Israel described this shipment as the latest in its multipronged efforts to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the enclave, with so far 10,700 pallets of aid delivered to Gaza by sea The entry of aid into Gaza has been heavily restricted by Israel since the war started, creating what aid groups say is a humanmade humanitarian crisis as hunger grows. UN humanitarian office says aid organizations can return to two areas after Israel lifted evacuation orders, which still affect over 85% of Gaza Strip UNITED NATIONS — More than 40 Israeli evacuation orders affecting over 85% of the Gaza Strip remain in effect despite the Israeli military’s first announcements allowing Palestinians to return to two areas since the war began last October, the U.N. humanitarian office says. The Israeli military announced Thursday that it was lifting the evacuation order for some areas of central Deir al-Balah, and on Friday it announced the lifting for some areas of southern Khan Younis. OCHA said the number of humanitarian missions and movements within Gaza that were denied access by Israeli authorities in August almost doubled, compared with July. Between August 1st and 29th, only 74 of the 199 planned humanitarian missions coordinated with Israeli authorities for northern Gaza were facilitated, OCHA said. “The rest were either denied, impeded, or cancelled due to logistical, operational, or security issues.” In southern Gaza, it said, just 173 of 372 coordinated humanitarian movements were facilitated by Israeli authorities. On the West Bank, OCHA warned that Israel’s ongoing operations that use lethal military tactics “seemingly exceed law enforcement standards.” The humanitarian office said according to its information, 19 Palestinians, including two children, have died in the West Bank since Wednesday. Palestinians trickle back to Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah to check on their homes after Israeli pullout KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Some Palestinians are returning to check on their homes after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of southern Gaza, following what Israel said was a major military operation in the cities of Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah. “My feeling is indescribable,” one Khan Younis resident, who gave her name only as Um Mohammad Abu Samra, said as she surveyed her home for the first time since the war erupted with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. At the Israeli military’s announcement that evacuated Palestinians from the area could return, she hurried back to find her home in ruins and entire neighborhood blocks transformed into giant craters of sand. “We’re in a horrible situation, from the loss of our homes, our family, our brothers, our neighbors.” Hosam Shobair, another displaced resident, also returned to Khan Younis with his family on Friday to see what had happened to his apartment, which he said had been struck by Israeli shelling at the beginning of the war. Israel’s military says it killed 250 militants in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Friday it had finished a major operation in the southern Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, adding that it killed 250 militants during the operation. The military did not say whether it was withdrawing troops from the areas and said it was “preparing for further missions.” The military’s Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, announced that Palestinians evacuated from parts of both cities would be allowed to return. Israel’s offensive has killed over 40,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, injured more than 90,000, and displaced the vast majority of the strip’s population. Israeli forces kill 3 Palestinians in the West Bank JERUSALEM — Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in the north of the occupied West Bank on Friday, the third day of a large-scale operation in the territory, Palestinian health officials said. The Israeli military said its troops identified and killed a senior leader of Hamas in Jenin, Waseem Khazem, while he was driving. Israeli forces have killed at least 19 Palestinians since the start of the operation early Wednesday, which they say is geared to root out militancy in the restive territory and prevent attacks on Israeli citizens. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, at least 663 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, Palestinian health officials say, mostly in Israeli raids into Palestinian cities and towns. Mourners gather at a funeral for two families killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Mourners at Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Gaza Strip gathered early Friday to hold a funeral for several members of two different families killed Thursday night after an Israeli airstrike hit their house. More than 14,000 children have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, according to Gaza health officials. Israel strikes medical supply convoy that it claims was seized by gunmen DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An Israeli missile hit a convoy carrying medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing several people from a local transportation company, the American Near East Refugee Aid group said Friday. The strike Thursday hit the first car in the convoy on the Salah al-Din Road in the Gaza Strip, killing several people employed by a transportation company that the aid group was using to bring supplies to the Emirates Red Crescent Hospital in Rafah, said Sandra Rasheed, Anera’s director for the Palestinian territories. The convoy, which was coordinated by Anera and approved by Israeli authorities, included an Anera employee who was unharmed, Rasheed said in a statement. However, Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee posted to the social platform X that “gunmen seized a car at the head of the convoy (a jeep) and began driving.” He wrote that the military determined only one vehicle was seized before acting, and added, “The presence of armed men inside a humanitarian convoy in an uncoordinated manner makes it difficult to secure the convoys and their staff and harms the humanitarian effort.” The United Arab Emirates, which reached a diplomatic recognition deal with Israel in 2020 and has been providing aid to Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began, did not immediately acknowledge the attack. Israeli military hits Jenin as its West Bank raid pushes forward JERUSALEM — The Israeli military conducted an airstrike in the West Bank city of Jenin amid days of heavy fighting in the Palestinian territory, authorities said Friday. Such airstrikes, while common over the months-long Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, have been rare in the West Bank in the time since. Israel says the raids across the northern West Bank — which have killed 16 people, nearly all militants, since late Tuesday — are aimed at preventing attacks. The Palestinians see them as a widening of the war in Gaza and an effort to perpetuate Israel’s decades-long military rule over the territory. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. US rebukes Israel over attacks on UN vehicles in Gaza UNITED NATIONS — In a rare rebuke, the United States sharply criticized Israel’s attacks on United Nations vehicles and called for an end to assaults and threatening rhetoric against the U.N. and humanitarian organizations. At a U.N. Security Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood singled out the Israeli military’s repeated firing at a clearly marked vehicle of the U.N. food agency, which was hit by at least 10 bullets as it was moving toward an Israeli military checkpoint at the central Wadi Gaza bridge, despite having received multiple clearances from Israeli authorities. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://apnews.com/f688eb715ab4ae936b9c50c3c23f8bdb