Middle East latest: At least 12 killed overnight by Israeli strikes in Gaza
By The Associated Press
At least 12 people including children were killed overnight in Gaza by Israeli strikes, hospital workers said Wednesday.
The pre-dawn strikes hit three houses in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, according to staff at the Al-Aqsa hospital, which received the bodies. Among the dead were three children, including two brothers whose bodies arrived in pieces, according to the hospital’s morgue.
Israel has carried out daily strikes on Gaza since ending its ceasefire with Hamas last month. It has cut off the territory’s 2 million Palestinians from all imports, including food and medicine, since the beginning of March in what it says is an attempt to pressure the militant group to release hostages.
The strikes come after more than two dozen people were killed earlier this week in Gaza City and Beit Lahiya.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
Here’s the latest:
Sirens sound across Israel to mark memorial day
Sirens sounded for two minutes across Israel Wednesday morning, as the country came to a standstill marking its memorial day for fallen soldiers and victims of attacks.
Jets flew over the military cemetery at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commemorated the day in an opening ceremony.
Speaking about Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which launched the war, Netanyahu said the country was determined to settle the score with those who committed atrocities. “Our sons and daughters are unwilling to hold back on what the monsters who attacked us a year and a half ago have done,” he said.
In southern Israel, friends and relatives gathered near Reim. The dusty field that hosted the music festival there was just 3.3 km from the Gaza border. More than 10%, or over 360, of the festival’s attendees were killed and others were kidnapped.
“We are still in a war, we can’t digest or clearly summarize everything,” said Tal Zoherman whose 73-year-old father Motti was killed at the festival. “We try to come here and be together, united and to even celebrate him in our way and to hope for a better future.”
Israeli forces arrest a Palestinian journalist in occupied West Bank
Israel’s military said it arrested Ali Samoudi, a well-known journalist, in an overnight raid in Jenin, a Palestinian city in the north of the territory.
Samoudi previously worked for international outlets including CNN and Al Jazeera. In 2022, he was injured in the same spray of gunfire that killed prominent Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. US officials say Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli sniper.
Israel’s military said Samoudi was affiliated with and transfered funds for the Islamic Jihad militant group, without providing evidence. They said Samoudi had been transferred to Israel’s security forces.
Samoudi’s arrest is the latest of dozens of Palestinian journalists detained by Israel since the start Israel’s war with Hamas, which began on Oct. 7,2023.
Lebanon’s president urges U.S. military to put pressure on Israel to withdraw
Joseph Aoun, who met with a U.S. military delegation Wednesday, urged it to pressure Israel to withdraw from areas it still controls in the country and to release Lebanese prisoners.
The delegation was headed by U.S. Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, the Co-Chairman of the Cessation of Hostilities Implementation Mechanism.
Aoun told the American delegation that the Lebanese army is carrying out its work along the border with Israel, where troops have been confiscating weapons and preventing armed presence.
A statement released by Aoun’s office said that Jeffers, who had held the post since before the Israel-Hezbollah war ended in late November, will be replaced by Maj. Gen. Michael J. Leeney. It added that Leeney also attended Wednesday’s meeting.
