Solar Energy News
WAR REPORT
Israel hits Gaza as tensions surge on Lebanon border
Israel hits Gaza as tensions surge on Lebanon border
by AFP Staff Writers
Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories (AFP) June 14, 2024

Israeli forces struck Gaza and battled Hamas militants on Friday as truce efforts failed to make progress and tensions surged on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Witnesses reported strikes on the southern city of Rafah and central areas of the Gaza Strip.

At Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, men gathered over the body of an 11-year-old boy who died during a bombardment of nearby Bureij refugee camp.

In a black singlet, the child lay on a floor smeared with fresh blood, a white bandage covering the top half of his face, AFP images showed.

The Israeli military said troops continued operations in central Gaza, where warplanes struck a militant cell in the Zeitun area.

Witnesses in Rafah, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt, reported helicopter fire, while Hamas's armed wing said its militants fired mortar rounds at Israeli troops near the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood.

The war began after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages. Of these, 116 remain in Gaza, although the army says 41 are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,266 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.

The toll includes at least 34 deaths over the past 24 hours, the ministry said on Friday.

- Border escalation -

Fears of a broader Middle East conflict have surged again, with Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters, who are backed by Iran and allied with Hamas, launching waves of rockets, missiles and drones against Israeli military targets.

Hezbollah said intense strikes since Wednesday were retaliation for Israel's killing of one of its commanders.

Sirens sounded in northern Israel, where police said munitions had hit in the Kiryat Shmona area, with no reports of casualties.

The military said "approximately 35 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon". "A number" of them were intercepted while some caused fires.

Israeli forces responded with shelling, the military said, also announcing air strikes on "Hezbollah terror infrastructure" across the border.

Two women were killed in a strike on Jannata in southern Lebanon, village official Hassan Shur said, the latest deaths in near-daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military since the start of the Gaza war.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that his country and the United States would work separately with Israeli and Lebanese authorities to ease tensions.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant rejected the initiative, decrying "hostile policies against Israel" by France, which last month had barred Israeli firms from an arms trade show.

A spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister's office and senior foreign ministry officials however said Gallant's remarks do no reflect the government's position.

During a Middle East trip this week to push a Gaza ceasefire plan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said "the best way" to help resolve the Hezbollah-Israel violence was "a resolution of the conflict in Gaza and getting a ceasefire".

- Truce 'hang-up' -

At a summit of G7 leaders in Italy, US President Joe Biden called Hamas "the biggest hang-up so far" to reaching a deal on a Gaza truce and hostage release.

The Palestinian group has insisted on the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire, demands Israel has repeatedly rejected.

Blinken has said Israel backs the latest plan, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose far-right coalition partners are strongly opposed, has not publicly endorsed it.

Biden's roadmap for the first truce since a week-long pause and hostage-prisoner release in November includes a six-week ceasefire, hostage releases and Gaza's reconstruction.

The World Food Programme said that "as fighting escalates in the south and centre of Gaza, the toll on civilians is devastating."

But "with lawlessness inside the Strip... and active conflict", it has become "close to impossible to deliver the level of aid that meets the growing demands on the ground", the UN agency's deputy executive director Carl Skau said.

"More than anything, people want this war to end," Skau added in a statement after a two-day visit to Gaza.

The World Health Organization has said more than 8,000 children under five have been treated for acute malnutrition in Gaza.

AFP images from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital showed the grieving family of a 10-year-old boy who died suffering from malnutrition. His limbs appeared thin and his ribcage was clearly visible.

- US sanctions -

The United States, Israel's close ally, imposed sanctions Friday on an Israeli group whose activists have blocked Gaza-bound aid convoys.

"Individuals from Tzav 9 have repeatedly sought to thwart the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including by blockading roads, sometimes violently," the US State Department said.

"They also have damaged aid trucks and dumped life-saving humanitarian aid onto the road."

G7 leaders in a statement at the end of their summit urged the "rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need", and said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, must be allowed to work unhindered in Gaza.

Israel had accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 Gaza staff of involvement in the October 7 attack, prompting a number of donor governments to temporarily suspend their contributions. An independent review said Israel did not support its claims with evidence.

The G7 statement also called for aid flow through "all relevant land crossing points" including the Rafah border, which has been shut since Israeli forces launched a ground operation in the city in early May.

As Muslims worldwide prepare to mark Eid al-Adha starting Sunday, Gazans lamented the shortages of essential goods.

"There is no Eid spirit," Mohammed Shabat, who like most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war, said outside his tent in Deir al-Balah.

burs-it/ami/kir

Related Links
Space War News

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
WAR REPORT
Chechen leader says Russia seized village in Ukraine's Sumy region
Moscow (AFP) June 10, 2024
The leader of Russia's Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, said Sunday that Russian forces had seized the border village of Ryzhivka in Ukraine's northern Sumy region. There was no immediate comment from Russia's defence ministry and a local Ukrainian official denied Kadyrov's claim. Sumy region lies on Ukraine's northern border and has not seen a major Russian ground assault since the beginning of the conflict in 2022. Kadyrov said fighters from his Akhmat battalion "together with servicemen ... read more

WAR REPORT
Sky's the limit for biofuels

Sustainable Aviation Fuel Reduces Non-CO2 Emissions

Vast Gets Approval for Solar Methanol Plant in Port Augusta

Singapore shipper claims milestone with bio-methanol refuelling

WAR REPORT
ChatGPT a mentor for Japan's 89-year-old app developer

Google to test AI phone theft features in Brazil

Elon Musk drops lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

'Selective' UAE courting US, not China, on AI: minister

WAR REPORT
Why US offshore wind power is struggling - the good, the bad and the opportunity

Robots enhance wind turbine blade production at NREL

Offshore wind turbines may reduce nearby power output

Wind Energy Expansion Planned for China's Rural Areas

WAR REPORT
China warns EU tariffs on EVs would 'harm' Europe's interests

China says 'reserves the right' to file WTO suit over EU car tariffs

Why are Chinese electric cars in EU crosshairs?

China's Evergrande EV ordered to repay $262mn subsidies, faces asset seizure

WAR REPORT
New approaches for perovskite-based ferroelectric ceramics in energy storage

Safer and Flexible Battery Developed for Wearable Tech

DOE Unveils Decadal Strategy for Fusion Energy

New turbulence transition discovered in fusion plasmas

WAR REPORT
Kyrgyzstan lifts uranium extraction ban despite concerns

Sweden shortlists UK, US firms for new nuclear reactor

Bulgaria's nuclear plant starts to replace Russian fuel

IEEFA Australia responds to nuclear energy proposal

WAR REPORT
Swiss approve law boosting renewable energy generation

Swiss vote on renewable energy plan for 2050 carbon neutrality

Pakistan power crisis deepened by mountain tourism

Swiss renewable energy battle moves to the ballots

WAR REPORT
Carbon credits protecting forests use flawed calculations: study

'All Eyes on Papua' campaign generates interest in deforestation cases

Indian Islamic centre warns Muslims against felling trees

DR Congo capital hosts forest forum

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.