By Wafaa Shurafa and Fatma Khaled
Deir al -Balah, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israeli air strikes through Gaza killed at least 25 people on Friday, including children, said hospital workers, while the new American ambassador to Israel made his first public appearance in Jerusalem.
The dead included 15 people killed in three strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Ten people were killed in Jabaliya, including eight from the same house, according to Indonesian hospital, where the bodies were brought.
The strikes occurred one day after more than two dozen people died in Gaza while Israel continued attacks, putting pressure on Hamas to disarm and return the hostages it took in October 2023.
The ambassador arrives in Jerusalem
American ambassador Mike Huckabee visited the Western wall on Friday, the most sacred Jewish prayer site in the old town of Jerusalem. He inserted a prayer into the wall, which, according to him, was handwritten by American president Donald Trump. “These are his initials, DT,” said Huckabee while showing the note to the media.
In his first act as an ambassador, Huckabee said that Trump told him to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Huckabee also said that all efforts were made to bring the remaining hostages held by Hamas home. Huckabee as a presidency, Huckabee recognized his support from Israel to annex the West Bank and incorporate its Palestinian population into Israel, but said that it would not be its “prerogative” to carry out this policy.
During his first mandate, Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Palestinian objections and moved the American Embassy of Tel Aviv. The Palestinians seek the eastern part of the city, captured by Israel in the war of the Middle East of 1967, as future capital.
The arrival of Huckabee arrives at a pivotal moment in the 18-month war, while international mediators, including the United States, are trying to recover a cease-fire broken on the right track.
Israel demands that Hamas released more hostages at the start of the brand new ceasefire and finally accepts to disarm and leave the territory. Israel said that it was planning to occupy large “safety zones” inside Gaza.
Khalil al-Hayya, head of the Hamas negotiation delegation, said on Thursday that the group had rejected Israel’s last proposal. He reiterated the position of Hamas that he will only return to the hostages in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal and a sustainable truce, as planned in the cease-fire agreement today concluded in January.
Hamas currently has 59 hostages, 24 of which are supposed to be alive.
Friday’s air strikes occurred one day after the aid groups took the alarm on the blockade of Israel of Gaza, where it prohibited the entry of all food and other products for more than six weeks. Thousands of children have become unhappy, and most people are barely one meal a day while stocks decrease, said the United Nations.
The Israeli Defense Minister says that the blockade is one of the “central pressure tactics” against Hamas, which Israel accuses of siphoning aid to maintain its rule. Humanitarian workers deny that there is an important diversion of aid, saying that the distribution closely monitors. Right’s defense groups have described it as a “famine tactic”.
Gaza Christians mark Good Friday
While Israel continued his offensive Christians, the Palestinians gathered inside the Greek Orthodox Church of Gaza de St. Porphyrios to mark the Holidays of Good Friday. The faithful dressed in black lowered their heads in prayer and lit votive candles to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus.
A building in the St. Porphyrios complex was hit soon after the start of the war in October 2023, killing more than a dozen people who took refuge there. Friday holidays have been the second Friday, Friday celebrated in Gaza since then. St. Porphyrios would be the third oldest church in the world, according to the World Council for Churches.
Gaza housed around 1,300 Christians before the start of the war, according to the American State Department.
The war began when terrorists led by Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mainly civilians and removing 251. Hamas was appointed a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Most hostages have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other transactions.
Israel’s offensive has since killed more than 51,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has destroyed large parts of Gaza and most of its food production capacities. The war has moved around 90% of the population, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed buildings.
Khaled reported Cairo. The writer Associated Press Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Follow the cover of the war from https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
