Successive Israeli evacuation orders in Gazaincluding 12 in August alone, have displaced 90% of its 2.1 million inhabitants since the start of the war. War between Israel and Hamas Operations began in October, the top U.N. humanitarian official for the Palestinian territory said.
Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris says she and President Joe Biden are working to end the war in Gazawhere the International Rescue Committee states that Polio virus is circulating for the first time in a quarter of a century due to the destruction of hospitals and water supply infrastructure, as well as overcrowded living conditions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that an Israeli delegation had arrived in Cairo to resume efforts to salvage a ceasefire agreement. The negotiations are being mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. A key sticking point is Israel’s demand for lasting control of two strategic corridors from Gaza.
The war began on October 7, when Hamas and other militants stormed Israel, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and kidnapping about 250. About 110 hostages remain in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to have died. The Israeli offensive was launched in response killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local health ministry, which did not specify how many were militants or civilians.
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Lufthansa extends suspension of flights to some Middle Eastern destinations, but will resume flights to Amman and Erbil
BERLIN — German airline Lufthansa said Friday it has extended the suspension of flights to some destinations in the Middle East, but will resume flights to Amman and Erbil on Aug. 27.
The airline said the Lufthansa Group, which also includes Austrian Airlines and Swiss, was suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran until September 2 inclusive. Flights to and from Beirut will remain suspended until September 30 inclusive. It said a “northern corridor in Iraqi airspace will be used” for flights to Erbil.
Previously, flights to all these destinations had been suspended until August 26 inclusive.
WHO chief says Palestinian infant suffers partial paralysis after contracting polio
GENEVA — The director-general of the World Health Organization says a Palestinian infant who contracted polio, the first case in Gaza in a quarter-century, has developed partial paralysis.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a message posted on X on Friday that the 10-month-old baby had developed paralysis in his lower left leg and was in stable condition.
“I am very concerned,” he said.
Samples from the infected child were tested by WHO and confirmed to be linked to the variant found in Gaza sewage.
Given the high risk of spread, the Geneva-based WHO is working with the Palestinian Ministry of Health and UNICEF to launch two series of vaccinations end of August and September.
He calls on all parties to implement humanitarian pauses in the fighting so that vaccination campaigns can be carried out successfully.
After being eradicated in Gaza 25 years ago, polio vaccinations plummeted after the war began on October 7, and the territory has become a breeding ground for the virus, with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians crammed into tent camps without clean water or proper sewage and waste disposal.
Gaza wakes up to gunfire as mediators continue to push for ceasefire deal
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — Fighting continued Friday in the central Gaza Strip, even as the United States, Qatar and Egypt attempted to reach a cease-fire agreement.
Heavy weapons and machine gun fire were heard at dawn near eastern Deir al-Balah, in video footage captured by The Associated Press, as the streets were nearly deserted. In the southern city of Khan Younis, four people were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicle, Palestinian Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said.
Bassal reported Thursday evening that 24 people had been killed the previous day in multiple strikes carried out by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, notably in Gaza City in the north and Khan Younis in the south.
He said the strikes also caused many injuries, but did not specify how many.
The Israeli military announced Friday morning that it had killed dozens of militants in close-quarters fighting Thursday in the central and southern Gaza Strip. It said that in Khan Younis, the fighting included strikes on areas from which projectiles have been fired into southern Israel over the past week.
The air force also struck around 30 targets in the Gaza Strip, including military posts, weapons storage facilities and launch sites in the Khan Younis area, the army said.
Kamala Harris says she and Biden are working to end the war in Gaza
CHICAGO — Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris says she and President Joe Biden are working to end the war in Gaza like her closed the Democratic National Convention.
Harris said Thursday that she would “always defend Israel’s right to defend itself.”
“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the last 10 months is devastating,” she said. “Desperate and hungry people are continually fleeing for safety. … President Biden and I are working to end this war.”
She said the suffering could end with a ceasefire and the release of hostages taken in the October raid.
On Wednesday, the the parents of one of the young men held hostage in Gaza, addressed the convention.
Israel’s evacuation orders have displaced 90% of Gaza residents, UN says
UNITED NATIONS — Successive Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza, including 12 in August alone, have displaced 90 percent of its 2.1 million residents since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October, the top U.N. humanitarian official for the Palestinian territory said.
According to Muhannad Hadi, the evacuation orders endanger civilians instead of protecting them. “They force families to flee again, often under fire and with the few belongings they can carry with them, in an increasingly restricted area,” overcrowded and dangerous.
Civilians are deprived of medical care, shelter, water wells and humanitarian supplies, “running from one destroyed place to another, with no end in sight,” he said.
Hadi said in a statement Thursday that international humanitarian law requires the protection of civilians. “The way forward is as clear as it is urgent: protect civilians, release hostages, facilitate humanitarian access, agree a ceasefire.”
The evacuations also pose the latest threat to UN staff working in Gaza and affect humanitarian facilities, according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. He cited as an example the loss of access by the UN World Food Programme to its warehouse in central Deir al-Balah.
“This was the third and last operational warehouse in the central area of Gaza,” Dujarric said. “Five community kitchens run by WFP were also evacuated as the agency looked for new locations to accommodate them.”
