Israeli strike on Gaza school kills more than 100 during morning prayer – latest

By contrast, early in her speech at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, she received heckles from pro-Palestine protesters chanting “free, free Palestine.” In response, Harris tried to speak from a policy perspective.

“I have been clear: now is the time to get a ceasefire deal and get the hostage deal done,” she said to applause. “Now is the time. And the president and I are working around the clock every day to get that ceasefire deal done and bring the hostages home. So, I respect your voices, but we are here to now talk about this race in 2024.”

A Hamas official was killed on Friday after an Israeli drone strike hit a car in a southern Lebanese city.

Hamas said in a statement that the strike occurred before sunset on the southern entrance of the port city of Sidon and near one of the roads that lead to the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, Lebanon’s largest, and that Samer al-Haj, a Hamas official in charge of security of the camp was killed.

The Israeli military confirmed it targeted al-Haj, saying he was recruiting people to carry out attacks against Israel.

The military has vowed to target Hamas officials everywhere.

The White House has condemned Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich for arguing against a ceasefire and hostage release deal brokered with the Biden administration, calling his recent public statements unhelpful and dangerous.

Andrew Feinberg has the details:

• According to the United Nations, 477 out of 564 schools in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged in the war as of 6 July. In June, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza killed at least 33 people, including 12 women and children, according to local health officials.
• The war was triggered by Hamas’ 7 October attack, in which militants from Gaza stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 250 others.
• Israel‘s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 39,600 Palestinians and wounded more than 91,700 others, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
• More than 1.9 million of Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, fleeing repeatedly across the territory to escape offensives. Most are now crowded into ramshackle tent camps in an area of about 50 sq km (19 square miles) on the Gaza coast.

More than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike on a Gaza school sheltering displaced people, the official Palestinian news agency said this morning, while the Israeli army said it had hit a Hamas command centre.

“The Israeli strikes targeted the displaced people while performing Fajr (dawn) prayers, a matter led to a rapid increase in the number of casualties,” the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said in a statement.

In its statement, the Israeli army said its air forces “struck command and control centre served as a hideout for Hamas terrorists and commanders.”

“The IAF precisely struck Hamas terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control centre embedded in the Al-Taba’een school and located adjacent to a mosque in Daraj Tuffah, which serves as a shelter for the residents of Gaza City.”

It claimed that prior to the strike, “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information.”

Britain is deeply concerned by Israel’s decision to revoke the diplomatic status of eight Norwegian diplomats dealing with the Palestinian Authority, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.

“We are deeply concerned by Israel’s decision to revoke the diplomatic status of 8 Norwegian diplomats dealing with the Palestinian Authority. Norway has long played a unique and valued role in supporting peace for Israelis and Palestinians. We urge Israel to reconsider,” the FCDO spokesperson said in a statement yesterday.

This comes just a day after Israel revoked the accreditation of the eight Norwegian diplomats.

Israeli troops launched a new assault yesterday into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, targeting Hamas fighters who the military claims still operate there despite repeated offensives, as American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators renewed their push for Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire deal.Israeli evacuation orders triggered yet another exodus of Palestinians from the heavily destroyed eastern districts of Khan Younis, where many had just returned less than two weeks ago — after the Israeli military’s last incursion into the city in July.

Thousands had fled the city on Thursday, carrying essentials like small gas cylinders, mattresses, tents, backpacks and blankets.A wave of Israeli airstrikes in the southern city killed at least 21 Palestinians, medics at the city’s Nasser Hospital said. Israeli bombardment also continued to pound central Gaza on Friday, with the bodies of eight Palestinians — all women and children — arriving at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital from a barrage of airstrikes that hit the town of Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat refugee camp.

It’s at least the third time that Israeli forces have launched a major incursion into Khan Younis, where Israeli and American officials have said they believe Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ newly named top leader and one of the architects of the 7 October attack on Israel, could be hiding.

Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, pledged allegiance to Sinwar as its new leader and promised to carry out his decisions. Ismail Haniyeh’s swift replacement “shows that Hamas is coherent and strong,” said Abu Obaida, the group’s chief spokesperson.

With tensions running high along the Israel-Lebanon border, an Israeli drone strike yesterday crashed into an SUV in the Lebanese city of Sidon, killing a Hamas official identified as Samer al-Haj on the main road to the southern port city, Lebanon’s state media reported.

The explosion engulfed al-Haj’s car in flames just outside the sprawling Palestinian refugee camp of Ein al-Hilweh, where Lebanese media reported that he oversaw security matters. Israel confirmed it targeted al-Haj, describing him as a senior Hamas commander and accusing him of recruiting militants to attack Israel as well as directing rocket launches.

In the Gaza Strip, one of the airstrikes in Khan Younis hit the home of the Abu Moamar family, killing a Palestine TV journalist, his wife and three daughters.

Another strike smashed into tents housing displaced people in Mawasi, a costal community just west of Khan Younis that the Israeli military has designated as a humanitarian zone, killing a journalist for the Hamas-run Al Aqsa TV channel and five others. A third airstrike targeted a car in Khan Younis.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant in a phone call yesterday that the escalation of tensions in the Middle East was “in no party’s interest” while also stressing the need for a Gaza ceasefire, the State Department said.

“The Secretary reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and discussed how escalation is in no party’s interest,” the State Department said in a statement.

It added: “The Secretary reiterated the urgent need to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that would secure the release of hostages, allow a surge of humanitarian assistance, and create the conditions for broader regional stability. He also underscored the importance of reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows both Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces destroyed an Iranian-backed Houthi missile launcher and an uncrewed surface vessel in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in the previous 24 hours.

The forces also destroyed two Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicles over the Red Sea, CENTCOM said in a post on X.

It claimed that these weapons “presented a clear and imminent threat to US and coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region.”

“This reckless and dangerous behaviour by Iranian-backed Houthis continues to threaten regional stability and security,” the CENTCOM said.