At least 30 people, including children, were killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes overnight on Thursday and into yesterday morning, hospital staff said, as sirens sounded across Israel and stalled ceasefire talks were set to resume.
More than one dozen women and children were killed in strikes that hit sites in central Gaza, including Nuseirat, Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al-Balah, Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital staff said.
Dozens of people were also killed across the enclave the previous day, bringing the total of people killed in the 24-hour period to 56.
Photo: AFP
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the latest strikes, but says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths.
The strike in Israeli-declared humanitarian zone Muwasi occurred as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been huddling there in damp winter weather.
“Everyone was taking shelter in their tents from the cold, and suddenly we found the world turning upside down. Why, and for what?” said Ziyad Abu Jabal, who was displaced from Gaza City.
Among those killed early yesterday was Omar al-Derawi, a freelance journalist. The Associated Press reporters saw friends and colleagues mourning over his body at the hospital, with a press vest laid on top of his shroud.
As the attacks were under way, efforts at ceasefire negotiations were expected to resume yesterday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had authorized a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue ceasefire negotiations in Qatar. The delegation was to leave for Qatar yesterday.
Meanwhile, in southern Gaza, the military killed five policemen in eastern Khan Younis.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the strike targeted the head of the Hamas internal security force in southern Gaza.
“Where did we find him? Where else, but of course hiding in the humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, where Gazans are sheltering from this war,” Mencer said.
In other news, Israelis also woke up to attacks early yesterday morning.
Missiles were fired into the country from Yemen, Israel said, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and central Israel and sending people scrambling to shelters.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, although a faint explosion, likely either from the missiles or from interceptors, could be heard in Jerusalem.
Israel’s army said a missile was intercepted.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS