Israeli forces conducted another ground raid in Gaza in advance of an expected invasion of the Hamas-ruled territory. U.S. warplanes, meanwhile, struck targets in eastern Syria after attacks on U.S. forces by Iran-backed fighters, adding to regional tensions fueled by the 3-week-old Gaza war.
The Palestinian death toll passed 7,000 as Israel launched waves of airstrikes in response to the bloody Hamas rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which tracks the toll, released a detailed list, including names and ID numbers on Thursday. In the occupied West Bank, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids since Oct. 7.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack. In addition, 229 people — including foreigners, children and older adults — were taken by Hamas during the incursion and remain in captivity in Gaza. Four hostages were released earlier.
Currently:
1. U.S. strikes Iran-linked sites in Syria in retaliation for attacks on U.S. troops
2. How did they get it wrong: Israel-Hamas war has upended years of conventional wisdom
3. Data from the Gaza Health Ministry, questioned after the hospital explosion, has withstood past scrutiny
4. Parts of Gaza look like a wasteland from space. Look for the misshapen buildings and swaths of gray
5. Palestinians plead “stop the bombs” at U.N. meeting, but Israel insists Hamas must be “obliterated.”
6. Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
IRAN-BACKED FIGHTERS IN SYRIA FIRE ROCKETS AT OIL FACILITY HOUSING US TROOPS
BEIRUT — Syrian opposition activists say Iran-backed fighters fired rockets at an oil facility housing U.S. troops in eastern Syria.
The attack came hours after American fighter jets launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Pentagon said the strikes were in retaliation for a slew of drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region that began early last week.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said six rockets hit al-Omar oil field in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. The Observatory said it wasn’t clear if there were any casualties.
The Observatory said the U.S. strikes earlier Friday wounded seven Iraqi Iran-backed fighters.
RUSSIA DEFENDS HOSTING HAMAS OFFICIAL FOR TALKS
MOSCOW — The Kremlin dismissed criticism of a visit to Moscow by a senior Hamas figure, saying that Russia considers it necessary to maintain contacts with all warring parties.
Russia has tried to maneuver carefully over the Israel-Hamas war as it seeks to expand its global clout. The Israeli Foreign Ministry criticized Moscow for hosting Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, and urged Russia to expel him.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it discussed the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of Russian nationals and other foreign citizens during Thursday’s talks with Hamas.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia considers “it necessary to continue contacts with all the parties and we will certainly continue our dialogue with Israel.”
He wouldn’t comment when asked if Hamas’ visit could hurt Russia-Israeli ties.
4 PALESTINIANS, INCLUDING MILITANT COMMANDER KILLED IN WEST BANK CLASHES OVERNIGHT
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in the West Bank during a widescale overnight arrest raid, Palestinian health officials said. A militant commander was among those killed.
Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, the death toll in the occupied West Bank has reached 110, making it one of the deadliest periods there in at least a decade.
Palestinian officials said three of the Palestinians were killed when a firefight with local gunmen erupted in the Jenin refugee camp.
The Israeli military said forces responded with live fire when assailants hurled explosive devices and shot at troops in the camp. One of the three killed was a commander for the military wing of the militant Islamic Jihad group, the group said.
Israeli forces killed a fourth Palestinian early Friday morning in the west Bank City of Qalqilya, Palestinian health officials said.
Israeli forces arrested at least 70 Palestinians in the raid, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, which represents current and former prisoners. Since the start of the war, Israeli authorities have made more than 1,530 arrests of Palestinians in the West Bank.
FRANCE’S TOP DIPLOMAT SAYS HAMAS IS HOLDING ‘AT LEAST SOME’ OF THE 9 FRENCH CITIZENS MISSING SINCE OCT. 7
PARIS — French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna says that at least some of the nine French citizens who have been missing since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel are being held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza.
In an interview with the French radio station RTL on Friday, she said the nine “disappeared” on Oct. 7.
“We have no specific news (of them) but some of them we know have been taken hostage,” Colonna said and added that the French government is working with Egypt and Qatar to free them.
“We demand the release of all hostages and not just French hostages,” she added.
On Thursday, the French foreign ministry said that 35 French citizens have been killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Hamas and other militants in Gaza are believed to have taken more than 220 people, including an unconfirmed number of foreigners and dual citizens.
HEAD OF UN AGENCY FOR PALESTINIANS SAYS SERVICES IN GAZA COLLAPSING FAST
JERUSALEM — The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Friday that remaining public services in Gaza are collapsing fast and that people now face food shortages.
Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the international community “seems to have turned its back on Gaza.”
He said the agency was very short on fuel in Gaza and needs about 160,000 liters (42,200 gallons) of fuel a day to supply hospitals and bakeries.
As for UNRWA staffers in Gaza, “for the first time ever, they report that now people are hungry,” Lazzarini said. “Civil order is collapsing.”
Asked how long supplies will last, Lazzarini said “certainly no more than few days.” Lazzarini added that 57 employees of the agency in Gaza have been killed since the war started on Oct. 7.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to this human tragedy,” he said.
Also Friday in Geneva, Lynn Hastings, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Palestinian territories, said there was “a significant backup of some 150 aid trucks” at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. More trucks were stalled in the nearby Egyptian city of el-Arish.
Though Israel has blocked all fuel from accessing the Gaza Strip, Hastings said that UNWRA has been able to access a limited amount of fuel to power desalination plants and distribute to bakeries and hospitals.
She said that if desalination plants run out of fuel, raw sewage that is currently being pumped into the sea will begin to spill onto the streets.
MISSILE HITS EGYPTIAN RED SEA CITY NEAR ISRAEL BORDER
CAIRO — A missile that landed in Egypt’s Red City of Taba on the Sinai Peninsula early on Friday injured six people, Egyptian state media said.
The source of the missile was not identified. An Israeli army spokesman said that “an aerial threat was identified in the area” of the Red Sea earlier on Friday, forcing Israel to scramble fighter planes.
According to al-Qahera news, which has close ties to Egypt’s intelligence service, the missile struck a medical facility where ambulances were parked and a hospital administration building. An investigation is underway.
All six people had minor injuries and were being treated at a hospital, Egypt’s Health Ministry said.
An unnamed security source cited by al-Qahera said Egypt reserved the right to respond to the attack. Once the destination for the launch is determined, all options are available, he added.
Taba lies right on the border with Israel, and is some 6 miles, or 10 kilometers, from the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
Israeli Read Adm. Daniel Hagari said “the origin of the hit that occurred in Egypt” appeared to be from the threat over the Red Sea. The issue is under investigation, he said.
“Israel will work with Egypt and the United States and will tighten the defense in the region against threats from the area of the Red Sea,” he added.
In a separate incident Friday, al-Qahera news said a “strange object” landed near a power station in the Red Sea town of Nuweiba, not far from Taba. Footage broadcasted by the news outlet showed debris and smoke rising from the side of mountain near the town. No further information was available.
US TARGETED 2 SITES TIED TO IRAN-BACKED FIGHTERS, ACTIVISTS SAY
BEIRUT — The U.S. airstrikes on Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour targeted two locations where Iran-backed fighters are based, according to Syrian opposition activists.
Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet, said the main target was an area known as the farms just outside the town of Mayadeen. The site had been evacuated and no one was hurt, he said.
The second strike early Friday hit an area known as the “green belt” in the Boukamal area that borders Iraq, he said.
“These strikes were expected because of the repeated provocative acts,” said Abu Layla referring to attacks that targeted U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria.
Abu Layal said the farms area is an important point where weapons brought from Iran are stored and then shipped to other areas in Lebanon.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, also reported strikes on the farms area near Mayadeen and Ashara near the border with Iraq. The Observatory said ambulances were seen rushing to the area, but it was not clear if there were casualties.
The Pentagon said the airstrikes targeted two locations linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in retaliation for drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region.
UNGA SESSION ON THE WAR RESUMES FRIDAY MORNING
UNITED NATIONS — “Stop the bombs and save lives!” the Palestinian ambassador pleaded at an emotional U.N. meeting Thursday on the war in Gaza. But Israel’s envoy was adamant, declaring again, “We will not rest until Hamas is obliterated.”
The war sparked by Gaza’s Hamas rulers’ surprise attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 played out in the vast hall of the 193-nation General Assembly, where Arab nations expected to adopt a resolution Friday calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza after the Security Council’s four failed attempts to agree on any action.
At the assembly’s resumed emergency special session, speaker after speaker backed the Arab resolution’s cease-fire call — except for Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who told the 193-member world body, “A cease-fire means giving Hamas time to rearm itself, so they can massacre us again.”
The emergency General Assembly meeting resumes Friday morning, with about 100 speakers remaining.
The resolution being putting to a vote in the afternoon calls for an immediate cease-fire and demands that all parties respect international law and protect civilians. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding. But they do reflect world opinion and the size of the vote in favor will be closely watched.
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