The Israeli forces conducted a second ground raid into Gaza on the 21st day of the conflict. The Gaza health ministry reported that over 7,000 Palestinians have died in the ongoing fight between the Israeli military and Hamas.
Additionally, the US military launched airstrikes on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in response to attacks on US personnel by Iranian-backed groups.
Israel “clearly” opposes the delivery of humanitarian aid to northern Gaza where hundreds of thousands remain trapped during incessant bombing.
UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Palestine Lynn Hastings said, “The government of Israel has been clear that they don’t want us delivering [aid] in the north.”
Hastings said, “So our staff will have to assume certain security risks if we determine the assistance that we have to be lifesaving and needs to be delivered.”
“I’ve said it before that over a million people cannot just pick up and move to the south where there have been repeated bombings. There is no service delivery, there is no shelter there. We need to be able to deliver [assistance] to those people and we need to be able to deliver assistance to wherever people are in need,” said Hastings.
Israel says it killed Hamas commander
Israel’s army says its forces have killed Midhat Mabasher, the commander of Hamas’s West Khan Younis battalion.
The army said the operation on Thursday night was carried out together with Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency.
It added that Mabasher had taken part in launching explosives against Israeli settlements and the army.
Separately, a medical delegation comprising 10 foreign doctors has entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, along with 10 trucks importing water, food and medicine.
Hospital workers urgently need medical supplies and fuel for their generators as they treat thousands of people wounded in the bombings.
