Gaza’s civil defence agencyspokepersonMahmud Bassalsaid at least 13 people were “recovered from rubble” after a dawn strike in the southernGazacity ofKhan Younis, while another 35 were killed in 12 separate strikes across theGaza Strip.
Bassal added that in southern Gaza, one woman was killed in artillery shelling, and one man by gunfire.
PresidentDonald Trumphas attended a business forum inQatar, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Trump sat withGE Aerospace’sLarry CulpandBoeing Co’sKelly Ortbergon either side of him on Thursday. According to the AP, both praised Trump for his support for theQatar Airwaysorder forBoeing aircraft, with Ortberg calling it one of the largest orders Boeing has ever had.
On Thursday, Trump plans to address troops at Qatar’sal-Udeid airbase,which was a major staging ground during theUSwars inIraqandAfghanistanand supported the recent US air campaign againstYemen’sIran-backedHouthis.
The US president has held up Gulf nations likeSaudi Arabiaand Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflict as he works to entice Iran to come to terms with his administration on a deal to curb its nuclear programme.Trump will then head toAbu Dhabi, the capital of theUnited Arab Emirates.
Multiple airstrikes have hitGaza’s southern city ofKhan Younisovernight, killing more than 50 people in a second consecutive night of heavy bombing.The Associated Press (AP) said its cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’sNasser hospital. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.The dead included a journalist working forQataritelevision network Al Araby TV, the network announced on social media, sayingHasan Samourhad been killed along with 11 members of his family in one of the strikes in Khan Younis.
It was the second night of heavy bombing, afterairstrikes on Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children.The strikes come asUSpresidentDonald Trumpis on a trip to theMiddle East, visitingGulf statesbut notIsrael.
An Israeli blockade of Gaza is now in its third month. Nearly half a millionPalestiniansare facing possible starvation while 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to findings by theIntegrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.
Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahuvowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel’s war to pursue his aim of destroying theHamasmilitant group.
In other developments:
President Donald Trump on Thursday will visit a US base installation at the cente of American involvement in the Middle Eastas he uses his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region. The US president will also meet business leaders in Qatar and head to Abu Dhabi, the capital of theUnited Arab Emirates.
Human Rights Watch said that Israel’s plan to seize Gaza, remain in the territory and displace hundreds of thousands of people “inches closer to extermination”.The international rights group called on the international community to speak out against the plan.
A pregnant Israeli woman has died after she was shot and critically injured in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank, a hospital said Thursday.Beilinson hospital said that doctors succeeded in saving her unborn baby, who was in serious but stable condition after being delivered by caesarean section.