UNRWA reports 23 deaths from shelling of UN shelters
Four schools that the United Nations uses as shelters for Gaza residents were damaged on Thursday, the UN reported. At least 23 Palestinians were killed. Philippe Lazzarini, head of UN organization UNRWA, mentions Israel in his statement not by name, but also does not contradict a CNN reporter when he talks about Israeli bombings.
“These shelters are well marked, their locations are extremely well known,” said Lazzarini, to CNN. “There were thousands of people inside when they were hit.” Those people are “no safer there than in other places,” concludes the UN commissioner, who visited the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the AFP news agency.
According to UNRWA, twenty of the 23 deaths occurred in the Jabalia refugee camp, where international media have reported several Israeli bombardments in recent days. Israel said on Thursday it had completely surrounded Gaza City, which is home to the permanent refugee camp. Three to four hundred thousand Palestinian civilians are still in Gaza City, Lazzarini estimates. “The death toll is so staggeringly high that it can no longer be seen as collateral damage.”
Another Palestinian journalist killed in Gaza
Journalist Muhammad Abu Hatab has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza. This is reported by Palestine TV, the television channel of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. According to news agency WAFA Abu Hatab was killed in an attack on his house and his eleven relatives were also killed.
According to Palestinian media, Abu Hatab’s death is “a bloody message to terrorize Palestinian journalists” and prevent them from doing their work. At least 36 journalists have been killed in and around Gaza since the start of the war, 31 of them Palestinian reporters and media workers.
Blinken returns to Israel, wants a break in the fighting in Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel again on Friday. According to among other The New York Times Blinken will push for a pause in fighting in Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to flow in and more people to leave the war zone.
“We have seen in recent days that Palestinian civilians continue to suffer,” Blinken said before boarding a plane to Israel. “It is important that the United States does everything it can to protect citizens.”
The US request would not amount to a ceasefire. According to Israeli media, a ceasefire is not negotiable, but the Netanyahu government is open to a short break in fighting.
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This blog will follow NRC the situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip and related developments.
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