At least seven people, including two children, were killed in new Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, while the UN halted aid deliveries through a key border crossing over security concerns and a former Israeli defense minister denounced “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Sunday that at least seven people were killed in new Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, several others suffered injuries in the airstrikes on the central and southern parts of the coastal strip.
The dead included two children who were struck in a “humanitarian zone” in the south of the Gaza Strip, the report said.
The Israeli military announced on Saturday that its air force had attacked a rocket launch site in an area declared a humanitarian zone.
After the attack, rockets were launched from the targeted location but did not hit Israeli territory, the report said.
The Israeli military said it is taking action in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian militant Hamas organization, saying Israeli forces are taking measures to minimize the risk to civilians, such as the use of precision weapons and aerial surveillance.
Deaths reported in West Bank after Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, in the northern West Bank, several people were killed in an Israeli airstrike near Jenin, WAFA reported.
It said a vehicle carrying several young men had been shot at.
The Israeli military said an “aircraft carried out an attack on terrorists in the Jenin area.”
According to WAFA, several Israeli military vehicles blocked the scene of the attack, preventing access to ambulances.
Jenin is considered a militant Palestinian stronghold.
The already tense situation in the occupied West Bank has deteriorated significantly since the massacre in Israel by the Palestinian militant Hamas organization and the subsequent Gaza war.
Since then, more than 760 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, armed clashes or extremist attacks in Ramallah, according to the Health Ministry.
Israeli ex-minister denounces ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza
Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza Strip in an interview with Israeli broadcaster Kan.
Ya’alon, who served as defense minister from 2013 to 2016, spoke about alleged Israeli plans to expel Palestinian residents from the northern Gaza Strip and establish Israeli settlements there instead.
He said he was speaking on behalf of Israeli commanders deployed in northern Gaza who are deeply concerned about the situation.
“They are put in life-threatening situations, they are confronted with moral dilemmas,” he said, adding that they could also be charged before the International Criminal Court.
Israel committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip, Ya’alon said.
His comments were condemned as “malicious lies” by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing conservative Likud party.
Far-right members of the Israeli government have repeatedly called for the return of Israeli settlers to the Gaza Strip, but this is not official government policy.
The UN stops the transport of aid through the main border crossing in Gaza
On Sunday, the head of the UN aid agency said the Kerem Shalom border crossing into the Gaza Strip, the main transit route for aid deliveries, would no longer be used for security reasons until further notice.
In mid-November, a large aid convoy was looted by armed gangs at the border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and on Saturday an entire convoy of several trucks carrying food was stolen.
“This difficult decision comes at a time when hunger is rapidly increasing,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in a post on X on Sunday. Humanitarian aid should never be dangerous or an ordeal.”
As an occupying power in the Gaza Strip, Israel must ensure the protection of humanitarian workers and the delivery of relief supplies, Lazzarini emphasized in his post.
However, the Israeli government has repeatedly denounced UNRWA and passed a highly controversial ban on the aid agency, which would ban all operations on Israeli soil from early next year.
“I once again call for a ceasefire that would also ensure the delivery of safe and uninterrupted aid to those in need,” Lazzarini said.
