Israel continues to strike Gaza after Iran attack
Despite the Iranian attack, Israel has been pounding the Gaza Strip in the past few hours.
Overnight, a number of residential buildings were destroyed in the Nuseirat refugee camp where there were casualties who were transported to al-Awda Hospital and al-Aqsa Hospital for treatment.
Here, in Rafah, we have been hearing the constant buzzing of Israeli surveillance drones since the early hours as they gather intelligence for potential targets. Confrontation and fighting are still raging in the northern part of Gaza.
According to witnesses on the ground in the north of Nuseirat refugee camp, Israeli drones have been firing at people. They also said Israel is demolishing houses and destroying agricultural land which could be a sign, according to experts, that Israel is expanding the corridor that it has recently established splitting the north and the south of the Strip.
Israeli army denies allowing Palestinians’ return to north Gaza
The Israeli military has dismissed speculation that it allowed the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza.
The army “does not allow the return of residents, neither through Salah al-Din nor through al-Rashid Street,” said spokesman Avichay Adraee on X, calling the rumours “false and baseless”.
He stressed that northern Gaza is still a war zone and no return will be allowed.
Gaza death toll rises to 33,729, with 76,371 Palestinians wounded
The number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s six-month war on Gaza has risen to 33,729, the Health Ministry says. Another 76,371 have been wounded in Israeli attacks. The death toll is likely much higher, with an estimated 8,000 bodies believed buried in bombed-out buildings.
The ministry said 43 Palestinians were killed and 62 wounded in the past 24 hours.
Israel enables West Bank settler attacks: B’Tselem
The Israeli rights group has said Israel “has created” a “reality of blood and revenge” by enabling settler attacks across the occupied West Bank.
“With scenes of homes and vehicles set on fire, and the numbers of casualties rising, the Israeli army enables these attacks or even participates in them,” B’Tselem said in a post on social media.
As we reported earlier, 49 Palestinians were injured in Israeli settler attacks across the occupied West Bank on Friday and Saturday after an Israeli teenager went missing and was later found dead.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians are exposed to attacks by armed settler militias storming villages across the West Bank in recent hours.
— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) April 14, 2024
Settler violence across occupied West Bank
Tensions in the occupied West Bank have been rising following a wave of settler attacks. Here’s a recap of what happened over the past two days:
- A 25-year-old Palestinian was killed in al-Mughayyir northeast of Ramallah on Friday in a massive settler attack triggered by the disappearance of a 14-year-old Israeli who was later found dead.
- A second Palestinian aged 17 was killed on Saturday in Beitin.
- Settler attacks took place in a number of Palestinian towns and villages, including Beitin, al-Mughayyir, Sinjel, Turmus Aya, Abu Falah, Duma, al-Sawiyeh and Huwara.
- According to local sources, settlers shot at, threw rocks and set fire to Palestinians and their properties.
- Other attacks were carried out in Beit Furik and Qusra, close to Nablus to the north of the West Bank, as well as in the northern Jordan Valley village of Ein al-Hilweh and Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron Hills.
- According to the UN, settlers have killed at least eight Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza, with the West Bank witnessing an unprecedented wave of settler violence.
- Palestinians say settler attacks often take place in the presence of Israeli soldiers.
Israeli settler attacks kill 2; 50 Palestinians wounded in occupied West Bank
We have been speaking about settler attacks since the war started but this has been the largest wave of settler attacks.
It started in al-Mughayyir village where they believed an Israeli settler’s body has been found, but it continued and spanned through many places in the north of the occupied West Bank.
At least 50 Palestinians were injured by the Israeli settlers who, according to locals, were working under the protection of the Israeli army. Two Palestinians were killed and the funeral procession of one of them has just passed near us.
It remains a very tense situation. Some of the people here told us it is alarming that the settlers continued attacking even as the Iranian attack was happening on Israel. They expect more Palestinians to be put at risk as the day goes by.
