Israeli artillery and air attacks target Gaza’s Khan Younis
Al Jazeera correspondents in Gaza report a series of air raids and artillery fire in and around the second-largest city of Khan Younis.
Artillery shelling occurred on the outskirts of the town of Bani Suheila, just east of Khan Younis, while aerial bombardment also took place to the east of the southern city.
Despite the nearly monthlong ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces continue to carry out attacks in Gaza, killing more than 240 Palestinians since early October, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israeli drone attack injures child in Gaza City: Report
Israeli forces have fired a bomb from a drone in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood, wounding a child, reports the Wafa news agency.
The child has been hospitalised at al-Ahli Arab Hospital, the agency said.
Talks ongoing to get dozens of Hamas fighters out of south Gaza
Negotiations are under way to allow about 150 Hamas fighters trapped in tunnels in southern Gaza behind Israel’s “yellow line” to hand over their weapons and walk free.
Securing safe passage for the Hamas soldiers in Israeli-controlled territory is a serious issue seen as a risk to the month-old Gaza truce, news reports quoted unnamed sources as saying.
Egyptian mediators have proposed that, in exchange for safe passage, fighters still in Rafah surrender their arms to Egypt and give details of tunnels there so they can be destroyed, an Egyptian security official told the Reuters news agency.
Israel and Hamas have yet to publicly accept mediators’ proposals. Far-right ministers in Israel’s government – including hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – are vehemently opposing any deal, the Financial Times reports.
Israeli attacks in Rafah spiralled into some of the worst violence since the ceasefire took hold on October 10, with three Israeli soldiers killed, prompting further Israeli attacks that killed nearly 150 Palestinians.
‘Problem is huge’: Waste build-up in Gaza causing more disease
With no reliable rubbish collection and hazardous waste from bomb sites, Palestinians in Gaza say pollution has created a putrid atmosphere rife with environmental and health risks.
“The scale of the waste problem in Gaza is huge,” said Alessandro Mrakic, head of the Gaza office of the UN development agency UNDP. “We’re talking about 2 million tonnes of waste – untreated – all across Gaza.”
People in the war-battered enclave are reporting higher rates of gastric diseases and skin complaints, from diarrhoea to rashes, sores, lice and scabies – conditions doctors blame on pollution.
“Skin diseases have spread a lot because of overcrowding in tents and the tents are next to garbage dumps,” Sami Abu Taha, a dermatologist at the Kuwaiti field hospital in Khan Younis, was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
“I don’t smell any fresh air. I smell a foul odour in my tent. I can’t sleep. My children wake up in the morning coughing,” added Mahmoud Abu Reida, a resident in the southern city.
Palestinians in Gaza say pollution has created a putrid atmosphere rife with environmental and health risks
Palestinian Islamic Jihad says will release Israeli captive’s body
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, the al-Quds Brigades, says it will hand over the remains of a deceased Israeli captive tonight.
Israel’s Channel 15 also reported that the International Committee of the Red Cross is preparing tonight to receive the body of one of the captives in Gaza.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, says the Israeli captive’s remains were found today in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The group said the handover will take place at 9pm local time in Gaza (19:00 GMT).
