The latest bombardment comes as the United States announced it would not reduce its military support for Israel, despite a deadline for increasing humanitarian aid into Gaza having expired.
Israeli attacks continued across Gaza on Thursday, with several deaths reported since dawn in Gaza City, Deir el-Balah, and Rafah. Airstrikes have killed at least 28 people in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, and 120 others have been injured, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
Neighbouring Lebanon also faced air raids, with warplanes striking Beirut's southern suburbs. At least 33 people were killed on Tuesday.
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The latest bombardment comes as the United States announced it would not reduce its military support for Israel, despite a deadline for increasing humanitarian aid into Gaza having expired. The State Department cited some progress, even as international aid groups stated that Israel had failed to meet U.S. demands.
Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 43,764 Palestinians and wounded 103,490 since October 7, 2023. In Lebanon, at least 3,386 people have been killed and 14,417 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war began.
UN special committee likens Israeli policy in Gaza to genocide: A UN special committee has said that Israeli policies and practices in Gaza are “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”. The committee, established in 1968 to monitor the Israeli occupation, also said in its annual report that there were serious concerns that Israel was “using starvation as a weapon of war” in the 13-month-old war, and was running an “apartheid system” in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
At least 15 killed in Israeli strikes on Syria’s Damascus: Israeli strikes on residential structures in Damascus have killed at least 15 people, according to Syrian state media.
“The Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan [Heights], targeting residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus and the Qudssaya area in the Damascus countryside, killing 15 people and injuring 16 others,” the ministry said on Thursday, adding that the death toll could rise.
The Israeli military has claimed it carried out airstrikes on multiple structures and command centres affiliated to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.
Top Iranian official holds talks in Lebanon: A top Iranian official met with Lebanese leaders on Friday to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, as the United States continues to push both sides to agree to a new cease-fire deal.
The visit of Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, to the Lebanese capital was punctuated with a renewed aerial attack by Israel on the southeastern edge of the city. According to Lebanese media, US Ambassador Lisa Johnson handed over a draft of a proposed deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been conducting the talks on behalf of Hezbollah.
(With agency inputs)