Armenia said it would recognize a Palestinian state on Friday, prompting Israel to summon its ambassador for what the Foreign Ministry described as a “severe reprimand.”
Three-quarters of the 193 United Nations member nations have recognized a Palestinian state, including Ireland and Spain, although none of the major Western powers has done so. Palestinians believe the recognitions confer international legitimacy on their struggle, especially as Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its ninth month, faces growing international criticism over the campaign of systematic destruction in Gaza and huge cost in civilian lives.
Also Friday, the head of a major hospital in north Gaza said his staff have seen some 250 children suffering from malnutrition, with numbers rising daily due to acute food shortages. Palestinians face widespread hunger as the war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and basic goods to Gaza, which is now totally dependent on aid.
Meanwhile, Israel’s pledge to guard a new aid route into southern Gaza has fallen flat, as the U.N. and international aid organizations say a breakdown in law and order has made that route unusable.
The Israeli military said that two soldiers were killed in combat in central Gaza, while three were severely injured.
Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 37,100 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Israel launched the war after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
Currently:
— The fate of the latest cease-fire proposal hinges on Netanyahu and Hamas’ leader in Gaza.
— Israel’s pledge to guard an aid route into Gaza falls flat as lawlessness blocks distribution.
— A rare public rift appears between Israel’s political and military leadership over how the war in Gaza is being conducted.
— The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group warns archenemy Israel against wider war.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s the latest:
Son of one the first Israeli Olympic medalists is killed in Gaza
JERUSALEM — An Israeli soldier killed in combat in Gaza was the son of the one the first Israeli Olympic medalists, according to the country’s Olympic Committee.
Omer Smadga, whose death was announced by the army on Friday, was the son of Oren Smadga, the winner of a bronze medal in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics. The army did not provide further details about the circumstances of his death.
Israel’s Olympic Committee said they “bowed their heads in deep pain” with the Olympic medalist and coach, who helped train the current Israeli Olympic judo team. The committee did not say whether or not Smadga would travel to Paris with the judo team.
Smadga’s success, along with Yael Arad, who also won a silver medal in judo at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, helped propel the sport in Israel.
Israeli forces killed 2 Palestinian militants in northern West Bank, police say
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian militants in the northern West Bank on Friday, police said, as violence rages in the Israeli-occupied territory.
According to Israeli police, the two men were killed after a gunfight broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen in the town of Qalqilya. Palestinian authorities said the slain men were in their 20s.
The police said the two gunmen were members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group active across the West Bank and Gaza. The militant group did not immediately claim the two dead men as their fighters.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war broke out last October. At least 549 Palestinian from the territory have been killed by Israeli fire, according to data published by the Ramallah-based health ministry. Many have been killed in armed clashes, some for throwing stones, but some posed no apparent threat.
Bodies of 5 killed in an airstrike in Gaza City recovered from apartments
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian Civil Defense organization says its teams have recovered the bodies of five people who were killed in an airstrike that hit two apartments in Gaza City.
The agency said several people were also injured in Friday’s strike that hit the apartments of two families in the center of the city.
An earlier airstrike hit a municipal garage in the city and killed five people, raising to 10 the number of people killed Friday.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 37,400 people, according to Gaza’s…
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