Violent clashes overnight have left multiple Palestinians dead in the West Bank, and Israeli police say a Palestinian stabbed two people at a checkpoint near Jerusalem before being shot Wednesday
The Latest | Stabbing near Jerusalem after deadly violence erupts in the occupied West BankBy The Associated PressThe Associated Press
Violent clashes overnight have left multiple Palestinians dead in the West Bank, and Israeli police say a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two people at a checkpoint near Jerusalem before being shot Wednesday.
Violence has surged in the occupied West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. At least 427 Palestinians have been killed there, mostly during confrontations with Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Israeli-Palestinian tensions often soar during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began Sunday, over access to a major holy site in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said six aid trucks entered Gaza through the north late Tuesday as international pressure mounts for more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed during the Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel on Oct. 7, and around 250 people were abducted. Hamas is believed to still be holding around 100 hostages.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says that over 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people forced from their homes. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says that women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, according to the United Nations.
Currently:
— An aid ship is sailing to Gaza, where hundreds of thousands face starvation 5 months into war.
— A United Nations envoy says the finding that some hostages were victims of sexual violence doesn’t justify Israeli attacks.
— Evangelical Christians are fierce Israel supporters. Now they are visiting as war-time volunteers.
— A Gaza family uprooted by war and grieving their losses shares a somber Ramadan meal in a tent.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s the latest:
PALESTINIAN SOCCER PLAYER BARAKAT IS KILLED IN AN ISREALI AIRSTRIKE
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian soccer federation says former national team member Mohammed Barakat, 39, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
It says he was killed in a strike Monday on a residential building in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Affectionately known as “the lion” by fellow players, Barakat had played for the national team as well as a number of clubs in Gaza, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He began his professional career in 2015 with Shabab Khanyounis, where he became the first player in Gaza to score 100 goals with a single team.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 31,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The Palestinian Football Association says 158 athletes, including 91 soccer players from various divisions, are among those killed.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage.
ISRAELI DRONE STRIKE KILLS 1 HAMAS MEMBER AND 1 SYRIAN CITIZEN IN LEBANON
BEIRUT — An Israeli drone strike Wednesday targeting a car in southern Lebanon near the coastal city of Tyre killed a member of Hamas and at least one other person.
Hamas identified the member who was killed as Hadi Mustafa. Lebanese state media said he is from the Rashidieh refugee camp near Tyre, where Hamas has a notable presence.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the other person killed was a Syrian citizen who was on a motorcycle near the targeted car.
The strike comes a day after top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayyeh met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, and days after talks between Hamas and Israel for a truce in the war in Gaza ahead of the holy month of Ramadan broke down. The United States and other governments continue to scramble to prevent the ongoing war in the Palestinian enclave from spilling over into Lebanon as Hezbollah militants and the Israeli military to trade fire.
PALESTINIAN STABS 2 AT A CHECKPOINT NEAR JERUSALEM
JERUSALEM — Israeli police say a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two people at a checkpoint near Jerusalem before being shot Wednesday.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said the two people who were stabbed were in “mild to moderate condition.” Israeli police said the two people who were stabbed were members of the security forces, without elaborating. An Associated Press reporter saw the body of the attacker.
Violence has surged in the occupied West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza. At least 427 Palestinians have been killed there, mostly during confrontations with Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Israeli-Palestinian tensions often soar during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began Sunday, over access to a major holy site in Jerusalem.
Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza, as well as east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
OVERNIGHT CLASHES WITH ISRAELI FORCES LEAVE AT LEAST 3 PALESTINIANS DEAD
JERUSALEM — Israeli forces killed at least three Palestinians in two separate clashes overnight, including 13-year-old Rami Hamdan al-Halhuli, who had hurled fireworks at the paramilitary Border Police during a violent protest. The Palestinian Authority said he was shot dead late Tuesday in the Shuafat refugee camp, a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Israeli police say a member of the paramilitary Border Police fired “a single shot” toward a suspect who aimed fireworks in their direction during confrontations in Shuafat. It says the suspect was “apprehended, arrested and transferred for medical treatment.”
The Border Police also said they opened fire at five Palestinians who were hurling firebombs at vehicles on a highway near Jerusalem late Tuesday. It says they were arrested and transferred for medical treatment.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, ages 16 and 23, and wounded three in the village of al-Jib, near Jerusalem. It says they were brought to a hospital in the nearby city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered.
The two sides appeared to be describing the same incident. Police could not immediately be reached for comment.
At least 427 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, mainly during confrontations with Israeli forces.
6 TRUCKS CARRY AID INTO GAZA FROM THE NORTH FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE WAR ERUPTED, ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said an aid convoy has for the first time entered the Gaza Strip through a crossing in the war-ravaged northern half of the territory.
Six trucks entered Gaza late Tuesday through a gate in the border fence, carrying goods from the World Food Program, the military said. It described the delivery as a test run and said the Israeli government would review the results.
Israel alleges that Hamas is commandeering aid. At the same time, Israel is under growing international pressure to ease restrictions on aid entering Gaza, particularly the northern half of the territory. Up to now, aid convoys entered Gaza from its southern end and had to make their way through areas of fighting and large, desperate crowds of Palestinians.
On Tuesday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war and accused it of blocking overland routes that are the best way to get food to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing famine.
The United States and other countries have resorted to workarounds, such as air drops and setting up a sea route, but aid officials say land deliveries remain the most efficient.
