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ICRC announces 22 dead in strike on tent camp near Rafah

At least 22 people were killed and 45 injured after “large caliber projectiles landed a few meters” from the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian organization said.

Friday afternoon's strike in Mawasi, north of Rafah, “damaged the structure of the ICRC office, which is surrounded by hundreds of displaced civilians living in tents, including many of our Palestinian colleagues,” wrote Friday the organization in a press release. “Firing so dangerously close to humanitarian structures endangers the lives of civilians and Red Cross personnel. »

It said “the incident caused a massive influx of casualties to the nearby Red Cross field hospital”, which received 22 bodies and 45 wounded, with “reports of additional casualties”.

Gaza's health ministry said 25 people were killed and 50 injured in the attack, and accused “the Israeli occupation of targeting the tents of displaced civilians” in Mawasi.

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In a statement to the Washington Post on Saturday, the Israeli military said an initial investigation suggested there was “no indication that a strike was carried out by the IDF in the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone,” adding that the incident was being investigated. .

Furthermore, on Friday, UN Secretary General António Guterres pleaded for “reason and rationality” by expressing his “deep concerns” about the risk of all-out war between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Guterres said there had been an escalation of firefights and “belligerent rhetoric from both sides, as if all-out war was imminent.”

“One rash move, one miscalculation could trigger a catastrophe that goes well beyond borders and, frankly, beyond imagination,” he said. “Let us be clear: the people of the region and the people of the world cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza. »

Earlier this week, the Israeli military said it had “approved and validated” operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon, while Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned on social media that “in a total war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be destroyed.” seriously affected. » The same day, Hezbollah, the Iranian-allied military force and Lebanon's most powerful political party, said it had new weapons and intelligence capabilities that could be used in the event of a full-scale war. .

The two sides have been trading fire since the October 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel – the worst fighting between the two foes since a deadly month-long war in 2006.

Yemen's Houthi fighters are threatening some of the world's most vital shipping lanes despite months of U.S.-led airstrikes. as reported by The Post. The once disparate rebels are drawing on an arsenal of increasingly advanced weapons to attack ships in and around the Red Sea, sinking one ship and burning another this month.

Around 39,000 Palestinian students cannot take their secondary school leaving exams, which were due to start on Saturday, due to the war in Gaza. The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. According to humanitarian groups, some 625,000 students have been out of school since the war began in October.

An Israeli citizen was shot dead in the town of Qalqilya on Saturday, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The Israeli military said it was operating in the occupied West Bank city after the killing, which Israeli media reported was the second killing of an Israeli in the city in recent days.

Cuba announced its intention to join South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice, according to a press release from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs published Friday. Earlier this month, Spain became the first European country to ask to join the case; other countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua and Libya, have applied to join, according to the Associated Press.

A senior State Department official and skeptic of the Biden administration's “bear hug” approach to the Israeli government resigned this week. It is a setback for U.S. diplomats who are calling for a cleaner break with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition, three people familiar with the matter said.

At least 37,551 people have been killed and 85,911 injured in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. He does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that around 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 312 soldiers have been killed since its military operations in Gaza began.

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