Reuters and AFP

The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, July 21, 2024, p. 24

Cairo, Israel – The Israeli army yesterday shelled several areas in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 30 Palestinians. Among the victims was a pregnant woman, whose baby was rescued by health workers. Also killed were local journalist Mohamed Abu Jasser, his wife and two children, who were at home in the north of the strip during the attack; their death brings to 161 the total number of Palestinian media personnel killed by Israeli fire since October 7.

The Health Ministry of the enclave reported that the death toll in that territory has reached 38,919 since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed 37 people in 24 hours and destroyed several homes. In the al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, an airstrike on a multi-storey building wounded several people, including two local journalists, rescue workers said.

In Rafah, where Israel has said it intends to dismantle the last battalions of Hamas’s armed wing, residents said tanks advanced into northern parts of the city and took control of a hilltop in the west, amid gun battles with militants.

The army said it had eliminated many gunmen in the Tel Al-Sultan area in the western part of the city. It also said it had targeted a structure used by militants in Deir Al Balah in the centre of the strip and that the gunmen were operating from a humanitarian zone, a claim Hamas and other groups reject.

ICJ ruling sparks anger in reoccupied West Bank

Meanwhile, violent clashes occurred in the reoccupied West Bank, after Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian population in retaliation for the ruling, the day before, of the International Court of Justice, which concluded that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal since 1967.

Other Israelis beat up a 38-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman in the West Bank village of Sha’ab al-Botum, south of Mount Hebron. Hours earlier, an Israeli civilian shot a Palestinian who threw stones at him during clashes between settlers and locals in Hawara, while others set fire to an olive grove.