Palestinians assess damage in the street following an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on September 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israeli forces appeared Friday (September 6, 2024) to have withdrawn from the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, after a more-than weeklong military operation that has left dozens dead and a trail of destruction.

Overnight, Israeli armored personnel carriers were seen leaving the camp from a checkpoint set up on one of the main roads, and an Associated Press reporter inside the camp saw no evidence of any remaining troops inside as dawn broke early Friday morning.

ALSO READ: Hamas says Benjamin Netanyahu trying to ‘thwart’ Gaza truce

Israel’s military had no immediate comment but said it would issue a statement later in the day. It was not clear whether the apparent withdrawal was only a temporary measure to regroup forces.

Hundreds of Israeli troops have been involved for more than a week in what has been their deadliest operation in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began, employing what the United Nations called “lethal war-like tactics.” Their focus has been the Jenin refugee camp, a stronghold of Palestinian militancy that has grown since the Hamas attack on Israel that started the war in Gaza nearly 11 months ago.

Fighting in Jenin accounts for 21 of 39 Palestinians who local health officials say have been killed during the Israeli push in the West Bank — most of whom, the military says, have been militants.

Effect on civilians

The fighting has had a devastating effect on Palestinian civilians living in Jenin.

Water and electric services have been cut, families have been confined to their homes and ambulances evacuating the wounded have been slowed on their way to nearby hospitals, as Israeli soldiers search for militants.

In the quiet morning Friday, Jenin residents took advantage of the lull to rummage through the rubble of destroyed buildings and take stock of the damage.

Twisted rebar protruded from the concrete of collapsed buildings, and walls still standing were pockmarked by bullets and shrapnel.

During the operation, Israeli military officials said they were targeting militants in Jenin, Tulkarem and the Al-Faraa refugee camp curb recent attacks against Israeli civilians they say have become more sophisticated and deadly.

It was not immediately clear whether they were also removing troops from the other two camps as well.

Israel under pressure

Israel has been under increasing pressure from the United States and other allies to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on a demand that has emerged as a major sticking point in talks — continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow band along Gaza’s border with Egypt where Israel contends Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza. Egypt and Hamas deny it.

Hamas has accused Israel of dragging out months of negotiations by issuing new demands, including for lasting Israeli control over both Philadelphi corridor and a second corridor running across Gaza.

Hamas has offered to release all hostages in return for an end to the war, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants — broadly the terms called for under an outline for a deal put forward by U.S. President Joe Biden in July.

Tel Aviv:

During the past month, Israeli combat engineers have destroyed approximately 50 Hamas tunnel routes in the area of the Egypt-Gaza border, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday. The announcement came as Israeli and Arab leaders were due to resume ceasefire negotiations in Qatar.

The tunnels were all in the Philadelphi corridor, a buffer zone that runs the length of the 14-km Gaza-Egypt border. It was created in 2006 to prevent weapons smuggling after Israel disengaged from the Strip. Hamas violently seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority the following year.

The military did not specify if any of the tunnels crossed into the Egyptian Sinai. On August 4, soldiers from the IDF’s elite Yahalom combat engineering unit destroyed a three-meter tall smuggling tunnel leading into Egypt that was large enough to drive vehicles through.

Securing the Philadelphi corridor and destroying smuggling tunnels there is a critical goal to prevent Hamas from rearming and to curtail its leaders from escaping into the Sinai with Israeli hostages.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 111 remaining hostages, 39 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ankara:

Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas told a special session of the Turkish parliament on Thursday that he would travel to Gaza.

He was speaking as health ministry officials in the Hamas-run territory said the death count from Israel’s assault there had passed 40,000 people.

“I have decided to go to Gaza with other brothers from the Palestinian leadership,” Abbas said in an address applauded by Turkish lawmakers.

“I will do that. Even if this would cost my life. Our life is not more worthy than the life of a child,” he added.

Abbas, who added a visit to Turkey after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, said the Palestinian people would stand tall despite the Israeli strikes.

“Gaza is ours as a whole. We don’t accept any solution that would divide our territories,” he told the parliament.

“There cannot be a Palestinian state without Gaza. Our people will not surrender,” he promised.

Abbas, who heads the Fatah Palestinian movement, a rival to Hamas, had already visited Turkey at Erdogan’s invitation in early March.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Palestinian Territories:

Hamas on Sunday called on US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators to implement a ceasefire plan for Gaza put forward by US President Joe Biden, instead of holding “more talks”.

“Hamas calls on the mediators to present a roadmap to put into action what was proposed to Hamas… based on the vision of Biden and the decisions of the UN Security Council, and to force the occupier (Israel) to implement it, rather than hold more talks or bring new proposals,” the Palestinian movement said in a statement.

Mediators have invited both Israel and Hamas for a round of negotiations on Thursday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

United Nations:

Describing the continuing humanitarian crisis due to the Israel-Hamas conflict as “deeply concerning”, India has reiterated its call for de-escalation, emphasising a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

Delivering India’s statement at the UN Security Council Open Debate on the Middle East, Charge d’Affaires and Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN Ambassador R Ravindra said that India was among the countries which strongly and unequivocally condemned the terror attacks on Israel on October 7 last year.

He was referring to the deadly attack by Gaza-based Hamas militants in Israel.

“It has been nine months since the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the continuing humanitarian crisis is deeply concerning,” Ravindra said on Wednesday.

“We have also condemned the loss of civilian lives in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict,” he said, adding that India has called for de-escalation and emphasised peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

India reiterated the call for an immediate, full and complete ceasefire; safe, timely and sustained humanitarian assistance and unrestricted access to relief and essential humanitarian services in the Gaza Strip.

India also called for immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. “Towards this end, we appreciate the role played by countries in the region, particularly Qatar and Egypt,” Mr Ravindra said.

He told the UN Security Council that India’s leadership has continued to engage with the leadership of both Israel and Palestine.

“We have consistently reiterated our position in all the relevant multilateral forums,” he said, adding that India stands for peace and stability in the region.

It has been India’s long-standing position that it supports a two-state solution, which entails the establishment of a sovereign, viable and independent state of Palestine within recognised and mutually agreed borders, living side by side with Israel in peace with due regard to the security needs of Israel.

India’s developmental assistance to Palestine in various forms over the years amounts to close to USD 120 million, including USD 35 million as a contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Demonstrators wave Israeli flags during a protest marking nine months since the start of the war and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Marking nine months since the war in Gaza started, Israeli protesters blocked highways across the country on July 7, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down and pushing for a ceasefire that could bring back the hostages held by Hamas.

The demonstrations come as international mediators have renewed efforts to broker a deal. Hamas over the weekend appeared to have dropped a key demand for an Israeli commitment to end the war, according to Egyptian and Hamas officials who spoke to The Associated Press.

Also read | Israeli cabinet to consider Hamas ceasefire proposal: source

The current war followed after the Palestinian militant group carried out a cross-border attack on Oct. 7, saw 1,200 people killed and 250 others taken hostage. A retaliatory Israeli air and ground offensive has killed over 38,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

Sunday’s “Day of Disruption” started at 6:29 A.M., the moment that Hamas militants launched the first rockets toward Israel in October. Protesters blocked main roads and demonstrated outside of the homes of members of Israel’s parliament.

Near the border with Gaza, Israeli protestors released 1,500 black and yellow balloons to symbolize those who were killed and abducted.

Hannah Golan said she came to protest the “devastating abandonment of our communities by our government.” She added: “It’s nine months today, to this black day, and still nobody in our government takes responsibility.”

About 120 hostages remain captive after more than 100 hostages were released as part of a November cease-fire deal. Israel has already concluded that more than 40 of the remaining hostages are dead, and fears spread the number may grow as the war drags on.

The Israeli Prime Minister had previously said while he was open to pausing the war as part of a hostage deal, Israel would press on until it reached its goals of destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and bringing home all those held captive by Hamas.

Meanwhile, fighting in Gaza continued, with nine Palestinians reported dead from Israeli strikes overnight and into the early hours of Sunday.

Six Palestinians were killed in central Gaza after a strike hit a house in the town of Zawaida, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Another Israeli airstrike early Sunday hit a house west of Gaza City, killing another three people, the strip’s Hamas-linked civil defense said.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday an Israeli airstrike killed at least 16 people and wounded at least 50 others in a school-turned-shelter in the Nuseirat refugee camp. The Israeli military said they were targeting Hamas militants and had taken “numerous steps” to reduce civilian casualties.

Also Sunday morning, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched dozens of projectiles toward northern Israel in the north, targeting areas more than 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, deeper than most launches.

A 28-year-old Israeli man was seriously wounded in Kfar Zeitim, a small town near the city of Tiberias, Israel’s national rescue service reported.

The barrage came after the Israeli military said in a statement an airstrike targeted a car and killed an engineer in Hezbollah’s air defense unit Saturday. Hezbollah confirmed al-Attar’s death but did not give information on his position.

Near-daily clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces over the past nine months have threatened to turn into an all-out regional war and have catastrophic consequences for people on both sides of the border.

Mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar have intensified their efforts in the past week to reach an agreement.

The compromise on Saturday by Hamas could deliver the first pause in fighting since November and set the stage for further talks, though all sides still warned that a deal is not yet guaranteed.

Washington’s phased deal would start with a “full and complete” six-week cease-fire during which older, sick and female hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. During those 42 days, Israeli forces would withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow the return of displaced people to their homes in northern Gaza, the officials said.

War-weary Palestinians in the Gaza Strip appeared pessimistic about the possibility of reaching a cease-fire as the Israel-Hamas war marked nine months on Sunday.

“We have lived nine months of suffering,” Heba Radi, a displaced Palestinian woman, told the AP. “The cease-fire has become a distant dream,”

The mother of six children spoke from her tent in the central city of Deir al-Balah where she sheltered after they fled their home in Gaza City.

“Every day, we tell ourselves tomorrow (there will be a cease-fire),” she said, “and tomorrow will be better. And when tomorrow comes, they say (the negotiations) were postponed.”

Zakia Hasanein is an 80-year-old Palestinian woman, who also sheltered in Deir al-Balah, appealed to Netanyahu and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh to agree on a cease-fire, saying they “lived like the dead.”

The Israel-Hamas war has caused widespread damage in Gaza. Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order have curtailed humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine. The top U.N. court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.

Gaza:

Tank tracks still fresh on his field in southern Gaza’s coastal area of Al-Mawasi, Nedal Abu Jazar lamented the damage war has wrought on his trees and crops.

“Look at the destruction,” the 39-year-old farmer told AFP, holding an uprooted tomato plant.

He pointed to his greenhouse’s metal frame and its white plastic sheeting strewn across the plot, inside an area designated a humanitarian zone by the Israeli army.

“People were sitting peacefully on their farmland … and suddenly tanks arrived and fired at us, and then there were (air) strikes.”

Abu Jazar said the Israeli operation in late June destroyed about 40 dunams (10 acres) of land and killed five labourers.

His is not an isolated case. Across Gaza, 57 percent of agricultural land has been damaged since the war began, according to a joint assessment published in June by the UN’s agriculture and satellite imagery agencies, FAO and UNOSAT.

The damage threatens Gaza’s food sovereignty, Matieu Henry of the Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP, because 30 percent of the Palestinian territory’s food consumption comes from agricultural land.

“If almost 60 per cent of the agricultural land has been damaged, this may have a significant impact in terms of food security and food supply.”

The Gaza Strip exported $44.6 million worth of produce in 2022, mainly to the West Bank and Israel, with strawberries and tomatoes representing 60 percent of the total, according to FAO data.

That number fell to zero after the October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 38,098 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The damage assessment on the agricultural land comes as the UN’s hunger monitoring system estimated in June that 96 percent of Gaza faces high levels of acute food insecurity.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it “does not intentionally harm agricultural land”.

In a statement, it said Hamas “often operates from within orchards, fields and agricultural land”.

No work, no income

The impact is worse in the Palestinian territory’s north, where 68 percent of agricultural land is damaged, although the southern area encompassing parts of Al-Mawasi has seen the most significant increase in recent months due to military operations.

UNOSAT’s Lars Bromley told AFP the damage is generally “due to the impact of activities such as heavy vehicle activity, bombing, shelling, and other conflict-related dynamics, which would be things like areas burning”.

Near the southern city of Rafah, 34-year-old farmer Ibrahim Dheir feels helpless after the destruction of 20 dunams (five acres) of land he used to lease, and all his farming equipment with it.

“As soon as the Israeli bulldozers and tanks entered the area, they began bulldozing cultivated lands with various trees, including fruits, citrus, guava, as well as crops like spinach, molokhia (jute mallow), eggplant, squash, pumpkin and sunflower seedlings,” he said, before listing more damage in a testimony of the area’s past agricultural abundance.

Dheir, whose family exported its produce to the West Bank and Israel, now feels destitute.

“We used to depend on agriculture for our livelihood day by day, but now there’s no work or income.”

Lasting damage

Farmer Abu Mahmoud Za’arab also finds himself with “no source of income”.

The 60-year-old owns 15 dunams (3.7 acres) of land on which crops and fruit trees used to grow.

“The Israeli army passed through the land, completely wiping out all trees and crops,” he told AFP.

“They bulldozed and shelled the land, turning it into barren pits.”

The harm done to farmland in Gaza will last far beyond tank tracks and explosions, said Bromley of UNOSAT.

“With modern weaponry, a certain percentage is always going to fail. Tank shells won’t explode, artillery shells won’t explode … so clearing that unexploded ordnance is a massive task,” he said.

It will require “probing every centimetre of the soil before you can allow the farmers back onto it”.

Despite the risks, Dheir wants to return to farming.

“We want the war to stop and things to return to how they were so we can farm and cultivate our lands again.”

 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Separate Israeli airstrikes killed at least six people in central Gaza, including two children at a home and at least one United Nations worker, Palestinian hospital officials and first responders said, even as stalled cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas show signs of renewed momentum.

Four out of every five people in Gaza — nearly 2 million Palestinians — have been driven into the territory’s center by expanding Israeli military offensives and evacuation orders, the army estimated earlier this week. Civilians are taking shelter in makeshift tent camps and crowded urban areas, and many have been displaced multiple times.

Violence also flared Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces killed seven people in a raid and an airstrike, according to Palestinian health officials. And on the Israel-Lebanon border, rockets fired by militant group Hezbollah lightly wounded two Israeli soldiers, the army said, as concerns grow that these low-level clashes could escalate into a wider regional war.

An Israeli strike near the Maghazi refugee camp killed three adults and injured several others on Salah al-Din road, a major thoroughfare in Gaza, according to witnesses and officials at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah. At least one of the dead was wearing a U.N. vest when brought to the hospital.

An adult and two kids were also killed by a strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp, officials at the hospital said. That strike hit a home, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense rescue service.

Ambulances blared their horns as they rolled up to the medical center’s doors Friday evening, unloading the three bodies wrapped in thick household blankets. Laid out in the morgue, an Associated Press journalist observed the man’s bloodstained blue-and-white vest of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

At least one wounded man was also wearing a UNRWA vest. “Stand back a little, guys!” a man in a green medical uniform told a small crowd that gathered beside the ambulance. “Thank God you’re safe,” another man said as the wounded worker was brought inside.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying militants operate among the population. Hamas denies the claim and accuses Israel of recklessly bombing civilians.

Around 250,000 people were affected earlier in the week by an Israeli order to evacuate half of the southern city of Khan Younis and a wide swath of the surrounding area. Most Palestinians seeking safety are either heading to an Israeli-declared “safe zone” centered on a coastal area called Muwasi, or the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, said the head of the U.N. humanitarian office for the Palestinian territories, Andrea De Domenico, on Wednesday.

A team of Israeli negotiators will resume talks next week on a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal with Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Friday, signaling progress toward a deal to end the war in Gaza after negotiations appeared stuck for weeks.

The brief Israeli statement came hours after Hamas said its proposed amendments to a U.S. plan for a cease-fire “have been met with a positive response by the mediators.” The Palestinian militant group said Friday there was no set date for negotiations, and said Israel’s official position wasn’t yet known.

Mr. Netanyahu’s office said negotiators will emphasize to American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators that “there are still gaps between the parties” during talks in Doha, Qatar’s capital.

The main sticking point in the three-phase deal appears to be getting from the first to the second phase. Hamas is concerned that Israel will restart the war after the first phase, perhaps after making unrealistic demands in the talks. Israeli officials have expressed concern that Hamas will do the same, drawing out the talks and the initial cease-fire indefinitely without releasing the remaining hostages.

Away from the negotiating table, senior Hamas officials met with Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, as well as the leader of the Islamic Group. Hamas said officials also met Friday with senior delegations from the Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

And in Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, in which they discussed regional security challenges and Austin expressed support for ongoing diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict in Gaza.

Palestinian authorities say seven people were killed Friday during an Israeli military operation in an area of the West Bank city of Jenin, a known militant stronghold, where the Israeli military said it carried out “counterterrorism activity” that included an airstrike.

Israeli soldiers “encircled a building where terrorists have barricaded themselves in” and the soldiers exchanged fire with those inside, while an airstrike “struck several armed terrorists” in the area.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said a total of seven people were killed, but did not specify whether they died in the exchange of fire or the airstrike. The Islamic Jihad militant group named four of the dead as its members.

Violence has spiraled in the West Bank since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, sparked by the Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel by Hamas militants who killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 others as hostages.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says over 500 Palestinians have since been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank. Most were killed during Israeli raids and violent protests. The dead also include bystanders and Palestinians killed in attacks by Jewish settlers.

In Gaza, Israeli bombardments and ground offensives have so far killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s Health Ministry says. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count, but it includes thousands of women and children.

Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order have curtailed humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine. The top U.N. court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.

West Bank:

An Israeli citizen mistakenly entered the Palestinian town of Qalandiya, situated between Jerusalem and Ramallah, in West Bank and was soon met with aggression from local residents, leading to a violent confrontation.

Videos circulating on social media show a mob of Palestinians chasing the Israeli vehicle, hurling stones at it. The driver attempted to flee but ultimately lost control, crashing into a concrete divider near a military checkpoint, a Times of Israel report said. The man reportedly suffered minor injuries before being rescued and transported to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital.

היהודי הגיע פצוע למחסום קלנדיה, לאחר שנזרקו אבנים לרכבו, והתנגש בבטונדות של המעבר. כוחות מגב משטרה ומד״א הוקפצו לאירוע.
המשך לקלנדייה pic.twitter.com/IpGOuCn7Ig

— כל החדשות בזמן אמת (@Saher95755738) June 29, 2024

Other footage revealed that the vehicle was set ablaze by the Palestinian attackers.

The car of the Jew who accidentally entered Qalandia was set on fire. רכבו של היהודי שנכנס בטעות לקלנדיה, הוצת. pic.twitter.com/PAZkT3z9cY

— Rat Bastard (@RRespawned) June 29, 2024

This incident comes amid a backdrop of escalating violence in the West Bank, an area under Israeli occupation since 1967. Last week, the Israeli military reported the death of a soldier and serious injury to another during an operation in Jenin, a city known for its militant presence. The Israeli army frequently conducts raids in Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp as part of its ongoing security operations.

The West Bank has seen a significant surge in violence, especially following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on October 7. Palestinian officials report that at least 553 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the conflict began. Meanwhile, attacks by Palestinians have resulted in the deaths of at least 15 Israelis, including soldiers, in the same period, according to news agency AFP.

Brussels:

The European Union on Friday imposed asset freezes and visa bans on several firms and individuals accused of helping to finance Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Brussels said.

The sanctions were the second round to be imposed by the EU on the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups after their attack on Israel on October 7.

Overall the bloc has so far blacklisted 12 individuals and three entities linked to the operatives.

Among the latest targets were three front companies used by key financier Hamza Abdelbasit to funnel funds to the group, including Spanish real estate firm Al Zawaya Group, and two others based in Sudan, an EU statement said.

Also hit were the head of Hamas’ “foreign investment activities”, a money changer enabling transfers from backer Iran and the official in charge of the groups “Charitable Institutions Association”, it said.

The EU said in addition it was imposing sanctions on Ali Morshed Shirazi, a senior Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp official overseeing Tehran’s links to Palestinian groups from Lebanon.

Top Hamas official Maher Rebhi Obeid “responsible for directing Hamas’ terrorist operatives in the West Bank” was also put on the list.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The operatives also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although the army says 42 are dead.

In response Israel unleashed a devastating military campaign in Hamas’ stronghold Gaza that has killed at least 37,765 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

EU diplomats said that following the latest sanctions on Hamas the bloc should now impose a second round of measures targeting violent Israeli extremists in the West Bank.

The 27-nation EU — which has struggled for a united position on the Gaza war — in April imposed sanctions on four “extremist” Israeli settlers and two groups over violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)