An Israeli strike on a house in northern Gaza killed three siblings aged 6 or younger, among at least six people killed in airstrikes in the war-ravaged territory, Palestinian doctors said. In Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike on a building south of Beirut on Wednesday killed at least six people and injured 15, the health ministry said.

The Biden administration said Tuesday it would not limit arms transfers to Israel because it has made limited progress in increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Eight international aid groups previously said Israel had failed to respond to US demands for better humanitarian access in the Gaza Strip, where hunger experts say the north may already be experiencing famine.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials. Officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.

THE Israel-Hamas War started after Palestinian militants breaks into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and removing 250 more.

The Lebanese group Hezbollah began firing on Israel on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. Since then, more than 3,200 people were killed in Lebanon and more than 14,200 injured, the country’s Health Ministry reported. In Israel, 76 people were killed, including 31 soldiers.

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Blinken says Israel should end war in Gaza, allow displaced to return home

BRUSSELS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to allow the return of displaced Palestinians and aid to Gaza and said it should end the war against Hamas now that it has reached its main security objectives.

“The situation is so difficult and so dramatic that to completely turn it around, to fully meet the needs of the population, the best way to do that is to end the war,” Blinken told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday.

He said Israel had achieved its goal of dismantling Hamas’ military wing and ensuring that an attack like the one launched by the militant group on October 7 last year could not happen again.

“Israel, by the standards it set for itself, achieved the strategic goals it set for itself,” Blinken said. “So this should be the time to end the war. »

He said hundreds of humanitarian trucks in Gaza are unable to distribute relief supplies due to looting and other crimes. “It is imperative that this problem be resolved. Israel has a responsibility to do so. We are also working with Egypt,” he said.

Blinken called for “real and prolonged pauses” in the fighting in much of Gaza “so that aid can get efficiently to the people who need it.”

New video shows Israeli hostage in Gaza

CAIRO — Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group released new video showing an Israeli hostage who has been detained in Gaza for over a year.

The video shows Sasha Trufanov, likely under duress, describing harsh conditions inside Gaza, warning against military operations to free him and calling on Israelis to protest for his release.

It was the first video of its type to be released in several weeks. It is unclear when the film was filmed, but Troufanov appears to be referring to Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and its recent firefight with Iran in October.

Islamic Jihad participated in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 people hostage. Around a hundred hostages are still in Gaza, around a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Islamic Jihad released two previous Trufanov videos earlier this year. He turned 29 on Monday, marking his second birthday in captivity. His mother, grandmother and girlfriend were also captured, but they were released during the November 2023 ceasefire. His father was killed in the October 7 attack.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent most of this year trying to negotiate a ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages. Hamas said it would only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed to retaining Israeli control over parts of Gaza and continue the war until “total victory” over Hamas and the return of the remaining captives.

At least 6 dead and 15 injured in Israeli strike south of Beirut

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the town of Aramoun, just south of Beirut, killed at least six people and injured 15 others on Wednesday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

The state-run National News Agency reported that children were missing after the strike and it was unclear whether they were under the rubble or had been transferred to a hospital.

No warning was issued before the attack and the target was unclear. There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military.

Also Wednesday morning, the Israeli army struck several sites in Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area known as Dahiyeh, after issuing evacuation warnings. He said the strikes targeted “Hezbollah facilities and interests.” No casualties were immediately reported.

Israeli forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have clashed since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began launching rockets across the border in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza. The conflict intensified from mid-September. Israel has launched a widespread aerial bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion that it says is aimed at pushing Hezbollah from the border.

Three young siblings killed in Israeli strike in northern Gaza, Palestinian doctors say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian doctors say an Israeli strike on a house in northern Gaza killed three siblings aged 6 and younger.

They were among at least six people killed Tuesday in Israeli strikes on the war-ravaged territory, where Israel has been at war with Hamas for more than 13 months.

Gaza Health Ministry emergency services say the three children were killed in a strike on a house near a clinic in the Jabaliya urban refugee camp, where Israel has been leading an offensive for more than a month.

In the central city of Deir al-Balah, a strike hit a tent in the western part of the city, killing at least two people, including a 15-year-old boy, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said. Another strike on a tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed a man, the hospital said. An Associated Press reporter counted the three bodies at the hospital.

Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. He accuses Hamas militants of hiding among civilians in houses and shelters.

The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 250 people hostage. Around a hundred captives are still in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to have died.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. They do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count, but say women and children account for more than half of those killed.

US forces carry out strikes in Syria against Iran-aligned militias

WASHINGTON — U.S. forces carried out strikes in Syria against Iran-aligned militias for the second straight day on Tuesday in response to new attacks on U.S. personnel, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.

In the latest retaliatory strikes, US forces hit a weapons storage and logistics facility after militias launched a rocket attack on US personnel at Patrol Base Shaddadi in eastern Syria. Syria.

Earlier Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that over the weekend, militias also targeted U.S. personnel with a drone attack and indirect fire on another base , Green Village, where American troops operate – which prompted the United States to strike. nine militias targeted Monday in self-defense.

Around 900 American troops are deployed in Syria. No American soldiers were injured in these two attacks.

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