GAZA: Gaza's civil defence agency and a hospital said an Israeli air strike on Friday killed eight people near a market, while the military reported it had struck a "terrorist cell". A ceasefire remains in place between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, but it has not halted violence in Gaza, and efforts to secure a lasting agreement to end the war have stalled. "Eight people were killed after Israeli warplanes struck a gathering of civilians in the Al-Balata market area of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza," the civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas, reported.
The area's Al-Awda hospital said it received the eight dead and 22 people wounded in the strike. Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, said the strike occurred during a funeral procession. The military confirmed carrying out the strike. "A short while ago, the IDF struck a terrorist cell of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation in the central Gaza Strip," the military said. "The IDF is aware of the claims that several uninvolved individuals were harmed as a result of the strike. The results of the strike are under review."
The civil defence agency and hospitals reported that five other people were killed in separate Israeli strikes on Friday. They included two women and the man whose funeral was taking place when the market strike occurred. Before Friday's casualties, at least 1,127 Palestinians had been killed since the truce took effect last October, according to Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza over the same period, as well as one civilian contractor. Restrictions imposed on media outlets and limited access in Gaza prevent journalists from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence there.
Meanwhile, About 50 people, including doctors, trade unionists and pro-Palestinian activists, gathered outside France's foreign ministry in Paris to call for the release of a Gaza hospital director who has been held since December 2024. "Free Dr Abu Safiya," chanted the demonstrators at the protest organised by hospital unions, among them Patrick Pelloux, the high-profile head of France's emergency doctor association.
It is the latest call for the release of Hussam Abu Safiya, a paediatrician and director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital, who has reportedly suffered torture and life-threatening injuries in detention. United Nations experts, the World Health Organization and Amnesty International have urged Israel to set him free.
Israel has said his detention is "lawful" and rejected reports that he suffered a life-threatening condition. Abu Safiya rose to prominence in 2024 by posting about the dire conditions in his besieged hospital in Beit Lahia during a major Israeli offensive.
Separately, More than 100 US House Democrats voted this week to cut military aid to Israel, exposing a widening party divide that could reshape both November's midterm elections and the future of one of Washington's most durable foreign policy alliances. The measure, offered by conservative Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie, was defeated overwhelmingly after nearly all his fellow Republicans and 98 Democrats opposed it. But the vote was striking because 103 Democrats backed ending the aid, while 10 others voted present — a near-even split that would have been almost unthinkable for most of the modern US-Israel relationship. — AFP
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