GAZA STRIP
An Israeli strike killed the head of the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Thursday, Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip said. Crossing director Bassem Ghaben and three other people were killed as Israeli aircraft targeted the infrastructure, the crossings authority and the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory said.
The Israeli army and COGAT, the defense ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, did not immediately respond to requests from AFP for comment.
After weeks of pressure, Israel approved the temporary reopening of the Kerem Shalom crossing on Friday to enable aid to be delivered directly to Gaza, rather than through the Rafah crossing from Egypt.
The Israeli army said Thursday it bombed scores of targets in the Gaza Strip as diplomats pressed on with efforts to halt the fighting that Hamas says has killed 20,000 people in the Palestinian territory.
United Nations relief chief Martin Griffiths called the surging death toll a “tragic and shameful milestone” as the UN Security Council was to again discuss a draft resolution calling for a pause in the bloodiest ever Gaza war.
The army said its aircraft had struck another 230 targets in besieged Gaza over the past day, including a rocket launch site and a compound in the southern city of Khan Yunis, while ground forces had found weapons inside a school in Jabalia near Gaza City.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The Hamas government’s media office said Wednesday at least 20,000 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory, with 8,000 children and 6,200 women among the dead.
In the far-southern city of Rafah, a center for many internally displaced Palestinians, fireballs and smoke rose after explosions on Wednesday.
“I wish for a complete cease-fire, and to put an end to the series of deaths and suffering,” said one resident, Kassem Shurrab, 25. “It’s been more than 75 days.”
