Closing summary
Gaza’s civil defence said health workers had uncovered at least 50 bodies of people killed and buried by Israeli forces at a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. In a statement to AFP, the civil defence agency said the remains were discovered in the courtyard of Nasser Medical Complex.
Israeli strikes on Rafah overnight killed 22 people, including 18 children, health officials said. The first Israeli strike on the southern Gaza city killed a man, his wife and their three-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti hospital, which received the bodies. The woman was pregnant and the doctors managed to save the baby, the hospital said. The second strike killed 17 children and two women, all from an extended family, according to hospital records.
A unit of the Israel Defense Forces is facing US sanctions over its treatment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. US state department officials have reportedly confirmed they are preparing to impose sanctions on the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion, which has been accused of serious human rights violations against Palestinians. The highly significant move, which would be the first time the US government has targeted an IDF unit, prompted immediate anger among Israeli political leaders who vowed to oppose it. “If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) – I will fight it with all my strength,” Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said.
Hamas has condemned the US House of Representatives’ approval of $26.4bn (£21.34bn) in military support for Israel. “This support, which violates international law, is a licence and a green light for the Zionist extremist government (Israel) to continue the brutal aggression against our people,” the Palestinian militant group said. “We consider this step a confirmation of the official American complicity and partnership in the war of extermination waged by the fascist occupation army against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.” The House passed a $95bn legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The package also includes about $9bn in humanitarian assistance for civilians in war zones, such as Haiti, Sudan and Gaza.
The Israeli army said that its soldiers killed two Palestinians who tried to shoot and stab them in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, and the Palestinian health ministry said both men had died. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, quoting local sources, said that Israeli forces shot the two men near the West Bank city of Hebron, and that ambulance crews were prevented from reaching them.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, thanked the country’s armed forces for their 13 April operation against Israel, Iran’s official news agency reported, and he called upon them to “ceaselessly pursue military innovation and learn the enemy’s tactics”. “The armed forces showed a good image of their abilities and power and an admirable image of the Iranian nation,” Khamenei was also quoted as saying. “They also proved the emergence of the power of the Iranian nation’s determination at the international level.”
At least 34,097 Palestinian people have been killed and 76,980 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. An estimated 48 Palestinians were killed and 79 others injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
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Health workers uncover at least 50 bodies of people killed by Israeli forces at Nasser Medical Complex - officials
Gaza’s civil defence said health workers had uncovered at least 50 bodies of people killed and buried by Israeli forces at a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel’s military said it was checking the reports.
In a statement to AFP, the civil defence agency said the remains were discovered in the courtyard of Nasser Medical Complex.
“Inside the Nasser Medical complex there are mass graves dug by the Israeli occupation … we were shocked by the presence of bodies of 50 martyrs in one of the pits yesterday,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the civil defence agency, told AFP.
“We are continuing the search operation today and are waiting for all graves to be exhumed in order to give a final number of martyrs.”
Intense fighting raged in mid-February in the area of the hospital, and Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles surrounded it on 26 March.
Much of Khan Younis, the Gaza Strip’s second biggest city, was left in ruins earlier this month after Israel’s military pulled troops out of southern Gaza, leaving just one brigade in the devastated area.
A city of 400,000 people was gradually deserted as Israeli forces mounted intense bombardments. Israel believed some Hamas leaders were in the city.
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