AP
- Straight Arrow News
An Israeli airstrike killed a senior Hamas figure deep within Lebanese territory on Friday, Aug. 9. The strike hit a car in Sidon.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops launched a new assault Friday into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, targeting Hamas fighters who the military claims still operate there despite repeated offensives. American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators renewed their push for Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire deal.
Israeli evacuation orders triggered yet another exodus of Palestinians from the heavily destroyed eastern districts of Khan Younis, where many just returned less than two weeks ago — after the Israeli military's last incursion into the city in July.
Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis killed at least 21 Palestinians Friday, medics at the city’s Nasser Hospital said. Israeli bombardment also continued to pound central Gaza on Friday, with the bodies of eight Palestinians — all women and children — arriving at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital from a barrage of airstrikes that hit the town of Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat refugee camp.
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With tensions running high along the Israel-Lebanon border, an Israeli drone strike on Friday crashed into an SUV in the Lebanese city of Sidon, killing a Hamas official identified as Samer al-Haj on the main road to the southern port city, Lebanon's state media reported.
The explosion engulfed al-Haj's car in flames just outside the sprawling Palestinian refugee camp of Ein al-Hilweh, where Lebanese media reported that he oversaw security matters. Israel confirmed it targeted al-Haj, describing him as a senior Hamas commander and accusing him of recruiting militants to attack Israel as well as directing rocket launches.
In the Gaza Strip, one of the airstrikes in Khan Younis hit the home of the Abu Moamar family, killing a Palestine TV journalist, his wife and three daughters.
Another strike smashed into tents housing displaced people in Mawasi, a costal community just west of Khan Younis that the Israeli military designated as a humanitarian zone, killing a journalist for the Hamas-run Al Aqsa TV channel and five others. A third airstrike targeted a car in Khan Younis.
Thousands fled the city Thursday, carrying essentials like small gas cylinders, mattresses, tents, backpacks and blankets.
It's at least the third time that Israeli forces have launched a major incursion into Khan Younis, where Israeli and American officials said they believe Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' newly named top leader and one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, could be hiding.
The Israeli military said Friday its warplanes struck 30 Hamas targets in the city. It said troops searched for Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure while fighting "above and below ground."
Cease-fire efforts
After 10 months of war in Gaza, the mediators' push aims to resume indirect negotiations for a cease-fire that have been on hold since Sinwar's predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in a presumed Israeli blast in Tehran on July 31.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed this week it will send negotiators to talks that mediators called for Thursday in either Qatar's capital of Doha or Egypt's capital of Cairo.
Netanyahu's far-right allies resist calls for a cease-fire, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling the latest proposal a "dangerous trap" that amounts to an Israeli surrender.
On Friday, the White House sharply rebuked Smotrich for his opposition to negotiations, with U.S. national security adviser John Kirby telling reporters that his criticism is "ridiculous" and "dead wrong."
"The views expressed by Mr. Smotrich would in fact sacrifice the lives of Israeli hostages, his own countrymen," Kirby said, in unusually pointed public comments.
There was no immediate response from Hamas, which announced Tuesday that Sinwar, the group's leader in Gaza, would replace Haniyeh as the group's top leader. Haniyeh previously served as the key interlocutor in the negotiations.
Haniyeh's killing and that of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut brought vows of retaliation from Hezbollah and Iran.
The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force, which leads the guard's operations around the region, repeated promises of retaliation in a letter to Sinwar, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press.
"We are preparing to avenge his blood," Ismail Qaani wrote, referring to Haniyeh.
International diplomats are scrambling to prevent an escalation and seal a deal to stop the fighting in Gaza and release the hostages still captive in the enclave.
In a joint statement, the United States, Egypt and Qatar called for the new round of talks, to be held either in Doha or Cairo, and pressed both sides to move ahead.
"There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay," they said, adding that the negotiators already finalized a framework for the deal.
Israel says it aims to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, in which militants from Gaza stormed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 250 others. After a round of release exchanges in November, Israel says 111 hostages remain in Gaza, including 39 bodies.
Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 39,600 Palestinians and wounded more than 91,700 others.
More than 1.9 million of Gaza's prewar population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, fleeing repeatedly across the territory to escape offensives. Most are now crowded into ramshackle tent camps in an area about 19 square miles on the Gaza coast.
Food and drink items that are highly restricted or banned in the US
Snacks and other food items banned in the U.S.
#1. Epoisse cheese
es
#3. Foi gras (California only)
#4. Flamin' Hot Cheetos
#5. Swan
#6. Sassafras oil
#7. Junk food
#8. Queen conch
#9. Sea turtles
#10. Mont d'Or
#11. Bush meat
#12. Lazy Cakes
#13. Horse meat
#14. Raw milk
#15. Ortolan
#16. Redfish
#17. Black pudding
#18. Mirabelle plums
#19. Bird's nest soup
#20. Camembert
#21. Japanese pufferfish
#22. Authentic brie
#23. Ackee
#24. Casu Marzu
#25. Shark fins
#26. Absinthe
#27. Haggis
#28. Beluga caviar
#29. Four Loko
#30. Kinder Eggs
Snacks and other food items banned in the US
Silver dragées
Foie gras
Flamin' Hot Cheetos
Swan
Sassafras oil
Junk food
Sea turtles
Bushmeat
Lazy Cakes
Horse meat
Raw milk
Ortolan
Redfish
Black pudding
Mirabelle plums
Japanese pufferfish
Authentic brie
Casu marzu
Shark fins
Absinthe
Haggis
Four Loko
Kinder Eggs
Food and drink items that are highly restricted or banned in the US
Epoisses cheese
Silver dragees
Foie gras
Flamin' Hot Cheetos
Konjac jelly candies
Tonka beans
Wild abalone
Soda with brominated vegetable oil
Kangaroo meat
Swan
Sassafras oil
Queen conch
Sea turtle
Mont d'Or
Bushmeat
Lazy Cakes
Horse meat
Raw milk
Ortolan
Redfish
Mirabelle plums
Bird's nest soup
Camembert
Japanese pufferfish
Brie de Meaux
Fresh ackee
Casu marzu
Shark fins
Absinthe
Haggis
Stornoway Black Pudding
Beluga caviar
The original Four Loko
Kinder Surprise Eggs
Junk food
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