JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said a strike on Gaza on Thursday killed a Palestinian who had waved his blood-stained hands at a crowd after a deadly attack on Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank more than two decades ago.
The civil defense agency in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip confirmed Abdelaziz Salha’s death, saying he was killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent in a displacement camp in central Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah early on Thursday.
Salha in 2004 was sentenced to life for his part in the killing of Israeli soldier Vadim Norzich in the West Bank city of Ramallah four years earlier, in an incident caught on camera by an Italian television crew and broadcast across the globe.
A second soldier, Yossi Avrahami, was also killed in the October 2000 attack.
The widely shared footage — one of the most well-known images from the start of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising — showed Salha standing in an upstairs window of the Ramallah police station, waving his blood-stained hands at a crowd.
Announcing his death in an air strike, the military said that since his release from prison in 2011 and “over the past few years, Salha was involved in terrorist activity” in the West Bank.
The army statement said he was “involved in Hamas terrorist activity to this day.”
Salha was sent to Gaza by Israeli authorities after being released from jail, one of 1,027 Palestinians freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was taken hostage by Gaza militants in 2006.
Israel says kills Palestinian involved in soldier murder
https://arab.news/n9xn4
Israel says kills Palestinian involved in soldier murder
- Abdelaziz Salha was killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent in a displacement camp in central Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah early on Thursday
- Salha in 2004 was sentenced to life for his part in the killing of Israeli soldier Vadim Norzich in the West Bank
Syrian Democratic Forces withdraws from east of Aleppo
RIYADH: Syrian Democratic Forces have withdrawn from positions east of Aleppo, according to SDF head Mazloum Abdi.
He announced Friday that SDF will withdraw from east of Aleppo at 7 AM local time on Saturday and redeploy them to areas east of the Euphrates, citing calls from friendly countries and mediators.
Hours earlier, a U.S. military designation had visited Deir Hafer and met with SDF officials in an apparent attempt to tamp down tensions.
The U.S. has good relations with both sides and has urged calm. A spokesperson for the U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shortly before Abdi’s announcement, interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa had announced issuance of a decree strengthening Kurdish rights.
A wave of displacement
Earlier in the day, hundreds of people carrying their belongings arrived in government-held areas in northern Syria ahead of the anticipated offensive by Syrian troops on territory held by Kurdish-led fighters.
Many of the civilians who fled were seen using side roads to reach government-held areas because the main highway was blocked at a checkpoint in the town of Deir Hafer controlled by the SDF.
The Syrian army said late Wednesday that civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and then extended the evacuation period another day, saying the SDF had stopped civilians from leaving.
There had been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides in the area before that.
Men, women and children arrived on the government side of the line in cars and pickup trucks that were packed with bags of clothes, mattresses and other belongings. They were met by local officials who directed them to shelters.
* with input from Reuters, AP
