DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: An Israeli strike on a school where displaced people were sheltering in the central Gaza Strip killed at least 17 people on Thursday, mostly women and children, Palestinian medical officials said.
Another 42 people were wounded in the strike in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. Among the dead were seven children as young as 11 months, as well as three women.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel has carried out several strikes on schools-turned-shelters in recent months, saying it precisely targets Hamas militants hiding out among civilians. The strikes often kill women and children.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken meanwhile announced another $135 million in aid to the Palestinians, saying it is critical that aid enters Gaza.
Blinken spoke in Qatar on Thursday on his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The United States has pressed Israel to allow more aid into the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants but says women and children make up more than half the fatalities. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The war has displaced around 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands of people are crammed into tent camps along the coast after entire neighborhoods in many areas were pounded to rubble.
Months of ceasefire negotiations brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar sputtered to a halt over the summer. The war has meanwhile expanded to Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion more than three weeks ago after trading fire with the Hezbollah militant group for much of the past year.
The United States hopes to renew the negotiations after Israeli forces killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza last week, but neither side has shown any sign of moderating its demands.
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza has killed 17
https://arab.news/24kyj
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza has killed 17
- Another 42 people were wounded in the strike in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp
- Israel has carried out several strikes on schools-turned-shelters in recent months
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
