GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency told AFP on Wednesday that an Israeli strike on the Palestinian territory killed five people including two children.
The Israeli military said it had struck a “Hamas terrorist” in southern Gaza in response to a clash with Palestinian militants in the area that wounded five soldiers.
“Five citizens, including two children, killed and others injured, some seriously, as a result of an Israeli missile strike” in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
The agency said the strike hit near the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in Khan Yunis and “targeted” a shelter camp.
The hospital also reported that five people, including two children aged eight and 10, were killed and another 32 were wounded.
A fragile US-brokered ceasefire that came into effect on October 10 has largely halted the fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, but both sides have accused each other of violating its terms.
The Israeli military said earlier on Wednesday that during an operation in the area of eastern Rafah, soldiers encountered several militants “who emerged from an underground terrorist infrastructure.”
“During the encounter, an (Israeli) combat soldier was severely injured, two additional combat soldiers and a non-commissioned officer were moderately injured,” the military said in a statement.
It added that the soldiers were evacuated to hospital for treatment, and their families had been notified.
The second Israeli army statement announcing the air strike did not provide details about the fifth injured soldier.
A security source in Gaza told AFP that at around 4pm local time (1400 GMT), “very heavy artillery shelling took place from occupation vehicles east of Rafah city, along with heavy gunfire from warplanes.”
The source added that an Israeli helicopter had also landed in the area.
The military said on Sunday that it had killed more than 40 militants over the past week in operations targeting tunnels near Rafah, where dozens of Hamas fighters are holed up beneath areas controlled by the Israeli military.
Multiple sources told AFP last week that negotiations were underway regarding the fate of the fighters still in south Gaza’s tunnel network.
On Thursday, a prominent Hamas member in Gaza told AFP that the group estimated their number to be between 60 and 80.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.
Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 70,117 people, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
The ministry says since the ceasefire came into effect, 360 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. Israel’s military has reported three soldiers killed during the same period.
Gaza civil defense says 5 killed in Israel strike
https://arab.news/gw4ye
Gaza civil defense says 5 killed in Israel strike
- The agency said the strike hit near the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in Khan Yunis and “targeted” a shelter camp
- Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 70,117 people since late 2023
Morocco to secure 60% of water needs from desalination
- Rabat boosts investment in facilities powered by renewable energy, minister tells Marrakech conference
MARRAKECH: Morocco, which has endured seven years of drought, plans to supply 60 percent of its drinking water from treated seawater by 2030, up from 25 percent, its water minister said, as Rabat accelerates investment in desalination plants powered by renewable energy.
The push is crucial to ensure a steady water supply and to maintain Morocco’s status as a key producer and exporter of fresh produce amid climate change, as droughts have dried up some of its main water reservoirs and depleted underground resources.
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The plant will have a capacity of 350 million cubic meters and will supply urban centers in Morocco’s food basket as well as farmlands.
The North African country plans to produce 1.7 billion cubic meters of desalinated water annually by 2030 from projects under construction and plants for which it will hold tenders starting next year, Nizar Baraka said on the sidelines of the World Water Congress in Marrakech.
The largest plant — with planned investment of about 10 billion dirhams ($1 billion) — will be located near Tiznit, 615 km south of the capital Rabat.
It will have a capacity of 350 million cubic meters and will supply urban centers in the country’s food basket as well as farmlands, he said.
“Studies are underway as part of preparations for the plant’s tender, to be announced by mid next year,” Baraka said.
Besides the northern cities of Nador and Tangier, plants are also planned in Rabat in partnership with the French group Veolia, as well as in Tantan, where the government is considering building a port dedicated to green hydrogen and ammonia exports, Baraka said.
Morocco currently operates 17 desalination plants producing 345 million cubic meters annually.
Four additional plants are under construction with a combined capacity of 540 million cubic meters, scheduled to be ready by 2027, including a major facility in Casablanca, the country’s most populous city.
“All new desalination plants will be powered by renewable energy,” Baraka said.
Morocco has also faced rising temperatures and worsening evaporation in dams.
To counter this, it installed floating solar panels on a dam near Tangier to reduce evaporation, which accounts for 30 percent of the country’s surface water loss, according to the minister.
“The experiment will be expanded to include dams in the south and mountainous regions,” Baraka said.
