Israel-Gaza war: new generations being recruited as conflict continues, senior Hamas official says | Israel-Gaza war

Lorenzo Tondo

At least 16 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes across central Gaza on Sunday night and Monday morning, including five women and four children, Palestinian health officials have said.

Rescuers said an airstrike early on Monday destroyed a residential building in the densely populated Nuseirat refugee camp in the heart of central Gaza, killing at least 10 people, including four women and two children.

The al-Awda hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the deaths and said another 13 people were wounded. Hospital records quoted by local media show that the dead included a mother, her child and her five siblings.

In a separate strike targeting a building in Gaza City, six individuals lost their lives. A woman and two children were among the dead, according to the civil defence, a team of emergency responders working under the governance of Hamas.

• Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed Monday that they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone, with video circulating online showing what appeared to be a surface-to-air missile strike and flaming wreckage strewn across the ground. The US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Houthis’ claimed downing of a drone over the country’s southwestern Dhamar province, AP reported. The Houthis have exaggerated claims in the past in their ongoing campaign targeting shipping in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

• Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip, including five women and four children. A strike early on Monday flattened a home in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, leaving a total of 10 people dead. Four of the deceased were women and two were children, AP reported.

• Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 41,226 Palestinians and wounded 95,413 since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.

• A senior Hamas official has told Agence France-Presse that new generations of fighters have been recruited since the 7 October attacks, less than a week after Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant told journalists that Hamas, “no longer exists” as a military formation in Gaza. Osama Hamdan claimed during an interview in Istanbul that the militant group “has a high ability to continue”. “There were martyrs and there were sacrifices … but in return there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance.”

• Polio vaccination coverage in Gaza has reached 90%, the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency said on Monday, adding that the next step was to ensure hundreds of thousands of children got a second dose at the end of the month. The campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza under 10 years of age against polio, which began on 1 September, presented major challenges to Unrwa and its partners due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Reuters reported.

• Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant told US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday that the window was closing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon. Gallant’s remarks came as the White House Special envoy Amos Hochstein visited Israel to discuss the crisis on the northern border where Israeli troops have been exchanging missile fire with Hezbollah forces for months, Reuters reports.

• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed publicly on Tuesday that three Israeli hostages were mistakenly killed in a strike that also took the life of Hamas’ northern Gaza brigade chief, Ahmed Ghandour, in November. According to reports from Hebrew media, families of Sgt. Ron Sherman, Cpl. Nik Beizer, both 19, and civilian Elia Toledano, 28, who were abducted by Hamas on 7 October, were informed by IDF officials that their loved ones had tragically lost their lives as a result of IDF actions after a comprehensive inquiry.

• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to New York on 24 September, the first day of the high-level general debate by world leaders at the annual UN general assembly, his office said Sunday. It said Netanyahu is scheduled to stay until 28 September in the US, which he had visited in July for official talks and a congressional address.

• A sniper killed a UN worker on the roof of his home in the northern West Bank, the UN has said, as friends and family gathered in Turkey to bury a US-Turkish activist who had been killed by the Israeli military at a protest six days earlier and around 30km away. Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, a sanitation worker with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, was the first Unrwa employee killed in the West Bank in more than a decade. Shot in the early hours of Thursday morning in el Far’a camp, he left behind a wife and five children.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed Monday that they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone, with video circulating online showing what appeared to be a surface-to-air missile strike and flaming wreckage strewn across the ground.

The US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Houthis’ claimed downing of a drone over the country’s southwestern Dhamar province, AP reported. The Houthis have exaggerated claims in the past in their ongoing campaign targeting shipping in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

However, the online video bolstered the claim, particularly after two recent claims by the Houthis included no evidence.

Other videos showed armed rebels gathered around the flaming wreckage, a propeller similar to those used by the armed drone visible in the flames. One attempted to pick up a piece of the metal before dropping it due to the heat.

AP’s report continued:

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, identified the drone as an MQ-9, without elaborating on how he came to the determination. He said it was the third downed by the group in a week, though the other two claims did not include similar video or other evidence. The US military similarly has not acknowledged losing any aircraft.

Saree said the Houthis used a locally produced missile. However, Iran has armed the rebels with a surface-to-air missile known as the 358 for years. Iran denies arming the rebels, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in seaborne shipments heading to Yemen despite a United Nations arms embargo.

Reapers, which cost around $30m apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The aircraft have been flown by both the US military and the CIA over Yemen for years.

Lorenzo Tondo

In case you missed it, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels will pay a “heavy price” after the group claimed its first ballistic missile strike on Israel and its leader warned of bigger attacks to come.

The missile – claimed by the Houthis as an advanced surface-to-surface hypersonic missile – triggered air sirens across the country at about 6.30am, and local media aired footage of people racing to shelters at Ben Gurion international airport south-east of Tel Aviv. According to reports, it hit an open area in the Ben Shemen forest, causing a fire near Kfar Daniel. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The Israeli military is investigating whether the fire was the result of falling fragments caused by the interceptor missiles launched at the projectile, or if it successfully penetrated Israeli air defences as the Houthis have claimed.

Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip, including five women and four children.

A strike early on Monday flattened a home in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, leaving a total of 10 people dead.

Four of the deceased were women and two were children, AP reported.

Gaza medical facility Awda hospital received the bodies, confirmed the death toll, and said another 13 people were wounded.

Hospital records show the deceased include a mother, her child, and her five siblings.

Another strike on a home in Gaza City killed a further six people which included a woman and two children, as per Hamas-run first responders Civil Defence.

Israel says it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas.

Welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I’m Tom Ambrose.

A senior Hamas official has told Agence France-Presse that new generations of fighters have been recruited since the 7 October attacks, less than a week after Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant told journalists that Hamas, “no longer exists” as a military formation in Gaza.

Osama Hamdan claimed during an interview in Istanbul that the militant group “has a high ability to continue”. “There were martyrs and there were sacrifices … but in return there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance.”

Last week, Gallant said Hamas’s military capabilities had been severely damaged after more than 11 months of war. At least 41,206 Palestinians have been killed and 95,337 others injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday. The war was triggered by Hamas’ attacks on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 hostages taken.

Hamdan also said Sunday’s first ballistic missile strike on Israel by Yemen’s Houthi rebels showed the limits of Israel’s ability to defend itself, including its oft-touted aerial defence system. “It is a message to the entire region that Israel is not an immune entity,” Hamdan said. “Even Israeli capabilities have limits.”

The Israeli military is investigating whether the fire near Kfar Daniel, in central Israel, was the result of falling fragments caused by interceptor missiles launched at the projectile, or if it successfully penetrated Israeli air defences, as the Houthis have claimed.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday: “This morning, the Houthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory. They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us.”

Here is a summary of the latest developments:

• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed publicly on Tuesday that three Israeli hostages were mistakenly killed in a strike that also took the life of Hamas’ northern Gaza brigade chief, Ahmed Ghandour, in November. According to reports from Hebrew media, families of Sgt. Ron Sherman, Cpl. Nik Beizer, both 19, and civilian Elia Toledano, 28, who were abducted by Hamas on 7 October, were informed by IDF officials that their loved ones had tragically lost their lives as a result of IDF actions after a comprehensive inquiry.

• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to New York on 24 September, the first day of the high-level general debate by world leaders at the annual UN general assembly, his office said Sunday. It said Netanyahu is scheduled to stay until 28 September in the US, which he had visited in July for official talks and a congressional address.

• A sniper killed a UN worker on the roof of his home in the northern West Bank, the UN has said, as friends and family gathered in Turkey to bury a US-Turkish activist who had been killed by the Israeli military at a protest six days earlier and around 30km away. Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, a sanitation worker with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, was the first Unrwa employee killed in the West Bank in more than a decade. Shot in the early hours of Thursday morning in el Far’a camp, he left behind a wife and five children.