At least 38 dead in Israeli attacks in Gaza City, civil defense said

Video from Shati verified by Storyful showed entire blocks of houses destroyed by the attack, with residents covered in dust from the rubble as they searched for survivors.

The numerous, heavy attacks were unusual for Gaza City, which has seen some of the major fighting between Israel and Hamas subside there. Nevertheless, the Israeli army carries out regular attacks in the city, including one on Friday that killed five municipal workers, according to local authorities.

At least 22 people were killed and 45 injured on Friday after “heavy-caliber projectiles” hit near an office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Mawasi district of Rafah.

The attack “damaged the structure of the ICRC office, which is surrounded by hundreds of displaced civilians living in tents, including many of our Palestinian colleagues,” the humanitarian organization wrote in a statement on Friday.

“The fire so dangerously close to humanitarian structures endangers the lives of civilians and Red Cross workers,” the organization said, adding that the “incident caused a mass influx of victims to the nearby Red Cross field hospital.”

The Israeli military said it was “investigating the incident” but that an initial investigation had shown that “there was no direct attack by the Israeli military on a Red Cross facility.”

Separately, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for “reason and rationality” on Friday as he expressed his “deep concern” about the risk of a full-scale war between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Guterres said there had been an escalation in the exchanges of fire and that there had been “belligerent rhetoric on both sides, as if all-out war was imminent.”

“One hasty step, one miscalculation could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the borders and, frankly, beyond anyone’s imagination,” he said. “To be clear: the people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford to see Lebanon become another Gaza.”

This week, the Israeli military said it had “approved and confirmed” operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon, while Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned on social media: “In a full-scale war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be hit hard.” The same day, Hezbollah, a military power allied with Iran and Lebanon’s strongest political party, said it had new weapons and intelligence capabilities that could be used in a full-scale war.

The two sides have been trading fire since Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, the heaviest fighting between the two enemies since the deadly, months-long war in 2006.

Yemen’s Houthi fighters continue to threaten some of the world’s most important shipping routes, despite months of US-led air strikes. The Post reports. The once ragtag rebels are using an arsenal of increasingly sophisticated weapons to attack ships in and around the Red Sea. This month alone, they have sunk one ship and set fire to another.

Because of the war in Gaza, around 39,000 Palestinian students are unable to take their high school exams, which were supposed to start on Saturday. The Palestinian state news agency WAFA reported that, according to humanitarian organizations, around 625,000 students have not been able to attend school since the war began in October.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, an Israeli citizen was shot dead in the town of Qalqilya on Saturday. The Israeli military said it was deployed in the occupied West Bank city following the killing. Israeli media reported that it was the second killing of an Israeli in the city in recent days.

Cuba announced that it intends to join South Africa’s lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice. according to a statement from the Spanish Foreign Ministry released on Friday. Earlier this month, Spain became the first European country to ask to join the process; other countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua and Libya, have also asked to join, according to the Associated Press.

A senior State Department official skeptical of the Biden administration’s “bear hug” approach toward the Israeli government resigned this week. This was a setback for US diplomats who were pushing for a sharper break with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition, three people familiar with the matter said.

Since the war began, at least 37,551 people have been killed and 85,911 injured in Gaza. said the Gaza Health Ministry. It makes no distinction between civilians and fighters, but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and it says 312 soldiers have been killed since military operations began in Gaza.