A stampede at a food distribution site run by an Israeli-backed American organization in the Gaza Strip killed 20 Palestinians on Wednesday, the group said, in the first acknowledgment of deadly violence at its operations.
The Gaza Humanitarian Fund, an American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population, said 19 people were trampled in a stampede and one person was fatally stabbed at a hub in the southern city of Khan Younis. The organization accused the Hamas militant group of fomenting panic and spreading misinformation that led to the violence, though it provided no evidence to support the claim.
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The deaths came as Israeli strikes killed 41 others, including 11 children, in Gaza City and Khan Younis, according to hospital officials. The Israeli military said it has struck more than 120 targets in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas military infrastructure of tunnels and weapons storage facilities.
Elsewhere, Syrian media reported that a new ceasefire agreement has been reached to end days of fighting between Syrian government forces and Druze armed groups in the southern city of Sweida.
Here's the latest:
Key governing partner of Netanyahu quits
A key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday it is quitting the government, leaving him with a minority in parliament.
The Shas ultra-Orthodox party said it was leaving over disagreements surrounding a proposed law meant to grant wide military draft exemptions to its constituents.
A second ultra-Orthodox party quit earlier this week over the same issue.
Leading a minority government would make governing a challenge for Netanyahu. But Shas said it wouldn’t work to undermine the coalition once outside it and could vote with it on some laws. It also wouldn’t support its collapse.
The political turmoil comes as Israel and Hamas are negotiating on a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal for Gaza.
Fearing for their relatives, Druze in Israeli-controlled territory cross into Syria
Members of the Druze minority in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights were seen crossing into Syria on Wednesday, fearing for their relatives’ fate as clashes raged between Syrian Druze and government forces.
Waving the community’s multicolored flag, a procession of people from the minority marched into Syria. Israeli forces were seen nearby.
Once in Syrian territory, Druze were seen reuniting with their loved ones. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war, separating many Druze families from their relatives in Syria.
Residents said they felt they had to do something in the face of harsh images emerging from the clashes.
“It’s hard for us to stand here, not doing anything,” said Majd Shaer, who said he has relatives in Syria.
Syrian media reports a new ceasefire agreement has been reached
A new ceasefire agreement has been reached to end days of fighting between Syrian government forces and Druze armed groups in the southern city of Sweida, Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported Wednesday, citing an unidentified Interior Ministry official.
The report said “security checkpoints have been deployed in the city, and it has been fully integrated into the Syrian state.” There was no immediate statement from Druze officials. A previous ceasefire agreement reached the day before quickly fell apart.
The clashes in Sweida province initially broke out between members of local Bedouin tribes and Druze militias. Government security forces deployed to restore order, but also began clashing with the Druze factions, with allegations that government-affiliated forces had looted and burned civilian houses and carried out summary executions.
U.S. ‘very concerned’ by Israel-Syria violence
The U.S. is “ very concerned” about the latest surge in Israel-Syria violence and has been in touch with both sides in an effort to restore what had been a fragile ceasefire between the two countries, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.
“We’re very concerned about it, we want it to stop,” Rubio told reporters at the State Department after signing a civilian nuclear agreement with the foreign minister of Bahrain.
Rubio said he had just been on the phone with “relevant parties” and that he hoped to have an update later.
Turkey criticizes Israeli airstrikes on Damascus
Turkey's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday's strikes on the Syrian capital were an a attempt to sabotage Syria’s efforts to achieve peace, stability and security, and called for support for Syria’s efforts to restore order across the country.
“The Syrian people have a historic opportunity to live in peace and integrate with the world,” the ministry said. “All stakeholders who support this opportunity should contribute to the Syrian government’s efforts to restore peace.”
Omer Celik, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, also affirmed Turkey’s support to Syria.
“Israel’s attacks pose a security threat to the entire region and the world,” Celik wrote on the social media platform X.
Israeli jets strike Syrian defense ministry headquarters again
Israeli jets struck the Syrian Defense Ministry's headquarters in central Damascus in the second such attack Wednesday.
The strike, which came hours after a drone strike on the same site in the capital, caused significant damage.
Israel has launched a series of strikes targeting Syrian government forces in the southern Sweida province. The Israeli government says it’s to support the Druze community.
Syrian state media reported that there were a “number of wounded” people in the strike, without giving details. The building is located close to the busy Ummayad Square.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that they will escalate their attacks against the Syrian government with “painful blows”.
Syria’s Defense Ministry had earlier blamed militias in the Druze-majority area of Sweida for violating a ceasefire agreement that had been reached Tuesday, causing Syrian army soldiers to return fire. The Druze have accused government forces and allies of sectarian attacks, looting, and beatings during their ongoing military operation.
Hundreds from Druze community gather along Syria-Israel border
Hundreds of members of the Druze community from Majdal Shams and Druze villages in northern Israel have gathered along the border fence with Syria, trying to enter the country to support Druze armed groups as they continue to clash with Syria's government forces.
Videos widely circulated on social media showed that many Druze were able to cross into Syria, where the majority of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live.
Meanwhile, hundreds of the Syrian Druze community gathered on the other side of the fence, though it was not immediately clear if they were demonstrating or trying to cross the border. The Israeli military said dozens have tried to cross into Israel. Tensions intensified when several Syrian Druze protesters stood atop a tractor waiving Druze flags and Israeli troops responded by lobbing tear gas, forcing them to shortly retreat.
Dozens have been killed in the hostilities sparked by a series of tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings.
US ambassador pays surprise visit to Netanyahu’s trial
The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, briefly attended the court proceedings of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, saying he wanted to support the embattled Israeli leader in his ongoing corruption trial.
Huckabee’s visit to the courthouse was a rare act of involvement in his host country’s internal affairs. It comes after President Donald Trump condemned the trial as a “witch hunt.”
Speaking in Tel Aviv, Huckabee said the visit was a matter of “representing what the president has said repeatedly.”
Netanyahu is on trial for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases.
“The president has made his position very clear,” Huckabee said ahead of his visit to the courthouse. “It’s a personal thing for him. He considers the Prime Minister a friend.” After the visit, Huckabee reposted Trump’s call for the trial to be thrown out and added the comment: “My conclusion? Trump is right…again.”
Israel strikes near d
efense ministry in Damascus
The Israeli army said Wednesday that it struck near the entrance to the Syrian Ministry of Defense in Damascus, as clashes continued in the southern Syrian city of Sweida after a ceasefire between government forces and Druze armed groups collapsed.
Israel has launched a series of airstrikes on convoys of government forces in southern Syria since the clashes erupted and has beefed up forces on the border. It has said it is acting to protect the Druze religious minority.
The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
Stun grenades and pepper spray caused chaos at food distribution site
Gaza’s Health Ministry and witnesses said GHF workers used tear gas against the crowd outside one of its food distribution hubs, causing a panic. The ministry said that it was the first time people have been killed by a stampede at the aid sites.
“They used stun grenades and pepper spray against us. They had aid inside, but they intentionally did not distribute it to let people crowd outside,″ said Abdullah Aleyat, who was at the GHF site on Wednesday morning.
Omar Al-Najjar, a resident of the nearby city of Rafah, said people were gasping for air, possibly from tear gas.
The injuries were “not from gunfire, but from people clustering and pushing against each other,” Al-Najjar said as he carried an injured stranger to a hospital.
The sites are inside Israeli military zones protected by private American contractors, and Israeli troops surround the sites.
The United Nations human rights office and Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that 875 Palestinians in the enclave have been killed while seeking food since May, with 674 of those in the vicinity of aid distribution sites run by GHF.