World
Israel says air strike on Gaza UN food center killed Hamas militant
Israel said on Wednesday its airstrike on a U.N. food distribution centre in southern Gaza killed a Hamas commander whom it targeted, and Palestinian health officials said it killed four more people including a U.N. worker, Reuters reported.
The Israeli military said the strike killed Mohammad Abu Hasna, whom it described as a Hamas militant who provided intelligence to the group on Israeli troops' positions and was "also involved in taking control of humanitarian aid and distributing it to Hamas terrorists."
In a statement, Hamas said Abu Hasna was a member of its police force and condemned his killing as a "cowardly assassination" meant to disrupt aid distribution.
Hamas identified another of the five killed as the head of an emergency committee for Rafah, Nidal al-Sheikh Eid.
The main U.N. agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) said one of its facilities had been hit in Rafah, an area in southern Gaza where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million population is sheltering, read the report.
At least one UNRWA staff member was among the five killed and 22 others were injured, the agency said, adding that the facility's coordinates had been shared with the Israeli military.
"Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine," said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.
Hamas has denied Israel's accusations that it diverts food aid and says Israel is using famine to pressure the Palestinian population.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he was determined to have UNRWA replaced by other agencies without harming aid distribution, citing alleged links between the agency and Hamas militants.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a news briefing said he had not yet received details of the incident but said Israel must protect safety of humanitarian workers despite tough conditions.
"You're in a war zone. You have a terrorist group that is firing from hospitals, from schools, from apartment buildings, but the Israeli military, the Israeli government have a responsibility and an obligation to do everything possible to ensure that the humanitarians can do their jobs," said Blinken.
With the Gaza war now in its sixth month, The U.N. has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – one-quarter of the population – are on the brink of famine and global pressure has been growing on Israel to allow more access to the enclave.
On Tuesday, the United Nations used a new land route to deliver food to northern Gaza for the first time in three weeks, Reuters reported.
"We have been taking efforts to facilitate more aid into northern Gaza," Israeli government spokesperson Tal Heinrich told journalists on Wednesday. "This was a pilot to prevent Hamas from taking over the aid as they often do."
The U.S., Jordan and others have conducted airdrops of aid in Gaza and on Tuesday a ship carrying 200 tonnes of aid left Cyprus in a pilot project to open a sea corridor to deliver supplies. While U.N. officials have welcomed new aid routes, they stress there is no substitute for land access.
The war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel then launched an air, sea and ground assault that has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza say.
Since the Gaza war began, violence has also risen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with stepped up Israeli military raids and Palestinian street attacks.
On Wednesday, Israeli officials said a 15-year-old Palestinian stabbed a soldier and a guard at a checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem before being shot dead, read the report.
In separate incidents, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians during a raid in Jenin, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said, while a 13-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli forces on the outskirts of Jerusalem, in what Israeli police described as a violent riot.
World
NATO’s Stoltenberg says each country must decide if Ukraine can use its long-range missiles on Russia
Some U.S. officials are deeply skeptical that allowing the use of such missiles would make a significant difference in Kyiv’s battle against Russian invaders.
The outgoing head of NATO Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday he welcomed talks on Ukraine's use of long-range missiles to strike inside Russian territory, but any decision on the issue would have to be made by individual allies, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pleading with allies for months to let Ukraine fire Western missiles including long-range U.S. ATACMS and British Storm Shadows deep into Russia to limit Moscow's ability to launch attacks.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Joe Biden held talks in Washington on Friday on whether to allow Kyiv to use the long-range missiles against targets in Russia. No decision was announced.
"I welcome these developments and these decisions but its for individual allies to make the final decisions," Stoltenberg told LBC radio. "Allies have different policies on this."
Some U.S. officials are deeply skeptical that allowing the use of such missiles would make a significant difference in Kyiv's battle against Russian invaders, read the report.
President Vladimir Putin has said the West would be directly fighting Russia if it allowed Ukraine to strike with Western-made long-range missiles.
Asked about possible Russian retaliation, Stoltenberg said there were "no risk-free options in the war".
"But I continue to believe that the biggest risk for us, for United Kingdom, for NATO, will be if President Putin wins in Ukraine," he added.
World
Trump safe after assassination attempt thwarted at Florida golf course
The suspect left an AK-47-style assault rifle and other items at the scene and fled in a vehicle and was later arrested
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was safe on Sunday after the Secret Service foiled what the FBI called an apparent assassination attempt while he was golfing on his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Several Secret Service agents fired on a gunman in bushes near the property line of the golf course after he was spotted a few hundred yards from where Trump was playing, law enforcement officials said.
The suspect left an AK-47-style assault rifle and other items at the scene and fled in a vehicle and was later arrested, Reuters reported.
The apparent attempt on Trump's life came just two months after he was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, sustaining a minor injury to his right ear.
Both incidents highlight the challenges of keeping presidential candidates safe in a hotly contested and polarized campaign with just over seven weeks to go before the Nov. 5 election.
"I would like to thank everyone for your concern and well wishes - It was certainly an interesting day!," Trump said on social media late on Sunday, thanking Secret Service and police for keeping him safe.
CNN, Fox News and The New York Times identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, citing unidentified law enforcement officials. The FBI declined to comment and Reuters could not independently verify his identity.
It was not clear if or how the suspect knew Trump was playing golf at the time, or what his motive was, but the attempted attack was sure to raise new questions about the level of protection he is given.
World
Houthi missile reaches central Israel for first time, no injuries reported
At a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a “heavy price” for attacks on Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a "heavy price" on the Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen, after they reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time, Reuters reported.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km (1270 miles) in just 11 1/2 minutes.
An Israeli military official said the missile was hit by an interceptor and fragmented in the air, rather than being completely destroyed.
Air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the impact at around 6:35 a.m. local time (0335 GMT), sending residents running for shelter. Loud booms were heard, read the report.
Missile pieces landed in fields and near a railway station. There were no direct casualties, but nine people were lightly hurt while seeking cover. Reuters saw smoke billowing in an open field in central Israel.
At a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a "heavy price" for attacks on Israel.
"Whoever needs a reminder of that is invited to visit the Hodeida port," Netanyahu said, referring to an Israeli retaliatory air strike against Yemen in July for a Houthi drone that hit Tel Aviv.
The Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on Israel in October, Reuters reported.
The drone that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July killed a man and wounded four people. Israeli air strikes in response on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah killed six and wounded 80.
Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli air space, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.
Israel should expect more strikes in the future "as we approach the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 operation, including responding to its aggression on the city of Hodeidah," Houthis spokesperson Sarea said.
The deputy head of the Houthi's media office, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X on Sunday that the missile had reached Israel after "20 missiles failed to intercept" it, describing it as the "beginning".
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