TEL AVIV // Israel yesterday killed four militants in the Gaza Strip in a third day of air raids in which at least 18 Palestinians have died in retaliation against an attack on an Israeli school bus on Thursday.
Gaza militants have reacted by firing at least 70 rockets and mortars at southern Israeli communities since Thursday, as the clashes with Israel escalated to their worst level since Israel's three-week assault in the enclave ended in January 2009.
The latest round of violence was triggered by the firing of a guided anti-tank missile on an Israeli school bus near the Gaza-Israel border on Thursday. The attack seriously wounded a 16-year-old boy and injured the bus driver.
Hamas, which is viewed by both Israel and the US as a terrorist organisation, claimed responsibility for the bus attack. Yesterday, however, spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the group did not intend to target children. "It was not known that the bus targeted on the outskirts of Gaza carried school children," he told the Reuters news agency.
Hamas officials also said that their rocket attacks did not aim at civilians and that the group lacked the technology to avoid such casualties.
The Palestinians killed in the clashes included at least 11 militants, six civilians and a Gaza policemen, including an 11-year-old boy, the Reuters news agency cited Gaza medical officials as saying. At least 50 Palestinians, many of them civilians, were injured.
Immediately after the bus attack Israeli forces struck targets throughout the territory, targeting Hamas positions, smuggling tunnels along Gaza's border with Egypt and the enclave's airport. The strikes damaged electricity lines and transformers, leading to blackouts in some parts of Gaza.
The Israeli attacks prompted Hamas officials to call for an emergency Arab League meeting and urged Arab governments to "raise their voices" to halt Israeli strikes.
Ismail Haniyah, the prime minister of Hamas in Gaza, sounded a defiant note Friday.
"Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip will not be able to break the will of the Palestinian people," he said.
Israeli officials, however, indicated in public comments that the army is likely to continue the attacks.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, issued a warning to Hamas on Friday after the bus attack, stating that the attack "crossed a line." He added: "Whoever tries to hurt or kill children is responsible for his own death. We hope this situation will be contained, but we will not shy away from any action - offensive or defensive - to protect our citizens."
Avigdor Lieberman, the far-right foreign minister, appeared to try to minimise possible international condemnation of the Israeli assaults, describing Thursday's bus attack as a "criminal act" and saying the international community should help Israel "overcome terror and defeat it."
Nevertheless, Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations, issued a statement expressing concern about the "escalating violence" and urging Israel to act with "maximum restraint" to avoid civilian casualties.
The French foreign ministry called on both sides to stop the fighting immediately and that "these events recall, as if needed, the urgency of reaching a negotiated solution to this conflict," according to the Bloomberg news agency.
In addition to its retaliatory strikes against Gaza rocket fire, Israel is also seeking to avoid casualties with its cutting-edge Iron Dome missile-defence system that began operating last week. According to the army, it successfully intercepted Palestinian rockets aimed at the southern Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Beer Sheba.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh135,000
Engine 1.6L turbo
Gearbox Six speed automatic with manual and sports mode
Power 165hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 240Nm @ 1,400rpm 0-100kph: 9.2 seconds
Top speed 420 kph (governed)
Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Stats at a glance:
Cost: 1.05 billion pounds (Dh 4.8 billion)
Number in service: 6
Complement 191 (space for up to 285)
Top speed: over 32 knots
Range: Over 7,000 nautical miles
Length 152.4 m
Displacement: 8,700 tonnes
Beam: 21.2 m
Draught: 7.4 m
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.