Israeli strikes kill 7 in Gaza, U.N. halts aid via key border crossing

TEL AVIV, Israel – At least seven people, including two children, were killed in new Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, as the U.N. halts aid deliveries through a key border crossing due to security concerns and a former Israeli defense minister decries “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.

The Palestinian WAFA news agency reported on Sunday that at least seven people have been killed in new Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Several others sustained injuries in the airstrikes on the central and southern parts of the coastal strip, according to the report.

Among the dead were two children who were struck in a “humanitarian zone” in the south of the Gaza Strip, it wrote.

The Israeli military announced on Saturday that the air force had targeted a rocket launch site in an area declared a humanitarian zone.

After the attack, rockets had been launched from the targeted site but these did not hit Israeli territory, it said.

The Israeli military said that it is taking action in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian militant Hamas organization, and contends that Israeli forces are taking measures to minimize the risk to civilians, such as the use of precision weapons and aerial surveillance.

Deaths reported in West Bank after Israeli airstrike

Meanwhile, in the north of the West Bank, several people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike near Jenin, WAFA reported.

It said that a vehicle with several young men had been fired upon.

The Israeli military said an “aircraft conducted a strike on terrorists in the area of Jenin.”

According to WAFA, several Israeli military vehicles blocked the site of the attack, preventing access to ambulances.

Jenin is considered a militant Palestinian stronghold.

The already tense situation in the occupied West Bank has significantly worsened since the massacre in Israel carried out by the Palestinian militant Hamas organization and the ensuing Gaza war.

Since then, more than 760 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, armed clashes or extremist attacks, according to the Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

Israeli ex-minister decries ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza

Former Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya’alon has accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza Strip in an interview with Israeli broadcaster Kan.

Ya’alon, who was defense minister from 2013-2016, spoke of alleged Israeli plans to expel Palestinian residents from the northern Gaza Strip and establish Israeli settlements there instead.

He said he was speaking on behalf of Israeli commanders deployed in northern Gaza who are very concerned about the situation.

“They are being put in life-threatening situations, they are facing moral dilemmas,” he said, adding that they could also face charges before the International Criminal Court.

Israel was committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, Ya’alon said.

His remarks were condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing conservative Likud party as “malicious lies.”

Far-right members of the Israeli government have repeatedly advocated for the return of Israeli settlers to the Gaza Strip, but this is not an official government policy.

UN halts aid transport through key Gaza crossing

On Sunday, the head of the U.N. relief agency said the Kerem Shalom border crossing into the Gaza Strip, the most important transit route for aid deliveries, will no longer be used until further notice for security reasons.

In mid-November, a large aid convoy was looted at the crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip by armed gangs, and on Saturday an entire convoy of several lorries carrying food was stolen.

“This difficult decision comes at a time hunger is rapidly deepening,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in a post on X on Sunday. “The delivery of humanitarian aid must never be dangerous or turn into an ordeal.”

As the occupying power in the Gaza Strip, Israel must ensure the protection of humanitarian aid workers and the supply of relief supplies, Lazzarini emphasized in his post.

The Israeli government, however, has repeatedly denounced UNRWA and passed a highly controversial ban against the aid agency that would prohibit any operations on Israeli territory beginning early next year.

“I call once again for a ceasefire that would also secure the delivery of safe and uninterrupted aid to people in need,” Lazzarini said.