Four Gaza patients dead as oxygen cut off during Israel raid on Nasser hospital, doctors say - latest

France will ban 28 Israeli settlers from entering the country, accusing them of attacking Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

“These measures come as violence perpetrated by settlers against the Palestinian population has increased in recent months. France reaffirms its firm condemnation of this unacceptable violence,” the ministry said in a statement.

It did not name the individuals.

UN figures show that daily settler attacks have more than doubled since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the ensuing assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

While much international attention has focused on that cross-border assault and Israel’s subsequent war there, European officials have also expressed increasing concern about rising violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The United States and Britain have expressed similar concerns and have already imposed sanctions on several settlers whom they say are responsible for violence.

If every war has a tipping point, the death of little Hind Rajab should be it.

The six-year-old was killed in Gaza City by what undeniably looks like Israeli gunfire, while trapped in a car, surrounded by the bodies of her dead relatives.

An ambulance that had reportedly received permission to rescue Hind from the unthinkable scene was also fired on. Two paramedics lost their lives. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has accused Israel of deliberately targeting them.

Israel has not released an official statement regarding Hind, her family, or the deaths of the paramedics – naysayers will argue that we can’t possibly attribute culpability; that we don’t know what really happened.

But all too often, the simplest explanation is the right one. And the facts speak for themselves, no matter which way you look at it: a little girl died, alone and terrified, in unimaginable circumstances. Her death shames us all.

Victoria Richards writes:

Some of the Palestinian people who fled their homes in Gaza for the safety of Rafah have been forced to flee once again as Israel launches an airstrike on the region.

Nahla Jarwan fled her home in the central Gaza Strip to seek refuge in Rafah - like more than 1 million other Palestinians escaping Israel’s military offensive.

She is one of dozens of people who residents said were leaving Rafah on Tuesday after Israeli shelling and air strikes in recent days.

“I fled Al-Maghazi, came to Rafah, and here I am, returning to Al-Maghazi,” said Jarwan, referring to the refugee camp from which she fled earlier in the conflict.n“Last night in Rafah was very tough. We’re going back to Al-Maghazi out of fear - displaced from one area to another; hopefully Al-Maghazi area would safe, God willing.”

She added: “Wherever we go, there is no safety.”

At least three Palestinians were killed and 10 others injured by Israeli sniper fire on Gaza’s Nasser Medical Complex since Tuesday afternoon, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

The United Nations on Tuesday warned against an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, saying an offensive could “lead to a slaughter” in the southern region of the Palestinian enclave where more than 1 million people are sheltering.

Israel says it wants to flush out Hamas militants from hideouts in Rafah and free Israeli hostages being held there, and is making plans to evacuate trapped Palestinian civilians.

“Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza. They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door,” said U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths. “We lack the safety guarantees, the aid supplies and the staff capacity to keep this operation afloat.

“The international community has been warning against the dangerous consequences of any ground invasion in Rafah. The Government of Israel cannot continue to ignore these calls,” he said in a statement.