Region
Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill six
Palestinians say five injured in Israeli settler West Bank attack
Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that Israeli strikes had killed six people over the past 24 hours, the latest bout of violence in the territory against the backdrop of the US-Israeli war with Iran.
In a pre-dawn strike Saturday, two policemen and a civilian were killed in the southern city of Khan Yunis, the agency reported.
A strike on a group of civilians on Friday evening in eastern Gaza City killed three people, whose bodies were taken to the territory's main Al-Shifa hospital, the agency said.
When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not offer an immediate response.
Violence has continued in the Palestinian territory despite a ceasefire since October 10, and even as Israel continues its air campaign against Iran since February 28.
FIVE INJURED IN WEST BANK ATTACK
Israeli settlers injured five Palestinians, including two with gunshot wounds, in a fresh attack against a village in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official said Saturday, while the military reported a 'violent confrontation' in the area, AFP reported from Ramallah.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said a group of settlers attacked in the area of Rashayda, near the village of Kisan, "firing live ammunition".
Musa Abayat, the mayor of the area east of Bethlehem, told AFP that two people were hospitalised with gunshot wounds and three others beaten with sharp objects or hit by stones.
"The settlers also stole 100 sheep," Abayat said, decrying "daily attacks" by settlers in this part of the West Bank.
The Israeli military said there was a "violent confrontation" involving Israeli civilians who fired toward Palestinians.
"As a result of the incident, an Israeli civilian was injured and evacuated to the hospital for medical treatment," it said in a statement to AFP.
"Two additional Palestinians were evacuated by the Red Crescent for medical treatment."
Israeli police had detained two Israeli civilians who fired their weapons, while three Palestinians were also apprehended, the military added.
There has been a spike in deadly settler attacks in the West Bank in recent days, with at least five Palestinians killed since the start of March, according to Palestinian authorities and the UN.
Violence more broadly in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has also risen sharply since the October 2023 Hamas storming of Israel triggered the Gaza war. It has continued despite a ceasefire since October 10.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,045 Palestinians, many of them fighters, but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.