• EU imposes fresh sanctions on ‘extremist’ Israeli settlers
• Hamas, Fatah to meet in Beijing in renewed bid for reconciliation

GAZA STRIP: Israel hammered the Gaza Strip from the air, sea and land on Monday as the war in the Palestinian territory showed no sign of abating.

The civil defence agency in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza City killed at least one person.

Shells rained down on the neighbourhoods of Tal Al-Hawa, Sheikh Ajlin and Al-Sabra in Gaza City. Eyewitnesses said the Israeli army had shelled the Al-Mughraqa area and the northern outskirts of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said they had retrieved the bodies of five people, including three children, after Israeli air strikes in the Al-Maghazi camp, also in the central Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses reported Israeli gunship fire east of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, and shelling and Apache helicopter attacks in western areas of the southernmost city of Rafah.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it was continuing its activity throughout the coastal territory, and said it had conducted raids in Rafah and central Gaza that killed “a number of” fighters, as well as air strikes throughout the strip over the past day. It also said its naval forces had been firing at targets in Gaza.

EU sanctions

The European Union on Monday announced sanctions on five Israelis — including those termed “extremist settlers” — and three organisations for abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank and blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The asset freezes and visa bans are the second round of sanctions from the 27-nation bloc targeting violent Israeli settlers, taking the total number of listings to 14. Prominent settlers blacklisted by the European Union included Moshe Sharvit, Zvi Bar Yosef, Baruch Marzel, and Isaschar Manne.

“The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank,” the EU said in a statement. Israeli organisation Tsav 9 was also sanctioned for “regularly blocking humanitarian aid trucks delivering food, water and fuel to Gaza” through violent protests.

Reconciliation

Senior officials from the rival Palestinian groups Hamas, which is at war with Israel, and Fatah have agreed to meet in Beijing this month in a renewed bid for reconciliation, officials said on Monday.

The Hamas delegation is to be headed by its Qatar-based political chief Ismail Haniyeh, while the Fatah representation will be led by deputy head Mahmud Alul, Fatah sources said.

The two groups have been bitter rivals since Hamas fighters ejected Fatah from the Gaza Strip after deadly clashes that followed Hamas’ resounding victory in a 2006 election.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2024