Israel kills top Palestinian militant as Gaza truce talks stumble

SIDON, Lebanon: The Israeli military killed a senior Palestinian militant in a strike Wednesday (Aug 21) on Lebanon, leading to accusations from the Fatah movement that Israel was trying to ignite a regional war.
The strike that killed Khalil Maqdah, described by Fatah as “one of the leaders” of its armed wing in Lebanon, came hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended a tour of the Middle East aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss “the ceasefire and hostage release deal and diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions,” the White House said.
On the ground, Gaza was again rocked by air strikes, according to AFP reporters, first responders, witnesses and the Israeli military, which also issued fresh evacuation orders.
The civil defence agency in the Hamas-run territory said at least three people were killed and 10 children wounded in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City.
Israel’s military said the “precise strike” targeted Hamas militants based in the school compound.
A father told AFP his child was killed in the strike while playing in the schoolyard.
“What did this child do to deserve this?” he said, declining to give his name.Israeli bombardment elsewhere in Gaza killed at least 24 people on Wednesday, the civil defence agency said.
The Oct 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed 40,223 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths. The UN rights office says most dead are women and children.
Palestinian militants also seized 251 hostages, of whom 105 remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.
The military’s latest evacuation orders, including for parts of central and southern Gaza previously designated “safe” by Israel, affect some 150,000 displaced Palestinians who had sought shelter there, the United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA said.
“Today’s orders have also made three water wells … inaccessible. Those wells serve tens of thousands of people,” it said.
A UN official said “death seems to be the only certainty” for Gaza’s 2.4 million people, with no way to escape Israel’s bombardment.
“Absolutely nowhere is safe,” Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), told AFP from Gaza.