Israel raids main Gaza hospital as Rafah concerns grow

TEL AVIV: Relatives of hostages still being held by militants in Gaza called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday to ensure all remaining captives are freed, while also appealing to US President Donald Trump to continue pressing for their release.
As a fragile six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas entered its sixth day, Israelis waited anxiously for the names of the next four hostages who will be released from among the more than 90 still held in Gaza.
In the Palestinian enclave, civilians in the central and southern part of the Gaza Strip hoping to return to the remnants of their home in the battered north faced an agonizing wait.
Israel believes about a third, or possibly as many as half, of the more than 90 hostages still in Gaza have died. Hamas has not released definitive information on how many captives are still alive or the names of those who have died.
“Dear President Trump, first of all we want to say thank you for the happy moments we felt this week. But we want to tell you we still have 94 hostages, we need them all at home,” said Ayelet Samerano, whose son Yonatan Samerano is among those still being held. “Please do not stop. Please continue to press and do everything so that all the 94 hostages will come home immediately.”
In the first phase of the ceasefire deal, 33 hostages are expected to be released gradually in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The first three Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, the first day of the ceasefire that has halted the 15-month war that has devastated Gaza. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and wide swaths of the territory have been destroyed.
According to the deal, on Friday Hamas is to announce the names of the next four hostages to be released on Saturday, after which Israel will also release a list of which Palestinian prisoners will be freed.
The hostages were among about 250 men, women and children captured by militants who burst across the border into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people in an attack that sparked the war in Gaza. About 100 were released during a brief ceasefire in November that year, while the bodies of around three dozen hostages have been recovered in Gaza and eight hostages have been rescued by the army.
“I call from here to the Prime Minister and negotiating team — you’re doing excellent work — do whatever is necessary to bring everyone back, to the last hostage,” Samerano said. “We ask you to ensure phase two of the deal is agreed upon before finishing the current phrase. We cannot continue living in uncertainty. All hostages must return, and none of them has time left.”
The 33 to be released in the first phase will include women, children, sick people and those over 50 — almost all civilians, though the deal also commits Hamas to freeing all living female soldiers in Phase 1. Hamas will release living hostages first, but could release some bodies if they don’t have enough living hostages in this category. Male soldiers are not expected to be released in the first phase.
“This week we were moved to watch images of mothers embracing their daughters, but our hearts break thinking that my son Nimrod and other men remain behind, and each day they’re there poses a real danger to their lives,” said Vicky Cohen, whose son Nimrod Cohen is among the hostages. “The worry that the deal won’t be fully implemented gnaws at us all. All senior officials openly say that stopping the deal means a death sentence for those left behind.”
Under the terms of the deal, Palestinians in Gaza will have more freedom of movement from the north to the south of the enclave. Civilians in the south will be allowed to take a coastal road to northern Gaza from Saturday, when Israeli troops are expected to withdraw from the key route and Hamas is set to release the next four Israeli hostages.
Those in other parts of the strip seized on the ceasefire this week to reunite with scattered family members, picking their way through vast swaths of rubble and trying to salvage what remained of their homes and their belongings. But those displaced from the north have had to wait.
“The first thing I’ll do, I’ll kiss the dirt of the land on which I was born and raised,” said Nadia Al-Debs, one of the many people gathered in makeshift tents in Gaza’s central city of Deir Al-Balah preparing to set out for home in Gaza City the next day. “We’ll return so my children can see their father.”
Nafouz Al-Rabai, another displaced woman in Deir Al-Balah from Al-Shati, along the coast in Gaza City, said the day she walks home will be a “day of joy for us.”
The return stirs bittersweet emotions. Al-Rabai acknowledged it would be painful to absorb the scale of damage to the home and the urban refugee camp she knew and loved. “God knows if I’ll find (my house) standing or not,” she said. “It’s a very bad life.”

GENEVA: The United Nations voiced serious concerns Friday over the Israeli military’s use of force during its raid this week in the West Bank, including methods “developed for war fighting.”

The Israeli military this week launched a raid in the Jenin area, a hotbed of Palestinian militancy, days into a ceasefire in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“We are deeply concerned by the use of unlawful lethal force in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank,” UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told a media briefing in Geneva.

“The deadly Israeli operations in recent days raise serious concerns about unnecessary or disproportionate use of force, including methods and means developed for war fighting, in violation of international human rights law, norms and standards applicable to law enforcement operations.

“This includes multiple airstrikes and apparently random shooting at unarmed residents attempting to flee or find safety.”

UN human rights chief Volker Turk has called for Israel to adopt and enforce rules of engagement that are fully in line with applicable human rights norms.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objective of the operation, dubbed “Iron Wall,” was to “eradicate terrorism” in the area.

Kheetan said the UN rights office had verified that at least 12 Palestinians had been killed and 40 injured by Israeli security forces since Tuesday, adding that most of them were reportedly unarmed.

He called for all killings in a law enforcement context to be thoroughly and independently investigated.

“Those responsible for unlawful killings must be held to account,” the spokesman added.

Kheetan said that following the Gaza ceasefire announcement, Israeli settlers in the West Bank had been “attacking Palestinian villages and stoning vehicles,” with houses and cars torched.

“We are also concerned by repeated comments from some Israeli officials about plans to expand settlements further still, in a fresh breach of international law. We recall again that the transfer by Israel of its own civilian population into territories it occupies also amounts to a war crime,” he said.

“We call for an immediate end to the violence in the West Bank. We also call on all parties, including third States with influence, to do everything in their power to ensure peace is achieved in the region.”