Israeli troops dressed as civilians and medics kill three during raid on West Bank hospital
Undercover Israeli troops dressed as civilian women and medics have stormed a hospital in the West Bank – killing three people Israel claimed were militants.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said its troops shot dead three men after entering the Ibn Sina hospital, in the northern city of Jenin, early on Tuesday.
Security camera video footage appeared to show around a dozen undercover, armed personnel wearing Muslim headscarves, hospital scrubs and white doctor’s coats.
One was seen carrying a rifle in one arm and a folded wheelchair in the other.
Security camera footage of the raid on the hospital. Pic: Reuters
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the Israeli forces opened fire inside wards and said there had been no exchange of fire.
It called on the international community to step in to stop further such attacks in hospitals.
Follow latest: Hamas “open” to discussions on a potential hostage deal
Tuesday’s raid came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out both a military withdrawal from Gaza and the release of thousands of jailed Palestinians – two of the main demands Hamas has made for a ceasefire.
Palestinians fleeing Khan Younis move towards Rafah. Pic: Reuters
Conflicting reports of second raid
There were also conflicting reports on Tuesday about another possible raid at al Amal Hospital in Gaza’s southern Khan Younis.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said earlier that Israeli forces had stormed the grounds of the medical facility and told people to evacuate at gunpoint.
In a statement on X, the PRCS said: “displaced individuals and PRCS teams are being demanded to evacuate the building under the threat of arms”.
It later added that Israeli tanks were stationed in its “front yard” and were “firing live ammunition and smoke grenades”.
However, an Israeli military spokesperson said: “There’s no storming of the hospital, entry into it or any ordering of people to leave at gunpoint.”
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‘No deal but progress made’ on hostage talks
‘We will not withdraw’
Speaking in the West Bank, Mr Netanyahu repeated his vow to keep fighting until “absolute victory” over Hamas and denied reports of a possible ceasefire.
“We will not withdraw the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists,” he said.
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Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader said a proposal for a new ceasefire in Gaza would involve three stages, including the release of hostages held by the Islamist group and Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Women, children, the elderly and the wounded would be released in the first stage, the Hamas leader said.
Joe Biden speaks to the media. Pic: Reuters
‘We don’t need a wider war’
It came as US President Joe Biden said he had decided how to respond to the killing of three US troops at a base in Jordan – but did not go into details.
The White House has said it believes an Iran-backed group was responsible. Iran has denied involvement.
Speaking as he left for a trip to Florida on Tuesday, Mr Biden replied “yes” when asked if he had decided how to respond, but did not elaborate.
However, he added: “I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That’s not what I’m looking for.”
New pictures show the moment of impact as an Israeli missile hit a Beirut apartment block and exploded.
The block was one of five buildings destroyed by airstrikes on Friday alone.
Israel launched airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut in a fourth consecutive day of intense attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press photographer captured a sequence of images showing an Israeli bomb approaching and hitting a multi-storey apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area.
Richard Weir, a senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed the close-up photos to determine what type of weapon was used.
“The bomb and components visible in the photographs, including the strake, wire harness cover, and tail fin section, are consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound class general purpose bomb equipped with Boeing’s joint directed attack munition tail kit,” he told AP.
Pics: AP
Smoke covers a building that collapses following the strike. Pic: AP
Deadly strikes as bombardment stepped up
Israel stepped up its bombardment this week – an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. It issued a warning on social media identifying buildings ahead of the strikes.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the same family in a home in Ain Qana in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s state media said.
The report said a mother, father and their three children were killed but didn’t provide their ages.
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Three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tyre province on Friday, also in south Lebanon, the report said.
Video footage also showed a building being struck and turning into a cloud of rubble and debris that billowed into Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park.
Residents check the site of the airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut. Pic: AP
More than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – most of them since mid-September.
About 27% of those killed were women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon from September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel.
Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The prime minister appeared to urge Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.
On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, said that prospects for a ceasefire with Lebanon were the most promising since the conflict began.
The Washington Post reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to his ally, US President-elect Donald Trump.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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