Middle East updates: Patients exit Gaza for Egypt

Israel said it has "facilitated the passage of 68 sick and injured children together with companions from Gaza," via the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing to Egypt.

The Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, known by its acronym COGAT, said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that the evacuations were conducted in coordination with US and Egyptian officials, as well as members of the international community.

"This is part of the many efforts carried out since the beginning of the war," COGAT said.

News agencies had earlier reported the crossing of 21 critically ill children, describing it as the first medical evacuation via the Kerem Shalom crossing since the Rafah crossing was closed last month.

Twenty-one critically ill patients from the Gaza Strip were transferred to Egypt through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Thursday.

The patients were all children who were separated from their families to cross the border, the Associated Press news agency said.

An Egyptian Red Crescent official in the northern Sinai Peninsula told the German news agency DPA that they will be sent to Egyptian hospitals for treatment, while the French AFP news agency cited a medical source as saying they will be treated in the UAE.

It is the first medical evacuation from Gaza since the Rafah border crossing was closed on May 7 after Israel took control of the Palestinian side of the crossing.

Egypt has said it will not coordinate aid transports through the Rafah border crossing until Israeli forces withdraw.

In late May, Egypt resumed aid delivery through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing under a deal with the US.

Israel's army said that an explosion killed one of its soldiers in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bankon Thursday.

Sixteen others were wounded, it said.

One of the soldiers was seriously wounded and taken to hospital, while five were moderately wounded. The remaining 10 sustained light injuries, an Israeli military official later told the French AFP news agency.

The attack was claimed by the military wing of the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Islamic Jihad claimed that its fighters "managed to blow up" two Israeli vehicles after setting off six explosive devices.

Wafa, the official news agency of the Ramallah-based Palestinian National Authority that governs parts of the West Bank, said that a young Palestinian man was wounded in the face by shrapnel from Israeli bullets during the raid.

Israeli troops "deployed dozens of sniper soldiers on the roofs of commercial buildings and houses and in the neighborhoods of the city and its commercial center," Wafa said.

Israeli bulldozers destroyed infrastructure in the city of Jenin and the adjacent refugee camp, according to Wafa and a resident cited by the Reuters news agency.

Jenin is a longstanding stronghold for Palestinian armed groups. The Israeli military regularly raids the city and the neighboring refugee camp.

Late last week, Israeli soldiers strapped a man to a jeep after they detained him in Jenin.

Israeli forces stormed the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City on Thursday afternoon, news agencies reported.

Israel's army told residents of the area to evacuate southward.

"To all residents and displaced people in the Shujaiya area and the new neighborhoods ... For your safety, you must evacuate immediately south on Salah al Din Street to the humanitarian zone," army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Residents were also urged to leave the areas of al-Turkuman and Tuffah.

The Reuters news agency cited the civil emergency service in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip as saying that there were reports of people killed and wounded in the area but teams were unable to reach them due to the ongoing offensive.

Residents and Hamas media claimed that Israeli tanks entered the neighborhood before the evacuation order was posted, according to Reuters.

A merchant vessel traveling through the Red Sea issued a radio call off the coast of a rebel-held port city, reporting that it was being attacked, according to a private security firm. 

The British security firm Ambrey said a warship in the area was responding to the attack.

The Houthi rebel group, an Iran-backed Shiite Muslim militia in Yemen, did not immediately claim the attack.

In recent months, the rebels have targeted more than 60 vessels in a string of missile and drone attacks, killing a total of four sailors.

The Houthis launched the campaign after the Hamas-led October 7 terror attacks on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, saying they were attacking ships linked to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom in support of the Palestinians. 

Two people were killed by an Israeli airstrike in southern Syria overnight, Syrian state media said.

"At around 11:40 pm, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial assault from the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a number of positions in the southern region, killing two people and injuring a soldier," the SANA news agency reported.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike targeted a facility run by a foundation that is affiliated with Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah.

Israel has ramped up strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria in the aftermath of the October 7 terror attack by Hamas. Israeli authorities rarely comment on such strikes.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his country does not want war with Lebanon but is ready to inflict major damage if diplomatic efforts fail.

"We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario," Gallant told reporters in the US during a visit to Washington.

"Hezbollah understands very well that we can inflict massive damage in Lebanon if a war is launched."

Gallant added that Israel's military was capable of taking Lebanon "back to the Stone Age" in a potential war against the Iran-backed group.

Gallant was speaking while on a trip to Washington. The Biden administration has repeatedly warned against an escalation of the conflict to the wider region.

Tens of thousands of people in northern Israel and southern Lebanon have had to flee their homes as Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli military exchange fire.

On Tuesday, Gallant met with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who has been working to secure a diplomatic agreement between the two sides.

Germany's Foreign Office has urged citizens to leave Lebanon due to the tense situation at the border with Israel.

Further escalation could bring air traffic in Beirut to a halt, the Foreign Office said in its latest travel advisory.

"It would then no longer be possible to leave Lebanon by air," it said.

The Foreign Office said there is a real risk of further escalation from the regular exchange of fire that has taken place across the border since October 7.

"After the Palestinian Hamas launched a major attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah and other armed groups have also been firing mortar shells, anti-tank weapons and rockets at Israel from Lebanese territory since October 8, 2023," it said.

The German authorities warned that the conflict could escalate following increasing warnings from the Israeli government.

"This applies in particular to the southern parts of Lebanon up to and including the southern urban areas of Beirut and the Bekaa Plain, including the Baalbek-Hermel district," the ministry said.

zc/ab (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)