Jerusalem: The Israeli military said Thursday it has completed a two-day operation in the occupied West Bank that the Palestinian Health Ministry says killed 12 Palestinians and wounded 25.
Rippling tensions from the Israel-Hamas war were also felt in the Red Sea, where a missile splashed down in the water near the crucial Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Thursday, but caused no damage, and in Lebanon, where state-run National News Agency says an Israeli drone strike killed one person and wounded three school students who were passing nearby in a bus.
More than 400 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging fire the day after the latest war in Gaza began.
Norway, Ireland and Spain said Wednesday they were recognizing a Palestinian state, a move welcomed by Palestinians as an affirmation of their decades long quest while Israel recalled its ambassadors to the three countries.
It was the second blow to Israel’s international reputation this week after the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said he would seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister.
The International Court of Justice is also considering allegations of genocide that Israel has strenuously denied.
At least 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas’ October 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
