“We are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes, including possible crimes against humanity,” said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
What you need to know
The northern Gaza Strip is experiencing its “darkest hour,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday, October 25. “The situation is getting worse by the day in unimaginable ways. The policies and practices of the Israeli government in northern Gaza threaten to empty the area of all Palestinians. We are facing what could amount to criminal atrocities, including possible crimes against humanity,” Volker Türk said in a statement. He reported “more than 150,000 dead, wounded or missing in Gaza” since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel more than a year ago. Follow our live coverage.
Three Israeli soldiers were killed in northern Gaza. The Israeli army announced the death of three soldiers killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip. The soldiers were in their twenties and belonged to the same battalion of an armored brigade. A total of 361 soldiers have been killed since the launch of the ground military operation against the Palestinian Islamist movement a little over a year ago.
Israel continues its offensive in Lebanon. New bombings targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut on the night of Thursday to Friday. The most violent raid took place in Choueifat al-Amrousieh, destroying two buildings and starting a major fire, according to the Lebanese news agency ANI. According to the same source, another strike killed three journalists in Hasbaya, in the south of the country. Earlier on Thursday, twelve people, including three children, were killed by Israeli bombings in the east, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.
Hope for a truce for Gaza. Israel has announced that it is sending a delegation to Qatar to negotiate an agreement on Gaza involving the release of the hostages. For its part, Hamas says it is open to talks on a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory devastated by more than a year of war. The last indirect negotiations under the aegis of the mediators took place in August and failed, like many previous attempts.
