► Deadly Israeli strike in the West Bank
The Palestinian Health Ministry announced Thursday (December 19) that four people were killed and three others injured in an Israeli strike on a vehicle near the town of Tulkarem, in the occupied West Bank.
“Four martyrs and three seriously injured due to occupation strike on vehicle in Tulkarem (refugee) camp”in the northern West Bank, the ministry said in a statement. The Israeli military did not immediately confirm this information.
► “Acts of genocide”: Israel rejects HRW’s “blatant lies”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry estimated that a report from the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) accusing it of committing “acts of genocide” in the Gaza Strip by restricting access to water for civilians was “riddled with blatant lies”.
“This report is riddled with blatant lies, even from HRW for whom the bar is already low”declared the ministry in a press release denouncing an “anti-Israeli propaganda”.
► The HRW association accuses Israel of “acts of genocide”
The international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) estimates in a report that Israel is committing “acts of genocide” by restricting the“access to water” for Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas more than a year ago.
“The Israeli authorities deliberately created living conditions aimed at causing the destruction of part of the population of Gaza, by intentionally depriving Palestinian civilians in the enclave of adequate access to water”writes HRW in a press release accompanying its investigation. “In doing so, the Israeli authorities are responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination and acts of genocide”adds the NGO.
► Israeli shots in Yemen provoke reactions
Iran has described “flagrant violation of international law” Israeli attacks on ports and energy infrastructure of the Houthis in Yemen in retaliation for a missile attack, announced the spokesperson for Iranian diplomacy.
For its part, the Islamist movement Hamas declared that Israeli strikes on Yemeni infrastructure constituted a “dangerous development” of “aggression against the Palestinian people, Syria and the Arab world”.
► Israeli strikes in Yemen
The Israeli army announced that it had struck “military targets” Houthi rebels in Yemen after intercepting a missile fired from that country.
“Israeli Air Force fighters (…) struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the west coast and hinterland of Yemen”the army said in a statement.
The Houthi media Al-Massirah had earlier reported raids against two power plants, an oil infrastructure and the port of Hodeida.
