Israeli Military Says Tuesday’s Strike on Gaza Building Was Targeted

 People search the rubble for missing persons at the site of an Israeli strike a day earlier that hit the Al-Loh family home in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
People search the rubble for missing persons at the site of an Israeli strike a day earlier that hit the Al-Loh family home in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
TT

Israeli Military Says Tuesday’s Strike on Gaza Building Was Targeted

 People search the rubble for missing persons at the site of an Israeli strike a day earlier that hit the Al-Loh family home in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
People search the rubble for missing persons at the site of an Israeli strike a day earlier that hit the Al-Loh family home in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip on October 30, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

An Israeli military official says the target of Tuesday’s attack on a five-story building that Gaza health officials reported resulted in scores of deaths was a spotter with binoculars in the building, and that the intent was not to destroy the structure.

The military official agreed to provide details only on condition of anonymity, citing military protocol and the ongoing investigation into the incident.

The official said Wednesday the building was not known to be a shelter for civilians, and that it collapsed as a result of the strike on the spotter.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday that at least 70 people were killed in the first of two strikes on the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia, and that more than half of the victims were women and children. The Israeli military had earlier said it was investigating the strike. The Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty tolls do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

The official said there were discrepancies between the numbers of victims reported by authorities in Gaza and what Israeli intelligence indicates, and that the victims included known fighters. The official did not provide detailed evidence to support that assertion.

The Israeli military has repeatedly struck shelters for displaced people in recent months. It says it carries out precise strikes targeting Palestinian fighters and tries to avoid harming civilians, but the strikes often kill women and children.



Türkiye's Erdogan Says End Is Near for Kurdish Militants in Syria

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (AFP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Türkiye's Erdogan Says End Is Near for Kurdish Militants in Syria

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (AFP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the end of Kurdish militants in Syria was getting closer, and added there was no room for terror in Syria's future after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad last month.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan also threatened to mount a new cross-border operation into Syria against the Kurdish militia if it felt threatened. Türkiye, which has carried out several incursions into northern Syria, has made similar warnings before.

“God willing, we have the capacity to do this. Everyone should make their calculations according to this,” he said.