Death Toll in Israeli Strikes in Central Gaza Rises to 25

01 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians check the damage following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy  Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
01 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians check the damage following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Death Toll in Israeli Strikes in Central Gaza Rises to 25

01 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians check the damage following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy  Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
01 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians check the damage following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

The death toll from Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip rose to 25, including five children, as more bodies have been recovered.

Sixteen people had initially been reported killed in two strikes on Thursday on the Gaza Strip's central Nuseirat refugee camp, but officials from the Al-Aqsa hospital said bodies continued to be brought in.

Overall, the hospital said they had received 21 dead bodies from the strikes, including some transferred from the Awda hospital, where they had been brought the day before.

One of the strikes killed an 18-month-old and his 10-year-old sister — the children’s mother was missing as of Friday and the father was killed by an Israeli airstrike four months ago, the family told AP journalists at Aqsa hospital.

Strikes on a motorcycle in Zuwaida and on a house in Deir al-Balah on Friday killed four more, the hospital officials said, bringing the overall toll to 25.

The Israeli military did not comment on the specific strikes but said it had killed armed militants in central and southern Gaza Thursday.

Israel’s blistering offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, say health officials inside Gaza. They say more than half of the dead are women and children.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that a total of 55 people had been killed in the past 24 hours and that another 196 had been wounded.



Palestinian President Names Interim Successor If He Has to Leave Post

FILE PHOTO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
TT

Palestinian President Names Interim Successor If He Has to Leave Post

FILE PHOTO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has named a temporary successor who would take over from him should he die or leave his post, addressing concerns of a possible power vacuum following his departure.
In a statement released late on Wednesday, Abbas said the chairman of the Palestinian National Council should serve as interim president for no more than 90 days, during which presidential elections should be held.
The current chairman of the Palestinians' top decision-making body is Rawhi Fattouh, 75, who also served briefly as a stop-gap leader following the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004.
Abbas, 89, has been Palestinian president since 2005 and has had regular health problems in recent years, prompting repeated speculation on who might replace him when he finally stands aside.
He does not have a deputy and a source told Reuters earlier this month that Saudi Arabia had pressed him to appoint one.
Wednesday's announcement clears up uncertainty over what should happen when he dies, but Fattouh was not named as his deputy, meaning there was still no visibility on who might replace Abbas in the long term.
Israel's Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a member of the inner security cabinet, told a group of foreign reporters this week that the Israeli army would take over the West Bank if someone from the militant group Hamas tried to become president.
Abbas was elected to a four-year term in 2005, but no presidential ballot has been held since.