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Israel says strike on Gaza school targets “dozens of terrorists,” but children reportedly among those killed
More than a dozen Palestinians, including children, were killed Thursday in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, that was sheltering displaced people, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it had struck “a compound that previously served as the ‘Abu Hassan’ School,” where it said “dozens of terrorists from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations were present.”
The health ministry said at least 15 people were killed, but it did not say how many could have been militants.
The IDF published a list of a dozen names of purported terrorists it said were among those using the compound as a command and control center. It said the men “involved in rocket attacks against Israeli territory, as well as in planning and committing terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel in recent days” were targeted in an intelligence-based “precise strike.”
The IDF did not say how many of the alleged terrorists were believed to have been killed in the attack, but it said their purported presence at the school, which like most in Gaza has been used as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the year-long war, was “a further example of the Hamas terrorist organization’s systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law.”
The military released photos and videos of weapons, apparently taken by troops on the ground before the Thursday strike, that it said were found inside the school building — evidence, the IDF said, of a “full combat compound.”
Israel has recently warned Palestinians to leave northern Gaza, where its military operations have increased over the last several weeks.
The strike came four days after the Biden administration sent a tersely worded letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, warning that humanitarian conditions in the decimated Gaza Strip must improve within a month or Israel would risk having its steady supply of American weapons and war funding cut off.
The U.S. also made clear in its letter to Israeli officials that the Biden administration was opposed to the way Israel has conducted its parallel war against Hamas’ Hezbollah allies in Lebanon in recent weeks. That assault, which Israel says is intended to halt the year-long Hezbollah barrage of rocket and drone attacks in support of Hamas, has killed more than 2,300 people in Lebanon and displaced most of the country’s population, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
While Israel has taken steps to reverse the dramatic drop in humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza since receiving the U.S. letter, the IDF has continued pounding both Gaza and Lebanon with massive airstrikes this week, insisting it is acting in legitimate self defense.
In Gaza, the health ministry says more than 42,400 people have been killed since Israel launched its war on Hamas in response to the U.S. and Israeli-designated terrorist group’s brutal Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
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Netanyahu confirms Yahya Sinwar killing, says war is not over
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Colsen tabletop fire pits sold nationwide recalled after 19 people burned, some quite seriously
Nearly 90,000 Colsen-branded tabletop fire pits sold by major retailers nationwide are being recalled after dozens of alarming incidents left 19 people with burn injuries, some requiring surgery and others permanently disfigured.
The products are a burn and fire hazard in that alcohol flames can be invisible and lead to flame jetting when the pit reservoirs are filled, causing fire to flash back to the alcohol containers, unleashing burning alcohol onto people nearby, according to a notice posted on Thursday by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
“Use of the recalled fire pits can lead to injury quickly and unexpectedly, causing burns in less than one second that can be serious and deadly,” CPSC stated.
The federal agency said it has received 31 reports of flame jetting and flames escaping from the product’s concrete container, burning 19 people. Two of those cases involved third-degree burns to more than 40% of the victims’ bodies, and at least six incidents involved surgery, prolonged medical treatment, admission to burn treatment facilities, short-term disability, loss of function, physical therapy or permanent disfigurement, it stated.
The recall involves about 89,500 Colsen-branded indoor/outdoor tabletop fire pits manufactured by Colsen Fire Pitts of Miami, Florida, as well as Colsen-branded fire pits previously made by another company.
Sold online by Colsen Fire Pits and Amazon.com, the recalled fire pits were also offered by FlipShop, Grommet, Meta, Sharper Image, TikTok, Walmart and Wayfair from January 2020 to July 2024 for between $40 and $90.
People who own the recalled fire pits should stop using them and throw them away, as the “firm stopped selling Colsen-branded fire pits less than one year after it acquired the product business and does not have the financial resources to offer a remedy to consumers,” the federal agency stated.
The fire pits should not be resold or donated, the agency stressed.
The recalled products consist of a concrete, open reservoir to hold burning liquid alcohol, and came in seven models varying in size from 5 to 18 inches wide. Gray or black in color, the fire pits are round, rectangular, hexagonal, square or skull-shaped.
Consumers can contact Colsen by email at: info@colsenfirepits.com or online at colsenfirepits.com.
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Yulia Navalnaya | Sunday on 60 Minutes
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