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Thousands protest across Middle East in support of Palestinians

Oct 13,2023 - Last updated at Oct 13,2023

Protesters burn Israeli flags during a demonstration at Tahrir Square in Baghdad on Friday (AFP photo)

BAGHDAD -- Thousands of protesters poured onto the streets of several Middle East capitals Friday in support of Palestinians amid Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

"No to the occupation! No to America!" chanted demonstrators gathered in central Baghdad after Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr called for a protest "in support of Gaza" and against Israel, an AFP journalist reported.

"This rally is aimed at condemning what is happening in occupied Palestine, the bloodletting and the violation of rights," said Abu Kayan, an organiser of the protest.

The besieged Gaza Strip has been under heavy Israeli bombardment since Saturday after Hamas’ surprise attack.

The Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,530 people in the Gaza Strip, which has already been under a land, sea and air blockade for more than 15 years.

Anti-Israel protests were also held in Iran on Friday.

In the capital Tehran, demonstrators waved Iranian, Palestinian, and Lebanese Hizbollahflags and held banners reading "Down with America" and "Down with Israel", an AFP journalist said.

Similar gatherings took place in other cities across Iran, where American and Israeli flags were burned.

Iran, a country with a predominantly Shiite Muslim but non-Arab population, financially and militarily supports Hamas. Israel is their mutual sworn enemy.


In the Gulf state of Bahrain, hundreds of worshippers chanted "Death to Israel!" and "Death to America!" ahead of Friday prayers at Diraz mosque.

Hundreds of people then joined a protest march, some of them waving Palestinian flags and others stamping on Israeli and US emblems that were laid on the ground.

Egypt receives humanitarian aid bound for Gaza

By - Oct 13,2023 - Last updated at Oct 13,2023

A Palestinian man sits with members of his family outside a building destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday (AFP photo)

CAIRO — The first shipment of humanitarian aid arrived in Egypt's Sinai on Thursday from Jordan, state-affiliated media reported, to be transported into Gaza, which Israel has been bombarding for days following a surprise Hamas attack.

Israel's army has hammered Hamas with thousands of strikes ahead of what is widely expected to be a ground invasion of the crowded territory, after Hamas fighters killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 150 hostages during the weekend attack.

More than 1,350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as Israel has levelled entire city blocks and destroyed thousands of buildings in the six days since Hamas fighters launched their unprecedented attack.

El Arish airport, 50 kilometres away from the Rafah border crossing into Gaza, "has been designated by Egyptian authorities to receive international humanitarian aid from different parties and international organisations", Egypt's foreign ministry said in a Thursday statement.

It was not immediately clear when the aid would arrive in Gaza, after three Israeli air strikes on the Rafah border crossing — the only entry point into Gaza not controlled by Israel — resulted in its closure.

Calls for aid to Gaza have multiplied, including from United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, who spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi on Wednesday.

Israel has imposed a "complete siege" on the Gaza Strip, cutting off water, food, electricity and other essential supplies after Hamas's surprise attack.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said the siege was "prohibited" under international humanitarian law.

Six days of relentless bombardment of Gaza have left the tiny territory in tatters, with residential buildings, mosques, factories and schools all hit.

The UN says over 338,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

Gaza’s only power plant shut down on Wednesday after running out of fuel, according to the Palestinian enclave’s electricity authority.

Between Monday and Tuesday, Israel launched three air strikes on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which has been closed since.

Saudi prince, Iran president hold call on Israel-Hamas war

By - Oct 13,2023 - Last updated at Oct 13,2023

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's prince and Iran's president spoke by phone about the war between Israel and Hamas, Saudi state media said early on Thursday, their first call since a surprise rapprochement in March.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman received a call on Wednesday from the Iranian leader, Ebrahim Raisi, during which they discussed "the current military situation in Gaza and its environs", the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

Prince Mohammed told Raisi that Riyadh is "communicating with all international and regional parties to stop the ongoing escalation", SPA said.

He also stressed "the kingdom's firm position towards supporting the Palestinian cause", it said.

Iranian state news agency IRNA also reported on the call, saying the two men discussed the "need to end war crimes against Palestine".

In Gaza, officials have reported more than 1,200 people killed in Israel's campaign of air and artillery strikes.

As war rages on, fears have mounted over the fate of at least 150 hostages — mostly Israelis but also including foreign and dual nationals — held in Gaza by Hamas. 

Saudi Arabia and Iran announced in March they had agreed to restore ties, ending a seven-year rupture in a deal brokered by China.

Prince Mohammed also spoke by phone on Wednesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during which the 38-year-old said he was “exerting unremitting efforts through regional and international communication to achieve coordination that pushes for a halt of the current escalation”.

He delivered a similar message in a separate call with French President Emmanuel Macron, saying Riyadh was “working to create conditions to bring stability and restore the path of peace to ensure that the Palestinian people would achieve their fair and legitimate rights”, according to a foreign ministry readout published early on Thursday on social media.

Prince Mohammed also told Macron the kingdom rejected “targeting civilians or disrupting the infrastructure and vital interests that affect their daily lives”.

Syria's two main airports out of service after Israel strikes — state media

By - Oct 13,2023 - Last updated at Oct 13,2023

Humanitarian aid from Iran for survivors of a February earthquake is unloaded at Aleppo airport, after it reopened following a previous Israeli air strike in March (AFP photo)

DAMASCUS — Israeli strikes knocked Syria's two main airports out of service on Thursday, Syrian state media said, in the first such attack since a weekend Hamas onslaught on Israel triggered fierce fighting.

Israeli strikes have repeatedly caused the grounding of flights at the airports in the capital Damascus and northern city Aleppo, both of which are controlled by the government of war-torn Syria.

The "simultaneous" strikes "damaged landing strips in the two airports, putting them out of service", state media said, citing an unidentified military source.

Flights were rerouted through Latakia airport on the Mediterranean coast, according to Syria's transport ministry.

Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, confirmed the strike on Damascus airport, saying it was intended to thwart "weapons deliveries from Iran".

"These missiles, these drones are used against Israel," he said in an interview with German broadcaster Die Welt.

The latest strikes came as Hamas and Israel traded heavy fire for a sixth day, after hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on Saturday and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

They also came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel and hours after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, in a telephone call with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad, called on Arab and Islamic countries to cooperate in confronting Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is due to tour the region in the coming days, including Iraq on Thursday and Lebanon later to promote Tehran’s initiatives.

The military source cited by Syrian state media described the strikes as a “desperate attempt” by Israel to “divert attention” away from the conflict with Hamas in Gaza. 

Syria’s foreign ministry condemned the attack as an attempt by Israel to “export its crisis”.

During more than a decade of war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its northern neighbour, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hizbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.

Iran, which backs Hamas, on Saturday celebrated Hamas’s action on Israel, though it insisted it was not involved in it.

Turkey destroying NE Syria oil, power facilities — Kurds

By - Oct 12,2023 - Last updated at Oct 12,2023

HASAKEH — Turkish bombardment has damaged more than half of Kurdish-held northeast Syria's power and oil infrastructure, dealing a blow to its energy-dependent economy, the Kurds' top commander said.

Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), also criticised Washington for failing to do more to prevent the strikes, during an interview with AFP in the northern city of Hasakeh.

On October 5, Turkey launched a bombing campaign in Syria's northeast after it said militants who were behind an attack in Ankara came from and were trained in Syria. 

The semi-autonomous Kurdish administration has denied the claim, and says at least 44 people, including security personnel and civilians, have been killed in the attacks.

"More than half of oil and electricity facilities were damaged" as Turkey struck dozens of sites including power plants and gas infrastructure, Abdi said.

His forces spearheaded the battle to dislodge Daesh fighters from their last scraps of Syrian territory in 2019.

The assault has left residents without power since Thursday, in a region already struggling to provide just 10 hours of electricity per day.

"The Unites States' position has been weak" in the face of the attacks, Abdi said.

"American forces limited their action to protecting their positions... but did nothing to stop" the onslaught, he said.

'Directly targeted' 

Ankara views the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) that dominate the SDF as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against Turkey for decades.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Wednesday to intensify strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq.

A branch of the PKK — listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies — claimed responsibility for the Ankara bombing, the first to hit the Turkish capital since 2016.

Abdi said Turkey "directly targeted infrastructure, services and resources" used by Kurdish authorities in order to cut off sources of income and "prevent the SDF from carrying on".

"They couldn't target the SDF directly, so funding sources were targeted," he said in Tuesday evening's interview.

Last Thursday, the United States shot down a Turkish drone deemed a threat to American forces in northeast Syria.

Hundreds of US personnel are stationed in the country’s north and northeast as part of an international coalition fighting Daesh extremists, alongside the SDF.

“Forces present in the region, be they Russia, American or the [international] coalition, must... keep these attacks from happening” and help rebuild damaged facilities, Abdi demanded.

‘Lukewarm’ 

Since 2016, Turkey has carried out successive ground operations to expel Kurdish forces from Syrian border areas, and it has maintained a military presence and proxies in parts of northern Syria.

Ankara has long condemned its NATO ally Washington’s support for the SDF.

In March 2020, Turkey and the Syrian government’s ally Russia agreed to establish a security corridor in the region, with joint Turkish-Russian patrols along designated Kurdish-held areas.

The SDF is the largest armed force in Syria after the country’s army, and controls roughly a quarter of Syrian territory and most of its oil resources, largely located in the Arab-majority Deir Ezzor province.

In recent years, Kurdish authorities have held several unsuccessful rounds of talks with President Bashar Assad’s government, which rejects their self-rule and accuses them of “separatism”.

The two sides never cut ties but Abdi described their latest meetings as “lukewarm”.

In September, days of clashes between Arab fighters, some of them formerly part of the SDF, and Kurdish-led forces in Deir Ezzor province left dozens dead.

Although security in the area has since improved, Deir Ezzor still suffers from a multitude of problems “that have yet to be resolved”, Abdi said, citing administrative and service issues. 

The SDF has denied any tensions with Arab tribes in the area, and has instead accused the Syrian government of supporting local fighters and sending reinforcements.

Israel forms emergency gov't for duration of war against Hamas

By - Oct 12,2023 - Last updated at Oct 12,2023

Wounded Palestinians wait for treatment at the overcrowded emergency ward of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City following an Israeli air strike on Wednesday (AFP photo by Mohammed Abed)

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel on Wednesday kept up its bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a political rival announced an emergency government for the duration of the conflict that has already killed thousands.

The veteran right-wing leader was joined by the centrist Benny Gantz, a former defence minister, in the government and war cabinet as both put aside bitter political divisions that have roiled the country and sparked mass protests.

Gaza officials reported more than 1,000 people killed in Israel's withering campaign of air and artillery strikes on the crowded Palestinian enclave, where black smoke billowed into the sky and entire city blocks lay in ruins.

Israel has massed forces, tanks and other heavy armour around Gaza in its retaliatory operation.

US President Joe Biden has pledged to send more munitions and military hardware to its close ally Israel. 

Amid the crisis that has been labelled "Israel's 9/11", Netanyahu struck the political deal with Gantz and pledged to freeze for now his government's flashpoint judicial overhaul plan that has sparked an unprecedented wave of mass protests since the start of the year.

Netanyahu’s extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies will remain in government, however.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has not joined the temporary alliance, although the joint statement said a seat would be “reserved” for him in the war Cabinet.

Fears for hostages 

As the war has raged, fears have been intense in Israel for the fate of at least 150 hostages — mostly Israelis but also including foreign and dual nationals — being held in Gaza by Hamas.

The militant group has claimed that four of the captives died in Israeli strikes and has threatened to kill other hostages if civilian targets are bombed without advance warning from Israel.

Concern has mounted over the worsening humanitarian crisis in war-torn Gaza, where Israel had levelled over 1,000 buildings and imposed a total siege, cutting off water, food and energy supplies for 2.3 million people.

The enclave’s sole power plant shut down Wednesday after running out of fuel, Gaza’s electricity provider said.

More than 260,000 Gaza residents have been forced from their homes, a UN aid agency said, while the European Union called for a “humanitarian corridor” to allow civilians to flee the enclave’s fifth war in 15 years.

Israel appeared to be readying for a possible ground invasion of Gaza, but faces the threat of a multifront war after also coming under rocket attack from militant groups in neighbouring Lebanon and Syria.

Israel again struck targets on Wednesday in southern Lebanon, an area controlled by Hezbollah, an ally of Israel’s arch enemy Iran.

On Wednesday evening, rocket sirens sounded across Israel’s north, and the army said there was a suspected aerial “infiltration” from Lebanon.

Biden, who has diverted an aircraft carrier battle group to the eastern Mediterranean, issued a stern warning to Israel’s foes: “To any country, any organisation, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation, I have one word: Don’t.”

‘Staggering’ death toll 

Israel has been badly shaken by the deadliest attack since its creation in 1948 and the intelligence failure that allowed more than 1,500 militants to storm through the Gaza security barrier in their coordinated land, air and sea attack.

Troops have encountered and killed several holdout Hamas fighters, said Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari .

The Israeli army has called up 300,000 reservists for what Netanyahu has said will be a “long and difficult” war.

‘In a ghost town’ 

Heavy bombardment again rained down on Gaza, where the sky was blackened and Hamas said at least 30 people were killed in overnight strikes.

Rubble, burnt out cars and broken glass covered roads in Gaza City, where bombs struck the Hamas-linked Islamic University. Also targeted were residential buildings, mosques, factories and shops, said Salama Marouf of the Gaza government’s media office.

One Gaza resident, Mazen Mohammad, 38, said his terrified family had spent the night huddled together as explosions shook the area, before emerging in the morning to assess the total devastation of their neighbourhood.

“We felt like we were in a ghost town, as if we were the only survivors,” Mohammad told AFP.

Medical supplies, including oxygen, were running low at Gaza’s overwhelmed Al Shifa hospital, said emergency room physician Mohammed Ghonim.

Unrest has flared in the occupied West Bank, where protests have been held in solidarity with Gaza and 27 Palestinians have been killed in clashes since Saturday. 

“My entire life, I have seen Israel kill us, confiscate our lands and arrest our children,” said Ramallah coffee vendor Farah Al Saadi, 52, who praised the Hamas assault.

Israeli cities have been eerily quiet and tense, with some residents noting a growing sense of fear and distrust between Jews and members of the Arab-Israeli minority.

Frantic diplomacy has continued as international and regional powers sought to prevent a wider conflagration in the Middle East.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of “shameful methods” including “bombing civilian sites, killing civilians, blocking humanitarian aid”.

Egypt foreign minister discusses Gaza aid with UN

By - Oct 12,2023 - Last updated at Oct 12,2023

A photo taken on Tuesday shows the closed gates of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Gaza's border crossing with Egypt, its only one that bypasses Israel, was hit by an Israeli air strike on Tuesday for the second time in 24 hours, witnesses and a rights group said. (AFP photo)

CAIRO — Egypt's top diplomat Sameh Shoukry hosted talks with the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Wednesday as spiralling violence in neighbouring Gaza displaced more than 263,000 people.

Shoukry's talks with UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini focused on "how to provide protection for civilians and ensure regular access of services and relief aid to Gaza," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, also attended the meeting.

Shoukry warned of the "dangerous humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip" and said Egypt "fully supports UN agencies" in ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The only entry point to Gaza not controlled by Israel is the Rafah crossing from Egypt, which Israeli aircraft bombed three times between Monday and Tuesday.

Since Hamas militants launched a brutal cross-border assault from Gaza on Saturday, Israel has pounded the territory with air strikes.

Itr has also has announced “a complete siege” of Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel and electricity supplies to the territory’s 2.3 million people.

Shoukry warned of “the consequences of policies of collective punishment, starvation and siege, in violation of international humanitarian law”.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk too has said that the siege is “prohibited” under international law and has called for the establishment of “a humanitarian corridor”.

The Egyptian Red Crescent said Tuesday it was working “round the clock” to deliver “urgent aid” to their counterparts in Gaza, who said they had received the “first shipment of medical aid” through Rafah on Monday.

First wind turbines reach Saudi green hydrogen plant — CEO

By - Oct 10,2023 - Last updated at Oct 10,2023

RIYADH — The first wind turbines have arrived at what Saudi officials bill as the world’s biggest green hydrogen plant, in the futuristic NEOM megacity, the project’s CEO told AFP on Tuesday. 

“This week, we have our first delivery of wind turbines. They actually arrived in the port of NEOM, and they’ll be delivered up to site towards the end of this week,” said David Edmondson, CEO of the NEOM Green Hydrogen Company. 

Around 30 turbines are expected to be delivered by the end of the year along with the project’s first solar panels, Edmondson said, laying the groundwork for eventual production of some 600 tonnes of green hydrogen per day. 

The $8.4 billion NEOM green hydrogen plant is expected to reach full production by the end of 2026 and all its product will be for export. 

The green hydrogen plant is located in the Oxagon region of NEOM, which officials describe as “an advanced and clean industrial ecosystem”. 

NEOM has primarily garnered headlines for The Line, planned parallel mirror-encased skyscrapers extending over 170 kilometres of mountain and desert terrain.

The green hydrogen produced at the plant will be converted into green ammonia for ease of transport and then converted back into green hydrogen at its destination “for use [as a fuel] in sectors including transport and heavy industry”, according to a briefing note provided by the company.

Hydrogen fuel is produced through water electrolysis, and is only considered “green” if the electricity used to generate electrolysis is obtained from renewables such as wind and solar power.

A ‘nascent industry’ 

Technical challenges, high costs and a lack of infrastructure have all slowed the advance of clean hydrogen, though Saudi officials bill it as a promising solution in the fight against climate change and the transition away from fossil fuels. 

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude oil exporter, has been keen to tout its sustainability bona fides ahead of the COP28 climate talks that kick off next month in Dubai.

Edmondson was speaking to AFP on the sidelines of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week, a flashy UN-organised conference hosted in the Saudi capital Riyadh that some participants have jokingly referred to as “COP27.5”. 

Other announcements at the conference include a domestic scheme to allow companies to purchase credits offsetting greenhouse gas emissions and a “roadmap” to plant 10 billion trees across the kingdom. 

Yet Saudi officials have taken heat from environmentalists for their calls for ramped-up fossil fuel investments, which they say are necessary to ensure energy security and which are also backed by Sultan Al Jaber, COP28 president and head of the Emirati state-owned oil firm ADNOC. 

“If all this green hydrogen is used in the heavy-duty truck market, this will save the world up to 5 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide [CO2] per year, compared to diesel trucks or buses,” the company briefing note said. 

The export-only approach reflects scant local demand compared to markets like Europe, Edmondson said. 

“The local market is not mature enough,” Edmondson said. 

“Saudi doesn’t have, and the MENA region doesn’t yet have that established green industry. It will come.” 

He acknowledged that green hydrogen is a “nascent industry” and that there is “uncertainty” about demand given its cost, but expressed confidence it would be a necessary tool for companies to meet their net-zero targets. 

Saudi Arabia announced in 2021 that it was targeting net zero emissions by 2060. 

Israel claims Gaza border areas retaken as war death toll mounts

By - Oct 10,2023 - Last updated at Oct 10,2023

This aerial photo shows heavily damaged buildings following Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on Tuesday (AFP photo)

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel said it recaptured Gaza border areas from Hamas resistance group as the war's death toll passed 3,000 on Tuesday, the fourth day of fierce fighting since the Islamists launched a surprise attack.

Fears of a regional conflagration have surged amid expectations of a looming Israeli ground incursion into Gaza, the crowded enclave from where Hamas launched its land, air and sea attack on the Jewish Sabbath.

Gaza officials have reported 765 people killed so far, while death toll Israel has surged above 900.

The Israeli army has called up 300,000 reservists for its "Swords of Iron" campaign and massed tanks and other heavy armour both near Gaza and on the northern border with Lebanon.

The military said its forces had largely reclaimed the embattled south and the border around Gaza and dislodged holdout Hamas fighters from more than a dozen towns and kibbutzim.

Key ally the United States, which reported 11 of its own citizens killed, and more missing in the spiralling conflict, stressed its full support for Israel, as did Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

Their leaders said they “recognise the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people” but said Hamas “offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed”, in a joint statement.

The five Western powers and many other nations have reported citizens killed, abducted or missing, also including Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Nepal, Panama, Paraguay, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Ukraine.

Hamas has held around 150 hostages since its ground incursion, among them children, elderly and young people who were captured at a music festival where some 270 died.

On Monday, Hamas warned it would start killing hostages every time Israel launches a strike on a civilian target in Gaza without warning.

Fear and chaos reigned among the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the crowded and impoverished coastal territory that has been hammered by thousands of Israeli bombs.

Fireballs repeatedly lit up Gaza City before dawn Tuesday as explosions shook the ground and sirens wailed.

A distraught man was seen carrying the shrouded body of a child in Khan Yunis, in the south of the enclave, where other remains were piled onto the back of pickup trucks.

There were similar scenes in the kibbutz of Kfar Aza, where Israeli soldiers carried away the dead in black body bags.

The tension was felt on the deserted streets of Jerusalem, after it was targeted by Hamas rocket fire.

“Israeli people they are scared of the Arabs and the Arabs are scared of the Jews... everybody is scared of each other,” said Ahmed Karkash, a shop-owner in the Old City.

In Gaza City, aerial footage shot by AFP showed the scale of the destruction, with entire building blocks reduced to rubble.

One resident, Muhammad Najib, 70, said he fled his home Monday after receiving an Israeli warning to evacuate and returned on Tuesday to a “terrifying scene” in his Al Rimal neighbourhood.

“The entire area was devastated, a large number of houses were completely destroyed,” he said. “What is the fault of the children and the women?”

Four Palestinian journalists were killed in an Israeli air strikes on Gaza City, media unions and officials said.

Israel imposed a total siege on long-blockaded Gaza on Monday, cutting off the water supply, food, electricity and other essential supplies.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement and warned Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday that imposing “sieges that endanger the lives of civilians by depriving them of goods essential for their survival is prohibited under international humanitarian law”.

Gaza-Egypt crossing hit by Israel for third time in 24 hours — AFP

By - Oct 10,2023 - Last updated at Oct 10,2023

Smoke billows from the Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt during an Israeli air strike on Tuesday (AFP photo)

RAFAH, occupied Palestine — Gaza's sole border crossing with Egypt, the only entry point not controlled by Israel, was hit by an Israeli air strike Tuesday for the third time in 24 hours, an AFP photographer and an NGO said.

The third strike against the Rafah crossing consisted of "four missiles" which targeted the Palestinian side of the crossing, local Egyptian group Sinai for Human Rights reported.

Witnesses had said the second strike hit the no-man's land between the Egyptian and Palestinian gates, damaging the hall on the Palestinian side.

Contacted by AFP, the Israel military said it could "neither confirm or deny" any strike on the crossing "at this point".

Sinai for Human Rights said Tuesday's strikes had prompted the closure of the crossing, but there was no immediate confirmation from either side.

Witnesses said Egyptian employees at the border post had been evacuated while “dozens of Palestinian families” who had tried to enter Gaza were turned back towards the Egyptian town of El Arish.It was the second day the crossing had been hit since Israel launched a ferocious bombardment of Gaza in response to a shock attack by the territory’s Hamas rulers on Saturday that left more than 900 people dead in Israel.The first strike on Monday had briefly halted passage through the crossing, a security source and witnesses said.Palestinian officials at Rafah were told by their Egyptian counterparts “to evacuate the crossing immediately due to threats of strikes”, according to Iyad al-Buzum, spokesman for Gaza’s interior ministry, led by Hamas.

There has been no comment from the Egyptian authorities.

Israel has announced “a complete siege” of Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel and electricity supplies to the territory’s 2.3 million people.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that the siege was “prohibited” under international law and called for the establishment of “a humanitarian corridor”.

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