One-year-old boy who had just uttered first words among dozens killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

A one-year-old boy killed by an Israeli strike near a medical centre in Gaza had uttered his first words to his mother just hours earlier.

At least 15 Palestinians, including nine children, were killed while queuing for nutritional supplements outside a clinic in Deir Al Balah, the UN children's agency said. Among the victims was Mohammed, one, who had earlier spoken his first words to his mother, Donia. She critically injured in the strike and now lies in a hospital bed “clutching Mohammed’s tiny shoe”, Unicef said.

“The killing of families trying to access life-saving aid is unconscionable,” Unicef executive director Catherine Russell said in a statement after the attack on Thursday. “No parent should have to face such tragedy.”

The Israeli strike occurred as patients gathered to receive treatment for malnutrition, infections and chronic illnesses from a medical centre operated by a Unicef partner organisation, Project Hope.

The clinic is a “place of refuge in Gaza where people bring their small children, women access pregnancy and post-partum care, people receive treatment for malnutrition, and more, Project Hope president Rabih Torbay said in a statement.

“Yet, this morning, innocent families were mercilessly attacked as they stood in line waiting for the doors to open. Horrified and heart-broken cannot properly communicate how we feel any more."

The Israeli military said the incident was under review, claiming the target of the attack was a Hamas militant who took part in the attacks on October 7, 2023.

At least 66 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza on Thursday, the enclave's civil defence agency said.

The killing of families trying to access life-saving aid is unconscionable

Unicef executive director Catherine Russell

Three were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid in north-western Gaza city, adding to the high death toll from attacks near aid sites since the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operating in late may.

At least 798 people have been killed while trying to receive food aid in the enclave since May 27, with 615 killed near GHF sites, the UN Human Rights Office said on Friday.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned the aid delivery system as a “death sentence”, saying people were being killed while "simply trying to feed themselves and their families”.

Journalist Ahmad Abu Aisha was killed in a strike west of Nuseirat in central Gaza on Thursday, medical sources said. At least five people were killed in a strike on tents sheltering displaced families in Al Qarara village, the Wafa news agency reported.

On Friday morning, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least six people in the north of the enclave, including five at a school being used as a shelter.

The latest strikes come amid negotiations for a truce between Israel and Hamas in Qatar. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was hopeful a ceasefire would be agreed to in the “near future”.

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Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
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Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."

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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face

The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.

The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.

Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.

"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.

Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.

The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.

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