Briefly

MIDDLE EAST

Israeli strikes kill 37 at UN school in Gaza

A hospital in central Gaza said on Thursday at least 37 people, including women and children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight at a United Nations-run school. Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said there were 20 to 30 Hamas fighters in the UN Palestinian refugee agency school, a claim that Hamas rejected. The strike came as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have resumed talks aimed at securing a truce and hostage release deal in the eight-month conflict. Meanwhile, in the latest clash between US students and authorities over the Gaza conflict, police arrested 13 people at Stanford University in California on Wednesday after pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves inside the office of the school president. Protest camps have sprung up on university campuses across the United States and in Europe, as students demand their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies that support its war efforts.

SLOVAKIA

PM says he was targeted for position on Ukraine

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Wednesday he believes he was targeted for having a Ukraine position contrary to the European mainstream, in his first address since a May 15 assassination attempt. In a video on Facebook, Fico said he could resume work as early as this month, and suggested his views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other issues that sharply differ from the European mainstream made him a victim. Fico ended his country's military aid for Ukraine after taking office last fall. "It's cruel to state this, but the right to have a different opinion has ceased to exist in the European Union," he said, blaming unspecified Western countries for the alleged situation.

Agencies via Xinhua