THE HAGUE, Netherlands – A teacher was stabbed and seriously injured at a musical performance by elementary school pupils on Wednesday night, Dutch police said in a statement Thursday. Three suspects were later arrested.

The 53-year-old teacher was stabbed as he tried to intervene in an argument between three men at a cultural center in Alblasserdam, police said, adding that many people witnessed the stabbing and were offered counselling in the immediate aftermath.

Children at elementary schools in the Netherlands traditionally put on shows for their parents in the last week before the summer holidays.

A 44-year-old man was arrested close to the cultural center shortly after the stabbing. Two other men later went to a hospital in nearby Rotterdam. One of them, who had undisclosed injuries, was arrested there. The other man fled but was quickly arrested, police said. The reason for the argument that preceded the stabbing was not immediately clear.

The alleged role of the three men in the stabbing was being investigated. Their identities were not disclosed, in line with Dutch privacy guidelines. Police also impounded two vehicles as part of their investigation.

The incident happened at a musical show put on by final-year students at an elementary school in Alblasserdam, a small town famous for the World Heritage-listed Kinderdijk windmills on the outskirts of the town.

AP

GAZA CITY, July 17 – Two women were killed and several people were injured following a strike which hit the Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said on Thursday.

The strike damaged the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian enclave.

The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Israeli Defense Forces said it was looking into the matter.

Italy’s ANSA news agency said six people were seriously injured, while parish priest Father Gabriele Romanelli, who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, suffered light leg injuries.

“Israeli raids on Gaza have also hit the Holy Family Church,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement.

“The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such an attitude,” she added.

REUTERS

GAZA, July 17, 2025 – Dozens of citizens were killed and injured early Thursday morning in Israeli airstrikes on several areas in the Gaza Strip.

WAFA correspondent reported that a citizen, his wife, and their five children were killed when Israeli warplanes targeted a house in Jabalia al-Balad, north of the Gaza Strip.

In the al-Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, four citizens were killed and others were injured when the Israeli occupation bombed an apartment belonging to the Abu Eida family near the Imam al-Shafi’i School.

Another citizen was killed and others were injured when the Israeli occupation bombed an apartment belonging to the Ajur family, west of Gaza City.

In the al-Nuseirat refugee camp, four citizens were killed and others were injured in artillery shelling that targeted a group of citizens near the Abu Odeh olive press on Salah al-Din Street, east of the camp.

Four other citizens were killed and others were injured when the Israeli occupation bombed a tent housing displaced persons inside the Abu Helou School in the al-Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza Strip. Another citizen was killed and others were injured when the Israeli occupation bombed a gathering of citizens near the Bahloul gas station in the al-Nasr neighborhood, west of Gaza City.

In the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, a number of civilians were injured in Israeli shelling of the al-Barakah area south of the city.

The Israeli army also blew up residential buildings northwest of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

WAFA

At least 61 people have been confirmed dead after a massive fire engulfed a newly opened shopping mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry on Thursday.

In detail, most of the fatalities died in bathrooms from suffocation. Rescue teams found 14 charred bodies yet to be identified.

“The tragic fire claimed the lives of 61 innocent citizens, most of whom suffocated in bathrooms, and among them 14 charred bodies yet to be identified,” the Ministry said in a statement. Authorities had previously put the toll at 50 dead.

The fire broke out late Wednesday night at the Hyper Mall, a major commercial center that had been operating for just five days. The cause of the fire remains unknown, though early reports suggest the blaze may have started on the mall’s first floor.

Emergency crews worked through the night as ambulances continued to transport the injured well into Thursday morning. By 4:00 am, local hospitals in Kut, located roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad, were overwhelmed by the influx of casualties.

An AFP correspondent at the scene described chaotic conditions in medical wards and reported seeing charred bodies among the fatalities.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called for an immediate investigation into the causes and circumstances of the Kut shopping mall fire tragedy and directed the dispatch of a fully-equipped medical team to support efforts to rescue and treat the injured.

Mourning declared, legal action to follow

In the aftermath of the fire, Wasit province governor Mohammed al-Miyahi declared a three-day mourning period across Wasit province, urging residents to stand in solidarity with the victims’ families.

He also announced that legal proceedings would be initiated against those responsible for the building’s construction and management. “A lawsuit will be filed against the building and mall owner,” he said, as quoted by Iraq’s state-run INA news agency.

He added that investigators would determine whether negligence or safety violations contributed to the deadly blaze.

As Iraq reels from yet another preventable urban disaster, questions are mounting over fire safety enforcement and oversight in the country’s rapidly expanding commercial infrastructure.

AL MAYADEEN

ISTANBUL – Nearly 50 people were killed and injured in a shopping center fire in eastern Iraq on Thursday, according to local media.

The official news agency INA said that a fire broke out in a shopping center in the Kut city of the Wasit governorate, south of the capital Baghdad, killing and injuring nearly 50 people.

The local authorities have initiated the legal proceedings against the owner of the shopping center, the governor said in a statement cited by INA.

No further details regarding the victims were reported.

ANADOLU

ACCRA, July 16 – Four people were killed, and 20 others are still trapped in a mining pit collapse Wednesday in the Eastern Region of Ghana, local media reported.

Sources said four men have reportedly died underground when the mining pit collapsed at Akyem Wenchi, a community in the Denkyembour district, while 20 others who were said to be alive are trapped underground.

The cause of the collapse remains unclear. Rescue efforts are underway with the assistance of local residents.

XINHUA

July 17 – Russian air defence units downed three Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow early on Thursday, the capital’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.

Sobyanin made no mention of casualties or damage. He said specialists were examining drone fragments at the sites where they hit the ground.

Air defences were in action in other parts of Russia.

A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and injured six in Russia’s southern city of Belgorod, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Gladkov said all six injured were being treated in hospital for shrapnel wounds. Six homes suffered damage.

Gladkov later reported another drone had injured a resident of a village northeast of Belgorod.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said Russian air defence units had destroyed 48 Ukrainian drones over a 3-1/2-hour period ending at 11.30 p.m. (2030 GMT).

Twenty-nine of the drones were destroyed over Belgorod region on the Ukrainian border, with a further 16 over Bryansk region, another border region to the west.

The governor of Voronezh region, also on the border, said several Ukrainian drones had been downed and the governor of Smolensk region in western Russia said air defences had downed one drone. One person was injured.

REUTERS