Gaza death toll nears 32,000 as diplomacy drags on
Israeli bombing killed another 90 Gazans Tuesday night, putting the territory’s overall death toll at 31,932, just as Washington sends its top diplomat on another Middle East trip
THE PALESTINIAN death toll in Israel’s Gaza war approached 32,000 amid a painfully slow diplomatic push to secure a cease-fire that dragged on yesterday. As part of the renewed truce efforts, U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East.
Global concern has mounted over the military conflict now in its sixth month, in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to its Oct. 7 incursion.
Battles have raged at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital complex, which is crowded with thousands of patients and displaced people.
Overnight bombing and battles killed another 90 people, said the Health Ministry in Gaza, which put the territory’s overall Palestinian death toll at 31,932.
When a thunderstorm hit Gaza on Tuesday, Oum Abdullah Alwan said her children “screamed in fear” because “we can’t tell the difference between the sound of rain and the sound of shelling.”
Amid the fighting, talks have resumed in Qatar this week to halt the war and siege, and free the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
United Nations agencies have warned that Gaza’s 2.4 million people are on the brink of famine, and U.N. rights chief Volker Türk charged Israel may be using “starvation as a method of war.”
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken, who was expected in regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia yesterday, has warned that Gaza’s “entire population” is suffering “severe levels of acute food insecurity.” Long Israel’s top ally, the United States has voiced increasing concern over the humanitarian crisis and Israel’s plans to launch a ground assault on Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah.
THE PALESTINIAN death toll in Israel’s Gaza war approached 32,000 amid a painfully slow diplomatic push to secure a cease-fire dragged on further yesterday.
As part of the renewed truce efforts, U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East.
Global concern has mounted over the military conflict now in its sixth month, in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to its Oct. 7 incursion.
Battles have raged at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital complex, which is crowded with thousands of patients and displaced people.
Overnight bombing and battles killed another 90 people, said the health ministry in Hamas-tun Gaza, which put the territory’s overall Palestinian death toll at 31,932.
When a thunderstorm hit Gaza on Tuesday, Oum Abdullah Alwan said her children “screamed in fear” because “we can’t tell the difference between the sound of rain and the sound of shelling.”
Amid the fighting, talks have resumed in Qatar this week to halt the war and siege and free the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
United Nations agencies have warned that Gaza’s 2.4 million people are on the brink of famine, and U.N. rights chief Volker Türk charged Israel may be using “starvation as a method of war.”
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken, who was expected in regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia yesterday, has warned that Gaza’s “entire population” is suffering “severe levels of acute food insecurity.”
HOSTAGE FAMILIES PROTEST
Long Israel’s top ally, the United States has voiced increasing concern over the humanitarian crisis and Israel’s plans to launch a ground assault on Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah.
The city is the last area still untouched by Israeli ground troops and is now home to some 1.5 million Palestinians, many of them displaced from other parts of Gaza and sheltering in tents along the Egyptian border with nowhere else to flee.
Blinken is due today to visit Egypt, the main entry point for aid deliveries to Gaza and a key mediator in truce efforts.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will visit Washington in the coming week for talks with Pentagon chief
Lloyd Austin, Israel said, as pressure builds to call off the planned offensive in Rafah.
The men are due to discuss “efforts to secure the release of all hostages held by Hamas, the need for more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian civilians and plans to ensure the safety of the more than 1 million people sheltering in Rafah,” a U.S. defense official said.
Netanyahu’s office also said a delegation would visit Washington at “the request of U.S. President Joe Biden” to discuss the planned assault.
Israel’s deadliest-ever war on Gaza was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion that caused 1,160 deaths, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The resistance members also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead.
Relatives and friends of the captives rallied for their release yesterday, blocking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv.
‘TRUCE TALKS ONGOING’
Mediators have met in Qatar, where Hamas’ political leadership is based, to revive a failed attempt to secure a cease-fire by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan last week.
Israel’s spy chief David Barnea kicked off the talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators Monday, but there was little indication of an imminent agreement.
A source with knowledge of the negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity because of their sensitivity, told AFP that “technical teams are still in Doha” and the “talks are ongoing.”
The proposal being discussed would temporarily halt the fighting as hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and the delivery of relief supplies is stepped up.
The war has meanwhile ground on unabated, and Israeli troops were pressing their assault on Al-Shifa, Gaza’s biggest hospital, which they allege Hamas has used for military purposes.
The Israeli army acknowledged yesterday that it killed at least 90 Palestinians during a two-day raid there.
It also arrested 160 others and transferred them to Israel for further interrogation, while 300 are still being interrogated at the site in the hospital, the military said in a statement.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel of seeking to “sabotage ongoing negotiations in Doha.”