Hamas's Qatar-based chief Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel on Tuesday of sabotaging ceasefire talks after its raid on Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, which Israel alleges is being used for military purposes. The UN's human rights chief earlier warned that Israel's severe restrictions on aid into the Gaza Strip and its ongoing bombardment of the Palestinian territory could mean it is using starvation as a "method of war". Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
This blog is no longer being updated. For more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, please click here.
Summary:
- Hamas's chief Ismail Haniyeh has accused Israel of attempting to "sabotage" ceasefire talks following its raid on Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, which the Israeli army says is being used for military purposes.
- Twenty Palestinians were killed in the early hours of Tuesday in Israeli air strikes on Rafah and central parts of the Gaza Strip, Gaza health officials said.
- In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden said he was deeply concerned about a planned ground offensive in Rafah and warned it would be a "mistake".
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week to discuss efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory, a State Department spokesperson said.
- At least 31,819 Palestinians have been killed and 73,934 wounded since Israel started its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Yesterday's key developments:
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Israel killed Hamas's third-in-command Marwan Issa last week, the White House said Monday, after Israel previously said he had been targeted in a Gaza airstrike but did not confirm his death.
- Israeli forces launched another raid early Monday on the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been sheltering. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced concern over the raid, noting “hospitals should never be battlegrounds”.
- Israel on Monday blocked UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini from entering Gaza in what Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called “an unprecedented move”.
- The Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification, whose assessments are relied on by UN agencies, said 70% of people in parts of northern Gaza were suffering the most severe level of food shortage, more than triple the 20% threshold to be considered famine.
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.
The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
