US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Hamas on Tuesday to accept a plan for an "immediate ceasefire" with Israel as mediators met for a third day in Cairo in efforts to end almost five months of fighting. As famine threatens Gazans – and the World Health Organization warned that child malnutrition in northern Gaza had become “particularly extreme” – US and Jordanian planes again airdropped food aid into the besieged territory of 2.4 million people in a joint operation with Egypt and France. Read our liveblog to see how all the day's events unfolded.
Summary:
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Hamas on Tuesday to accept a plan for an "immediate ceasefire" with Israel as mediators met for a third day in Cairo in efforts to end almost five months of fighting.
- The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that child malnutrition levels in northern Gaza were "particularly extreme" and about three times higher than in the south of the Palestinian enclave where more aid has been available.
- Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday the continuing tension with Hezbollah militants at the border with Lebanon was moving the situation nearer to a military escalation.
- An Israeli air strike killed at least 17 people in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, adding that at least 97 people had been killed in all of Gaza over the past day.
- At least 30,631 people have been killed and 72,043 wounded in Israeli strikes, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, since the start of the war. 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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The UN envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict said in a new report Monday that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualised torture”, and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7.
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US Vice President Kamala Harris expressed “deep concern” over the situation in Gaza during talks on Monday with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz at the White House, her office said.
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US special envoy Amos Hochstein said in Beirut that a limited war across Lebanon’s southern border would not be containable. The US diplomatic effort to end exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel comes as the two sides have engaged in the worst hostilities since a 2006 war.
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Israel recalled its ambassador to the UN as tensions erupted over the handling of allegations of sexual assault by Hamas militants during the October 7 attacks.
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)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, Reuters)
