President Joe Biden threatened on Thursday to condition support for Israel's offensive in Gaza on it taking concrete steps to protect aid workers and civilians, seeking for the first time to leverage US aid to influence Israeli military behaviour. The news came after a Hamas official said there has been no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks despite the movement showing flexibility. 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This blog is no longer being updated.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:
-
US President Joe Biden told Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a telephone call on Thursday to reach an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, the White House said in a statement.
- More than 600 British jurists, including three retired judges from the UK Supreme Court, called on the government on Thursday to suspend arms sales to Israel.
- A Hamas official said Thursday there has been no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks despite the movement showing flexibility.
- Celebrity chef and founder of the World Central Kitchen charity group Jose Andres told Reuters Thursday that an Israeli attack that killed seven of his aid workers in Gaza had targeted them "systematically, car by car".
- The United Nations says the Israel-Hamas war has left almost 200 aid workers dead, including more than 175 members of the UN's staff.
- At least 33,037 Palestinians have been killed and 75,668 wounded since Israel began 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:
- The United States wants to see the Israeli investigation into an attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers wrapped up as soon as possible, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday.
- The Israeli military said that an independent, professional expert body would investigate the deaths of seven people working for the World Central Kitchen in Gaza.
- Poland's deputy foreign minister Andrzej Szejna on Tuesday said that Israel should "compensate" the families of the seven aid workers, including a Polish citizen, killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza.
- Israel war cabinet member Benny Gantz called for national elections in September in a speech on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government faces pressure at home and abroad over the war in Gaza.
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 & Reuters)
