US President Joe Biden said Saturday that a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was possible as soon as "tomorrow" if the militant group released its hostages. Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its military operation, in defiance of growing pressure from the international community. 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This blog is no longer being updated.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:
- Israel called on residents from more areas of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to evacuate and head to the “expanded humanitarian area” in Al-Mawasi, according to a post on social media site X by the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson.
- The Israeli army said rockets were launched Saturday from Rafah in southern Gaza towards the Kerem Shalom crossing, which was temporarily shut earlier this week. "Four launches were identified that crossed from the Rafah area," the military said in a statement.
- President Joe Biden on Saturday said a Gaza ceasefire would be possible "tomorow" if Hamas released all the hostages. It was his first remarks on the Gaza war since a US State Department report released Friday that it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel has used US-supplied weapons in ways inconsistent with international humanitarian law during the Gaza war.
- At least 34,971 Palestinians have been killed and 78,641 wounded in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Yesterday's key developments:
- The Biden administration said Friday that Israel’s use of US-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but that wartime conditions prevented US officials from determining that for certain in specific air strikes.
- The UN General Assembly voted to grant new 'rights and privileges' to Palestine and called on the Security Council to favourably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.
- Israeli tanks captured the main road dividing the eastern and western halves of Rafah, effectively encircling the entire eastern side of the city in the southern Gaza Strip.
- UNICEF's senior emergency coordinator in Gaza said that "more than 100,000 people have fled Rafah" as the city braces for an imminent full-scale Israeli ground assault.
- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he hopes he and Biden can overcome their disagreements over the war, after Biden withheld some weapons from Israel.
- Palestinian militant group Hamas said that its delegation attending ceasefire negotiations in Cairo had left the city for Qatar, adding the "ball is now completely" in Israel's hands.
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters, AP)
