A senior Hamas official on Friday said the group rejected “new conditions” outlined in a Gaza ceasefire plan presented by the United States. US President Joe Biden took a different stance and applauded the talks, adding that an agreement was “closer than ever”. The ceasefire negotiations in Qatar paused on Friday but negotiators will meet again next week to try to pin down the details of a truce and hostage release deal. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
This blog is no longer being updated. Click here for more on the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary:
- International mediators met for a second day in Doha on Friday for talks aimed at halting the Israel-Hamas war and securing the release of scores of hostages. Though Hamas rejected "new conditions" in the Gaza ceasefire plan presented by the US, Joe Biden said international mediators were "closer than ever" to reaching an agreement.
- An EU proposal to sanction Israeli officials who "enable ... violent settlers" will be tabled by top diplomat Josep Borrell, he said, following an attack by Jewish settlers on an occupied West Bank town on Thursday that killed at least one Palestinian and injured others. Any such sanctions would require unanimous approval from the EU's 27 member states.
- The UN's health agency asked for breaks in the fighting in Gaza for seven days to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against polio, which has been discovered in the territory's wastewater.
- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and the Israeli military issued rare and swift condemnations of the deadly attack by Israeli settlers on the West Bank village.
- At least 40,005 Palestinians have been killed and 92,401 wounded in Israel's war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Hamas-led October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 1,190 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. Some 250 people were taken hostage, with about 120 remaining in Gaza. Many have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Qatar is set to host Gaza ceasefire talks on Thursday, seeking a so-far elusive agreement that the United States hopes would stop Iran striking Israel and avert a wider war.
- An Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank killed two Palestinians on Thursday as Jewish worshippers visited a nearby disputed holy site, Palestinian sources and Israeli army said.
- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu denied on Thursday a report that he had spoken the previous day with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump about Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks.
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, AP and Reuters)
