Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said Thursday it presented to mediators a comprehensive vision of a truce deal that is based on stopping the Israeli "aggression" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, providing relief and aid, the return of displaced Gazans to their houses, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Earlier Thursday, Muhammed Mustafa was appointed as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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Summary:
- Hamas has reportedly presented to mediators a comprehensive vision of a truce deal that is based on stopping the Israeli “aggression” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, providing relief and aid, the return of displaced Gazans to their houses, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
- Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas has appointed Muhammed Mustafa, a long-trusted adviser on economic affairs, as prime minister, the official Wafa news agency said on Thursday.
- The European Union’s top humanitarian aid official said Israel hadn't provide evidence to back its accusations against staff from the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which should continue playing a “critical” role in Gaza.
- A second ship was being loaded with aid for Gaza at a Cyprus port on Thursday, said the charity World Central Kitchen, as the first ship bearing maritime deliveries neared the besieged Palestinian enclave.
- The EU's humanitarian aid and crisis management chief Janez Lenarcic on Thursday warned that there are already pockets of famine in Gaza that could spread to the whole region.
- Israel’s chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari on Wednesday said that Israel plans to tell 1.4 million Palestinians displaced in the southern city of Rafah to seek shelter in central Gaza ahead of a planned military offensive there.
- At least 31,341 Palestinians have been killed and 73,134 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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The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said one of its aid warehouses in Rafah in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip was "hit" on Wednesday, wounding scores of people. The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said four people were killed in the "bombing of the warehouse".
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The EU on Wednesday called on Israel to open additional crossings besides the Cyprus maritime corridor so that more aid can reach Gaza.
- A Spanish ship called Open Arms carrying almost 200 tonnes of food was en route to the Gaza Strip Wednesday in a pilot project to open a new sea route for carrying aid to a population on the brink of famine.
- The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war and accused it of blocking overland routes that are the best way to get food to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing famine in the Gaza Strip.
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 and Reuters)
