🔴 Live: Hamas to discuss Egypt's Gaza ceasefire plan as Israeli strikes continue

Palestinians fleeing the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive in Rafah on Wednesday, December 27, 2023. © Hatem Ali, AP

A Hamas delegation is due in Cairo Friday to give its "observations" about an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza, a Hamas official said. The news came as Israeli forces bombarded cities, towns and refugee camps across Gaza on Thursday, killing dozens of people in a widening air and ground offensive against Hamas that has forced thousands more to flee from homes and shelters in recent days. Follow our live blog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+1). 

Summary:

• Israeli forces bombarded cities, towns and refugee camps across Gaza on Thursday, killing dozens of people in a widening air and ground offensive against Hamas.

• A United Nations report on Thursday said the human rights situation in the West Bank was rapidly deteriorating and urged Israel to "end unlawful killings" of Palestinians there.

• Fifty Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip's Beit Lahia, Khan Younis and Maghazi areas, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

• A drone launched from Syria crashed near the village of Eliad in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, Israel's army said, after an Iraqi armed group with links to Hamas militants claimed responsibility for an attack in the area. No injuries were reported.

• Israeli officials say 1,139 were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel, among them 695 Israeli civilians including 36 children. At least 21,320 people have been killed and 55,603 injured in Israel's ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.

Yesterday's key developments:

• An Israeli operation in a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank left six people dead and several others wounded early Wednesday, according to the Palestinian ministry of health.

• Benny Gantz, a minister on Israel's emergency war cabinet, said on Wednesday that the situation on Israel's northern border must change and that time for diplomacy is running out.

• Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday the October attacks on Israel by Tehran-backed Hamas militants were in part a retaliation of the US killing in 2020 of a top Iranian commander.

• French shipping giant CMA-CGM has resumed some transit through the Red Sea, days after Danish group Maersk announced it would return as a US-led naval coalition is now policing the maritime route against Yemeni rebel attacks.

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the enclave, receives data from every hospital in the strip. Hospital administrators say they keep records of every wounded person occupying a bed and every body arriving at a morgue. The ministry also collects from other sources including 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 AP, AFP, Reuters)