This blog has now closed. You can read our full report on the US and EU's twin diplomatic push in the region here and all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war here.
Summary
Here is where things stand:
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, met a political official of Hezbollah on Saturday in attempts to help avoid Lebanon’s entanglement in the ongoing Israel-Gaza war. According to Lebanese media, Borrell held talks with Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Agence France-Presse reports.
Médecins Sans Frontières has evacuated its staff and families from Gaza’s middle area following evacuation orders issued by Israeli forces for neighborhoods surrounding al-Aqsa hospital. “It is with heavy conscience that we have to evacuate while patients, hospital staff and many people seeking safety remain in the hospital premises,” Carolina Lopez, the emergency coordinator at al-Aqsa hospital, said.
An Israeli airstrike on a house belonging to the Al-Nabris family in Khan Younis killed several Palestinians while wounding dozens on Saturday, Palestinian health officials said, according to Reuters. Videos on social media of what appeared to be the aftermath of the strike showed Palestinians rushing injured victims, including bloodied children, to the hospital.
The US is working alongside its allies to see what can be done to protect civilians in Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing war in the strip, Reuters reports the US secretary of state Antony Blinken as saying on Saturday. Blinken’s comments come as Israeli forces have killed more than 22,700 Palestinians across the strip since 7 October.
Iran and its associates “must immediately stop their destabilizing actions”, France’s foreign minister Catherine Colonna said in a tweet on Saturday. Following a call with her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Colonna wrote: “I called Iranian Minister A Abdollahian and gave him a very clear message: the risk of regional conflagration has never been so significant; #Iran and its associates must immediately stop their destabilizing actions. No one would gain from escalation.”
Almost 90% of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been “forcibly displaced and lack everything”, UNRWA said. According to UNRWA, 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced across Gaza, with 1.88 million Palestinians sheltering in and in the vicinity of 155 UNRWA installations. Meanwhile, 131 UNRWA installations have been damaged as a result of Israel’s deadly strikes across Gaza.
European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on Saturday that it is “absolutely necessary” that Lebanon not be dragged into a regional conflict as a result of Israel’s war in Gaza. Speaking at a press conference with Lebanon’s foreign minister, Borrell said: “It is imperative to avoid regional escalation in the Middle East. It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict,” Agence France-Presse reports.
