Israel vowed Thursday to “intensify” its ground offensive in Rafah, in defiance of global warnings over the fate of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians sheltering in Gaza’s far-southern city. Read our liveblog to see how all the day’s events unfolded.
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This live page is no longer being updated. For more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, click here.
The Israeli army will send more troops to Rafah with the military operation in the southern Gaza city set to intensify, said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday.
South Africa on Thursday accused Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of stepping up what it called a “genocide” in Gaza, urging the top UN court to order a halt to the Rafah offensive.
The US military on Thursday said it had finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip, with officials poised to begin ferrying humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
Israeli troops shot and killed three men during clashes in the occupied West Bank town of Tulkarm, the Palestinian Authority‘s health ministry said, adding that several others were wounded during the confrontation between Israeli forces and Palestinian activists.
At least 35,272 Palestinians have been killed and 79,205 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.
Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh late on Wednesday blamed Israelis for the current deadlock in negotiations, saying their amendments on the Gaza ceasefire proposal introduced by mediators led to a stalemate.
Palestinians on Wednesday marked the anniversary of the “Nakba”, or “catastrophe”, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948. The anniversary comes as multiple battles between Israeli troops and Hamas militants across the Gaza Strip force new waves of mass displacement for Palestinian civilians.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Wednesday urged Israel to end its military operation in Gaza’s Rafah “immediately”, warning that a failure to do so would undermine ties with the bloc.
Lebanon‘s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it launched dozens of rockets at north Israel military positions Wednesday in retaliation for the killing of a member Israel said was a field commander.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Wednesday that 600,000 people have fled Rafah since military operations intensified, amid battles and heavy Israeli bombardment in the area.
A US Interior Department staffer on Wednesday became the first Jewish political appointee to publicly resign in protest of US support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
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)
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