Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 40,005 Palestinians since October 7, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said yesterday, as there was no let-up in Israeli strikes across the enclave.
A total of 40 Palestinians have been killed and 107 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement.
Pressure built for a ceasefire to be agreed at talks which resumed yesterday in Qatar to avert a wider war involving Iran, after months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
In a veiled warning to Iran, Hamas and Israel, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Wednesday said “no party in the region should take actions that would undermine efforts to reach a deal,” the US State Department said.
In a telephone call, the two discussed “efforts to calm tensions in the region and the importance of finalising a ceasefire in Gaza,” it said.
Israel’s delegation includes spy chief David Barnea, head of the domestic security service Ronen Bar, and the military’s hostages chief Nitzan Alon, defence officials said on Wednesday.
CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk represented Washington at the talks, convened by Qatari prime minister, with Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel also in Doha.
Hamas officials, who have accused Israel of stalling, did not join yesterday’s talks. However, mediators planned to consult with Hamas’ Doha-based negotiating team after the meeting, the official briefed on the talks told Reuters.
In Gaza, where almost the entire population is displaced and much of the territory’s housing and other infrastructure destroyed, rescuers said air strikes killed three people.
An Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank killed two Palestinians yesterday as Jewish worshippers visited a nearby disputed holy site, Palestinian sources and Israeli army said.
Israel’s military said troops also killed around 20 Hamas fighters in Rafah. Dead and wounded including bloodied children arrived at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis after an Israeli strike.
In Lebanon’s south, the health ministry reported two people killed in separate Israeli strikes. Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed, and the Israeli military said its air force had “struck Hezbollah military structures”.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters yesterday that the group is committed to the negotiation process and urged mediators to secure Israel’s commitment to a proposal Hamas agreed to in early July, which he said would end the war and required a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
