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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
🔴 Live: Israel says key Kerem Shalom border crossing for Gaza aid reopened
Israel said on Wednesday that it had reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing to humanitarian aid for Gaza, four days after closing it in response to a rocket attack claimed by Hamas that killed four soldiers. Qatar and the African Union condemned Israel’s incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah and called on the international community to stop a “deadly escalation” of the war and prevent a “genocide”. Read our liveblog for all the latest developments on Israel’s war on Gaza.
Issued on: 08/05/2024 – 04:50
Modified: 08/05/2024 – 10:33
2 min
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid slated for Gaza await clearance at the Kerem Shalom (Karm Abu Salem) border crossing on March 14, 2024.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid slated for Gaza await clearance at the Kerem Shalom (Karm Abu Salem) border crossing on March 14, 2024. © Jack Guez, AFP
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FRANCE 24
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FRANCE 24
Summary:
The Israeli military appeared on Wednesday to play down an arms shipment hold-up by the US, whose administration expressed disapproval of this week’s operation in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, saying the allies resolve any disagreements “behind closed doors”.
In separate statements, Qatar and the African Union condemned Israel’s incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Wednesday and called on the international community to stop a “deadly escalation” of the war and prevent a “genocide”.
At least 34,789 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 78,204 have been 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.
LIVE
8 minutes ago
Israel must comply with international law in Rafah, Moscow says
The Russian foreign ministry on Wednesday insisted that Israel strictly observe international humanitarian law after its tanks entered the border city of Rafah.
At a briefing, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia sees the incursion as “an additional destabilizing factor” in an area with more than a million civilians, and therefore “we demand strict observance of the provisions of international humanitarian law,” the RIA Novosti state news agency reported.
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30 minutes ago
Russia says it sees no prospect so far for peace settlement in Gaza
Russia said on Wednesday that it saw no prospect so far for a peace settlement in Gaza or the wider Middle East, and said Israel’s operation in Rafah was escalating the conflict.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the conflict had caused a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
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an hour ago
Israeli military appears to play down US arms shipment hold-up
The Israeli military appeared on Wednesday to play down an arms shipment hold-up by a US administration troubled at this week’s operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, saying the allies resolve any disagreements “behind closed doors”.
Speaking at a conference hosted by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper as the Gaza war entered its eighth month, chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described coordination between Israel and the United States as reaching “a scope without precedent, I think, in history”.
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2 hours ago
African Union ‘firmly condemns’ Israeli incursion into Rafah
The African Union said Wednesday it condemned the Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, calling for the international community to stop “this deadly escalation” of the war.
AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat “firmly condemns the extension of this war to the Rafah crossing, the only corridor for humanitarian aid”, it said in a statement posted on X, the former Twitter, after Israeli tanks captured the main conduit for supplies into the besieged Palestinian territory.
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3 hours ago
Mediator Qatar urges international community to prevent Rafah ‘genocide’
Qatar called on the international community on Wednesday to prevent a “genocide” in Rafah following Israel’s seizure of the Gaza city’s crossing with Egypt and threats of a wider assault.
In a statement the Gulf state, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas, appealed “for urgent international action to prevent the city from being invaded and a crime of genocide being committed”.
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3 hours ago
Israel says it is reopening Kerem Shalom aid crossing into Gaza
Israel said it reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing to humanitarian aid for Gaza Wednesday, four days after closing it in response to a rocket attack that killed four soldiers.
“Trucks from Egypt carrying humanitarian aid, including food, water, shelter equipment, medicine and medical equipment donated by the international community are already arriving at the crossing,” the army said in a joint statement with COGAT, the defence ministry body that oversees Palestinian civil affairs.
The supplies will be transferred to the Gaza side of the crossing after undergoing inspection, it added.
The statement said the Erez border crossing between Israel and northern Gaza is also open for aid deliveries into the Palestinian territory.
The Kerem Shalom crossing was closed after a Hamas rocket attack killed four soldiers and wounded more than a dozen on Sunday.
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4 hours ago
FRANCE 24
Tête à tête – Rafah residents facing ‘fear and desperation beyond belief’, says Norwegian Refugee Council
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and a former top UN humanitarian official, told FRANCE 24 on Tuesday that Gaza is “among the worst places in humanitarian history”. He…
Read the article on https://www.france24.com
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6 hours ago
US military says Yemen’s Houthis launched three drones, no injuries or damage
The US military said on Tuesday that Iranian-backed Houthi militants launched three “uncrewed aerial systems” (UAS) from Yemen, but caused no injuries or damage.
A coalition ship successfully engaged one UAS, US Central Command forces successfully engaged the second UAS, and the final UAS crashed in the Gulf of Aden, Central Command said in a statement.
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7 hours ago
Hospital reports 7 killed, several wounded by Israeli strike in Gaza City
An Israeli air strike killed at least seven people and wounded several others early Wednesday in Gaza City, according to a local hospital.
The strike on an apartment in the devastated northern city killed seven members of the same family, the Al-Ahli hospital said, with eyewitnesses on Wednesday also reporting strikes elsewhere in the strip, particularly around Rafah.
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7 hours ago
US paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The US paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the US, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, with the focus of US concern being the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting. More than 1 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas, which came after the militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
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Yesterday’s key developments:
Egyptian state-linked media said Tuesday, citing a “senior official”, that “all parties had agreed to return to the negotiating table” for talks towards a truce in the Israel-Hamas war.
The Israeli army said early Tuesday that its forces had taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing after launching air strikes that killed at least 27 people, according to hospitals. UN officials said the seizure had rendered the second of Gaza’s two main aid delivery routes unusable. “The two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently choked off,” a UN spokesperson said.
The US paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the US, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
The head of a leading aid group has accused Israel of breaking “world records” on violations of international law and said Israel’s Western allies are guilty of “hypocrisy on an industrial scale”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for crossings into Gaza to be reopened immediately to allow essential aid in, and urged Israel to “stop any escalation” after it sent tanks into Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said the military’s capture of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing was an “important step” towards dismantling Hamas.
Hamas on Monday accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a ceasefire, with an official telling Al Jazeera the deal involved a three-phase truce: a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians and a hostage-prisoner exchange, with the goal of a permanent ceasefire.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
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)
