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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
🔴Live: More than 170 killed in Gaza since end of truce, says Hamas-run health ministry
More than 170 Palestinians, many of them women and children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel’s military on Friday resumed its deadly combat against Hamas, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. The rising death toll came after The New York Times reported overnight that Israeli authorities had obtained a blueprint of Hamas’s October 7 attack over a year ago, but dismissed it. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
Issued on: 30/11/2023 – 22:15
Modified: 01/12/2023 – 17:07
2 min
Palestinians wounded in Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to a hospital in Khan Younis, Friday, December 1, 2023.
Palestinians wounded in Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to a hospital in Khan Younis, Friday, December 1, 2023. © Fatima Shbair, AP
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FRANCE 24
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Summary
Israel resumed its deadly combat against Hamas in Gaza on Friday, accusing the group of violating the terms of a truce just before its expiration. The truce lasted for seven days and saw the release of 110 hostages held by Hamas and 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention.
In the hours since the ceasefire ended, more than 170 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages, according to the Israeli government. Since then, more than 14,800 people, including about 6,000 children, have been killed in Israel’s ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says.
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5 minutes ago
Protester self-immolates outside Israeli consulate in Atlanta
A protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated on Friday outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, injuring a security guard who attempted to intervene, authorities said.
The person, whom officials did not identify, is in critical condition, Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference. The guard’s condition was not immediately clear.
“We believe this building remains safe, and we do not see any threat here,” the chief said. “We believe that was an act of extreme political protest.”
The protester arrived around 12:17pm at the office building, which houses the consulate as well as several businesses, and used gasoline, police said.
The FBI’s Atlanta office said it was coordinating with local law enforcement. The consulate and the Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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44 minutes ago
‘The war on children started again’: UNICEF spokesperson condemns end of Gaza truce
UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires spoke to FRANCE 24 Friday about the “catastrophic scenario” facing Gaza’s children after the collapse of the seven-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
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an hour ago
IDF says it has eliminated ‘multiple terrorist cells’
Israel’s army said Friday it had “eliminated multiple terrorist cells throughout Gaza” after having resumed its intense bombardment of the besieged enclave following the breakdown of a seven-day ceasefire.
In a post on social media platform X, the IDF said it had also “thwarted 2 additional terrorist cells … that launched mortar shells towards IDF troops in Gaza”.
More than 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza since the resumption of the bombing campaign, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Hamas’s press office also said that three journalists were killed in Israeli raids on Friday.
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an hour ago
White House says Israel to allow aid trucks into Gaza
The White House said on Friday it believed Israel will allow humanitarian aid trucks to enter Gaza after a lull due to resumed fighting between Israel and Hamas militants, but the number of deliveries will likely be reduced.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, citing reports from Israel, said Israel had agreed to resume letting truck deliveries through at the urging of the United States.
But he said truck deliveries would likely be reduced to dozens a day rather than the hundreds of trucks that were getting into Gaza daily during a week-long pause in fighting that ended on Thursday.
Kirby said Gaza needs much more aid, but that the decision to resume aid deliveries, after stringent inspections, “looks like a good sign going forward”.
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2 hours ago
Hezbollah member, mother among 3 dead in Israel Lebanon strikes
Hezbollah said one of its members was among three people killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon Friday, as its militants resumed attacks against Israel following the end of a Gaza truce.
The Iran-backed militant group identified the member killed as Mohammed Mazraani.
A source close to the group said Mazraani was killed in his home along with his mother Nasifa, denying he was engaged in combat at the time of his death.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency had earlier identified both mother and son as civilians.
The news agency later reported a third person was killed and three others wounded in a separate raid on a house in Jebbayn, without specifying whether they were civilians or combatants.
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2 hours ago
Israel army says 5 hostage deaths confirmed, has informed families
The Israeli army on Friday confirmed the deaths of five hostages held in Gaza, saying their families had been informed, and the body of one of them returned to Israel.
“In recent days, the IDF and Israel police notified the families of the hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovitz about their deaths,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said, indicating troops had brought back the body of a fifth person that he identified as Ofir Tsarfati.
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3 hours ago
UN says Israel will not renew visa for top aid official
Israel has told the United Nations it will not renew a visa for the top UN humanitarian aid official for the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank, a UN spokesperson said on Friday.
Canadian-born Lynn Hastings, a veteran UN official, has served as the deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process and UN humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory for nearly three years.
“We’ve been informed by the Israeli authorities that they would not renew the visa of Ms Hastings past the due date at some point later this month,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
He said UN staff do not overstay their visas in any country, but stressed that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has full confidence in Hastings. Dujarric did not say whether Hastings would be replaced.
At the end of October, Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused Hastings – in a social media post – of failing to be impartial and objective, which the United Nations rejected.
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3 hours ago
Qatar committed to continuing efforts to return to truce in Gaza, foreign minister says
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Friday that Qatar is committed to continuing efforts, alongside its partners, to return to truce in the Gaza Strip.
“Continuous bombardment of Gaza complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates humanitarian catastrophe,” the foreign minister said.
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3 hours ago
Gaza’s Hamas rulers say three journalists killed in Israeli raids
Gaza’s Hamas-run government said three journalists were killed in Israeli raids on Friday as fierce fighting resumed after a week-long truce.
The government press office identified the three as cameraman Muntassir al-Sawwaf, who worked for Turkey’s Anadolou state news agency, his brother Marwan, who worked as a soundman, and cameraman Abdullah Darwish.
It said their deaths brought to 73 the number of journalists killed since the war began on October 7.
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3 hours ago
Israeli shelling kills three people in south Lebanon, state media report
Israeli shelling killed three people in south Lebanon on Friday, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, as the collapse of a truce between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas prompted a resumption of hostilities at the frontier.
The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, later said one of its fighters was among those killed. It also said it had carried out several attacks on Israeli military positions at the border in support Palestinians in Gaza, where a week long pause in the fighting ended early on Friday.
The Israeli army said its artillery struck sources of fire from Lebanon and air defences had intercepted two launches. The army also said it struck a “terrorist cell”. Sirens warning of possible incoming rockets sounded in several towns in northern Israel, sending residents running for shelter.
Lebanon’s state news agency reported that two people were killed by Israeli shelling in the Lebanese border town of Houla, and one person was killed in the village of Jebbayn.
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4 hours ago
Egypt ‘exerting utmost efforts’ to reinstate Gaza truce as soon as possible, state media body says
Egypt is exerting utmost efforts with its partners to reinstate the truce in Gaza as soon as possible, Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), said on Friday in a statement.
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4 hours ago
Israel urges civilians to flee fighting as Gaza bombardment resumes
Israel dropped leaflets over Gaza City and southern parts of the enclave on Friday, urging civilians to flee to avoid the renewed fighting. FRANCE 24’s Luke Shrago reports from the southern Israeli city of Sderot.
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5 hours ago
Turkey’s Erdogan tells UAE president that Israel restarting attacks on Gaza is ‘very negative’
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan that Israel restarting its attacks on Gaza after the collapse of a week-long truce was “very negative”, his office said on Friday.
The Turkish and Emirati leaders met on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai. Erdogan also met the prime ministers of Japan and Italy to discuss Gaza, as well as with his counterpart from Uzbekistan, the presidency said.
“President Erdogan, who noted that the restarting of clashes was very negative, said Turkey was working to achieve a lasting ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza,” it said in a statement, adding Erdogan also said Turkey was doing its best to stop Israel’s “massacre” but that the Muslim world needed to act in unison.
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5 hours ago
UN rights office ‘seriously concerned’ about Israel’s increased arrest of Palestinians
A United Nations office said on Friday it was “seriously concerned” about a dramatic rise in Israel’s arrest of Palestinians and called for an investigation into allegations of torture in Israeli custody.
Israel has arrested more than 3,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the start of the Gaza war in early October and a record high number were being held without charge or trial, said a statement by the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Within the span of two months, six Palestinian men have died in Israeli custody, the highest number of cases in such a short period in decades, it said.
Since the October 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s subsequent heavy bombardment of Gaza, Palestinians held in Israeli jails have reported deteriorating conditions, including overcrowding, restricted access to food and water and limited visits from family or lawyers. Many have said they were subjected to beatings and abuse by detention guards, including rape threats.
“The massive rise in number of Palestinians arrested and detained, the number of reports of ill-treatment and humiliation suffered by those in custody, and the reported failure to adhere to basic due process raise serious questions about Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” the UN Human Rights Office said.
“All cases of deaths in custody and allegations of torture and other ill-treatment must be investigated and accountability ensured.”
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6 hours ago
Blinken says he discussed future of Gaza with Arab foreign ministers
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that he met with officials from Arab states and discussed the future of the Gaza Strip, as Israel resumed its assault after a week-long truce with Palestinian Hamas militants broke down.
Before boarding a plane at the end of his third trip to the region since the October 7 Hamas attack, Blinken said the talks on Friday focused on the current situation in Gaza, the day after the conflict and how to create a “durable, lasting and secure peace”.
A senior State Department official said Blinken met foreign ministers from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, alongside representatives of the Palestinian Authority, on the sidelines of the COP28 UN climate conference in Dubai.
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6 hours ago
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV says two people killed in Israeli shelling of border town
Two people were killed on Friday during Israeli shelling of the border town of Houla in southern Lebanon, according to Hezbollah’s television channel Al-Manar.
Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel traded fire across the Lebanon-Israel border earlier on Friday after a week-long truce between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip collapsed. Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas, which rules Gaza.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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6 hours ago
UNRWA’s Lazzarini ‘deeply concerned’ that Israeli offensive could move to southern Gaza
As fighting resumes between Israel and Hamas after a one-week truce, FRANCE 24 speaks to Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
He said he was “deeply concerned” at the looming prospect of Israel’s offensive moving to the south of the Gaza Strip.
This part of the Palestinian territory is even more densely populated than before, as many civilians have fled there to escape Israeli air strikes in the north.
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6 hours ago
Hamas’s armed wing says it targeted Tel Aviv with rocket salvo
Hamas’s armed wing al Qassam brigades said on Friday in a statement on its Telegram channel that it had targeted Tel Aviv with a salvo of rockets.
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7 hours ago
Besieged Gazans have ‘no access to food, water or electricity’, Oxfam says
As Israeli airstrikes on Gaza resume following the abrupt end to the week-long truce with Hamas, FRANCE 24’s Shona Bhattacharyya was joined Friday by Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam policy lead for the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.
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7 hours ago
Spain’s PM Sanchez talks to Israeli cabinet minister after row
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez spoke with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz on Friday to try to defuse tension between the two countries after comments by Sanchez angered Israel for a second time in a week.
Israel recalled its ambassador to Spain for consultations in Jerusalem on Thursday after Sanchez said he doubted Israel respected international humanitarian law and repeated that military action in the Gaza Strip was not acceptable.
On Friday, Sanchez said he told Gantz – a former defence minister who joined Netanyahu in an emergency unity government last month – by phone that Israel is “a partner and friend of Spain”.
“Israel has the right to defend itself against this terrorist attack, but I reaffirmed that Spain finds the death of civilians in Gaza unbearable and that Israel must comply with international humanitarian law,” Sanchez wrote in a post in X.
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Key developments of Thursday, November 30:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Thursday and stressed it was “imperative” to protect civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip should fighting resume. Blinken also held talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Six Israeli hostages were released late Thursday, the Israeli army announced. Earlier in the day, two Israeli women, including French-Israeli hostage Mia Schem, were freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
A further thirty Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails in exchange for the hostages.
Two Hamas gunmen killed three people and wounded several others at a Jerusalem bus stop Thursday morning before being killed by Israeli police.
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.
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)
For more, read yesterday’s blog here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
