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🔴 Live: Israel’s evacuation orders of Gaza cover two-thirds of territory, UN says
Israel’s evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip now cover two-thirds of the territory, United Nations humanitarian monitors said Tuesday, adding that more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people is now crammed into the town of Rafah. The news came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due in Egypt as part of his Middle East crisis tour seeking a new truce and “an enduring end” to the Israel-Hamas war. Read our live blog for all the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.
Issued on: 06/02/2024 – 08:45
Modified: 06/02/2024 – 08:52
2 min
An Israeli tank takes position along the Gaza Strip border amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, on February 5, 2024.
A picture taken from a position in southern Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip on February 5, 2024, shows an Israeli tank taking position amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. © Menahem Kahana, AFP
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FRANCE 24
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Summary:
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel’s evacuation order now covers two-thirds of the Gaza Strip. More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people is now crammed into the town of Rafah.
US President Joe Biden has threatened to veto a standalone bill backed by House of Representatives Republicans that would provide aid only to Israel, as the White House pushes for a broader measure that would also provide assistance to Ukraine and provide new funds for border security.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to visit Egypt on Tuesday, the second stop in his latest Mideast tour, to support talks on a new truce between Israel and Hamas. He is also expected to make stops in Qatar, Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 27,585 people have been killed and 66,978 wounded in Israeli strikes on the enclave since October 7. Israeli officials say about 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel. Militant fighters took some 250 hostages during the attack and 132 are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
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Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 27,585, Gaza health ministry says
At least 27,585 Palestinians have been killed and 66,978 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday.
Some 127 Palestinians were killed and 143 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
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2 hours ago
Yemen’s Houthis say they fired missiles at two ships in Red Sea
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Tuesday they fired naval missiles at two ships, Star Nasia and Morning Tide, in the Red Sea, the group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech.
Sarea said they were US and British ships, but records from shipping trackers show they are flagged to the Marshall Islands and Barbados.
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3 hours ago
Israeli forces kill dozens of Gaza gunmen, capture scores in past 24 hours, military says
Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinian gunmen and captured scores in operations throughout the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the military said in a statement on Tuesday, describing southern Khan Younis as a focus of the fighting.
It said around 80 suspects were taken into custody in Khan Younis, including some accused of taking part in the October 7 killing and kidnapping spree in southern Israel by Hamas Islamists that triggered the almost four-month-old Gaza war.
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3 hours ago
Israel’s evacuation orders cover 2/3 of the Gaza Strip, UN says
Israel’s evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip now cover two-thirds of the territory, or 246 square kilometres, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Tuesday.
More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people is now crammed into the town of Rafah on the border with Egypt and surrounding areas, it said.
A quarter of Gaza’s residents are now starving and 85% of the population has been driven from their homes, with hundreds of thousands crammed in makeshift tent camps.
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3 hours ago
Blinken due in Egypt
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due in Egypt on Tuesday as part of a Middle East crisis tour seeking a new truce and “an enduring end” to the Israel-Hamas war.
In Cairo, Blinken is scheduled to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the day after he held talks in Riyadh with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The trip, Blinken’s fifth to the region since the start of the nearly four-month-long war, will later include stops in Israel and Qatar.
Blinken’s diplomatic push has been given fresh urgency as Israeli forces press further south towards Rafah, a Palestinian city on the southern border with Egypt where more than half the population of the Gaza Strip has taken shelter.
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3 hours ago
UK-owned cargo ship damaged in drone attack off Yemen
A British-owned cargo ship was damaged in a drone attack off rebel-held Yemen, a maritime security firm said on Tuesday, the latest in dozens of incidents in the Red Sea.
The Barbados-flagged ship “reportedly incurred minor damage on the port side” in an attack west of Hodeida, British firm Ambrey said, adding that there were no injuries.
The ship speeded up and performed “evasive manoeuvres” before continuing south toward the Bab al-Mandeb strait, the firm said.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control much of the war-torn country, have been harassing Red Sea shipping for months in protest against the Israel-Hamas war. Their attacks have triggered reprisals by American and British forces, including a wave of air strikes that hit dozens of targets late on Saturday.
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3 hours ago
US military says it conducted strike against Houthi drones
The US military said on Monday that its forces conducted a strike in self-defence against two Houthi drones in Yemen.
“US forces identified the explosive USVs in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined they presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” US Central Command said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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3 hours ago
Biden threatens veto of US House’s ‘political ploy’ Israel bill
The Biden administration strongly opposes a plan by US House Republicans for a standalone bill to provide aid to Israel and President Joe Biden would veto it if it reached his desk, the White House said on Monday as it pushes for legislation that includes support for Israel, Ukraine and border security.
“The Administration strongly encourages both chambers of the Congress to reject this political ploy and instead quickly send the bipartisan Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act to the President’s desk,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.
The $118 billion spending measure also would provide humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by global conflicts.
“The Administration strongly opposes this ploy which does nothing to secure the border, does nothing to help the people of Ukraine defend themselves against Putin’s aggression, fails to support the security of American synagogues, mosques, and vulnerable places of worship, and denies humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom are women and children,” the statement said.
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Yesterday’s key developments:
Spain said Monday it would send the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5 million in aid, stressing the “serious risk” that the agency’s humanitarian activities “will be paralysed in Gaza within a few weeks”.
UN chief Antonio Guterres appointed an independent panel led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna to assess whether the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is striving to “ensure neutrality”, a UN statement said Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Hamas had presented “demands that we will not accept” over hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that Israeli “settler violence must stop” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the enclave, receives data from every hospital in the strip. Hospital administrators say they keep records of every wounded person occupying a bed and every body arriving at a morgue. The ministry also collects from other sources including 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)
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)
