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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
🔴 Live: Qatar set to host high-stakes mediated Gaza ceasefire talks
Qatar is set to host Gaza ceasefire talks on Thursday, seeking a so-far elusive agreement that the United States hopes would stop Iran striking Israel and avert a regional war. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.
Issued on: 15/08/2024 – 06:56
1 min
A man cycles past trash and rubble outside a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the northern Gaza Strip on August 14, 2024.
A man cycles past trash and rubble outside a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) being used as a makeshift shelter for Palestinians displaced by conflict in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on August 14, 2024. © Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP
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FRANCE 24
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FRANCE 24
Summary:
Qatar is set to host Gaza ceasefire talks on Thursday, seeking a so-far elusive agreement that the United States hopes would stop Iran striking Israel and avert a wider war.
At least 39,965 Palestinians have been killed and 92,294 wounded in Israel’s war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Hamas-led October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 1,190 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. Some 250 people were taken hostage, with about 120 remaining in Gaza. Many have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
23 minutes ago
Australia lawmaker calls opposition leader racist over opposition to Gaza refugees
The leader of Australia’s main opposition party was told to “stop being racist” by another parliamentarian during a heated discussion on Thursday in which he said that Australia should not take in any refugees from Gaza.
Independent parliamentarian Zali Steggall made the remarks during a speech criticising centre-right Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton for his call this week to bar refugees from Gaza due to the risk they could be Hamas sympathisers.
Interrupted several times by shouts from the opposition benches, Steggall asked to be heard in silence before shouting “stop being racist” towards Dutton.
“These are families that you are seeking to paint that somehow they are all terrorists, that they should all be mistrusted and they are not worthy of humanitarian aid,” she said before pausing as Dutton interjected.
“We heard you in silence, you can hear me in silence, stop being racist,” she then said.
A representative for Steggall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tensions flared in parliament again shortly afterwards when Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young interrupted a media conference by opposition National Party parliamentarian David Littleproud in which he was defending Dutton’s position on Gaza refugees to say: “why don’t you say something about the children being slaughtered.”
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26 minutes ago
Trump, Netanyahu speak about Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal, Axios reports
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and discussed the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, Axios reported, citing two US sources.
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27 minutes ago
Columbia University president resigns months after anti-war protests
The president of New York’s Columbia University has resigned, US media reported Wednesday, months after pro-Palestinian protests brought national scrutiny to the institution and just weeks before the start of the new school year.
Anti-war protests and encampments at Columbia and campuses across the United States were a flashpoint in debates about US support for Israel in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
Critics said the protests at Columbia and elsewhere veered into anti-Semitism and intimidation, culminating in Columbia President Minouche Shafik being questioned before the US Congress along with other university presidents and accused of not keeping Jewish students safe.
Protesters – many of whom were themselves Jewish – said demonstrators’ anti-Israel views were being conflated with anti-Semitism. They also said that individual allegations of hate incidents were being used to distract from calls for a ceasefire due to the spiraling civilian death toll.
“Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead,” Shafik wrote in an email announcing the move, according to student newspaper the Columbia Spectator.
“I am making this announcement now so that new leadership can be in place before the new term begins.”
FRANCE 24
Columbia University president Minouche Shafik in hot water for handling of pro-Palestinian protests
As pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University continue, university president Minouche Shafik finds herself under fire from all sides as politicians, students and faculty all call for her…
Read the article on https://www.france24.com
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27 minutes ago
Lebanon says two killed in Israeli strikes
Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes killed two people in the country’s south on Wednesday, with Hezbollah announcing the deaths of two of its fighters, the latest cross-border violence amid fears of a full-blown regional war.
The Lebanese health ministry said in a statement that an “Israeli enemy” strike on the southern town of Marjayoun killed one person and wounded nine others, revising downwards a previous death toll of three.
The official National News Agency said an “enemy drone targeted a car” in the town square, a usually busy area home to shops.
The health ministry also said one person was killed and another wounded in an Israeli strike in south Lebanon’s Blida village.
The Israeli military said in a statement that its air force had “struck Hezbollah military structures” including in the Blida area.
It later added that Israeli aircraft “eliminated two Hezbollah terrorists” in the Marjayoun area. Hezbollah also announced on Wednesday evening the death of two of its fighters in Israeli fire.
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30 minutes ago
Qatar to host high-stakes Gaza truce talks
Qatar is set to host Gaza ceasefire talks on Thursday, seeking a so-far elusive agreement that the United States hopes would stop Iran striking Israel and avert a wider war.
US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have invited Israel and Hamas for negotiations aimed at ending fighting that the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says has killed nearly 40,000 people in the Palestinian territory.
The talks will be held in the Qatari capital Doha, a source close to Hamas and a second source close to the negotiations said Wednesday.
According to a US source familiar with the Doha meeting, CIA director William Burns is scheduled to take part.
Israel confirmed it would attend, though it remained unclear if Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war, planned to participate.
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36 minutes ago
Welcome to FRANCE 24’s liveblog on the Israel-Hamas war.
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Yesterday’s key developments:
An Israeli delegation will be attending peace talks in Doha on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu confirmed on Wednesday, along with officials from the US, Egypt and Qatar.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday it would not take part in a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks Thursday in Qatar, dimming hopes for a negotiated truce that could hold back an expected Iranian attack on Israel. Mediators are, however, expected to brief Hamas after the talks.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas met with Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday following a visit to Moscow.
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, AP, Reuters)
