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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
🔴Live: Hamas pursues Gaza ceasefire deal despite Israel’s absence at Cairo talks
Palestinian militant group Hamas said it would continue working towards achieving a ceasefire in Gaza with Israel despite the absence of Israeli negotiators from the latest round of talks in Cairo, which entered their fourth day on Wednesday. US President Joe Biden urged group to agree a truce deal by the start of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan on or around March 10. Follow FRANCE 24’s liveblog for all the latest in the Israel-Hamas war.
Issued on: 06/03/2024 – 10:30
2 min
Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Israel, March 5, 2024.
Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre near the Israel-Gaza border amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, Israel, March 5, 2024. © Amir Cohen, Reuters
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Summary:
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it would continue working towards achieving a ceasefire in Gaza with Israel despite the absence of Israeli negotiators from the latest round of talks in Cairo, which entered their fourth day on Wednesday.
The World Health Organization has reported children dying of starvation in two northern Gaza hospitals, and US Vice President Kamala Harris has expressed “deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza”.
At least 30,717 Palestinians have been killed and 72,156 wounded since Israel started its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
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29 minutes ago
29 minutes ago
Israeli strikes kit areas of Rafah, Khan Younis and central Gaza during ceasefire talks, witnesses say
Israeli forces have continued bombarding Gaza during three days of talks in Cairo, and the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave has deteriorated further.
Residents of Qatari-funded housing districts in Khan Younis reported explosions all night from the air and ground. Israeli warplanes also struck areas in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp and the city of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, and part of the southern city of Rafah, witnesses said.
“Every day costs us dozens of martyrs. We want a ceasefire now,” Shaban Abdel-Raouf, a Palestinian electrician and father of five from Gaza City, who is now in the southern city of Khan Younis, told Reuters via a chat app. “Khan Younis is being burnt upside down, while America claims it wants to protect the civilians. Israel has been destroying houses and roads for months while we hear fake promises of an imminent ceasefire.”
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36 minutes ago
US destroyer shoots down missile and drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels
A US destroyer shot down drones and a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels toward it in the Red Sea, officials said Wednesday, as the Indian navy released images of it fighting a fire aboard a container ship earlier targeted by the Houthis.
The assault Tuesday apparently targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the American campaign against the rebels, who have launched attacks over Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Another suspected Houthi attack on shipping was reported Wednesday.
The Houthi attack on the Carney on Tuesday involved bomb-carrying drones and one anti-ship ballistic missile, the US military’s Central Command said.
The US later launched an airstrike destroying three anti-ship missiles and three bomb-carrying drone boats, Central Command said.
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an hour ago
Israel drastically restricting movement in the West Bank since start of Gaza war, NGO says
According to the human rights NGO Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Israel has been drastically restricting movement in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, disrupting the lives of 2 million Palestinians.
“Restricting movement is a major tool Israel uses” to “control the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories”, according to the NGO. The limitations are imposed on Palestinians wishing to move within the West Bank, travel between the West Bank and Gaza, enter Israel or travel abroad. “For decades, Israel has imposed these restrictions on Palestinians only, while Israelis – including settlers – and other nationals move about freely,” it said in a video denouncing the measures.
“Since 7 October 2023, Israel has extremely tightened the restrictions, using its network of checkpoints to tighten supervision, setting up dozens of new checkpoints, blocking access from dozens of villages to main roads, and revoking all permits for Palestinians to enter Israel for work or other reasons.”
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2 hours ago
Gaza truce talks in Cairo enter fourth day after US urges speedy deal
International mediators were set for a fourth day of talks with Hamas in Cairo on Wednesday after US President Joe Biden called on the militant group to agree a truce deal with Israel by the start of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.
Envoys have discussed plans to halt the fighting that has raged since Hamas’s October 7 attack before the Muslim fasting month starts on Sunday or Monday, depending on the sighting of the full moon.
Envoys from Hamas and the United States have been meeting Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo to discuss a plan for a six-week truce, the exchange of dozens of remaining hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and a greater flow of aid to Gaza.
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2 hours ago
US, Jordan airdrop food aid in joint operation with Egypt, France
US and Jordanian planes airdropped food aid once again into the Gaza strip, in a joint operation with Egypt and France on Tuesday, as famine threatens the besieged territory of 2.4 million people
The World Health Organization has reported children dying of starvation in two northern Gaza hospitals, and US Vice President Kamala Harris has expressed “deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza”.
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2 hours ago
At least 30,717 Palestinians killed in Israeli offensive, Gaza health ministry says
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Wednesday at least 30,717 people have been killed in the territory during nearly five months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The latest toll includes 86 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while 72,156 people have been wounded in Gaza since the war erupted on October 7.
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2 hours ago
Gaza’s Hamas says to pursue ceasefire negotiations despite Israeli absence during Cairo talks
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday it would continue working towards achieving a ceasefire in Gaza with Israel despite the absence of Israeli negotiators from the latest round of talks in Cairo.
“We are showing the required flexibility in order to reach a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people, but the occupation is still evading the entitlements of this agreement,” Hamas said in a statement.
Negotiators from Hamas, Qatar and Egypt – but not Israel – are in Cairo trying to secure a 40-day ceasefire in the war between Israel and the Islamist group in time for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins early next week.
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2 hours ago
Welcome to FRANCE 24’s live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
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Yesterday’s key developments:
US and Jordanian planes once again airdropped food aid into the Gaza strip in a joint operation with Egypt and France on Tuesday, as famine threatens the besieged territory of 2.4 million people.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Hamas on Tuesday to accept a plan for an “immediate ceasefire” with Israel as mediators met for a third day in Cairo in efforts to end almost five months of fighting.
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that child malnutrition levels in northern Gaza were “particularly extreme” and about three times higher than in the south of the Palestinian enclave where more aid has been available.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday the continuing tension with Hezbollah militants at the border with Lebanon was moving the situation nearer to a military escalation.
An Israeli air strike killed at least 17 people in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, adding that at least 97 people had been killed in all of Gaza over the past day.
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)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, Reuters)
