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Live blog: Hamas delegation heads to Egypt for Gaza truce talks
Israel’s war on besieged Gaza, now in its 206th day, has killed at least 34,454 Palestinians — 70 percent of them babies, children and women — and wounded over 77,575 while some 8,400 people are feared buried under the rubble of bombed buildings.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85 percent of the enclave’s population into internal displacement / Photo: AP
AP
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85 percent of the enclave’s population into internal displacement / Photo: AP
Monday, April 29, 2024
0312 GMT — A Hamas delegation is due to arrive today in Egypt, where it will respond to Israel’s latest proposal for a long-sought hostage-release deal and truce in Gaza after almost seven months of war.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for months, as the death toll in Gaza rises and calls for a deal intensify.
But despite intense pressure to reach a ceasefire, secure the release of hostages held in Gaza and allow more humanitarian aid into the war-battered territory, a deal has remained elusive.
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0410 GMT — Antony Blinken arrives in Saudi Arabia for discussions on Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Saudi Arabia, the first stop in a broader trip to the Middle East, aimed at discussing post-war Gaza and pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
In Riyadh, Blinken is expected to meet with senior Saudi leaders and hold a wider meeting with counterparts from five Arab states: Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
He aims to further discussions on what governance of Gaza would look like after the war, according to a senior State Department official.
0303 GMT — University students in occupied West Bank hold solidarity demonstration with Gaza
Students at a university in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus hhave organised a solidarity demonstration with Gaza.
An-Najah National University students and staff protested Israel’s attacks on the enclave, which began last October.
Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas said the demonstration expressed “the rejection of the genocide in Gaza” and reflected the national unity of Palestine.
The university’s spokesperson, Riad al-Dabai, underlined the importance of “supporting Gaza, which was exposed to the genocidal war, and the victory of the Palestinian people.”
0240 GMT — Israel kills 22 more Palestinians in Gaza
At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in overnight Israeli attacks on Gaza, local media has reported.
Five Palestinians, including women and children, lost their lives in an Israeli bombing targeting a house belonging to a family in western Gaza City, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the Sabra neighbourhood, where two Palestinian women were killed, some people were injured and others were trapped under the rubble.
2304 GMT — Anti-tank missile from Lebanon hits house in northern Israel
An anti-tank missile struck a house in the Israeli settlement of Shtula in the Upper Galilee region near the border with Lebanon, local media has reported.
“An anti-tank missile was fired from southern Lebanon earlier on Sunday, hitting a residential house in the Shtula settlement in northern Israel without causing any casualties,” said Israel’s Channel 12.
The house sustained material damage according to the channel.
2330 GMT — Israel kills over dozen Palestinians in Rafah — medics
Israeli air strikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed 13 people and wounded many others, medics have said.
Hamas media outlets put the death toll at 15.
In Gaza City, in the north of the enclave, Israeli planes struck two houses, killing and wounding several people, health officials said.
The strikes on Rafah, where over a million people are sheltering from months of Israeli bombardment, came hours before Egypt was expected to host leaders of Hamas to discuss prospects for a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
2248 GMT — Situation in Gaza is ‘catastrophe by every measure’: Riyadh
The situation in Gaza obviously is “a catastrophe by every measure,” Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan has said.
His remarks came during one of the sessions of a special meeting of the World Economic Forum being hosted by Riyadh on April 28 and 29, according to a statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry.
“The situation in Gaza obviously is a catastrophe by every measure — humanitarian, but also a complete failing of the existing political system to deal with that crisis,” said Farhan.
“We are going to look at how we can solve the bigger problem in the context of Gaza. That is a real commitment to a two-state solution that is a credible, irreversible path to a Palestinian State,” he added.
2135 GMT — Gaza lost over $3B in transport: Minister
Gaza’s transportation sector has suffered more than $3 billion in losses in the past seven months due to Israel’s war against the enclave, Minister of Transportation and Communications Tareq Zarab has said.
Zarab’s remarks came during a presentation at a session of the Cabinet in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to a statement viewed by Anadolu news agency.
“The committees of the Ministry of Transportation estimate the destruction by the (Israeli) occupation forces of about 55,000 vehicles in the Gaza Strip, which is equivalent to 60 percent of the licensed vehicles in the Strip,” said Zarab.
For our live updates from Sunday, April 28, click here.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AGENCIES
