Greater than 100 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over a 24-hour interval, the Well being Ministry within the Hamas-run territory stated Friday.
Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh held talks with Egyptian officers a couple of potential cease-fire in Gaza and an alternate of hostages held by the militants for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, in line with a Hamas assertion Friday morning.
Throughout Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, militants killed about 1,200 individuals and took some 250 hostages. Roughly half of the hostages had been launched throughout a weeklong cease-fire in November. About 100 hostages stay in captivity, along with the our bodies of 30 others who had been killed on Oct. 7 or died in captivity.
Israel’s subsequent offensive in Gaza has killed greater than 29,000 Palestinians and pushed some 80% of the territory’s 2.3 million individuals from their properties. Most heeded Israeli orders to flee south, and round 1.5 million are packed into Rafah close to the border with Egypt.
European diplomats have ramped up requires a cease-fire as alarm grows over the worsening humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
At present:
— Israel plans to construct 3,300 new settlement properties. It says it’s a response to a Palestinian assault.
— Mideast cease-fire efforts achieve steam as a U.S. envoy visits. Mediators report ‘encouraging’ indicators.
— Denmark information its highest variety of antisemitic incidents since WWII, a part of a grim European development.
— A Houthi insurgent assault units a cargo ship ablaze and forces Israel to intercept one other assault close to Eilat.
— Discover extra of AP’s protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here is the newest:
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the USA believes that each one new Israeli settlement exercise within the occupied Palestinian territories is “illegitimate” below worldwide regulation, reversing the Trump administration’s repudiation of what had been long-standing U.S. coverage.
Talking within the Argentine capital, Blinken stated the U.S. was “upset” to study of an Israeli announcement on Friday that it might construct greater than 3,300 new properties in settlements within the West Financial institution in response to a deadly Palestinian capturing assault.
Blinken condemned the assault however stated the U.S. is against settlement enlargement. He reversed what had been often known as the “Pompeo Doctrine” below which former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had repudiated a Carter administration-era authorized discovering that settlements weren’t in keeping with worldwide regulation.
“It’s been long-standing U.S. coverage below Republican and Democratic administrations alike that new settlements are counter-productive to reaching an everlasting peace,” Blinken informed reporters at a joint information convention with Argentine International Minister Diana Mondino.
Blinken’s predecessor, Pompeo, reversed the 1978 dedication that was penned by the State Division’s then-legal adviser Herbert Hansell. The Hansell Memorandum didn’t say that settlements had been “unlawful” however somewhat “illegitimate.” That fashioned the idea of many years of U.S. coverage.
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian man wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a automobile within the occupied West Financial institution died of his accidents, bringing the variety of individuals killed within the assault to 2.
The 2 males, their our bodies wrapped within the flags of the militant group Islamic Jihad, had been buried Friday within the Jenin refugee camp.
The Israeli army stated a type of killed, recognized as Yasser Hanoun, was about to hold out a capturing assault when the strike hit his automobile late Thursday. It alleged that Hanoun was beforehand concerned in a number of capturing assaults focusing on Israeli settlements and military posts.
Violence has escalated within the West Financial institution for the reason that begin of the Israel-Hamas struggle in Gaza, triggered by a lethal Hamas assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Since then, about 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli hearth within the West Financial institution, most as a part of near-daily arrest raids by troops trying to find suspected militants.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norwegian International Minister Espen Barth Eide stated Friday that Israel’s occupation and the Israeli settlements “are the largest obstacles to a two-state resolution, which is the one resolution to the battle between Israel and Palestine.”
In a remark to Norway’s submission to the Worldwide Court docket of Justice, Barth Eide stated “the injustice to which the Palestinians are subjected should cease.”
He added that “whereas the eyes of the world are centered on the horrific struggle in Gaza, the scenario within the West Financial institution, together with East Jerusalem, can also be very critical.”
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — Israeli airstrikes in central and southern Gaza killed at the least 68 Palestinians, well being officers and an Related Press journalist stated, and one other 24 our bodies had been trapped below rubble.
In all, 104 Palestinians had been killed over the previous 24 hours, the Well being Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza stated Friday. The general dying toll for the reason that Oct. 7 begin of the struggle rose to 29,514. Although the depend doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, the ministry has stated girls and kids account for about two-thirds of these killed.
The strikes had been reported within the southern metropolis of Rafah, the central city of Deir al-Balah and the refugee camp of Nuseirat.
In Deir al-Balah, our bodies draped in white or black burial shrouds had been specified by the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital, as kinfolk wept close by. The our bodies had been later collected by kinfolk and brought for burial after temporary prayers.
Outdoors the hospital, a person held the physique of an toddler killed in one of many strikes.
JERUSALEM — Israel plans to approve the development of greater than 3,300 new properties in settlements within the occupied West Financial institution, a senior Cupboard minister from the far-right wing of the federal government introduced.
Approval of recent development is sure to elicit condemnation from the USA at a time when the connection between the allies is fraught due to disagreements over the course of Israel’s struggle on Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated in an announcement late Thursday that the brand new development is supposed as a response to a deadly Palestinian capturing assault close to Jerusalem earlier within the day. He stated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Protection Minister Yoav Gallant participated within the dialogue resulting in the choice.
The properties are to be constructed within the settlements of Maale Adumim, Efrat and Kedar, Smotrich stated.
Consecutive Israeli governments have expanded settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Financial institution — war-won territories the Palestinians search for a future state. Development has accelerated below Netanyahu’s present right-wing authorities, which incorporates settlers equivalent to Smotrich in key positions.
BEIRUT — The paramedics arm of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says two of its members had been killed in an Israeli strike on a southern border village early Friday.
The Islamic Well being Society recognized the 2 as Hussein Khalil and Mohammed Ismail, saying they had been killed when the group’s workplace within the village of Blida was instantly hit, a day after an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Rumman killed two members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Pressure, together with a neighborhood official who was recognized as Hassan Saleh.
Hezbollah later stated it retaliated the assault on Blida by launching two explosive drones at an Israeli military submit within the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, claiming it scored direct hits.
For the reason that Israel-Hamas struggle started on Oct. 7, the Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing day by day exchanges of fireside between Hezbollah and Israeli troops. Since then, almost 200 Hezbollah fighters and at the least 40 civilians have been killed.
JERUSALEM — Israel will management safety in a demilitarized Gaza Strip and play a job in civilian affairs after its struggle on Hamas ends, in line with a plan Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu submitted to his Cupboard for approval.
Whereas missing specifics, the plan marks the primary time he has offered a proper postwar imaginative and prescient. Netanyahu’s insistence on an open-ended Israeli function in working Gaza runs counter to key U.S. proposals for a revitalized Palestinian autonomous authorities finally governing each Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution as a precursor to statehood.
The plan, revealed by the prime minister’s workplace, was offered to Cupboard ministers late Thursday. It reiterates that Israel is decided to crush Hamas, the militant group that overran the Gaza Strip in 2007. Polls have indicated {that a} majority of Palestinians don’t assist Hamas, however that the group has deep roots in Palestinian society. Critics say Israel’s objective of eliminating Hamas is unattainable.
It requires freedom of motion for Israel’s army throughout Gaza after the struggle to thwart any safety risk and says Israel would set up a buffer zone inside Gaza — more likely to provoke U.S. objections.
The plan additionally envisions Gaza being ruled by native officers who it says would “not be recognized with international locations or entities that assist terrorism and won’t obtain cost from them.”
It’s not clear if any Palestinians would conform to fill such sub-contractor roles. Over the previous many years, Israel has repeatedly tried and didn’t arrange hand-picked native Palestinian governing our bodies.
BEIRUT — Hamas says its political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, has left Egypt after holding talks with Egyptian officers a couple of potential cease-fire within the Gaza Strip and an alternate of hostages held by the militants for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The assertion launched early Friday by Hamas didn’t say whether or not Haniyeh’s talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel about methods of ending the struggle, a hostage deal and the movement of support to Gaza had been profitable or led to a breakthrough.
The talks in Cairo got here forward of a high-level assembly anticipated over the weekend in Paris, the place worldwide mediators will current a brand new proposal. America, Egypt and Qatar have been struggling for weeks to discover a formulation that would halt Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza, however now face an unofficial deadline because the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches.
Israel seeks a phased deal, together with a brief pause in combating in alternate for the discharge of among the roughly 100 hostages nonetheless held by militants for the reason that brutal Oct. 7 Hamas assault on southern Israel. Israel has vowed to maintain combating till Hamas is crushed.
Hamas initially demanded to finish the struggle, now in its fifth month, earlier than hostages will be launched. Hamas has stated that it might launch the Israeli hostages in return for the all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Israel rejected that demand, and mediators have been engaged on a brand new deal.
