A senior Hamas official on Saturday dismissed US President Joe Biden's optimism for an imminent ceasefire deal in Gaza, where rescue workers said an Israeli strike killed 18 members of a single Palestinian family. "To say that we are getting close to a deal is an illusion," Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
This blog is no longer being updated. Click here for more on the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary:
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Lebanon's health ministry said Saturday an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon overnight killed at least 10 people, including a woman and two children, even as Western and Arab diplomats step up efforts to stave off a wider regional conflict.
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Violence continued to rage in the Gaza Strip, where an Israeli strike on the central town of Al-Zawaida killed 18 members of a single Palestinian family, according to health officials in the Hamas-held enclave.
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The UN's health agency has asked for breaks in the fighting in Gaza for seven days to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against polio, which has been discovered in the territory's wastewater.
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At least 40,074 Palestinians have been killed and 92,537 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.
Yesterday's key developments:
- International mediators met for a second day in Doha on Friday for talks aimed at halting the Israel-Hamas war and securing the release of scores of hostages. Though Hamas rejected "new conditions" in the Gaza ceasefire plan presented by the US, Joe Biden said international mediators were "closer than ever" to reaching an agreement.
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Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and the Israeli military issued rare and swift condemnations of the deadly attack by Israeli settlers on the West Bank village.
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An EU proposal to sanction Israeli officials who "enable ... violent settlers" will be tabled by top diplomat Josep Borrell, he said, following an attack by Jewish settlers on an occupied West Bank town on Thursday that killed at least one Palestinian and injured others. Any such sanctions would require unanimous approval from the EU's 27 member states.
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 and Reuters)
