Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed Wednesday in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, relatives and official Hamas media said, with Haniyeh accusing Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder”. The news comes as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that recognition of a Palestinian state is “in Europe’s geopolitical interests” while speaking with lawmakers in Madrid. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
This blog is no longer being updated. For more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, please click here.
Summary:
- Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday told lawmakers in Madrid that recognition of Palestinian statehood is "in Europe's geopolitical interests".
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Relatives and official Hamas media said Wednesday that three sons of Ismail Haniyeh, the Islamic militant group’s supreme leader, were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip.
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The Israeli army said early Wednesday it had carried out bombardments on positions of the Lebanese group Hezbollah in Syria in a bid to thwart its "entrenchment" in the country.
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US President Joe Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's Gaza policy was a "mistake" and urged Israel to call for a ceasefire in an interview aired Tuesday.
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Hamas said Tuesday it was considering a new truce proposal as the latest round of negotiations in Cairo continued but said the plan did not meet any of its demands.
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At least 33,482 Palestinians have been killed and 76,049 wounded since Israel began its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Yesterday's key developments
- Israel will complete the elimination of Hamas's brigades, including in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and nothing will prevent it, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said.
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The Israeli army said that 468 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza Tuesday, the highest number in a single day since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7.
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US Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power acknowledged that humanitarian aid into Gaza had risen sharply in the past few days, and said the higher level of aid should be sustained and increased further.
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Turkey announced restrictions on exports to Israel until a ceasefire in Gaza, Ankara's first significant measure against Israel after six months of war. Israel said it would respond with its own restrictions on products from Turkey.
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An in-person meeting of Israeli and US officials on the planned operation in the Gaza city of Rafah will take place in a couple of weeks, the White House said.
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)
