Mediators reconvened in Cairo on Sunday to search for a formula acceptable to Israel and Hamas for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, with a senior US official stating that Israel has "more or less accepted" a framework deal. The negotiations come after the US military used three military cargo planes to airdrop more than 38,000 meals into the Gaza Strip on Saturday for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began. 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This blog is no longer being updated.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:
-
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Sunday to hold ceasefire talks on Gaza, a day after a senior US official said Israel would agree to a six-week pause in fighting in return for the release of hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group.
-
The US air force dropped food in pallets over Gaza on Saturday in the opening stage of an emergency humanitarian assistance ordered after more than 100 Palestinians who had surged to pull goods off an aid convoy were killed during a chaotic encounter with Israeli troops this week.
-
At least 30,410 people have been killed and 71,700 wounded in Israeli strikes, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, since Israel's war on Gaza began on October 7. Around 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Yesterday's key developments:
-
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli strike hit tents housing displaced civilians in the southern city of Rafah Saturday, killing 11 and wounding dozens.
-
The Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank said it hoped a ceasefire could be agreed in the Gaza war in time for Ramadan, adding that it would be "the only legitimate authority" to run the enclave after the war.
-
The Rubymar, a ship attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels, sank in the Red Sea after days of taking on water, officials said Saturday, the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of their campaign over Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
-
The US Central Command in the Middle East said US forces struck and destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile in Yemen after deciding it posed an "imminent threat" to American aircraft in the region, .
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)
