US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks in Istanbul on Saturday with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on how to de-escalate regional tensions, saying later that Turkey was committed to playing a "productive" role in postwar Gaza. Blinken said a "big part" of his whirlwind, eight-day trip will be looking at how the international community can "make sure that this conflict doesn't spread". Read our liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded.
Summary:
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Following talks on Saturday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Turkey was committed to playing “a positive, productive” role in postwar Gaza and would use its influence to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from becoming a larger regional conflict.
- Blinken said a "big part of the conversations" during his whirlwind, eight-day trip focused on Gaza will be looking at how nations can use their respective influence "to make sure that this conflict doesn't spread". His trip includes stops in Istanbul, Crete, Amman, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, the West Bank, Cairo and Al-'Ula in Saudi Arabia.
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The Israeli army said it had completed dismantling Hamas's "military framework" in northern Gaza, with an Israeli military spokesman adding that some 8,000 militants have been killed in the fighting.
- Lebanon's Hezbollah fired more than 60 rockets at an Israeli base, with the group describing the barrage as an "initial response" to the killing of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut last week.
- Israeli officials say 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel, among them 695 Israeli civilians including 36 children. At least 22,722 people have been killed and 58,166 wounded in Israel's ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
Friday's key developments
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UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said that Gaza has become “uninhabitable” and reiterated warnings that “a public health disaster is unfolding” in the enclave. "Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on," Griffiths said in a statement.
- In a televised address, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Lebanon's security was at stake if the Shiite militia group failed to respond to Israel's suspected assassination of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut and called a response "inevitable". Lebanon has filed a complaint to the UN Security Council over Israel's suspected role as well as its use of Lebanese airspace to bomb Syria.
- Thousands rallied in support of Gaza in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa, chanting anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans. The Iran-backed rebels have organised weekly protests in Sanaa since the war began, but Friday's demonstration was the largest so far, spokesman Mohammad Abdel Salam said.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey as part of his fourth Middle East tour since the Israel-Hamas war began and amid mounting fears the Israel-Hamas conflict will become a regional war.
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 AP, AFP, Reuters)
