Israeli Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would not leave civilians trapped in Rafah when its forces begin a long-expected assault on the southern Gaza city where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering. Earlier Sunday, he said "no amount of international pressure" would stop Israel from meeting its goals in the war. Israeli negotiators were preparing for new truce talks in Qatar. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded.
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Summary:
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After a meeting with Netanyahu, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he had spoken with the prime minister about the need to provide comprehensive humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza. “We cannot stand by and watch Palestinians risk starvation,” Scholz said.
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Gaza’s health ministry said 12 members of the same family, whose house in Deir al-Balah was hit, were among the 61 killed overnight.
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Stalled talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas are expected to restart in Qatar as soon as Sunday, according to Egyptian officials.
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One in three children under the age of two in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished and famine is looming, the main UN agency operating in the Palestinian enclave said on Saturday.
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At least 31,645 Palestinians have been killed and 73,676 wounded since Israel started its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,140 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:
- The Spanish aid vessel Open Arms on Saturday finished unloading its cargo of 200 tonnes of desperately needed food for Gazans.
- A second cargo of food aid was ready to depart by sea from Cyprus to Gaza on Saturday, the island’s president said, after a first aid shipment landed in the besieged Palestinian enclave overnight.
- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has approved the military's plan for an operation in Rafah, where most of war-battered Gaza's population has sought refuge. Rafah is the last major population centre yet to be subjected to a ground assault.
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 and Reuters)
