🔴 Live: Blinken arrives in Saudi Arabia as Riyadh pledges $40 million for UNRWA

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on March 20, 2024. © Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken touched down in Jeddah Wednesday to bolster new efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and ramp up aid deliveries there. His visit comes as Saudi Arabia announced its donation of $40 million to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates in the Israel-Hamas war. 

Summary:

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is touring this Middle East this week as part of efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and increase humanitarian aid deliveries to the enclave.
• A Senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, said in a Beirut press conference on Wednesday that Israel's response to the group's latest Gaza ceasefire proposal was negative after mediators handed it over. 
• Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he was still determined to carry out a Rafah ground offensive despite the misgivings expressed by US President Joe Biden.
• In an interview with FRANCE 24, the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) sounded the alarm about the situation facing children caught in the war in Gaza. 
• At least 31,923 Palestinians have been killed and 74,096 wounded since Israel started its offensive on Gaza,Israel, 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:

• Canada will halt all arms shipments to Israel, a government source said Tuesday, a decision that has sparked the wrath of Israel as it faces growing international scrutiny over its war in the Gaza Strip. 
• Qatari officials said they were “cautiously optimistic” after talks with Israel’s intelligence chief in Doha aimed at trying to reach a ceasefire, the Qatari foreign ministry said Tuesday. 
• At least 15 people were killed by an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the al Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Palestinian health officials said on Tuesday.
• Hamas's chief Ismail Haniyeh has accused Israel of attempting to "sabotage" ceasefire talks following its raid on Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, which the Israeli army says is being used for military purposes.
• The United States called on Israel to allow Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA into Gaza after he was reportedly denied entry.

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

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)