Hamas will respond to an Israeli truce proposal for Gaza "within a very short period", an official with the Palestinian militant group said Wednesday, stressing that any ceasefire needs to be permanent. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed calls for Hamas to accept the ceasefire deal as he began a new round of talks with Israel's leadership in Jerusalem. 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This blog is no longer being updated.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:
- New York City police raided Columbia University overnight to arrest pro-Palestinian demonstrators, some of whom had seized an academic building, and to remove a protest encampment at the school. Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday that some 300 people were arrested in crackdowns on protests at Columbia and City College.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated US opposition to an Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah in talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, a US official said. Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to launch a ground incursion into Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering from the almost seven-month-long war.
- Israel reopened the sole crossing on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, allowing aid trucks to pass through the Erez checkpoint following US demands to do more to address the growing humanitarian crisis.
- Palestinians are seeking approval of a resolution at the General Assembly asking the UN Security Council to reconsider full membership for Palestine after a previous UN resolution was vetoed by the United States.
- At least 34,568 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 77,765 have been wounded in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 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:
- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday that the military would launch a ground offensive in Rafah "with or without" a truce deal being negotiated with Hamas.
- Amid a renewed US push for a ceasefire, a Hamas team left Cairo on Tuesday after talks on a ceasefire proposal, according to an Egyptian state-owned TV station. The team will return to Cairo with a written response to the proposal, the report added.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel plans on opening a major crossing to allow aid to flow into the hard-hit northern Gaza Strip
- Hamas and Fatah expressed the will to seek reconciliation during talks in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Tuesday.
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. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters, AP)
