Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel’s war with Palestinian militant group Hamas will “continue for many months until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are returned”. Netanyahu was speaking at a news conference hours after the health ministry in Gaza said more than 21,670 people have been killed and more than 56,160 injured from Israeli strikes in the enclave since October 7, the date of the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel. Read our live blog for all the day's developments.
Summary:
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Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry said, after the army reported he allegedly carried out a car ramming. The incident came a day after Israeli troops shot dead another Palestinian who the military said rammed a car into people near Hebron, wounding four according to medics.
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Air strikes in eastern Syria that a rights monitor said were "likely" launched by Israel on Saturday killed at least 19 pro-Iran fighters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighters, including four Syrians and six Iraqis, were killed in at least nine strikes overnight near the Iraqi border.
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Israeli tanks pushed deeper into districts in central and southern Gaza overnight under heavy air and artillery fire, residents told Reuters. Fighting late on Friday and early Saturday was focused in al-Bureij, Nuseirat, Maghazi and Khan Younis, backed by intensive air strikes that filled hospitals with injured Palestinians.
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The United States on Friday announced the approval of a $147.5 million sale of 155mm high-explosive artillery munitions and related equipment to Israel under an emergency provision that waives the usual congressional review.
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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 21,672 people have been killed and 56,165 injured in Israel's ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Israel rejected South Africa's launch of a genocide case against it as a baseless "blood libel" with no legal merit and said it was abiding by international law in its war on Hamas in Gaza.
- World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "very concerned" about the growing threat of infectious diseases in the Gaza Strip.
- The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Friday an aid convoy came under fire by the Israeli military without causing any casualties.
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)
