Biden orders US military to establish Gaza port for aid deliveries
President Joe Biden will tell Congress on Thursday that he has ordered the US military to set up a port in Gaza to get more humanitarian aid into the beleaguered territory by sea, senior US officials have said. Talks for a truce in Gaza have not yet “broken down”, the US ambassador to Israel said Thursday, after a Hamas delegation voiced dissatisfaction with Israel’s positions. Read FRANCE 24's blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
Issued on: Modified:
This liveblog is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary:
- A senior Hamas official confirmed Thursday that the group’s delegation in talks seeking a Gaza truce left Cairo for consultations in Doha, while voicing dissatisfaction with Israel’s responses so far. A Hamas official, Mahmoud Mardawi, said that the fate of negotiations now depended on Washington. “It is now in Washington’s hands whether it wants to pressure (Israeli premier Benjamin) Netanyahu and his government to reach an agreement,” Mardawi said.
- China's foreign minister Wang Yi on Thursday called Israel's war in Gaza a "disgrace for civilisation" and reiterated Beijing's calls for an "immediate ceasefire". China also reiterated its call for other members of the UN Security Council stop blocking Palestine from becoming a member of the United Nations as a first step towards the creation of a Palestinian state.
- Three crew members of the True Confidence dry bulk carrier were killed in a missile attack off Yemen on Wednesday, the owners and manager of the ship confirmed in a statement on Thursday, marking the first fatalities since the Houthi rebels began targeting shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war.
- At least 30,800 Palestinians have been killed and 72,298 wounded since Israel started its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in 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:
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Efforts to get desperately needed humanitarian aid to war-wracked northern Gaza gained momentum Wednesday, with the European Union increasing pressure for the creation of a sea route from Cyprus to Gaza and British Foreign Minister David Cameron saying that Israel’s allies were losing patience.
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A missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden killed three of its crew members and forced survivors to abandon the vessel on Wednesday, authorities said.
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The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it would continue working towards achieving a ceasefire in Gaza with Israel despite the absence of Israeli negotiators from the latest round of talks in Cairo, which entered their fourth day on Wednesday.
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The World Health Organization has reported children dying of starvation in two northern Gaza hospitals, and US Vice President Kamala Harris expressed "deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza".
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, Reuters)
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