Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday called for Hamas militants to lay down their arms, saying the Palestinian Islamist group's end was near. Netanyahu's comments came after Israeli tanks battled their way to the centre of Khan Younis on Sunday in a major new push into the heart of the main city in the southern Gaza Strip. Hamas warned Sunday that no hostages would leave Gaza alive unless its demands for prisoner releases are met. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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Summary:
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Israeli forces on Sunday pushed further into southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled in search of shelter from bombardments and intense fighting with Hamas militants.
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A French warship shot down two drones in the Red Sea that were heading towards it from the coast of Yemen, the French military said on Sunday. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Saturday threatened to attack any vessels heading to Israeli ports unless food and medicine were allowed into the besieged Gaza Strip.
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Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages, according to the Israeli government. Since then, 17,997 people have been killed in Israel's ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. At least 49,500 people have been wounded and at least 7,600 people are missing, according to the Hamas media office.
Yesterday's key developments:
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Israeli warplanes on Saturday pounded northern and southern Gaza, including areas in the south that were designated as safe areas for fleeing civilians.
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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday said he appreciated the US veto at the UN Security Council, blocking a demand for an immediate ceasefire, and declared the war in Gaza would continue.
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Bypassing Congress, the Biden administration on Saturday said it approved the emergency sale of tank ammunition worth more than $106 million to Israel.
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Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the US UN Security Council veto, declaring that it made the US complicit in war crimes against Palestinians.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
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)
