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What happened today |
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■ As Israeli forces continue to push deeper into Gaza City, the IDF and Hamas are engaging in intense firefights including in the Jabalia refugee camp. The IDF says it has destroyed Hamas tunnels, a drone and weapons manufacturing site and anti-tank missile launch positions. ■ Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal lead a Hamas delegation to Egypt. Egypt’s foreign minister said he rejects any attempt to displace Palestinians from Gaza. ■ Israel’s Mossad chief traveled to Doha with CIA head William Burns to discuss with Qatar’s prime minister the parameters of a hostage deal and a pause in fighting in Gaza, a source briefed on the meeting told Reuters. ■ Israel has agreed to implement four-hour humanitarian pauses in northern Gaza each day, to be announced with three-hour advance warnings, U.S. National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said. ■ U.S. President Joe Biden said there was “no possibility” of a wholesale ceasefire in Gaza. ■ Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it was prepared to release two hostages for humanitarian reasons, then released a video of two Israelis they hold in Gaza, a boy and an elderly woman, praising their captors and criticizing PM Netanyahu. “Hamas wants to sustain a permanent state of conflict, so just living to fight another day will be seen as a victory by its leaders” – Alon Pinkas ■ Israel Police said 845 civilians (not including soldiers) killed since the war began have been identified so far. The IDF confirmed that the body of field observer Roni Eshel, considered missing since October 7, was identified. ■ The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reports that at least 10,812 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,412 children, since the war began. ■ Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that Israel's goal of eliminating Hamas “is not going to happen,” because the group is “also an idea,” rather than just a military organization. ■ NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO allies support humanitarian pauses to allow aid to reach Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron said that there must be a humanitarian pause very quickly in Gaza. Belgium's deputy prime minister called for sanctions against Israel and to investigate the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps. ■ In the north, the IDF and Hezbollah continued to trade fire across the Israel-Lebanon border. Minister Benny Gantz visited the border, and said that if the IDF is required to enter Lebanon, it will do so. ■ Israeli forces conducted rare daytime airstrikes in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, saying it targeted armed militants. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah, 14 people were killed in the strike. Three other Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces earlier on Thursday, according to the ministry. ■ As Germany marked the anniversary of the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “ashamed and outraged” at a recent wave of antisemitic incidents in Germany caused by the war in Gaza, warning Berlin would not tolerate such anti-Jewish hatred. A new poll by the Jewish Federations of North America shows three-quarters of U.S. Jews fear for their safety because of the rising antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. |
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