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04-11-2023
JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY: Israel continues deadly air attacks on Gaza early on Friday, even as the number of people killed in the Palestinian enclave rises to at least 9,061. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel.
The Israeli military says it has surrounded Gaza City and is pressing forward, with a spokesperson adding that a ceasefire is “not on the table” despite international pressure.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads on Friday to Israel, his third trip since October 7, to discuss “concrete steps” to minimize harm to Gaza civilians even as Washington, DC, resists a ceasefire call.
Republican-led US House of Representatives passes a bill providing $14.3bn in aid to Israel, but linking it to domestic spending cuts.
Israel says 19 soldiers and officers have been killed since the Gaza ground invasion began.
Israel’s ground troops have reportedly advanced toward Gaza City as diplomatic efforts are intensifying for at least a brief pause in the fighting in Gaza’s deadliest war amid outrage over the increasing casualties.
US President Joe Biden has suggested a humanitarian “pause”, without calling for a ceasefire, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected back in the region on Friday.
Arab countries, including those allied with the US and at peace with Israel, have expressed mounting unease with the war.
The opening of the Rafah border crossing, allowing hundreds of foreign passport holders and wounded Palestinians to leave Gaza on Wednesday, followed weeks of talks among Egypt, Israel, the U.S. and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.
Israel has so far killed 9,061 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 3,760 children, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza. Israeli strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp on Tuesday and Wednesday, which caused outrage around the world, have killed 195 people and injured 777.
Israel has been indiscriminately bombarding the Gaza Strip since October 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,400 people and taking around 240 hostages.
In the occupied West Bank, 132 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
