Palestinian hospital officials said Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip killed at least five people. More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it prepares for an offensive in the city. The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in the area in what appears to be preparations for an invasion of Rafah. Read our liveblog to follow today’s developments in the Middle East.
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Summary:
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The United States military has begun construction of a pier to boost deliveries of desperately needed aid to Gaza, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
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Between 80,000 and 100,000 Palestinians have crossed into Egypt from Gaza since the start of the war triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the Palestinian ambassador to Cairo said Thursday.
- The leaders of the United States, Britain, France and more than a dozen other countries called in a joint statement Thursday for Hamas to release the scores of hostages it has been holding in Gaza for more than 200 days.
- A Palestinian civil defence team on Thursday called on the United Nations to investigate what it said were war crimes at a Gaza hospital, saying nearly 400 bodies were recovered from mass graves after Israeli soldiers departed the complex.
- At least 34,305 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 77,293 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
06:09am: Columbia University drops deadline for dismantling pro-Palestinian protest camp
Columbia University retreated in a statement late Thursday from a midnight (0400 GMT Friday) deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to abandon an encampment there as more college campuses in the United States battled to prevent occupations from taking hold.
“The talks have shown progress and are continuing as planned,” the office of Columbia University president Minouche Shafik said “We have our demands; they have theirs.”
06:07am: Ship comes under attack in the Gulf of Aden
A ship traveling in the Gulf of Aden came under attack Thursday, officials said, the latest assault likely carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels over the Israel-Hamas war.
Meanwhile, a top Hamas political official told The Associated Press that the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel.
The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct 7. raid into Southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
06:00am: North Gaza still headed towards famine, UN food agency says
Northern Gaza is still heading toward famine because Israel hasn’t allowed the daily delivery of food and other critical items for hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need, the UN food agency’s deputy chief says.
Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of the World Food Program, said Thursday that a little progress has been made since Israel made commitments on April 5 to speed up aid deliveries, but not enough.
Seven to 12 trucks have gone to the area every other day, or every third day in the last three weeks, he said, with at least 30 trucks needed each day.
“We haven’t seen that paradigm shift that is needed to avert a famine,” Skau said.
On a positive note, Skau said 16 bakeries are now open in Gaza, delivering some 60,000 bags of bread every day.
Yesterday’s key developments:
- The Arabic language spokesperson of the US State Department has resigned, citing her opposition to Washington’s policy related to the war in Gaza, in at least the third resignation from the department over the issue
- The Israeli government sought another deferral on Thursday of a looming Supreme Court-enforced deadline for it to come up with a new military conscription plan that would address mainstream anger at exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews.
- Hamas released a video on Wednesday showing a well-known Israeli-American man who was among hundreds of people abducted by militants in the attacks that ignited the war in Gaza.
FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
