US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Europe's top diplomat Josep Borrell were due in the Middle East on Jan 5 to try to halt the spillover of the conflict in Gaza to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Red Sea shipping lanes.
The visits take place almost three months since the assault on southern Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza sparked an Israeli offensive that Palestinian health officials say has killed 22,600 people and left much of the enclave in ruins.
Israel, which says it has killed 8,000 militants since the deaths of 1,200 people in the Hamas attack on Oct 7, announced a more targeted approach in the war as Mr Blinken set off on a week-long tour of the region.
But Palestinians said Israeli planes and tanks had intensified attacks overnight on densely populated Al-Maghazi, Al-Bureij and Al-Nusseirat in the centre of the coastal strip. Some 162 Gazans were killed in the past 24 hours, Palestinian health officials said.
Four others were killed in an air strike on a street in Al-Nusseirat, they said, while further south, where hundreds of thousands of Gazans have moved to on Israeli advice, six were killed in a strike on Khan Younis.
"The Israeli government claims democracy and humanity, but is inhumane," Mr Abdel Razek Abu Sinjar said, as he cried over the shrouded bodies of his wife and children killed in a Jan 4 strike on his house in Rafah on the Egyptian border.
Artillery shelling renewed near the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, and aid agency MSF said its workers were cornered in southern Gaza, less and less able to provide desperately needed help.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 06, 2024 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 06, 2024 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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