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| Blinken flies in to Israel to meet Netanyahu as IDF pushes further into Gaza city | Blinken flies in to Israel to meet Netanyahu as IDF pushes further into Gaza city |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| US secretary of state expected to urge effort to minimise harm to civilians as Israel’s military continues operation to encircle key city in Palestinian territory | US secretary of state expected to urge effort to minimise harm to civilians as Israel’s military continues operation to encircle key city in Palestinian territory |
| The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has arrived in Israel, where he is expected to call for localised pauses in fighting to allow aid into Gaza, as Israel’s military said it had surrounded the Palestinian territory’s biggest city and was moving further into the centre and fighting in close quarters. | |
| As Blinken left Washington, he said he would discuss concrete steps to minimise harm to civilians in Gaza when he holds talks with Benjamin Netanyahu. It is his second meeting with Israel’s prime minister since the war began nearly a month ago, when Hamas militants killed 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages. | As Blinken left Washington, he said he would discuss concrete steps to minimise harm to civilians in Gaza when he holds talks with Benjamin Netanyahu. It is his second meeting with Israel’s prime minister since the war began nearly a month ago, when Hamas militants killed 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages. |
| Since then, Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza have killed at least 9,061 people, including 3,760 children, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday, drawing warnings from independent United Nations experts that Palestinians in the territory were at “grave risk of genocide”. | Since then, Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza have killed at least 9,061 people, including 3,760 children, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday, drawing warnings from independent United Nations experts that Palestinians in the territory were at “grave risk of genocide”. |
| On my way to Tel Aviv for more diplomacy during an incredibly challenging time. We will continue to work with regional leaders to protect civilians and prevent the spread of conflict. We remain focused on two states and broader peace and security in the region. pic.twitter.com/V4wkXQXy6U | On my way to Tel Aviv for more diplomacy during an incredibly challenging time. We will continue to work with regional leaders to protect civilians and prevent the spread of conflict. We remain focused on two states and broader peace and security in the region. pic.twitter.com/V4wkXQXy6U |
| “We call on Israel and its allies to agree to an immediate ceasefire. We are running out of time,” the group of UN special rapporteurs said in a statement. | “We call on Israel and its allies to agree to an immediate ceasefire. We are running out of time,” the group of UN special rapporteurs said in a statement. |
| Blinken’s arrival came as thousands of cross-border Palestinian workers and labourers in Israel and the occupied West Bank were sent back to Gaza on Friday. | |
| On Friday afternoon, Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the influential Iran-backed Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, will break weeks of silence with a broadcast from Beirut, which comes in the wake of a rise in violence on Israel’s northern border. | |
| Hezbollah said on Thursday it had simultaneously attacked 19 positions in Israel on Thursday evening. The clashes have so far been mostly contained to the frontier, and Hezbollah has used only a fraction of the firepower that Nasrallah has been threatening with Israel for years. | Hezbollah said on Thursday it had simultaneously attacked 19 positions in Israel on Thursday evening. The clashes have so far been mostly contained to the frontier, and Hezbollah has used only a fraction of the firepower that Nasrallah has been threatening with Israel for years. |
| According to some estimates, about 50 Hezbollah fighters have died since 7 October in exchanges in which it has tried to target Israeli positions with anti-tank missiles. | According to some estimates, about 50 Hezbollah fighters have died since 7 October in exchanges in which it has tried to target Israeli positions with anti-tank missiles. |
| The US national security spokesperson John Kirby said of Nasrallah’s speech: “I don’t believe we’ve seen any indication yet specifically that Hezbollah is ready to go in full force. So we’ll see what he has to say.” | |
| Following Joe Biden’s stated support for a pause in fighting to allow time for hostage releases, Kirby said on Thursday the White House was exploring the idea of “as many pauses as might be necessary to continue to get aid out and to continue to work to get people out safely, including hostages”. | |
| The White House has said any pauses in fighting should be temporary and localised, and insisted they would not stop Israel defending itself. | |
| Blinken is due to meet Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, in Amman on Saturday. In a statement, Safadi said Israel must end the war on Gaza, where he said it was committing war crimes by bombing civilians and imposing a siege. | |
| Reuters journalists said thousands of Palestinian workers in Israel and the occupied West Bank were sent back to Gaza on Friday. Some of the workers returned through the Kerem Shalom crossing east of the Rafah border crossing between the besieged Gaza Strip and Egypt, they said. | |
| Workers crossing into the Palestinian enclave said they have been detained and ill-treated by Israeli authorities after the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel. Some still had plastic stickers carrying numbers around their legs. | |
| “We used to serve them, work for them, in houses, in restaurants, and in markets in return for the lowest prices and despite that we were humiliated,” said Jamal Ismail, a worker from the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. | |
| Those from areas in northern Gaza would have to stay in the south after Israeli forces have completed cutting off roads late on Thursday, according to Palestinian officials. | |
| Israel said late on Thursday it would “sever all contact with Gaza”, sending back all Palestinian workers who came from the territory. “Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza,” the Israeli security cabinet said, without specifying how many people would be sent back. | |
| Before the Israel-Hamas conflict started, Israel had issued work permits to 18,500 people from Gaza, according to Cogat, the Israeli defence body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs. | |
| In Gaza, mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians, along with acute shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, have intensified calls by global leaders for a pause in fighting or a ceasefire. | In Gaza, mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians, along with acute shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, have intensified calls by global leaders for a pause in fighting or a ceasefire. |
| Israel has dismissed those calls, saying it targets Hamas fighters whom it accuses of intentionally hiding among the population and civilian buildings. The White House has also rejected calls for a ceasefire. | |
| Israel has said it has lost 18 soldiers and killed dozens of militants since ground operations expanded on Friday. | Israel has said it has lost 18 soldiers and killed dozens of militants since ground operations expanded on Friday. |
| The Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt was due to open for a third day on Friday for limited evacuations under a Qatari-brokered deal aimed at letting some foreign passport holders, their dependants and some wounded Palestinians out. | |
| According to border officials, more than 700 foreign citizens left for Egypt via Rafah on the two previous days. Dozens of critically injured Palestinians were to cross, too. Israel asked foreign countries to send hospital ships for them. | According to border officials, more than 700 foreign citizens left for Egypt via Rafah on the two previous days. Dozens of critically injured Palestinians were to cross, too. Israel asked foreign countries to send hospital ships for them. |
| More than one-third of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are not functioning, with many turned into impromptu refugee camps. | |
| “The situation is beyond catastrophic,” said the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, describing packed corridors and many medics who were themselves bereaved and homeless. | “The situation is beyond catastrophic,” said the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, describing packed corridors and many medics who were themselves bereaved and homeless. |
| With Reuters and Agence France-Presse | With Reuters and Agence France-Presse |