Here are the highlights from the last 24 hours:
◾ Palestinians in Gaza hope for the arrival of humanitarian aid today after more than ten days of siege by Israel. Egyptian broadcaster AlQahera News, which is close to Egyptian intelligence, said last night that the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, the only one not controlled by Israel, would open today.
◾ During a speech to the nation, US President Joe Biden indicated that he would today ask the US Congress to “urgently” fund aid to Israel and Ukraine, “our essential partners”. Joe Biden also drew a parallel between Hamas and Vladimir Putin, who “both want to completely destroy a democracy.”
◾ The Hamas government’s Interior Ministry assured yesterday that many displaced people who had sought refuge in the compound of a church in Gaza had been killed and others injured in an Israeli attack. When questioned by AFP, the Israeli army said it was verifying this information.
◾ The Israeli army’s invasion of Gaza is becoming increasingly imminent. According to Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat, the soldiers had a “green light” to enter the small enclave. For his part, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on ground forces to “organize” and “be ready” to enter the Gaza Strip, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the south of the Hebrew state to address troops deployed along the small Palestinian territory were gathered.
◾ The death toll from Tuesday’s attack on Gaza’s Ahli Arab Hospital is “probably at the lower end of a range between 100 and 300” dead, according to a statement from American intelligence seen by AFP yesterday. Excerpts. This summary sent to Congress confirms, as Joe Biden stated on Wednesday, that Israel “probably did not bomb the hospital in Gaza.”
◾ The Lebanese army accused Israel last night of killing a member of a “team of journalists” reporting on tensions between Hezbollah, Palestinian factions and Israel in the south of the country. The Lebanese Peacekeeping Force (UNIFIL) said earlier that one person had been killed after civilians were caught in cross-border shootings in the south.
◾ More than 1,400 people were killed in Israeli territory in the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, according to the latest report. An Israeli army spokesman also said yesterday that the families of 206 people believed to have been captured by Hamas and taken to Gaza had been informed. The nearly 30 hostages are believed to be children.
◾ On the Palestinian side, the authorities’ figures are more than 3,700 dead, mostly civilians, and 12,500 injured.
◾ The death toll of French nationals killed in Hamas attacks against Israel continued to rise to 28, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Lengendre.