Summary of what has happened so far…
– Israel carries out 250 attacks in 24 hours. The Israel Defense Forces have made public that they have carried out around 250 airstrikes in Gaza in the past 24 hours, which they said were attacks on Hamas tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure.
– Death toll in the Strip. Gaza’s Health Ministry has released a 212-page document containing the names and identification numbers of 7,028 Palestinians who the Hamas authorities, which control Gaza, say have been killed in Israeli bombings since October 7. The dead include 2,913 children who were murdered in less than three weeks.
– Joe Biden has questioned the reliability of reports on the number of deaths in Gaza. The President of the United States has stated that the Ministry of Health, which is submitting this report, is in the hands of Hamas. However, the US State Department indirectly relied on these figures by citing UN statistics based on Palestinian data. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has asked the White House for an apology from the president for his “shocking and dehumanizing” comments.
– Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch: “The Ministry of Health data is reliable.” Shakir told The Guardian that he saw no evidence that the numbers were manipulated. “We have been witnessing human rights violations in the Gaza Strip for three decades, including multiple rounds of hostilities. In general, we have found that the data provided by the Ministry of Health is reliable,” he said.
– Humanitarian aid is arriving in droves. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, twelve trucks carrying humanitarian aid, but without fuel, entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt this Thursday. In total, 72 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies have arrived in the enclave since the conflict began. Before the war, 100 people came in one day.
– European Union leaders met at the European Council summit in Brussels and reached an agreement on the Middle East. The Twenty-Seven called this Thursday for a “humanitarian pause” and the establishment of corridors for aid to the Gaza Strip, which is under siege by Israel in response to the Hamas attacks on October 7th. After more than six hours of semantic debate, the heads of state and government of member states have deepened their common position so that Palestinian civilians can receive “urgent” assistance.
– Hostages in the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli military, the confirmed number of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 7 has increased by two to 224. So far only four hostages have been released.