LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- Israeli military says it killed top Hamas weapons maker
- U.N. says number of people fleeing northern Gaza tripled between Monday and Tuesday
- Israeli defense minister says his troops are in Gaza City
- The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the death toll from Israeli attacks has surpassed 10,500.
- G7 backs Israel’s right to self-defense, while calling for pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian civilians
Israel’s military said Wednesday it killed a top Hamas weapons maker, as Israeli forces carry out air and ground attacks in Gaza targeting the militant group.
With Israeli forces operating in Gaza City, according to the country’s defense minister, more Palestinian civilians are fleeing the northern part of Gaza toward the southern part of the enclave.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated 15,000 people fled Tuesday, three times as many people as made the same trip the day before.
The U.N. warned of overcrowding in southern Gaza with shelters “unable to accommodate new arrivals.” About two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are displaced, according to the U.N., and they face worsening sanitary conditions and a lack of water and fuel.
Aid deliveries have reached Gaza through Egypt during the past two weeks, including 81 trucks on Tuesday. The U.N. says before the conflict began there were an average of 500 aid trucks going into Gaza each day.
Israel launched its offensive in response to an October 7 attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to the Israeli government. Hamas also took about 240 people hostage.
More than 10,500 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed in the Israeli bombings of Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
The U.N. said about 600 foreign and dual nationals left Gaza through an Egyptian border crossing on Tuesday.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines said in a video Wednesday that 40 Filipinos had crossed into Egypt and were on their way home.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said Wednesday that the first batch of Ukrainians to flee Gaza were safe in Egypt. He said 43 Ukrainians were able to leave Gaza, along with 36 citizens from Ukraine’s neighbor, Moldova.
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations issued a joint statement supporting Israel’s right to self-defense and calling for humanitarian pauses in the fighting to allow humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
“All parties must allow unimpeded humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, and access for humanitarian workers,” the statement said. “We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and the release of hostages.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said those calling for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict “have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring about: Hamas left in place with more than 200 hostages, with a capacity and stated intent to repeat October 7th again and again and again.”
Video report by Cindy Saine
He also outlined several elements the United States believes are key to lasting peace and security in the region, including no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, not allowing Gaza to be used as a source of attacks, no Israeli reoccupation of Gaza following the conflict, no attempts to blockade Gaza, and ensuring no terror threats can come from the West Bank.
Some information for this article was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
