Militant group won’t discuss releasing more hostages until Israel ends its Gaza campaign, says adviser to leader Ismail Haniyeh, while Israeli PM vows to continue war ‘to the end’
Welcome back to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. I’m Adam Fulton and here’s a rundown on the latest development to bring you up to speed.
The prospects for an exchange deal involving the release of more hostages in Gaza remains uncertain after Hamas said it would not discuss anything less than a complete end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
At least 12 people were killed in a series of explosions in Rafah in southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said. Dozens of people, including women and children, were wounded when the blasts occurred near the Kuwaiti hospital on Wednesday, it said. An Al Jazeera broadcast captured a strike near the hospital while one of its correspondents was live on air.
Israel ordered the evacuation of large areas of southern Gaza’s main city on Wednesday, the United Nations has said. Israel had released maps showing new areas covering about 20% of Khan Younis that had been marked for evacuation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has passed 20,000, Hamas says. According to the latest figures from the media office of the territory’s government, those killed since the war began on 7 October included about 8,000 children and 6,200 women.
The UN security council has postponed a vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza until Thursday as diplomats struggle to agree on the language of the draft resolution. The UN resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, has been changed several times amid reported policy differences inside the Biden administration.
