Gaza, 7-8-24

For today, links to ninereports from the Associated Press, Reuters, National Public Radio, Agence France-Presse, the Times of Israel, Middle East Eye, and Middle East Monitor; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

   

Israel deepens its operations in Gaza City, as pockets of militancy confront the military, by Samy Magdy and Wafaa Shurafa | AP  DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces deepened an operation in the Gaza Strip’s largest city in what the military said was meant to weed out militants, sending thousands of Palestinians fleeing today from an area already ravaged in the early weeks of the nine-month-long war. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from Reuters.

   

Cease-fire talks expected to resume this week as Hamas appears to soften demands. From AP.  Talks on a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip are expected to resume this week, with several officials saying the devastation caused by Israel’s nine-month offensive likely helped push Hamas to soften its demands. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from NPR.

   

Israeli minister: stopping Gaza war now would be folly. From Reuters. JERUSALEM — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said today it would be a huge mistake to stop Israel’s military offensive in Gaza now. Smotrich, who heads a pro-settler party which is part of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s governing coalition . . . READ MORE . . .

   

FROM JUNE 6 Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 16 killed in strike on school. From AFP. The Hamas authorities in Gaza said an Israeli strike on Saturday on a UN-run school where thousands of displaced were sheltering killed 16 people. Israel’s military said its aircraft had targeted “terrorists” operating around the Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, central Gaza. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from the Times of Israel.

    

Death toll from Israeli assault since last October could exceed 186,000, Lancet warns. From Middle East Eye. A letter written by experts and published in the British medical journal, the Lancet, estimates that the actual death toll of Palestinians killed in Gaza could exceed 186,000. The official death toll of Palestinians killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October is 38,153, according to Gaza’s health ministry. READ MORE . . .

   

Israel army launches ground offensive in Gaza City, targets UN office again. From Middle East Monitor. The Israeli army said early today it had launched a “ground operation” in Gaza City, against targets including headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, claiming it housed weapons and investigation and detention rooms, the Anadolu Agency reported. READ MORE . . .