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🔴 Live: UN Security Council Gaza truce vote postponed until Wednesday
The UN Security Council struggled to find a unified voice Tuesday on pausing the Israel-Hamas war as aid efforts neared collapse and global economic fallout spread. With calls growing for a new truce, Qatar-based Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh is to visit Egypt on Wednesday for talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange with Israel, a source close to the Islamist group said. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+1)
Issued on:
Summary:
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In Gaza, residents of Khan Younis on Wednesday reported intensifying gun battles between Hamas fighters and Israeli forces in the centre and eastern districts of the southern city.
- A United Nations Security Council vote on a Gaza ceasefire resolution was postponed again until Wednesday as negotiations continued in an effort to head off another veto by the United States, diplomatic sources said.
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Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh is due in Cairo later on Wednesday, according to diplomatic sources.
- A more precise picture of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel has emerged from security data, confirming the unprecedented scale of the violence but also challenging some initial testimonies. The final death toll from the attack is now thought to be 1,139, among them 695 Israeli civilians including 36 children, 373 security forces and 71 foreigners. The revised figure excludes five people, four of them Israeli, still listed as missing by the prime minister’s office.
- At least 19,667 people have been killed in Israel’s ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip and at least 52,586 people wounded, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. At least 7,600 people are missing, according to the Hamas media office.
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Key developments from yesterday:
- The US and a host of other nations are creating a new force to protect ships transiting the Red Sea that have come under attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced early Tuesday in Bahrain.
- Israeli President Isaac Herzog signalled readiness on the part of the country on Tuesday to enter another foreign-mediated “humanitarian pause” in fighting to recover more hostages held by Hamas and enable more aid to reach Gaza.
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN’s counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Israel
- Hamas
- Gaza Strip
- Binyamin Netanyahu
- Israel-Hamas war