The Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip did not stop overnight: according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, at least 13 people were killed in an attack on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the center of the Strip. Furthermore, according to the Palestinian agency, a woman and her daughter were killed in a shelling of a house southeast of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Agreement close, according to the Washington Post. But the White House denies it
Israel, Hamas and the United States are close to a preliminary agreement to free dozens of women and children hostages in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting. The Washington Post reports this, citing some sources, according to which the release of the hostages should begin in the next few days. Under the six-page agreement, all sides pledge to freeze combat operations for at least five days while 50 or more hostages are released in batches every 24 hours. Aerial surveillance will monitor movements on the ground. But the White House denies it: “There is still no agreement between Israel and Hamas on the hostages but “we continue to work hard to get there”. “We have not yet reached an agreement, but we continue to work hard to get there”, specified the White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson on X.
Biden asks to prepare measures against extremist settlers
Joe Biden is asking his closest aides to prepare visa bans and sanctions for extremist Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank. In a communication, addressed among others to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Biden asks to develop “options for rapid action against those responsible for violence in the West Bank” considering them a “serious threat” to peace between Israelis and Palestinians and a destabilizing force in the Middle East. In Biden’s sights – Politico reports citing the communication sent to Blinken and Yellen – there are people or entities that “directly or indirectly have engaged in actions or policies that threaten the security or stability of the West Bank”; those who “act to intimidate civilians in the West Bank with the aim or effect of forcible relocation”; or those whose actions “constitute human rights abuses and actions that impede the achievement of the two-State solution.”
For the WHO, al-Shifa is a “death zone”, towards immediate evacuation
291 patients and 25 healthcare workers remained at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza yesterday evening, for whom the World Health Organization (WHO) is studying an immediate and total evacuation plan. As announced yesterday by the head of the WHO Tedros Ghebreyesus, the organization yesterday carried out a mission at the hospital, which has been the target of raids by the Israeli army for days, now defining it as a “death zone”. “WHO and its partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of remaining patients, staff and their families,” the organization said in a statement.