US President Joe Biden and Qatar’s ruling emir, Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani spoke on Tuesday (local time) to discuss how to secure the release of the remaining Hamas-held hostages in Gaza.
Over 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza. They were captured by Hamas when they launched an unprecedented terrorist attack on southern Israel, killing over 1,100 people and taking over 250 hostages, of which they have released 110.
The kin of these hostages are concerned that their lives are in danger because of Hamas as well as Israel’s incessant airstrikes and the ongoing Gaza siege which Israeli government warned could last for months.
The number of dead in the coastal blockaded enclave has crossed the 20,000-mark, according to Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between Hamas terrorists and civilians, but most of the dead are women and children.
Here are the top updates from the Israel-Hamas war:
- US President Biden and Qatar Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani discussed “joint mediation efforts to calm the situation and reach a permanent ceasefire”. “(The leaders discussed) the urgent effort to secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas, including American citizens,” the White House readout said.
- Israel’s army chief Herzi Halevi signalled there would be no quick end to the war. “This war’s objectives are essential and not simple to achieve. This war’s objectives are essential and not simple to achieve,” Halevi told reporters.
- US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer met on Tuesday and discussed steps to improve the humanitarian situation in war-torn Gaza and minimise harm to civilians, according to a report by news agency AFP.
- Dermer and Sullivan discussed the proposal to moderate the intensity of the war and move on to the phase where Israel goes focus on high-value Hamas targets. They also discussed the eventual “governance and security in Gaza, a political horizon for the Palestinian people” if and when the war ends.
- The West Bank continues to see violence surge in violence following the October 7 attacks. The area partly governed by the Palestinian Authority and Israel government has witnessed raids almost regularly since the October 7 attacks. Israeli forces killed six people in air strikes on the Nur Shams refugee camp near the town of Tulkarem. News agencies AFP and the Associated Press said Israel carried out a raid. More than 300 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since the Gaza war erupted.
- Palestinians are relying on embedded SIM cards or eSIM cards for maintaining contact with the outside world as Gaza experienced another telecom breakdown on Tuesday.
- Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been suffering severe shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine, with only limited aid entering the territory. An estimated 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced, according to the UN.
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