Deadly Israeli air strikes hit Rafah, Paris to host Gaza ceasefire talks

Summary:

• Israeli negotiators will take part in new Gaza ceasefire talks in Paris this weekend, source and media say.

• The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned Thursday it has reached a ‘breaking point’ as it struggles to cope with the war in Gaza.

• Leaders of major UN and humanitarian organisations are calling on Israel to provide food and medicine and facilitate aid deliveries to the 2.3 million Palestinians in conflict-wracked Gaza – and on world leaders “to prevent an even worse catastrophe from happening”.

• G20 nations broadly back a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East, host Brazil said Thursday after a meeting of top diplomats, adding to pressure on Israel to accept an independent Palestinian state.

• At least 29,410 people have been killed and 69,465 wounded in Israeli strikes in Gaza, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, according to Israeli officials. Around 250 people were taken hostage during the attack and 132 are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.

• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called on the international community on Thursday to take a more active role towards an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during talks at the G20 meeting in Brazil, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
• A shooting attack on Thursday near a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank killed one person and wounded eight, Israeli police said. Violence in the West Bank has escalated since the start of the Gaza war to levels unseen in nearly two decades, with hundreds killed in recent months.

• Yemen’s Houthis have introduced “submarine weapons” in their attacks on seagoing vessels, which they say they are carrying out in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, according to their leader.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, Reuters)