France hosts a “humanitarian conference” in a bid to help Gaza, rolled out by its President Emmanuel Macron, to try and unlock aid to Gaza almost impossible due to Israel’s relentless bombings since the bloody attack by Hamas on October 7. The United States struck a “weapons storage facility” in Syria related to Iran on Wednesday in response to attacks on its personnel. Follow the situation in the Middle-East hour by hour.
3:50: A “humanitarian conference” on Gaza opens in Paris
France, at the request of President Emmanuel Macron, hosts a “humanitarian conference” Thursday in an attempt to unlock aid to Gaza, made almost impossible by Israel’s relentless bombings since the bloody attack by Hamas on October 7. The Israeli government will not be represented at this conference organized at the Élysée, but French President has spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and will speak to him again afterwards, according to the Élysée.
Emmanuel Macron also had Tuesday telephone conversations with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim ben Hamad Al-Thani, whose countries play a key role in improving the delivery of aid in the Gaza Strip, where 2.4 million Palestinians are packed. However, Arab countries will not be represented at the highest level a priori. The Palestinian Authority will be represented by its Prime Minister and Egypt, which controls in Rafah the only crossing point to Gaza that is not held by Israel, will send a ministerial delegation.
3:18: Bombings near Chifa Hospital in Gaza City
According to an AFP journalist, bombings resumed on Wednesday night in Chifa hospital, Gaza City, where, according to the UN, a second shipment of medical supplies arrived on Wednesday evening.
0:47: Nine dead in US strikes in Syria on a site linked to Iran
Nine people linked to Iran-supported groups were killed in the US strike in Deir Ezzor, in eastern Syria on Thursday, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). “Nine people working for groups supported by Iran were killed in US strikes on sites used by pro-Iranian groups,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the UK-based NGO with a vast network of sources in Syria, said to AFP.
0:06: A “more targeted” offensive by Israel in Gaza is “vital”
A “more targeted” offensive by Israel in Gaza is “vital”, influential American Democratic senator Chris Murphy said, in an interview with AFP. “I think the number of civilians killed is too high and a more targeted offensive would be important and critical,” said the senator, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
0:05: The United States strikes a site linked to Iran in Syria
The United States struck on Wednesday a “weapons storage facility” in Syria which, according to them, is linked to Iran, in response to attacks on US personnel, said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “US military forces carried out a self-defense strike on a site in eastern Syria used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups,” the Pentagon chief said in a statement.
“The strike was carried out by two US F-15 fighters against a weapons storage facility,” he said. According to him, the strike is “a response to a series of attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria,” attacks attributed to Iranian forces present, like the US military, in these two countries. The United States “are fully prepared to take further necessary measures” to protect their military personnel and installations, Lloyd Austin warned.
– The Israeli Prime Minister again on Wednesday ruled out any ceasefire without the release of the hostages
– Fifty thousand civilians fled on Wednesday from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south, said the Israeli army, as the fighting between its soldiers and Hamas focused on the north of the territory where the city of Gaza is located.
– The Palestinian Health Ministry Hamas said Wednesday that 10,569 people have been killed in Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip since October 7. Among the dead are 4,324 children and 2,823 women, it said.
– On the Israeli side, at least 1,400 people have died, mostly civilians killed on the same day as the Hamas attack, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli army has released the names of two soldiers killed in fighting in Gaza, bringing to 33 the number of soldiers killed since the beginning of the ground offensive.
– Thirteen NGOs, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Amnesty International, called on French President Emmanuel Macron and the other leaders and officials expected Thursday in Paris for an international humanitarian conference, “to do everything in their power to obtain an immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.
04:36
– Three “non-Syrian pro-Iranian fighters” were killed on Wednesday in Israeli airstrikes targeting positions of the Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Damascus and the Palestinian Hamas, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Other Israeli airstrikes targeted Syrian anti-aircraft defense sites in the south of the country.
– Donatella Rovera, a special advisor on crises and armed conflicts for Amnesty International, was a guest of France 24. “I have never seen a disaster of this magnitude unfolding before the eyes of the whole world without any action to stop it,” she said.
14:01
With AFP, Reuters and AP
