A picture taken from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip shows smoke rising over buildings in Khan Yunis following Israeli bombardment on February 5, 2024 (Photo by Said KHATIB / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Egypt and Qatar to push for a truce deal between Israel and Hamas and the release of captives in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Cairo expressed its concern of an expansion of combat to the Rafah area, pushing hundreds of thousands of terrified Palestinian civilians across the border – a scenario Egypt says it is determined to prevent.
Meanwhile, the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says “There is nothing left” describing leveled infrastructure in northern Gaza.
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[9:40 pm Doha Time] US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during joint-press conference with Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani
"We witnessed the results of the first ceasefire; 105 detainees released, increase flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the repairing of infrastructure in Gaza, and most importantly, reducing regional tensions at the same time.
In our efforts, we are fortunate to have Qatar as a partner. We appreciate Qatar's partnership and its essential and indispensable role in mediation."
(Pic by Rajan Vadakkemuriyil / The Peninsula)
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[8:40 pm Doha Time] Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani during joint-press conference with US Secretary of State HE Anthony Blinken:
"This war so far has claimed over 27,000 lives in Gaza and wounded over 66,000 most of them women and children. It is time for a firm international position against this destructive war and any criminal action that could further escalate the violence."
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani during joint-press conference with US Secretary of State HE Anthony Blinken: This war so far has claimed over 27,000 lives in Gaza and wounded over 66,000 most of them women and… pic.twitter.com/mea2k0rXV6
— The Peninsula Qatar (@PeninsulaQatar) February 6, 2024
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[4pm Doha Time] Israeli forces continue to besiege Khan Younis hospital, says doctor
Dr Nahed Abu Taima, the director of the surgical division at the Nasser Medical Complex, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army is continuing to besiege the hospital while also targeting its vicinity.
“Since the siege, we have received 630 wounded patients, most of them seriously injured,” he said.
“We face major and serious challenges, including severe shortages of fuel and medical supplies. We also have a huge shortage of medical personnel.”
Abu Taima added that the accumulation of waste in and around the hospital poses a serious health disaster.
[1:50pm Doha Time] Israel’s evacuation orders cover more than 2/3 of Gaza Strip
Israel’s evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip now cover two-thirds of the territory, or 246 square kilometers (95 square miles), United Nations humanitarian monitors said Tuesday.
The affected area was home to 1.78 million Palestinians, or 77% of Gaza’s population, before the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7.
Early on in the war, Israel’s military began ordering Palestinians in the northern half of the territory to leave their homes, ostensibly to get out of the way of eventual ground combat.
At the same time, Israeli aircraft continued to attack in the southern half, where residents had been told to take refuge.
[11:56 am Doha Time] Occupation's bombing of residential apartment kills six in Khan Younis
Six Palestinian citizens were martyred and others were injured Tuesday in an Israeli occupation's bombing of a residential apartment in Hamad Town, northwest of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip.
Entering its 123rd day, Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip has intensified with air, land and sea bombardment in various areas, concentrated in the west of Gaza City, the north of the Strip, and the eastern areas of Khan Younis, according to the Palestinian news agency (WAFA).
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[11:55 am Doha Time] Al-Quds Brigades in fierce clashes with Israel’s army in Khan Younis
Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, says it engaged in “fierce clashes” with Israeli soldiers and military vehicles in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Fighters used antitank rockets and small-arms fire during clashes in the centre, west, and south of Gaza’s second-largest city, the group said in a statement on Telegram.
Khan Younis, once declared a ’safe zone’ by the Israeli army, has been the focus of clashes in recent days, as Israeli troops expand operations in the south of Gaza.
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[11:45 am Doha Time] 107 people killed in a dozen Israeli attacks over the past day
Israeli forces carried out 12 separate attacks on Gaza in the last 24 hours, killing 107 people and injuring 143 others, the Health Ministry says.
The total death toll since October 7 reached 27,585 Palestinians with 66,978 wounded, it said in a statement.
The Israeli military has prevented ambulances and civil defence crews from reaching injured people and Palestinians stuck under the rubble, it noted.
A picture taken from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip shows smoke rising over buildings in Khan Yunis following Israeli bombardment on February 5, 2024 (Photo by Said KHATIB / AFP)
[11:17 am Doha Time] Blinken seeks progress on Gaza cease-fire-for-hostages deal in meetings with Egyptian mediators
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Cairo on Tuesday for a meeting with Egyptian leaders that US officials said would concentrate mainly on the task of negotiating a cease-fire in the Israel's war on Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages.
Blinken's visit also comes amid growing concerns in Egypt about Israel's stated intentions to expand the combat in Gaza to areas on the Egyptian border that are crammed with displaced Palestinians. Read more
[10:05 am Doha Time] Attack on UNRWA aid convoy a ‘flagrant’ violation of international law
The UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, condemned an attack by the Israeli military on an UNRWA truck carrying humanitarian aid in Gaza, saying it “undermines desperate relief efforts”.
“Targeting humanitarian aid convoys is a flagrant [international humanitarian law] violation,” Albanese wrote on X.
The truck came under fire from the Israeli navy as it waited to carry food supplies into northern Gaza, where people are facing starvation.
Targeting humanitarian aid convoys is a flagrant IHL violation, which undermines desperate relief efforts/ exacerbates human suffering, contrary to what ICJ ordered 12d ago.
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) February 6, 2024
At a time where the risk of genocide is so flagrant, urgent measures must be taken.Agst Israel,not the UN https://t.co/l3dc309jZc
[07am Doha Time] Displaced Palestinian families seek shelter from war in Rafah cemetery
Displaced Palestinians are trying to live where others are buried.
With no place safe from Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, desperate families have set up tents among the tombstones in a Rafah cemetery.
“We’ve run out of space. We are living among the dead,” one resident of the cemetery told Al Jazeera as fresh graves were being dug nearby, where children now play.
Watch the full report by Al Jazeera:
