Gaza health ministry reports 147 deaths over past 24 hours; death toll at 23,357 now
\nGAZA\/ WEST BANK
\nUS top diplomat Antony Blinken told Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday that Washington supports \u201ctangible steps\u201d towards the creation of a Palestinian state.
\nAbbas is later set to discuss a \u201cpush for an immediate ceasefire\u201d in talks with Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba.
\nAs the US secretary of state arrived under tight security in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, protesters held up signs that read \u201cStop the genocide\u201d, \u201cFree Palestine\u201d and \u201cBlinken out\u201d.
\nBlinken reiterated Washington\u2019s longstanding position that a Palestinian state must stand alongside Israel, \u201cwith both living in peace and security\u201d, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
\nPalestinian statehood was anticipated following the Oslo Accords of the 1990s but talks have been moribund for years.
\nThe Israeli government has shown no interest in reviving negotiations and the Palestinian leadership remains split between the Palestinian Authority, headed by Abbas, and Hamas which rules Gaza.
\nIn talks with Abbas in the occupied West Bank, Blinken mentioned \u201cincreased volatility\u201d in the territory, where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in raids by the Israeli military or attacks by Jewish settlers in recent months.
\nAs part of efforts to stabilise the territory, Blinken called on Israel to hand over revenues owed to the Palestinians in full.
\nBlinken \u201cunderscored the United States\u2019 position that all Palestinian tax revenues collected by Israel should be consistently conveyed to the Palestinian Authority in accordance with prior agreements,\u201d Miller said.
\nIsrael has for years withheld part of the funds, over issues including payments to Palestinian prisoners and more recently the Gaza war.
\nGlobal concern has flared over the spiralling humanitarian crisis, and Blinken — while voicing continued US political and military support for top regional ally Israel — has urged steps to reduce the surging civilian death toll.
\nDire shortages brought by an Israeli siege mean the \u201cdaily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high,\u201d Blinken said on Tuesday at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
\nAmid the latest round of US crisis diplomacy, the Gaza war raged on unabated. The Israeli army said it had killed dozens of \u201cterrorists\u201d and hit another 150 targets in Gaza\u2019s central Maghazi and southern Khan Yunis areas.
\nIsraeli troops claimed to have found 15 tunnel shafts as well as rocket launchers, missiles, drones and explosives in Al-Maghazi and destroyed machinery for producing the rockets that have been fired at Israel.
\nThe Gaza health ministry confirmed on Wednesday that at least 23,357 people have been killed in Israel\u2019s relentless military campaign in more than three months of war between Palestinian resistance group Hamas and Israel.
\nThe toll includes 147 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while 59,410 people have been wounded across the Palestinian territory since war erupted on October 7, 2023.
\nThousands of Gazans are reported to be missing as Israel\u2019s relentless bombardment has reduced much of the city to rubble
\nThe war started when Hamas launched its unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel. Militants also took around 250 hostages, of whom Israel says 132 remain in Gaza including at least 25 believed to have been killed.
\nThe Israeli army says 186 of its soldiers have been killed inside Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gaza health ministry reports 147 deaths over past 24 hours; death toll at 23,357 now GAZA\/ WEST BANK US top diplomat Antony Blinken told Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday that Washington supports \u201ctangible steps\u201d towards the creation of a Palestinian state. Abbas is later set to discuss a \u201cpush for an immediate ceasefire\u201d in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-380042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n