Rafah, Feb 13 (AP) The Palestinian death toll from an Israeli hostage rescue operation in a key Gaza city rose to 74 on Tuesday, officials in the war-ravaged enclave said, even as the warring sides appear to have made progress toward a deal that aims to bring about a cease-fire and free hostages held by Hamas.
The raid took place early Monday in Rafah, a city on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip where 1.4 million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting elsewhere in the Israel-Hamas war.
Women and children were among those killed in the airstrikes, Palestinian officials said.
The overall Palestinian death toll from the war in Gaza has surpassed 28,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. A quarter of Gaza's residents are starving.
The war began with Hamas' assault into Israel on October 7, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250.
Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Hamas captivity, while Hamas is holding the remains of roughly 30 others who were either killed on October 7 or died in captivity. Three hostages were mistakenly killed by the army after escaping their captors in December.
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— Biden says key elements' of a Gaza deal are on the table as he meets with Jordan's King Abdullah
— The Israeli military says it has rescued 2 hostages from captivity in the Gaza Strip.
— Timeline of the Israeli raid in Gaza that rescued two hostages and killed dozens of Palestinians
— Egypt is threatening to void its decades-old peace treaty with Israel. What does that mean?
— UN Palestinian aid agency says it's critical' to receive EU aid soon, but EU wants an audit first.
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HEZBOLLAH'S LEADER DANGLES TRUCE PROSPECT ALONG LEBANON-ISRAEL BORDER
Beirut:The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group indicated on Tuesday that it would halt its attacks on Israel and commit to a cease-fire in southern Lebanon after a settlement is reached in Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.
Hassan Nasrallah, however, said that the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is also an ally of the Palestinian militant Hamas group, would continue its attacks if Israel resumes cross-border fire.
“When there is a cease-fire in Gaza, we will stop in the south,” he said.
The remark was apparently in response to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's comments saying that strikes against the militant group won't stop even with a cease-fire in Gaza.
Nasrallah also called on residents in southern Lebanon to turn off their cellphones and cameras, warning them that they are key sources of Israeli intelligence gathering activities that are used to target Hezbollah officials and militants.
Since the October 7 eruption of the Israel-Hamas war, escalation along the Lebanon-Israeli border and prospects of a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah has terrified people on both sides of the border.
SOUTH AFRICA ASKS UN COURT TO CONSIDER WHETHER ISRAEL'S RAFAH OFFENSIVE IS A BREACH OF ITS PROVISIONAL ORDERS
Cape Town: The South African government said Tuesday it lodged an “urgent request” with the International Court of Justice to consider whether Israel's military operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah constitute a breach of the court's provisional orders handed down in its genocide case last month.
The request asks the UN court to determine whether Israel's actions in Rafah — where 1.4 million Palestinians from elsewhere in war-battered Gaza have fled to escape fighting — represents a “further imminent breach of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza.”
The African country is also asking the court in the Netherlands to consider further provisional measures against Israel, according to a statement released by the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
South Africa alleges that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in its war against Gaza's militant Hamas group.
The ICJ handed down a preliminary ruling last month in the case, issuing six orders, including asking Israel to do all it can to prevent the deaths of Palestinian civilians and the destruction of Gaza.
FRANCE SANCTIONS 28 RADICAL ISRAELI SETTLERS OVER WEST BANK VIOLENCE
Paris: The French foreign ministry said France has adopted sanctions against 28 “radical” Israeli settlers who have been involved in violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, banning them from French territory.
The measure comes as violence perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians increased in recent months, the ministry said, even as the world is focused on the Israeli-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip.
France “reaffirms its firm condemnation of this unacceptable violence,” it said, urging Israeli authorities “to put an end” to such acts and send perpetrators to trial.
The ministry also said France was working with its European partners to be able to adopt sanctions at the EU level. “Colonization is illegal under international law and must stop,” it added.
2 AL-JAZEERA JOURNALISTS WOUNDED IN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE NEAR RAFAH, NETWORK SAYS
Dubai: Al Jazeera says two of its journalists have been wounded in an Israeli airstrike near Rafah in the Gaza Strip, with one having to undergo an amputation.
The pan-Arab broadcaster, funded by Qatar, reported the strike on Tuesday and identified the wounded as cameraman Ahmad Matar and reporter Ismail Abu Omar.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
The channel quoted Dr. Muhammad al-Astal at the European Hospital in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip as saying that Abu Omar had his right foot amputated after suffering severe wounds, including shrapnel to his chest and head. The channel said doctors were trying to stop the bleeding and save his left leg.
Hamas' media office condemned what it called a “deliberate” attack by Israel's military on the two journalists, saying it was an attempt to “intimidate and terrorize” journalists.
The Israel-Hamas war has seen at least 85 journalists and media workers killed, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The agency said the fatalities are 78 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese.
WARRING SIDES SAID TO BE MAKING PROGRESS TOWARD A CEASE-FIRE DEAL, FREEING HOSTAGES
Cairo: A senior Egyptian official said mediators have achieved what he described as “relatively significant” progress in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas ahead of a scheduled meeting in Cairo on Tuesday of representatives from Qatar, the United States and Israel.
Israeli media reported the head of the spy agency Mossad, David Barnea, was in the Egyptian capital.
The Egyptian official said the meeting would focus on “crafting a final draft” of a six-week cease-fire deal, with guarantees that the parties would continue negotiations toward a permanent cease-fire.
A Western diplomat in the Egyptian capital also said a six-week deal was on the table but cautioned that more work is still needed to reach an agreement.
He said Tuesday's meeting would be crucial in bridging the remaining gaps to get the two sides to agree on a six-week truce and embark on talks for a final cease-fire deal.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive talks with the media.
GERMANY PRESSES FOR ESTABLISHING SAFE CORRIDORS' FOR CIVILIANS IN RAFAH
Berlin: Germany's foreign minister is pressing for establishing “safe corridors” for civilians facing an Israeli offensive in Rafah.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock received Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki in Berlin on Tuesday, a day before she is due to start her fifth trip to Israel since Hamas' October 7 attack that started the war.
Baerbock said that if Israel acts against Hamas in Rafah, “then it is our common responsibility, it is the responsibility of the Israeli army, to have safe corridors for the people who have sought safety there.”
She added that “these parents, these children, these families, cannot simply disappear into thin air. They can't go anywhere else.”
Baerbock renewed a call for “humanitarian cease-fires” to facilitate aid deliveries. She acknowledged the “incredible dilemma” created by Hamas hiding behind Gaza's civilian population.
RELATIVE OF A FREED ISRAELI HOSTAGE SAYS HIS MEDICATION WASN'T DELIVERED IN CAPTIVITY
Tel Aviv: A relative of one of the hostages Israel rescued in a daring mission this week in the Gaza Strip says he never received medicines that were part of a Qatar- and French-mediated deal meant to deliver treatment to sick captives held by Hamas in exchange for more aid for Palestinians.
Maayan Sigal-Koren told Israeli Army Radio on Tuesday that Louis Har, her mother's partner who was freed, was sent a hearing aid, glasses and medication but never received them.
Har, 70, has diabetes and hypertension for which he needs medication, among other conditions, according to the Hostage and Missing – Families Forum, an advocacy group supporting the families of the hostages.
Sigal-Koren said the fact that Har didn't have his meds compounded the challenges of being held captive. “It added to other difficulties there, the psychological difficulties, the difficulty that his freedom was taken away,” she said.
Israeli hospital officials said Har and fellow freed captive Fernando Marman were in good physical shape upon their release.
The Qatar- and France-mediated deal was meant to provide a three-months' supply of medications for 45 of the hostages. Qatar announced nearly a month ago that the medications had arrived in Gaza but there was never any confirmation that they had reached the hostages.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND BISHOPS CALLS FOR CEASE-FIRE IN GAZA
London: Bishops in the Church of England on Tuesday called for an immediate cease-fire in Israel's “relentless bombardment” of the Gaza Strip.
“The relentless bombardment of Gaza and its huge cost in civilian lives and civilian infrastructure must stop,” the House of Bishops said in a statement. “The manner in which this war is being prosecuted cannot be morally justified.”
The church joined a growing number of government leaders and heads of state that have called for a pause or cease-fire in Israel's war against Hamas for the militant group's Oct. 7 attack.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Monday said he was “deeply concerned” about Israel's offensive in Rafah and suggested it “stop and think seriously before it takes any further action.”
The bishops also condemned antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiment. They called for the release of all hostages and a cessation of missile attacks by Hamas.
“All sides must begin to imagine a future beyond this conflict: for a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” the bishops said. “This war can't result in the consolidation of a system of occupation that has for too long denied Palestinians their rights and freedoms.”
TURKEY'S ERDOGAN LASHES OUT AGAINST ISRAEL, DEMANDS IT HALT THE WAR IN GAZA
Dubai: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered blistering criticism of Israel, demanding it immediately recognize an independent Palestinian state and halt its war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas.
“We need to stop the massacre in Gaza now,” Erdogan said before the World Governments Summit in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
He criticized Israeli settlers taking land in the West Bank as some in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government called for settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Erdogan said setting aside Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage, “the source of the crisis today is the sustaining of the settlements on the Palestinian lands.”
“If Israel wants a permanent peace in the region, the proliferation-related vision should be stopped once and for all,” Erdogan said. “A free and independent Palestinian state should be recognised within the 1967 borders.”
He also called on funding to immediately resume for the United Nations' agency for Palestinians, known as UNRWA. Some nations have cut funding to the agency over Israeli accusations that some of its employees took part in the Oct. 7 attack.
CHINA CALLS ON ISRAEL TO STOP MILITARY OPERATIONS IN GAZA
Beijing: China has called on Israel to halt military operations in Gaza as soon as possible following a raid that rescued two hostages and killed at least 74 Palestinians.
The Foreign Ministry in Beijing added in a brief statement on Tuesday that Israel should “do everything possible to avoid casualties among innocent civilians and prevent a more devastating humanitarian disaster in Rafah.”
Israel has signalled its ground offensive may soon target Rafah, the town in the Gaza Strip where the hostages were freed by the raid.
China has consistently opposed the Israeli offensive, calling from the start for a cease-fire and talks to find a permanent solution to the crisis.
HEALTH MINISTRY IN GAZA SAYS 133 BODIES BROUGHT TO HOSPITALS OVER THE PAST DAY
Cairo: The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the bodies of 133 people killed in Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals in the war-wrecked territory over the past day.
Hospitals also received 162 wounded patients, the ministry said.
Also Tuesday, the death toll from an Israeli hostage rescue operation in the town of Rafah rose to 74, according to Dr. Marawan al-Hams, director of the local Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital. Israeli forces conducting the operation, which freed two hostages, were backed by heavy airstrikes.
The new fatalities brought the death toll in Gaza to 28,473 since the war began on Oct. 7, according to the ministry, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. It says more than 70% of the dead are women and minors.
More than 68,000 people have been wounded in the war, with 11,000 of them needing urgent evacuation for treatment out of Gaza, the ministry said. Many of the dead remain under the rubble of destroyed buildings and on roadsides with first responders unable to reach many areas and collect the bodies.
Israel says its forces have killed 10,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence. It blames Hamas for the death toll, saying it embeds in civilians areas, putting noncombatants at risk.
ISRAELI FORCES KILL PALESTINIAN MAN IN WEST BANK, PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS SAY
Cairo: Palestinian health officials say Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the man as 20-year-old Mohammed Sherif Hassan Selmi and said he was shot in his chest, shoulders and head.
The Israeli military said Tuesday that forces were operating in the West Bank city of Qalqilya when the man allegedly attempted to run over soldiers, who opened fired and killed the man. The military said it was not aware of whether any soldiers were wounded.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah party, said its fighters clashed with the Israeli forces but did not claim Selmi as a member.
The West Bank has seen a surge of violence since the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza broke out in October. The Health Ministry says more than 380 Palestinians have been killed during that time. The Israeli military says it has arrested more than 3,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war began.
ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY-GENERAL WARNS ISRAEL AGAINST FORCEFULLY DISPLACING PALESTINIANS
Dubai: The secretary-general of the Arab League has warned Israel against policies he described as forcefully displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit decried what he called an “Israeli mentality” to try and seize land the Palestinians want for their future state. He warned any seizure of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank by Israel would mean “a confrontation for the next thousand years.”
“The United States must order Israel to stop these policies or otherwise the Middle East will explode in an unprecedented way,” he said.
He also called on Israel to “empty the settlements” in Palestinian land as well.
Aboul Gheit, a former ambassador to the United Nations and Egypt's last foreign minister under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, spoke at the World Government Summit in Dubai.(AP)
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