Israel ignores pleas for a ceasefire and signals more attacks in
the ongoing 29-day war on besieged Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of at
least 9,227 Palestinians.
The head of the United Nations was "horrified" by a strike by Israeli forces on a convoy of ambulances in Gaza on Friday, he said in a statement, adding that the conflict "must stop".
"I am horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an
ambulance convoy outside Al Shifa hospital. The images of bodies strewn on the
street outside the hospital are harrowing," Antonio Guterres said in the
statement.
0159 GMT — Colombia, Venezuela
condemn Israel's attack on Al Shifa Hospital
Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Venezuelan Foreign Minister
Yvan Gil condemned Israel's attack on the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
"A new war crime. I told President (Joe) Biden. If the
massacre continues and international law is destroyed in the world, barbarism
will replace humanity's project of democracy," Petro wrote on X.
Petro, who is in the US to attend the Summit of Leaders of the
Alliance for Prosperity in the Americas (APEP), had a brief chat with Biden
before the summit.
Gil also likened Israel's ongoing attacks in Gaza to a
"Nazi-style annihilation operation" in a post on social media. He
stressed the urgency of ending the barbarity and called for the prosecution of
the war crimes committed by Israel, citing images and statements they receive
daily.
The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement
released on its website, "strongly" condemned the bombing of the
ambulance convoy and the Al Shifa Hospital, classifying it as a war crime that
necessitates international prosecution.
0324
GMT — Israel pushes back calls for aid pause
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his third trip to Israel
since the war began. He echoed President Joe Biden’s calls for a brief halt in
the fighting to address the worsening humanitarian crisis.
After talks with Netanyahu, Blinken said a temporary halt was
needed to boost aid deliveries and help win the release of the hostages Hamas
took during its brutal incursion.
But Netanyahu said he told Blinken that Israel was “going with
full steam ahead" unless hostages are released.
US officials initially said they were not seeking a cease-fire but
rather short pauses in specific areas to allow aid deliveries or other
humanitarian activity, after which Israeli operations would resume.
0159
GMT — Palestinian Red Crescent condemns Israeli strike on Gaza ambulances
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has condemned the targeting
of a convoy of ambulances in Gaza by Israeli forces, which it says killed 15
people and wounded more than 60 others.
The PRCS said in a statement that one of its ambulances was struck
"by a missile fired by the Israeli forces", about two metres from the
entrance to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 15 civilians and wounded 60
other people, the PRCS said, mirroring figures released earlier by the Hamas-run
Health Ministry.
Another ambulance, belonging to the ministry, was "directly
targeted" by a missile around one kilometre from the hospital, causing
injuries and damage, it said.
The PRCS, part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement, added that deliberately targeting medical teams constituted "a
grave violation of the Geneva Conventions, a war crime".
2333 GMT —
Israeli shelling on Gaza school kills 20 people: Palestine
Twenty Palestinians have been killed and dozens more wounded in an
Israeli attack "targeting" a school in northern Gaza, the enclave's
Health Ministry said.
"20 martyrs and dozens of
wounded arrived at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after the direct
targeting of a school turned into a makeshift camp for displaced people in the
Al-Saftawy area in northern Gaza," the ministry said in a statement.
"Several tank mortar shells
fell into the school that was directly targeted," it added.
At the Osama bin Zaid Boys School
north of Gaza City, the AFP news agency saw the aftermath of the bloodbath.
Ambulance teams rushed into the debris-littered building to aid the wounded and
remove the dead.
At least 54 mosques have been destroyed in Israeli air strikes in
besieged Gaza since October 7, the Gaza Government Media Office said.
"The attacks have also partially damaged 110 other
mosques," spokesman Salama Marouf said at a news conference in Gaza City.
Three churches were also targeted by Israeli forces, he said.
The Israeli army said on Thursday it had carried out more than
12,000 air strikes in Gaza.
Marouf said, however, that "most of the targets struck in the
Israeli attacks were houses, public facilities and hospitals."
2300 GMT — 'Very significant pause' in Mideast
conflict needed to free captives: US
It would take a "very
significant pause in the conflict" in the Middle East to be able to win
the release of dozens of captives taken by Palestinian resistance group Hamas,
a senior US official has said.
"It is something that is
under a very serious and active discussion. But there is no agreement as of yet
to actually get this done," the official said, as fighting between US ally
Israel and Hamas fighters raged in besieged Gaza.
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