Region

HH Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received a phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron.The two sides discussed the current military escalation in Gaza and the surrounding areas, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.The Saudi Crown Prince stressed the importance of working towards finding ways to halt the military operations that have resulted in civilian casualties, and reaffirmed the Kingdoms commitment to intensify communication efforts and work towards de-escalation, while upholding international humanitarian law, including lifting the blockade on Gaza.He emphasized the need to create conditions for stability and the resumption of the peace process, ensuring that the Palestinian people can achieve their legitimate rights and realize a just and lasting peace. (QNA)

Fifteen Palestinians were martyred and scores were injured Thursday after the Israeli occupation army bombarded a house in Jabalia, north of Gaza Strip.According to Palestinian news agency (WAFA), the occupation was planes targeted a house in Jabalia, leaving 15 Palestinians martyrs and scores of injuries, in addition to a massive destruction in the area.According to the latest reports, the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank since last Saturday has left 1128 martyrs and 5489 wounded. Meanwhile, the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on the Gaza Envelope settlements has so far resulted in 1200 killed and more 2900 injured, in addition to capturing many occupation soldiers. (QNA)

Israel pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip for the fifth straight day since the fighters’ audacious attack, as the death toll spiralled into the thousands and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set up an emergency government.Opposition leader Benny Gantz, a centrist former defence minister, was brought in to join veteran right-winger Netanyahu, setting aside political differences that have sparked mass protests.The development came after Israeli forces sweeping battle-torn southern towns said a total of 1,200 people, mostly civilians have been killed in the fighters’ onslaught.In Gaza, officials reported more than 1,000 people killed in Israel’s sustained campaign of air and artillery strikes on the crowded Palestinian enclave, sending black smoke billowing into the sky and razing entire city blocks.The UN said 11 of its staff had been killed in Gaza since Saturday, while the International Red Cross and Red Crescent societies said it had lost five of its members.In the occupied West Bank, at least four Palestinians were killed when armed Israeli settlers attacked a town south of Nablus, taking the death toll to 29, the Palestinian health ministry said.US President Joe Biden pledged to send more munitions and military hardware to its close ally Israel. The crisis, dubbed “Israel’s 9/11”, saw Netanyahu strike a political deal with Gantz and pledge to freeze for now his government’s judicial overhaul plan that has sparked unprecedented mass protests.Opposition leader Yair Lapid has not joined the temporary alliance, although the joint statement said a seat would be “reserved” for him in the war cabinet.As the war has raged, fears mounted in Israel for the fate of at least 150 hostages — mostly Israelis but also including foreign and dual nationals — held in Gaza by Hamas.The group has claimed that four captives died in Israeli strikes and threatened to kill other hostages if civilian targets are bombed without advance warning from Israel.Concern rose over the worsening humanitarian crisis in war-torn Gaza, where Israel had levelled over 1,000 buildings and imposed a total siege, cutting off water, food and energy supplies for 2.3mn people.POWER PLANT SHUTThe enclave’s sole power plant shut down yesterday after running out of fuel, Gaza’s electricity provider said.More than 260,000 Gaza residents have been forced from their homes, a UN aid agency said, with secretary-general of the world body, Antonio Guterres, voicing fears of a deterioration in an already dire humanitarian situation.The European Union called for a “humanitarian corridor” to allow civilians to flee the enclave’s fifth war in 15 years. Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo called for aid to be allowed into Gaza “immediately”.Israel again struck targets yesterday in southern Lebanon, an area controlled by Hezbollah.Biden, who has diverted an aircraft carrier battle group to the eastern Mediterranean, has warned Israel’s enemies — state or group — not to get involved.A first US aircraft has delivered “advanced armaments” to southern Israel’s Nevatim Air Base, the Israeli army said.The US State Department said at least 22 US citizens had been killed, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to Israel in a show of solidarity.Israeli forces have retaken more than a dozen southern towns near Gaza after days of gruelling street battles that have left the bodies of at least 1,500 Hamas fighters strewn in the streets.Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said they had discovered “a staggering 1,200 dead Israelis” — most of them civilians — as they went house to house.The army later reported 169 fallen Israeli soldiers.Heavy bombardment again rained down on Gaza, where the sky was blackened and Hamas said at least 30 people were killed in overnight strikes.Rubble, burnt out cars and broken glass covered roads in Gaza City, where bombs struck the Hamas-linked Islamic University.

Israel pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip for the fifth straight day since the fighters' audacious attack, as the death toll spiralled into the thousands and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set up an emergency government.Opposition leader Benny Gantz, a centrist former defence minister, was brought in to join veteran right-winger Netanyahu, setting aside political differences that have sparked mass protests.The development came after Israeli forces sweeping battle-torn southern towns said a total of 1,200 people, mostly civilians have been killed in the fighters' onslaught.In Gaza, officials reported more than 1,000 people killed in Israel's sustained campaign of air and artillery strikes on the crowded Palestinian enclave, sending black smoke billowing into the sky and razing entire city blocks.The UN said 11 of its staff had been killed in Gaza since Saturday, while the International Red Cross and Red Crescent societies said it had lost five of its members.In the occupied West Bank, at least four Palestinians were killed when armed Israeli settlers attacked a town south of Nablus, taking the death toll to 29, the Palestinian health ministry said.The crisis, dubbed "Israel's 9/11", saw Netanyahu strike a political deal with Gantz and pledge to freeze for now his government's judicial overhaul plan that has sparked unprecedented mass protests.Opposition leader Yair Lapid has not joined the temporary alliance, although the joint statement said a seat would be "reserved" for him in the war cabinet.As the war has raged, fears mounted in Israel for the fate of at least 150 hostages — mostly Israelis but also including foreign and dual nationals — held in Gaza by Hamas.The group has claimed that four captives died in Israeli strikes and threatened to kill other hostages if civilian targets are bombed without advance warning from Israel.Concern rose over the worsening humanitarian crisis in war-torn Gaza, where Israel had levelled over 1,000 buildings and imposed a total siege, cutting off water, food and energy supplies for 2.3mn people.The enclave's sole power plant shut down Wednesday after running out of fuel, Gaza's electricity provider said.More than 260,000 Gaza residents have been forced from their homes, a UN aid agency said, with secretary-general of the world body, Antonio Guterres, voicing fears of a deterioration in an already dire humanitarian situation.The European Union called for a "humanitarian corridor" to allow civilians to flee the enclave's fifth war in 15 years.Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo called for aid to be allowed into Gaza "immediately".Israel appeared to be readying for a possible ground invasion of Gaza, but faces the threat of a multi-front war after also coming under rocket attack from fighter groups in neighbouring Lebanon and Syria.Israel again struck targets yesterday in southern Lebanon, an area controlled by Hezbollah.Biden, who has diverted an aircraft carrier battle group to the eastern Mediterranean, has warned Israel's enemies — state or group — not to get involved.A first US aircraft has delivered "advanced armaments" to southern Israel's Nevatim Airbase, the Israeli army said.Israel has been badly shaken by the deadliest attack since its creation in 1948 and the intelligence failure that allowed more than 1,500 fighters to storm through the Gaza security barrier in their co-ordinated land, air and sea attack on the Jewish Sabbath.The US State Department said at least 22 US citizens had been killed, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to Israel in a show of solidarity.Israeli forces have retaken more than a dozen southern towns near Gaza after days of gruelling street battles that have left the bodies of at least 1,500 Hamas fighters strewn in the streets.Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said they had discovered "a staggering 1,200 dead Israelis" — most of them civilians — as they went house to house.The army later reported 169 fallen Israeli soldiers.Troops have encountered and killed several holdout Hamas fighters, said Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari, including 18 yesterday.Heavy bombardment again rained down on Gaza, where the sky was blackened and Hamas said at least 30 people were killed in overnight strikes.Rubble, burnt out cars and broken glass covered roads in Gaza City, where bombs struck the Hamas-linked Islamic University.Also targeted were residential buildings, mosques, factories and shops, said Salama Marouf of the Gaza government's media office.Gaza resident Mazen Mohamed, 38, said his terrified family had spent the night huddled together as explosions shook the area, before emerging in the morning to assess the total devastation of their neighbourhood."We felt like we were in a ghost town, as if we were the only survivors," Mohamed said.Medical supplies, including oxygen, were running low at Gaza's overwhelmed Al-Shifa hospital, said emergency room physician Mohamed Ghonim.Unrest has flared in the occupied West Bank, where protests have been held in solidarity with Gaza and 27 Palestinians have been killed in clashes since Saturday.Frantic diplomacy has continued as international and regional powers sought to prevent a wider conflagration in the Middle East.

Israel is not conducting itself "like a state" in the Gaza Strip, Turkey's president said on Wednesday, as Israel pounded the territory after a Hamas onslaught."Israel should not forget that if it acts more like an organisation rather than a state, it'll finish by being treated as such," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, attacking "shameful methods" of the Israeli army in the densely-populated Gaza Strip."Bombing civilian sites, killing civilians, blocking humanitarian aid and trying to present these as achievements are the acts of an organisation and not a state," he said."We think that a war should have an ethic and that both parties should respect it. Unfortunately, this principle is gravely violated in Israel and in Gaza," he said, denouncing the "murders of civilians on Israeli territory" and "the blind massacre of innocents in a Gaza subjected to constant bombardment".

Four paramedics were killed Wednesday when an Israeli warplanes bombed their ambulance in the northern Gaza Strip.The Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported that the warplane directly and deliberately targeted the ambulance killing the four paramedics and destroying the ambulance.The Israeli occupation forces deliberately target ambulances in the Gaza Strip and hinder their movement, and also deliberately target press crews, killing eight journalists.Israel's total aggression against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has risen Wednesday to1055 martyrs and more than 5 thousand wounded.

The only power plant in the Gaza Strip, which is under Israeli bombardment and siege, shut down Wednesday after it ran out of fuel, said the Palestinian enclave's electricity authority."The only power plant in the Gaza Strip stopped functioning at 2:00 pm (1100 GMT)," the authority's head Jalal Ismail said in a statement, having earlier warned that it was running short of fuel.Israel has imposed a "complete siege" on the Gaza Strip as it continues to bomb Hamas targets after the group's fighters launched a brutal assault on Israel on Saturday morning."We've decided to cut the supply of water, electricity and fuel, and now their local power plant has collapsed and there's no electricity in Gaza," the Israeli energy minister, Israel Katz, said in a statement."We'll continue tightening the siege until the Hamas threat on Israel and the world is removed."

Israel deploys military around Gaza, militants say still fighting in IsraelHamas media says electricity out in Palestinian enclaveIsrael says 1,200 killed in Hamas raid; Gaza says 1,055 killed in retaliatory strikesIsrael bombed Gaza overnight ahead of a potential ground assault against Hamas. Israel's death toll reached 1,200 with more than 2,700 wounded, its military said, from Hamas militants' hours-long rampage after breaching the border fence around Gaza on Saturday. Retaliatory strikes on the blockaded enclave have killed 1,055 people and wounded 5,184, Palestinian officials say.Hamas' armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, said it was still fighting inside Israel on Wednesday, as Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles assembled in large numbers just north of Gaza.Israel has put Gaza under "total siege" to stop food and fuel reaching the enclave of 2.3 million people, many poor and dependent on aid. Hamas media said on Wednesday electricity went out after the only power station stopped working.With Palestinian rescue workers overwhelmed, others in the crowded coastal strip joined the search for bodies in rubble."I was sleeping here when the house collapsed on top of me," one man cried as he and others used flashlights on the stairs of a building hit by missiles to find anyone trapped.Scores of Israelis and others from abroad were taken to Gaza as hostages, some of whom were paraded through streets. Both sides have said many women and children were among the dead and wounded, and distraught relatives have held multiple funerals.Israel said it was shifting all schools to remote learning from Sunday and stepping up issuing firearms to licensed citizens, predicting possible friction between its majority Jews and Arab minority amid calls for more protests in support of Gaza's Palestinians.In another sign of the crisis widening, Israeli shelling hit southern Lebanese towns after a rocket attack by the powerful armed group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. It was the fourth consecutive day of violence there and followed shelling from Syria on Tuesday that Israel said it was investigating.A ground offensive carries risks for Israel, notably to the hostages held in the narrow, densely populated Gaza Strip that is tightly controlled by Hamas. It has threatened to execute a captive for each home hit without warning.Palestinian sources said one of the homes Israeli air strikes hit in Gaza overnight killed three relatives of Hamas military wing chief Mohammed Deif, the secretive mastermind of the assault, planned for two years.Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation. Since Hamas seized power there in 2007, Israel has kept it under blockade, creating conditions among its inhabitants which Palestinians say are intolerable.Washington said it was talking with Israel and Egypt about the idea of safe passage for civilians from Gaza, with food in short supply.Hussein Al-Sheikh, an official in the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, called on the international community to intervene urgently, saying Gaza faced "a major humanitarian catastrophe".With Israel on a war footing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition and opposition leaders were close to forming an emergency unity government.Countries including Fiji, South Korea, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Canada scrambled to evacuate citizens from Israel, many stranded after major airlines cancelled flights.Palestinian media said Israeli air strikes had hit homes in Gaza City, the southern city of Khan Younis and the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Residents on social media said many buildings had collapsed, sometimes trapping as many as 50 people. Gaza's hospitals were filled with casualties.Wounded Palestinian Ala al-Kafarneh said he had lost eight family members when they were caught by an Israeli attack after fleeing two others. "A strike hit us and we don't know why, we have done nothing," he said.The United Nations said more than 180,000 Gazans had been made homeless, many huddling on streets or in schools.The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Israeli strikes had since Saturday destroyed more than 22,600 residential units and 10 health facilities and damaged 48 schools."Such blatant dehumanization and attempts to bomb a people into submission, to use starvation as a method of warfare, and to eradicate their national existence are nothing less than genocidal," Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour wrote to the UN Security Council.Violence also flared in Arab East Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where officials say 21 Palestinians have been killed and 130 injured in clashes with Israeli forces since Saturday.

The death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip and the West Bank has surged to 974, with over 5,000 injured, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced Wednesday.According to a statement by the Health Ministry, 950 were martyred in Gaza Strip and more than 5,000 were injured in the ongoing violent airstrikes targeting the whole Strip since Saturday.The occupied West Bank was not spared from the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza Strip for the fifth day in a row. The number of martyrs climbed to 24, after two Palestinians were shot by the occupation forces in Ein Al-Louza neighborhood in the town of Silwan as the occupation forces continue targeting the Palestinian people using live fire in various areas of the occupied West Bank, including the city of Jerusalem. Nearly 150 were injured.On Saturday, the Palestinian resistance launched the surprise "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood" on Gaza Envelop settlements in retaliation of the continuous Israeli violations against the Palestinian people. (QNA)

Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has received a telephone call from his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.Talks over the phone addressed the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories and Gaza Strip, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.The discussions also dealt with mutual cooperation and coordination to ensure safety of the people of Gaza.During the conversation, Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs affirmed necessity to prevent scope of the conflict from expanding, alleviate tension, halt the escalation, safeguard lives of the innocent, and ensure delivery of relief and humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.The two ministers also touched on various other issues of common concern. (QNA)

Nine hundred people were killed, including 260 children and 230 women along with 4,600 wounded in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched air strikes on Saturday, the health ministry in the coastal enclave said late Tuesday.Israeli air strikes continued to hammer Gaza Tuesday, razing entire districts and filling morgues with dead Palestinians.Across the barrier wall enclosing the coastal enclave, Israeli soldiers collected the last of Israel's dead four days after Palestinian resistance movement Hamas gunmen rampaged through towns, killing hundreds of people in the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel's history.Hamas militants are holding scores of Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage. Israel's defence minister said its forces were gearing up for a ground offensive.On Israel's northern border, a salvo of rockets was fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel, prompting Israeli shelling in return.Israel's embassy in Washington said the death toll from the weekend Hamas attacks had surpassed 1,000.The United Nations said more than 180,000 Gazans had been made homeless, many huddling on streets or in schools.Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking to soldiers near the Gaza fence, said: "Hamas wanted a change and it will get one. What was in Gaza will no longer be.""We started the offensive from the air, later on we will also come from the ground. We've been controlling the area since Day 2 and we are on the offensive. It will only intensify."In Gaza, a municipal building was hit while being used as an emergency shelter. Survivors there spoke of many dead."No place is safe in Gaza, as you see they hit everywhere," said Ala Abu Tair, 35, who had sought shelter there with his family after fleeing Abassan Al-Kabira near the border.Two members of Hamas' political office, Jawad Abu Shammala and Zakaria Abu Maamar, were killed in an air strike in Khan Younis, a Hamas official said.The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Israeli strikes had since Saturday destroyed more than 22,600 residential units and 10 health facilities and damaged 48 schools.UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said civilians had been harmed in Israeli strikes on tower blocks, schools and UN buildings."International humanitarian law is clear: the obligation to take constant care to spare the civilian population and civilian objects remains applicable throughout the attacks," he said.

EU foreign ministers on Tuesday urged Israel not to cut "water, food, or electricity" to Gaza and called for humanitarian corridors for those trying to flee the territory, the bloc's foreign policy chief said.The representatives of the 27 EU countries held emergency talks after the surprise attack by Hamas and as Israel unleashed a reprisal bombing campaign of Gaza.The European ministers insisted on the need for "respect of international law humanitarian law and it means no blockage of water, food or electricity to the civil population in Gaza", top diplomat Josep Borrell said."Israel has the right to defend but it has to be done accordingly with international law, humanitarian law, and some decisions are contrary to this international law," Borrell told journalists in Oman's capital Muscat.He said the EU meeting called for "humanitarian corridors to facilitate people who have to escape the bombing of Gaza" across the border to Egypt.After mixed signals from Brussels over the future of its financial support, Borrell said an "overwhelming majority" of EU states oppose suspending aid to the Palestinian Authority."A collective punishment against all Palestinians will be unfair, and unproductive. It will be against our interest and against the interest of peace."Borrell said that there will be an increased need for humanitarian assistance for the Gaza."The fact is that at the moment the casualties in Gaza are also increasing, 150,000 people are internally displaced and the humanitarian situation is dire," Borrell said."So we will have to support more, not less, more."Borrell said that neither the Israeli foreign minister nor his Palestinian counterpart took up an invitation to address the EU meeting.Fears of a regional conflagration have surged amid expectations of a looming Israeli ground incursion into Gaza, the crowded enclave from where Hamas launched its land, air and sea attack on Saturday.

Rafah crossing is main gateway to outside world for GazansEgypt concerned Israeli assault will drive displacementSisi calls Gaza escalation 'highly dangerous'Egypt is moving to prevent a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip into its Sinai Peninsula, as Israeli bombardment halted crossings at the main exit point from the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday, Gaza officials and Egyptian security sources said.Israel's assault on Gaza has caused alarm in Egypt, which has urged Israel to provide safe passage for civilians from the enclave rather than encouraging them to flee southwest towards Sinai, two Egyptian security sources said.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday that the escalation in Gaza was "highly dangerous" and that Egypt was pursuing a negotiated solution to the violence with regional and international partners.Egypt would not allow the issue to be settled at the expense of others, Sisi said in comments reported by state news agency MENA, an apparent reference to the risk that Palestinians could be pushed into Sinai.Egypt's military had taken up new positions close to the border and was running patrols to monitor the area, said Ahmed Salem of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights.Rafah is the sole possible crossing point into Sinai for Gaza's 2.3 million residents. The rest of the densely populated strip is surrounded by the sea, and by Israel, which has announced a total siege of Gaza and could launch a ground offensive.The passage of people and goods in and out of Gaza is strictly controlled under a blockade enforced by Egypt and Israel since 2007.Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military revised a recommendation by one of its spokespeople that Palestinians fleeing its air strikes in Gaza head to Egypt.Israel has been pounding Gaza with the fiercest strikes in the 75-year history of its conflict with the Palestinians since Hamas launched a deadly incursion into Israel on Saturday.Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, has mediated between Israel and Palestinian factions during previous conflicts in Gaza and has pressed to prevent further escalation in the current fighting.Gaza's Hamas-run Interior Ministry said bombardments on both Monday and Tuesday had hit an entry gate on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing. The crossing was also closed from the Egyptian side and Palestinians planning to travel to Gaza retreated to north Sinai's main city of Al Arish, Egyptian sources said.The latest strike follows a similar incident on Monday that partially disrupted operations at the border, though Egyptian security sources said access for registered travellers and humanitarian activity had been restored by Tuesday morning.On Monday, about 800 people left Gaza through the Rafah crossing and about 500 people entered, though the crossing was closed for the movement of goods, according to the United Nations humanitarian office.North Sinai's governor met local authorities on Monday to plan for any crises resulting from events in Gaza, his office said. So far, there has been no sign of mass gatherings of Palestinians at the Rafah crossing, with only scheduled departures proceeding until Tuesday.In 2008, tens of thousands of Palestinians crossed into Sinai after Hamas blasted holes in a border wall.Security in the area around Rafah is also of concern to Egypt because Sinai has been the site of an insurgency that flared a decade ago.Egypt's military has since largely asserted its control over northern Sinai, facing sporadic attacks there. Israeli tourism in southern Sinai had surged after security on the peninsula improved, but thousands of Israeli tourists returned home after the fighting around Gaza started.

Five more Palestinians were killed Tuesday after the Israeli occupation warplanes bombed a house in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis, south of Gaza Strip.Medical sources said that among the dead were an infant and a woman, and two others who were pulled out from under the rubble in the Al-Atatra area in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.In Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, warplanes targeted locations near the Beit Hanoun crossing.The occupation warplanes also bombed a five-storey residential building in the Al-Qasaib neighborhood, west of Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, leaving a number of casualties.Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces launched a large-scale arrest campaign in the West Bank, resulted in the arrest of 40 Palestinians, including released prisoners.The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced Monday that the toll from the massive Israeli occupation aggression on Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank climbed to 704 and nearly 3,900 wounded.

Several countries around the world, on Monday, called for clam and resumption of the negotiations between the Palestine and Israel considering the continuation of the occupation's aggression on Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, including the massacres perpetrated against the Palestinians.The Presidency of Russia (Kremlin) asserted that the situation in the Palestinian territories must be oriented to a peaceful track as soon as possible, giving heads-up that such a cycle of violence is fraught with further escalation and danger in the region.In a press statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, voiced his concern over the unfolding developments and stressed the importance of returning the situation to its normal status and avoid everything that aggravates the situation.Concerning the Chinese position on the developments in Gaza and the Palestinian territories in general, Beijing explained its grave concern over the escalation in the conflict between Palestine and Israel recently, regretting over the substantial number of dead and wounded people.Spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, affirmed that China opposes and condemns acts that would inflict damage upon civilians, stressing that the only exit from the Palestinian-Israeli cycle of violence lies in the resumption of peace talks, implementation of the two-state solution and achievement of a comprehensive settlement for the Palestinian cause at the earliest.The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that Beijing will relentlessly continue to work with the international community to achieve that objective.Meanwhile, the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, James Cleverly, held phone calls with several officials in the Middle East, including the Palestinian PM, Mohammad Shtayyeh, and the Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ayman Safadi, and discussed with them latest escalation developments in the occupied Palestinian territories.The UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs underscored the significance of acting to avoid escalation in the region.For his part, Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, called for ending the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in accordance with the international rules-based order. In his phone call with his UK counterpart, Al Busaidi stressed the importance of achieving the two-state solution through the resumption of the peace process.In the context of the UK diplomatic efforts, UK Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Tariq Ahmad, underscored, during a phone call with the Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki, the significance of cooperation and communication to de-escalate the situation in the entire region.For the third consecutive day, Gaza Strip is still exposed to a heavy Israeli shelling that has hitherto resulted in 500 Palestinian martyrs and 2900 wounded, along with major physical damages based on latest figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to 687 Monday, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said, as Israel pounded Hamas targets for the third consecutive day.The Hamas-controlled ministry said hospitals in Gaza had "received 687 martyrs and another 3,727 injured" since Israel unleashed a wave of air strikes after a surprise attack on Israel launched by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Saturday morning.Palestinians in Gaza are preparing for an Israeli offensive of unprecedented scale, with more than 130,000 fleeing their homes and stockpiling supplies.Amid an intensified Israeli siege cutting off water, food and power, conditions look worse than at any point since Palestinian refugees flocked there during the 1948 fighting when Israel was founded.Israeli military phone messages have warned people to leave some areas, indicating a new ground attack that could eclipse previous bouts of destructive warfare in the dense concrete townships that grew up in Gaza's original tented refugee camps."Where should we go? Where should we go?" asked 55-year-old Mohammad Brais.The surprise Hamas attack on Saturday caused Israel its bloodiest day, as fighters smashed through border defences and marauded through towns, killing more than 800 people and dragging more than 100 into captivity in Gaza.Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired a salvo of rockets onto northern Israel yesterday in response to at least four of its members killed in Israeli shelling on Lebanon.The exchange of fire marks a significant expansion of the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants to the Israeli-Lebanese border further north.The Israeli military said it had called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and was imposing a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, in a sign it may be planning a ground assault.Inside Israel, Palestinian fighters were still holed up in several locations, two days after they killed hundreds of Israelis and seized dozens of hostages in a raid that shattered Israel's reputation of invincibility.Israeli TV channels said the death toll from the Hamas attack had climbed to 900.Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said the group had been acting in accordance with Islam by keeping the Israeli captives safe.Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Israel against "indiscriminately" attacking civilians in its war with Hamas militants in Gaza.Erdogan urged both sides to respect the "ethics" of war. He has fervently backed the Palestinian cause and supported a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday said he was "deeply distressed" by the country's imposition of a total siege on the Gaza Strip."The humanitarian situation in Gaza was extremely dire before these hostilities," Guterres told reporters. "Now it will only deteriorate exponentially."Earlier in the day, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country would impose a "complete siege" on the long blockaded enclave and stressed what this meant for its 2.3 million people: "No electricity, no food, no water, no gas -- it's all closed."Palestinians in the impoverished coastal territory braced for what many feared will be a massive Israeli ground attack aiming to defeat Hamas and liberate hostages."This most recent violence does not come in a vacuum," Guterres stressed. "The reality is that it grows out of a long-standing conflict, with a 56-year long occupation and no political end in sight.""While I recognise Israel's legitimate security concerns, I also remind Israel that military operations must be conducted in strict accordance with international humanitarian law," Guterres said.Following Hamas' unprecedented ground, air and sea attacks, Israel has counted over 700 dead and launched a withering barrage of strikes on Gaza that have raised the death toll there to 560 people.Israel, which has long prided itself on a high-tech military and intelligence edge in its many conflicts, has been shaken to the core by Hamas' surprise attack.The militant group surged into Israeli towns on Saturday, storming military bases, spraying gunfire at civilians and dragging off about 100 hostages.The conflict has only escalated since then, prompting Israel's promise Monday to cut off supplies to the region."I am deeply distressed by today's announcement that Israel will initiate a complete siege of the Gaza Strip, nothing allowed in -- no electricity, food, or fuel," Guterres said.The UN will continue efforts to provide aid to respond to needs in Gaza, Guterres said."Israel must see its legitimate needs for security materialized -- and Palestinians must see a clear perspective for the establishment of their own state realised," Guterres added.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health warned that the mounting Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip aggravates the health situation as hospitals are facing a major shortage of electricity, medicines, and fuel due to the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.Most areas in Gaza are off the grid because the Israeli entity has stopped supplying Gaza with energy after imposing a full blockade, with the national supplier being unable to supply the strip with electricity needs which is obviously less than 20 percent.The persistent crisis of electricity poses a challenge for the health system and a risk for hundreds of wounded people and patients in the sensitive sections, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.It added that technical and engineering crews are operating around the clock to ensure the operation of electric generators that require 40,000 liters of diesel per day in case of a power blackout for 12 hours.The ministry has called on the international community and all relevant entities to ramp up pressure on the Israeli occupation to recommission the power grids because any lack of electricity will pose a danger to the health and humanitarian system and called for urgent action on the part of all entities to provide these essentials.Meanwhile, the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) pointed out that the occupation's fighter jets are directly targeting ambulance vehicles and have so far targeted an ambulance vehicle carrying wounded people and destroyed it with the medical crew being injured, stressing that since the onset of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the occupation has been intentionally targeting civil and ambulance vehicles carrying injured people.For the third day, the Israeli warplanes continued launching hundreds of airstrikes on Gaza targeting residential towers and critical infrastructures.

Minister of the Royal Office in the Sultanate of Oman Gen. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Numani discussed on Monday with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell and his accompanying delegation ways of cooperation in common interests between the Sultanate of Oman and the European Union.During the meeting, a number of matters of common interest were discussed. (QNA)

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the shelling that targeted an UNRWA school sheltering hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including children, women and elderly.In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said that what happened was a crime in every sense of the word, especially since this shelling hit a school affiliated with the United Nations.Furthermore, the Foreign Ministry condemned the ongoing massacres committed by the occupation forces against defenseless civilians in the Gaza Strip. These massacres have affected dozens of families. The Ministry also condemned the continuous destruction of homes and civilian institutions, which has led to the deaths and injuries of thousands of Palestinians, with the numbers continuing to rise, and forced thousands of Palestinian citizens to be displaced from their homes.The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on countries and relevant international bodies to observe the crimes committed by the occupation and the massacres carried out under the guise of "self-defense," which have been given the green light by the international community. (QNA)