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The casualty toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, has reached 62,966 martyrs and 159,266 wounded.The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement on Thursday that hospitals in the Strip received 71 martyrs and 339 wounded during the past 24 hours.The Ministry added that since the occupation breached the ceasefire agreement on March 18, the recorded toll has reached 11,121 martyrs and 47,225 wounded.The number of aid-related casualties who arrived at hospitals during the past 24 hours reached 22 martyrs and 203 wounded, bringing the total number of those killed while seeking aid to 2,180, and the injuries to 16,046.Hospitals in the Strip also recorded four new deaths during the past 24 hours due to famine and malnutrition, raising the total number of victims of the starvation war to 317, including 121 children.The Palestinian Ministry noted that thousands of other victims remain under the rubble, with ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them due to a lack of equipment and the occupation forces' targeting of rescue operations in Gaza.

The Israeli military pressed operations around Gaza City Wednesday, as President Donald Trump prepared to host a White House meeting on post-war plans for the shattered Palestinian territory.Israel is under mounting pressure both at home and abroad to end its almost two-year campaign in Gaza, where the United Nations has declared a famine.Mediators have circulated a truce proposal which has been accepted by Palestinian group Hamas, but Israel has yet to give an official response.On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 24 people Wednesday.The Israeli military, which is preparing to conquer Gaza City, said troops were operating on the outskirts of the territory's largest city "to locate and dismantle terror infrastructure sites".As aid groups have warned against expanding the Israeli offensive, the army's Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said on X that Gaza City's evacuation was "inevitable".The vast majority of the Gaza Strip's population of more than 2mn people have been displaced at least once during the war.In Jabalia, just north of Gaza City, resident Hamad al-Karawi said he had left his home after a message broadcast from a drone ordered people to evacuate immediately."We scattered out onto the streets with no place or home to take refuge in," he told AFP.The UN estimates that nearly a million people currently live in Gaza governorate, which includes Gaza City and its surroundings in the north of the territory.Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US president was to host top officials at the White House later Wednesday to thrash out a detailed plan for post-war Gaza."It's a very comprehensive plan we're putting together," Witkoff told Fox News, without offering more details.Trump stunned the world earlier this year when he suggested the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip, clear out its inhabitants and redevelop it as seaside real estate.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the proposal which sparked a global outcry.In Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood Wednesday, residents reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight."Warplanes struck several times, and drones fired throughout the night," said Tala al-Khatib, 29."Some neighbours have fled... But wherever you flee, death follows you," she said.AFP footage showed thick smoke rising into the sky following air strikes on parts of Gaza City.Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed on Friday to destroy the city if Hamas does not agree to end the war on Israel's terms.Zeitoun resident Abdel Hamid al-Sayfi, 62, said he had avoided going outside for more than 24 hours."Whoever steps outside is fired upon by the drones," he told AFP by telephone.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.Speaking after a security cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Netanyahu declined to share what had been decided.The Israeli leader last week said he ordered immediate negotiations aimed at securing the release of all remaining captives, while also doubling down on the plan to seize Gaza City.Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Key mediator Qatar said on Tuesday it was still "waiting for an answer" from Israel on the latest ceasefire proposal, which would see the staggered release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody over an initial 60-day truce.

The Palestinian Presidency urged the international community on Wednesday to impose sanctions that would compel the Israeli occupation to reconsider its destructive policies in the region and the world, and to take immediate action to confront its defiance of international legitimacy and law, rather than limiting itself to a policy of condemnation and denunciation.In remarks, the Official Spokesperson for the Palestinian Presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that the dangerous Israeli escalation in cities, villages, and refugee camps is condemned and rejected, most recently the storming of Nablus by military forces at dawn today, the encirclement of the Old City, the targeting of citizens, and forcing them to leave their homes.He noted that this is being accompanied by the ongoing war of extermination and starvation in the Gaza Strip. He stressed the need for the occupation to bear responsibility for the escalation of its military attacks and settler terrorism against the Palestinian people, asserting that the continuation of this policy will lead to the destruction of everything and will lead the region to further tension and instability.At dawn today, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed Nablus and Tulkarm, accompanied by large crowds of soldiers, and carried out raids on homes and arrests of civilians, amid a prolonged silence regarding these practices, which are increasing throughout the occupied territories and coincide with the war of extermination targeting Gaza and its people.

Norway's $2tn wealth fund, the world's largest, has divested from US construction equipment group Caterpillar and from five Israeli banking groups on ethics grounds. The five banks are Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, First International Bank of Israel and FIBI Holdings, the fund said in a statement. The six groups were excluded "due to an unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war and conflict," said the fund, which is operated by Norway's central bank. The companies did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The Israeli embassy in Oslo declined to comment. Prior to its divestment, the fund held a 1.17% stake in Caterpillar valued at $2.1bn as of June 30, its records showed. The stakes in the five Israeli banks were valued at a combined $661mn, also as of June 30, according to fund data. The news was announced when the Tel Aviv and New York stock exchanges were closed. Shares in Caterpillar were down 0.4% in pre-market trading at $430.61 per share Tuesday. FIBI Holdings shares were up 4%, putting them on course for their best day since early 2024. Hapoalim's stock was up 3.3% and Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, and First International Bank of Israel were between 1.8% and 2.8% better off. The fund's ethics watchdog, called the Council on Ethics, said that "in the council's assessment, there is no doubt that Caterpillar's products are being used to commit extensive and systematic violations of international humanitarian law". Bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar "were being used by Israeli authorities in the widespread unlawful destruction of Palestinian property," it said. The violations were taking place both in Gaza and the West Bank, the council said, adding that "the company has also not implemented any measures to prevent such use". "As deliveries of the relevant machinery to Israel are now set to resume, the council considers there to be an unacceptable risk that Caterpillar is contributing to serious violations of individuals’ rights in war or conflict situations." The council, a public body set up by the Ministry of Finance, checks that firms in the portfolio of the fund meet ethical guidelines set by Norway's parliament. The fund is invested in some 8,400 companies worldwide. It makes recommendations to the board of the central bank, which has the final say. The board agreed with the council's recommendation. The Norwegian fund said on August 18 that it would divest from six companies as part of an ongoing ethics review over the war in Gaza and developments in the West Bank, but declined at the time to name any groups until the stakes were sold. On the banks, the ethics watchdog initially scrutinised the Israeli banks' practice of underwriting Israeli settlers' housebuilding commitments in the region. On Monday, the council said that all the banks excluded had, "by providing financial services that are a necessary prerequisite for construction activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem ... contributed to the maintenance of Israeli settlements". Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7mn Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Many settlements are adjacent to Palestinian areas and some Israeli firms serve both Israelis and Palestinians. The United Nations' top court last year found that Israeli settlements built on territory seized in 1967 were illegal, a ruling that Israel called "fundamentally wrong", citing historical and biblical ties to the land.

The State of Qatar strongly condemned the Israeli occupation forces' incursion into the territory of the friendly Syrian Arab Republic, considering it a blatant violation of Syria's sovereignty, a flagrant breach of international law, and a challenge to the international will supporting Syria’s reconstruction, progress, and the establishment of peace in the region.In a statement issued Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the international community to take decisive action against the Israeli occupation and to compel it to stop its repeated attacks on Syrian territory and its irresponsible actions, which pose a serious threat to regional and international security.The Ministry reaffirmed the State of Qatar's full support for Syria's sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and the aspirations of its friendly people for security and stability.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip, since the start of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, has risen to 62,819, mostly women and children, Palestinian medical sources reported on Tuesday.The sources added that the injury toll has surged to 158,629 since the start of the offensive, while several victims are still trapped under the rubble, with ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them.Over the past 24 hours, Gaza's hospitals received 75 martyrs and 370 injured, with the toll of casualties since March 18, following Israel's breach of the ceasefire deal, reaching 10,975 fatalities and 46,588 injuries, the sources continued.The sources further indicated that the toll of those who died while trying to make a living and being sent to hospitals in the past 24 hours reached 17, with 122 reported injured, bringing the total number of martyrs who reached the hospitals to 2,140 and 15,737 injured.Meanwhile, hospitals in the Gaza Strip recorded 3 new mortalities over the past 24 hours due to starvation and malnutrition, bringing the total number of mortalities to 303, including 117 children.