‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 209: Hamas yet to respond to latest Israeli proposal
Blinken says Hamas “must” respond to Israel’s proposal as the U.S. begins building a sea pier. Meanwhile, the UN says that 5% of Gaza’s population has been killed or wounded since the beginning of Israel’s assault in October.
Casualties
- 34,596 + killed* and at least 77,816 wounded in the Gaza Strip.*
- 487+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,139.
- 607 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7, and at least 6,800 injured.***
*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel on April 29, 2024. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.
** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on April 22, this is the latest figure.
*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” The number of Israeli soldiers wounded is according to Israeli media reports.
Key Developments
- Israel kills 142 Palestinians, wounds 237 since Monday across Gaza, raising the death toll since October 7 to 34,596 and the number of wounded to 77,816, according to the Gaza health ministry.
- Hamas delegation set to arrive in Cairo to discuss the latest Israeli ceasefire and prisoner deal proposal, according to media reports.
- Blinken says Hamas “must decide” if it accepts the latest proposal or not.
- U.S. begins building sea pier on Gaza’s shore officially announced to deliver humanitarian aid as Israel continues to block entry of aid trucks through regular ground border crossings.
- UNDP and ESCWA say in a joint report that 5% of people in Gaza have been killed or wounded.
- West Bank: Palestinian students at Birzeit University force German ambassador to the Palestinian Authority to leave the campus-based Palestinian Museum.
- Defense for Children International – Palestine says that 61 Palestinian children are held under administrative detention without charge or trial by Israeli authorities, marking a record for children arrested under such a policy.
Israel kills 142 Palestinians since Monday
The Gaza-based Palestinian health ministry announced that the remaining hospitals in the Gaza Strip received 142 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes since Monday, April 29, while 237 others arrived wounded.
Meanwhile, local media sources reported that, in the past 24 hours, Israeli forces bombed the Sheikh Ajleen neighborhood west of Gaza City. At least two Palestinians were killed in another bombing in the Zeitoun neighborhood in the city.
In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes targeted the Nuseirat refugee camp throughout the week. At least nine Palestinians have been killed in Nuseirat since Tuesday. Israeli forces also struck several parts of Deir al-Balah, including a family house.
In the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli forces continued strikes on Rafah. Since Tuesday, April 30, five Palestinians have been reported killed by media sources in the city, including two women and two children.
Hamas delegation to head to Cairo to discuss latest Israeli proposal
Media reports indicated that the head of Hamas’s politburo, Ismail Haniyeh, confirmed to Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in a phone call that a delegation of the Palestinian group will head to Cairo soon to discuss the latest Israeli prisoner swap proposal.
Israel put forward its latest proposal for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange last week. The proposal includes a prisoner exchange and a partial Israeli withdrawal from the Strip, in addition to allowing women and children displaced to the south of the Strip to return to the north. Hamas has repeatedly insisted on a total withdrawal and allowing all displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in the north, most of which have been destroyed.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the latest Israeli proposal as “generous” and said in a press conference on Wednesday that Hamas “must decide” on whether it accepts the proposal or not.
UN report says that 5% of people in Gaza have been killed or wounded
A report by the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the UN Economic and Social Committee for West Asia (ESCWA) revealed on Wednesday that around 5% of the Gaza Strip’s population had either been killed or wounded by Israeli forces since October 7.
The report also indicated that poverty levels in Gaza will reach 61% if the current Israeli assault extends to nine months. According to the report, unemployment in the Palestinian territory (Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem) has risen to 46% since the beginning of the current war in October.
According to the report, human development in Palestine has fallen back by 17 years as a result of the war. The report added that the continuation of the war will have large social and economic impacts on the Palestinian people and that a ceasefire is necessary to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and rebuild the economy and the destroyed infrastructure.
According to Gaza’s government media office, at least 70% of housing units in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged since October 7. The World Health Organization said last week that Israel has been “systematically dismantling” Gaza’s health sector.
Since October 7, 30 out of the 34 operating hospitals in Gaza have been either destroyed or put out of service. All universities in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli forces, and 212 schools have either been destroyed or damaged, according to the Palestinian education ministry.
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