al jazeera

By Alastair Mccready

•          Addressing a news conference in Tel Aviv, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says: “Israelis were dehumanised in the most horrific way on October 7. And the hostages have been dehumanised every day since. But that cannot be a licence to dehumanise others.”
•     Blinken expressed optimism over truce deal potential, saying Hamas’s response had some “non-starters” but left “space for agreement to be reached”.
•     Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says at the news conference that war in Gaza will continue until “victory” is achieved, one day after receiving Hamas’s response to the truce deal.
•     Al Jazeera has obtained a draft proposal by Hamas suggesting a three-stage Gaza ceasefire plan in response to mediation efforts by Qatar and Egypt. It includes the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the phased exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli captives in Gaza.
•     At least 27,708 people have been killed and 67,147 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

    Hillary Clinton says Netanyahu ‘should go’ as he is ‘not a trustworthy leader’

    The former US Secretary of State and presidential candidate has said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “absolutely needs to go” for his handling of Israel’s war on Gaza.

    “Netanyahu should go. He is not a trustworthy leader. It was on his watch that the [October 7] attack happened,” Clinton told MSNBC. “He needs to go, and if he’s an obstacle to a ceasefire, if he’s an obstacle to exploring what’s to be done the day after, he absolutely needs to go.”

    Clinton, however, also defended Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza, saying Hamas started the conflict with its attack on Israel on October 7.

    “What do you do with an aggressor? You have to stop them,” she said.

    When asked about President Joe Biden’s relationship with Netanyahu, Clinton said it’s “clear that Biden is doing everything he can to influence Netanyahu”.

    If you’re just joining us

    It’s 7am (05:00 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.

    Here are some of the main developments overnight:

    At least 14 Palestinians have been killed and many more injured by Israeli air strikes on homes in Rafah and Deir el-Balah in southern and central Gaza.
   Israel’s military has blown up the Hebron city home of a Palestinian man who was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
   Israel said that its fighter jets have bombed Hezbollah targets in the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon.    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has delivered one of Washington’s harshest critiques of Tel Aviv to date as he warned Israel that it does not have “a license to dehumanise others” amid its war on Gaza.
   Vladimir Putin has told members of Russia’s Jewish community that Moscow has achieved “specific results” in its efforts to secure the release of captives held in Gaza.

    Putin says Russia is working on freeing captives from Gaza

    Speaking to members of Russia’s Jewish community, President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had achieved “specific results” in its diplomatic efforts to secure the release of captives held by Hamas in Gaza.

    Russian news agencies report that Putin told Russia’s chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, and the head of the Federation of Jewish Communities, Alexander Boroda, that Moscow has made headway using its contacts within Hamas’s political wing.

    He was quoted as saying that “Russia has been doing everything to help people who became hostages”.

    “As is known, our Foreign Ministry worked through the political wing of Hamas and, on the whole, there have been specific results,” Putin said without elaborating further.

    Russia has previously criticised the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza and stated its support for Palestinian statehood.

    Countries withholding UNRWA funds accused of ‘callous indifference’ to Gaza suffering

    Countries cutting funds to the UN’s Palestine refugee agency are guilty of “callous indifference” to the suffering of people in Gaza who are in desperate need of “lifesaving food, water, and medicine”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

    Eighteen governments who traditionally contribute over three-quarters of the budget for the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have frozen their contributions amid an Israeli claim that a dozen UN staff were allegedly involved in the October 7 attacks.

    “Despite mounting risks of famine and a binding order by the World Court in a case about genocide, Israel’s foreign minister has now announced that he will lead a brazen effort to shut down” UNRWA, said Akshaya Kumar, HRW’s crisis advocacy director.

    “Unless governments reverse their decisions to suspend aid to UNRWA, the main humanitarian channel into Gaza, they risk contributing to the current catastrophe,” Kumar said.