CAIRO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday (Mar 21) that he believed talks in Qatar could still reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement while Israel attacked Hamas gunmen in the enclave's Al Shifa hospital and evacuated patients.
A woman carries three babies in the central part of the Gaza Strip after fleeing the Al-Shifa hospital compound in Gaza City on Mar 21, 2024. CAIRO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that he believed talks in Qatar could still reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement while Israel attacked Hamas gunmen in the enclave's Al Shifa hospital and evacuated patients.
The main sticking point in ceasefire talks has been that Hamas says it will release hostages only as part of a deal that would end the war, while Israel says it will discuss only a temporary pause. Hamas has denied that the hospital harbours fighters and said those killed were wounded patients and displaced people.
A local journalist, Osama Al-Ashi, who lives near the Al Shifa hospital wrote on his Facebook page he was unable to leave the area because it was surrounded by tanks.With hunger worsening in the densely populated enclave, where five months of war have created critical food shortages, the head of the World Health Organization said only opening more border crossings for trucks carrying aid could prevent famine in Gaza.
"It's going to happen. And it will happen even if Israel is forced to fight alone," Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said in a podcast."Once again, we ask Israel to open more crossings and accelerate the entry and delivery of water, food, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid into and within Gaza."
Basel al-Soueidi, sheltering in the Jabalia refugee camp, was cooking a few red lentils for the surviving members of his family, 17 of whom have been killed in the war.
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