Israel-Hamas live: 6,500 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza
- Family members of Al Jazeera Arabic Gaza correspondent Wael Dahdouh killed in an Israeli strike, including his wife, son and daughter.
- Oxfam says starvation is being used as a weapon of war against civilians in Gaza, adding just two percent of
- usual food has been delivered to the enclave since Israel’s “total siege”.
US, Russian resolutions do not have enough votes to pass UNSC vote: AJ correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey says a UN Security Council meeting is about to begin following closed consultations, which came at France’s request.
The meeting was called by the US to pass a resolution on the situation in Gaza. Russia has a counter-resolution.
“We know through our sources that neither of these resolutions have enough votes to pass,” Saloomey said.
While Russia’s version calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the US version uses “softer language, calling for pauses to allow aid into the Gaza Strip”, she said.
Elected members of the council are hoping for both drafts to be withdrawn, Saloomey said, and instead want the council to be able to make a “unified statement”.
“We have no idea how this will play out,” Saloomey added.
White House has not responded to report it asked Qatar to tone down Al Jazeera’s coverage
The report by the Axios news agency said US top diplomat Antony Blinken had, less than two weeks ago, asked his Qatari counterpart to “tone down Al Jazeera’s rhetoric” on the Israel-Gaza war.
Reporting from Washington, Al Jazeera’s White House correspondent Kimberly Halkett said the administration has not responded to the report. She added that while Qatar “funds Al Jazeera, it does not in any way editorially shape our coverage”.
“I can tell you that, in my own interactions with the Biden administration, I have had pushback where I’ve been told that our coverage is critical of US foreign policy, and I defended it saying that that is healthy and that is what our job is to do,” she said.
“While there has been no attempt to try and in any way dispute this on the part of the White House, I can tell you from my own personal experiences that this certainly does echo what I have experienced here on the White House campus and in my interactions with the White House press office,” she said.
30 Palestinians detained by Israeli forces in West Bank
Israeli forces detained 30 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Commission on Detainees’ Affairs and the Prisoners’ Society have said in a joint statement.
“Since [October] 7, more than 1,380 Palestinians have been detained” the two organisations said, in what they called “mass acts of collective punishment”.
Al Jazeera statement on the killing of Wael Dahdouh’s family
Al Jazeera condemns the killing of its journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh’s family in Gaza.
The Al Jazeera Media Network extends its sincere condolences and sympathy to our colleague Wael Al-Dahdouh on the loss of his family in an Israeli airstrike.
The indiscriminate assault by the Israeli Occupation forces resulted in the tragic loss of his wife, son, and daughter, while the rest of his family is buried under the rubble. Their home was targeted in the Nuseirat camp in the centre of Gaza, where they had sought refuge after being displaced by the initial bombardment in their neighborhood, following Prime Minister Netanyahu’s call for all civilians to move south.
Al Jazeera is deeply concerned about the safety, and well-being of our colleagues in Gaza and hold the Israeli authorities responsible for their security.
The Network strongly condemns the indiscriminate targeting and killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, which has led to the loss of Wael Al-Dahdouh’s family and countless others. We urge the international community to intervene and put an end to these attacks on civilians, thereby safeguarding innocent lives.
Biden continues to back Israel, rebukes West Bank settlers
US President Joe Biden has been holding a news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Washington, where he said that Israel had a right to defend its citizens, but should also protect civilians in Gaza.
Despite that, and without providing any evidence or alternative numbers, Biden cast doubt on the death toll provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israel has continuously bombarded Gaza since Hamas’s attack on October 7, with images and video published by journalists and citizens of the aftermath of Israel’s attacks, and the mass killing of civilians.
Biden did offer a rare criticism directed at settlers attacking Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying he was “alarmed about extremist settlers”.
“They’re attacking Palestinians in places that they’re entitled to be,” Biden added.
Many figures in Israel’s government, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have close ties to settler groups in the occupied West Bank.
Dahdouh’s ‘revenge is to tell the truth’ about occupation: AJ analyst
Speaking on Dahdouh and his resilient reaction to the news of the killing of his wife, son, and daughter, Al Jazeera’s senior analyst Marwan Bishara said he has become “immune” to the suffering.
“He’s become immune … He [Dahdouh] lives in the midst of death and mayhem and destruction, probably all his life,” Bishara said.
Over the last 18 years, Gaza has witnessed “hundreds of waves of bombings,” he said. “These people live in fear and death and destruction and poverty. They become immune and now listening to him, would expect the man so angry to be cursing, but he’s not, his revenge is to tell the truth” about the Israeli occupation.
