Gaza Health Ministry Reported 150 Killed In 24 Hours

Gaza's Heal💟th Ministry says 150 people have been killed in the territory in the last 24 hours and an additional 313 were wounded as Israeli forces continue to bat💧tle militants, even in the northern part of the territory.

The north, where entire neighbourhoods 🎶have been flattened, was the initial target of Israel's ground offensive in late October.

Israel's military said Wednes꧒day that it𝓰s forces killed more than 15 Hamas militants in northern Gaza over the past day and targeted militant infrastructure in a school.

The latest deaths bring the Palestinian death toll from Israel's offensive to 26,900, according to t💜he Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths but says most of those killed were women and children.

Here's the latest:

US SAYS ISLAMIC RESISTANCE IN✅ IRAQ IS RESPONSIB൲LE FOR DRONE ATTACK IN JORDAN

WASHINGTON — The United States has attributed the drone attack that killed three US service members in Jordan to🙈 the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that includes the militant group Kataib Hezbollah.

National Security Counci🐟l spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday the US believes the attack was planned, resourced and facilitated by the group.

The Sunday drone attack on a military base in Jordan killed the three troops and injured at least 40 others. Kirby says President Joe Biden will continue to weigh response optiไons to the attack but “the first thing you see won't be the last thing”.

NETANYAHU MEETS WITH A GROUP OF UN AMBASSADORS

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told a group of amb🐓assadors to the United Nations from primarily European countries that Hamas has “infiltrated” the main aid provider to Palestinians in Gaza and that it must be shut down.

Netanyahu's remarks on Wednesday follow Israel's allegations tha💖t 12 employees with the UN agency for Palestinian refug𒈔ees, known as UNRWA, participated in Hamas' Oct 7 attacks in Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

Those allegations prompted several countries to freeze funding to the agency, which fired nine of the workꦺers. UNRWA said the agency, which employs 13,000 workers in Gaza, should not be punished for the alleged actions 🌼of a dozen employees.

Netanyahu told𝔉 the group of eight visiting 🧸ambassadors that an alternative and impartial aid provider should be found.

Israel has long railed against UNRWA, accusing it of tolerating or even collaborating with Hamas and of perpetuating the ꦑ76-year-old Palestinian refugee crisis. The Israeli government has accused Hamas and other militant groups of siphᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚoning off aid and using UN facilities for military purposes.

RELATIVE OF HOSTAGE SAYS ISRAEL'S LEADERS SHOULDN'T PUT POLITICS ABOVE CAPTIVES' 🦩FATE

TEL AVIV, Is🐟rael — A relative of a hostage being held in Gaza says he is concerned Israeli leaders are putting their political fortunes above the fate of the captives.

The families of hostages have been following with hope and anguish reports about a potential agreement emerging between Israel and Hamas that could set roughly 100 hostages free and bring about a halt in the wa🎀r. They have also watched with trepidation as political considerations have seeped into the deliberations, with far-right members of Israel's governing coalition vowing to topple the government if the deal makes too many concessions to Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin﷽ Netanyahu on Wednesday confirmed that talks were underway.

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was abducted on Oct 7 from southern Israel, said he feels “insecurℱe” about the chances for a deal. At the same time, he said the current talks appeare💙d serious and were the first chance at progress since the one previous deal in late November.

He said he hoped Netanyahu wouldn't prioritise his political survival over the hostages' freedom.“The life of the coalition should not come before the lives of the hostages,” Dickmann told The Associated 👍Press.

ISRAELI PROTESTERS TRY TO BLOCK AID TRUCKS

JERUSALEM — Dozens of Isra🏅eli protesters have tried to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, despite an order barring them from approaching a border crossing the trucks are using♕.

Acc💛ording to video released by an activist group behind the demonstrations, police, including mounted officers, scuffled with the protesters We✨dnesday.

The protesters have been gathering near the Kerem Shalom crossing for several days, saying aid should not be allowed intꦐo Gaza while hostages are still being held there. They say the aid could act as leverage to force Hamas to release the hostages.

Activists said up to 40 people were detained, a figure that could not be independently confirmed. Police did not immediately respond to a request ꧅for comment.

The Israeli military this week sealed the area to prevent such protests from recurring. It was not immediately clear how close the crow🥀d got to the crossing, and deliveries into Gaza did not a💙ppear to be disrupted.Kerem Shalom is the main goods crossing between Israel and Gaza.

Israel imposed a siege on Gaza in the first days of the war ba⛎rring the entry of aid. While𝓀 it relented under U.S. pressure, the amount of aid has been a fraction of what went into the territory before the war.

UN HUMANITARIAN AID CHIEF SAYS RELIEF TO GAZA🦄 IS GROSSLY INADEQUATE

UNITED NATIONS — In a passionate address to the UN Security Council, Under-Secretar𝐆y-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths called for Israel to allow more aid into Gaza.

Griffiths frequently broke from his prepared remarks as he made his address Wednesday. “The relief remains grossly inadequate. Andꦰ to say it's grossly inadequate, as it says here, is grossly inadequate. It's much, much more difficult,” Griffiths said. “It's the congest꧋ion, it's the rain, it's the lack of certainty about what tomorrow will bring.”

NETANY𝓰AHU SAYS EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO TR𓆏Y TO SECURE RELEASE OF HOSTAGES

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime 🍷Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip that efforts were underway to bring about the captives' release.

Netanyahu told the representatives of 18 families that efforts were being made “at these moments” to return the hostages. In a statement about the meetingꦅ from his office Wednesday, he did not disclose details on talks on a new hostage release a🐷greement.

Netanyahu met the families as Qatar, Egypt and the US were mediating talks meant to🌜 strike a deal between Israel and Hamas that෴ could free the roughly 100 remaining hostages and usher in a temporary cease-fire in Gaza.

Hamas-led militants captured about 250 people, including children, women and older people, in their Oct 7 attack on soꦛuthern🌸 Israel, an assault that triggered the war.

More than 100 captives, mostly women and childreꦏn, were released during the first and only deal between the sides in late November.

WHO SAYS GAZA HEALTH SYSTEM IS USING DONKEY CARTS TO TRANSPORT PATIEN🀅TS

GENEVA — The head of the World Hea🌳lth Organisation said the destroyed health system in Gaza has resorted to using donkey carts to transport injured patient🐠s, and that one major hospital has only one functional ambulance.

At a press briefing Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 100,000 Gaza residents are either dead, injured, missing or presumed dead in the war with I💫srael.

Tedros added that the risk of๊ famine is high, with many medical staff and patients receiving only one meal༒ per day.

He warꦚned that decisions by donor countries to pause funds for UNWRA, the bigꦉgest supplier of humanitarian aid in the crisis, will have “catastrophic consequences” for the people of Gaza.

The United States and more than a dozen other countries have announced plans to suspend contributions to UNRWA after Israel alleged that 12 of its workers participated in the Oct 7 attacks in Israel. UN officials f𒊎ired most of the workers and vowed an investigation.

US SANCTIONS COMPANIE🐎S AND PERSON IN LEBANON AND TURKEY

BEIRUT — The US slapped sanctions Wednesday on three companies and ✱one person in Lebanon and Turkey, accusing them of funnelling funds to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The US Treasury anno𝐆unced sanctions on Turkish company Mira Ihracat Ithalat Petrol (Mira), which it said “purchases, transports, and sells Iranian commodities on the global market”; on its chief executive, Ibrahim Talal al-Uwayr; and on Lebanon-based Yara Offshore SAL and Hydro Company for Drilling Equipment Rental, both of which it said have sold large quantities of Iranian goods to Syria.The sanctioned companies “generated hundreds of millions of dollaꦕrs' worth of revenue from selling Iranian commodities, including to the Syrian government,” the US Treasury said in a statement.

The move comes as the reg🔥ion is waiting for Washington's response to a strike, likely launched by one of the region's Iranian-back militias, that killed three US troops Sunday at a base in Jordan near the Syrian border.

UN SECRETARY-ꦯGENERAL AGAIN CALLS FOR A CEASE-FIRE

UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General António Guterr𝐆es called a🥀gain for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Spe🦩aking to the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Guterres said he condemned “the horrifyi𝕴ng attacks by Hamas and other groups” but “at the same time, nothing can justify the collective punishment of the people in Gaza.”

“The ongoing conflict and relentless bombardment by Israeli forces across Gaza have resulted in killings of civilians and destruction at a pace an🐻d scale unlike anything we have witnessed in recent years,” Guterres said. “I am horrified by incessant military strikes that have killed and maimed civilians and protectedꦰ personnel, and that have damaged or destroyed civilian infrastructure.”

EU AIM🦩S TO LAUNCH A RE𝓡D SEA NAVAL MISSION WITHIN 3 WEEKS

BRUSSELS — The European Union plans to launch a naval mission i𒈔n the Red Sea within three weeks to help defend cargo ships against attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen that are hampering trade and driving up prices, the bloc's top diplomat said Wednesday.EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he wants the mission to be up and running by Feb 17. Officials say that seven EU countries are ready to provide ships or planes. Belgium has already committed to send a frigate. Germany is expected to do the same.

Last week, US and British forces bombed multiple targets in eight locations used by the Iranian-backed Houthis. It was the second time the two allies have conducted coordinated retaliatory strikes on the rebels' missile-launching capabilities. The Houthis have waged a persistent campaign of drone and missile attacks oไn commercial ships since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, but Borrell insisted that the EUᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ mission will not take part in any military strikes.