if The war between Israel and Hamas Rebuilding operations stopped today, but it will take until 2040 to rebuild all the homes destroyed during nearly seven months of Israeli bombing and ground attacks on the area, according to UN estimates released on Thursday.
The United States has pressured Israel to increase aid deliveries during the war, and put pressure on Israel on Wednesday Re-opening of the border crossing The northern Gaza Strip, which was severely damaged for the first time since it was damaged at the beginning of the war.
Meanwhile, on his seventh visit since the latest war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed for a ceasefire agreement. The proposed truce would release hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a halt to the fighting and the delivery of much-needed food, medicine and water to Gaza. Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be released as part of the deal.
On October 7, Palestinian militants launched an attack An unprecedented attack on southern IsraelKilling about 1,200 people – most of them civilians – and kidnapping about 250 hostages. Israel says armed They are still holding about 100 hostages And the remains of more than 30 others.
The death toll in Gaza is more than 34,500 Palestinians According to local health officialsAt a time when the region is facing a humanitarian catastrophe. The war has displaced about 80% of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes, caused widespread destruction in many towns and cities and displaced northern Gaza. To the brink of starvation.
currently:
Continuous coverage of the war in the Middle East stopped for a while Protests and police actions in American schools.
-The Colombian president says the country will do so Cutting diplomatic relations with Israel Regarding the war in Gaza.
– The Biden administration is considering the necessary measures Helping Palestinians bring family From the area.
— Blinken is putting pressure on Hamas To conclude a ceasefire with Israel, saying: “It is time” to reach an agreement.
Follow AP's coverage of the war on https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here's the latest:
The German Chancellor and the Israeli Prime Minister speak in a phone call about the release of the hostages and a ceasefire
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and a ceasefire in a phone call Thursday, German government spokesman Wolfgang Buchner said, without providing details.
Further improvements in humanitarian aid supplies to Gazans were also a topic, Buchner said in an emailed statement.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany is the second largest arms supplier to Israel, after the United States. It is also among the countries that announced that it will resume cooperation with the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestinians in Gaza after the publication of its report. Independent review Its neutrality – a decision that the Israeli Foreign Ministry described as “regrettable and disappointing.”
The Ministry of Health adds 28 people to the death toll of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza
BEIRUT – The Gaza Ministry of Health said Thursday that the bodies of 28 people killed in Israeli raids were transferred to local hospitals over the past 24 hours. It said in its daily report that hospitals also received 51 wounded.
The ministry said that this brings the total number of Palestinian deaths in the war between Israel and Hamas to at least 34,596, in addition to 77,816 wounded. the The Ministry of Health does not discriminate Between combatants and civilians in its statistics, but it says that women and children constitute about two-thirds of the dead.
The Israeli army says it killed about 13,000 militants, without providing evidence to support this claim.
Fighting in Gaza has destroyed more than 370,000 homes and will take until at least 2040 to repair, a UN report says.
AMMAN, Jordan — If the war in Gaza stopped today, it would take until 2040 to rebuild all the homes destroyed during nearly seven months of Israeli bombing and ground attacks in the Strip, according to United Nations estimates released Thursday.
UNDP Director Achim Steiner said: “Every additional day that this war continues imposes huge and multiplying costs on the people of Gaza and all Palestinians.”
At least 370,000 housing units in Gaza have been damaged, including 79,000 completely destroyed, according to the new report from the United Nations Development Program and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, which details how the Israeli offensive, which began after the Hamas attack in October 7, destroyed at least 370,000 housing units in Gaza. It has destroyed the economy of the Palestinian territories, and the impact will increase the longer the conflict lasts.
After previous conflicts between Israel and Hamas, housing was rebuilt at a rate of 992 units annually. The report said that even if Israel allowed a five-fold increase in construction materials to Gaza, it would take until 2040 to rebuild the destroyed homes, without repairing the damaged homes.
In Gaza, the Israeli attack effectively shut down the economy, which contracted by 81% in the last quarter of 2023. “The productive basis of the economy has been destroyed,” with sectors suffering losses of more than 90%, the report said.
Gaza, inhabited by about 2.3 million Palestinians, has been subject to a siege by Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control of the Strip in 2007, imposing tight control on what enters and exits the Strip. Even before the war, it faced “excessive unemployment” of 45%, reaching nearly 63% among younger workers. Since the beginning of the war, about 201 thousand jobs have been lost.
The war has also affected the West Bank, where Israel has imposed movement restrictions for months. The report said that in 2024, the entire Palestinian economy – including both Gaza and the West Bank – has so far contracted by 25.8%, and if the war continues, the loss will reach 29% by July, equivalent to $7.6 billion.
Hamas praises Colombia's decision to sever relations with Israel
BEIRUT – The Palestinian militant group Hamas praised Colombia's announcement that it would do so Cutting ties with IsraelConsidering that such a step is an acknowledgment of the suffering of the Palestinian people.
In its statement Thursday, Hamas called on other Latin American leaders to sever diplomatic relations between their countries and Israel, which it described as “a rogue and fascist entity that continues its crimes against our people.”
Historically, Colombia has been one of Israel's closest partners in Latin America. But relations between the two countries have cooled since then Gustavo Petro was elected As the first left-wing president of Colombia in 2022.
Petro announced that his government would sever diplomatic relations with Israel as of Thursday, describing the Israeli blockade on Gaza as “genocide.” He had previously suspended the purchase of weapons from Israel and compared that country's actions in Gaza to those of Nazi Germany. Hamas said it highly appreciated Petro's position.
Weeks after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the current war in Gaza and killed about 1,200 people, Petro summoned Colombia's ambassador to Israel, where he criticized the country's military offensive.
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