The essentials of the day before

  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is once again in the Middle East with the aim of achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

    He arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and is due to travel to Egypt on Thursday.

  • Riyadh announced a donation of 40 million dollars (nearly 37 million euros) to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), with which Israel is at loggerheads.

  • Canada will stop sending weapons to Israel, a government source announced Tuesday after a non-binding vote the day before by Canadian MPs to stop the transfer of weapons to Israel.

  • Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will travel to Washington next week, the Israeli government said on Wednesday, which is being pressed by the United States to avoid a generalized assault in Rafah.

Please note: the number of victims is provided by the Hamas-led Gaza Ministry of Health.

The ministry collects information provided by hospitals in the enclave and by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The Gaza Health Ministry does not indicate how the Palestinians were killed, whether by Israeli airstrikes and/or barrages or failed Palestinian rocket attacks.

It describes all victims as victims of "Israeli aggression" and also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

During the four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, United Nations agencies regularly cited Health Ministry figures in their reports.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestinian Red Crescent also use these figures.

In the aftermath of previous episodes of war, the United Nations Humanitarian Office published casualty figures based on its own research into medical records.

The UN figures largely agree with those of the Gaza Ministry of Health, with a few differences.

To learn more about the reports from the Gaza Ministry of Health, click here or here.

France 24 with AP

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