US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to return to the Middle East today in a new attempt to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Following a failed attempt to secure a ceasefire in the war in Gaza by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan last week, a new round of negotiations hosted by key mediator Qatar has begun.
Israel has responded with a relentless offensive against Hamas that has killed at least 31,819 people, most of them women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry. UN rights chief Volker Turk said Israel was blocking aid and conducting the conflict in a way that"may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war".
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said he was"cautiously optimistic" but it was"too early to announce any successes". Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said this week that Palestinian militants and commanders had since returned to Al-Shifa"and turned it into a command centre". Since the war erupted, the area's population has increased to around 1.5 million with hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes elsewhere in the territory seeking shelter there.
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