Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterates that Israel is preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza, but has stopped short of revealing when it will happen.
The Israeli prime minister says “This is only the beginning” in a televised address from Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, hospitals are stopping all but emergency services as fuel runs out. Israel has blocked fuel from reaching Gaza and accuses Hamas of stockpiling it
Israel’s military has ramped up its overnight raids across the occupied West Bank as it presses on with its deadly bombardment of Gaza in Palestine.
Dozens of heavily armed Israeli soldiers were seen storming the Shuafat neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem, as nightly raids continued to target residents across the Palestinian territories.
Separate Israeli raids early on Thursday were also reported in the Palestinian village of Beit Kahil, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, as well as in Nablus.
Several Israeli forces were also seen patrolling an empty street in Hebron, backed by armoured vehicles.
The Russia-led UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip failed shortly after Moscow and Beijing vetoed a resolution put forward by Washington.
US President Joe Biden has faced backlash for questioning the Gaza death toll and describing the deaths of innocent Palestinians in the besieged enclave as “the price of waging war”.
US President Joe Biden said he has “no confidence in the number that Palestinians are using” for the death toll in the Gaza Strip, whose health ministry says over 6,500 have been killed in Israeli attacks.
“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” Biden said.
Biden did not say why he was sceptical of the Palestinian figures. The US president was replying to questions raised during his joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
In recent days, US intelligence officials also questioned the 471 death toll provided by Gaza authorities following the attack on Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arabi Hospital on October 17. They put the number between 100 and 300.
At least 6,546 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, while more than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since October 7.
Meanwhile, European Union (EU) leaders have called for a ‘humanitarian pause’ in Gaza.
The meeting by EU leaders on Thursday will centre on the call for a “humanitarian pause” in Israel’s war with Hamas.
After days of negotiations, a draft statement for the summit will reportedly call “for continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need through all necessary measures including a humanitarian pause”, according to AFP news agency.
However, the statement, which could still change when leaders meet in Brussels, falls short of demands from the United Nations for a “ceasefire”.
The 27-member bloc has been struggling for both unity and influence in the face of the crisis that has engulfed the Middle East, since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7.
In recent days, EU-member France reiterated its strong backing of the Israeli government’s strategy during a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. (Al Jazeera)