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Palestinians mourn 28 killed in Israeli airstrikes on urban refugee camps in Gaza

Mourners held funeral prayers Wednesday morning outside a hospital in central Gaza for 28 people killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes on urban refugee camps.

Associated Press footage showed mourners praying over the bodies, which were wrapped in funeral shrouds, before the bodies were taken away in donkey carts for burial.

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Netanyahu remains set on Rafah ground invasion despite US misgivings

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he remains determined to carry out a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite the misgivings of U.S. President Joe Biden.

Netanyahu told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that he would wait to hear proposals from the U.S. “out of respect to the president” about ways to protect the civilian population in Rafah before ordering the operation.

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Israel says defense minister to visit Washington

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin next week in Washington, a U.S. defense official confirmed Tuesday.

The official, who spoke under condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public, said Austin and Gallant plan to discuss securing the release of Hamas-held hostages, humanitarian aid to Gaza and protecting those in Rafah.

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Incoming Palestinian PM lays out plans for reform but faces major obstacles

The incoming Palestinian prime minister said on Tuesday that he will appoint a technocratic government and establish an independent trust fund to oversee Gaza's reconstruction.

In a mission statement acquired by The Associated Press, Mohammad Mustafa laid out wide-ranging plans for the kind of revitalized Palestinian Authority called for by the United States as part of its postwar vision for resolving the conflict.

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Qatar 'cautiously optimistic' after truce talks with Israel spy chief

Israel’s intelligence chief has left Doha after talks aimed at trying to reach a cease-fire, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday at a news conference, adding that Qatari officials were “cautiously optimistic” about the negotiations.

Al-Ansari said Mossad chief David Barnea had left Qatar already. He said technical negotiations between Israel and Hamas were ongoing, with Qatar carrying messages between the parties.

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Israel may be using starvation as 'weapon of war', a 'war crime'

The U.N. warned Tuesday that Israel's severe restrictions on aid into war-ravaged Gaza and its ongoing hostilities could mean it is using starvation as a "weapon of war".

"The extent of Israel's continued restrictions on entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which he continues to conduct hostilities may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime," U.N. rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva, adding that the final determination of whether "starvation is being used as a weapon of war" would be determined by a court of law.

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Israel hits Hezbollah arms depots in Syria

Israeli raids hit warehouses storing weapons for the Lebanese Hezbollah group in Syria Tuesday, a war monitor said, as a Syrian military source said air defenses had intercepted several missiles.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war broke out in 2011, targeting Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah as well as Syrian army positions.

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Entire Gaza population at 'severe levels of acute food insecurity'

The entire population of Gaza is experiencing "severe levels of acute food insecurity", U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, underscoring the urgency for increasing the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.

"According to the most respected measure of these things, 100 percent of the population in Gaza is at severe levels of acute food insecurity. That's the first time an entire population has been so classified," Blinken told a press conference in the Philippines where he is on an official visit.

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Biden summons Israeli team in bid to avoid Rafah assault

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss with Biden administration officials a prospective Rafah operation as each side is looking to make "clear to the other its perspective," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

The agreement to hold talks about Rafah came as Biden and Netanyahu spoke Monday, their first interaction in more than a month, as the divide has grown between allies over the food crisis in Gaza and Israel's conduct during the war, according to the White House. Sullivan said the talks will happen in the coming days and are expected to involve military, intelligence and humanitarian experts.

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Blinken to visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt to discuss Gaza ceasefire

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week to discuss efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory, a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday.

Blinken will hold talks with Saudi leaders in Jeddah on Wednesday before travelling to Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian authorities, spokesman Matthew Miller said from the Philippines, where Blinken is touring.

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