All international MSF employees have left Gaza Strip

Biden wants ‘pause’ in war between Israel and Hamas

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday evening local time at a campaign rally in Minneapolis that he believes there should be “a pause” in the war between Israel and Hamas, the AP reports. Until now, the White House had consistently stated that Israel must decide for itself how to conduct military operations in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks.

However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that “humanitarian pauses should be considered” so that water, food and medicine can enter the Gaza Strip. But Biden also explicitly talked about negotiating for prisoners.

“I think we need a break,” Biden said after a protester called for a ceasefire. When asked for an explanation, the president said: “A break means you get time to get the prisoners out.” White House officials subsequently clarified that he was referring to both hostages and humanitarian aid.

According to AP, Biden is increasingly under pressure from human rights groups, other government leaders and members of his own Democratic Party who say the bombing of Gaza is collective punishment and that it is time for a ceasefire. The United States is Israel’s most important ally.

Hamas leadership reports at least 195 deaths in Israeli attacks on Jabalia

At least 195 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the Hamas-led Gaza administration. In a statement from the Hamas leadership it says that 120 missing people are still being searched under the rubble and that at least 777 people have been injured, Reuters news agency reports. The figures of Hamas, the fundamentalist Palestinian organization that has an administrative branch and commits terrorist acts, are not independent by NRC to verify.

Israel says it carried out the attacks because some Hamas leaders were in the camp. According to the Israeli army, they were killed in the attacks.

UN Secretary Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday evening that he was “shocked” by the Israeli bombing of the refugee camp. According to his spokesperson, he is “appalled by the escalation of violence in Gaza and the deaths of Palestinians, including women and children, in Israeli airstrikes on residential areas in the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp.”

Hamas had previously claimed that seven hostages were also killed in the Israeli attacks.

All international MSF employees have left Gaza Strip

All 22 international MSF employees who have been stuck in the Gaza Strip since October 7 crossed the border with Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday. The aid organization reports this on its website. They were part of the first wave of evacuees from Gaza.

In addition to foreign passport holders and international aid workers, a number of seriously injured people were also allowed to cross the border on Wednesday to be treated. But Doctors Without Borders points out that there are still more than 20,000 injured people in Gaza who have limited access to health care “because of the siege.”

A new team of international MSF staff is ready to work in Gaza “when the situation allows.” Meanwhile, Palestinian MSF staff continue to provide humanitarian and medical assistance in the Gaza Strip, “although there is no guarantee of safety for hospitals and medical staff.”

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This blog will follow NRC the situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip and related developments.