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The 500th US airlift of military aid reaches Israel; truce talks hit impasse

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The 500th US airlift of military aid reaches Israel; truce talks hit impasse

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The 500th flight carrying U.S. military equipment to Israel since the Israel-Hamas war began has landed, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced Monday.

That is an average of more than one flight per day, plus more than 100 sea shipments. They delivered armored vehicles, munitions, personal protection gear and medical equipment “crucial” to the Israeli military since the war started more than 10 months ago, the ministry said in a statement.

“This operation has delivered over 50,000 tons of military equipment to Israel,” the ministry said in a statement. 

Military flights are still flying to Israel, but U.N. humanitarian aid operations in Gaza ground to a halt Monday after Israel issued new evacuation orders for a swath of central Gaza, a senior U.N. official told Reuters. Israeli officials said the evaucations were necessary because the military was pursuing Hamas militants in the area. The U.N. official, said the agency’s staff had to be moved so quickly that equipment was left behind.

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Developments:

∎ The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,435 Palestinians have been killed and 93,534 have been wounded in Israel’s war against Hamas that began after Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killed almost 1,200 people and seized more than 200 hostages.

∎ The Israeli military said it destroyed a Hamas tunnel the length of almost eight football fields in central Gaza.

Diplomatic mediation efforts by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to reach an agreement on a cease-fire that could lead to release of scores of hostages still held by Hamas-led militants in Gaza. Neither Hamas nor Israel agreed to compromises presented by mediators at talks in Cairo on Sunday, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters.

A senior U.S. official, however, described the talks as “constructive,” and said both sides were pressing for a “final and implementable agreement.”

Hamas official Osama Hamdan, however, dismissed claims that a deal could be imminent as false efforts to serving political purposes ahead of U.S. elections. He accused Israel of backing away from a commitment made last month to withdraw troops − and of adding additional demands.

“We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions,” Hamdan said.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir drew outrage after telling Army Radio that Jews would not be prevented from praying atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and one of Islam’s holiest sites. An unwritten agreement allows Jewish visitors to visit the Temple Mount, but they must pray at the nearby Western Wall. Israel’s tight restriction over the mosque were among reasons for the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas leaders say.

The Palestinian Authority issued a statement calling on international allies to “pressure Israel to force it to put an end to Ben Gvir’s practices, statements and provocative stances.”

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel called on Netanyahu to remove Ben Gvir from his post overseeing Israel police, warning that his “irresponsible comments put into doubt Israel’s strategic alliances with Muslim states” against Iran.

Tens of thousands of Israelis are expected to attend an alternative remembrance marking the first anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, Israeli Channel 2 reported. The event is being organized by victims of the attack and their families who do not want to participate in the government’s ceremony. Families of hostages have repeatedly criticized Netanyahu’s efforts to free the hostages, and some accuse the government of using the official ceremony to avoid responsibility for the role it played in failing to prevent the attack and for failing to care for the communities in the attack’s aftermath.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is organizing the government event, drew added criticism when he dismissed the concerns of the families as “noise.”

Contributing: Reuters

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