Hamas official calls Biden's optimism about Gaza ceasefire ‘an illusion'

FRANCE 24

17 August 2024 at 1:27 am·1-min read

A senior Hamas official on Saturday dismissed US President Joe Biden's optimism for an imminent ceasefire deal in Gaza, where rescue workers said an Israeli strike killed 18 members of a single Palestinian family. "To say that we are getting close to a deal is an illusion," Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.

This blog is no longer being updated. Click here for more on the Israel-Hamas war.

Summary:

Lebanon's health ministry said Saturday an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon overnight killed at least 10 people, including a woman and two children, even as Western and Arab diplomats step up efforts to stave off a wider regional conflict.
Violence continued to rage in the Gaza Strip, where an Israeli strike on the central town of Al-Zawaida killed 18 members of a single Palestinian family, according to health officials in the Hamas-held enclave.
The UN's health agency has asked for breaks in the fighting in Gaza for seven days to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against polio, which has been discovered in the territory's wastewater.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and the Israeli military issued rare and swift condemnations of the deadly attack by Israeli settlers on the West Bank village.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

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