Iran Press/ West Asia: Ashraf al-Qudra told Al Jazeera in a telephone interview that the death toll included 297 people killed and more than 550 wounded in the past 24 hours.
Israel’s relentless bombardment continues along with ground operations that have forced hundreds of thousands of people from the northern and central areas to the increasingly overcrowded south.President Vladimir Putin says Russia is ready to give all possible assistance to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s civilians and help de-escalate the conflict.
Moscow says an international monitoring mission should go to Gaza to monitor the humanitarian situation.
“Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the principle position of rejecting and condemning terrorism in all its forms,” the Kremlin said in a statement. “At the same time, it is extremely important that countering terrorist threats does not lead to such grave consequences for the civilian population.”
Russia backed a UN Security Council resolution for a Gaza ceasefire that was vetoed by the United States on Friday.The Russian foreign minister also says it is unacceptable that Israel is using Hamas’s October 7 offensive as justification for collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza and has called for international monitoring of the situation on the ground in the besieged enclave.
Lavrov said there needs to be “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza and “some kind of monitoring on the ground”.
“We addressed the Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] suggesting that he use his authority to consider some kind of monitoring – but so far to no avail,” Lavrov said.
The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory has made a statement as the world marks 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.Article 1 of this pledge states “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.
“To give life to the Universal Declaration in Palestine, we need an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and, ultimately, an end to the occupation, guarantee the rights of the Palestinians to self-determination, and provide justice and equality for the peoples of both Palestine and Israel,” the office said.204
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Gaza’s death toll from Israeli attacks mounts to 16,248, including 7,112 children
