BRUSSELS/ROME -- European Union (EU) and Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Sunday called for preventing a further escalation of the situation in the Middle East following Iran's retaliatory strikes on Israel.

"Everything must be done to prevent further regional escalation. More bloodshed must be avoided. We will continue to follow the situation closely with our partners," said European Council President Charles Michel on social media.

"All actors must now refrain from further escalation and work to restore stability in the region," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on social media.

While calling on "all parties to exercise utmost restraint," Josep Borrell, EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said on social media that "this is an unprecedented escalation."

Borrell said that he has called an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers on April 16 "to contribute to de-escalation and security of the region."

After gathering in a virtual meeting on Sunday, the G7 leaders called for de-escalation and restraint on all parties.

In a joint statement, the G7 leaders emphasized "the need to avoid further escalation, calling on the parties to refrain from actions aimed at exacerbating tension in the region."

"To this end, the G7 called for an end to the crisis in Gaza through a cessation of hostilities and for the release of (Israeli) hostages by Hamas. The G7 leaders also pledged to continue providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population," said the statement.

The G7 comprises Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan, plus the top representatives of the European Union.

Iran and allied armed groups launched coordinated drone and missile strikes on Israel late Saturday night.

Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations has said the country's military action against Israel was based on Article 51 of the UN Charter regarding the legitimate right to self-defense and in response to the deadly Israeli attack against the Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Sunday that Iran, at this moment, no longer sought to continue its retaliatory military operation against Israel.

RAMALLAH -- A Palestinian man from the West Bank died while in custody at an Israeli prison, according to Palestinian organizations dealing with prisoner affairs.

The Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority, part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, along with the Prisoners Club, reported on Saturday that 59-year-old Abdul Rahim Amer from Qalqilya City passed away in Hadarim prison in Israel.

Amer was detained on March 17 and received a one-month sentence for unauthorized entry into Israeli territories. The details surrounding Amer's death, father of seven, have not been disclosed.

The statement further claimed that since Oct. 7, coinciding with the conflict in Gaza, Israeli authorities have detained numerous workers and allegedly subjected them to severe mistreatment.

It also accused Israeli authorities of "full responsibility" for Amer's demise through "systematic policies to target Palestinian presence."

The number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees who have died since Oct. 7 has reportedly increased to 16, the statement said.

GAZA -- The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has sent its response to the Gaza ceasefire proposal to mediators in Egypt and Qatar, in which it reaffirmed its demands, the Gaza-ruling movement said in a statement on Saturday.

In terms of resolving the Middle East issue and cooling down the situation in Gaza, "the United States, in particular, should play a constructive role", said China's Foreign Ministry when discussing details of a call between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that took place on Thursday evening.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news conference on Friday that Wang has expressed strong condemnation to the attack against the Iranian embassy in Syria on April 1.

Beijing underscored that the security of diplomatic institutions is not subject to infringement and that the sovereignty of Iran and Syria should be respected, she said.

Blinken briefed Wang on Washington's views regarding the current situation in the Middle East.

Mao said this round of escalation is the latest sign of spillover from the Gaza conflict.

"It is imperative that the Gaza conflict is brought to an end as soon as possible," she said.

Beijing called on all parties involved in the conflict to effectively implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728, immediately cease fire to stop the fighting and avert a humanitarian crisis, she added.

"China will continue to play a constructive role in resolving the Middle East issue based on the right and wrong of the matters themselves and to contribute to cooling down the situation," Mao said.

It came as Israel was on alert Thursday after Iran threatened reprisals over the strike in Syria.

France on Friday warned its citizens to "imperatively refrain from travel in the coming days to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories", the foreign minister's entourage said.

Iranian statement

Iran's permanent mission to the UN has regretted the UN Security Council's inaction to condemn Israeli attacks on its consulate building on Syrian soil, suggesting its retaliatory course could have been avoided by the international community.

The suspected Israeli airstrike damaged the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, where seven members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed. International law experts said the attacks violated international law and sovereignty.

"Had the UN Security Council condemned the Zionist regime's reprehensible act of aggression on our diplomatic premises in Damascus and subsequently brought to justice its perpetrators, the imperative for Iran to punish this rogue regime might have been obviated," the mission said on its X account.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in a phone conversation with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday, vowed for an "appropriate response" if Iran attacked Israeli territory.

In a phone conversation with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stressed that Iran's foreign policy "had always been based on staying away from tension".

But he said legitimate self-defense was a necessity when Israel, in breach of international law and relevant Vienna conventions, fully violated the immunity of diplomatic premises and personnel, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Further, in a separate call with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on the same day, Amir-Abdollahian said the silence of the US and Britain would encourage Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue and expand its warmongering in the region.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called on all countries in the Middle East to show restraint in the wake of the Israeli strike so as to avoid a full-scale destabilization of the situation, Russia's TASS News Agency reported. Germany and Britain also made similar appeals.

In Gaza, the Hamas-run authorities said on Friday that at least 33,634 people had been killed in the territory during more than six months of conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants.

GAZA -- At least nine Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah, eyewitnesses and medical sources said Thursday.

An Israeli drone targeted a gathering of Palestinians near a cemetery east of Rafah with a missile, killing six people, local sources told Xinhua, adding the bodies were transferred to Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in the city, with some of them being dismembered.

In addition, three Palestinians were killed, and several others were injured in an Israeli raid in the al-Jneina neighborhood east of Rafah, according to the sources. The casualties were transferred to the same hospital, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Israeli media that the Israeli army continues to target the infrastructure of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The army is preparing to expand its operations to include Rafah, Deir al-Balah, and other cities in the central Gaza Strip, he said, noting the operations will be similar to Wednesday's raid in Nuseirat, with the aim of eliminating "terrorism" and disarming Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces have conducted intensive bombardments in the vicinity of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza since Wednesday night, resulting in casualties.

This came as the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, announced that its members shot down an Israeli "quadcopter" aircraft and seized it while it was carrying out reconnaissance missions in the central Gaza Strip airspace.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee confirmed in a statement on the X platform that the 162nd Brigade had launched a surprise military campaign in the central Gaza Strip since Wednesday night.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

The war has killed at least 33,482 Palestinians and wounded 76,049 others since its outbreak, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

GAZA - Israeli forces have conducted intensive bombardments in the vicinity of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza since Wednesday night, resulting in casualties, local sources told Xinhua on Thursday.

Palestinian security sources said that the Israeli army executed extensive firing operations to the north of the Nuseirat camp. Additionally, Israeli aircraft bombed two mosques located west and north of the camp, as well as several residential towers. Israeli artillery also fired numerous shells targeting homes, apartments, and agricultural lands on the outskirts of the camp.

The sources explained that the bombing resulted in the killing of at least five Palestinians and the wounding of others, noting that fierce battles are ongoing between the Palestinian militants and the Israeli forces on the outskirts of Nuseirat.

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces announced in a statement on Thursday that Israeli soldiers have launched military operations in these areas.

From the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem to other Islamic facilities in Africa, Asia and Europe, Eid wishes this year were muted with tragic tones and eager calls of leaders of Muslim-majority countries for an end to Gaza bloodshed and hunger.

The holy month of Ramadan is ending with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728 left in the cold, while an agency of the United Nations suspects Israel could be using starvation as a weapon by limiting food aid convoys.

In his Eid message, Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said at Eid al-Fitr that his heart "is overwhelmed by Palestinians languishing under unprecedented brutal aggression of the Israeli occupation forces" who "did not give the people space to pray or even observe the Ramadan fast in peace", but rather "intensified their killing, destruction, and starvation".

In his Eid al-Fitr speech on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud reiterated the need to stop attacking the Palestinian people and end their suffering by recognizing their legitimate rights, Arab News reported.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday called for limiting the activities of Eid al-Fitr to religious rituals only, citing the difficult circumstances as the result of ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Palestinian News Agency WAFA reported that Muslim Palestinians in the Gaza Strip performed Eid al-Fitr prayers on the ruins of mosques that had been destroyed by Israeli attacks in shelter schools "to which they were displaced, and in public squares in the rain and cold weather".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his Eid message this year that his heart "is broken to know" that, in Gaza, in Sudan, "and so many other places because of conflict and hunger".

Supplies argument

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel was deliberately delaying and blocking food supplies from entering Gaza in comparison to other forms of humanitarian aid, Arab News reported.

"In northern Gaza, food distribution by humanitarian actors reached only 16 percent of the population," a report from the OCHA stated.

However, Israel accused the United Nations of undercounting aid entering Gaza, saying on Wednesday the UN was using a flawed approach meant to conceal its own distribution difficulties.

While Israel said 419 trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Monday, the main UN agency there, UNRWA, said only 223 trucks had come in on that day.

"The UN's incorrect numbers are a result of their flawed counting method," the COGAT, the Israeli military branch responsible for aid transfers, said in a statement.

Israeli forces kept up combat operations and airstrikes on Gaza a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed no let-up in the campaign to destroy Hamas.

US President Joe Biden called Netanyahu's handling of the conflict in Gaza a mistake and called for his government to flood the beleaguered territory with aid, ramping up pressure on Israel to reach a cease-fire and widening a rift between the two staunch allies.

"I think what he's doing is a mistake. I don't agree with his approach," Biden told Spanish-language TV network Univision in an interview that aired on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations slammed US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after he said the US does not have any evidence that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza in a Senate hearing.

Israel and Hamas are currently engaged in talks meant to bring about a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages captured by Hamas who stormed across the border on Oct 7.But the sides remain far apart on key issues, including the return of Palestinians to hard-hit northern Gaza.

Agencies contributed to this story.

jan@chinadailyapac.com

GAZA -- The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Wednesday that the Palestinian death toll has risen to 33,482 as a result of ongoing Israeli attacks.

During the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 122 Palestinians and wounded 56 others, bringing the total death toll to 33,482 and injuries to 76,049 since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the ministry said in a statement.

Some victims are still under the rubble and on the roads as the Israeli army prevents ambulance and civil defense crews from reaching them, according to the statement.

Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

GAZA -- Three sons of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, along with his three grandchildren, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City Wednesday.

Hamas' media office reported that the sons were killed by a strike on their car while they were driving in Al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City. Three of Haniyeh's grandchildren were also killed in the raid, Hamas said.

Later in the day, Israel officially confirmed the attack.

"An aircraft struck three Hamas military operatives that conducted terrorist activity in the central Gaza Strip," Israel's Shin Bet security service and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a joint statement.

According to the statement, the three sons who were killed are Amir Haniyeh, Mohammad Haniyeh, and Hazem Haniyeh.

The IDF added in the statement that it is "aware of claims that other relatives of Haniyeh were harmed, among them a minor. This information is not verified by the IDF."

Haniyeh said in an interview with Al Jazeera TV after the attack that the killing of his sons would not affect Hamas' demands in Gaza ceasefire negotiations.

Haniyeh, the 61-year-old Hamas leader, is based in Qatar.

Muslims worldwide celebrated the holiday of Eid al-Fitr on Wednesday. A joyous day to be sure, with the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. However, those who live in the Gaza Strip — surrounded by the rubble of bombed out buildings and wondering where their next meal would come from — had little to celebrate.

Day and night over the past six months, wailing and tears have been the lot of Gazans young and old. Indeed that wailing and those tears have been heard and seen around the world.

The numbers are stark enough. The conflict broke out after Hamas undertook a surprise attack on Israel on Oct 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people. Israel's relentless, remorseless retaliation has killed at least 33,360 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.

The carnage is there for all to see in the southern city of Khan Younis, a wasteland of shattered buildings and mountains of rubble after months of heavy bombing and street fighting.

In addition, the conflict has created a humanitarian crisis of horrific proportions.

Palestinians in northern Gaza have eaten an average of just 245 calories a day — equivalent to less than a can of beans — since January, the British charity Oxfam says. Much of the population in northern Gaza is on the brink of starvation, the United Nations says, and Gaza's 2.4 million Palestinians are "experiencing acute food insecurity and malnutrition", a World Bank report last week said.

The top UN court has concluded there is a "plausible risk of genocide" there, a charge Israel strongly denies, and the UN Security Council has adopted a demand for a cease-fire.

Israel has faced a chorus of global calls to halt the fighting and ease the suffering.

However, in a video message issued on Monday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's forces would storm the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza on the Egyptian border, despite global concerns for the fate of civilians sheltering there.

Moreover, fears that the conflict could spread have intensified after Iran vowed to retaliate for an airstrike on the consular office of its embassy in Damascus last week.

In the first episode of the video series China Echoes, China Daily takes a look at the conflict through the raw prism of some key words and numbers that have dominated news reports.

On March 25, after months of haggling, the Security Council finally adopted a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire during Ramadan. The United States, Israel's top backer, had repeatedly blocked previous resolutions for a truce. However, the US, which abstained from the vote, said the resolution is "non-binding", even though Security Council resolutions are legally binding.

China has always stressed that only by fully implementing the two-state solution, establishing an independent Palestinian state and correcting the long-standing historical injustice suffered by Palestinians can the vicious cycle of conflict end.

On Monday Dai Bing, charge d'affaires of China's permanent mission to the UN, revisited the core issue of the conflict, the two-state solution. He urged Israel to cease military aggression and lift its blockade of Gaza and urged the US to shoulder its responsibilities as a permanent member of the Security Council.

GAZA -- At least 14 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Palestinian medical sources and eyewitnesses said Tuesday.

Eyewitnesses told Xinhua that Israeli warplanes targeted a house belonging to the Abu Yousef family in the camp, completely destroying the house and causing damage to nearby homes.

Medical sources told Xinhua that 14 people, including children, were killed in the airstrike, and several others sustained varying degrees of injuries. All the injured were transported to hospitals.

Earlier in the day, the Gaza health ministry announced that the Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip reached 33,360 since the start of the war on Oct 7 last year.

CAIRO -- Egypt, Jordan, and France on Monday urged an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which has been under deadly Israeli siege and bombardment over the past six months.

In a joint article, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Jordanian King Abdullah II, and French President Emmanuel Macron called for an immediate and unconditional implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2728, which demands an immediate ceasefire in the conflict-stricken enclave.

"We warn against the dangerous consequences of an Israeli offensive on Rafah, where more than 1.5 million Palestinian civilians have sought refuge. Such an offensive will only bring more deaths and suffering, heighten the risks and consequences of mass forcible displacement of the people of Gaza and threaten regional escalation," said the leaders.

Noting that there is an urgent need for a massive increase in the provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance, the leaders urged Israel to ensure the flow of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population, a responsibility it has not fulfilled.

They demanded an immediate release of all hostages and reaffirmed their support for the negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States dealing with ceasefire, hostages, and detainees.

The massive conflict in Gaza has so far killed 33,207 Palestinians, in addition to many unreported under the rubble, and injured 75,933 others, according to the update released by Gaza's health ministry earlier on Monday.

Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in retaliation to a Hamas rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

CAIRO/JERUSALEM — The latest round of Gaza truce talks in Cairo has reached a critical point as negotiators sent contradictory signals, after Israel pulled its troops from the southern part of the enclave on Sunday.

Six months into its offensive against Hamas, Israel voiced cautious optimism about the latest round of mediated negotiations.

Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt on Sunday, following the arrival on Saturday of CIA Director William Burns, whose participation followed US pressure for a deal that would free hostages held in Gaza and ease the humanitarian crisis there.

According to Egypt's Al-Qahera News state-affiliated TV channel, Hamas and Qatari delegations left Cairo and will return within two days to agree on the terms of a final agreement, while the Israel and US delegations will leave within a few hours.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz described the Cairo talks as the closest the sides have come to a deal since a November truce under which Hamas freed dozens of hostages.

"We have reached a critical point in the negotiations. If it works out, then a large number of hostages will come home," he told Israel's Army Radio.

Two Egyptian sources also said the talks are making progress in Cairo and all parties have agreed on the basic points.

The sources said that both sides made concessions that could help pave the way for a cease-fire deal in parallel meetings with mediators.

However, a Hamas official told Reuters on Monday that no progress has been made at the new round of cease-fire talks in Cairo.

"There is no change in the position of the occupation and therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks," the Hamas official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. "There is no progress yet," he added.

Hamas seized 253 people during an Oct 7 killing spree in southern Israel that triggered the conflict. Of those, 129 hostages remain, and negotiators have spoken of about 40 going free in the first stage of a prospective deal with Hamas.

Hamas wants to parlay any deal into an end to the conflict, full withdrawal of all Israeli forces and return of displaced Gazans. Israel has ruled out the first two demands.

While saying he was more optimistic than before about a diplomatic breakthrough, Katz added: "Israel is poised to continue the war."

Growing call

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that despite growing international pressure, Israel would not give in to "extreme" Hamas demands.

The development of the truce talks came after Israel pulled its forces out of the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.

However, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said troops had left the city of Khan Younis "to prepare for future missions, including … in Rafah".

Local broadcaster Channel 13 TV reported that Israel was preparing to begin evacuating Rafah within one week and the process could take several months.

Israel for weeks has vowed a ground offensive in nearby Rafah. But the city shelters some 1.4 million people — more than half of Gaza's population. The prospect of an offensive has raised global alarm, including from Israel's top ally, the US.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby repeated on Sunday the US opposition to a Rafah offensive and told ABC News the US believes the partial Israeli withdrawal "is really just about rest and refit for these troops that have been on the ground for four months and not necessarily, that we can tell, indicative of some coming new operation for these troops".

After troops left areas in and around the largely destroyed Khan Younis, a stream of displaced Palestinians walked there, hoping to return to their homes from temporary shelters in Rafah, a little further south.

"It smells like death," said Maha Thaer, a mother of four, as she returned to the city on Sunday.

On Monday, preliminary hearings opened at the United Nations' top court in a case that seeks an end to German military and other aid to Israel.

Nicaragua argues that by giving Israel political, financial and military support and by defunding the United Nations aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, "Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide".

Agencies via Xinhua

CAIRO -- Progress has been made in discussions in Cairo on a Gaza conflict truce and there is agreement on the basic points between all parties involved, Al-Qahera News, an Egyptian state-owned TV channel, reported on Monday.

Delegations from Israel, the United States, Hamas and Qatar will leave Cairo within hours, and consultations on the Gaza ceasefire will continue over the next two days, said the report.

Hamas leaders, and delegations from Qatar, Egypt and the United States held talks on Sunday over a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a hostage-for-prisoner swap deal between the movement and Israel.

During previous rounds of indirect talks, Hamas demanded a complete cessation of the war, while Israel agreed only to a temporary ceasefire and rejected Hamas' request to allow displaced civilians to return home.

Israel on Sunday pulled its troops out of southern Gaza, including from the city of Khan Younis, after six months of fierce fighting with Hamas that left the area devastated.

But the military said a "significant force" will continue to operate in the rest of the besieged Gaza Strip.

"The 98th commando division has concluded its mission in Khan Younis," the army said in a statement to Agence France-Presse.

"The division left the Gaza Strip in order to recuperate and prepare for future operations.

Israeli security expert Omer Dostri said the withdrawal was purely tactical and did not mean the conflict was anywhere near over.

In a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was "one step away from victory" in the Gaza conflict and vowed there would be no truce until Hamas frees all hostages.

"We are one step away from victory," Netanyahu said. "But the price we paid is painful and heartbreaking."

As the bloodiest conflict between Israel and Palestine passed the half-year mark, Israel's government has faced a growing international backlash against its military campaign.

Arab states and aid groups are demanding that Israel comply with a United Nations cease-fire resolution and end atrocities that have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as its operation has ignored UN Security Council Resolution 2728.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths lamented on Saturday that "we have arrived at a terrible milestone" and that "the end of this war is long overdue".

"It is not enough for six months of war to be a moment of remembrance and mourning. It must also spur a collective determination that there be a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity."

On Friday, Abdulaziz Al-Wasil, Saudi Arabia's permanent representative to the UN, called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution "to ensure that Israel, the occupying power", abide by a cease-fire, and to give access to humanitarian aid and "put an end to the evil aggression on the Palestinian people and provide protection for them".

Months of stop-start cease-fire talks have made no headway since a weeklong truce in November in which some hostages were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.

In a new push in Cairo, CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani were expected to join Egyptian officials for indirect talks from Sunday between the Israeli and Hamas delegations, Egypt's Al-Qahera News said.

The attempt came after Israel's military made a rare admission of wrongdoing and said it was dismissing two officers over the killing of seven aid workers in Gaza last week.

During previous rounds of indirect talks, Hamas demanded a complete cessation of the conflict, and Israel agreed only to a temporary cease-fire and rejected Hamas' request to allow displaced civilians to return home.

Resolution 2728, adopted by the Security Council on March 25, demands an immediate cease-fire for Ramadan respected by all parties, leading to a sustainable cease-fire.

Under the UN Charter, the Security Council can order military action and nonmilitary measures such as sanctions to ensure its resolutions are implemented and to restore international peace and security.

In a terse phone call with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, US President Joe Biden demanded vastly greater aid deliveries into the territory now threatened by famine.

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak demanded that "this terrible conflict must end".

Agencies and Xinhua contributed to this story.

jan@chinadailyapac.com

TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Hamad al-Busaidi on Sunday highlighted the urgent need to stop the ongoing war in Gaza immediately, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.

The two officials made the remarks at a joint press conference following their meeting earlier in the day in the Omani capital Muscat, during which they also called for the promotion of bilateral relations and the implementation of the agreements between the two countries, according to the report.

The Iranian foreign minister praised Oman for its positions against what he termed Israel's "genocide" in the Gaza Strip and its support for the rights of Palestinians, stressing that both sides agreed that the war in the Palestinian coastal enclave had to cease immediately and large-scale humanitarian aid should be sent to the region swiftly.

Amir-Abdollahian accused Israel of "pursuing a policy of warmongering and widening the scope of the war in the region" with the backing of the United States, stressing that the deadly Israeli missile attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 1 was "a new page in Israel's warmongering and dragging others into war in the region." He said Iran would not let its national security be compromised.

The Omani foreign minister pledged joint efforts with Iran to find solutions to the regional conflicts and tensions, saying that ending the suffering of Gazans and Israel's continued military attacks on Gaza was an issue of common concern.

He added that the only solution to the conflict and situation in Gaza was the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

A total of 33,175 Palestinians have been killed and 75,886 others were injured in Gaza since Israel began its military offensive against Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said on Sunday.

The conflict began after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, which claimed the lives of around 1,200 Israelis, according to the Israeli authorities.

JERUSALEM -- Israeli troops were withdrawn from southern Gaza in preparation for a possible operation in the city of Rafah, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday.

The forces left Gaza on Sunday are preparing for "follow-up missions," said Gallant during a tour at the Southern Command of Israel Defense Forces (IDF), adding that "we saw examples of such missions in Shifa (hospital), and will see such missions in the Rafah area."

Israel withdrew all ground troops from southern Gaza except for the Nahal Brigade, which remains in central Gaza, splitting the Strip in two and preventing the return of civilians from south to north of Gaza.

Also on Sunday evening, the IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told a press conference that the military operation against Hamas is "far from" over, despite the withdrawal of soldiers.

"Senior Hamas officials are still in hiding. We will get to them sooner or later," he vowed.

Halevi also said that the IDF is well-prepared on multiple fronts against Iran and its proxies, in response to potential retaliation following the strike on the Iranian consulate building in the Syrian capital earlier this week.

JERUSALEM - Israel withdrew all ground troops except for one brigade from southern Gaza on Sunday, local media reported.

The one brigade, named Nahal, remains in central Gaza, splitting the strip in two and preventing the return of civilians from south to north of Gaza.

In addition, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has reorganized itself around Gaza after new "security zones" were established, according to Israel's State-owned Kan TV news.

Israeli troops will now focus on "intelligence-based" raids and refreshing forces in preparation to return to Gaza if necessary, said the report, citing IDF sources.

The departure of troops is "not related to political pressure", it added.

Several countries, including the United States, have demanded accountability from Israel following an Israeli military strike on an international food charity convoy, and called for Israel to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into what went wrong.

Many officials reject Israel's statement that the Monday strike was an "unintentional" killing of international aid workers in Gaza, and some analysts have accused Israel of scaring aid workers in a starving Gaza strategy.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations' special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, accused Israeli forces on her X account of intentionally killing the seven World Central Kitchen workers so that donors "would pull out and civilians in Gaza could continue to be starved quietly". She also accused Western countries of not "moving a finger for the Palestinians".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had admitted there had been "a tragic event in which our forces unintentionally harmed noncombatants in the Gaza Strip".

"This happens in war," he said.

The bodies of six foreign aid workers killed were expected to be transported out of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

The latest tragedy has prompted the World Central Kitchen and some humanitarian organizations to reevaluate their work in Gaza, which is a huge blow to starving Palestinian civilians.

According to the UN, at least 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since October.

US President Joe Biden said in a statement he was "outraged and heartbroken" by the deaths of the World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers. He demanded Israel's investigations to be swift, and that the findings "be made public".

In a joint statement with EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell demanded assurance of accountability for those responsible and reminded Israel of its obligation under International Humanitarian Law to "protect humanitarian workers at all times".

They also demanded the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution on adopting an immediate and sustainable cease-fire.

In a telephone call with Netanyahu on Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed outrage over the attack on innocent aid workers.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the strike "shocking" on his X account and demanded that Israel take immediate steps to protect workers and facilitate vital humanitarian operations in Gaza.

Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Israel ensures accountability and non-impunity "for all crimes committed as a result of the horrific war".

Halting escalation

The United Arab Emirates, which has normalized ties with Israel, also made its indignation felt. Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan stressed in a statement the UAE's call on Israeli authorities to "conduct an urgent, independent and transparent investigation, and accept full responsibility", and to strengthen the humanitarian response and intensify efforts aimed at "halting escalation in the occupied Palestinian territory and in the region".

Muslim Imran, director at the Asia Middle East Center for Research and Dialogue in Malaysia, said Israel "has made it very clear at the beginning of the ongoing onslaught" that it did not want anybody to stay in the northern regions of Gaza.

It "put a policy of ethnic cleansing in place" and it has been targeting "almost everyone or anything moving" in the northern parts of the Gaza Strip. He said aid workers — be it local or international aid workers — are seen by Israel as "the problem" for "obstructing Israel's policy of ethnic cleansing".

Imran said Israel has "not encouraged international aid workers to come in", and "targeted them and killed them", thinking that this will scare off international efforts from coming into Gaza.

"I don't buy Israel's propaganda and claims that it was an unintentional targeting because they targeted three different cars (and the Israeli military) have been coordinating with this particular international NGO and the Israel army knows exactly where the coordinates of these aid workers are," Imran told China Daily.

"By claiming that (the strikes are) unintentional and claiming that they will conduct an investigation, it's very funny when the criminal perpetrator conducts investigations on themselves."

Agencies contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com.

The international community is demanding effective enforcement of Monday's United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza during Ramadan after Israel refused to change course.

The calls have grown specifically louder in the Middle East, led by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, which have urged countries to expedite their recognition of the Palestinian state.

Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari, official spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, stressed the need for the international community "to shoulder its responsibility toward the crisis in the Gaza Strip", especially after the UN resolution.

Qatar's Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, Hind Abdulrahman Al Muftah, urged on Tuesday the international community to take a "collective and urgent measure" to recognize Palestine.

However, while continuing raids and air attacks in Gaza and Lebanon in the last 24 hours, Israel has recalled its negotiators from Doha after deeming mediation talks on a Gaza truce "at a dead end" due to demands by Hamas, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday blasted his country's top ally, the United States, which chose not to block the UN resolution. He said the resolution had emboldened Hamas and he vowed to press ahead with the fighting.

Netanyahu has said Israel can only achieve its aims of dismantling Hamas and returning scores of hostages if it expands its ground offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where over half of Gaza's population has sought refuge, many in crowded tent camps. The US has said a major assault on Rafah would be a mistake.

The passage of Monday's resolution further deepened the divisions between the close allies.

Controversial decision

Netanyahu's canceled visit to Washington raised criticism in Israeli media that Netanyahu was straining Israel's most important alliance in order to placate hardliners in his governing coalition.

"He is prepared to sacrifice Israel's relations with the United States for a short-lived political-media coup. He has completely lost it," Ben Caspit, a columnist in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, wrote.

He said Netanyahu has been testing US patience by dragging his feet on ensuring more humanitarian aid gets into Gaza and on drawing up postwar plans.

Belal Alakhras, a political analyst and Palestinian researcher at the University of Malaya in Malaysia, told China Daily that Israel's refusal to heed the UN's call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza carries some notable implications.

"This underscores Israel's increasingly isolated position, even among traditionally supportive member states who initially balked at the resolution but now recognize the need for diplomatic maneuvering," said Alakhras.

"The Israeli occupation's defiance and rejection of the cease-fire resolution shed light on the vulnerabilities and fractures within the rules-based international order led by Washington," he added.

Alakhras said the failure to effectively address such critical issues and influence member states' behavior "reveals a system seemingly designed for exploitation rather than genuine adherence".

"Those in more vulnerable positions within this framework are likely to bear the brunt of these shortcomings, potentially leading to distant and independent actions in the long term.

"These unfolding events mark a pivotal moment, highlighting the complexities and challenges within our current geopolitical landscape," he added.

Despite pressure, Israel — which launched retaliatory strikes in Gaza — has refused to end its bombardments. Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday that attacks in Rafah by Israel had intensified on the ground with buzzing sound of drones.

Four people had been killed and their bodies transferred to Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital while about 25 others had been injured and taken to hospitals.

Agencies via Xinhua contributed to this story.