Israel tightens grip around Gaza City as Blinkin arrives

Around 800, including hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of injured allowed to leave

Israeli troops tightened their encirclement of Gaza City on Friday as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel to press for a humanitarian “pause” in the fighting with Hamas and for more aid to be allowed into besieged Gaza.

Tensions continued to escalate along the northern border with Lebanon ahead of a speech planned later Friday by Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, a Hamas ally. It is his first public speech since Hamas attacked Israel last month, stoking fears the conflict could become a regional one.

Palestinian workers stranded in Israel cross back into the Gaza Strip

Roughly 800 people—including hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of injured—have been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing under an apparent agreement among the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.

Meanwhile, Israel has allowed over 260 trucks carrying food and medicine through the crossing, but aid workers say it’s not enough. Israeli authorities have refused to allow fuel in.

9,061
Approx no. of Palestinians killed since Oct 7

Militias announce expanded attacks 

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iran-backed Iraqi militias, announced Friday that it will launch a more “intense and expansive” phase of operations against US bases in the region. It said the escalation is “in support of our people in Palestine and to avenge the martyrs” in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

Palestinians in Gaza barred from work

Israel will stop providing funding to the Palestinian Authority earmarked for the Gaza Strip and will bar Palestinians in Gaza from working in Israel. Though Hamas seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, the PA has continued to pay tens of thousands of civil servants in the strip.

Hundreds of Palestinian workers released

Israel on Friday released hundreds of Palestinian workers who said they had been held in an Israeli-run jail since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7. The workers were dropped off by buses early Friday near Gaza and walked into the southern edge of the besieged enclave through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

The workers were among what Israeli rights groups believe are thousands of laborers marooned in Israel since the outbreak of the war. They say some of the workers were detained by Israel without charge or due process.

Rights groups say the workers had their work permits revoked and any trace of their status wiped from their records, leaving them vulnerable and in legal limbo at a time when their families in Gaza are enduring Israel’s massive bombardment.

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