Thursday 28 / November / 2024
Gaza: The death toll of Palestinians from Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has so far risen to 20,258 since Oct. 7, with 53,688 others being injured, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
It added that at least 201 Palestinians were killed and 368 injured in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours.
Medical and security sources told Xinhua that at least 18 people were killed, and several others wounded on Saturday following an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza's al-Bureij refugee camp.
Meanwhile, another Israeli airstrike targeting the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries, the sources added.
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, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.
Egyptian, Iranian presidents hold rare phone talks
Meanwile in Cairo, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi received a phone call from his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday, where they discussed the ties between the two countries as well as the situation in the Gaza Strip, said the Egyptian presidency in a statement.
"The two presidents followed up on discussions to address the outstanding issues between the two countries," it added.
Raisi congratulated Sisi on his recent re-election as Egyptian president, according to the statement.
"The phone call also tackled developments in the Gaza Strip," said the Egyptian presidency.
Raisi said Iran was ready to provide all its capacities to stop the killing and send aid to the Palestinians, Iranian state TV reported, adding that it was the first time the two presidents had spoken by phone.
Iran and Egypt severed diplomatic relations in 1980 as Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and later hosted the deposed Iranian shah following the Islamic revolution in Iran in the same year.
In 2023, following the China-brokered Saudi-Iran reconciliation deal, Egypt and Iran engaged in Oman-mediated rounds of talks aimed at restoring ties. Both countries have announced a willingness to mend bilateral ties by settling differences on certain issues.
Sisi and Raisi held their first meeting in Riyadh in November on the sidelines of the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit to end the Gaza conflict.
