Israel launches overnight attacks on Southern Gaza as Blinken visits Egypt for talks

As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to travel to Egypt on Thursday for talks to address the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the southern Gaza Strip experienced a barrage of Israeli airstrikes overnight.

Hamas’s press office reported early Thursday that 62 people, including those in and around Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis, were killed in the overnight strikes.

Secretary Blinken, currently on his fourth Middle East tour, is set to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo today after a prior meeting with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday, who had expressed commitment to reforming to reunite Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its leadership post-war.

Simultaneously, a UN Security Council resolution was passed on Wednesday, demanding an “immediate” end to attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Huthi rebels, conducted in solidarity with Hamas.

It also comes as Israel was set to face accusations brought by South Africa at the UN’s top court on Thursday that it has committed “genocidal” acts in Gaza, charges both Israel and Blinken have dismissed as baseless.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari, confirmed continued decisive action “above and below ground” in the targeted area, claiming the discovery of tunnel shafts, routes, and various weapons, along with the elimination of “dozens of terrorists.”

Amidst the conflict, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported an Israeli strike on an ambulance in central Gaza, resulting in the tragic deaths of four medics and two other passengers on Wednesday. In Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, individuals wounded in a strike near a school were transported to the Al-Aqsa hospital.