​Muhammad Nazal, a member of the Hamas politburo, told the Arabic news site Al Jazeera: “Hamas has avoided participating in recent battles (Shield and Arrow, Dawn) in order to conserve ammunition and capabilities for this operation. Nazal said that the current operation was planned several years ago.

Synthesis of the last 24 hours of the war:

• The United States is negotiating with Israel, the United Nations and Egypt on the provision of aid and the evacuation of residents, according to the White House.

• Gaza’s only power plant shut down after Israel cut off electricity supplies as well as essential goods including medicine, food, fuel and water

• Sources of food, fuel and water must be made available to civilians in Gaza, which is under Israeli bombardment and blockade, the UN secretary-general says. “What we need now is rapid and unhindered humanitarian access,” says António Guterres

• Meanwhile, the Israeli military says hundreds of thousands of troops are near Gaza, “ready to carry out our mission.”

• The death toll in Israel from Hamas attacks has reached 1,200, while over 1,100 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

Events on the war of Hamas against Israel, LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro:

05:58Muhammad Nazal, a member of the Hamas politburo, told the Arabic news site Al Jazeera: “Hamas has avoided participating in recent battles (Shield and Arrow, Dawn) in order to conserve ammunition and capabilities for this operation. Nazal said that the current operation was planned several years ago.

05:47Over the past few hours, 51 Palestinians have been killed and 281 wounded in overnight Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run coastal enclave. Israel says it targeted Hamas in response to an attack last weekend that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and aims to completely destroy the terror group.

05:00 Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed “the need to end war crimes against Palestine” by phone, Iranian state media reported.

04:45The White House clarified comments by Joe Biden who claimed to have seen photos of children beheaded by Hamas militants – the White House said Biden had not seen such images.

01:25 China’s ambassador to the Middle East, Zhai Jun, called for an “immediate ceasefire” in a telephone conversation with a Palestinian Authority official, China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

00:57Egypt has kept its border with Gaza closed for the time being and is asking the EU for financial aid to prevent a wave of refugees

Egypt on Wednesday dodged the question of whether to open the Rafah crossing to allow Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to escape the blockade and intense bombardment of the enclave, which has been under siege by the Israeli army since the Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel.

00:44Saudi Arabia demands that Israel stop attacks in the Gaza Strip

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed in a telephone conversation with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that the kingdom is “making constant efforts” at the regional and international levels to stop the escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas, Reuters reports.

The crown prince stated the need to stop any Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, the agency reported. Saudi Arabia strongly supports the Palestinian cause and efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just peace, it added.

00:35Biden calls on Israel to abide by the “laws of war.”

Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Israel to respect the “laws of war” in response to an unprecedented attack on its territory carried out on Saturday from the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, AFP reported.