What we’re covering
- Gaza is being “strangled” by Israel’s week-long siege and aerial bombardment, UN experts warned, as concerns grow that further escalationand a lack of safety for fleeing civilians risks drawing regional foes into the long-running conflict.
- Diplomatic efforts to address the crisis are intensifying. Egypt faces pressure to open a humanitarian corridor, while top US officials meet with leaders across the region.
- Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the enclave, in response to the October 7 terrorist attacks that killed 1,400 people. Israel also said Monday at least 199 people are being held hostage in Gaza.
- Half a million residents have left northern Gaza for the south, according to Israel, as it gears up for the next stages of its war. More than 2,700 people have died in Israeli airstrikes, the Palestinian health ministry said. US President Joe Biden said Sunday it would be a “big mistake” for Israel to occupy Gaza.
- Here’s how to help humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza.
Blinken arrives in Jerusalem to meet with Israeli officials
From CNN’s Jennifer Hansler
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Jerusalem for his meetings with Israeli officials, according to the traveling press.
The top US diplomat did not travel to Jerusalem when he visited last week. Instead, the meetings were held in Tel Aviv, which is where the airport is located.
Israeli military airstrikes have killed at least 2,750 people and injured more than 9,700, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said in a statement Monday.
In the West Bank, 58 people have been killed and more than 1,250 injured, the ministry added.
Some context: Casualties in Gaza since October 7 have surpassed the number of those killed during the 2014 Gaza-Israel conflict, a ministry spokesperson said on Sunday.
Until now, 2014 had been the deadliest year on record in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with at least 2,251 Palestinians killed in Gaza across 51 days of war, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
According to the TV pooler, the motorcade passed military vehicles on the roughly 35 minute drive to Jerusalem and the road was lined with Israeli flags.
