Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank have lost their jobs or had their salaries frozen after the Israeli authorities cancelled their work permits and imposed severe restrictions on crossings after the October 7 offensive.

At least 700 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in 24 hours as Israel yesterday stepped up its bombing campaign from air, sea and land across the enclave, which the UN said now resembles a “death zone”.

The United Arab Emirates and several charities at the UN climate summit yesterday offered $777 million in financing for eradicating neglected tropical diseases that are expected to worsen as temperatures climb.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has issued a stark warning about the health sector in Gaza, describing the situation as “unimaginable.”

More than 110 nations pledged to triple the world’s renewable energy within seven years at UN climate talks yesterday as the United States pushed to slash methane emissions and boost nuclear capacity.

Under aerial bombardment from Israel, people sheltering in the south of the Gaza Strip after fleeing their homes earlier in the war said yesterday they had nowhere safe to go now.

Israeli war planes and artillery bombarded the south of the Gaza Strip yesterday, hitting mosques, homes and close to a hospital, after the collapse of a truce in the nearly two-month-old war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel’s warplanes pounded Gaza yesterday after talks to extend a week-old truce with Hamas broke down, sending wounded and dead Palestinians into hospitals and others onto the streets to seek safety.

The Israeli army said yesterday that with the resumption of fighting it had published a map to advise Gazans of safe areas for their evacuation.

The United Nations deplored the resumption of conflict in Gaza yesterday, describing the hostilities as “catastrophic” and urging parties to bring about a lasting ceasefire.

Israel and Hamas struck a last-minute agreement yesterday to extend their ceasefire for a seventh day, while mediators pressed on with talks to extend the truce further to free more hostages and let aid reach Gaza.

With a month to run, 2023 will reach global warming of about 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels, adding to “a deafening cacophony” of broken climate records, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said yesterday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday said a temporary truce between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas had produced results and the United States hoped it would continue.

Last-minute negotiations between Israel and Hamas to extend the Gaza truce were overshadowed yesterday by an unconfirmed claim by Hamas that a 10-month old baby Israeli hostage and his family had been killed.

The population of Gaza, especially women and children, risk famine if humanitarian food supplies do not continue, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) warned.

Israeli forces and Hamas fighters held their fire yesterday beyond the original deadline of a truce, extended at the last minute by at least two days to let more hostages go free.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described an extended truce between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas on Monday as “a glimpse of hope and humanity,” but warned it was not enough time to meet the aid needs of the Gaza Strip.

Mediator Qatar said yesterday a truce between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza had been extended by two days, continuing a pause in seven weeks of warfare that has killed thousands and laid waste to the Palestinian enclave.

A suspect was arrested in the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, CNN reported early yesterday, in an attack police are investigating as a suspected hate-motivated crime.

Israeli air strikes yesterday made Damascus airport inoperable just hours after flights had resumed following a similar attack last month, a war monitor said, as state media also reported the attack.