News National/International

Israel-Gaza Conflict: What To Know For Friday

By Steve Mullis
 

As the conflict between Israel and Gaza approaches the three-week mark, the fighting seems to have only intensified. At least 119 Palestinians were killed Thursday, making it the bloodiest day of the war.

Secretary of State John Kerry is in Cairo pushing for a temporary cease-fire.

While the war is unfolding between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, is also involved in efforts to end the fighting. The Palestine Liberation Organization's diplomatic representative to the U.S., Maen Areikat, spoke with NPR's Robert Siegel about the causes of the conflict and the possible consequences of a cease-fire.

Areikat said it is difficult to talk about an end result to the conflict, such as disarming factions in Gaza and preventing attacks, "without really addressing the political issues that have led to this confrontation in the first place."

As we reported, a U.N.-run school sheltering civilians in Gaza was hit with several explosions Thursday, killing more than a dozen people. Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that Hamas had fired rockets from the area and that Wednesday night IDF told the Red Cross to evacuate civilians. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, and the Red Cross "received the message," according to the statement.

However, UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl wrote in a statement that the agency "had been attempting to negotiate with the Israeli Defence Forces a pause in the fighting" in order to move civilians and staff. "Approval for that never came to UNRWA," he said.

NPR's Emily Harris reported on the chaos at a nearby hospital following the explosions at the school.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon angrily denounced the attack, saying the killing must "stop now."

"This is wrong," Ban said. "Why are you continuing to kill people?

"There are many other ways to resolve this issue without killing each other," Ban said. "I'm angry about what they are doing."

Close to 800 Palestinians have been killed so far in the conflict , according to a Gaza health official. Going into Friday, Israel had lost 32 soldiers, as well as two civilians; a Thai worker in Israel was also killed by rocket or mortar fire.