TRANSCRIPT
Arab leaders stood united in their demands for an immediate ceasefire during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a summit in Jordan.
The senior US diplomat is on his second Middle East trip since the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict reignited on October 7.
The summit in Jordan's capital, Amman, was attended by the foreign ministers from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt - as well as as well as the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee Hussein al-Sheikh.
The Arab ministers, such as Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, have repeatedly called for the fighting to stop and condemned Israel’s war tactics.
"We need to get our priorities straight right now. We have to make sure the war stops. Right now, we have to make sure that we bring in sufficient - enough food and water and medicine and fuel to Gazans because with every minute of delay, a child or a woman or an elderly is dying because they don't have access to these basic services. So after that, again, we have to look at the comprehensive picture. We have to make sure that we do not contribute to creating the same conditions that, in which this violence erupted."
The US says it still supports Israel's right to respond to the October 7 attack by Hamas across southern Israel, but is now pushing for what it calls a "humanitarian pause" - a limited and temporary pause in fighting to allow for the release of hostages held by Hamas and the delivery of more aid in Gaza.
Mr Blinken says an immediate and complete ceasefire would be counterproductive, giving Hamas time to grow stronger.
"It's our view that a ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7th."
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not support any temporary ceasefire, unless the hostages held by Hamas are released first.
Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis protested outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence in central Jerusalem, critical of how the October 7 attack caught Israel by surprise.
The protesters called for Mr Netanyahu's resignation and for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas.
Israel has admitted responsibility for an attack on a convoy of ambulances outside a major hospital in the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 15 people and injured 50 others.
Israel says it was targeting Hamas fighters using the ambulances, something which the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza rejects.
Hospital director Mohammad Abu Selmeyah says those killed and injured were mainly people standing by the hospital gate, rather than inside the ambulance.
Chief of surgery Dr Marwan Abusada says the hospital is overrun with people hurt in the fighting.
"Always it is the same scene. No vacancy in the inpatient department to admit any patients. Most of the patients have had surgery and they are waiting to be transferred to the inpatient department. Unfortunately we are providing (for them) here. It is a horrible situation."
The Australian government says it using all diplomatic channels to ensure the remaining Australians in Gaza are evacuated.
Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Tim Watts told Sky News the government is also pushing for the urgent provision of aid.
"We are pressing very hard because we know how dire the situation is in Gaza. It really is a very serious humanitarian situation there. That's why we're pushing to get Australians out across that Rafah border crossing. But it's also why we're pushing hard to get humanitarian assistance in. And we've committed $25 million in aid to get food, water, medical assistance, fuel, that's desperately needed in Gaza to the people that need it the most."
Meanwhile, protests continue to take place in cities around the world calling for an end to the conflict.
People gathered in cities such as London, Rome, Paris, Berlin, New York and Washington DC in support of the Palestinian people.
Thousands have rallied at London's Trafalgar Square for the fourth consecutive weekend to demand the British government call for a ceasefire.
"It's a bloodshed and the Israelis are targeting hospitals, schools and we can't standby and just watch this. As a human being, as a mother - I am a mother and I have children, you can't just standby and watch it, you have to do something."
In Washington DC, people waved Palestinian flags while the crowd chanted “Free Palestine” and shouted claims of justice for the civilians killed in airstrikes in Gaza.
Similar protests continue to take place in other cities across the globe such as Romania, Chile, Venezuela and Greece.
The United Nations says the scale of death and destruction in the first 18 days of war exceeded all military escalations in the decades-long conflict combined.
In the last four weeks, the death toll in Israel and Gaza has exceeded 10,000 - many of them civilians.
Israel's foreign ministry says more than 1,400 people were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the Palestinian death toll has reached 9,448. The UN says 67 per cent of that group are women and children.
