Calls for a humanitarian pause increased with the United Nation’s agency for Palestinian refugees reporting the average Palestinian in Gaza is surviving on two pieces of bread a day and a severely limited supply of water. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday, “We are going full steam ahead” unless the hostages held by Hamas are released. Israeli troops have further closed in on Gaza City, launching targeted attacks on militant cells there. The Palestinian death toll in the war has risen above 9,200. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting. Some 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.
