Middle East conflict live updates: Israel instructs negotiation team to continue hostage release talks

Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza has been evacuated and is out of service, while the nearby al-Awda Hospital was “invaded” after an Israeli siege, according to reports cited by the World Health Organization.

Colombia will open an embassy in Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, its foreign affairs minister said. Ireland, Spain and Norway this week announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, a relatively rare position among Western nations. Israel condemned the move and recalled its ambassadors to those countries.

Fifteen U.N. members including Brazil, Spain, Indonesia and Ireland, as well as the Palestinian U.N. representative, signed a joint initiative in support of UNRWA, the embattled aid agency for Palestinian refugees.

At least 35,709 people have been killed and 79,990 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.

Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 282 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.