Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza rises to 39,897: ministry

The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 39,897, the health authorities in the besieged enclave said on Monday.

A total of 92,152 people had been wounded in Gaza since the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out last October, the health authorities said in a statement.

The statement said that in the past 48 hours, the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip resulted in 142 deaths and 150 injuries.

The Israel Defense Forces announced on the same day that an Israeli soldier died in a military operation in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Since the conflict broke out on Oct 7 last year, 690 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 4,306 injured.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer jointly signed a joint statement on Monday, agreeing to resume ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip.

The statement called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of Israeli personnel detained by Hamas, and the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The statement said that the three countries are highly concerned about the escalation of tensions in the region, and called on Iran and its allies not to launch any attacks that may escalate the situation.

The Palestinian presidency issued a statement on Saturday condemning the Israeli attack earlier in the day on a school used to shelter displaced Gazans, and urging the United States to stop favoring Israel. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that Israel's killing of displaced Palestinian civilians is a serious crime, and he called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to cease fire immediately.

Israeli warplanes targeted the Al-Taba'een School in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in central Gaza City while the displaced people in the school were performing the Fajr prayer, killing at least 100 Palestinians and injuring dozens more, Palestinian medical and security sources said, adding that the victims included women and children.

Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza rises to 39,897: ministry

China's automobile industry showed a growing trend in August, with both production and sales of vehicles increasing month on month, while those of new energy vehicles (NEVs) recorded a double-digit year-on-year growth, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on Tuesday.

In August, auto production and sales in China surpassed 2.49 million and 2.45 million units, respectively, showing month-on-month increases of 9 percent and 8.5 percent, with year-on-year decreases of 3.2 percent and 5 percent, indicating a smaller decline compared with the previous month.

During the January-August period, auto production and sales totaled about 18.67 million and 18.77 million units respectively, reflecting year-on-year growth of 2.5 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

In August, the production and sales of NEVs achieved 1.09 million and 1.10 million units, respectively, representing an increase of 29.6 percent and 30 percent year on year. The sales of NEVs in August account for 44.8 percent of the new vehicle sales in China.

In the first eight months of this year, the production of NEVs reached nearly 7.01 million units, rising 29 percent year on year. The sales of NEVs hit almost 7.04 million units, growing by 30.9 percent from a year earlier. The market share of NEVs in China reached 37.5 percent in the period.

On the export front, auto exports reached 511,000 units in August, marking a year-on-year increase of 25.4 percent. Among these, exports of NEVs totaled 110,000 units, showing a 22-percent growth year on year.

China's auto industry reports rising vehicle production, sales in August