The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip had surpassed 40,000 as of Thursday, at a time when the Gaza ceasefire talks were set to resume in Qatar.
During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 40 people and wounded 107 others, bringing the total death toll to 40,005 and injuries to 92,401 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in early October 2023, Gaza-based health authorities said Thursday in a statement.
There are still many victims under the rubble and on the roads, with ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them, it added.
It took only five and a half months for the Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip to rise from 30,000 to 40,000.
According to an official, talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Gaza and an agreement for the release of hostages have begun in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
It is expected that David Barnea, chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency, will join representatives from the United States and Egypt, along with the Qatari Prime Minister, in the talks.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza exceeds 40,000 as peace talks renew
A perseverant mother has been planting trees on the barren mountains in Qufu City, east China's Shandong Province, to realize the last wish of her young daughter who unfortunately passed away over a decade ago. The beloved daughter once told the mother that she aspired to turn their homeland into a greener place during her lifetime.
Shu Ping, a 70-year-old retired teacher, has been planting trees on the barren mountains for 15 years. Covering an area of over 1,300 square kilometers and nicknamed "Norwegian Wood," the bioenergy plantation came from a promise between Shu and her daughter -- Yu Juan.
"After my daughter earned her master's degree, her university selected her for a two-year government-sponsored study program in Norway. She invited me to stay with her for over two months. She asked me, 'What is the best thing here?' and 'Where is the most beautiful place?' Just mother-daughter chitchat. I said, 'Norway's forests are amazing. They are so beautiful.' And she replied, 'If they are so beautiful, let's bring them back to our hometown in Shandong!' 'Great idea!' I said and we high-fived and it was settled," Shu recalled.
Yu Juan, Shu's daughter, had strong interest in botanical research since childhood. After graduating from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, she was admitted to Fudan University's combined master-doctoral program. Upon completing her master's degree, she earned a government-sponsored scholarship to pursue further studies at the University of Oslo in Norway.
Returning to China in 2007 after completing her academic studies in Norway, Yu, driven by her vision to make her homeland more beautiful and improve the lives of local farmers, signed a contract to manage over 1,300 square kilometers of barren hills in Qufu, beginning the program of her oil-bearing bioenergy plantation.
The program will create a specialized forest system designed to produce biodiesel and substitutes for chemicals by exploiting the oils extracted from the trees and their seeds.
Unfortunately, Yu's efforts came to an abrupt halt two years later, when she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer at the age of 31.
After battling with cancer for over one year, Yu passed away in 2011, leaving her unrealized dream to her mother.
"I am doing what my daughter aspired to do and I am doing better than she could have imagined. I think that is what she deserves," Shu said.
In reality, the dream was hard to realize and Shu's first large-scale tree-planting efforts failed, leaving no more than 30 percent of the 400,000 saplings alive.
The perseverant mother was not defeated and after realizing that the soil and water conditions on the barren mountains are harsh, she began consulting experts and studying seedling cultivation techniques. Gradually, the survival rate of the saplings started to rise.
Besides, Shu also confronted challenges like uneven roads and exposure to sharp gravels as she works in mountainous regions.
"One time, the path under my foot was slippery with gravels and pebbles scattered everywhere. I tried to grab anything within the reach, but in the darkness, I grabbed something cold and slippery. It felt like a snake, so I let go of it and tumbled down, twisting my ankle," Shu recalled.
The lack of funding also troubled Shu's program with the costs, including land lease fees, seedlings, and labor, drained her family's savings in just a few years.
"The financial burden is the most challenging problem. If you want to plant more trees, you have to spend hundreds of thousands of yuan (tens of thousands of U.S. dollars). At least, about 200,000 to 300,000 yuan (around 27,500 to 40,000 U.S. dollars) is required a year," she said.
In 2019, when Shu's tree-planting program was on the verge of collapse, a 74-year-old man, who learned about Shu's story by chance, insisted on making donation.
The kindness of Liu Xianggui, who donated a total of over one million yuan (137,300 U.S. dollars) to Shu's program, marked the beginning of Shu's story being known to more and more people, who started to joint her efforts to help realize her daughter's last wish.
"I gradually get to know more and more volunteers through the tree-planting program, and they help me with contacting more people and inviting them to join us. I said I had a pact with Yu Juan, and we wanted to move Norway's forests to Shandong, and they said the program should be named 'Norwegian Wood', the 'Norwegian Wood' in China," Shu said.
Under her persistent efforts, the volunteer group has kept growing. Over the past decade, they have planted over 600,000 saplings on the barren mountains.
"Previously, I planted trees for my daughter and later I planted tree for everyone. There are so many people who have helped me and my daughter with the tree-planting program. I think about how I can give something back in return. I will do more good deeds, plant more trees, and lead the volunteers to plant more trees. Their joy is my joy," Shu said with pride.
Mother plants "Norwegian Wood" in China to realize last wish of her daughter
