The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 62,686, with 157,951 others injured since the conflict between Hamas and Israel erupted on Oct 7, 2023, Gaza's health authorities said in a statement on Sunday.
Over the past 24 hours alone, Israeli offensives in the enclave have killed 64 people and wounded 278 others, the statement noted.
Since Israel resumed military operations in Gaza on March 18 this year, 10,842 people have been killed and another 45,910 injured, according to the statement.
A statement released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the same day said that one of its brigades had returned to the Jabalia region, near Gaza City, to carry out military operations.
According to the IDF, this move enables it to expand operations across a broader area around Gaza City.
The statement also said that the IDF is strengthening its control over the Jabalia region by removing both above-ground and underground Hamas facilities, further weakening the group's military capabilities.
So far, the IDF said its forces have discovered an underground tunnel, from which they removed armed personnel and infrastructure used to launch attacks against Israeli troops.
The Israeli security cabinet on Aug 8 approved a plan to defeat Hamas and to take over Gaza City, a move that sparked opposition and condemnation both at home and abroad.
Located in northern Gaza, Gaza City is regarded by Israel as a stronghold of Hamas and a location where hostages are being held.
On Aug 20, the Israeli military announced that it had taken control of the area surrounding Gaza City and is preparing to take over the city itself.
The military is planning to launch offensives against the city by mid-September, according to Israeli media outlets.
A statement released by Hamas on Sunday said the group strongly condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approval of the plan to take over Gaza City, which came after Hamas had accepted a new ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators.
Hamas said the decision showed that Israel was deliberately hindering efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement.
The Gaza-based media office said in a statement on the same day that, against the backdrop of a threatened Israeli offensive on Gaza City, more than 2.4 million Palestinians are facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 62,686
Attempts to curb China's scientific and technological advancement are futile, a fact that has already been proven, said Kishore Mahbubani, former permanent representative of Singapore to the United Nations, in an interview aired Friday.
In an exclusive interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing, Mahbubani said he had stated this position in one of his articles published in the United States.
"Actually, I published an article, you know the two, I guess two leading journals in the United States on international relations. One is Foreign Affairs and the other is Foreign Policy. And last year I co-authored an article with two other co-authors, saying that all the efforts to stop China's scientific and technological development will fail. And it has failed always. You know, for example, the Soviet Union tried to prevent the spread of nuclear technology to China, China develops its own. The United States didn't want to share its technology on international space station with China. China develops its own space station. So clearly, efforts to stop China in the area of scientific innovation and technological development have failed. And so it'd be wiser for the West, including United States, to work with China other than to try and stop China seek development," he said.
Regarding China's progress on robots, Mahbubani said China is leading the world in the sector and hopes the country will share its expertise with the rest of the world.
"If there's one country that is preparing for the future well, it is China, because one in six human beings in the world is Chinese. But one in three robots in the world is Chinese, and one in two baby robots being born every day is Chinese. So China is producing far more robots than any other country is. So clearly it's preparing for the world of the future when we will have, for example, labor shortages, as you know, as you develop an aging society. So China is wisely investing in robots. But I hope that China will also share its learning and expertise with other countries. Also because the robots like that can also be helpful even to developing countries cause you can enhance the productivity of their populations, of their factories and so on so forth. So the world should be happy that China is leading the world in manufacturing, producing robots," he said.
Attempts to stop China's sci-tech development doomed to fail: former Singaporean diplomat
