Live updates | Thousands of Palestinians flee fighting in Gaza’s north after safe passage announced
Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing the combat zone in the north after Israel announced a window for safe passage. Officials in the enclave said the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 11,000 people.
The search for safety in Gaza is growing more desperate as combat intensifies. Gaza medical officials accused Israel of striking near hospitals on Friday, though Israel said at least one was the result of a misfired Palestinian rocket.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in New Delhi Friday that “far too many” Palestinians have died and more needs to be done to save lives and get aid where it’s most needed. He said the U.S. “appreciates” Israel’s steps to minimize civilian casualties but that’s not enough.
Separately, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk on Friday called for an investigation into what he called the “indiscriminate effect” of Israel’s bombardment and shelling in densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.
Turk urged Israel to end “the use of such methods and means of warfare,” adding that high levels of civilian casualties raises “serious concerns that these amount to disproportionate attacks in breach of international humanitarian law.”
Blinken’s and Turk’s remarks come as the Israeli military pushed deeper into dense urban neighborhoods in its battle with Hamas militants.
The World Health Organization said Friday that 20 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are no longer functioning, including a pediatric hospital that has stopped operations after a reported Israeli strike in the area.
Gaza’s largest city is the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas following its deadly Oct. 7 incursion in southern Israel that set off the war, now in its second month.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Hamas attack, and about 240 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.
Currently:
— Fights in bread lines, despair in shelters: War threatens to unravel Gaza’s close-knit society
— French far-right leader Marine Le Pen raises a storm over her plan to march against antisemitism
— Clashes over Israel-Hamas war shatter students’ sense of safety on US college campuses
— Jewish refugees from Israel find comfort and companionship in a countryside camp in Hungary
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s what is happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
THOUSANDS FLEE GAZA HOSPITAL WHERE THEY HAD SHELTERED
Palestinian evacuees fleeing Gaza’s northern combat zone say thousands of displaced people who had sheltered at the Shifa Hospital in the heart of Gaza City fled following overnight explosions there.
The hospital had sheltered nearly 80,000 people running from heavy ground battles and airstrikes.
Some of those fleeing Friday said only a few hundred badly wounded patients and doctors remained behind.
Doctors at Shifa Hospital could not immediately be reached for comment because of phone and internet connectivity disruptions.
ISLAMIC JIHAD OFFICIAL ACCUSES ISRAEL OF NOT WANTING THE RELEASE OF HOSTAGES
BEIRUT — A Palestinian Islamic Jihad official is accusing Israel of not wanting to secure the release of its citizens who are being held hostage in Gaza after being captured during the deadly Hamas-led offensive on Oct. 7.
Mohamad al-Hindi deputy secretary general of the Palestinian militant group, repeated Friday that Hamas was willing to release two of the civilian hostages on medical and humanitarian grounds, an elderly woman and a young boy.
Hindi said Israel was “dragging its feet” in negotiations for the hostages’ release, adding that there are also Palestinian civilians including women and children in Israeli prisons too.
The official said Israel will be “forced to make a prisoner exchange deal” that will result in the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli detention centers.
Islamic Jihad, a militant group smaller and more brazen than Hamas, previously announced that it had seized 30 hostages in the Oct. 7 operation. In total, about 240 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza.
HAMAS-RUN HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS 11,078 PALESTINIANS HAVE DIED IN GAZA
The Hamas run-Health Ministry says the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has to 11,078, including 4,506 children and 3,027 women.
The vast majority have been killed in Israeli airstrikes that have pounded the enclave following Hamas’ assault on the enclave.
The ministry said in an online statement Friday that another 27,490 Palestinians in Gaza have been wounded.
GREECE READY TO ASSIST CYPRUS’ IN GAZA MARITIME CORRIDOR INITIATIVE
ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s prime minister says his country is ready to “tangibly participate” in Cyprus’ initiative to set up a maritime corridor shipping a constant flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides Friday that both Greece and Cyprus can act as “credible intermediaries” in the Middle East given their strong relations with both Israel and the Arab world.
Mitsotakis called the Cypriot initiative a “very well thought out” proposal, despite the many technical hurdles that still need to be overcome.
Christodoulides told a Paris aid conference on Thursday hat Cyprus’ proximity to Gaza of only 241 miles combined with open lines of communication with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt enhance the initiative’s changes for success
The initiative dubbed “Amalthea” is compose of five parts including the collection, inspection and storage of humanitarian aid in Cyprus, it’s later transfer by ship possibly from Larnaca port and finally it’s offloading and distribution in Gaza.
Chistodoulides told the conference that a specific plan that has already been drafted contains “short, mid and long-term solutions and technical arrangements.”
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SAYS MORE THAN HALF OF GAZAS HOSPITALS NOT OPERATING
GENEVA — The World Health Organization says 20 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are no longer functioning, including a pediatric hospital that has stopped operations after a reported Israeli strike in the area.
WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris said Friday that Rantisi Children’s hospital in the north of the enclave was no longer operating, and it was not immediately clear what has happened to the patients inside.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said earlier that Israeli forces had struck overnight the area around Shifa Medical Complex, the largest hospital in Gaza, killing six Palestinians, and bombed areas near several other hospitals including the Rantisi hospital.
Harris said WHO does not try to assign responsibility for strikes.
Harris said some children had been receiving care such as dialysis and life support which doesn’t allow for their safe evacuation.
She added that “hospitals never should be a target.”
HEZBOLLAH SAYS 7 OF ITS FIGHTERS HAVE BEEN KILLED
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said seven of its fighters have been killed, but didn’t specify where they died other than to say that they were “martyred on the road to Jerusalem.”
A Hezbollah official and a Lebanese security official said the seven fighters were killed in neighboring Syria Friday morning. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Pro-government Syrian media outlets reported an Israeli airstrike on the central province of Homs early Friday.
Hezbollah has been fighting in Syria along with Syrian government forces where they have helped tip the balance of power in his favor during Syria’s 12-year conflict.
The Israeli military said earlier Friday that it struck targets in Syria following a drone strike on the Red Sea city of Eilat saying that it was fired from Syria.
Since Oct. 8, they have been exchanging fire with Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israel border.
The latest deaths raises to 68 the number of Hezbollah fighters who have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began last month.
___
By Bassem Mroue in Beirut.
ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS IT HAS ARRESTED 41 PALESTINIANS IN WEST BANK RAID
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has arrested 41 Palestinians in another large-scale raid in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military said Friday that 14 of those arrested in the previous evening’s raid were militants.
The Israeli military said it also destroyed the homes of two militants who it said carried out an attack that killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded an Israeli man in August. At the time, an offshoot of the secular nationalist Fatah party, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack,
Israeli forces “sealed” a shop in Hebron which they said was used to print “incendiary material for Hamas.” They also raided three West Bank refugee camps where they confiscated weapons.
The Israeli military says it has arrested 1,540 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, identifying 930 of them as affiliated with Hamas. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, which represents Palestinian detainees, puts the numbers much higher, at 90 detained Thursday night and 2400 arrested in the West Bank since the start of the war.
UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF CALLS FOR PROBE INTO ISRAELI ATTACKS IN POPULATED AREAS
AMMAN, Jordan — United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk is calling for an investigation into what he called the “indiscriminate effect” of Israel’s bombardment and shelling in densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking in the Jordanian capital Friday, Turk said Israel “must immediately end the use of such methods and means of warfare and the attacks must be investigated.”
He said the high levels of civilian casualties and the wide destruction of civilian infrastructure raises “serious concerns that these amount to disproportionate attacks in breach of international humanitarian law.”
Turk pointed to strikes on and near hospitals as being “particularly intense,” adding that any use by Palestinian armed groups of civilians or civilian structures to shield themselves from attack contravenes the laws of war.
But he said such conduct by Palestinian armed groups “does not absolve Israel of its obligation to ensure that civilians are spared.”
U.N. OFFICIAL SAYS ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR HAS CAUSED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE IN LEBANON
BEIRUT — The United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon says the spillover of the Hamas-Israel war has already caused “significant damage” in Lebanon where Hezbollah and allied groups have been clashing with Israeli forces on the border for more than a month.
Imran Riza said in a statement Friday that there have been “concerning signs of escalating tensions” along the border.
Riza said there have been “alarming attacks killing and injuring civilians in South Lebanon, including women, children, and media personnel” and much damage to private property, public infrastructure and farmland which as forces more than 25,000 to be displaced.
On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike hit a car driving between the towns of Ainata and Aitaroun and killed four civilians, including three children and their grandmother, and wounded the childrens’ mother. An Israeli military statement later said the car had been “identified as transporting terrorists” and that it was reviewing “allegations that there were civilians in the vehicle.”
BLINKEN SAYS MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO SAVE PALESTINIAN LIVES
NEW DELHI — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says “far too many” Palestinians have died and suffered as Israel wages relentless war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and that while recent Israeli steps to try to minimize civilian harm are positive they are not nearly enough.
Speaking in New Delhi at the end of an intense nine-day diplomatic tour of the Middle East and Asia, Blinken said Friday that the U.S. “appreciates” Israel’s formalization of pauses in their military operations to allow Palestinians to move from northern to southern Gaza and its creation of a second safe corridor for them to use to escape harm. But, he said much more needs to be done.
Bliken said Israel’s steps “ will save lives and will enable more assistance to get to Palestinians in need,” but at the same time, ”much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance reaches them.”
The U.S. top diplomat said “far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks” and that everything possible should be done to prevent them harm and maximize the assistance they need.
He said the U.S. has proposed additional ideas to the Israelis about how to accomplish that. U.S. officials have said they would like to see Israel introduce longer “humanitarian pauses” that would cover areas wider than just the two corridors as well as exponentially expanding the amount of assistance getting into Gaza from Egypt by increasing the flow of trucks carrying food, water, medicine, shelter and other supplies.
GAZA OFFICIALS SEEK PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS
BEIRUT – The spokesman for the Hamas-run Health Ministry says a main children’s hospital is being repeatedly targeted putting the lives of children, staff, and displaced people in danger.
Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement that ambulances cannot reach Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital to evacuate casualties because it is being targeted.
Al-Qidra called on the United Nations and the International Committee to be present in Al-Rantisi Hospital and Al-Nasr Children’s hospitals to protect them and make room for ambulances to evacuate the wounded.
He said authorities in Gaza have made all attempts to keep health services running, but that there are only a “few hours” remaining until the hospitals in Gaza and northern Gaza stop providing services.
A-Qidra appealed for Arab and Muslim countries “and the free people of the world” to take immediate action to bring medical supplies and fuel into hospitals before “the major disaster occurs.”
TURKEY URGES FOR MORE AID TRUCKS DAILY INTO GAZA
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s president says he hold U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the number of aid trucks entering Gaza each day should be increased to at least 500.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters Friday after returning from a trip to Uzbekistan that he raised the issue with Blinken during talks earlier this week.
Erdogan said Blinken’s approach to the proposal -conveyed to him by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara – was “positive.”
Erdogan was quoted as saying by NTV television and other media that the current number of aid trucks crossing into Gaza is “20 to 30 trucks” but that he proposed to increase that to “at least 500 trucks.”
Erdogan said Turkey wanted to address a shortage of ambulances in Gaza and was cooperating with other countries to supply food and medicine. He added that Ankara was also ready to treat Gaza civilians with chronic illnesses, such as cancer, in its hospitals.
ISRAEL DEMOLISHES HOME OF FAMILY AFTER BOY ACCUSED OF STABBING
JERUSALEM — Israeli security forces have demolished the east Jerusalem home of a Palestinian family whose 13-year-old son has been accused of stabbing an Israeli police officer earlier this year, a case that has drawn attention to Israel’s tactic of punitive demolitions.
The United States Office of Palestinian Affairs condemned the demolition on Friday, saying that “an entire family should not lose their home because of the actions of one individual.”
The Zalabani family says that the demolition happened Wednesday. It comes as tensions in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank surge over Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza and deadly raids against militants in the northern West Bank, such as Thursday’s operation in the Jenin refugee camp that killed 13 Palestinians, most of them alleged militants.
Basel Zalabani, Mohammed’s father, said that Israeli forces had arrested him and his other 18-year-old son Yazan ahead of the demolition. He was released, he said, after officers beat him repeatedly over several hours. His son remains in custody.
“Of course we’ve been on edge, anxious and waiting for this to happen for several months,” said 45-year-old Zalabani. “But when it happens, it’s even harder than you’d expect.”
Rights watchdog describe such punitive home demolitions as collective punishment, leaving uninvolved parents, siblings and spouses homeless. Israel’s far-right government is more aggressively pursuing the policy, which it defends as a deterrent against militant attacks.
UN RAPPORTEUR SAYS 4-HOUR DAILY PAUSE IS CRUEL
ADELAIDE, Australia — Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, described Israel’s decision to allow a four-hour humanitarian pause each day in combat operations in northern Gaza to allow civilians to flee to the south as “very cynical and cruel.”
“There has been continuous bombings, 6,000 bombs every week on the Gaza Strip, on this tiny piece of land where people are trapped and the destruction is massive. There won’t be any way back after what Israel is doing to the Gaza Strip,” Albanese told reporters in Adelaide, Australia, on Friday.
“So four hours cease-fire, yes, to let people breathe and to remember what is the sound of life without bombing before starting bombing them again. It’s very cynical and cruel.”