The Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike Tuesday hit a Gaza City hospital packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter, killing hundreds. If confirmed, the attack would be by far the deadliest Israeli airstrike in five wars fought since 2008. Photos from al-Ahli Hospital showed fire engulfing the hospital halls, shattered glass and body parts scattered across the area. The ministry said at least 500 people had been killed.
Palestinians described intense bombardments early Tuesday near two towns in southern Gaza, where Israel had ordered civilians to seek refuge. Hamas’ military wing said a separate attack on a refugee camp in central Gaza killed a top Hamas commander.
Thousands of people trying to escape Gaza are gathered in Rafah, which has the territory’s only border crossing to Egypt. Mediators are pressing for an agreement to let aid in and refugees with foreign passports out. The U.S. hoped to break a deadlock with President Joe Biden set to head to the region on Wednesday.
Aid workers warned that life in Gaza was near complete collapse because of the Israeli siege that followed a Hamas attack on Israel.
The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,778 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded. Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and at least 199 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.
Currently:
- U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced. He is also expected to meet authorities in Jordan and Egypt.
- 2. A hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah says it has received an order to evacuate, even after Israel told residents they can take refuge in the city.
- 3. A shortage of drinking water continues across Gaza, and the World Food Program is mobilizing to send hundreds of tons of food aid to the region
- 4. Hundreds of civilians killed in the Hamas attacks have yet to be identified by Israeli forensics teams.
Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war, as reported by the Associated Press:
500 killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza City Hospital, Health Ministry says
Newslooks- KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP)
The Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike Tuesday hit a Gaza City hospital packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter, killing hundreds. If confirmed, the attack would be by far the deadliest Israeli airstrike in five wars fought since 2008.
Photos from al-Ahli Hospital showed fire engulfing the hospital halls, shattered glass and body parts scattered across the area. The ministry said at least 500 people had been killed.
Several hospitals in Gaza City have become refuges for hundreds of people, hoping they would be spared bombardment after Israel ordered all residents of the city and surrounding areas to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said there were still no details on the hospital deaths: “We will get the details and update the public. I don’t know to say whether it was an Israeli air strike.”
In the south, continued strikes killed dozens of civilians and at least one senior Hamas figure Tuesday in attacks it says are targeted at militants. U.S. officials worked to convince Israel to allow delivery of supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals after days of failed hopes for an opening in the siege.
With Israel barring entry of water, fuel and food into Gaza since Hamas’ brutal attack last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken secured an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss creation of a mechanism for delivering aid to the territory’s 2.3 million people. U.S. officials said the gain might appear modest, but stressed that it was a significant step forward.
EGYPT STILL NEGOTIATING WITH ISRAEL ON ALLOWING AID INTO GAZA
CAIRO — Egypt is still negotiating with Israel on the delivery of humanitarian assistance and fuel to Gaza from its crossing points, Rafah and Kerem Shalom, a senior Egyptian official said as trucks loaded with aid waited for permission to cross into the besieged territory.
The official said Israel is searching all aid deliveries and wants to “ensure that such aid won’t benefit Hamas.” The official requested anonymity because he does not have permission to discuss the negotiations.
He said they’re also negotiating a compromise that would allow foreign passport holders to cross into Egypt. Egypt has proposed that the United Nations oversee the process with help from Egyptian forces, the official said. Israel has yet to respond to the proposal.
The U.S., Qatar, the U.N. and several European countries are involved in the talks, which are led by security agencies in Egypt and Israel, the official said.
WFP SENDS FOOD AID TO EGYPT FOR DELIVERY TO GAZA
ROME — The World Food Program says it has tons of aid arriving in Egypt from warehouses around the region, ready to enter Gaza.
The Rome-based agency warned earlier Tuesday that stores in Gaza only have four or five days’ worth of essential food stocks available.
Video provided by WFP showed crates of aid arriving by cargo plane at the Arisha airbase in Egypt from warehouses in Dubai, bound for the Rafah crossing. WFP said it has mobilized 310 metric tons (305 tons) of food so far, including fortified biscuits and ready-to-eat meals sufficient to feed 244,000 people for a week, as well as canned food and date bars.
WFP’s Palestine country director, Samer Abdeljaber, said the agency is waiting for the green light to enter Gaza and warned that food stocks are running out. He said the number of bakeries WFP works with in Gaza is decreasing daily because they don’t have enough water or electricity to bake bread.
FRANCE SAYS 21 CITIZENS KILLED, 11 MISSING IN ATTACKS ON ISRAEL
PARIS — France’s foreign ministry has confirmed the death of 21 French citizens killed in the Hamas militants attacks on Israel. The ministry says 11 French citizens are missing.
French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking during a visit to Albania Tuesday, said his government was doing “everything possible” for the release of French and other hostages held in Gaza.
“This difficult moment for the Israeli people, the Palestinian civilians, for the whole region shows that the (unresolved) issue there is a political one which cannot be solved without a peaceful process,” Macron said.
HAMAS’ MILITARY WING SAYS TOP COMMANDER KILLED BY ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE
JERUSALEM — Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, said Tuesday that an Israeli airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed top militant commander, Ayman Nofal.
Nofal is the most high-profile militant to be killed so far in Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip. Residents said the barrage of Israeli airstrikes leveled an entire block of homes and caused dozens more casualties.
The Israeli military says it is targeting Hamas hideouts, infrastructure and command centers.
US RESPONDS TO HOSTAGE VIDEO BY URGING IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL HELD
WASHINGTON — The United States has responded to Hamas’ release of a hostage video by calling on the group to immediately release all hostages.
“There should be no reason for them to have any hostages in the first place,” said U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on American TV Tuesday.
Asked if he believed the woman in the video, identified as 21-year-old Mia Schem, was being treated well, Kirby said she was “probably forced” to record the message.
“There’s no question in my mind that that woman gave that video testimony under duress, probably forced to do it,” Kirby said on NBC’s “Today.”
“It’s a propaganda video much more than it is proof of life or, certainly, proof of concept for Hamas. It’s despicable, deplorable that they would take these hostages and then advertise how well they’re treating them when they’re the ones who hurt them in the first place.”
FOREIGN PASSPORT-HOLDERS WAIT FOR RAFAH CROSSING TO OPEN
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Dual Palestinian nationals’ hopes to leave the Gaza Strip were dashed for a third straight day as the border remained closed.
Jameel Abdullah, a Swedish passport holder, said he had been told by his embassy to return to the border, but after waiting many hours he turned back toward Gaza where Israeli airstrikes continue to pound densely populated residential areas.
“We come to the border crossing hoping that it will open, but so far there is no information,” he said, with the echo of bombs falling in the distance. “We plead with the Egyptian people to look at us with compassion because frankly we are in a very dangerous place. There is shelling all around us, and even if I wanted to return home (to Gaza), I would be risking my life.”
ENERGY AGENCY SAYS WAR IS BAD NEWS FOR MARKETS
FRANKFURT, Germany — The Israel-Hamas war is affecting oil markets already stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia and expected stronger demand from China, the head of the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.
“As we see the tensions in the Middle East, the market becomes much more jittery, and it is definitely not good news coming out of this crisis,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based IEA, told The Associated Press.
“We may very well see much more volatile prices, and it can push prices higher, which is definitely bad news for inflation,” he added, adding that developing countries would be the most affected.
International benchmark Brent crude traded close to $90 per barrel on Tuesday, up from $85 on Oct. 6, the day before Hamas attacked Israel. Fluctuations last week pushed prices as high as $96.
A CRUISE SHIP CARRYING FOREIGN NATIONALS FROM ISRAEL DOCKS IN CYPRUS
A cruise ship carrying some 160 U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals who opted to leave Israel has arrived in Cyprus’ main port of Limassol.
The Rhapsody of the Seas docked at dawn Tuesday and were met by the U.S. ambassador to Cyprus, Julie Fisher. Passengers were processed by Cypriot authorities and local U.S. embassy officials before being bussed to temporary accommodation prior to their flight back home.
Barbara Zwillick, 73, was escorting her granddaughter to New York City at the request of her daughter, who has stayed behind to continue her work as a nurse.
“She doesn’t want to leave. I don’t want her to leave. But she wants her daughter out,” Zwillick told The Associated Press.
Naama Kopelman, who has relatives believed to be Hamas hostages, said she decided to leave Israel for the sake of her daughter.
“It’s a big relief to be out of there in a safe place. No alarms, no sounds of the planes going about all the time,” Kopelman said.
