The latest Israel-Palestinian war reverberated around the world Tuesday, as foreign governments tried to determine how many of their citizens were dead, missing or in need of medical help or flights home. Numerous countries also offered to play a role in mediating an end to the fighting, which already has killed at least 1,900 people, according to authorities on both sides. The death toll was expected to grow as Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and sent Palestinians fleeing into U.N. shelters.
Here’s what is happening on Day 4 of the conflict, according to the Associated Press:
The latest updates on Day 4 of the Israeli-Palestinian war
Newslooks- (AP)
BIDEN SAYS US CITIZENS AMONG HAMAS HOSTAGES, AGAIN CONDEMNS HAMAS ATTACK
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday confirmed that U.S. citizens are among the hostages captured by Hamas as he condemned the militant group for the “sheer evil” of its shocking weekend assault on Israel.
“Our hearts may be broken but our resolve is clear,” said Biden, who compared the brutality of the Hamas militants to that of the Islamic State terrorist group.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone earlier on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the situation on the ground.
Twenty or more U.S. citizens are unaccounted for, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday. He said he did not know precisely how many citizens are being held hostage, or their conditions. Biden confirmed earlier Tuesday that 14 Americans have been killed in the bloody Hamas incursion.
US INTELLIGENCE DIDN’T SEE ATTACK COMING, SECURITY ADVISER SAYS
WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence did not pick up signs of the Hamas attack on Israel, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.
“We did not see anything that suggested an attack of this type was going to unfold any more than the Israelis did,” Sullivan told reporters.
As other White House officials have done in recent days, Sullivan also reiterated that the U.S. government has also not seen any direct linkage between Iran and the Hamas attack over the weekend.
US SECRETARY OF STATE GOING TO ISRAEL ON URGENT MISSION
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden is dispatching his top diplomat to Israel on an urgent mission to show U.S. support after the unprecedented attack by Hamas militants, the State Department said Tuesday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will leave Wednesday and is expected to arrive Thursday to deliver a message of solidarity and support, and will “talk about what additional resources we can give them,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday.
US SAYS SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES WORKING WITH ISRAELIS
WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that a small group of U.S. special operations forces is now working with the Israelis to help with planning and intelligence in their counteroperations against Hamas.
“We also have the ability to rapidly deploy other resources into the region,” Austin said.
Austin released the information to reporters traveling with him to a Ukraine contact group meeting in Brussels.
GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS DEATH TOLL IN HAS RISEN TO 900
GAZA CITY — Israeli airstrikes since Saturday have resulted in 900 deaths in Gaza, including 260 children and 230 women, with an additional 4,500 individuals wounded, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said Tuesday.
The airstrikes have caused the deaths of 150 members of 22 families, six health workers, and eight journalists, while 15 health workers and 20 journalists have been wounded, the ministry said.
Airstrikes on residential neighborhoods have displaced approximately 140,000 citizens to U.N. shelters and hospitals, the ministry said. The U.N. is reporting that at least 200,000 residents have been displaced.
The strikes have targeted nine health institutions, including the Ministry of Health building, the Rimal Clinic, and the International Eye Center, and bombed 15 ambulances, the ministry said.
The situation is further complicated by fuel shortages and electrical outages affecting generators, the ministry said.
ISRAEL SHELLS SYRIA AFTER ROCKETS HIT OPEN LAND IN GOLAN HEIGHTS
The Israeli military said it shelled Syria on Tuesday after rockets hit open land in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
The military did not accuse any group of the rocket attack.
The Syrian government did not comment. However, Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says a Palestinian faction conducted the rocket attack from Syrian territory.
CANADA PLANNING TO AIRLIFT CANADIANS FROM ISRAEL
OTTAWA, Ontario — Canadian citizens will be flown out of the country from the Tel Aviv, Israel, airport in coming days in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel, Canada’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
The government plans to conduct the evacuation using aircraft from the Canadian Armed Forces, and is working on other options for people who are unable to reach the airport in Tel Aviv, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The post did not mention those Canadians who are believed to be trapped in Gaza after Israel closed off the Hamas-controlled territory.
Canada is trying to determine how many of its citizens are among the dead or missing. Friends and family have confirmed that 22-year-old Ben Mizrachi from Vancouver and former Montreal resident Alexandre Look, who recently celebrated his 33rd birthday, were two of the hundreds killed while attending a music festival in southern Israel.
SON OF MISSING ITALIAN-ISRAELI CITIZENS THINKS THEY WERE KIDNAPPED
A son of two Italian-Israeli citizens unaccounted for after Hamas’ incursion into Israel believes they were kidnapped by Hamas militants.
Eviatar Moshe Kipnis, 65, who has an autoimmune disease and uses a wheelchair, and his wife, Lilach Lea Havron, 60, were holed up in their safe room on Saturday morning at their home in the Kibbutz Be’eri, Nadav Kipnis told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He said that was the last time he and his brother Yotam heard from them.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani briefed parliament about the incursion on Tuesday, identifying the two Italians by name and saying they were “probably taken hostage.”
The family also has lost contact with Havron’s sister and her extended family who lived nearby. All together, 11 people from two family households at the kibbutz are unaccounted for, including children ages 3, 8 and 12, Nadav Kipnis said.
The family has been working ever since to try to draw attention to their plight, hoping in particular that the Kipnises’ Italian citizenship will bring diplomatic pressure to bear.
CZECH FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS ISRAEL TO SHOW SUPPORT
PRAGUE — Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky visited Israel on Tuesday to show his country’s support after the Hamas attack and brought more than 30 Czech nationals home from Israel on his plane, the Foreign Ministry said.
Lipavsky met his Israeli counterpart Eli Kohen and President Isaac Herzog, the Ministry said.
“Israel is one of us, the attacks and kidnappings unleashed by Hamas terrorists are an attack on all of us,” Lipavsky said in a statement.
Lipavsky also met the relatives of a woman kidnapped by Hamas.
AUSTRALIA SAYS 1 OF ITS CITIZENS DIED IN HAMAS ATTACK
CANBERRA, Australia — A 66-year-old Sydney-born woman is the first known Australian to die in the Hamas attack on Israel, Australia’s government said Wednesday.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said Galit Carbone was killed Saturday at the Be’eri kibbutz near Gaza.
O’Neil told Seven Network television that Carbone’s death was a “senseless act of violence … and the Australian government condemns it in the strongest possible terms.”
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong is leading government efforts to help an estimated 10,000 Australians in Israel who want to leave.
PORTUGUESE CITIZEN AND STUDENT IN TEL AVIV FOUND DEAD
JERUSALEM — A Portuguese woman studying in Tel Aviv, Israel, who was identified as missing after the Hamas attack on Israel, was found dead Tuesday.
Rotem Neumann, 25, had been missing for at least three days by the time her body was found. Her death was confirmed by her cousin Tomer Neumann.
Rotem Neumann was at the Teva festival, a music festival near the Gaza border that was invaded by militants in the early hours of Saturday morning.
