Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will have “overall security responsibility” in Gaza “for an indefinite period” after its war with Hamas and expressed openness to “little pauses” in the current fighting to facilitate the release of hostages.
His comments, in an interview that aired late Monday on ABC News, offered the clearest indication yet that Israel plans to maintain control over the territory that is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.
Netanyahu ruled out any general cease-fire without the release of the more than 240 captives seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 raid into Israel, but said he was open to “tactical little pauses.” U.S. President Joe Biden had raised the need for humanitarian pauses directly with Netanyahu on a call earlier Monday, but no agreement was reached, the White House said.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 10,300, including more than 4,200 children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and Israeli raids. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.
Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday under an apparent agreement among the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.
Currently:
— Israeli military says it has surrounded Gaza City and is preparing for expected ground battles.
— Gaza’s busiest thoroughfare becomes a terrifying escape route for Palestinian civilians.
— Majority of Israelis are confident in justice of Gaza war, even as world sentiment sours.
— U.S. secretary of state ends Mideast tour with tepid support for pauses in fighting.
— A U.N. official says the average Palestinian in Gaza is living on two pieces of bread a day.
— 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:
US ENVOY SAYS WASHINGTON DOESN'T WANT WAR TO EXPAND TO LEBANONBLIDA, Lebanon — A top U.S. envoy said in Beirut on Tuesday that Washington doesn’t want the ongoing war in Gaza to expand to Lebanon, as a Lebanese woman and her three granddaughters were laid to rest two days after they were killed in an Israeli strike.
The comments from Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, came during an unannounced visit to Beirut to discuss the volatile situation with Lebanon’s parliament speaker and caretaker prime minister.
Hochstein told reporters after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri that restoring calm along Lebanon’s southern border is of “utmost importance.”
Hochstein said he heard Berri’s concerns over the tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border, where fighters of the militant group Hezbollah and their allies have been exchanging fire with Israeli troops for about a month, after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7.
Hochstein’s comments came as the Israeli military and Hezbollah exchanged fire on Tuesday following what Israel said was the targeting of one of its posts along the Lebanese border. The clashes along the border have intensified since Israel launched a ground incursion into Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah.
MILITANTS TARGET US BASE IN IRAQ WITH DRONESWASHINGTON — Militants targeted the U.S. military base in Irbil, Iraq, overnight and again Tuesday morning, but caused no injuries to personnel or damage to the infrastructure, a U.S. defense official said.
The Islamic Resistance, an umbrella organization of Iran-backed Iraqi militant groups, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their drones hit their target, without giving any further details.
The overnight attack on Irbil airbase near the city’s commercial airport was a multi-drone attack. Tuesday morning's attack was with a single drone, said the defense official, who was not authorized to discuss the strikes and spoke on condition of anonymity. Commercial flights were briefly suspended following the strikes.
The strikes are part of an ongoing string of attacks in recent weeks by the Iran-backed militants on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, in light of Washington’s support of Israel in the ongoing Hamas-Israel war in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The attacks bring the total number of strikes on U.S. and coalition facilities in Iraq and Syria to at least 40 since Oct. 17.
The Islamic Resistance also claimed responsibility for other attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, including a drone attack on Al-Harir in Irbil province, and on the Green Village base in eastern Syria. The U.S. defense official said there were no reports of attacks at Al Harir.
DEATH TOLL IN GAZA RISES TO 10,328, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYSKHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has risen to 10,328, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. It said 4,237 Palestinian children have been killed since the conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out Oct. 7. It said 25,956 others in Gaza have been injured. The vast majority of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes that have pounded the enclave for the past month.
ISRAELI STRIKE LEVELS BUILDING IN CITY IN CENTRAL GAZAKHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — At least one Israeli strike hit a residential area in Deir al-Balah on Tuesday, completely leveling at least one building. Residents quickly gathered around the hill of rubble, either overcome by despair or digging for survivors as injured children were carried through the neighborhood’s narrow streets for treatment. It was unclear how many were killed or injured in the blast. Deir al-Balah is in central Gaza.
BELGIAN LEADER ACCUSES BOTH ISRAEL AND HAMAS OF VIOLATING INTERNATIONAL LAWBRUSSELS — In a rare scathing rebuke by a European Union leader of Israeli actions in Gaza, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Tuesday that some of its attacks were “totally disproportionate” and that both sides in the Israel-Hamas war disregarded international humanitarian law “on a daily basis.”
While EU leaders have steadfastly defended Israel’s right to defend itself within the limits of international law, De Croo said Jerusalem has disregarded that principle time and again in the monthlong conflict.
“For example, to bomb a refugee camp to smithereens because a Hamas leader might be there, that is totally disproportionate. It is never acceptable that so many civilian casualties are made to try and take out one person,” De Croo said.
There have been several attacks on refugee camps in Gaza over the past weeks, inflicting heavy casualties among civilians.
De Croo said Hamas was equally responsible for violations of international law and that it “must release as fast as possible innocent hostages. The faster they are released, the more important it can be an element to end the spiral of violence.”
Overall, De Croos said both sides “ignore international humanitarian law on a daily basis.”
ISRAELI FLAGS PLANTED IN COPACABANA BEACH TO HONOR ISRAELIS KILLED A MONTH AGORIO DE JANEIRO -- On Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Copacabana beach on Tuesday, nonprofit Rio de Paz planted 1,400 blue-and-white Israeli flags in honor of those killed by Hamas one month ago, and 34 photos of the children and teenagers who were taken hostage.
Last week, Rio de Paz staged a similar demonstration to denounce the deaths of thousands of children in Gaza. The group draped dozens of white sheets stained with fake blood on the sand as if they were covering dead bodies, along with the names and ages of some of the victims.
“This war will go down in history as the war that killed children, with both sides capable of showing indifference to the most vulnerable,” said the group's founder, Antônio Carlos Costa.
ISRAELIS OBSERVE ONE-MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF HAMAS ASSAULTJERUSALEM — Israelis observed a minute of silence on Tuesday morning in memory of the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel and the 348 soldiers killed since the assault, on its one-month anniversary.
Israelis are marking the anniversary as a day of mourning over the attack, in which more than 1,400 people were killed and 242 were taken hostage. The one-month anniversary is a milestone in the timeline of Jewish mourning.
Memorial events are scheduled to be held in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem later in the day.
BLINKEN SEEKS G7 CONSENSUS ON ISRAEL-HAMAS WARTOKYO — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shifted his intense diplomacy on the Israel-Hamas war to Asia on Tuesday with an appeal for the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies to forge a consensus on how to deal with the crisis.
As he and his G7 counterparts began two days of talks in Japan, Blinken said it was critically important for the group to show unity as it has over Russia’s war in Ukraine and other major issues and prevent existing differences on Gaza from deepening.
“This is a very important moment as well for the G7 to come together in the face of this crisis and to speak, as we do, with one clear voice,” Blinken told Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa.
The devastating monthlong conflict in Gaza and efforts to ease the dire humanitarian impacts of Israel’s response to the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack will be a major focus of the meeting. Yet with the Russia-Ukraine war, fears North Korea may be readying a new nuclear test, and concerns about China’s increasing global assertiveness, it is far from the only crisis on the agenda.
GERMANY RELEASES $97 MILLION FOR UN PALESTINIAN REFUGEE AGENCYBERLIN -– The German government says it is releasing 91 million euros ($97 million) for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees following a review that it launched after Hamas attacked Israel.
Germany on Oct. 8 suspended development aid for the Palestinian areas pending a review, though it has kept up humanitarian aid.
The Development Ministry said Tuesday that it hasn’t yet completed the review, but focused initially on U.N. agency UNRWA. It said that “as a first partial result” it has decided to release 71 million euros already earmarked for UNRWA and to add 20 million euros in new funding.
It said that funding, announced by Development Minister Svenja Schulze after a meeting in Jordan with the head of UNRWA, will be used to help continue providing basic services -– particularly drinking water --- to displaced people in the Gaza Strip and help Palestinian refugees in Jordan.
UAE TO ESTABLISH 150-BED FIELD HOSPITAL IN GAZADUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates says it will establish a field hospital in Gaza with 150 beds, a surgery department and intensive care units for adults and children.
The state-run WAM news agency reported the move late Monday, saying five aircraft had flown to Egypt, where the equipment will be unloaded and transferred to Gaza.
It says the hospital will be set up in multiple stages, without providing an exact timetable.
The UAE was the driving force behind the Abraham Accords in which four Arab countries normalized relations with Israel in 2020.
The wealthy Persian Gulf country has previously said it would provide $20 million in aid to the Palestinian people and bring about 1,000 Palestinian children, along with their families, to the UAE for medical treatment.
PAKISTAN SENDS SECOND PLANELOAD OF RELIEF GOODS FOR GAZAISLAMABAD — Pakistan sent a second planeload of relief goods for people in Gaza on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said.
It said the humanitarian assistance consisted of hygiene kits, medicines and food.
Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani expressed Pakistan’s full solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemned Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. He said Israel was targeting civilians, including women and children, and demanded an end to the strikes.
NETANYAHU SAYS ISRAEL OPEN TO ‘LITTLE PAUSES’ IN FIGHTINGIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was open to “little pauses” in its fight against Hamas — although it was not clear whether some kind of small stoppage had been agreed to or whether the U.S. was satisfied with the scope of the Israeli commitment.
U.S. President Joe Biden had raised the need for humanitarian pauses directly with Netanyahu on a call earlier Monday, but there was no agreement reached, the White House said. Lulls in the fighting are being sought to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries and the release of some of the estimated 240 hostages that Hamas seized during its Oct. 7 raid into Israel.
Netanyahu, in an interview Monday night with ABC News, also said there would be no general cease-fire in Gaza without the release of the hostages.
PROTESTERS BLOCK ROAD AT US PORT AS MILITARY CARGO SHIP DOCKSTACOMA, Wash. — Hundreds of protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza blocked traffic on Tuesday at the Port of Tacoma, where a military supply ship recently arrived.
Organizers say they targeted the vessel based on confidential information that it was to be loaded with weapons bound for Israel. Those claims could not immediately be verified. Police said no arrests had been made.
The Defense Department confirmed that the ship is supporting the movement of U.S. military cargo. The ship, the Cape Orlando, drew similar protests in Oakland, California, on Friday before it sailed to Tacoma.
