Israeli airstrikes hit two refugee camps within the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing scores of individuals, well being officers mentioned. The strikes got here because the U.S. retains urging Israel to take a humanitarian pause from its relentless bombardment of Gaza and rising civilian deaths.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Ramallah within the West Financial institution for a beforehand unannounced assembly with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Blinken later flew to Baghdad for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. On Saturday Blinken met with Arab overseas ministers in Jordan, after holding talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insists there could possibly be no short-term cease-fire till all hostages held by Hamas are launched. President Joe Biden recommended that progress was being made on the humanitarian pause.
The Palestinian dying toll within the Israel-Hamas battle surpassed 9,700 with greater than 4,000 of them youngsters and minors, in response to the Hamas-run Well being Ministry in Gaza. Within the occupied West Financial institution, greater than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.
Greater than 1,400 folks in Israel have been killed, most of them within the Oct. 7 Hamas assault that began the preventing, and 242 hostages had been taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.
Roughly 1,100 folks have left the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing since Wednesday underneath an obvious settlement among the many United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.
At the moment:
— Gaza has misplaced telecom contact once more, whereas Israel’s army publicizes it has surrounded Gaza Metropolis.
— Households of Israel hostages concern the world will overlook their family members.
— Protest marches from U.S. to Berlin name for speedy halt to bombing.
— These numbers present the staggering toll of the Israel-Hamas battle.
— A U.N. official says the common Palestinian in Gaza resides on two items of bread a day.
— Discover extra of AP’s protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Right here’s what is going on within the newest Israel-Hamas battle:
SYDNEY — A dozen Australians who fled the battle in Gaza arrived in Sydney on Sunday after touring final week via the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.
Elated evacuee Sara El-Masry instructed 9 Information on arrival at Sydney Airport: “It means the world to me that we had been in a position to depart safely and we had been in a position to come right here and see their (household) faces yet one more time. I truthfully didn’t suppose I might make it.”
One other seven evacuees returned to different Australian cities on Saturday. The Australian authorities continues to press for extra Australians to be allowed to go away Gaza. There are about 67 residents, everlasting residents and their members of the family that the Australian authorities says it’s making an attempt to assist depart Gaza.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The U.S. army has acknowledged positioning a nuclear-capable submarine within the Center East.
It offered no different particulars in its on-line assertion Sunday, although it posted a picture that appeared to point out a submarine in Egypt’s Suez Canal close to its Suez Canal Bridge.
U.S. acknowledgment of an Ohio-class submarine location is extremely uncommon as they symbolize a part of America’s so-called “nuclear triad” of atomic weapons — which additionally contains land-based ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs aboard strategic bombers.
A number of Ohio-class submarines as an alternative carry cruise missiles and the potential to deploy with particular operations forces, so it’s unclear if the submarine working now within the Mideast carries nuclear ballistic missiles.
The U.S. has deployed submarines into the area earlier than and introduced its current presence as tensions had been excessive with Iran.
Central Command individually launched a picture of a nuclear-capable B-1 bomber additionally working within the Mideast on Sunday.
UNITED NATIONS – The heads of 11 U.N. businesses and 6 humanitarian organizations issued a joint plea for a right away humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, the safety of civilians, and the swift entry to Gaza of meals, water, drugs and gasoline.
In a press release issued Sunday evening, they referred to as Hamas’ shock Oct. 7 assaults in Israel “horrific.”
“Nevertheless, the horrific killings of much more civilians in Gaza is an outrage, as is reducing off 2.2 million Palestinians from meals, water, drugs, electrical energy and gasoline,” the heads of the Inter-Company Standing Committee on the scenario in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory mentioned.
The U.N. and humanitarian organizations mentioned greater than 23,000 injured folks want speedy remedy and hospitals are overstretched.
“A complete inhabitants is besieged and underneath assault, denied entry to the necessities for survival, bombed of their properties, shelters, hospitals and locations of worship,” the joint assertion mentioned.
The U.N. and support group leaders mentioned over 100 assaults in opposition to well being care operations have been reported and 88 workers members from the U.N. company for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, have been reported killed – “the very best variety of United Nations fatalities ever recorded in a single battle.”
AMMAN, Jordan – Medical support was airdropped into Gaza by a Jordanian army cargo plane, the dominion’s chief introduced on social media early Monday.
A trickle of humanitarian support has entered Gaza through its land border with Egypt, however this seemed to be the primary time support was delivered by Jordan, a key U.S. ally that has a peace cope with Israel.
King Abdullah II mentioned the help reached the Jordanian area hospital within the northern Gaza Strip. “That is our obligation to assist our brothers and sisters injured within the battle on Gaza,” he wrote on X, previously generally known as Twitter.
King Abdullah II has recalled its ambassador to Israel and instructed Israel’s envoy to not return to Jordan till the Gaza disaster was over.
Michael Hertzog, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., says Gaza is “the largest terror advanced on this planet,” with tens of 1000’s of fighters and rockets, amongst different weaponry — and 310 miles (500 kilometers) of underground tunnels.
“That is what we’re up in opposition to. And now we have to uproot it, as a result of if we don’t, they’ll strike time and again,” Hertzog instructed CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview aired Sunday.
He additionally mentioned Israel was making each effort to differentiate between “terrorists and the civilian inhabitants” in its battle with the Hamas militant group that guidelines Gaza.
“It is a very difficult army operation in a densely populated space, and we’re making an attempt to maneuver the inhabitants away from that battle zone,” he mentioned.
Former President Barack Obama says “no one’s fingers are clear” within the Israel-Hamas battle and acknowledged that he’s questioned in current days whether or not his administration may have performed extra to push for a sturdy peace when he was in energy.
“If you wish to remedy the issue, then it’s important to absorb the entire reality,” Obama mentioned in an interview on “Pod Save America.” “And also you then must admit no one’s fingers are clear. That each one of us are complicit to some extent.”
The previous president did make an try at peace between Israel and Palestinians throughout his second time period, however months of talks collapsed in 2014 amid disagreements on Israeli settlements, the discharge of Palestinian prisoners and different points.
“I take a look at this and I feel again what may I’ve performed throughout my presidency to maneuver this ahead — as arduous as I attempted, I’ve obtained the scars to show it,” Obama mentioned in an excerpt launched on X.
All the interview is scheduled to be launched on Tuesday.
JERUSALEM — Gaza on Sunday fell underneath its third complete communications blackout for the reason that begin of the battle between Israel and Hamas.
Palestinian communications firm Paltel introduced that every one of its “communication and web companies” had been down as soon as once more. Web-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org confirmed that communications had been curtailed throughout the besieged enclave.
Alp Toker, the group’s govt director, mentioned that the blackout was more likely to be skilled by most residents as a complete or near-total lack of connectivity.
Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the Palestinian refugee company UNRWA, instructed The Related Press that the company has misplaced communication with most of its workforce.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s state-run IRNA information company says the nation’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
The date of the assembly was not disclosed within the report on Sunday.
In line with IRNA, Khamenei praised the endurance and endurance of the folks of Gaza and emphasised Iran’s coverage in supporting the Palestinians within the battle between Israel and Hamas.
Khamenei urged Islamic international locations and worldwide organizations to take critical actions in assist of Gaza’s folks.
Israel’s army final week accused Haniyeh, who lives in exile, of flying to Iran on a “non-public jet” because the folks of Gaza endure in a devastating Israeli offensive in opposition to Hamas.
Israel accuses Iran of destabilizing the area by supporting proxies like Hamas and the Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s president obtained the diplomatic credentials of the newly minted U.S. ambassador to Israel on Sunday, with each males expressing the robust bond between the 2 international locations throughout wartime.
Ambassador Jacob Lew mentioned he had met with the households of these held hostage in Gaza throughout his go to, and that the discharge of the hostages was a high precedence for the U.S. He reiterated U.S. assist for Israel within the battle effort.
“As President Biden has mentioned so passionately, Israel has a proper and certainly a duty to defend this nation and its folks in a fashion that displays the values that we share,” Lew mentioned.
President Isaac Herzog thanked Lew and mentioned he was “talking for all Israelis once I say: by no means has American friendship been extra evident or extra valued than it’s proper now.”
JERUSALEM — The Israeli army mentioned Sunday that it found an intensive stash of weapons in a house in Beit Hanoun within the northern Gaza Strip because it searched the world. It discovered rifles, grenades, explosives, suicide drones and missiles within the residence, bringing a number of the weapons again to Israel to examine them. The army mentioned that forces had additionally destroyed a close-by explosives lab.
ISTANBUL – Supporters of an Islamist group marched to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on Sunday, hours forward of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s anticipated arrival within the Turkish capital.
A number of hundred protesters chanted “God is nice” and held their index fingers skywards as they approached the compound within the metropolis’s Cukurambar neighborhood. Riot police lined up in entrance of the U.S. advanced as the group, many carrying black and white flags with Arabic script, referred to as for Turkish troopers to be despatched to Gaza.