Biden Joins Calls to Extend Israel-Hamas Truce as Third Group of Hostages Exchanged
Both Israel and Hamas have signaled a willingness to extend a four-day cease-fire that is due to expire Tuesday morning if it allows for more hostages and detainees to be released (NYT)
U.S. President Joe Biden and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) chief Jens Stoltenberg said they support an extension, and Qatari negotiators are working today to resolve differences between the two sides (AFP)
As part of the cease-fire, three groups of Hamas-held hostages have been swapped for Palestinian prisoners; by Sunday, Hamas had freed 58 hostages, while Israel had released 117 Palestinians (Reuters)
The truce, the longest break in fighting in the war so far, has allowed increased amounts of aid to enter Gaza (UN)
Meanwhile, tensions related to the war continue to run high outside the Gaza Strip; the United States thwarted what it said was a potentially Iran-linked hijacking of a commercial ship yesterday by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, while Palestinian health officials reported yesterday that Israeli forces killed eight Palestinians in the West Bank in the previous twenty-four hours (BBC;NYT)
Israeli Cabinet Approves Hostage Agreement
The Israeli cabinet has voted in favor of an agreement stipulating that it will honor a four-day ceasefire in its war with Hamas in exchange for the group’s release of approximately fifty Israeli hostages being held in Gaza (Washington Post)
According to a statement, Israel approved the outline of a deal to temporarily pause military operations while Hamas returns women and children abducted during their October 7 attacks in southern Israel (Times of Israel)
It was not immediately announced when the pause in fighting is set to commence; Israel plans to continue their aerial bombing and ground campaign in the Gaza strip once the abductees are released (CNN)
U.S. Energy Security Envoy Visits Israel For Talks on Containing War, Offshore Gas
Amos Hochstein, energy security advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, is visiting Israel today to discuss efforts to guarantee the Israel-Hamas war does not spill into a second front on Israel’s border with Lebanon (Axios)
He is also expected to discuss plans to revitalize the Palestinian economy by allowing the Palestinian government access to an offshore gas field off the coast of the Gaza Strip (Haaretz)
Meanwhile, Palestine Red Crescent ambulance teams evacuated twenty-eight premature babies from northern Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital into Egypt yesterday for medical care; supplies at al-Shifa have dwindled after Israeli troops surrounded the hospital and raided it last week (NYT)
Biden Says Revitalized Palestinian Authority Should Govern Gaza, West Bank
In a Washington Post op-ed calling for consequences for both Hamas’s and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression, U.S. President Joe Biden said that a revitalized Palestinian Authority should govern the Gaza Strip and the West Bank while “we all work toward a two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; he also wrote that the United States is prepared to implement visa bans on “extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank.”
Israeli Forces Search Gaza Hospital, Prep for Potential Push Into Enclave’s South
As Israeli forces combed through the Gaza Strip’s al-Shifa Hospital, which they asserted Hamas was an operations center, they reported finding the bodies of two Israelis in the area who had been taken hostage by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7 (Times of Israel)
The chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces said today that Israel was “close to dismantling” Hamas’s operational capabilities in northern Gaza and is now preparing to carry out operations in other parts of the territory (FT)
Israel distributed thousands of leaflets in some parts of southern Gaza yesterday, warning people to evacuate; the war has already forced 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes (Reuters)
The potential expansion of Israel’s ground operation comes as Gaza experienced a communications blackout (Reuters)
The United Nations suspended aid deliveries today due to the outage and a fuel shortage; the UN World Food Program said yesterday that civilians are facing the “immediate possibility of starvation,” and that trucks that have entered Gaza since the opening of Egypt’s Rafah border crossing have carried only enough food aid to meet 7 percent of people’s daily minimum caloric needs (UN)
First UN Security Council Resolution on Israel-Hamas War Calls for Humanitarian Pauses
The resolution that passed 12–0 yesterday called for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses” in Gaza and for “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” held by Palestinian militant group Hamas and other groups; the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia abstained from the resolution (AP)
Israeli Forces Raid Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital
Israel’s military said it was conducting a “precise and targeted operation” against Palestinian militant group Hamas at the hospital, where hundreds of patients are trapped without electricity and medical supplies are dwindling (AP)
Israel claims, without visual evidence, that Hamas is operating a command post in the hospital, but Gaza health officials deny the claim (AP)
The United States says its intelligence shows Hamas has used Al-Shifa and other hospitals to hold hostages, but President Biden said the hospital “must be protected” and urged “less intrusive action” (ABC)
Meanwhile, a truck carrying a UN diesel fuel shipment crossed from Egypt into the Gaza Strip today for the first time since the start of the war, though the director of the UN relief agency in Gaza said the fuel was only 9 percent of what is needed to sustain daily lifesaving activities (Reuters)
Biden Says Gaza Hospitals ‘Must Be Protected’
President Biden said that hospitals in the Gaza Strip “must be protected” as Israeli troops encircled Al-Shifa hospital, under which they believe Palestinian militant group Hamas has a command center; a spokesperson from the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said that thirty-two patients had died in the last three days (Reuters)
Israel’s government said it was offering portable incubators to move babies out of the hospital (Reuters)
A Hamas spokesperson said in an audio recording posted to their Telegram channel that it was ready to release up to seventy women and children in exchange for a five-day truce with Israel (Reuters)
An unnamed Israeli official told the Washington Post that the “general outline of the deal is understood” and that it would free most Israeli women and children kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7 attack (WaPo)
Gaza Fighting Approaches Major Hospital
Battles in Gaza have approached the entrance of Al-Shifa hospital, where Israel says Hamas has an operations center; a dispute over delivery has delayed fuel from reaching the hospital, where hundreds of people are trapped inside (NYT)
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said there are many indications that Hamas is using civilian areas to house weapons and fighters in violation of the laws of war, saying also that Washington did not want to see “firefights” in hospitals (ABC)
In a separate interview, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it was too early to say who could govern Gaza after the war but that he has not seen an indication that the Palestinian Authority would be capable of doing so (NYT)
Israel Allows Humanitarian Corridors as Thousands of Gazans Flee South
Israel has opened humanitarian corridors inside Gaza repeatedly this week, and a UN humanitarian office said an estimated fifteen thousand people fled south inside of Gaza in the last two days (Times of Israel)
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting a humanitarian aid conference in Paris today that includes officials from Western and Arab countries, as well as the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations; Macron said fighting terrorism “can never be carried out without rules” (AP)
G7 Countries Back Humanitarian Pauses in Gaza
Foreign ministers from Group of Seven (G7) countries said at a Tokyo meeting today that they support humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas war to facilitate aid, civilian movement, and the release of hostages (AFP)
Speaking to reporters today, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington believes that the post-conflict Gaza Strip should include no forcible displacement of Palestinians, no reoccupation of Gaza, and no attempt to besiege it (WaPo)
Witnesses said that thousands of people fled parts of northern Gaza today after a new Israeli call to evacuate the region (Reuters)
Israeli forces reported fighting in the tunnels home to Hamas’s logistics network; dismantling that network is one of Israel’s primary war aims (Reuters)
Blinken opposed a cease-fire in his comments to the press, saying it would likely allow Hamas the capability to repeat their October 7 attack (BBC)
Netanyahu Says Israel Could Oversee Gaza for ‘Indefinite Period’ After War
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that Israel “for an indefinite period will have the overall security responsibility” over the Gaza Strip once the war against Palestinian militant group Hamas ends, in an interview that aired yesterday (ABC)
Talks about the postwar future of Gaza have been a focus of ongoing diplomacy by U.S. and Middle Eastern officials (Axios)
Netanyahu said Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas,” without specifying whether he was referring to the Palestinian Authority or an international force; he added that there would be no general cease-fire in Gaza without the release of hostages, but voiced openness to short tactical pauses of “an hour here, an hour there” (FT)
As the humanitarian cost of the war continues to mount inside Gaza, its Hamas-run health ministry said yesterday that more than ten thousand people had been killed in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel; the numbers could not be independently verified, but a Pentagon spokesperson said “we know the numbers are in the thousands” (NYT)
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said yesterday that this is the deadliest-ever war for UN personnel, with eighty-nine employees so far killed in Gaza (NYT)
Blinken Visits West Bank as Israel Conducts Attack in Gaza City
Following two days of meetings with Israeli officials, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken crossed into the West Bank to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Reuters)
Blinken assured Abbas that the United States would press for the protection of Palestinian civilians and said Palestinians should play a key role in deciding the future status of the Gaza Strip; however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a U.S. proposal for regular pauses in fighting to allow aid into the territory (AP;U.S. Department of State)
CIA Director William J. Burns arrived in Israel today and will visit other nearby countries on a trip focused on diplomatic efforts to free hostages and to contain the war’s spread (NYT)
The United States also announced that it dispatched a guided missile submarine to the Middle East to boost its security presence (CNN)
Meanwhile, Israel last night announced that it was carrying out a “large attack” on Hamas infrastructure both above and below ground in the Gaza Strip, accompanied by a temporary territory-wide communications blackout (NYT)
Blinken Arrives in Tel Aviv as Israeli Troops Encircle Gaza City
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to voice continued U.S. support for Israel’s war efforts while also pressing for concrete steps to reduce civilian casualties; White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Washington seeks a “temporary, localized” pause in fighting (AP)
Blinken raised concerns about humanitarian aid, hostages, and Israel’s postwar strategy with Israeli officials before traveling on to Jordan (Reuters)
Blinken’s visit began as Israeli troops tightened their encirclement of Gaza City and as Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Iran-backedLebanese militant group Hezbollah, prepared to give his first public speech since the start of the Israel-Hamas war; Hezbollah attacked Israeli positions in northern Israel yesterday with drones and mortar fire, while its skirmishes with Israel near its border with Lebanon have drawn fears for weeks that the war could expand across the region (NYT)
Israeli Forces Press Toward Gaza City as Foreign Nationals Begin to Enter Egypt
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) broke through the first line of defense set up by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, an IDF spokesperson said yesterday (Times of Israel)
Senior Israeli commanders said they were working to secure the release of the more than two hundred Hamas-held hostages, while a top Hamas official said that, given the chance, the militant group would repeat attacks similar to those carried out on October 7 until Israel was destroyed (Times of Israel)
At the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, several wounded Palestinians and hundreds of foreign nationals were allowed to depart Gaza yesterday, with thousands more expected to follow in the next few days (NYT)
Hundreds of Americans were on a list of approved departures issued by Gaza’s border authority overnight. At an event in Minneapolis yesterday, U.S. President Joe Biden said there should be a “pause” in fighting in Gaza to get people out (NPR)
Israel Deploys Missile Boats in Red Sea to Combat Threat from Yemen’s Houthis
The move comes a day after the Houthis claimed to have launched missiles at Israel and vowed to continue attacks; Israel’s National Security Adviser said he would not tolerate Houthi attacks but did not specify how Israel would respond (Reuters)
First Evacuees Depart Gaza Through Border Crossing With Egypt
A group of severely wounded Palestinians entered Egypt through the Rafah border crossing by ambulance today, Egyptian state television and a local medical official said; foreign nationals are expected to follow as part of a deal mediated by Qatar that came together yesterday after weeks of stalled negotiations (NYT)
Meanwhile, Israel has deployed missile boats to the Red Sea after intercepting a missile attack on the country that was claimed by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels (Reuters)
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testified yesterday about the need for a $105 billion support package for Israel and Ukraine that includes both war and humanitarian aid, and Blinken said that “today’s battles against aggression and terrorism will define global security for years to come” (CNN)
The U.S. Senate confirmed Jacob J. Lew as ambassador to Israel yesterday (NYT)
On the battlefield in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces reported yesterday that eleven soldiers were killed (Times of Israel)
Israel’s air strike targeting a Hamas commander hit a residential area of Gaza that holds its largest refugee camp; a nearby hospital said dozens were killed (NYT)
White House: Saudi Arabia Still Seeks Normalization With Israel
Saudi Arabia is still interested in moving forward with previous U.S.-led negotiations to normalize relations with Israel after the war in Gaza ends, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday (Axios)
Saudi Arabia’s defense minister is in Washington this week; the White House said his talks with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan emphasized the need for sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians (White House)
Fifty Reported Dead at Jabalia Refugee Camp, IDF Claims Strike
Health officials at a Gaza hospital reported that approximately 50 Palestinians were killed and 150 were injured in Israeli air strikes on Jabalia refugee camp on Tuesday (Reuters)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) took responsibility for the air strike on Jabalia, a densely populated part of northern Gaza; an IDF spokesperson said the strike killed Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari and impaired the militant group’s ability to carry out operations (ABC)
Hamas denied that Biari, whom the IDF claims was a leader of the October 7 attacks on Israel, was in the Jabalia camp at the time of the air strike (Al Jazeera)
Israeli Forces Advance Toward Gaza City, Report Fighting in Tunnels
Israeli troops are approaching Gaza City from the east, north, and south, photos and satellite images show, as Israel intensifies its response to Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7 attack (NYT)
Israeli forces said they had struck part of Hamas’s network of underground tunnels; they also rescued an Israeli soldier from Hamas captivity (WSJ)
At a news conference yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a cease-fire, saying they are tantamount to asking Israel “to surrender to terrorism;” he drew historical parallels with the United States after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the September 11, 2001, terror attacks (Times of Israel)
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters yesterday that the United States does not back a cease-fire (White House)
Humanitarian organizations have warned of the ongoing civilian fallout of the war, with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) director yesterday saying that more than 420 children are being killed or injured each day in the Gaza Strip (TIME)
Israel Expands Ground Offensive in Gaza, Targets West Bank
Israeli forces have driven tanks and military bulldozers into the Gaza Strip as they expand their ground offensive (WaPo)
They also carried out an overnight raid in the West Bank and bombed military infrastructure in Syria in response to a rocket attack from the country (FT)
Much of Israel’s latest push into Gaza was shrouded by an internet and phone blackout that lasted more than thirty hours, though U.S. pressure led Israel to partially restore communications yesterday morning, an unnamed U.S. official told the Washington Post
Israel Set to Expand Ground Operations in Gaza Amid Communications Disruption
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they would be expanding their ground operations in the Gaza Strip on Friday night (Reuters)
The announcement followed an increase in IDF airstrikes and a reported collapse of phone and internet access in Gaza (AP)
Aid groups such as the Red Crescent Society and ActionAid confirmed that they were unable to contact their teams in the territory on Friday afternoon (BBC)
UN General Assembly Debating Responses to Israel-Hamas War
The Jordan-backed resolution will move toward a vote today (UN News)
In a joint declaration from a Brussels summit, leaders of European Union (EU) nations expressed the “gravest concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza” and called for “measures including humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs” in the Israel-Hamas war (Reuters)
Israeli Tanks Carry Out Raid in Northern Gaza
Israel’s military said the overnight operation aimed to prepare the battlefield for its next stage of combat; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled a ground invasion is likely but offered no details (NYT)
U.S. officials have pressed Israel to delay the incursion amid ongoing talks over hostages and humanitarian aid (NYT)
Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said it had begun to significantly reduce its operations in Gaza after nearly exhausting its fuel (FT)
At the UN Security Council yesterday, competing U.S.- and Russia-backed resolutions calling for a pause in the fighting were both vetoed; the UN General Assembly is due to take up the matter today (Bloomberg)
Israel’s military says that since Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7 attack, it has struck more than seven thousand targets inside Gaza in its bombing campaign, more than any other Israeli military campaign in the territory (NYT)
Israel Conducts ‘Wide-Scale’ Strikes in Gaza as U.S. Rushes Defense Systems to Mideast
Israel said today that it carried out “wide-scale” strikes against positions held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip (NYT)
Meanwhile, the United States is expediting defense systems to the region amid fears that Iran and its proxies will escalate attacks on U.S. positions (FT)
U.S. Central Command said that attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria over the past week injured at least twenty-four U.S. troops (NBC)
Meanwhile, appeals for a cease-fire dominated a UN Security Council meeting yesterday, and Israeli officials called on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to resign after he said that Israel is responsible for “clear violations of international law” in Gaza and that the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 “did not happen in a vacuum” (FT)
Washington pushed back against the prospect of a cease-fire but put forth a proposal for a humanitarian pause; to date, four convoys of aid have crossed into Gaza from Egypt since the conflict broke out, falling short of what UN officials say is needed to alleviate Gaza’s humanitarian crisis (NYT)