In Northern Gaza, the price of a ride is out of reach for many
Hamas and Hezbollah: The Israeli Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip are preparing to attack attacks on the next stage of the war
The Israel Defense Forces would be increasing its strikes in Gaza, according to a military spokesman. The danger to our forces will be mitigated in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks, from today,” Hagari said. He called on Gaza’s residents to move south “for your own safety.”
The government of the Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip said on Sunday that 55 people were killed in overnight raids. The Palestinian Health Ministry says over 4,600 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip in the past two weeks.
The total number of hostages now includes a number of foreigners who were not initially on the list, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.
Many Palestinians said that they were warned by Israel’s military to leave the north of Gaza if they didn’t, with a message that they “might be identified as an accessory in a terrorist organization” if they stayed put. However, there have also been strikes in the south of Gaza, making it unclear whether moving is truly safe.
Settler violence against Palestinians has also intensified since the Hamas attack. At least five Palestinians have been killed by settlers, according to Palestinian authorities, and rights groups say settlers have torched cars and attacked several small Bedouin communities.
In the occupied West Bank, Israel rarely uses air power. Israel says its forces have detained over 700 suspects in the West Bank, including 480 members of Hamas, since the start of hostilities.
Meanwhile, Israel also carried out strikes on Hezbollah targets on the border with Lebanon on Saturday, after one Israeli soldier was hit by an anti-tank missile in northern Israel. “We are in the heart of the battle today,” said Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, on Saturday, the same day that the group said six of its fighters were killed.
The state media in Syria reported that Israeli attacks on the international airports of the Syrian capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo killed one person. The runways weren’t used because they were damaged. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
The First Two Convoys of Hamas-Inspired Humanitarian Aid to the Middle East: The United States, Israel and Gaza
He said the Pentagon plans to deploy an anti-ballistic missile defense system called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to the Middle East, along with additional air defense missile system battalions.
The US has deployed many vessels in the area in recent weeks including two aircraft carriers and about 2,000 Marines.
The White House summary of the call said that both Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Biden agreed that after the two first convoys of humanitarian aid into Gaza on Saturday there will be continued flow of this critical assistance. The leaders also “discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all the remaining hostages taken by Hamas — including U.S. citizens — and to provide for safe passage for U.S. citizens and other civilians in Gaza who wish to depart,” the White House said.
Medical supplies for trauma treatment and chronic disease were loaded on the trucks, according to the World Health Organization. Some food and mattresses were included in the delivery. Notably, no fuel arrived, which aid groups say is needed to power hospitals and desalination plants for much-needed water.
The arrival of the trucks Saturday is a very small first but important start, according to Lynn Hastings. It is a drop in the bucket.
But Amani Abu Odeh, who lives in the town of Jabalia in Gaza’s north, said that the danger of Israeli airstrikes on the road had pushed up the cost of travel. Drivers were now charging between $200 and $300 to take a family south, she said. The trip cost about $3 a person before the war.
“We can’t even afford to eat,” Ms. Abu Odeh said. “We don’t have the money to leave.” She and her family have stayed in a single home.
Virtually every medical specialty in Gaza has run out of supplies, said Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British-Palestinian surgeon working at al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical center.
Israel attacks on civilians: The Palestinians are killing. The Gazan people will be gone, as has Israel done, says M. Shaban
Designating hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians who were unwilling or unable to flee as accomplices in terrorism was a threat of collective punishment and could possibly amount to ethnic cleansing, she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday. She said that it was a war crime to target civilians.
That — coupled with the escalating humanitarian crisis across the enclave — is one of several reasons some families say they are staying put in the north.
“I did not go to the south because I know no one there.” said Yasser Shaban, a civil servant in Gaza City. “We will end up in the streets.”
The family of Mr. Shaban’s cousin took their family to the south after Israel launched its bombing campaign against Gaza City. But a week ago, he said, an Israeli airstrike hit the place where they were sheltering in the city of Khan Younis, killing the cousin’s wife and two daughters. The cousin returned to Gaza City with his surviving family members — a wounded son and his sister — to be treated at Al Shifa Hospital.
The armed Palestinian group has not produced any proof that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza, nor has it provided details to support its count of dead and injured.
The authorities in Gaza have changed their story about the blast, as new evidence against Hamas has emerged. The death toll had been varying from 500 to 833.
Hamas told The Times that it wouldn’t be able to provide any evidence of the hospital strike because it was beyond recognition.
“The missile has dissolved like salt in the water,” said Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, in a phone interview. It has been wiped out. Nothing is left.
Salama Maroof, the head of the Hamas-run government media office, said in a text message: “Who says we’re obligated to present the remnants of every rocket that kills our people? You can research and confirm things from the evidence we have.
The U.S. should have more time to negotiate with Israel on the ground war, not let it go, as Israel should have told Israel
Behind closed doors, American officials have very precise instructions for the Israelis. When Mr. Biden met with the Israeli war cabinet during his trip to Tel Aviv last week, he avoided making requests of Mr. Netanyahu, officials said. Instead, the president offered a series of questions that should be answered before a ground invasion starts and raised the specters of the disastrous U.S. decisions to invade Iraq and to wage a long, open-ended war in Afghanistan.
American officials want more time to prepare for attacks on the U.S. from Iran-backed groups, which they think will intensify once Israel moves its forces into Gaza.
The administration is not making a demand of Israel and still supports the ground invasion and Israel’s goal of eradicating Hamas, the group controlling Gaza that killed more about 1,400 people in terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, the officials said.
The administration believes that the Israelis should allow more time for the negotiation of the release of other hostages, since Hamas freed two American women on Friday.
The conversation was just one of dozens Netanyahu has had with world leaders in recent days. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is visiting Israel today, while France’s Macron is scheduled to visit tomorrow.
Two U.S. officials said the advice to the Israelis to hold off on the land war was being conveyed through Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III because the Pentagon is helping advise Israel on military actions, including the ground invasion.
Mr. Austin has had near daily calls with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, to discuss operational matters, American arms shipments to Israel and U.S. military deployments to the region. One U.S. official said that he talked about the hostages and how important it was to recover them.
According to an official with knowledge of the negotiations, Hamas had warned that a ground invasion would make them less likely to release hostages. Qatar has close ties to the political leaders of Hamas.
Many Israelis are held as hostages and there are also many hostages from other nationalities. We have to get them out of partnerships and we are working to do everything we can. Israel is doing the same. But in terms of what we’re talking to Israel about with regard to their military operations, it really is focused on both how they do it, and how best to achieve the results that they seek.”
American officials want to delay the ground invasion, but are hesitant to trivialize the story that Iran and its allies have spread about the United States controlling Israel.
There have been many drone attacks on U.S. forces in the region. U.S. officials said that by assuming that the Biden administration is behind the Israeli government, it could cause a conflict between America and Iran in the region.
“In fact we expect that there’s a likelihood of escalation, escalation by Iranian proxies directed against our forces, directed against our personnel,” Mr. Blinken said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We are taking steps to make sure that we can effectively defend our people.”
The State Department ordered the removal of non-essential American government employees from the embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. mission in Erbil, Iraq, on Sunday. The department cited the threats of “terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest and Mission Iraq’s limited capacity to provide support to U.S. citizens.”
U.S. officials fear that Iraqi militias supported by Iran will attack the 2,500 or so U.S. troops in the country and other American institutions or citizens.
The U.N., Hamas, the Associated Press and the Gaza Humanitarian Aid Mission: As much as needed, sooner or later?
The Israel Defense Forces said the military struck over 320 military targets on Sunday, with a focus on Hamas headquarters, tunnels and firing positions in Gaza.
“We are working in all ways to free the hostages and bring them home,” Hagari said, according to The Guardian, adding that the weekend Israeli raids inside Gaza were aimed at gathering information on them.
At least 10 Americans are missing after two of them were released by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, says Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
After 20 truckloads worth of aid was delivered Saturday, another 14 were delivered on Sunday. An additional shipment entered Monday, according to the AP.
Humanitarian workers say that the relief isn’t enough. The shipments amount to about 3% of what would normally cross the border before the hostilities began, according to the U.N.
With Gaza’s main power plant still out of operation, fuel is also needed to power generators for critical infrastructure, including hospitals, desalination plants and wastewater treatment facilities.
An emergency fuel supply by the U.N.’s relief agency for Palestinians will be exhausted within a few days, according to officials.
He told NPR that the wounded have eaten all of the supplies needed to care for them.
Source: Gaza officials say more than 5,000 have been killed as Israeli strikes intensify
Joint statement on the “Progress of State Forces in the Mideast and the Prospects for Development in the Middle East” by Zhai Jun and Sergei Lavrov
A group of Western leaders issued a joint statement on Sunday, saying they support Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism, but also calling for the country to adhere to humanitarian law.
The leaders committed to coordinating with partners in the region to ensure aid reached those in Gaza, as well as “close diplomatic coordination, including with key partners in the region, to prevent the conflict from spreading, preserve stability in the Middle East, and work toward a political solution and durable peace,” the statement reads.
Zhai Jun, China’s special envoy to the Middle East, is in the region today. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is also planning to head to the Middle East, but will start with allies in Iran on Monday.
Israel said it will be increasing the number of strikes on Hamas and Hezbollah targets in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military spokesman said that the military carried out over 320 strikes on Sunday, with a focus on Hamas headquarters, tunnels and firing positions in Gaza. Over 5,000 people have been killed in Israel-Gaza war so far, according to Gaza officials.