Palestinians described intense bombardments early Tuesday near two towns in southern Gaza, where Israel had ordered civilians to seek refuge.
Thousands of people trying to escape Gaza are gathered in Rafah, which has the territory’s only border crossing to Egypt. Mediators are pressing for an agreement to let aid in and refugees with foreign passports out. The U.S. hoped to break a deadlock with President Joe Biden set to head to Israel and Jordan on Wednesday.
Aid workers warned that life in Gaza was near complete collapse because of the Israeli siege that followed a Hamas attack on Israel.
The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,778 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and at least 199 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.
Here's what's happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
US RESPONDS TO HOSTAGE VIDEO BY CALLING FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL THOSE HELD
WASHINGTON — The United States has responded to Hamas' release of a hostage video by calling on the group to immediately release all hostages.
“There should be no reason for them to have any hostages in the first place," said U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on American TV Tuesday.
Asked if he believed the woman in the video, identified as 21-year-old Mia Schem, was being treated OK, Kirby said she was “probably forced” to record the message.
“There’s no question in my mind that that woman gave that video testimony under duress, probably forced to do it,” Kirby said on NBC’s “Today."
"It’s a propaganda video much more than it is proof of life or, certainly, proof of concept for Hamas. It’s despicable, deplorable that they would take these hostages and then advertise how well they’re treating them when they’re the ones who hurt them in the first place.”
FOREIGN PASSPORT-HOLDERS WAIT IN VAIN FOR RAFAH CROSSING TO OPEN
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — For a third straight day, dual Palestinian nationals' hopes to leave the Gaza Strip were dashed as the border remained closed.
Jameel Abdullah, a Swedish passport holder, said he had been told by his embassy to return to the border, but after waiting many hours he turned back toward Gaza where Israeli airstrikes continue to pound densely populated residential areas.
“We come to the border crossing hoping that it will open, but so far there is no information,” he said. “We plead with the Egyptian people to look at us with compassion because frankly we are in a very dangerous place. There is shelling all around us, and even if I wanted to return home (to Gaza), I would be risking my life.”
The sound of bombs falling echoed in the distance as he spoke.
INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY SEES BAD NEWS FOR MARKETS FROM MIDEAST WAR
FRANKFURT, Germany — The Israel-Hamas war is affecting oil markets already stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia and expected stronger demand from China, the head of the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.
“As we see the tensions in the Middle East, the market becomes much more jittery, and it is definitely not good news coming out of this crisis,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based IEA, told The Associated Press.
“We may very well see much more volatile prices, and it can push prices higher, which is definitely bad news for inflation,” he added.
Developing countries that import energy would be the most affected by higher prices, Birol said.
International benchmark Brent crude traded close to $90 per barrel on Tuesday, up from $85 on Oct. 6, the day before Hamas attacked Israel. Fluctuations last week pushed prices as high as $96.
WFP WARNS FOOD IS RUNNING OUT IN GAZA
CAIRO — In addition to dire water shortages, Gaza is running out of food stocks with only a few days worth of supplies remaining in shops, the World Food Program says.
Shops only have four or five days' worth of essential food stocks available, said spokeswoman Abeer Etefa. There is enough food in warehouses to last about two weeks, but these are difficult to access because they are located in Gaza City, where Israel has ordered residents to evacuate.
Out of five mills in Gaza, only one is operating due to security concerns and the unavailability of fuel and electricity. Etefa said the primary challenge for WFP is being able to get food to shops amid the constant bombardment. Long lines have formed outside the few bakeries that are still able to operate.
UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE CONDEMNS REPORTED KILLING OF FLEEING CIVILIANS
GENEVA — The U.N. human rights office is decrying “appalling reports” that civilians who were trying to flee to southern Gaza were hit and killed by a military strike.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani urged Israeli forces to avoid “aerial bombardments, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks” and to “take precautions to avoid – and in any case, to minimize – loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.”
She said those who managed to evacuate are now trapped in southern Gaza with scant access to shelter, food, water, sanitation and medicine.
“Appalling reports that civilians attempting to relocate to southern Gaza were struck and killed by an explosive weapon, must be independently and thoroughly investigated as must all allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law,” she said.
Shamdasani also reiterated the call from the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to Palestinian armed groups “to immediately and unconditionally release all civilian hostages and to halt the use of inherently indiscriminate projectiles against Israel.”
FRENCH PRESIDENT CALLS FOR AN END TO ‘ODIOUS’ HOSTAGE-TAKING
TIRANA, Albania — French President Emmanuel Macron said the situation of hostages is “absolutely odious and unacceptable” after Hamas’ military wing released a hostage video showing a dazed woman having her arm bandaged.
The woman identified herself as Mia Schem, 21, a French-Israeli national.
Speaking at a news conference during a visit to Albania, Macron said he watched the video and expressed “support and affection” to Schem’s family and all other hostages’ loved ones.
“To have taken hostages, both civilian and military, of all nationalities and to use blackmail at this time is absolutely odious and unacceptable,” he said.
Macron said France is using contacts with Israeli authorities and also with Hamas “through friendly intermediary powers,” which he did not identify, to get the release of French and other hostages.
In her statement, Schem said she was taken from Kibbutz Reim, where she was attending a rave near the Israel-Gaza border.
The Israeli military said Schem’s family was told of her abduction last week, and officials dismissed the video as propaganda.
A CRUISE SHIP CARRYING FOREIGN NATIONALS FROM ISRAEL DOCKS IN CYPRUS
A cruise ship carrying some 160 U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals who opted to leave Israel has arrived in Cyprus’ main port of Limassol.
The Rhapsody of the Seas docked at dawn Tuesday and were met by the U.S. ambassador to Cyprus, Julie Fisher. Passengers were processed by Cypriot authorities and local U.S. embassy officials before being bussed to temporary accommodation prior to their flight back home.
Barbara Zwillick, 73, was escorting her granddaughter to New York City at the request of her daughter, who has stayed behind to continue her work as a nurse.
"She doesn’t want to leave. I don’t want her to leave. But she wants her daughter out,” Zwillick told The Associated Press.
Naama Kopelman, who has relatives believed to be Hamas hostages, said she decided to leave Israel for the sake of her daughter.
"It’s a big relief to be out of there in a safe place. No alarms, no sounds of the planes going about all the time,” Kopelman said.
IRANIAN LEADER CALLS ISRAEL'S ASSAULT ON GAZA ‘GENOCIDE’
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader Tuesday has insisted that his country will not stop Hamas, and repeated a call for Israeli leaders to be tried for war crimes.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “If the crimes continue, Muslims will be impatient, resistances forces will be impatient, and nobody will be able to prevent them.”
“Bombardments should be immediately stopped, Muslim nations are angry,” said Khamenei.
He reiterated Iran’s stance in calling Israel's assault against Hamas,” genocide” and urged the prosecution of the Israeli government for its killing of civilians in Gaza.
He also urged the U.S. to “pay attention to its responsibility” in the war.
FAMILIES KILLED IN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES ON GAZA
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinians in Gaza are taking stock of the latest deadly airstrikes from Israel.
A strike in Deir al Balah, south of Gaza City, reduced a house to rubble, killing nine members of the family living there, mostly women and children. Three members of another family that had evacuated from Gaza City were killed in a neighboring home. Witnesses said there was no warning before the strike.
In Khan Younis, in a neighborhood just a few hundred meters away from Nasser Hospital, Samiha Zoarab looked around at the destruction in shock as children rummaged through the piles of debris and detritus around a leveled home, which lies within a dense cluster of buildings. At least four people from the same family were killed in the attack, locals said. “There are only two survivors,” Zoarab said.
Here's what's happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES A TUESDAY VISIT TO ISRAEL
NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a written statement Monday evening that she will travel to Israel on Tuesday for a “solidarity mission.”
She said she plans to meet with diplomatic leaders and communities devastated after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israeli towns.
“During these difficult times, it’s more important than ever for New York to show up in support of Israel,” Hochul said.
New York has the largest percentage of Jews among all the U.S. states, according to the American Jewish Population Project at Brandeis University.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN TO VISIT ISRAEL WEDNESDAY, US SECRETARY OF STATE ANNOUNCES
TEL AVIV — President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday to show support for the U.S. ally amid concerns the Israel-Hamas war could become a larger regional conflict, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said early Tuesday in Tel Aviv.
Biden will then go to Jordan to meet with Arab leaders, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Blinken's announcement followed hours of talks with Israeli officials, as well as an invitation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip grows more dire, Blinken also said the U.S. and Israel had agreed to develop a plan to enable humanitarian aid from donor nations to reach civilians in Gaza, "including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm’s way.”
“We share Israel’s concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid entering Gaza or otherwise prevent it from reaching the people who need it,” Blinken said.
IRAN WARNS OF POSSIBLE PREEMPTIVE ACTION AS GAZA GROUND OFFENSIVE NEARS
JERUSALEM — Iran’s foreign minister has warned that “preemptive action is possible” if Israel moves closer to its looming ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The comments by Hossein Amirabdollahian follow a pattern of escalating rhetoric from Iran, whose theocracy provides support to Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel cannot “do whatever it wants in Gaza and then go after other resistance groups after it’s done with Gaza,” he told state television. “Therefore any preemptive action is possible in the coming hours.”
He did not elaborate on what form any action might take.
“If the limited and extremely tight windows of opportunity available to the United Nations and political actors are not used over the coming hours, opening new fronts against the Zionist regime is inevitable,” he said.
UN HUMANITARIAN CHIEF PUSHES FOR AID TO BE ALLOWED INTO GAZA
UNITED NATIONS — Calling this “the worst of times,” the U.N. humanitarian chief said the United Nations is in “deep discussions” with the Israelis, Egyptians and others about getting aid through the Rafah crossing, “hugely helped” by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who has been traveling in the region.
Martin Griffiths, who is heading to Cairo on Tuesday “to try to help in the negotiations,” said in an interview with the U.N. Monday that he was hoping for “some good news” soon.
Griffiths said the U.N.’s “overwhelming priority” is to get access to Gaza, saying humanitarian rules of war are being violated.
“You cannot ask people to move out of harm’s way without assisting them to do it,” by providing safe places and humanitarian aid, and right now Israel has not made these provisions for Gazans moving from the north to the south, Griffiths said.
He also called for the immediate release of all hostages taken from Israel, many of them children, women, the elderly and the sick, which he said is “unacceptable” and illegal.
AIR RAID SIRENS PUNCTUATE BLINKEN'S RETURN TO ISRAEL
TEL AVIV — Air raid sirens interrupted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s return to Israel three times on Monday, twice as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet for discussions over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The sirens signaling incoming rocket fire followed by the loud booms of Iran Dome air defenses intercepting rockets underscored an often-daily reality for Israelis, especially in the past week.
Blinken and his team got their first taste of the warning system and Iron Dome response as they drove from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, minutes after sirens sounded in both cities causing motorists to pull over and take cover.
Blinken’s motorcade did not slow or alter its route but sped quickly to the Israeli Ministry of Defense as motorists on the shoulders of the road returned to their vehicles.
Later, Blinken and his aides were meeting Netanyahu and his war cabinet at the prime minister’s office when sirens sounded again. Blinken, Netanyahu and the others took shelter in a bunker, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Others huddled in defense ministry stairwells until the all clear was given.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION VOWS TO TRIPLE AID TO GAZA
TIRANA, Albania — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that the European Union will increase humanitarian aid to Gaza starting with two flights this week via Egypt.
She said the Commission has tripled humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza to 75 million euros ($79 million) and would “keep working with our partners in the region to assess and address the needs on the ground.”
Von der Leyen denounced the “heinous” Hamas attacks and said “Israel has the right to defend itself in line with humanitarian international law."
The Commission head was speaking in Tirana at the end of a summit with Western Balkan leaders.
PENTAGON SENDS DEPLOYMENT NOTICES TO 2,000 U.S. TROOPS
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has sent “prepare to deploy” orders to about 2,000 U.S. troops to be ready to respond to the Israel-Hamas war, two U.S. officials said on the condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that has not been announced yet.
The troops would cover a variety of support roles, such as additional medical support or explosive ordnance support, such as providing additional security at gate crossings, one of the officials said.
They would not be sent to Israel but could be sent to countries in the region, one of the officials said. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the orders.
EU LEADERS TO MEET TO DISCUSS ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
BRUSSELS — European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit Tuesday as concern mounts that the war between Israel and Hamas could fuel inter-communal tensions in Europe and bring more refugees in search of sanctuary.
The leaders will also attempt to restore some order after a series of social media messages, statements and visits by EU officials sowed confusion about the 27-nation bloc’s intentions after Hamas attacked southern Israel.
“The conflict could have major security consequences for our societies,” EU Council President Charles Michel said Monday as he announced the video summit. The meeting will also focus on getting aid to civilians and working with other countries in the region to stop tensions from spreading.