Our most recent advances in the war between Israel and Hamas continue here. Find previous reports below.
The war between Israel and Hamas is expected to intensify in the face of an imminent Israeli invasion of Gaza, where the humanitarian crisis is worsening. Israel has been bombarding Palestinian territory with airstrikes since Hamas militants fired volleys of rockets and stormed the Jewish state in a deadly rampage last weekend.
In an interview with “60 Minutes,” President Biden said that “Israel will have to respond. They will have to happen after Hamas,” but warned that an Israeli renunciation of Gaza would be “a grave mistake. “
The U. N. has said about a million Gazans have been displaced since the start of the war, many of them following Israel’s warning to flee to the southern part of the territory as food, water and fuel run out.
The Gaza exit, the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, remained closed on Monday. Israel and Hamas have denied reports of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza to allow the entry of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of foreigners at the Rafah crossing.
The death toll on both sides of the war continues to rise. The Israeli military said the Hamas attack and continued rocket fire from Gaza killed more than 1,300 people, totaling at least 276 soldiers, and wounded 3,200 others. In Gaza, the Health Ministry said Monday that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 2,750 people and wounded at least 9,700.
The death toll includes 30 U. S. citizens, a State Department spokesman said Sunday, and 13 Americans are still missing.
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that it had shown that Hamas had captured another 155 people. Several Americans are believed to be among them.
The Israeli military on Monday raised the number of hostages held in Gaza to 199, but did not say whether that included foreigners.
“We have informed the families of 199 hostages,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari told a news briefing. This compares to the previous number of captives.
The U. S. State Department said 13 Americans were still missing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas on Monday denied reports of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to enter and foreigners to leave at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
“Lately there is no ceasefire or humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for the withdrawal of the foreigners,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Reuters quoted Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq as saying that there was no fact in the reports about the opening of the Rafah border crossing or a temporary ceasefire.
The Israeli military ordered the evacuation of other people living in 28 communities near the Lebanese border.
Monday’s order comes amid an escalation of cross-border fire between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
The army’s order affects communities within a 2-kilometer radius of the border.
Hezbollah said the build-up of movements was a warning and did not mean Hezbollah had to go to war.
The Israeli military announced on Monday that it will evacuate citizens living along its northern border with Lebanon, amid emerging tensions, 10 days after the start of its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
According to Agence France-Presse, the army said in a statement that evacuees would be housed in “state-funded guest houses. “
More than a million people fled their homes in the besieged Gaza Strip last week, ahead of Israel’s planned invasion of Hamas’ leadership following its deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The enclave’s food and water are dwindling and its hospitals warn they are not on the verge of collapse.
Israeli officials have not given a timeline for an incursion into the ground that aid teams say could simply aggravate a humanitarian crisis in Gaza’s coastal enclave.
About 500,000 more people, or about a quarter of Gaza’s population, sought safe shelter in schools and other U. N. facilities across the territory, where water supplies were dwindling, said Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for the U. N. firm for Palestinian safe havens. Gaza is dry,” he said. The company says about a million people were displaced in Gaza in a single week.
As the scenario in Gaza becomes desperate, the United States has appointed David Satterfield, a former U. S. ambassador to Turkey with experience in Middle East diplomacy, as its new special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Middle East. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that Satterfield would focus on delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
Gaza’s hospitals are expected to run out of fuel for their generators within two days, endangering the lives of thousands of patients, according to the UN. Gaza’s only forced plant shut down for lack of fuel after Israel absolutely sealed off the 40-kilometer-long territory. After the attack. Hamas attack.
The World Health Organization expressed concern to The Associated Press about the lack of water and sanitation in the territory, especially in hospitals where patients’ lives can be lost due to infections and outbreaks. The WHO said 4 hospitals in northern Gaza are no longer functioning due to the wounded and 21 hospitals are under an Israeli evacuation order.
President Biden on Sunday condemned a stabbing attack that killed a 6-year-old Muslim boy and seriously injured his 32-year-old mother in suburban Chicago over the weekend.
The victims’ owner, 71-year-old Joseph Czuba, is facing hate crime charges in the Saturday morning attack, which took place in Plainfield Township, Illinois, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.
The boy known to the Ministry of Justice as Wadea Al-Fayoume and his mother as Hanaan Shahin. The Justice Department announced last Sunday that it would open a hate crimes investigation into the killing.
“Jill and I were disgusted to learn of the brutal murder of a child and the attempted murder of his mother in Illinois. Our deepest condolences and prayers are with the family. This act of hate against a Palestinian Muslim family has no standing in the United States, Biden said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “As Americans, we will have to come together and reject Islamophobia and all bureaucracy of bigotry and hate. I have said many times that I will not remain silent in the face of hate. We want to be categorical,” he added.
Detectives discovered that the two victims were targeted because they were Muslim and because of the “ongoing standoff in the Middle East involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Sheriff’s officials said the mother called 911 to report that the homeowner was attacking her with a knife in her home. Police arrived and discovered the mother and son in a bedroom with stab wounds.
The boy was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, where he died, the sheriff’s office said. The mother was taken to the hospital in serious condition but is expected to survive.
A U. S. official showed reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had invited President Biden to Israel and that the two sides had taken positions on that possibility.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said, “We don’t have any news to announce. “
–Kristin Brown contributed reporting.
A commander of the militant organization Hamas was killed in airstrikes, the Israeli military said on Sunday.
Israel hit about 250 targets on Sunday with airstrikes by fighter jets, helicopters and planes, most commonly in northern Gaza, the Israeli military and the Israel Securities Authority said in a joint statement on Sunday.
Israeli intelligence concluded that Muetaz Eid, commander of Hamas’ Southern National Security District, was killed in the strikes, the IDF said.
The IDF said its airstrikes hit “dozens of army headquarters, a number of army posts, and several rocket launch points used by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations. “
The Israeli military said earlier Sunday that Bilal al-Kedra, a senior Hamas commander, was also killed in a strike in Gaza on Saturday night.
The United Nations said late Sunday that Israeli airstrikes had killed another 455 people in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours and wounded 856.
At least another 2,670 people have been killed and 9,600 wounded in Israeli retaliatory airstrikes since October 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The death toll in Israel from Hamas attacks has surpassed 1,300 and wounded 3,200.
A senior Israeli official told CBS News that he believed Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and El Deif were responsible for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed at least 1,300 people.
“It’s Sinwar and Deif,” Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs and a member of its new war cabinet, told CBS News in an interview in Tel Aviv. “There are two other people in Gaza, and they are the ones who are particularly to blame for this attack. But they are supported, again, through Iran. They receive financial support. They are supported through weapons. They receive support through training, through logistical means,” with communication, with political support. Iran is the source of much unrest in the Middle East. “
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht accused Sinwar at a news conference on Saturday.
“This guy is in our sights,” Hecht said Saturday. “He’s a dead guy walking around and we’re going to get to him. “
Learn here.
In an interview with “60 Minutes,” President Biden said he agreed with Hamas’ wish.
“Yes, I do,” Biden told “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley. “But we want a Palestinian authority. There has to be a path to a Palestinian state. “
In light of last weekend’s terror attacks, the president claimed that a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians was unimaginable at this time.
“Not now. Not now. Not now, but. . . but I think Israel understands that a significant part of the Palestinian people does not share the perspectives of Hamas and Hezbollah,” he said.
Asked if it would be an Israeli profession from Gaza, Mr. Biden replied: “I think that would be a big mistake. Look, what happened in Gaza, in my opinion, is Hamas and the extremist elements in Hamas do not constitute Hamas. “the entire Palestinian people. “
Read about President Biden’s interview here.
Many Americans, stranded in Israel when major airlines canceled flights due to the conflict, are nevertheless beginning to return home. The U. S. State Department said more than 20,000 U. S. citizens stranded in Israel and Gaza had contacted them for help in their departure.
There was an emotional gathering with family members as flights landed at airports in New York and New Jersey, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was on hand to greet a plane full of Floridians that landed in Tampa on Sunday night.
A retired Israel Defense Forces first general and his wife grabbed a gun, climbed into their jeep and headed south to rescue their son’s family from the fatal Hamas raid.
Noam and Gali Tibon rescued survivors of the music festival bloodbath and helped wounded Israelis along the way. Hours after leaving his home in Tel Aviv, Noam Tibon battled gunmen in Nahal Oz and rescued his son Amir Tibon, Amir’s wife, Miri Bernovsky-Tibon. and their two young daughters.
“I mean, Hamas terrorists were very close and inside the kibbutz,” Amir said. “The numbers are understandable. “
Watch the full story of “60 Minutes” in the video above and more here.
President Biden will ask Congress for billions more to fund the war in Ukraine and now the war between Israel and Hamas.
In an interview with Scott Pelley on “60 Minutes,” Biden attempted to assure the American public that the United States is capable of helping both of its allies in those crises.
“We are the United States of America, for God’s sake,” he said. “We can take care of any of those elements while maintaining our overall foreign defense. “
While “60 Minutes” speaks with the president, his secretary of state in Israel and his secretary of defense attending a NATO assembly on Ukraine. Even with the two wars underway and the mess in Congress, Biden is certain he needs to run for office. Again.
“Imagine if we could achieve a Middle East where relations were normalized. I think we can do it,” he said. Imagine what would happen if, in fact, we unified all of Europe and Putin went through it all. knocked down, so that it doesn’t cause the kind of disruption it did. We have huge opportunities, huge opportunities to create a better world. “
Read about President Biden’s interview here.
The U. S. State Department said Sunday that 30 Americans have died and 13 are missing.
“The State Department’s staff has been in contact with their families,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“The U. S. government is working around the clock to discover their whereabouts and is collaborating with the Israeli government on all facets of the hostage crisis, adding intelligence sharing and deploying experts from across the U. S. government to advise the Israeli government on the recovery of the hostages. efforts,” he said.
U. N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned Sunday that “we are on the brink of the abyss in the Middle East. “
He reiterated his call on Hamas to take care of the hostages and on Israel to allow humanitarian materials and personnel into the besieged Gaza Strip.
“Each of those two goals is valid in itself. They will not have to be bargaining chips,” the U. N. leader said in a statement.
“Gaza lacks water, electricity and other essential goods,” he said. “The United Nations has stockpiles of food, water, non-food items, medical supplies and fuel in Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel. . These goods can be shipped in a matter of hours. “
He said U. N. staff and NGO partners “must get those materials to and through Gaza safely and unhindered, to deliver them to those who want them. “
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, responded: “All the resources that the other Gazans lack have been squandered through Hamas during the more than 17 years in its terrorist war machine. . . There is a lot of fuel, food and medicine. ” And all of this is used for Hamas’ underground terrorist city, its rocket launch pads and its missile production facilities.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said facilitating the exit of Palestinian-Americans from Gaza is a very sensible priority for the Biden administration.
“The first thing is to make sure that all American citizens in Gaza can safely leave Gaza and enter Egypt,” Sullivan said on “Face the Nation” Sunday morning.
“We work with this 24 hours a day,” he told moderator Margaret Brennan. “We’re going to rest until that happens. “
Sullivan said U. S. officials were taking steps to allow all civilians in Gaza to have access to spaces as well as essential resources such as food, water, shelter and medicine, “because the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza have nothing to do with Hamas. “”.
Learn here.
France says it now has 19 of its citizens killed in the Hamas attack on Israel just over a week ago, with no news of the remaining 13 missing and in some cases believed to be hostages.
The latest tally was communicated through French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who made a stopover in Israel on Sunday. She vowed that “everything possible will be done” to free the hostages.
Colonna also called for the United Nations to be allowed to organize deliveries of food and other essential items to other displaced people in southern Gaza “who lack everything. “
Israel has the right to oppose “the monstrosity of Hamas and the danger it poses,” Colonna said after talks with Israeli officials, though he also called for coverage of civilians.
He suggested that Israel respect “foreign law, especially foreign humanitarian law” and maintain Gaza’s civilian population.
Colonna will also travel to Egypt and Lebanon in an attempt to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from spreading to other areas of the region.
The FBI said Sunday that it has noticed an increase in reported threats against Jewish and Muslim Americans and places of worship over the past week, and the bureau said counterterrorism remains its number one priority.
“We will continue to do everything in our power for the American people,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said on a call with reporters Sunday.
“Here in the United States, we cannot rule out the option of Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations taking advantage of the standoff to call on their supporters to carry out attacks on our own soil,” Wray said. “We are also vigilant about the possibility that those events could motivate violence against Americans, Jewish or Muslim establishments and places of worship here. Over the past week, we have noticed an increase in reported threats against these groups here in the United States. We are acting temporarily to mitigate them. “
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had shown that another 155 people had been taken hostage by Hamas since the Palestinian militant organization launched its fatal attack last week.
The families of the hostages have been contacted through authorities, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said, updating an earlier figure that confirmed 126 hostages.
The United States announced Sunday that President Biden has appointed former Ambassador David Satterfield as special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Middle East.
“Special Envoy Satterfield will lead U. S. international relations in the urgent response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as well as make it as easy as possible to deliver life-saving assistance and sell out the protection of civilians,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Satterfield will lead efforts “to mitigate the humanitarian consequences of Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, supporting efforts through the U. S. Agency for International Development and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration,” Blinken said.
Satterfield has more than 40 years of experience in the area, he added.
“Ambassador Satterfield’s diplomatic experience and decades of management in some of the world’s most challenging conflicts will be critical in our continued efforts to address humanitarian issues in the region – a very sensible precedent for President Biden – adding our efforts to provide what is urgently needed. humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, specifically in Gaza, in coordination with the UN, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and other regional actors,” said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab interviewed Dr. Ghazi Hammad, Hamas spokesman and a senior member of its political bureau, on Saturday. Watch Tyab’s interview below:
Israeli measures in the Gaza Strip have caused an “unprecedented human catastrophe” in the Palestinian territory, the U. N. for Palestinian refugees said on Sunday.
“In the past eight days, not a drop of water, not a grain of wheat, not a liter of fuel has been allowed to enter the Gaza Strip,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, told reporters.
“Sound the alarm: as of today, my UNRWA colleagues in Gaza will no longer be able to provide humanitarian aid as I speak to you,” Lazzarini said.
“In fact, Gaza is being strangled and it turns out that the existing war has lost its humanity,” he continued.
“If we look at the water factor, we all know that water is life, that Gaza is running out of water and Gaza is running out of life. “
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said earlier that water supplies were resuming in southern Gaza following talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden.
“This will push the civilian population into the southern Gaza Strip,” Katz said in a statement, a week after Israel stopped supplying water to the entire territory due to a “complete siege” of the Palestinian enclave.
U. S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier that Israel had told him it had returned water to southern Gaza.
The municipality of Beni Suheila in southern Gaza showed that water had resumed in the village.
The U. N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Sunday that its headquarters in Naqoura, near Lebanon’s border with Israel, was hit by a rocket but there were no injuries.
“Today we are witnessing intense exchanges of fire in several spaces along the Blue Line between Lebanese territory and Israel,” UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, said in a statement.
“There were effects on both sides of the Blue Line. Our headquarters in Naqoura was hit by a rocket and we are racing to check where. Our peacekeepers were not in shelters at the time. Fortunately, no one was injured,” he added.
UNIFIL said the army was in the process of escalation and suggested to all parties to stop firing.
“We remind all parties concerned that attacks against civilians or UN workers are violations of foreign law that could possibly amount to war crimes,” he added.
U. S. -facilitated charter flights for Americans wishing to leave Israel will continue Monday and Tuesday “on a continuous basis,” the State Department said Sunday.
Flights arranged through the U. S. government depart from Ben Gurion International Airport. The State Department says Americans who need to board a flight pass for Terminal 3 and be ready to wait. Those traveling on Sundays look for a table with an American flag in the terminal. where U. S. embassy staff will provide assistance.
“Charter flights will be directed to nearby locations, not the United States, and you may not be able to decide your destination,” the State Department says. “Seats are assigned based on availability. “
Dozens of major airlines canceled flights from Israel after Hamas attacked Israel and Israel responded with retaliatory measures in the Gaza Strip. The U. S. announced last week that charter flights for Americans would begin starting Friday.
The death toll in Gaza stands at 2,670 Palestinians killed and 9,600 wounded in Israeli attacks on the territory since Oct. 7, the Gaza ministry said.
U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Egypt on Sunday, the latest in a series of talks between Blinken and leaders of countries surrounding Israel and Gaza, as Biden’s leadership works to rule out the possibility of a broader regional conflict. conflict.
He held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday, then with leaders from Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. On Thursday, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac before leaving Egypt, Blinken said he had “had some really smart conversations” during his visits to Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
In the past, he had described the discussion with bin Salman as “very productive,” according to the Associated Press.
“The aim of the meeting with all our partners is first and foremost to pay attention to them, to find out how they understand this crisis and to see what we can do together to address the many considerations it raises,” he added. he said.
Blinken said the Egyptian president and Saudi crown prince presented “practical concepts for bringing aid to Palestinians in Gaza who want it” and engaged in “important conversations about the future,” calling the discourse from the two meetings “positive. “
“We came here with four key objectives: to make clear that the United States supports Israel, to prevent the conflict from spreading elsewhere, to work to secure the release of hostages, to add American citizens, and to address the humanitarian crisis that exists in Gaza,” he said.
Blinken reiterated that “Israel has the right, if not the obligation, to protect itself against such attacks by Hamas,” adding that Israel “must do so in a way that affirms the customary values we share for human life and dignity. “Take all possible precautions to harm civilians.
He also spoke of “two very different visions of the future”: one in which the U. S. and regional leaders “normalize relations” and “work in combination toward a not unusual goal” to protect the rights of the Palestinian people, and one in which it comes to the violence and destruction that Hamas has demonstrated.
“I have no doubt about the path that other people, the overwhelming majority of people in the region, would prefer if given the opportunity,” Blinken said. “So our duty is to make it happen, to bring it to life, to make it a transparent and positive choice. And that’s what we’re determined to do. “
Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where Hamas gunmen carried out deadly massacres against families and children, now has an Israeli front line. Over the course of the agreement, vehicles are burned, houses are destroyed, and the corpses of Hamas gunmen are left to rot where they fell.
“On that bed lay two women,” Colonel Golan Vach said. They were killed in the safe room that was meant to protect them.
Referring to a Hamas fighter killed at a door, Vach said: “You can still see the beast here. . . He was sitting here and shot everyone who came out. “
In what Israelis call the “massacre quarter,” nearly every citizen was killed, plus another 66 people on a single street.
“Some of the kids tried to hide those bushes, they discovered them, they slaughtered them and they were happy,” Vach said.
Amid this sadness is growing anger: why were communities so close to Gaza more protected, and why did it take hours for Israeli forces to respond?
“We failed, period,” Vach said. It shouldn’t have happened, not like this, never, not on this scale. “
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday that he and a bipartisan delegation of U. S. senators visiting Israel were rushed to a shelter in Tel Aviv to await the end of Hamas’ rocket fire.
“It shows what Israelis have to go through,” he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We want to give Israel the protection it wants. “
Schumer is in Israel with Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and Mitt Romney, as well as Democratic Sens. Jacky Rosen and Mark Kelly.
“Having a bipartisan delegation, led by the majority leader, that says firmly and unequivocally that we stand with Israel is going to make a big difference for Israelis,” Schumer told The Associated Press in the past about his visit.
Learn here.
Gaza’s Public Health Ministry said Sunday that 2,450 Palestinians had been killed and 9,200 wounded since fighting between Israel and Hamas began last weekend. This figure is higher than that of the 2014 Gaza war, which lasted more than six weeks.
The standoff is now the deadliest of the wars in Gaza for both sides.
More than 1,300 Israelis have been killed since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and at least 3,200 others have been wounded, the Israeli military said.
-CBS/AP
Retired Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded the U. S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, knows all too well what Israel faces in its war against Hamas: sending an army, even as tough as Israel’s, into Gaza’s densely populated neighborhoods.
“It’s going to be a very, very challenging fight,” he told CBS News. “I can hardly believe that there is a more complicated set of contextual cases here than the ones you are facing.
“There are tunnels; There will be rooms that will include improvised explosive devices,” he said. “You have to clean each and every building, each and every floor, each and every room, each and every basement, each and every tunnel. Civilian casualties are inevitable, and numerous Israeli casualties await us as well. “
Petraeus, along with British historian Andrew Roberts, has just written an e-book titled “Conflict,” a word that now defines the century that began on September 11. Hamas’s wonderful attack on Oct. 7 is, Petraeus said, “far worse than on Sept. 9. “/11. “
Read here
President Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the U. S. is moving an aircraft carrier organization to the Middle East region to deter neighboring countries from expanding the war between Israel and Hamas.
“There’s the threat of an escalation of this conflict, the opening of a second front in the north and, of course, Iran’s involvement, that’s a threat, and it’s a threat that we’ve been aware of from the beginning,” Sullivan said.
Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, subsidized through Iran, have already fired on Israel.
-Linda Kenyon
American Haneen Okal is desperately seeking to leave the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with her three children to join her husband in New Jersey.
But the Gaza exit, the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, remains closed.
“There is no position here in the Gaza Strip,” Okal said. . . . All U. S. citizens feel abandoned and abandoned. “
Residents of the southern Israeli city of Sderot boarded buses to other parts of the country on Sunday to escape rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Sderot, a city of about 34,000 people about a kilometer from the Gaza border, has been a common target of Hamas rockets.
One of the neighbors, Yossi Edri, told Canal Trece before boarding a bus that “young people are traumatized, they can’t sleep at night. “
Thousands of people already left the city last week as part of a state-sponsored program that puts them in hotels elsewhere to take a break from the violence. The program in Sderot was extended on Sunday.
“There is no explanation for returning to Sderot,” Mayor Alon Davidi told army radio. “He’s on the front lines. “
The Israeli military is awaiting a “political decision” on the timing of a primary offensive in the Gaza Strip, army spokesmen said on Sunday, as civilians stepped up desperate efforts to flee northern Gaza.
The military spokesmen, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht and Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said at separate news conferences on Sunday that “a political decision” would provoke any action by Hamas.
“We will hold discussions with our political leaders,” Hecht said at a briefing.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops near the Gaza border on Saturday that “other things are happening. “But he did say when operations would begin.
Military spokesmen told reporters that any invasion would be aimed at eliminating the militant network and Hamas leadership so that it can provoke additional attacks.
The Israeli military has singled out Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, for blaming him for the October 7 attacks. “This guy is in our crosshairs,” Hecht said Saturday. “He’s a dead guy walking around and we’re going to get to that guy. “
Doctors in Gaza warned on Sunday that thousands of people could die as hospitals full of wounded desperately run out of fuel and basic supplies. Palestinians in the embattled coastal enclave have struggled to find food, water and protection ahead of the expected Israeli offensive in the war. provoked by the fatal Hamas attack.
A week of ferocious airstrikes has destroyed entire neighborhoods of Gaza, but failed to stop militants from firing rockets into Israel.
Hospitals are expected to run out of fuel for their turbines within two days, according to the UN, endangering the lives of thousands of patients.
Gaza’s only military plant shut down for lack of fuel after Israel absolutely sealed off the 40-kilometer-long territory following the Hamas attack.
Pope Francis on Sunday called for the creation of humanitarian corridors to allow the delivery of goods to the Gaza Strip, which is under intense Israeli bombardment following a bloody assault on Israel through Gaza’s ruler, Hamas.
“Humanitarian law will have to be respected, especially in Gaza, where it is urgent and obligatory to guarantee humanitarian corridors and assistance to the population,” the pope said after his classic Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
On Sunday morning, cross-border gunfire erupted between Israel and Lebanon, killing at least one Israeli citizen at the border. The Israeli army and the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah have denounced the fighting.
Hezbollah said it had shelled Israeli army positions on the northern border of the town of Shtula. The organization said in a statement that the attack was in retaliation for the Israeli bombing that killed Reuters cameraman Issam Abdallah on Friday and two Lebanese civilians on Saturday.
Israel responded by attacking the outskirts of the town of Ait al-Shaab, the IDF said.
The Israel Defense Forces have also banned civilians from entering within 3 kilometers of the Lebanese border.
In addition, according to the Reuters news service, Israel has disrupted electronic GPS tracking in the northern border area and on the Gaza front, according to Reuters.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said a 40-year-old man was killed in the attack from Lebanon, without giving details or his nationality.
As Israel wages its war against Hamas following last week’s unprecedented attack through the militant organization in the Gaza Strip, there are fears that Hezbollah may simply enter the war and Israel is preparing to launch a ground offensive in Gaza.
– more reports via Brian Dakss
The United States on Monday sent a shipment of Americans from Israel to Cyprus, the U. S. Embassy said.
As Israel heads toward an invasion of the Gaza Strip, the shipment will depart from the Israeli port of Haifa for Limassol, carrying “U. S. citizens and their immediate family members with valid documents,” the U. S. Embassy said Sunday in a security alert.
Tens of thousands of U. S. passport holders are in Israel, and 29 were shown dead in Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. Another 15 are missing and are believed to be among the hostages held by Hamas since the attacks.
The U. S. Embassy did not specify how many additional people might board the ship, but said “embarkation will be on a first-come, first-served basis and in limited space. “
Each passenger must sign a document committing to reimburse the value of the baggage and may only carry one suitcase.
The embassy said charter flights would depart from Cyprus to continue the journey.
“Saturday Night Live” returned this week at the end of the show’s 49th season premiere, its first show since the end of the WGA attack, and addressed Hamas’ terror attack in Israel. Zach Seemayer of “Entertainment Tonight” wrote about this difficult premiere:
In what would become the show’s “Cold Open” sketch, host Pete Davidson delivered an impassioned message about the attacks, as well as his own memories and reports on how to deal with the tragedy.
“This week we’ve seen horrible photographs and stories coming out of Israel and Gaza, and I know what you’re thinking: ‘Who better than Pete Davidson to comment on this?’Well, in a lot of ways, I’m a smart man to communicate it because when I was 7 years old, my father was killed in a terrorist attack,” Davidson intoned. “So I know anything about what it is. “
Davidson’s father, Scott Davidson, a New York City firefighter who died Sept. 11 in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
“I’ve noticed a lot of horrific shots this week of young people suffering, young Israelis and Palestinians, and that has taken me back to a terrible, terrible place, and no one in this world deserves to suffer like that, especially young people. “Davidson said. Continued.
The 29-year-old comedian recalled how, after his father’s death, his mother “did pretty much everything she could to cheer me up. “
“I don’t forget that one day, when I was 8 years old, she gave me what she thought was a Disney movie, but it was actually the Eddie Murphy special, Delirious,” he recalls. “We played it in the car on the way home, and when he heard what Eddie Murphy was saying, he tried to take it off. But then he saw something: for the first time in a long time, I was laughing again. I literally don’t perceive it, and I never will, but comedy is literally the only way to overcome tragedy.
“My attention is directed to all those whose lives have been destroyed this week. But tonight I’m going to do what I’ve done in the face of tragedy, which is funny,” Davidson concluded. “Remember I said, ‘Try it. And live from New York, it’s Saturday night!'”
U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday as Biden’s leadership works to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from escalating into a broader regional conflict.
Blinken and the crown prince spoke for just under an hour at the prince’s personal farm on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh, U. S. officials said.
Asked how the assembly went, Blinken said it was “very productive,” but there were no immediate details. The assembly was closed to the media.
The talks came just hours after the Israeli military warned that it would soon begin a full-scale attack on Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip and amid dire warnings that the expected invasion of the floor would have devastating consequences for Palestinian civilians.
Prince Mohammed is the sixth Arab leader Blinken has seen in use since arriving in the Middle East on Thursday, preventing him from being the first in Israel to reaffirm the Biden administration’s commitment to supporting Israel. From Israel, Blinken traveled across the region to meet with leaders. from Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. He was scheduled to travel to Egypt later on Sunday.
On Sunday, Hamas claimed responsibility for two infiltrations from Lebanon into Israel that killed three of its fighters, as militants based in Gaza and Israel rage.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, said its operatives were “capable. . . to tear down the border fence and. . . to advance into occupied Palestine”, facing the “enemy”, whose planes were aimed at the fighters. , killing three other people on Saturday.
Israeli forces said on Saturday they had killed several “terrorists” who were preparing to cross the border from Lebanon.
In its statement, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades also claimed responsibility for an incident that occurred on Friday at the border when the organization “advanced to enter occupied Palestine and was able to confront the enemy Zionist army and withdraw peacefully. “
Two Lebanese security sources said Friday that Israel shelled Lebanon’s southern border region after an explosion at the border fence, they told the Israeli military.
One of the security resources said the shelling followed an infiltration attempt from the Lebanese side of the border, while the Israeli military said it responded to an explosion that caused “slight damage” to the border fence.
The Israeli military says Bilal al-Kedra, a senior Hamas commander, was killed Saturday night in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) post on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, says it oversaw the attack on Kibbutzim Nirim and Nir Oz.
The IDF also claims that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad “operatives” were killed.
CBS News verifies those claims.
The violent confrontation between Israel and Gaza has its roots in 1967, when Israel conquered Egypt’s narrow coastal strip in the Six-Day War.
Resistance to the Israeli profession led to the first Palestinian uprising, known as the Intifada, and the birth of the militant Hamas.
The fighting ended when the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords raised hopes for peace with a long-lasting Palestinian state. But frustrations led to a second, even bloodier intifada in 2000.
It ended in 2005, coinciding with Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, leaving the Gaza Strip under Palestinian control. The following year, Palestinians, dissatisfied with the corruption of their government, conceded Hamas an electoral victory in 2006.
But the rival Palestinian organization Fatah, like Israel and the United States, have rejected his rule.
That same year, Hamas kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who eventually exchanged him for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
In 2007, Hamas took Gaza in a civil war with Fatah. The following years would see sporadic violence and primary wars.
But invading Gaza by land is something Israel has done twice. Israeli forces entered the cities in 2009 to prevent rocket attacks and arms smuggling.
Then, in 2014, Israeli forces carried out a shallow incursion, seizing territory along the Gaza border to destroy contraband and attack tunnels. Each outbreak of violence ended in negotiations, but the underlying cause of the conflict was never addressed, sowing the seeds for the next. of fighting.
U. S. presidents have tried, with varying degrees of effort, for a two-state solution, but they have failed to achieve peace.
A Palestinian state has never been a top priority for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Palestinians have also rejected peace agreements in the past, which led to this new confrontation, because in the absence of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the war will continue.
Watch the full story in the video below:
Chinese envoy Zhai Jun will travel to the Middle East next week to announce a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas standoff and promote peace talks, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.
Zhai “will go to the Middle East next week to coordinate with various parties on a ceasefire, protect civilians, reduce tension and promote peace talks,” CCTV said in a video posted on its official social media account on Sunday.
The CCTV report came as Israel appeared set to launch a ground offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza.
More than a million people in the northern part of the overcrowded enclave have been ordered to flee ahead of the expected attack, an exodus that aid agencies say could cause a humanitarian crisis.
Zhai said in an interview with CCTV that “the prospect of further extension and exit (from the conflict) is deeply worrying,” according to the channel.
Beijing’s most sensible diplomat, Wang Yi, on Saturday called on the United States to “play a constructive and culpable role” in the conflict, and called for “the convening of a foreign peace assembly as soon as possible to announce the achievement of a broad consensus. “”.
China’s official statements on the confrontation called in particular on Hamas in its condemnations of the violence, prompting complaints from some Western officials that they were too weak.
As the war in Israel and Gaza unfolds in real time on social media, experts say incorrect information and propaganda is being spread on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Alethea, a think tank, said it detected a network of at least 67 accounts posting false content about the war. These posts, which come with poorly translated videos, have been viewed millions of times.
Mike Caulfield of the Center for an Informed Public, a multidisciplinary center at the University of Washington in Seattle, said continued misinformation can cause chaos.
“When we flood other people with this sea of unverified and generally misleading information, we are wasting the goodwill of our citizens,” Caulfield said. “We open the door to other people who want to manipulate their goodwill. “
Read the full story here.
Iran’s envoy to the United Nations on Saturday criticized Israel for its reaction to the invasion through the militant organization Hamas, and gave the impression of implying that the U. N. was to blame for how the standoff unfolded.
In a message posted on social media, Tehran’s permanent project to the UN wrote that “the war crimes and genocide of Israeli apartheid do not stop immediately, the scenario can spiral out of control and have far-reaching consequences, the duty of which falls to the UN, the Security Council and states are leading the Council to a dead end. “
Biden administration officials have said since the attacks began that Iran has long supported Hamas with material, monetary and logistical support, but that to date no evidence has been exposed linking the attacks, which killed more than 1,200 Israelis and wounded thousands more, to Tehran. . .
Several U. S. officials told CBS News that U. S. intelligence appears to imply that Iran was stunned by the Hamas attack on Israel, which killed at least 1,300 people.
U. N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told CBS News’ Pamela Falk on Saturday that several meetings between Tor Wennesland, the U. N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were aimed at “discussing diplomatic efforts to free the hostages. “, ensure that it is humanitarian and prevents the conflict from spreading to the entire region. This includes their recent meetings in Lebanon.
According to the Associated Press, Amirabdollahian told reporters in Beirut that the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah had thought about all war scenarios and warned Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza as soon as possible.
U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the Middle East over the weekend, where he will meet with several Arab leaders in an effort to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
— Olivia Gazis and Pamela Falk contributed to this report.
The U. S. verifies that a second U. S. aircraft carrier is heading east to the Mediterranean.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower departed Saturday for a long-duration deployment and will join the USS Gerald R. Ford.
The aircraft carrier Ford, the world’s largest warship, deployed from the western Mediterranean five days ago, following Hamas’ attack on Israel.
The aircraft carrier Eisenhower departed Naval Station Norfolk on Oct. 14, following a Navy statement, which made no reference to the conflict.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a separate statement released Saturday afternoon local time that the ship’s move “signals America’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and our determination to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war. “
Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, commander of the carrier’s strike group, said the carrier’s presence will strengthen relations with U. S. allies, “to the extent that we share the purpose of deterring aggression and, if necessary, offering overwhelming combat power. “
More than 1,300 people were killed in Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7. At least 29 Americans were among the dead, a State Department spokesman said Saturday. President Biden held a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday afternoon in which he “reiterated” that Israel has the “unwavering support of the United States,” the White House said in a statement.
— Information via Faris Tanyos, S. Dev. and David Martin.
A Syrian opposition war observer and a pro-government media outlet claim the Israeli army attacked the foreign airport in the northern city of Aleppo, knocking it out of service.
The Al-Watan newspaper said Saturday night’s attack hit the runway at Aleppo airport, knocking it out of service just hours after it was repaired following a similar Israeli attack on Thursday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack hit the runway of Aleppo airport.
The attack on Aleppo airport came shortly after a rocket was reportedly fired from Syria into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
On Thursday, Israel attacked runways in Aleppo and Damascus International Airport. Aleppo was repaired in a day before being attacked again on Saturday.
There is no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which rarely confirms such attacks.
The White House on Saturday released a video of President Biden’s remarks to the families of Americans still missing following Hamas’ attack on Israel last weekend.
In the clip, in which the president addresses families in a phone call Friday from the Oval Office, he tells them that “there is no higher priority” than recovering missing Americans, and “we will walk away from them. “
“We have made clear how vital this is to you, to me personally, and to all of the American people. And it is. ItArray is. We won’t leave. We probably won’t leave, I promise. “
A State Department spokesman said Saturday that at least 29 U. S. citizens were killed in the attack and that at least 15 others remained missing, including a permanent resident of the United States.
“I know other people reach out to you and tell you what it is,” Mr. Biden told the families. But I know by delight that there is nothing more disturbing that you love, that you adore, that adores you, and not knowing your destiny, without knowing your destiny. “
The president joined the phone call with the families through special envoy for hostage affairs Roger Carstens, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy secretary of state John Bass and National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk, the White House said.
The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that at least 120 other people had been captured during Hamas’ invasion. The IDF has amassed around 300,000 troops on the Gaza border and is expected to launch a ground invasion soon.
In an interview with “60 Minutes” that will air Sunday, Biden said the United States is “working like hell” to locate Americans held hostage.
“I’m saying we’re going to do everything in our power to locate them,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s all in our strength. And I’m not going to go into details just yet: we’re running like hell on this. “”.
— Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.
President Biden held a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night in which he “reiterated” that Israel has the “unwavering support of the United States,” the White House said in a statement.
The Israel Defense Forces have amassed some 300,000 troops on the Gaza border and are expected to begin a ground invasion soon. On Friday, Israel issued evacuation orders to more than a million citizens of northern Gaza, warning them to advance south of the Wadi Gaza wetlands. of the next raid.
Since Hamas militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,300 others and wounding at least 3,200 others, Israel has imposed a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, preventing food, water, fuel and electricity from entering the area.
In his call, Biden briefed Netanyahu on his administration’s efforts to ensure that “innocent civilians” in Gaza “have access to food, water, and medical supplies,” according to the White House. The president told Netanyahu that the management coordinates with the United Nations and several countries in the Middle East, adding to that end Egypt and Jordan.
In his own interpretation of the call, Netanyahu thanked Biden for the U. S. ‘s “deep and unconditional support” but made no mention of their verbal exchange regarding U. S. efforts to create humanitarian corridors for Palestinian civilians.
According to the latest UN figures, at least 400,000 Palestinians have been evacuated since the fighting began. A U. N. spokesman criticized Israel for its evacuation orders, saying in a statement that it would be “impossible for such a measure to be taken without devastating humanitarian consequences. “”
Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 2,215 other people were killed in Israeli retaliatory airstrikes and more than 8,700 wounded.
More than 120 stories from survivors of the Oct. 7 attack on the Supernova trance festival were collected on Oct. 7 presented earlier this week. Testimonies from others from Kibbutz Re’im, Kibbutz Nahal Oz, Kibbutz Be’eri and other attack sites were published on theArray.
Each participant shared their experience of the day and shared videos and photographs they had taken. Millet, a survivor of the festival, said she and her friends ran for three hours but were unable to escape the terrorists.
She and her friends hid in the woods and tried to breathe quietly crying.
“I wrote to my circle of family that I love them and that I’m satisfied with the life I’ve had,” Millet wrote while sharing 3 videos from the festival.
Michal, a resident of Ofakim, writes that he gathered six young children, including his newborn baby, to hide while his brother-in-law, Ariel, left to fight the terrorists. He ran to his room to let him know that Hamas hid with the youths under solar panels until they were rescued. His brother-in-law was killed in the fighting. Michal posted photographs of his bombed-out home.
Palestinians struggled Saturday to flee Gaza spaces attacked by the Israeli military, a week after Hamas’ bloody and widespread attacks on Israel.
Israel renewed its calls on social media and in leaflets for Gazans to leave their homes and move south, while Hamas suggested that others stay in their homes. The U. N. and humanitarian teams have said such an immediate exodus, accompanied by Israel’s siege of the territory, would cause untold human suffering.
The evacuation directive covers a population of 1. 1 million people, or about part of the territory’s population. The Israeli military said “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians heeded the caution and headed south. He gave the Palestinians a six-hour period, which ended on Saturday afternoon. , into Gaza safely, along two main roads.
Susai Beseiso, who grew up in Gaza and now lives in Utah, waited Saturday at the Rafah crossing near Egypt with her mother, brother, sister and cousins.
Beseiso visited his family in Gaza on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing more than 1,300 people, and airstrikes began. Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 2,215 people, adding 724 children, and wounded more than 8,714, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. Saturday.
U. S. officials said an agreement in principle had been reached between Egypt, Israel and Qatar to allow Palestinian Americans and other dual nationals in Gaza to cross the Rafah border into Egypt sometime on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon around 2:00 p. m. Local time, Beseiso was hoping to cross the border, disappointed that many of her relatives couldn’t cross with her.
“I feel like I’m betraying my circle of family and friends. I leave them behind. I don’t know what’s going to happen to them. I don’t know if they’re going to make it. I don’t know. “I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again,” Beseiso told CBS News.
The State Department in Washington, D. C. , told Beseiso that the crossing would open at noon Saturday at 5 p. m. local time. When he first spoke to CBS News at 2 p. m. , the crossing wasn’t open.
“It’s just terrifying,” he said. No user on earth can enjoy that. “
At nine o’clock in the evening. By Saturday local time, Beseiso and her family had left the border, which she said never opened. She says her contact at the State Department told her and her family to sleep near the crossing, but it was too harmful because it was out in the open, with no bomb shelter.
Beseiso told CBS News, “If I need to make a difference in my country, I need them to have a better life, I can’t just die. “
Marwan Al-Ghoul contributed to this report.
Reuters called on the Israeli military to carry out a “thorough and swift investigation” into the attack that killed video journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded others, AFP and Al Jazeera journalists added.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by Issam’s murder. He’s a brilliant, passionate journalist who watched Reuters a lot. We are urgently seeking data and supporting Issam’s circle of family and colleagues at this terrible time,” Reuters President Paul Bascobert told Reuters in a statement.
“We reiterate our calls on the Israeli government in recent days to explain the rules of engagement and guarantees that journalists and Reuters offices in Gaza will not be targeted by Israeli army operations. We haven’t gotten an answer yet,” he continued.
An Israeli military spokesman said Saturday that Israel “very much regrets” Issam’s death when a rocket hit a journalists’ organization near Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, but did not verify that the rocket was fired through Israel as claimed on Friday.
“Reuters urges the IDF to respect and work with the media, and Reuters added, to ensure the protection of all bloodhounds covering the region,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday called for covering civilians in the Gaza Strip and Israel as he steps up diplomatic efforts across the Middle East and beyond to generate a foreign backlash to prevent the expansion of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Blinken began a tour of Arab capitals earlier this week and met with leaders including Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani of Qatar. His hosts have put humanitarian aid at the top of their minds, and Blinken cited the lack of humanitarian aid and passage for those wishing to leave Gaza.
Blinken also called on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to seek his country’s support to prevent the war from spreading, calling on Beijing to use all the leverage it has in the Middle East. He also said that an agreement in principle had been reached between Egypt, Israel and Qatar that would allow Palestinian Americans and other dual nationals in Gaza to cross the Rafah border into Egypt.
On Saturday night, crowds of foreigners and Palestinian-Americans were still waiting. Blinken was scheduled to stop in Egypt on Sunday.
CBS News has learned that the Egyptian government is delaying the opening of the Rafah crossing, which would allow Palestinians to flee the Gaza Strip to enter Egypt.
Read the full story here.
Report via AP
CBS News has learned that the Egyptian government is delaying the opening of the Rafah crossing, which would allow Palestinians to flee the Gaza Strip to enter Egypt.
The State Department has said in the past that it has been “in contact with approximately 500 to 600 [Palestinian-American nationals] . . . who have expressed interest in receiving data on the exit” of the Gaza Strip in the context of retaliatory airstrikes and an expected threat of a ground offensive.
A senior State Department official told reporters traveling with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Saudi Arabia on Friday that the U. S. is “trying to facilitate” the five-hour opening of the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip to allow civilians to flee the Gaza Strip. Palestinian territory heavily bombed.
“The Egyptians, the Israelis and the Qataris have been with us on this,” the official said, adding that “it was not at all transparent if Hamas was going to allow other people to come to Rafah” from Gaza.
Margaret Brennan and Christina Ruffini contributed reporting.
A senior Israeli official on Saturday admitted to making “mistakes” in intelligence testing ahead of last weekend’s brutal Hamas attack that took the country by surprise.
“This is my mistake, and it reflects the mistakes of all those who evaluate (intelligence),” national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told a news conference, when asked about his comments in which he did not predict any aggression by Hamas.
“We believe Hamas has learned the lesson” from its last primary war with Israel in 2021, Hanegbi said.
The Israeli military said in an online statement that it was “preparing to expand the attack” on the Gaza Strip.
The army, which recently mobilized thousands of reservists, “is preparing to put in place a wide variety of offensive operational plans including, among other things, a built-in and coordinated attack from air, sea and land,” according to the statement.
The IDF said its battalions and infantrymen are deployed across the country and “ready to enhance their readiness for the next stages of the war, with a significant operation. “
An Israeli offensive has been expected for several days. This follows a week of airstrikes in retaliation for the Hamas terror attack in Israel last weekend. Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a video of himself addressing the feet and asking if they were “ready for the next step. “
The director of Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, told The Associated Press that another 35,000 people have taken refuge inside the facility ahead of Israel’s planned surface operation in the territory.
The Israeli military has suggested that civilians in the northern parts of the territory move south, but attempts to do so have been unsuccessful due to a strict blockade preventing food, water, fuel, etc. , from entering the Gaza Strip, and through continued airstrikes in retaliation for Hamas’ actions. Attack last weekend. Earlier on Saturday, Gaza’s Public Health Ministry said two hospitals would no longer continue to operate due to airstrikes and that other hospitals had been damaged.
Jews from Israel’s remote communities gathered in synagogues over the weekend for their first Shabbat service since Hamas militants attacked Israel, sparking an ongoing war. The rabbis led prayers of peace and shared their grief with their congregations. In many synagogues, security was tightened.
“On the last Shabbat, more Jews were murdered. . . than any other day since the Holocaust,” Rabbi Daniel Fellman of Temple Sinai said at the first church service after the violence in Israel. “Hamas needs the destruction of Israel. It’s that Hamas needs the destruction of you and me. “
“The world deserves better, the other Palestinians deserve better, and we’re going to have to do better,” Fellman continued.
Fellman’s congregation, and others around the world, heeded the words of an Israeli soldier who advised worshippers to “swoon, sing and dance, to make sure that each and every user in the world hears us chant this prayer on this Shabbat. “
Read the full story here.
Thousands of protesters marched through central London on Saturday to show their support for the Palestinians and call on Israel to stop bombing civilians in the Gaza Strip, as the war between Israel and Hamas escalates tensions around the world.
Demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine” and “Stop the bombings” piled up in the streets outside the BBC headquarters for a mile-long march that was due to end around 3 p. m. local time, near the Prime Minister’s Apartment at 10 Downing Street.
The Metropolitan Police deployed more than 1,000 officers to monitor the occasion after a surge in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents since Hamas militants attacked Israel last weekend.
Police limited protesters to a designated address through central London, warning that those who deviated from it would be arrested. Similar precautions were taken near the Israeli embassy.
A video shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on social media shows his encounter with Israeli soldiers.
Netanyahu visited foot soldiers on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.
“Are you in a position to take the next step?” asked, according to a translation of the video via Reuters. “The next step is yet to come. “
The squad members can be seen nodding their heads.
Israel is set to launch a ground offensive in Gaza after a week of airstrikes in retaliation for the bloody Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7. On Thursday night, Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip were told they had 24 hours to evacuate. south of the territory.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Saturday with the leaders of China and Saudi Arabia.
Blinken met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh. During their meeting, he highlighted “the unwavering commitment of the United States to ending Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel,” a State Department spokesperson said. Blinken and the foreign minister discussed “the continued commitment with regional partners to prevent the spread of fighting in the region and their shared commitment to take action to help civilians. “
Before leaving the country, Blinken also spoke to Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, to tell him that the goal of his Middle East journey is to prevent the expansion of the clash between Israel and Hamas. Blinken told Wang that he had an idea that it was vital for China to use its connections in the region to prevent the standoff from spreading. Their call lasted about an hour, according to the State Department.
Two hospitals in the Gaza Strip no longer offer services, Gaza’s Public Health Ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry said 15 hospitals in Israeli territory were damaged, as well as 23 ambulances, as a result of Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes. Ten rescuers were killed and 27 others were injured, the ministry said.
Several foreign agencies have expressed fears over the state of medical care in the Gaza Strip, amid airstrikes and a comprehensive blockade that has halted the supply of medicine, food, water, electricity and fuel to the territory. On Thursday, they warned that Gaza’s fitness formula was at a “breaking point. “
The U. S. State Department said Saturday it had legalized the departure of non-emergency U. S. government personnel and eligible family members from the U. S. Embassy in Jerusalem and its Tel Aviv branch “due to the unpredictable security situation in Israel. “Reuters reported.
The Red Cross said Saturday it was “horrified” by the human anguish unleashed by the war between Hamas and Israel, and said its volunteers would not abandon those who needed it most.
It calls on both sides to respect foreign humanitarian law and civilians and to allow humanitarian organizations to alleviate the growing suffering.
“The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is appalled to see the human anguish that has spread over the past week in Israel and Gaza,” and civilians have paid the highest price, according to a statement issued through the heads of the International’s two branches. Red Cross Movement. he said.
Thousands of Palestinians sought safe haven on Saturday after Israel warned them to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip in anticipation of a planned ground offensive against Hamas, a week after the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. Hamas militants killed more than 1,300 people in the attack on Israel, prompting a major retaliatory bombing campaign against the Islamist group, which killed more than 2,200 people in Gaza.
The heads of the Red Cross said there is “devastating” human suffering everywhere and that in foreign humanitarian law “there is no hierarchy of pain and suffering. “
“These regulations exist to help sustain humanity through the darkest of times, and they desperately want them to be enforced today. They are and will continue to be our compass to ensure we put humanity first,” he said. “The Movement is committed to providing life-saving protection and relief to those suffering the horrors of today’s violence. The desires are staggering and will only increase if hostilities continue. We urge all parties to exercise restraint and respect their obligations under foreign humanitarian obligations. the law and protect civilians.
Concern has grown about the fate of Palestinian civilians in the besieged and blockaded Gaza Strip if it becomes the scene of intense fighting.
“Nothing can justify the horrific loss of civilian life in Israel last weekend. . . but such a tragedy cannot in turn justify the unlimited destruction of Gaza,” the Red Cross said. “We are deeply alarmed by the call for relocation to Gaza. Our volunteers refuse to leave and abandon those who want it most. They want to be protected, so they can protect others. “
A senior State Department official told reporters traveling with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Saudi Arabia on Friday that the U. S. is “trying to facilitate” the five-hour opening of the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip to allow civilians to flee the Gaza Strip. Palestinian territory heavily bombed.
“The Egyptians, the Israelis and the Qataris have been with us on this,” the official said, adding that “it was not at all transparent if Hamas was going to allow other people to come to Rafah” from Gaza.
The U. S. official said the State Department “has contacted a number of between 500 and 600 [Palestinian-American nationals]. . . who have expressed interest in receiving data on the exit” of the coastal enclave, which has been investigated. Israeli blockade for a week.
“We have informed U. S. citizens in Gaza with whom we are in contact that if they feel the domain is secure, they may wish to approach the Rafah border crossing,” a U. S. State Department spokesman said Friday, adding that “it may also be very little seen if the crossing is opened and can only be opened for a limited time.
The State Department has suggested that U. S. citizens in need of assistance in Gaza fill out an emergency aid form found on its online travel. state. gov page.
Egypt last denied the Rafah crossing earlier this week, accusing Israel of blocking it with continued bombardment on the Palestinian side.
The Israeli military said Friday that Gazans in the densely populated northern part of the Palestinian territory had until 4 p. m. to get there. Local time (9 a. m. ET) to evacuate south to Rafah “to maintain their safety. “He advised two routes south through Gaza that he said would be spared from attack at the time, but Israel’s relentless bombardment of the Palestinian area meanwhile has continued, adding moves in Khan Younis, just north of Rafah.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday criticized Israel for what it said was “forcibly displaced” Palestinian civilians as the Israeli military continued to bombard the Gaza Strip.
In a message posted on its social media accounts, the Gulf State’s Foreign Ministry said it categorically rejects “attempts to forcibly displace Palestinian brothers from the Gaza Strip and calls for the lifting of the blockade of the Strip and the provision of full coverage to civilians in accordance with foreign law. “
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns of the danger of adopting a policy of collective punishment by calling for the evacuation of the population of the northern Gaza Strip. It also considers that forcing civilians to move or seek refuge in neighbouring countries is a violation of foreign law. “
Qatar has been home to Hamas’ main political office outside Gaza, where the militant group’s most level-headed leaders are based, for more than a decade.
U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday called for the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip and Israel, as the Israeli military ordered part of the population of the Palestinian territory to evacuate ahead of an expected ground attack.
Blinken met with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, in Riyadh as he began a third day of intense international relations in the Middle East aimed at preventing the war between Israel and Hamas from escalating into a regional clash and fueling a humanitarian crisis.
“As Israel pursues its legitimate right to protect its people and make sure this doesn’t happen again, it’s vitally important that we all take care of civilians, and we’re working together to do just that,” Blinken said. “None of us need to see civilians suffering on either side, whether in Israel, Gaza or anywhere else. “
A U. S. official said Saturday that the U. S. had not asked Israel to slow down or suspend the evacuation plan. The official said discussions with Israeli leaders underscored the importance of contemplating the protection of civilians as the IDF prepares for the evacuation request.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal talks, said Israeli leaders had identified the address and taken it into consideration.
Two aid organizations and a witness who spoke to CBS News accused Israeli forces of launching white phosphorus projectiles into the Gaza Strip over the past week, which critics say may simply be a violation of foreign law that requires army forces to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.
Amnesty International said Friday that photographs and videos verified through the organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab “indicate that Israel has used white phosphorus munitions” in densely populated civilian spaces in Gaza.
The Israeli military, in reaction to an earlier report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) that white phosphorus was being used in Gaza, has flatly denied any use of the disputed weapon in Gaza, as part of its weekly program. The Palestinian territory has been bombed for a long period of time in retaliation for the unprecedented terrorist attack launched by Hamas leaders in the region on 7 October.
Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip this week also denounced the use of white phosphorus.
The Reuters news firm quoted an Israeli military spokesperson as saying on Friday that “the existing accusation against the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) in relation to the use of white phosphorus in Gaza is unequivocally false. “
“The IDF did not use such munitions,” the IDF said via Reuters.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says many thousands of people have been displaced in the past 12 hours in the Gaza Strip. Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, warned that the Gaza Strip lacks clean water and that fuel is urgently needed. I needed to have blank water.
Lazzarini said in a statement that more than 2 million people are threatened by the lack of water, adding that “it has become a matter of life and death. “
Lazzarini said Gaza’s water plant and public water networks have stopped working and that other people are now forced to use dirty water from wells, increasing the threat of waterborne diseases.
“Almost a million more people have been displaced in a single week,” he said, adding that at the UN base in the southern Gaza Strip, where UNRWA has moved its operations, drinking water is also running out.
He called for the lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, adding that if clean water is not available, other people will begin to die of severe dehydration, including young children, the elderly and women.
The Hamas-led Gaza Strip Health Ministry said on Saturday that the death toll after a week of Israeli airstrikes in the Palestinian territory had risen to at least another 2,215 people, bringing the total to 724 children. He said more than 8,714 people were injured.
An Israeli military spokesman said on Saturday that Israel “deeply regrets” the death of a Reuters journalist killed the day before when a rocket hit a journalists’ organization near Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, but did not verify that the rocket had been fired. For Israel, as he claimed on Friday.
“We are very sorry for the death of the journalist,” Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters, according to French news agency AFP, which saw two of its journalists wounded in the same attack, in addition to four others.
“We’re in the thick of it,” Hecht said of the identity of the culprit in the rocket fire that hit the live TV across the border, which has been the scene of crossfire between Israeli forces and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants since Hamas allies came forward. an unprecedented attack on Israel a week ago.
The Lebanese army on Saturday blamed Israel for the attack. Israel had “launched a missile that hit a civilian car belonging to a media group, provoking the martyrdom” of Reuters cameraman Issam Abdallah.
Despite repeated stern warnings from the United States not to worry about the existing war, Hezbollah has declared itself in a position to join Hamas’ fight against Israel, which could especially intensify the confrontation and attract other regional powers such as Iran.
Israeli forces said on Saturday they had killed several “terrorists” seeking to cross the border from Lebanon amid heightened tensions and after repeated cross-border shelling. The army “identified a terrorist motive seeking to infiltrate from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” an army spokesman said. He said, adding that a drone strike “targeted the terrorist motive and killed several terrorists. “
Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement said on Friday it was “fully ready” to join its Palestinian best friend, Hamas, in the war against Israel when the time is right.
Arab countries, the United States and the United Nations have suggested that Hezbollah stay out of the escalation of the conflict, but the Lebanon-based group’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said the motion would allow it to be influenced.
Amid rising tensions, Israel on Friday shelled two villages in southern Lebanon near the border, Lebanese security resources said, following an explosion at the border fence.
A Reuters journalist was killed and six others, from AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera, were wounded in southern Lebanon on Friday when they were caught in a cross-border bombardment.
The head of the World Health Organization said Saturday that a plane carrying “medical material to meet the urgent fitness desires in Gaza” had landed in northeastern Egypt, near the Rafah border crossing with Palestinian territory, and that the U. N. fitness company was “preparing to deploy the materials as soon as humanitarian access through the passage is established. “
The Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing is the only official exit point from the Gaza Strip that has been sealed off by Israel for the past week, but Egypt has accused Israel of blocking traffic through the crossing by shelling around the crossing.
In a statement Thursday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the Rafah crossing “has not been closed at any time since the beginning of the current crisis, unless its critical facilities on the Palestinian side have been destroyed as a result of repeated Israeli bombardment, which has prevented the operation. “
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his tweet announcing the arrival of the plane carrying medical aid in Egypt that the U. N. company wanted to “continue our call on Israel to reconsider the resolution to evacuate 1. 1 million people,” referring to the Israeli government. The army has called for all civilians in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to be evacuated to the south.
For the WHO leader to demand such an exodus would create “a human tragedy. “
The Israeli army on Friday morning warned citizens of Gaza City that they had until four in the afternoon. to Gaza local time (9 a. m. ET) to leave the city and head to the southern part of the Gaza Strip via two roads “without any damage. “
“We have asked them to leave Gaza City, south of Wadi Gaza, to maintain their security,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee said in a tweet. “I would like to tell you that the IDF will allow traffic on the indicated streets without any damage between 10:00 a. m. and 4:00 p. m. For your safety, at this time. “
His tweet, written in Arabic, included a map showing two roads in the densely populated northern part of the Palestinian territory with arrows pointing to the roads to the south.
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said the appeal to Gazans in the northern part of the enclave was “sent by a variety of other means to verify and minimize harm to non-combatants,” adding leaflets dropped from aircraft.
“Hamas terrorists hide in terror tunnels under houses in Gaza City and in civilian buildings,” the Israeli military said, adding that it had observed “a tendency of citizens to move south, even though the Hamas terror organization has tried to deny movement. “to use those citizens as human shields.
The spokesman for the UN secretary-general told CBS News last Thursday that Israeli army liaisons had informed the global system that there would be a 24-hour period for Gazans to evacuate the northern part of the Strip.
The UN said it would be “impossible for such a step to be taken without devastating humanitarian consequences,” and in the ensuing 24 hours, there was no reiteration or explanation of any express timeline by the IDF.
The Israeli military has said it is preparing for a long-awaited invasion of Gaza, but Israeli political leaders have yet to order one.
France will deploy 7,000 troops after a boy of Chechen origin fatally stabbed an instructor and seriously wounded three other adults at a school in Arras, in the northeast of the country, the Elysee Palace said on Saturday.
Friday’s attack, denounced by President Emmanuel Macron, as an act of “Islamist terrorism” in Arras, which has gigantic Jewish and Muslim populations. The deployment of troops will end Monday afternoon.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the first Jewish majority leader of the Senate and the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, is leading a bipartisan delegation of senators who will travel to Israel over the weekend to express support for the country in its week-long war against Israel. Hamas.
He told The Associated Press in an interview that he sought to make clear that the United States supports Israel and was also seeking to show bipartisan support.
“Having a bipartisan delegation, led by the majority leader, that firmly and unequivocally supports Israel, will make a huge difference for Israelis,” Schumer said.
Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mitt Romney of Utah and Democratic Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Mark Kelly of Arizona will be on the trip.
Schumer also plans to speak with senior officials about what kind of Israel he wants for its military and humanitarian operations. Those conversations will inform the White House’s request to Congress and what the Senate will do after its return, Schumer said, and how temporarily it will act to verify and approve new spending.
As negotiations continue, Schumer said he expects any package to include aid to Israel and Ukraine, as well as conceivable assistance to Taiwan, which faces threats from Beijing and cash for the U. S. border.
Schumer said his relationship with Israel was deeply important to him, not only because of his position as the highest-ranking Jewish American elected official, but also because of his own heritage. His great-grandmother and several of his children were murdered by the Nazis in Europe.
“It has a deep resonance with people,” Schumer said. Because we haven’t noticed anything so cruel and disgusting since the time of the Nazis. “
Schumer is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and senior opposition figure Benny Gantz, who is part of a newly formed war cabinet in Israel.
In recent days, two senior officials, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, have visited the country.
At a press briefing early Saturday morning, an Israeli army spokesman said Israeli infantrymen were preparing for a possible ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.
“In the Gaza Strip, as has been the case for several days, Israeli reserve soldiers are being trained, preparing for the next level of operations,” IDF foreign spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said in a video. They are all over the southern Gaza Strip, in the center and in the north, and they are preparing to attack any target, whatever the task. “
Israeli defense officials said Friday that ground forces had carried out raids into Gaza for the first time since Hamas’ invasion, seeking the militants and the more than 120 hostages they hold.
Earlier this week, Israel said it had deployed around 300,000 troops to the Gaza border. Israel issued evacuation orders to around 1. 1 million citizens of northern Gaza on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, warning them to leave the territory and evacuate to the south, and tens of thousands of people appear to have heeded that. called.
The order, however, drew complaints from the United Nations, which said it was “impossible for such a measure to be taken without devastating humanitarian consequences. “
“We announced our intentions beforehand, not because it makes sense from a military point of view, but because it doesn’t make sense from a military point of view,” Conricus said Saturday. “Because we don’t need civilians to be affected by war. . . We are not looking to kill or injure civilians, we are fighting Hamas. “
He said there has been “significant movement of Palestinian civilians southward” since the order was issued.
Since Hamas’ invasion, Israel has imposed an entire blockade of Gaza, on food, water, gas, medicine and electricity, putting the region on the brink of a humanitarian crisis.
At least 423,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the fighting began on Oct. 7, the United Nations said Friday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross also called Saturday for a “pause in fighting” so aid teams can reach Gaza and deliver aid to Palestinians.
“With a military siege, humanitarian organizations, including the ICRC, will not be able to assist in such a large displacement of others in Gaza,” the organization said. “The wishes are huge and humanitarian organizations want to live up to it. “their relief operations. “
After harshly criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the Hamas attack on Israel that killed at least 1,300 other people in Israel, and calling the militant organization Hezbollah “very smart,” former President Donald Trump gave the impression of backtracking on those initial comments on Friday, prompting widespread condemnation.
At a political rally Wednesday, Trump said Netanyahu “let us down” before the U. S. killed Iranian army commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020, and called on Israeli leaders to “step up their game. “
The former president said of Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese defense force designated as a foreign terrorist organization through the State Department, “You know, Hezbollah is very smart,” while Israel feared that Hezbollah could open some other front in the war since In an interview Thursday, Trump said Netanyahu is “not prepared” for last weekend’s wonderful Hamas attack.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley were among those who condemned the Republican presidential front-runner’s comments.
Following the criticism, Trump wrote Friday in an article on his Truth Social platform that he supported Israel and Netanyahu, according to the Associated Press.
Read the full story here.
A New York City councilwoman arrested Friday on charges of bringing a gun to a pro-Palestinian rally.
Inna Vernikov, a 39-year-old Republican councilwoman from South Brooklyn, arrested for carrying a gun to a double outdoor student rally at Brooklyn College, which included pro-Palestine on one side and pro-Israel on the other, CBS New York reports.
“Today I am here to accompany Jewish scholars who are going to school today,” he told reporters hours before his arrest.
While watching the pro-Palestinian rally, he noticed a gun in his waistband, New York City police said.
She left the protest, but after photos of the gun circulated on social media, she contacted police and eventually went to the police station. She was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, police said.
She surrendered her gun and her license.
Although Vernikov possesses a licensed firearm, it is illegal to bring it into New York City, according to CBS New York.
“New York’s gun protection applies to everyone,” Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on social media in reaction to the arrest.
“No one is above the law,” added a spokesman for New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Read the full CBS New York story here.
The Israeli military said this Friday in communication with the families of 120 hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said in a social media post.
Yohanan Plesner, a former Israeli commando, described the challenge the IDF faces in locating and rescuing hostages. “Hamas has underground tunnels and basements,” Plesner told CBS News foreign correspondent Holly Williams. “But they know how to torture and hide people. “. And they have so many. So it’s going to be incredibly difficult. “
A disturbing Hamas propaganda video appears to show militants mistreating captives.
For the families of the abductees, this is unbearable. Hamas claims that thirteen hostages held in Gaza have already been killed in Israeli airstrikes, which CBS News could verify.
Gershon Baskin, an Israeli hostage negotiator who in 2011 dealt directly with Hamas to help secure the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, says Hamas will not negotiate this time. According to Baskin, only the Israeli army can free the hostages. “We are going to intervene, as part of an army operation, to locate and rescue as many hostages as possible,” Baskin said. “There is no doubt that many hostages will be killed. But all his captors will be killed, from the “most sensible of leaders to the Hamas accountant. “
Israel has deployed around 300,000 troops to the Gaza border ahead of what could simply be a ground incursion into the territory. It also ordered more than a million citizens of northern Gaza to evacuate south.
Baskin said he believes the hostages are not being held in one place, but are spread across the Gaza Strip.
Check out the full story in the video below.
Israeli defense officials said Friday that ground forces had carried out raids into Gaza for the first time since the Hamas invasion, searching for the militants and more than 100 hostages they hold.
Authorities said the raid involved tanks and infantrymen, who were searching for and collecting evidence that could locate the missing.
Fighting has been fierce and, despite Israel’s relentless airstrikes on Gaza, Hamas unleashed its own retaliation on Friday, firing more than 150 rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
CBS News foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata and his team witnessed the rocket barrage over Ashkelon and heard air raid sirens before they had a few seconds to distance themselves before impact.
Farther south, about 1. 6 kilometers from the Gaza border, CBS News found that the fighting was not only concentrated in city centers, but also on highways, and that the remnants of Hamas fighters who participated in the Oct. 7 massacres were still at large.
Israeli infantrymen showed CBS News the bullet-riddled car of a suspected terrorist who was shot dead as he ran into Gaza.
Nearby, and also pointed towards Gaza, was a mass of Israeli firepower and military equipment, with rows of worker transport vehicles, reinforced bulldozers and troops, preparing for an imaginable incursion into the ground.
Check out the full story in the video below.
The uncle of twins who miraculously survived on their own after their parents were killed by Hamas militants in southern Israel on Friday described the agonizing hours in which he was unable to deliver the babies.
“We literally woke up in hell,” said Dvir Rosenfeld, who lived in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in one of the deadliest scenes, when Hamas gunmen invaded southern Israel from Gaza in the early morning hours of Oct. 7.
Rosenfeld hid with his wife and son in a shelter. But his sister, Hadar Berdichevsky, was killed.
Berdichevsky’s body was discovered in the kitchen of her apartment and her husband, Itay, was found dead in the bedroom.
“I know Itay died trying to protect them,” Rosenfeld told “CBS Evening News” anchor and editor Norah O’Donnell. “And I can’t believe what happened to know that his wife just got killed and his two children are by his side, and he’s the only thing among terrorists and babies. “
The twins, less than a year old, were abandoned for 14 hours before being rescued by Israeli army undercover agents.
Read the full story and watch the video below.
U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call Friday with his Vatican counterpart, Cardinal Parolin, the Holy See’s secretary of state, to discuss the scenario in Israel and Gaza.
“The secretary and cardinal discussed their shared concerns about Hamas’ horrific terrorist attacks against Israel and the need to help protect the most vulnerable,” a State Department spokesperson said in a news release. “The secretary thanked Cardinal Parolin for the Pope’s steadfastness on behalf of Israel, affirming Israel’s right to self-defense and calling for the release of the hostages. “
Speaking in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, Pope Francis called for “the release of the hostages. “
He also added that “those who are attacked have the right to protect themselves, but I am very concerned about the general siege suffered by Palestinians in Gaza, where there have also been many innocent victims. “
President Biden said the United States is “working like hell” with Americans held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza.
In an interview with “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Scott Pelley asked, “To those who are American hostages in Gaza, what do they say?
“I say we’re going to do everything in our power to track them down,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s all in our strength. And I’m going to go into too much detail, but there are. . . We’re running like what the heck!
More from the president with Scott Pelley, Sunday on 60 Minutes.
A 21-year-old Long Island man is feared to have been abducted by Hamas and held in the Gaza Strip, his relatives told CBS New York on Friday.
Omer Neutra was born and raised in Plainview, New York, to Israeli parents. After graduating from the best school, he made the decision to spend a year in Israel and stayed to do his military service. He was at a small military base on the morning of October 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel.
His parents said their son, a Knick lover, is still alive. His mother, Orna, sent a message to her son that read, “Omer, we know you are alive. We know you’re complete. Be strong. “
Israeli government media reported on Sunday that Hamas had taken more than 100 people hostage. The White House believes several Americans are among the hostages of Hamas, which the United States has designated a terrorist group. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said he may simply not verify the exact number of American citizens taken hostage.
Read the story on CBS New York.
The first charter flight from Israel with U. S. citizens landed in Athens, Greece. More than 100 passengers were on board the first flight, a U. S. official told CBS News.
On Thursday, the U. S. government announced it would begin arranging charter flights and boats for U. S. citizens who have been unable to leave Israel. Charter flights will depart from Tel Aviv to Athens or Frankfurt, Germany.
U. S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the government offers charter flights for “additional features and capacity. “
The flights will be available until at least Oct. 19, a U. S. official said.
“We will continue to operate flights as long as there is a request for help from U. S. citizens to get out of Israel,” a U. S. official told CBS News.
More than 20,000 people contacted the U. S. State Department. Reach the U. S. Food and Drug via the Internet or by phone for evacuation information.
Reporting via Alex Sundthrough
President Biden reiterated U. S. support for Israel in a speech in Philadelphia on Friday, but also warned that the country “cannot lose sight” of the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
“We’re making sure that Israel has what it wants to protect itself and respond to those attacks,” Biden said. “It is also a precedent for me to urgently respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “
Biden said he has called on the groups to reach out directly to Middle Eastern governments and “increase support” and humanitarian resources.
Biden drew a line between civilians and Hamas members, describing Hamas as a “pure evil” that “makes al Qaeda appear pure. “Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently discussed Hamas with ISIS.
“We lose sight of the fact that the vast majority of Palestinians have nothing to do with Hamas, or Hamas’ heinous attacks, and that they, too, are suffering because of it,” Biden said.
Several BBC journalists were pulled from their cars, searched and driven against a wall in front of Israeli police in Tel Aviv, the channel said on Friday.
The BBC said the bloodhounds were on their way to a hotel when their car stopped. His vehicle had “TV” marked on the documents. Journalists Muhannad Tutunji and Haitham Abudiab said they knew themselves as bloodhounds and showed police their press IDs. Tutunji said he tried to film the incident, but his phone fell to the ground and he was shot in the neck.
“One of our BBC News Arab groups deployed in Tel Aviv, in a vehicle obviously marked as a media outlet, was arrested and assaulted last night by Israeli police,” a BBC spokesman said. “Journalists will have to be able to cover the confrontation between Israel and Gaza freely. “
Earlier on Friday, a Reuters journalist was killed in Lebanon when an Israeli shell hit an organization of foreign journalists. Several other journalists were injured.
A graphic created through The Associated Press shows the evacuation zone ordered by Israel in the Gaza Strip. It covers a significant part of the Palestinian territory.
Israel has called on citizens of northern Gaza to flee to the southern part of the territory, which borders Israel and Egypt. Palestinians have since begun a mass exodus, the Associated Press reported.
Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world. More than one million people live in the northern part of the territory and 1. 2 million in the south. The United Nations has warned that the migration of such large numbers of people “take a stand without devastating humanitarian consequences. “
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confronted Israel in a televised address on Friday night, after the Jewish Sabbath began.
“We are hitting our enemies with unprecedented power,” Netanyahu said. “I emphasize that this is the beginning. “
“We will end this war stronger than ever,” Netanyahu continued. “We will destroy Hamas. “
Netanyahu did not specify what other measures the country will take in retaliation for Hamas’s brutal attack on Israelis last Saturday.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), a medical organization also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, says Israel has given Gaza’s Al Awda hospital two hours to evacuate.
“We unequivocally condemn this action, the continued indiscriminate bloodshed and attacks on health services in Gaza,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The organization said it was seeking to protect its staff and patients, and that its staff, as of Friday afternoon local time, were still treating patients.
President Biden spoke for more than an hour Friday with the families of Americans missing after the Hamas attack on Israel, according to the White House and a person familiar with the convention call.
The president, accompanied by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, Deputy Secretary of State John Bass and National Security Council Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk, spoke with the families of 14 Americans still missing in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel. The White House said.
The U. S. believes the Americans are the many hostages held by Hamas, which the U. S. has designated as a terrorist group.
After speaking to the families, Biden said, “They are going through agony not knowing what the prestige of their sons, daughters, husbands, wives and sons is. You know, it’s heartbreaking. I trust you with my personal commitment to We will do everything we can to return all missing Americans to their families. We are working tirelessly to secure the release of Americans held through Hamas, in close cooperation with Israel and our partners in the region. We’re not going to stop it until we get them home.
Biden previously spoke with CBS News’ Scott Pelley in a 60-minute interview and talked about his plans for the call.
“I think they want to know that the president of the United States of America cares deeply about what happened to them, deeply,” Biden said. “We want the world to know that this is crucial. This is even human behavior. This is natural barbarism. And we’re going to do everything in our power to bring them home if we can locate them. “
Watch President Biden’s interview with Scott Pelley this Sunday on 60 Minutes.
Tens of thousands of Muslims marched across the Middle East on Friday to aid Palestinians and to protest Israeli airstrikes hitting the Gaza Strip, underscoring the threat of a wider regional clash erupting as Israel prepares for a imaginable territorial invasion.
From Amman, Jordan, to Yemen’s capital, Muslims took to the streets after weekly Friday prayers. At Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli police allow only elderly men, women and young men to enter the sprawling hilltop compound to pray, seeking salvation. any possible protest, as tens of thousands of people attend on a normal Friday.
Read the full story here.
An Israeli shell hit an organization of foreign journalists covering clashes on Lebanon’s southern border on Friday, killing a Reuters journalist and wounding six others.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that our cameraman, Issam Abdallah, has been killed. Issam was part of a Reuters team in southern Lebanon broadcasting a live feed. We are urgently seeking more information, in collaboration with the government of the region. and support Issam’s circle of family and colleagues.
Reuters showed that two of its journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, were also injured.
Images posted on social media of a burned-out car.
Qatar’s Al-Jazeera television said two of its employees, Elie Brakhya and journalist Carmen Joukhadar, were among the wounded.
The bombing took place in an exchange of firing positions along the Lebanon-Israel border between Israeli troops and members of the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s border with Israel has been the scene of sporadic violence since Saturday’s attack by Palestinian militant Hamas in southern Israel.
Journalists from all over the world come to Lebanon for fear that a war will break out between Hezbollah and Israel.
On Friday afternoon, President Joe Biden commented on the incident.
“Our heartfelt prayers extend to their families,” Biden said, adding that he hoped for “a full and speedy recovery” for the injured journalists.
Reporting by CBS News and Associated Press.
The Israeli military said Friday that its troops had entered the Gaza Strip to hunt down Hamas militants and control dozens of hostages taken by the Palestinian faction as it launched a terror attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said how many forces had entered the small, densely populated Palestinian territory, where Israel is expected to launch a full-scale invasion in the coming days or hours.
“Over the past 24 hours, IDF forces have carried out localized incursions within the territory of the Gaza Strip to complement efforts to protect the domain from terrorists and weapons,” an IDF said. “During those operations, efforts have also been made to locate missing persons. “
Israel’s telecommunications minister said Friday that all services in Gaza would be cut off from Saturday.
Two dozen Israeli human rights groups, including B’Tselem and Rabbis for Human Rights, issued a joint statement Friday calling for “an end to all indiscriminate attacks on civilian lives and infrastructure” in Israel and Gaza.
They said the teams “are shocked and horrified in those terrible days” and that “it will take time to fully perceive the implications and consequences of the heinous Hamas attack, for which there can be no justification. “
They then called for an end to the “bombings” of civilians in Israel and Gaza.
“Even now, and especially now, we will have to maintain our ethical and human status and refuse to give in to depression or the desire for revenge,” he said.
“It remains our duty in those terrible times, as we count our dead on the Israeli side and care for the wounded, the needy and the enjoyed kidnapped, and as bombs are dropped on Gaza’s slums, eliminating entire families from any option of burying the dead – to raise our voice loudly and transparently against attacks on all innocent civilians, whether in Israel or Gaza.
The teams called for the release of hostages held by Hamas and said that “humanitarian aid will have to be able to reach” civilian populations and medical services and that “safe haven sites will not have to be damaged. “
“The killing of more civilians will not bring back those who have disappeared,” the organizations said.
“Can you believe that I’ve lived my whole life here in Gaza and I can’t recognize the streets right now?” said Plestia Alaqad, a young journalist from Gaza, in a video posted on her Instagram account.
Alaqad has been documenting the situation in this enclave of more than 2 million people for days. International journalists have been banned from entering the Palestinian territory since Israel imposed a complete blockade following the Hamas leadership’s terror attack on southern Israel.
“Today is one of the most difficult days for me personally,” Alaqad said Friday, the seventh consecutive day of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. “To see young people wounded and martyred. . . Seeing young people screaming and crying out of worry, pain or because they don’t know anything about their parents. . . Seeing the pain and worry in people’s eyes. . . It’s too much to handle. I’m trying to hold on as long as I can, but literally, my center and my brain can. We don’t perceive or process what’s going on. “
He said he ran between buildings and spent a lot of time in the hospital because it was one of the only places he could access the internet. He said there was no electricity or water.
“I tried to evacuate and go to my parents’ house, but I couldn’t locate a car or taxi and I want to enjoy walking for an hour or more, I don’t have electricity and my back hurts a lot. Which I’m sure doesn’t protect me from anything, but at least it makes me feel like I’ve done what I was supposed to do to protect myself.
In an article published Friday, Alaqad said he was “happy to have been able to tell some of the facts or some of what is happening in the world. . . There is still time before night comes; I’ll see if I have any information. “features and stay informed. “
U. S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that while Biden’s leadership “understands what we intend to do here,” the Israeli government’s call for roughly one million Palestinians in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the southern enclave “a difficult task. “
“They are trying to show that they don’t need to cause more civilian casualties,” Kirby said in an interview with MSNBC, noting that Hamas leaders in Gaza had “ordered other people to stay home. ” “which, she said, was tantamount to telling civilians to build “human shields. “
“We also need to see that there are opportunities, exit from Gaza, in the broad sense, that other people have the opportunity to leave Gaza, and that’s not the case right now, so we continue to work with the Israelis and Egypt controls the only exit from the southern Gaza Strip, the Rafah crossing, and claims that it has become impassable due to Israeli airstrikes.
He stated that moving the other 1. 1 million people living in northern Gaza, according to the United Nations, south of the Israeli-designated wetland halfway to Gaza’s Wadi wetlands “will be a difficult task, given its population density, as it is a scene of fighting, that there are bombs falling and attacks. That’s a lot of other people who move in a very short time.