The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says its aid operations across the Gaza Strip must be severely curtailed amid devastating Israeli airstrikes.
Hospitals in Gaza are doing their best to treat the wounded, although resources are rapidly dwindling.
The war is in its 19th day, the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said Wednesday that at least 6,546 Palestinians were killed and 17,439 others were injured. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed and 1,650 injured in violence and Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank since October 7.
The health ministry said air strikes killed more than 750 people in the past 24 hours, without saying how many were militants.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the death toll cited by Hamas because it supposedly reflects numbers provided by hospital directors.
According to Israeli officials, more than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, mostly civilians who died in Hamas’s initial rampage. The Israeli military on Wednesday increased the number of remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip to 222 people, including foreigners believed to have been captured by Hamas during the incursion. Four hostages were released.
U.S. and other officials fear the fighting could lead to a larger regional conflict.
At the moment:
Here’s what’s happening in the recent war between Israel and Hamas:
An airstrike in GAZA City has killed more than two dozen people and injured over 100, Hamas says
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed at least 26 people and wounded more than 100 on Wednesday, Hamas’ Interior Ministry said.
The bodies of dead men and women lay scattered in streets that had relatively little damage, while a block of buildings lay in ruins and people searched for survivors in the damage.
Two wounded boys hugged each other and appeared to cry as a first responder and three other men carried them to safety on a stretcher.
A man, blood running from his scalp into his eye and down his cheek, looked stunned as he sat on the remains of a sofa left in the rubble while a girl, also wounded, hugged him.
Macron’s positions for an international coalition to fight Hamas
PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron is promoting – so far with little success – the formation of an international coalition to combat the Palestinian armed group Hamas.
He pitched the idea during a two-day trip to the Middle East that began in Israel.
Leaders he met with in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt did not publicly address the issue.
The first response to the devastating war between Israel and Hamas is “the fight against terrorism,” Macron said on Wednesday after his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
“The right response is to work together and learn lessons from the international coalition against the Islamic State group,” which intervened in Iraq and Syria, he added.
Macron first suggested the idea on Tuesday after his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, mentioning a “regional and international coalition” against the Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu did not comment specifically on the French offer.
US EMBASSY IN KUWAIT RESTRICTS ACTIVITIES AT US MILITARY BASES AFTER THREATS FROM IRAQI MILITIAS
JERUSALEM – The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait is acknowledging an Iraqi militia’s threat to attack U.S. military bases in the Middle Eastern country after Israel carried out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip as part of its war against Hamas.
In a statement to American citizens, the embassy identified the threat as coming from Awliya Wa’ad al-Haq, or the “True Promise Brigades.” This group, believed to be allied with Iran, has already claimed an attack on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
“For this reason, the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait is limiting its activities at U.S. military bases to essential and official events only,” said an embassy warning sent to Americans.
Netanyahu says he will be held responsible for Hamas attack
JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will be held accountable for the bloody Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas militants, but that will only happen after Israel’s war against the Islamist militant group.
In a nationally televised address on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu said he was busy planning a ground invasion of Gaza but refused to say when that might happen. He also expressed sadness over the attack that killed over 1,400 Israelis and captured over 200 others in Gaza.
“Oct. 7 is a black day in our history,” he said. “We will get to the bottom of what is happening on the southern border around Gaza. This debacle is being investigated. Everyone will have to give answers, including me.”
Israel’s UN ambassador again calls for the resignation of the UN Secretary General
UNITED NATIONS – Israel’s U.N. ambassador says it is “a disgrace” that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not retract and apologize for his remarks to the Security Council, again calling for the U.N. chief to resign.
Gilad Erdan responded to the U.N. chief’s comments earlier Wednesday, saying he was “shocked” that parts of his U.N. Council statement had been misrepresented “as if I were justifying terrorist acts by Hamas.”
“This is wrong. “The opposite was the case,” Guterres told reporters, reiterating his unequivocal condemnation of “the horrific and unprecedented terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel on October 7.”
Erdan responded that the secretary general was “once again distorting and twisting reality,” and reiterated his statement on Tuesday that the Oct. 7 massacres “did not take place in a vacuum.”
“Every person understands very well that the meaning of his words is that Israel is to blame for the actions of Hamas, or at least that they show his understanding of the ‘background’ that led to the massacre,” the Israeli ambassador said .
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said anyone who listened to the secretary-general in the council on Tuesday and early Wednesday knew his position was: “There is no justification for … the terrible and heinous acts of terror committed by Hamas on October seventh.” .”
Dujarric said Guterres stands by his words and “will not respond to any member state’s call to resign.”
France wants to send a navy ship to bring aid to the Gaza Strip, says Macron
CAIRO – French President Emmanuel Macron said France will send a navy ship to deliver aid to hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
The ship will leave the French military port of Toulon in the Mediterranean within 48 hours, he said. He did not provide any further details.
In addition, a French plane will arrive in Egypt on Thursday to deliver medical equipment to Gaza in a convoy. “Others will follow,” Macron said, adding that France wants to give civilians in the Gaza Strip access to medicines and medical care.
Macron’s visit to Egypt on Wednesday is part of a two-day trip to the Middle East that began with a visit to Israel to show France’s support and solidarity after the Hamas attack on October 7. The trip included a stop in Ramallah in the West Bank to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and another stop in Jordan on Wednesday morning for talks with King Abdullah II.
Macron said in Egypt: “There is no double standard… international law applies to everyone.”
“All victims deserve our compassion and commitment to a fair and sustainable peace in the Middle East,” he added.
UN official Guterres again condemns Hamas attacks and says he is shocked at the misinterpretation of his comments
UNITED NATIONS – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he is “shocked” by the misinterpretation of part of his statement to the Security Council “as justifying acts of terrorism by Hamas.”
“That’s wrong. It was the opposite,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Israeli officials vehemently protested Guterres’ remark that the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel “did not occur in a vacuum,” calling it a justification for terrorism. Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan has called for the Secretary General’s resignation.
Guterres reiterated the beginning of his statement on Tuesday: “I unequivocally condemned Hamas’ terrible and unprecedented terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7.” Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injury and kidnapping of civilians – or the firing of rockets at civilian targets .”
The UN chief said he was speaking of the grievances of the Palestinian people and also stated: “But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify Hamas’ horrific attacks.”
Guterres concluded his remarks to reporters by saying, “I believe it was necessary to clarify things – especially out of respect for the victims and their families.”
TEDDY BEAR EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS CHILDREN EATEN BY HAMAS
TEL AVIV, Israel – Nearly three dozen blindfolded teddy bears were lined up near a fountain in Tel Aviv to draw attention to the plight of Israeli children held hostage by Hamas militants.
Each of the brown and white stuffed animals featured one of about 30 children, some as young as nine months old, who were among 222 people held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza following the militant group’s attack on Israel in October became. 7.
The bears were dabbed with fake blood and some were tied together in a captivating display that left some passers-by almost speechless.
“It’s just incredible. There is such a thing as no words. Because even with the blood on it that you can see and the blindfolds… to me it’s a very symbolic symbol of the captivity of innocent children,” Hilary Meyerov said. “It’s completely heartbreaking.”
Off-duty Israeli soldiers carrying rifles stopped to view and take photos of the installation.
“Bring them back. Bring them back,” said Avigail Ben-Yosef. “I send love to all the families waiting for these children and to all the other hostages.”
Amnesty says Israel’s order for civilians to leave the northern Gaza Strip may violate international law
CAIRO – Amnesty International said on Wednesday that the Israeli army’s order to leave residents of the northern Gaza Strip may violate international humanitarian law.
The Israeli army has dropped leaflets in Gaza urging Palestinians to flee the northern half of the besieged enclave or risk being identified as Hamas accomplices.
The falling leaflets come about a week after the army first called on about 1.1 million residents in the northern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and move south as it prepares for a ground invasion of the area.
“The messages in these leaflets cannot be seen as an effective warning to the civilian population, but instead provide further evidence that Israel is seeking the forcible displacement of civilians in the northern Gaza Strip,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty’s senior crisis response advisor.
“Declaring an entire city or region a military target violates international humanitarian law,” Rovera added.
Spain’s head of state praises the role of the UN Secretary General
BRUSSELS – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, has pledged his full support to UN Secretary-General António Guterres for his role in the Gaza conflict.
Sánchez told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday: “I would like to express the full support of the Spanish government and, in my opinion, that of the majority of Spanish society for our United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, who, in my opinion, has a voice for the majority “The world wants a humanitarian pause, in favor of humanitarian aid and for an end to this human catastrophe.”
Sánchez, meanwhile, reiterated his condemnation of the October 7 Hamas attack, which he described as the “clear origin” of the conflict.
Hamas said eleven people were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said 11 bodies were recovered from the remains of a house in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, after it was leveled by an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday.
Dozens more were injured. The Associated Press could not independently verify the death toll cited by Hamas because it supposedly reflects numbers provided by hospital directors.