Israel-Hamas war, Day 34 | White House says Israel agrees to 4-hour daily pauses in northern Gaza fighting to allow civilians to flee

U.S. officials believe the death toll in Gaza may well be even higher than the more than 10,000 reported by the territory’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf told a House panel Wednesday.

Israeli officials, U.S. President Joe Biden and others have challenged the Health Ministry’s figures — which topped more than 10,800 killed in Gaza as of on Thursday — as exaggerated.

“We think they’re very high, frankly, and it could be that they’re even higher than are being cited,” she said, later adding this was “very possible.”

Ms. Leaf said U.S. officials draw on “sourcing from a variety of folks who are on the ground,” but gave no other details of the U.S. assessment.

Ms. Leaf noted that Gaza health officials do not separate numbers of civilians and fighters killed, and said it was difficult to know the true number of deaths as long as the fighting continues. - AP

Israel’s military said a drone exploded on Thursday in the yard of a house in the Red Sea city of Eilat, causing no injuries, and a long-range surface-to-surface missile was intercepted before entering Israeli airspace.

Later, Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they fired a batch of ballistic missiles at Israeli targets, some of which were heading for Eilat, acording to Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare’e.

Thursday’s round of missile fire is one of at least five ariel attacks the Houthis have launched against southern Israel since Oct. 7. The Iran-backed force, who control Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, are staunch enemies of Israel and have vowed to continue their military operations in support of Palestinians. -AP

(WASHINGTON) The U.S. humanitarian envoy for the war described improving aid delivery for central and southern Gaza, but described no such effort in the northern battle zone other than to help civilians flee the intensifying Israeli assault there.

Envoy David Satterfield said on Thursday that the international community had been able to get fuel to turn back on water desalination plants in the south, and that aid into the south was averaging 100 trucks a day. Two pipelines supplying clean drinking water to the south from Israel had been turned back on.

“We do see the ability in the coming days we hope to meet the minimum requirements of the population in the south,” he said.

Mr. Satterfield also said in the online briefing that agreements being worked out would include a way to move wounded from the north.

The U.N. estimated on Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of people were still in northern Gaza, but could not immediately provide an updated figure. - AP

(JERUSALEM)An hourslong Israeli raid into the West Bank’s flashpoint Jenin refugee camp on Thursday killed 13 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials.

The Israeli army said it killed at least 10 militants. Hamas claimed nine of those killed in the raid as their militant fighters. The attack included a drone strike — a once rare attack mode in the West Bank that has grown increasingly commonplace since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that one of their paramedics, Sabreen Obeidi, had been shot in the back and wounded by Israeli forces targeting an ambulance. The group posted a picture to the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, of an ambulance with a single bullet hole.

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said its team members treated a paramedic who was shot inside an ambulance at 10:30 a.m. local time. Since 11 a.m., Israeli military vehicles blocked ambulances from entering their hospitals, forcing teams to send patients to hospitals further away.

Team members said they witnessed Israeli forces fire at the entrance of the hospital, with bullets hitting the wall directly above the door.

“Hospitals are not targets and must remain safe spaces,” the organsation said in a statement.

Israeli forces said they arrested over 20 Palestinians, confiscated weapons and ammunition, and destroyed an underground tunnel. Two militants were killed in a shootout as soldiers left the area, the military said.

Residents said raid unfolded in two stages. Around 1 a.m., residents said Israeli forces stormed the city, using bulldozers to rip up roads. At 10 a.m., forces entered again, firing at various locations with drones. - AP

The White House says Israel has agreed to put in place four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in its assault on Hamas in northern Gaza. The Biden administration says it has secured a second pathway for civilians to flee fighting.

President Joe Biden had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to institute the daily pauses during a Monday call.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the first humanitarian pause would be announced Thursday, and that the Israelis had committed to announcing each four-hour window at least three hours in advance. Biden says he asked the Israelis for a “pause longer than three days” during negotiations over the release of some hostages held by Hamas. - AP

(BERLIN)German Foreign Minister Baerbock is traveling to the Middle East for the third time in a month with stop-overs planned in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday Mr. Baerbock’s meetings will focus on the release of the German hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, the humanitarian situation there, and efforts to prevent a regional conflagration of the conflict.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also traveled to Israel and other countries in the region since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. - AP

(RIYADH, Saudi Arabia) Saudi Arabia has sent a cargo plane loaded with 35 tons of food and humanitarian aid to Egypt for delivery to the Gaza Strip.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency announced the first such aid shipment from the kingdom on Thursday.

Before the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, Saudi Arabia was in talks with the U.S. to normalize relations with Israel in return for an American defence pact, aid in setting up a civilian nuclear program and major progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Saudi Arabia has condemned the violence and called for a cease-fire.

Several countries have flown aid for Gaza to El-Arish, in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, which borders Gaza and Israel. Under a diplomatic arrangement, the aid is shipped overland through Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza after being inspected inside Israel.

Aid workers say the hundreds of trucks allowed into Gaza in recent weeks are nowhere near enough to meet the mounting needs of the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians. - AP

The World Health Organization (WHO) is cautioning about infectious diseases spreading in Gaza from contaminated water and limited access to hygiene facilities.

WHO reported on Thursday that since mid-October 2023, over half of the 33,551 reported cases of diarrhea are among children under age five.

The organisation said that’s a significant increase compared to an average of 2,000 cases monthly in children under five throughout 2021 and 2022.

Also reported where 8,944 cases of scabies and lice, 1,005 cases of chickenpox, 12,635 cases of skin rash and 54,866 cases of upper respiratory infections. - AP

Palestinian officials say an Israeli raid into the flashpoint city of Jenin in the northern West Bank has killed seven Palestinians and injured 13.

Thursday’s raid was the latest in a series of stepped-up operations in the West Bank that Israel says it is staging to root out militancy in the territory.

The Israeli military described the raid as a “counterterrorism” operation.

Mustafa Sheta, the manager of a prominent cultural centre in the Jenin refugee camp said residents feel “so helpless under this growing pressure, there is nothing we can do.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that one of its paramedics, Sabreen Obeidi, had been shot in the back by Israeli forces targeting an ambulance.

The group posted a picture to the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, of an ambulance with a single bullet hole. The armed wing of Fatah released a statement claiming that its forces were still engaging in gun battles with Israeli forces in Jenin. - AP

(WASHINGTON) CIA Director William Burns was in Doha on Nov. 9 to discuss efforts to win the release of hostages in Gaza with the Qatari Prime Minister and the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, according to a U.S. official.

Mr. Burns met with Mossad chief David Barnea and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The Hamas militant group that rules Gaza is holding what officials estimate to be some 240 hostages seized in Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 incursion into Israel. International officials are believed to be pursuing a deal in which Hamas could free some hostages in exchange for a pause in Israel’s air, ground and sea assault on Gaza.

Qatar is a frequent go-between in international dealings with Hamas, and some top Hamas political leaders make their home in the Gulf country.

The U.S. official stressed Mr. Burns was not playing a lead role in the negotiations. - AP

Russia on Thursday criticised “absolutely unacceptable” comments made by Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu on the use of nuclear weapons in Gaza.

Eliyahu’s remarks, from which which he later backtracked, prompted outrage and led to his suspension.

“We find these statements to be provocative, totally unacceptable,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

“Such statements imply that the entire population of the Gaza Strip is being threatened with nuclear weapons... Is that a threat of genocide?”

Eliyahu had told Israel’s Kol Barama radio that he was not entirely satisfied with the scale of Israel’s retaliation.

He responded to a question by saying dropping some kind of atomic bomb would be “one option” but later said his statement was “metaphorical.”

AFP

The Gaza war loomed over a regular UN review of Germany’s human rights record on Thursday with numerous mainly Muslim countries decrying its support for Israel and bans on pro-Palestinian protests.

Germany received broad praise for its robust human rights record during the review at the United Nations in Geneva but faced unusual levels of criticism, especially on its position on the war in Gaza.

Egypt’s representative Ahmed Moharam said Cairo “deeply regrets the unfavourable positions taken by Germany vis-a-vis the rights of the Palestinian people”, while Jordan’s representative slammed the country’s “unbalanced positions”.

Turkey urged Berlin to “halt the provision of any military material or equipment to Israel that may be used in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

AFP

An unidentified drone hit a building in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, the Israeli military said on Thursday.

Emergency services said there were no injuries.

The Israeli military said earlier this month it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea as reinforcements, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and vowed to carry out more.

Reuters

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Israel on a Middle East trip starting on Friday, a ministry statement said on Thursday.

Talks will focus on the release of German hostages, the humanitarian situation in Gaza and efforts to prevent the spread of the conflict in the region among others.

Reuters

Israel has agreed to begin daily four-hour military pauses in northern Gaza to allow people in the area to flee the war with Hamas, the White House said on Thursday.

“Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day, with an announcement to be made three hours beforehand,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Israel’s war to wipe out Hamas in Gaza is “the war of the free world”, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told EU lawmakers in Brussels on Wednesday.

Cohen also said Israel had been attacked not only by Hamas but by other militias in the region that are supported by Iran, which he called “the world number one financer of terror”.

He was speaking alongside several Israelis whose relatives were taken hostage by Hamas when its militants stormed communities near Gaza on October 7.

After calling Hamas militants “monsters” and pleading for international help to secure the release of the more than 240 hostages being held -- including, he said, more than 30 children -- Cohen left to speak with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Von der Leyen later posted on X, formerly Twitter, that she had assured Cohen of the EU’s “full solidarity in the wake of Hamas’ terror attack of 7/10”.

AFP

Brazilian Justice Minister Flavio Dino delivered a stiff rebuke to Israel on Thursday after its Mossad spy agency said it had helped foil an attack by the Islamist militant group Hezbollah on Jewish targets in Brazil.

Dino was responding to a highly unusual statement published on Wednesday in which Israel’s Mossad agency thanked Brazilian police and said that, “given the backdrop of the war in Gaza”, Hezbollah was continuing to attack Israeli, Jewish and Western targets.

Earlier on Wednesday, Brazil’s Federal Police arrested two unnamed people on terrorism charges, and carried out 11 search and seizure warrants on properties.

Without explicitly naming Israel, Dino said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “Brazil is a sovereign country,” and “no foreign force orders around the Brazilian Federal Police.”

Dino said the investigations that resulted in Wednesday’s operations “began BEFORE the outbreak of the ongoing tragedies on the international scene,” and said the investigation had “nothing to do with international conflicts.”

Reuters

A trilateral meeting was held in Doha on Thursday between CIA and Mossad chiefs and the Qatari prime minister to discuss the parameters of a deal for hostage releases and a pause in the Gaza attack, a source briefed on the meeting told Reuters.

The advantage of the trilateral meeting was to bring all three parties together at one table in real time to speed up the process, the source said.

The talks also included a discussion over allowing humanitarian imports of fuel into Gaza.

Reuters

Senior Hamas officials including political leader Ismail Haniyeh and its former chief Khaled Meshaal arrived in Cairo on Thursday, a statement by the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip said.

The high-level Hamas delegation met with the head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, Abbas Kamel, and discussed the situation in Gaza, the statement added.

Reuters

At least 10,812 Palestinians, including 4,412 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Thursday.

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, India on Thursday called for immediate and unconditional release of hostages while also urged to de-escalate the situation to resume direct peace negotiations towards a two state solution.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that India has also shared its concern over the rising death toll of civilians during conflict.

“We (India) made our position very clear on multiple occasions during the UNGA debate. We have strongly condemned the horrific attack on Israel, urged the need for zero tolerance for terrorism and called for immediate and unconditional release of hostages,”he said while strongly condemning the barbaric Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

Retierating India’s stand for supporting two-state solution for resolving the Isreal-Palestine issuse, Bagchi said,”We have also conveyed our deep concern at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the increasing civilian toll and welcomed efforts to de-escalate the situation and provide humanitarian assistance. We have also urged the parties to de-escalate violence and work towards creating conditions for early resumption of direct peace negotiations towards a two state solution.”

ANI

Saudi Arabia is hosting Arab leaders and Iran’s president for two summits this weekend on the ongoing war in Gaza, which is raising fears of a regional escalation.

The emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation come after over one month of Israeli bombardment has killed more than 10,000 people in Gaza, many of them children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

With Israel’s leaders rebuffing talk of a ceasefire until the captives are freed, anger in Saudi Arabia over the Palestinian death toll comes amid worries the war could destabilise the wider region and fears this could thwart the kingdom’s attempts to transition the economy away from oil.

The world’s biggest oil exporter and its neighbours are “united in fearing one thing in particular, which is a broader escalation”, said Elham Fakhro of Chatham House.

Two Gulf countries -- the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain -- normalised relations with Israel in 2020, while Saudi Arabia has considered doing so, and all three cooperate with Israel’s staunch ally the United States on security matters.

AFP

NATO allies support humanitarian pauses in the war between Israel and Hamas to allow aid to reach Gaza, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

International law must be respected and civilians be protected in the conflict, he told reporters in Berlin as he addressed the media before a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“The war in Gaza must not turn into a major regional conflict. Iran and Hezbollah must stay out of this fight,” he added.

Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron opened a Gaza aid conference on Thursday with an appeal for Israel to protect civilians as it fights Hamas, saying “all lives have equal worth” and that fighting terrorism “can never be carried out without rules.”

The gathering in Paris brought together officials from Western and Arab nations, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, with the aim of providing urgent aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip that is being pounded by Israel in its war against Hamas. Israeli authorities weren’t invited but have been informed of the talks, Macron’s office said.

Macron reiterated calls for a humanitarian pause in Israel’s operations. He said that by attacking Israel on Oct. 7, Hamas “shouldered the responsibility for exposing Palestinians to terrible consequences,” and he again defended Israel’s right to defend itself.

But Macron also stressed that civilians must be protected. “It’s absolutely essential. It is non-negotiable,” he said.

“All lives have equal worth and there are no double standards for those of us with universal and humanist values,” he said.

“Fighting terrorism can never be carried out without rules. Israel knows that. The trap of terrorism is for all of us the same: giving in to violence and renouncing our values,” he added.

AP

The Palestinian Authority declined a partial transfer of tax revenues from Israel, the Palestinian finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

October salaries for public sector workers will be delayed, the ministry added.

Reuters

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Ibrahim Raisi that Ankara was ready to assume guarantor role to resolve crisis between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza, Turkish presidency said on Thursday.

Erdogan and Raisi met on the sidelines of a summit of Economic Cooperation Organisation in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, according to a statement of the Turkish presidency.

Reuters

Israeli strikes pounded Gaza City overnight into Thursday as ground forces battled Hamas militants in dense urban neighborhoods from which tens of thousands have fled in recent days.

Israeli troops were around 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Shifa Hospital in the heart of downtown, the hospital’s director said. Israel has been vague on troop movements, but officials say Gaza’s largest city is the focus of their campaign to crush Hamas following its deadly Oct. 7 assault inside Israel.

Amid a drumbeat of international concern over dire conditions inside Gaza, mediators were closing in on a possible deal for a three-day cease-fire in exchange for the release of around a dozen hostages held by Hamas, according to two Egyptian officials, a United Nations official and a Western diplomat. The deal would also allow a small amount of fuel to enter the territory, which is currently reliant on generators for electricity, for the first time since the war began.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said any temporary cease-fire would have to be accompanied by the release of hostages. Israel has said around 240 hostages are currently held in Gaza. Their plight has galvanized Israeli support for the war despite growing international concerns.

AP

Across Germany, in schools, city halls, synagogues, churches and parliament, people came together Thursday to commemorate the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht — or the “Night of Broken Glass” — in 1938 in which the Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany’s main Jewish leader, Josef Schuster, spoke at an anniversary ceremony at a Berlin synagogue that was attacked with firebombs last month.

“Jews have been particularly affected by exclusion for centuries,” Scholz said in his speech.

“Still and again here in our democratic Germany — and that after the breach of civilization committed by Germans in the Shoah,” they are being discriminated against, the chancellor added, referring to the Holocaust by its Hebrew name.

“That is a disgrace. It outrages and shames me deeply,” Scholz said. “Any form of antisemitism poisons our society. We do not tolerate it.”

The commemoration of the pogrom comes at a time when Germany is again seeing a sharp rise in antisemitism following Hamas’ brutal attack that killed 1,400 people in Israel on Oct. 7 and triggered an ongoing war in Gaza.

AP

Italy is sending a hospital ship to the Middle East to aid the Palestinian population, which is expected to arrive “in a couple of days”, the defence ministry told AFP Thursday.

The navy ship “Vulcano”, which is equipped with operating rooms, is carrying 30 medical staff and is heading initially to Cyprus, according to details published by the ministry.

It is expected to arrive “in a couple of days, weather permitting”, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP, without confirming how close the ship would get to Gaza.

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Wednesday the navy ship would be followed “in the next few days” by an army field hospital -- efforts he said were “a concrete sign of the humanitarian aid our country is sending to the Gaza Strip”.

AFP

Wix.com, which helps small businesses build and operate websites, reported a higher-than-expected rise in quarterly net profit, and said Israel’s war with Islamist militant group Hamas in Gaza was not impacting its business.

The Israeli company posted earnings of $1.10 per diluted share, excluding one-time items, compared with 6 cents per share a year earlier. Revenue for the July-September quarter grew 14% to $394 million.

Analysts expected Wix to earn 67 cents per share excluding one-time items on revenue of $383 million, LSEG data showed.

Reuters

Egypt on Thursday condemned “international silence on violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israel” at a Paris conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza, under bombardment by Israel since the October 7 attack by Hamas.

“What the Israeli government is doing far exceeds the right to self-defence,” Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry told the conference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, complaining of an “imbalance” in “the international conscience”.

AFP

Israeli troops and Hamas were locked in heavy, close quarters fighting in Gaza City on Thursday, including a 10-hour battle that Israel said toppled one of the Palestinian militants’ “strongholds”.

Hamas fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and assault rifles were clashing with Israeli soldiers backed by armoured vehicles in the ruins of the besieged territory’s north.

Broken palm trees, mangled road signs and twisted lampposts marked the remains of what was once north Gaza’s main arterial route, an AFP journalist saw while embedded with Israeli troops on a controlled visit.

Israeli flags were flying over buildings at beach resorts in northern Gaza and there was little sign of any human presence amid the destruction as hundreds of thousands have fled a dire humanitarian situation.

-AFP

Palestinians need international protection, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told an aid conference in Paris on Thursday.

He said international human rights law was being violated and that war crimes were being committed and added that Israel was not waging a war against Hamas, but against all Palestinians.

-Reuters

Britain’s interior minister Suella Braverman faced criticism on Thursday after accusing police of double standards on what she called “pro-Palestinian mobs” before a politically charged rally on Armistice Day.

Police have said they cannot legally ban Saturday’s march in support of Palestinians under Israeli bombardment following Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

Braverman, writing in The Times daily on Thursday, was scathing about the Met’s policing of different groups.

“Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law,” she wrote.

The outspoken Braverman, who has branded the pro-Palestinian rallies “hate marches”, said she did not believe they were “merely a cry for help for Gaza”.

She said she believed they were more about an “assertion of primacy by certain groups -- particularly Islamists”.

-AFP

President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that France will increase aid for Palestinians from 20 million euros to 100 million euros in 2023.

-Reuters

Saudi Arabia is hosting Arab leaders and Iran’s president for two summits this weekend on the ongoing war in Gaza, which is raising fears of a regional escalation.

With Israel’s leaders rebuffing talk of a ceasefire until the captives are freed, anger in Saudi Arabia over the Palestinian death toll comes amid worries the war

-AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that there must be a humanitarian pause very quickly in Gaza and that countries must also work for a ceasefire.

“Civilians must be protected, that’s indispensable and non negotiable and is an immediate necessity,” Macron said at the start of a humanitarian conference on Gaza in Paris.

-Reuters

The cost to the economy of Israel’s depleted workforce, which has been significantly impacted during the war with the Islamist militant group Hamas in Gaza, is 2.3 billion shekels ($600 million) a week, the Bank of Israel said on Thursday.

Those costs stem from the closing of many schools nationwide, the evacuation of about 144,000 workers from areas near the borders with Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the drafting of military reservists, said the central bank.

-Reuters

Hundreds of journalists have stormed the streets of Karachi to express solidarity with the civilians killed in Gaza, including journalists.

Among the Palestinian casualties are at least 40 journalists, ARY News reported.

Nine journalists have been taken into custody, three are reported missing, and eight journalists have been injured, according to a report released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

-ANI

In their first debate since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Republican presidential candidates all declared support for Israel but squabbled over China and Ukraine as they faced growing pressure to try to catch Donald Trump, who was again absent.

All the candidates said they were staunchly behind Israel as it mounts an offensive in Gaza. The candidates did not discuss humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza.

Several also said they would pressure college campuses to crack down on antisemitism.

Read the story here.

Negotiations are underway to reach a three-day humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about a dozen hostages held by Hamas. That’s according to two officials from Egypt, one from the United Nations and a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic efforts.

The deal would enable more aid, including limited amounts of fuel, to enter the besieged territory to alleviate worsening conditions for the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped there. It is being brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, according to the officials and the diplomat.

AP

Officials from Western and Arab nations, the United Nations and nongovernmental organisations are gathering Thursday in Paris for a conference on how to provide aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s war with Hamas, including proposals for a humanitarian maritime corridor and floating field hospitals.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has called for a “humanitarian pause” in the war, wants the conference to address the besieged Palestinian enclave’s growing needs including food, water, health supplies, electricity and fuel.

Over 50 nations are expected to attend including several European countries, the United States and regional powers like Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf countries, the French presidency said. Also attending is Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.

Israeli authorities won’t participate in Thursday’s conference, the Elysee said.

PTI

The United States has given Israel its unequivocal support in its war with Hamas, though it wants its ally not to besiege or reoccupy Gaza, and to mitigate the deepening humanitarian crisis.

Washington has backed Israel’s rejection of a ceasefire in the war, and also stands with Israel in its determination to crush Hamas following the horrific October 7 attacks.

“Ultimately, the only way to ensure that this crisis never happens again is to begin setting the conditions for durable peace and security, and to frame our diplomatic efforts now with that in mind,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday after a Group of 7 meeting in Japan.

AFP

Some 80 countries and international organisations meet in Paris on Thursday to coordinate aid and assess how to help the wounded in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, although expectations for concrete results are low without some pause in fighting.

France offered support for Israel after a deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas Islamists, yet Israel’s retaliatory bombardment has raised concerns as civilian casualties have soared. Thousands have been killed, wounded and displaced in Gaza.

“It’s not a secret for anybody that access is difficult today in Gaza for basic necessities, medicines, water, etc… So the object is really to work with all the participants and also with Israel ... to allow improved access,” a French presidential official told reporters ahead of the conference.

Reuters

Nearly half of Democrats disapprove of how President Joe Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research — showing a deep divide within his party over the war.

The poll found 50% of Democrats approve of how Biden has navigated the conflict while 46% disapprove — and the two groups diverge substantially in their views of U.S. support for Israel. Biden’s support on the issue among Democrats is down slightly from August, as an AP-NORC poll conducted then found that 57% of Democrats approved of his handling of the conflict and 40% disapproved.

Nearly 7 in 10 Democrats approving of Biden’s management of the conflict think the U.S. provides the right amount of support to Israel currently. Of those who disapprove, 65% say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel. That gap between Democrats who approve and those who disapprove has widened substantially since the poll conducted in August.

AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan on Thursday, while Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi were expected in Uzbekistan, amid renewed diplomatic interest in the region.

Central Asia’s former Soviet republics have sought to diversify their partnerships as Moscow’s sway over the region -- which it considers as under its sphere of influence -- has waned since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The Russian leader and his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev nevertheless praised their countries’ relationship in interviews ahead of their planned meeting in Astana.

“Our strategic partnership is truly forward-looking,” Mr. Putin said, while Mr. Tokayev praised an “alliance with a rich past and a bright future”.

AFP

Israeli air strikes pounded Gaza City Thursday as soldiers battled street-by-street with Hamas militants, and tens of thousands of Palestinians desperate for safety fled their homes southwards in the besieged territory.

After more than a month of intense bombardment, hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in a “dire humanitarian situation” in battle zones without enough food and water, the United Nations said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that his forces were “tightening the stranglehold” around Gaza City, as they pressed an offensive launched in response to the Hamas attacks on October 7 that killed 1,400 people in Israel, mainly civilians.

AFP

The pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up as Israel’s air and ground campaign there intensifies. The pace appeared to be greater Wednesday, after the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said about 15,000 people fled Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday.

The densely populated northern area of Gaza, specifically Gaza City and adjacent crowded urban refugee camps, is the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas. This militant group has ruled Gaza for 16 years. The war, now in its second month, was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

AP

A long line of thousands of Palestinians fled on foot from northern Gaza Wednesday — families, children and older adults crying babies — carrying only what they could take in their arms or on their backs.

They were seen in an Associated Press video walking down Gaza’s main north-south highway, heeding the Israeli military’s orders to evacuate during a five-hour window as its troops battled Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City. Some evacuees were pushing relatives in wheelchairs, with one older adult wheeled down the road in a hand truck.

Abeer Akeila left her home in Gaza City after relentless strikes forced all her neighbours to flee southward. She said life in the city has become increasingly difficult amid dwindling water and food supplies.

“There was shelling and bombardment overnight,” she said. “We didn’t have food or drinking water ... They struck the bakeries. There is no life in Gaza.”

AP

Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled the fighting and bombardment in Gaza, as Israel said it was tightening the “stranglehold” around Hamas and again rejected a ceasefire without the release of hostages.

Calls for a ceasefire to protect civilians have built over a month into the war sparked when Hamas attacked Israel and, according to Israeli officials, killed about 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and seized 239 hostages.

Aiming to destroy Hamas, Israel retaliated with a relentless bombardment and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip that, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, has killed more than 10,500 people, many of them children.

AFP

France’s President Emmanuel Macron will on Thursday host a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza although Israel, which has been bombarding the territory since an October 7 attack by Hamas, will be absent.

All governments nevertheless have “an interest in the humanitarian situation improving in Gaza, including Israel”, a Mr. Macron aide told reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the gathering.

AFP

Palestinians living in the heart of Gaza’s largest city said Wednesday they could see and hear Israeli ground forces closing in from multiple directions, accelerating the exodus of thousands of civilians as food and water become scarce and urban fighting between Israel and Hamas heats up.

The Israeli army has not given specifics on troop movements as it presses its ground assault, vowing to crush Hamas after its deadly Oct. 7 assault inside Israel. But residents said Israeli forces had moved into inner neighbourhoods of Gaza City amid intense bombardment all around the surrounding north.

AP

An Israeli tank rolls across a sandy moonscape, surrounded by rubble. Damaged buildings are visible in every direction. Toppled trees lie along the Mediterranean shoreline.

The Israeli military escorted international journalists into the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, giving them a glimpse of the aftermath of 12 days of heavy fighting in the area.

“It’s been a long two weeks of fighting,” said Lt. Col. Ido, whose last name was withheld under military guidelines. “We’ve lost some soldiers.”

AP

Italy is sending a hospital ship that will be stationed off the coast of Gaza to aid the Palestinian population, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announced Wednesday.

Mr. Crosetto said the mission is a concrete sign of Italy’s “closeness to the Palestinian people, distance from the Hamas terrorists.”

The ship Vulcano has 170 people on board, including medical and military personnel, and includes operating rooms. It will first head to Cyprus and then as close as possible to the conflict zone to provide emergency medical support, Mr. Crosetto said.

AP

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said it was likely that Israel would maintain a military presence in Gaza for a “period of time” after the ongoing war, but said the U.S. believes it would be a “mistake” for Israel to re-occupy the territory.

“I think all of us can foresee a period of time after the conflict is over where Israeli forces will likely still be in Gaza and will have some initial security responsibilities,” Mr. Kirby told CNN on Wednesday. “But for how long and where and to what size and scale and scope, I think it’s too soon to know.” Kirby said the U.S. was focused on devising a long-term governance structure for Gaza after the current conflict, but said that as yet there has been little prospect of a viable plan.

“I think where we are is: a lot of questions and not a lot of answers,” he said. “We know what we don’t want to see in the Gaza post-conflict, we don’t want to see Hamas in control, and we don’t want to see a re-occupation by Israel.”

He added: “We know that the United States can’t solve this alone,” and that the U.S. was engaging with regional and international partners on the matter.

AP

Israel’s military released video on Wednesday of what it says are combat engineers locating, entering and blowing up Hamas-built tunnels in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has destroyed 130 tunnels since the war began, according to Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman.

The videos show a soldier’s body camera footage inside what Israel said was a Hamas tunnel, its walls lined with cement and the shaft partially filled with sand. Another clip shows the mouth of what appears to be a tunnel in an open area near damaged buildings. There are clips of armoured excavators and bulldozers digging in the dirt, as well as explosions destroying tunnel entrances.

The Israeli military did not provide locations where the videos were filmed, and the images did not include any visible landmarks except for one shot showing the sea in the background, so The Associated Press could not independently confirm the videos.

Hamas is believed to have a massive underground network throughout Gaza, allowing it to transport weapons, supplies and fighters.

Israeli warplanes have bombed crowded urban neighbourhoods, saying the strikes target the tunnel system or Hamas commanders. But airstrikes can inflict only limited damage on the subterranean network.

AP

No wounded Palestinians or dual nationals were evacuated Wednesday from the Gaza Strip to Egypt via the Rafah crossing, a Palestinian official said.

The crossing point remained closed due to Israel’s refusal to approve the list of wounded who were to be evacuated, a Hamas official told AFP.

The Rafah terminal -- which connects the bombarded Gaza Strip to Egypt -- reopened on November 1 to allow the evacuation of foreigners and dual nationals stranded in the small Palestinian territory.

AFP

U.S. warplanes carried out a strike on an Iran-linked weapons storage facility in eastern Syria on Wednesday in response to attacks against American personnel, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

It is the second time in roughly two weeks that the United States has targeted a location in Syria it said was tied to Iran, which supports an array of groups that Washington blames for a spike in attacks on its forces in the Middle East.

The United States is striving to deter Iran and its proxies from turning the Israel-Hamas fighting into a regional war, but the repeated attacks and strikes in response risk a conflict between Washington and Tehran.

AFP

British Foreign Minister James Cleverly on Thursday arrived in Saudi Arabia to drive diplomatic efforts to find a resolution to the conflict in Gaza and southern Israel, the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement.

Mr. Cleverly will meet with Foreign Ministers from the Middle East and will discuss efforts to prevent wider regional escalation, including in Lebanon and Yemen.

Mr. Cleverly will also discuss initiatives to increase the volume of aid reaching civilians in besieged Gaza, including medicines, fuel and water, and ensure a pipeline of funds and supplies to support the relief effort, the statement added.

The Minister is set to reaffirm Britain’s support for humanitarian pauses in the fighting as soon as possible to deliver aid and open a window for hostages, including British nationals, to be released.

Reuters