Hamas has no plans to release hostages during the war, according to the group’s spokesman
Thousands of Gazans are Fighting in the Era of Emergency Relief: A U.S.-Military Evacuation
There are 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, and they are struggling to find clean, safe water, which raises new health concerns.
The UN said on Monday that 1 million people had been internally displaced in the wake of Israel’s order to evacuate northern Gaza. Conricus said Tuesday that around 500,000 Israelis have also been displaced in the south of Israel due to the hostilities.
Americans wishing to leave Israel are taking to planes and boats in a slow and uncertain process. The State Department says there are flights going out of Ben Gurion International Airport.
And on Sunday, U.S. nationals and their immediate relatives were told to report to the seaport in Haifa for a chance to board a U.S.-organized evacuation ship leaving Israel, bound for Crete. Some people were reportedly told to come back another time, after the crowds of people showed up.
The Israeli military says Hamas is “responsible for the humanitarian consequences” of the violence and chaos that followed last weekend’s attack and the ensuing evacuation order.
Those left behind included people who were wounded in Israel’s bombardment, as well as those who were disabled or elderly, who were unable to get out of the north.
The Israeli military dropped leaflets from the sky, telling people in northern Gaza to leave their homes. Many of the hundreds of thousands who did so traveled by foot, walking for miles. A mother is carrying her babies while heading south, with no guarantee of safety at the other end of their trek.
The Challenge of Providing Aid to Israel in Fighting Hamas: The U.S. Support for Israel’s Right to Defend Palestine
Israel will not stop hitting until it has completely eliminated Hamas. “Every Hamas member is a dead man,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week.
The United States sent a ship to the eastern Mediterranean in order to deter others. It also sent small diameter bombs to Israel, and is sending more missiles to Israel in order to shoot down Hamas rockets.
On Monday, Blinken met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog to reiterate U.S. support for Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas’ terrorism. The U.S. has a long-term commitment to assist Israel in protecting its citizens.
In order to allow 500 to 600 Americans, including Palestinians, to leave Gaza, the US wants the border to open. If the crossing is opened for people to leave, Egypt demands that it remain open to allow for aid to come in from Egypt’s side.
Even if the crossing does reopen, it’s an open question as to how the aid would be distributed. Roads leading to Rafah’s crossing have been destroyed, posing a serious challenge to any efforts to distribute fuel and water.
“We’re putting in place — with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel, with others — the mechanism by which to get the assistance in and to get it to the people who need it,” he said.
At the southern border of Gaza, trucks loaded with fuel, water and other supplies are waiting to cross over from Egypt to bring some relief to the area.
The Gaza Emergency Hospitals Under Siege: The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHAS) reports on Oct. 7
Losing electricity would plunge the hospitals into a new crisis as life support and other systems are shut down — even as more of the injured and dead continue to be brought in.
Hospitals in Gaza, which have been inundated with roughly 9,000 people wounded in Israeli attacks, only have enough fuel to keep their generators running through Monday night, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said late Sunday.
More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, the vast majority of that number during the unprecedented Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that included the taking of almost 200 hostages. Since then, Israel has killed more than 2,800 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which added that another 9,700 in Gaza have been wounded.
Mediators are pressing for an agreement that will allow aid to enter the Gaza Strip and refugees with foreign passports out of the enclave. The World Health Organization warns of an imminent public health crisis in Gaza.
Ghazi was unrepentant for his group’s attack on Israel because Palestinians are unable to find safe passage, health care and reliable water.
Of that attack, which started this latest conflict, Hamad said: “We want to get the attention of the world. We are under oppression and torture and collective punishment all the time. That’s the message we have for the world.
Those hostages include some military personnel, children and one Holocaust survivor, Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said early Tuesday morning during a briefing on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Hamad said he was more concerned with Palestinian civilians than the hostages. Israel shut off the supply of food and power to Gaza’s main electricity grid in the middle of the night last week, causing a lot of hardship for 2.3 million residents. Hospitals are struggling to care for thousands of injured people as fuel for generators is running out.
Osama Mazini: The U.S. Ambassador to Jordan, Jordan, and Tel Aviv for Military and Security Missions
According to the military, Osama Mazini was killed by Israel because he was responsible for prisoners taken by Hamas and for directing terrorist strikes against Israel.
The White House says that President Biden will visit Amman, Jordan, and Tel Aviv, Israel on Wednesday amidst fears of violence expanding across the region. In Israel, Biden will make a very visible show of U.S. support for the country. In Amman, Biden will meet with Jordanian King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said that while Biden is in the region, he will ask for an update on the hostage situation in which at least one American is being held by Hamas.
