Israel has struck a high-rise building in Gaza City after warning residents to evacuate. Strikes elsewhere in Gaza City killed at least 27 people, health officials said. The military accuses Hamas of using high-rises for surveillance and plans more targeted strikes. Israel has declared Gaza City a combat zone, sparking protests among Israelis worried about hostages. Hamas released a video of two hostages pleading for an end to the war. Israel's offensive has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Health officials in Gaza say Israeli strikes killed at least 28 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, overnight and into Thursday. Hamas and Israel reiterated their incompatible demands for ending the nearly two-year war sparked by the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack. Meanwhile the Gaza Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll from the nearly two-year Israel-Hamas war has climbed past 64,000. The latest update includes around 400 people who were listed as missing and are now confirmed dead, according to the ministry.
Pope Leo and Vatican insist on 2-state solution to end Gaza war during meeting with Israel president
Pope Leo XIV and his top diplomats have told Israel’s president that a two-state solution is the “only way out of the war,” in Gaza. During a meeting Thursday, the Vatican called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and entry of humanitarian aid to famine-stricken Palestinians there. The Vatican issued an unusually detailed statement following Leo’s meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who met with the Vatican secretary of state and foreign minister. The audience marked the first by history’s first American pope with the Israeli head of state. Leo spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July after an Israeli shell hit the only Catholic church in Gaza, killing three people and wounding the parish priest.
Israel is mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists as part of a gradual call-up tied to its expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip's largest city. The military on Tuesday began to call up reservists weeks after it said it would mobilize 60,000 and extend the service of an additional 20,000 already on active duty. It also said ground and air forces were pressing forward and pursuing more targets in northern and central Gaza. Israel struck two western Gaza City neighborhoods that Israeli forces have repeatedly invaded during the nearly two-year war.
Belgium plans to recognize a Palestinian state, joining a growing list of countries to take the step. The plans were announced by the country's foreign minister on Tuesday. However, the recognition depends on the return of Israeli hostages and the removal of Hamas from power in Gaza, making it unlikely to be formalized anytime soon. Belgium also plans to ban goods from Israeli settlements. The announcement has sparked criticism from Israel's far-right ministers. France and the UK have also announced plans to recognize Palestine.
Israel has launched strikes across the Gaza Strip. Palestinian health officials say at least 31 people have been killed as the Israeli military presses ahead with a major offensive in Gaza City. Leading genocide scholars, meanwhile, have accused Israel of genocide. Those are allegations that the Israeli government vehemently rejects. Airstrikes and artillery shelling have echoed through Gaza City since Israel declared the territory’s largest city a combat zone last week. Residents have observed explosive-laden robots demolishing buildings on the city’s outskirts and in the Jabaliya refugee camp. Gaza City residents now face the twin threats of combat and hunger.
The Israeli military says it has killed the longtime spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing. The announcement was made Sunday as the country’s security cabinet met to discuss the expanding offensive in some of Gaza’s most populated areas. An official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press there were no plans to discuss negotiations for a ceasefire at the meeting. Israel has killed many of Hamas’ military and political leaders as it attempts to dismantle the group’s military capacity and prevent an attack like the one in 2023 that sparked the war. Health officials in Gaza reported more deaths from Israeli strikes and hunger.
An official tells The Associated Press that Israel plans to slow or halt humanitarian aid in parts of northern Gaza as it expands its offensive against Hamas. The official said Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City and reduce aid trucks as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of residents south. Israel on Friday declared Gaza City a combat zone and called it a Hamas stronghold. Aid groups say another large-scale evacuation will worsen the crisis as famine spreads in Gaza City. Meanwhile, Israel says the remains of a hostage recovered in Gaza are of Idan Shtivi.
Israel says it has identified the body of a hostage whose recovery was announced on Friday. Israel identifies him as Idan Shtivi. He was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Israel's military on Friday announced it had also recovered the body of hostage Ilan Weiss, who was killed in Kibbutz Be’eri. Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza of the over 250 seized. Israel has believed that 20 are still alive. The four non-Israeli hostages are two Thai nationals, a Tanzanian and a Nepalese national.
The Gaza Health Ministry says the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 63,000 as Palestinians face the start of Israel’s expanded offensive in Gaza City. The count does not distinguish between fighters and civilians killed in the 22-month war between Israel and Hamas. The ministry says five people have died from malnutrition-related causes over the past day, raising the toll to 322, including 121 children, since the war began. A military official says Israel intends to continue helping aid reach Gaza City during the offensive, but a U.N. humanitarian group fears “a horrific impact” on people already deprived of basic needs.