Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected two key demands Hamas has made during indirect cease-fire talks, saying Israel will not withdraw from the Gaza Strip or release thousands of jailed militants.
During an event Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu again vowed that the war would not end without Israel’s “absolute victory” over Hamas.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces working undercover killed three Palestinian militants in a raid on a hospital in the West Bank, where violence has surged since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
The Israeli military said forces entered the Ibn Sina hospital in the northern city of Jenin early Tuesday and shot the three men, whom Hamas claimed as members. The military said the men were using the hospital as a hideout and that at least one was planning an attack.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the Israeli forces opened fire inside the hospital’s wards and called on the international community to stop Israeli operations in hospitals.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, most of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
The Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that sparked the war killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and about 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Currently:
— Biden says he’s decided on response to the killing of 3 US troops in Jordan
— Where do the parties stand on efforts to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages?
— A Palestinian with a group waving a white flag is killed. Israel says it will look into it.
— Document spells out allegations against 12 U.N. employees Israel says participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s the latest:
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met behind closed doors with 35 donor nations and appealed again for a restoration of funding and new donations for the embattled U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
The U.N. chief briefed the ambassadors, including from the European Union, late Tuesday on actions he had taken following accusations that 12 employees of the agency known as UNRWA participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel. He has called the Israeli allegations “horrific” and launched an investigation.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told reporters after the meeting that the secretary-general appealed to many countries that suspended funding to UNRWA after the allegations “to reconsider” and urged other countries “including those in the region, to step up to the plate.”
Mansour said 153 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 — the largest number of U.N. personnel killed in an operation since World War II — and urged donors not to take steps “that constitute a collective punishment against millions of Palestinians refugees.” He praised Norway, Spain and others who said they would not suspend aid.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters earlier that “no other organization than UNRWA has the infrastructure to do what they do” in Gaza and the Middle East and “it’s not feasible in any way, shape or form” to quickly replace the U.N. agency.
Dujarric also told reporters that every year UNRWA provides a list of its 13,000 staff in Gaza to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. “As far as I’m told by UNRWA, concerns have not been raised when the list of staff have been shared,” he said.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council is calling for urgent action to expand the flow of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.
The council on Tuesday issued a statement expressing concern at“the dire and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation” in the conflict-wracked territory.
The council urged all parties to engage with the U.N.’s new humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag. She is trying to accelerate aid deliveries to hundreds of thousands of civilians desperately in need of food, water, medicine and other assistance.
The brief council statement was read to reporters after the 15 council members met with Kaag behind closed doors.
Kaag later told reporters she was “very encouraged” by support from the council, which created her post to respond to the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. According to multiple U.N. agencies, more than half a million people in Gaza