(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a Hamas command center was hidden after Israeli troops raided a Gaza City hospital this week. Israel distributed photographs and a brief video, in which a spokesman said there was a tunnel shaft at Shifa hospital, as pressure increased on the armed forces to provide evidence of Hamas’ presence at the site.
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Israel now controls Gaza’s port, the army said in a statement, after killing 10 militants, clearing nearby buildings and destroying 10 tunnel shafts. People in the southern Gaza Strip reported that Israel had dropped leaflets near Khan Younis urging them to flee, raising fears that Israel was expanding its fight against Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and Europe. Is.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the focus on the Israel-Hamas war had slowed supplies of artillery shells to Kiev, weakening the war effort as retaliation against Russia stalled.
For more stories on the Israel-Hamas war, click here.
UN says no aid trucks enter Gaza for second day (5:19 am)
No aid trucks entered Gaza for the second consecutive day on Thursday, the United Nations said in a daily update. Shortages of fuel for trucks are hampering the ability of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to receive and distribute goods, it said, adding that no vehicles were still expected on Friday due to a persistent communications blackout in Gaza. .
Blinken calls Jordanian official about field hospital injuries (3:20 am)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his counterpart in Jordan, Ayman Safadi, “to share his deep concern for the Jordanian medical personnel who were injured outside a Jordanian field hospital while providing critical medical care in Gaza,” the State Department said. Said.
“The Secretary reiterated that civilians and medical personnel in hospitals must be protected,” according to a statement from spokesman Matthew Miller.
Netanyahu says command center was under hospital (3 am)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country’s military had discovered a command center under al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip with bombs and weapons. The country has faced some criticism from leaders in the Middle East, the United Nations and elsewhere for the raid, with questions raised about whether its claims to the command center are justified by the evidence.
In an interview on CBS Evening News on Thursday, Netanyahu said that “terrorist ringleaders and terrorists” had fled the hospital grounds as Israeli forces approached.
“Now we are doing it very carefully, because we are trying to do the ethical thing, the right thing,” the Prime Minister said. “Depriving Hamas of this safe zone in the hospital but also neutralizing its use as a command center for terrorists.”
Blinken urges Israel to address ‘settler extremist violence’ (2:15 am)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Thursday with Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz, according to a State Department statement. Blinken “stressed the urgent need for positive steps to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank, including countering rising levels of settler-based extremist violence,” the department said.
Earlier this month, the West Bank Health Authority said eight Palestinians had been killed by migrants since October 7. According to the Israeli military, at least 17 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank since the beginning of the year, many of them settlers. In their call, Blinken and Gantz also talked about efforts to accelerate and increase the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the State Department said.
Zelensky says Israel-Hamas war is slowing Ukraine shale supplies (11:44 p.m.)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the focus on the Israel-Hamas war had slowed supplies of artillery shells to Kiev, weakening the war effort as retaliation against Russia stalled.
Militants in the Middle East have demanded the 155-millimeter shells, a key component to the weapons supply Ukraine needs to repel Russian aggression, the president said. The sudden demand comes at a sensitive moment, as the EU has signaled it is unlikely to fulfill a promise to deliver one million rounds of artillery by March.
“Our supplies have been depleted,” Zelensky told a group of journalists at his office in Kiev on Thursday. “This is life – and it is normal, because everyone is fighting for survival and we must protect ourselves too.”
US, EU are supporting UN forces in Gaza after war, increasing pressure on Israel (10:23 pm)
The US and its European allies are pushing for a plan to deploy an international peacekeeping force to the Gaza Strip after the war, according to people familiar with the matter, putting pressure on Israel to end its military campaign as civilian casualties mount. Is increasing.
The people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said U.S. and European officials recognize that major questions remain about whether such an operation in Gaza would be practical, and believe That Israel is highly skeptical about such a plan. But he said discussing the idea could also help Israel think more about ending the campaign and consider what might happen next.
Israeli soldiers uncover tunnel shaft at Shifa hospital (9:27 pm)
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari told a press conference that Israel forces found an operational tunnel shaft at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Apart from this, a vehicle was also found in the hospital which had a huge quantity of arms and ammunition. Hagari said the vehicle had been prepared for an attack on Israel on October 7, but was not used in the attack.
Israel distributed a 27-second video of what it said was the entrance to the tunnel.
US State Department defends Israel’s Shifa operation (9 PM)
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller hit back at journalists who questioned Israel’s evidence about the presence of Hamas fighters at the Shifa hospital, saying that photographs of ammunition and guns provided by Israeli forces should suffice.
“I didn’t know there was any acceptable threshold level for having rifles in hospitals,” Miller said, when asked about images released by Israel showing a small amount of weapons in a hospital during an ongoing military operation. were confiscated. “I’m from Texas. Even in Texas, we don’t have assault rifles in hospitals.”
On Wednesday, fuel was delivered to Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing for the first time, Miller said. Prior to delivery, trucks were not able to deliver aid across Gaza, he said, and warehouses storing aid brought from Egypt were filled, halting cross-border aid delivery.
Second gentleman visits Muslim student injured in suspected hate crime (8:46 pm)
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff met Thursday with a Muslim Stanford student who was injured in a hit-and-run that police are investigating as a hate crime.
Emhoff and U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussein met with Stanford student Abdulwahab Omira in the Gulf region for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. O’Meara, who is Arab American, alleges she was attacked by a white classmate who criticized “you and your people.”
The White House has sought to balance staunch support for Israel in the wake of last month’s attack by Hamas, as some Americans — and particularly younger voters — have expressed concern over the treatment of Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict. Civilian casualties are increasing. President Joe Biden has said the federal government is supporting state and local law enforcement amid concerns over both anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents.
Israel drops leaflets telling Gazans to flee around the southern city (7:30 pm)
Residents in the eastern areas of the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip shared photos of posters written in Arabic asking them to go to “known shelters”.
The leaflets raised fears that Israel was preparing to escalate its military campaign against Hamas in the south into areas it had previously suggested would be safe for civilians.
Gaza Strip telecom services ‘out of service’ (4:31 pm)
All telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip have been “out of service” because all energy sources maintaining the network have been exhausted, with fuel no longer allowed, Paltel, the territory’s main telecommunications provider, said in a post on Twitter.
Egypt denies it was pressured to evacuate Palestinians from Gaza (3:45 pm)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said his country was not pressured by the US to evacuate Palestinians from Gaza, and was working with its international partners to free Israeli hostages held by terrorists in the Cairo Strip. Had been.
Shoukry’s comments to reporters came in response to a question about whether the US and Israel had offered financial incentives to allow Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war to return to Israel. Egypt has repeatedly and vehemently rejected any proposal to relocate Gazans to North Sinai, saying such a move poses a threat not only to security, but to its own statehood. It also undermines Palestinian hopes.
No chance of stopping firing on Israel-Lebanon border (2:30 pm)
The Israeli military said it attacked a militant group attempting to launch anti-tank missiles from Lebanon, the latest in a string of almost daily shootings.
Earlier in the day, Israeli warplanes attacked Hezbollah military positions following an overnight attack from Lebanon that fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli community.
Egypt is preparing ambulances to transfer babies from Gaza to Egyptian hospitals, cabinet says (15:56 pm)
Egypt prepared ambulances and incubators at the Rafah crossing for the transfer of 35 infants from Gaza, the cabinet said in a statement.
Earlier this month, WHO said the lives of an estimated 130 premature babies would be in danger after incubators stopped running due to fuel shortages.
Germany raids Hezbollah-linked assets (10 am)
German authorities conducted nationwide raids on 54 properties as part of an investigation into an Islamist organization suspected of supporting the banned activities of Hezbollah.
“We are faced with an Islamist scenario,” Interior Minister Nancy Feser said in an emailed statement. He said, “Especially now, at a time when many Jews feel particularly threatened, we do not tolerate Islamist propaganda or anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incitement.” “That’s why we’re vigorously investigating every reasonable suspicion.”
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