Palestinians report deadly Israeli airstrikes as U.S. urges humanitarian pause

The U.S. is trying to persuade Israel to take a humanitarian pause from airstrikes on Gaza, where Palestinians reported on Saturday that there were multiple fatalities across the besieged enclave.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making a new push to help civilians, and met with Arab foreign ministers on Saturday in Jordan. That was after his talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insisted there could be no temporary ceasefire until all hostages held by Hamas are released. President Joe Biden suggested Saturday that progress is being made on the humanitarian pause.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,448, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids. The UNRWA says 72 of its staff members have been killed.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.

Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday under an apparent agreement among the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.

Here’s what is happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:

PRESIDENT BIDEN HINTS AT PROGRESS ON PERSUADING ISRAEL TO PAUSE ATTACKS

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — President Joe Biden suggested Saturday there have been some advances in U.S. attempts to persuade Israel to pause military strikes on Gaza for humanitarian reasons.

In a brief exchange with reporters as he left St. Edmond Roman Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Biden was asked if there was progress, and he responded, “Yes,” but did not share specifics.

This comes after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Arab counterparts Saturday. He disagreed with them on the need for an immediate ceasefire and made clear the furthest he would go was backing a pause for aid to reach civilians in Gaza. Blinken said a ceasefire would leave Hamas in place.

FAMILIES AND SUPPORTERS OF HOSTAGES IN GAZA CALL FOR THEIR RELEASE ‘NOW’

TEL AVIV, Israel — Thousands of people have joined a demonstration in Tel Aviv organized by families of some 240 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.

“Now!” the crowd chanted repeatedly, calling for hostages to be freed without delay after nearly a month in captivity. Many held pictures of the hostages, who include children and older people.

Hadas Kalderon of Kibbutz Nir Oz whose two children were kidnapped, ages 16 and 12, called for a ceasefire in exchange for the return of the hostages.

Hamas militants abducted the hostages in an Oct. 7 cross-border raid that triggered the latest Israel-Hamas war. The plight of the hostages and their families has captured the nation’s attention.

Ella Ben-Ami, a 23-year-old Israeli whose parents were abducted, said she held Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible.

She called for a halt in all humanitarian aid to Gaza until the hostages are freed.

THOUSANDS IN WASHINGTON PROTEST BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S SUPPORT OF ISRAEL

WASHINGTON — Thousands of mostly young people filled the streets of downtown Washington, D.C., on Saturday afternoon to protest the Biden administration’s support of Israel and its continued military campaign in Gaza.

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” chanted demonstrators. They wore black and white keffiyehs as an enormous Palestinian flag was unfurled by a crowd that filled Pennsylvania Avenue, the street leading up to the White House.

Dozens of small white body bags with the names of children killed lined the street and demonstrators held signs calling for an immediate ceasefire.

CARRIER GROUP ARRIVES IN THE MIDDLE EAST BOOSTING U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE

BEIRUT — The U.S. Central Command says the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East and the CENTCOM area of responsibility as part of the increase in regional posture.

The Eisenhower sailed into the Mediterranean last Saturday as the American forces expand their presence in the Middle East to deter Iran and its proxy militant groups from trying to widen the Israel-Hamas war.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and its strike group had moved through the Strait of Gibraltar earlier this week, putting two American carriers in the Mediterranean Sea, a rare sight in recent years.

The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is already in the eastern Mediterranean, part of a buildup of forces as the U.S. supports Israel in its war against Hamas.

ISRAELI PROTESTERS CALL ON NETANYAHU TO RESIGN

JERUSALEM — Thousands of Israelis are protesting outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in central Jerusalem, calling on the Israeli leader to resign in the wake of the bloody Oct. 7 Hamas rampage that sparked the latest Israel-Hamas war.

Netanyahu has so far refused to take responsibility for the Oct. 7 attack, in which several thousand Hamas militants burst into Israel and killed over 1,400 people and took some 240 hostages back to Gaza. He says officials, including himself, will have to give answers to the public, but only after the war.

Israel has carried out weeks of airstrikes and launched a ground offensive in Gaza, with Palestinian health officials saying over 9,000 people were killed in the fighting.

During Saturday night’s protest, demonstrators called on Netanyahu to step down and called for the return of the hostages. They also held a moment of silence for victims of the attack and those in captivity.

“Where were you in Kfar Azza,” chanted the protesters, referring to one of the Israeli border communities that was overrun by Hamas.

“I came here to rescue the country,” said Nava Hefetz, a rabbi and human rights activist, who attended the protest.

THOUSANDS RALLY FOR PALESTINIANS AND A CEASEFIRE IN GAZA

BERLIN — Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Berlin waving flags and demanding the end of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

German news agency dpa reported that about 6,000 protesters marched through Berlin’s centre after calls from Arab and German leftist organizations to join the demonstration on Saturday afternoon.

Around 1,000 police officers were on duty to prevent possible clashes after several previous pro-Palestinian protests in Berlin turned violent in the past four weeks.

Police banned any kind of public or written statements that are antisemitic, anti-Israeli or glorify violence or terror.

Several thousand protesters also marched through the western Germany city of Duesseldorf in support of Palestinians.

BLINKEN SAYS A CEASEFIRE WOULD BENEFIT HAMAS

AMMAN, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts from Egypt and Jordan agreed on the need to do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but a clear point of division emerged on the question of a possible ceasefire.

Though the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers urged an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Blinken took the position that that would be counterproductive and made clear the furthest he would go was supporting a humanitarian pause to give time for humanitarian supplies to be delivered and getting civilians out of Gaza.

“It is our view now that a ceasefire would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7,” Blinken said at the news conference after the talks, referring to Hamas’ attack on southern Israel that triggered the latest Gaza war.

GERMANY’S VICE-CHANCELLOR CALLS FOR DESTRUCTION OF HAMAS

BERLIN — German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said in a video speech Saturday to members of his party, The Greens, that “basically, Hamas must be destroyed because it is destroying the process of peace in the Middle East.”

Habeck added, according to German news agency dpa, that Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack “requires a necessary consequence from Israel.”

The vice-chancellor said that “the Palestinians also have the right to their own state,” but added that Hamas has no interest in such a solution.

Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in its war with Hamas.

JORDAN SAYS ARAB COUNTRIES DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters Saturday that though he condemned the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 and that though “nobody in their right mind” would “belittle” the pain felt by Israel that day, the war in Gaza could not be permitted to continue.

“The whole region in sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come,” Safadi said after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

Palestinians look at the destruction after Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip in Khan Younis, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

He said the Arab countries were demanding an immediate ceasefire, a more dramatic action than the humanitarian pauses supported by the Biden administration to allow for the delivery of food and other supplies and to enable time to secure the release of hostages.

“We don’t accept that this is self-defence,” Safadi said, adding, “It cannot be justified under any pretext and it will not bring Israel security, it will not bring the region peace.”

THOUSANDS MARCH IN PARIS AS POLICE KEEP A WARY EYE

PARIS — Several thousand protesters calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza are taking part in a pro-Palestinian march through the rain-dampened streets of Paris, with some shouting “Israel, assassin.”

Demonstrators are also taking aim at French President Emmanuel Macron, chanting “Macron, accomplice.” Some are carrying placards that read “immediate ceasefire,” a cry also chanted repeatedly by the crowd. Banners on a sound-system truck at the centre of the march read “Stop the massacre in Gaza.”

Demonstrators are also chanting “Palestine will live, Palestine will win,” with many carrying Palestinian flags. The demonstrators’ planned route runs between two large public squares in eastern Paris, Republique and Nation. Paris’ police chief has authorized the march but vowed that any behaviour deemed antisemitic or sympathetic toward terrorism will not be tolerated by police officers mobilized to keep order

EGYPT, LEBANON URGE EFFORTS TO CONTAIN THE SITUATION, RELAUNCH PEACE TALKS

CAIRO — The Lebanese and Egyptian leaders urged the international community to intensify efforts to “contain the situation and avert expanding the scope of violence.”

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati flew to Cairo on Saturday for talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, after his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

According to a statement from el-Sisi’s office, they also affirmed the necessity of “relaunching the peace track and implement the state-state solution principle to achieve justice, security and stability to the region’s peoples.”

PALESTINIANS IN GAZA STRUGGLING TO FIND FOOD

JERUSALEM — Palestinians in besieged Gaza say it has become increasingly difficult to find food as supermarkets shelves empty faster than the trickle of trucks carrying humanitarian aid through the southern Rafah crossing can distribute.

A rising number of bakeries have also stopped operating due to the fuel and water shortages as well as airstrike damage.

Residents and officials have also complained that there’s not enough food coming through Rafah and much of it has already expired or will expire before it can reach people in need.

Palestinian children wait for a food distribution in a displaced tent camp, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesperson for the Rafah crossing, said that in recent days the trucks have contained far more body bags than canned food. He claimed that recently delivered biscuits had already expired and were inedible.

Lynn Hastings, a senior UN official based in Jerusalem, said she was aware of the reports of expired food but could not independently confirm them as the World Food Program’s food shipments of date bars wouldn’t expire for another month.

The WFP has warned that widespread food insecurity across Gaza was quickly becoming a serious crisis.

“There is a real threat of malnutrition and people starving,” said Alia Zaki, a spokesperson for the WFP. “There is some food that’s still available but people can’t reach it. The situation of catastrophic.”

GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS 231 KILLED IN THE PAST DAY

CAIRO — The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza says at least 231 people were killed in the past day, brining the death toll to at least 9,488 since the war began between Israel and the Palestinian militants.

The fatalities included 3,900 children and 2,509 women, said the ministry’s spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra, adding that more than 24,000 people were also wounded since Oct. 7.

He said 16 hospitals and 32 primary health care centres are out of service because of a lack of fuel and Israeli bombardment across the strip.

He appealed for the immediate delivery of fuel to Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, to keep it operating.

AT LEAST 21 REPORTED WOUNDED IN AIRSTRIKE NEAR HOSPITAL

CAIRO — The Palestinian Red Crescent says at least 21 people taking shelter outside Al-Quds hospital in Gaza city were wounded Saturday afternoon when an Israeli airstrike hit a building close to the entrance of the emergency ward.

Writing on X platform, formerly Twitter, the charity said the bombing, the closest to the facility, stoked panic and fear among displaced families camping outside the hospital. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel’s military has repeatedly demanded the evacuation of the hospital and other medical facilities in northern Gaza. Such a demand was deemed impossible by the UN health agency and other aid groups given the increasing number of patients and thousands of people sheltering in the facilities.

LEBANON REPORTS ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES AND HEZBOLLAH SHELLING

RMEISH, Lebanon — Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes along the border with Lebanon Saturday as the militant Hezbollah group attacked several Israeli army posts along the tense frontier.

Black smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The escalation came a day after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his powerful group is already engaged in unprecedented fighting along the border and threatened a further escalation.

Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters attacked at least six Israeli posts along the border with “suitable rockets and weapons.”

On the outskirts of the border village of Rmeish, an Israeli airstrike in a rugged area along the border caused thick gray smoke. Artillery shelling could be heard from a distance.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported airstrikes on the outskirts of several border villages including Labbouneh and Hibarieh.

ERDOGAN SAYS HE CAN NO LONGER SPEAK WITH NETANYAHU

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he could no longer speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in light of the bombardment of Gaza, Turkish media reported Saturday.

“Netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to. We erased him and threw him away,” Erdogan told journalists on a flight back from a summit in Kazakhstan.

Erdogan, however, added that his foreign minister and intelligence chief would continue to talk to “the Israeli side” as well as Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

Turkiye announced Saturday that it was recalling its ambassador to Tel Aviv for consultations. Israel withdrew its diplomatic staff from Turkiye within two weeks of the war following mass protests at its embassy in Ankara and the Istanbul consulate.

Erdogan, in remarks reported by state-run Anadolu news agency and other Turkish media, also reiterated the possibility of Turkiye being a guarantor for any future long-term peace deal between Israel and Palestine.

“If Greece can be a guarantor country, England can be a guarantor country and Turkiye is a guarantor country in Cyprus, why can’t there be a similar structure in Gaza?” the president said, referring to a 1960 treaty on the east Mediterranean island.

He added that Ankara was “taking initiatives and developing formulas” to find peace.

Criticizing international support for Israel, Erdogan said “the whole West, especially America, is currently on Israel’s side” and that people “should not expect a fair attitude” from the European Union over Gaza.