Israel’s ground troops were advancing toward Gaza City as diplomatic efforts intensified for at least a brief pause in the fighting in Gaza’s deadliest war.
U.S. President Joe Biden suggested a humanitarian “pause” and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected back in the region on Friday. Arab countries, including those allied with the U.S. and at peace with Israel, have expressed mounting unease with the war.
WATCH: Some civilians trapped in Gaza allowed to cross into Egypt as Israeli airstrikes continue
The opening of the Rafah border crossing, allowing hundreds of foreign passport holders and wounded Palestinians to leave Gaza, followed weeks of talks among Egypt, Israel, the U.S. and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,061, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, 130 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and around 240 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.
Here’s what is happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
8:09 p.m. EDT
UN report: Israel used disproportionate force against Palestinians in West Bank in recent years
UNITED NATIONS – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a new report that Israel used disproportionate force against Palestinians in the West Bank and that in some cases killings “appeared to amount to extrajudicial executions.”
In the report circulated Thursday, Guterres said Israeli forces have escalated the use of deadly force in recent years across the West Bank, while attacks by Palestinians also rose. He said Israeli security forces killed 304 Palestinians, including 61 boys and 2 girls, in the West Bank and east Jerusalem during the two-year period ending May 31.
READ MORE: ICC says Israel, Hamas acts on Gaza border may be war crimes
In numerous instances monitored by the U.N. human rights agency, Guterres said “Israeli security forces apparently used force unnecessarily or in a disproportionate manner” that led to “a possible arbitrary deprivation of life,” which is prohibited under international humanitarian law.
The secretary-general said during the two-year period the number of Palestinians in Israeli detention increased considerably, and Israel continued restricting the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and to freedom of movement.
Israel says it will bar Palestinians in Gaza from working in Israel
JERUSALEM — Israel will stop providing funding to the Palestinian Authority earmarked for the Gaza Strip and will bar Palestinians in Gaza from working in Israel, the country said in a statement.
Though Hamas seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, the PA has continued to pay tens of thousands of civil servants in the strip. The decision by Israel’s Security Cabinet on Thursday would punish the cash-strapped PA for continuing those salaries.
“Israel is severing off all contact with Gaza,” the government statement read.
Under interim peace accords from the 1990s, Israel collects tax funds on behalf of Palestinians and transfers the money to the PA each month.
The statement also said Israel was revoking permits for the roughly 18,000 Palestinians from Gaza who were allowed to work inside Israel. The jobs were highly coveted in Gaza, an impoverished territory with an unemployment rate of roughly 50 percent.
Chilean president criticizes Israel’s response in Gaza after meeting with Biden
WASHINGTON — Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Thursday from outside the White House that the response from Israel has been “disproportionate and it is violating humanitarian international law.”
Boric’s administration recalled its ambassador to Israel earlier this week amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Boric was meeting with Biden in the Oval Office during his trip to the U.S. for the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Leaders’ Summit. The presidents did not speak about the conflict publicly during their remarks.
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But after, Boric came outside and spoke in Spanish.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip is simply unacceptable,” he said. “I want to be very clear: As president of Chile and my country, I have no hesitation in energetically and categorically condemning the terrorist attacks by Hamas. And we demand the liberation of all the hostages.”
5:02 p.m. EDT
4 civilians killed in Israeli bombardment of border area in southern Lebanon, media reports say
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says four civilians were killed Thursday afternoon in Israeli bombardment of a border area in southern Lebanon.
The agency said the four were killed in Israeli strikes on the Saluki Valley area.
Members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked 19 Israeli posts along the border Thursday, including one that was struck with two suicide drones.
Israeli retaliated with airstrikes and artillery shelling.
The latest deaths raise to 10 the number of civilians killed on the Lebanese side of the border since tension began to rise along the Lebanon-Israel border following the Oct. 7, attack by the Palestinian militant Hamas group on southern Israel.
Rockets fired from Lebanon injure 2 in northern Israeli town
JERUSALEM — Two people were injured after rockets fired from Lebanon hit the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, Israeli medical services said.
Videos released by the fire department and circulating on social media showed a street ablaze, a wrecked car and a damaged building in the town that had been mostly evacuated at the beginning of the war.
The military wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas said earlier on Thursday it had fired 12 rockets from Lebanon in retaliation for the “occupation’s massacres against our people in Gaza.”
The rocket fire came amid a major escalation along the Lebanon-Israel border with the militant group Hezbollah attacking Israeli positions with drones, mortar fire and suicide drones.
The Israeli military said it had retaliated with warplanes and helicopter gunships on Hezbollah command centers, arms depots and sites from where the rockets were fired.
2:17 p.m. EDT
A 4th Romanian-Israeli citizen is among those held hostage by Hamas, foreign ministry says
BUCHAREST, Romania — A fourth dual Romanian-Israeli citizen is among those currently held captive in the Gaza Strip, according to Romania’s foreign ministry.
The ministry previously said three dual citizens were being held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza, but updated that number to four on Thursday.
Since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, at least five Romanian citizens, all of whom resided in Israel and held dual Israeli citizenship, have been confirmed dead.
74 Americans evacuated from the Gaza Strip on Thursday
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that 74 Americans with dual citizenship have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip.
“We got out today 74 American folks out that are dual citizens,” Biden said, calling the update “good news.”
His remarks came during a meeting with the president of the Dominican Republic in the Oval Office.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the 74 Americans who left Gaza on Thursday came on top of the five Americans who left on Wednesday.
READ MORE: What is Hamas? What to know about its origins, leaders and funding
“I want to stress that these numbers are changing in real time.”
He said the White House hopes the flow of evacuations continues “at a similar pace, if not better than what we’ve seen,” and he cautioned that it’s “a fluid situation.”
Kirby thanked Qatar and Egypt for their assistance with the arrangements.
UNWRA says airstrikes damaged 4 of its schools-turned-shelters, reportedly killing 2 dozen people
CAIRO — Philippe Lazzarini, General Secretary of UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said four of its schools-turned-shelters were damaged by airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, reportedly killing at least 24 people.
In a statement, Lazzarini said the four facilities that were struck were in the Jabalia Refugee Camp, The Beach Refugee Camp, and two in the Al Bureij Refugee Camp. He said 20 people were reported to have been killed in the strike on the school in Jabalia.
“How much more grief and suffering?” Lazzarini said. “A humanitarian cease-fire is overdue for the sake of humanity.”
Hezbollah says it attacked 19 Israeli military posts Thursday along the Lebanon-Israel border
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says its fighters carried out a simultaneous attack Thursday against 19 Israeli military posts along the tense Lebanon-Israel border.
It said the attacks in which mortar fire and antitank missiles were used coincided with the two suicide drones that Hezbollah targeted an Israeli post in the disputed Chebaa Farms area with.
The Israeli military later said warplanes and helicopter gunships retaliated by striking at Hezbollah’s command centers, arms depots and sites from where the rockets were fired.
Hundreds rally in Bucharest in show of support for Israel
BUCHAREST, Romania — Around 200 people rallied in Romania’s capital on Thursday to pledge solidarity with Israel and the hostages being held by the Hamas militant group.
Held in central Bucharest, many attendees brandished placards depicting the faces of some of those kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, while others waved Israeli flags that read: “We stand with Israel.”
Israel’s ambassador to Romania, Reuven Azar, told the crowd that, “We are standing today here in solidarity with all the hostages” and referred to Hamas as a “force of barbarism.”
“They infiltrated our cities, they decapitated our people, our babies — they burned them alive,” he said. “They are the new ISIS, and ISIS must be eradicated, Hamas must be eradicated because Hamas is a threat to the entire world.”
Three dual Romanian-Israeli citizens are among those held captive in the Gaza Strip, according to Romania’s foreign ministry.
Since Hamas launched its attack on Israel nearly a month ago, at least five Romanian citizens, all of whom resided in Israel and held dual Israeli citizenship, have been confirmed dead.
22 Croatian citizens have left Gaza after passing through Rafah Crossing
ZAGREB, Croatia — Croatia’s state HRT television says 22 Croatian citizens have successfully left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing into Egypt.
The report on Thursday said 23 people initially applied to cross but one woman decided to stay after all. Those who crossed are undergoing medical checkups and will be transferred to Croatia soon.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said earlier there were 47 Croatian citizens in Gaza, but not all wanted to leave.
Netanyahu says Israel has not given approval for fuel shipments despite comments from Israeli army
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has not given approval for fuel shipments into the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu made the comments after Israel’s military chief said the army could agree to fuel shipments — if there are guarantees that they go only to hospitals and do not reach Hamas.
Speaking at a news conference Thursday, Netanyahu said there has been no decision on fuel imports.
“We are assisting with humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and water — that exists. There has been no decision on fuel.”
The United Nations and Gazan hospitals have warned that fuel supplies are quickly dwindling, threatening medical and humanitarian operations in the besieged area.
Israel has been conducting a fierce offensive in Gaza since a bloody, cross-border attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7.
Hamas says it fired 12 rockets from Lebanon toward north Israeli town
BEIRUT — The military wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas says it fired 12 rockets from Lebanon toward the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.
The Qassam Brigades said in a statement that Thursday’s rocket attack came in retaliation for the “occupation’s massacres against our people in Gaza.”
It was not immediately clear if the rockets fired from Lebanon hit the northern Israeli town.
The firing of the rockets came amid major escalation along the Lebanon-Israel border with Hezbollah attacking an Israeli army position with two suicide drones.
By sunset, Israel’s air force conducted airstrikes along the border area.
Fuel would be allowed into Gaza only with assurances it wouldn’t be diverted to Hamas, Israeli military chief says
JERUSALEM — Israel’s military chief says that Israel is willing to allow fuel shipments into the Gaza Strip — if there are assurances the fuel is not diverted to Hamas for military use.
Israel has barred all fuel shipments from entering Gaza since the war against Hamas erupted on Oct. 7. It says that Hamas is hoarding fuel and diverting it for military use. But many of the strip’s hospitals say they have been forced to limit or halt operations because of a lack of fuel for their generators.
Speaking to reporters, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that Israel is closely monitoring the fuel situation in Gaza and believes the hospitals still have enough to operate. He said when Israel is convinced that fuel has truly run out, it would be willing to allow in new supplies.
“We will see when that day comes and fuel will be delivered with supervision to the hospitals,” he said. “We will do everything so that it does not reach the Hamas infrastructure,” he added.
Halevi did not say when the fuel shipments might start.
Hezbollah says it attacked an Israeli post in disputed area using suicide drones
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says it has attacked an Israeli army post in a disputed area with two suicide drones filled with explosives.
Hezbollah said in a short statement that the drones “precisely” hit their targets Thursday in the disputed Chebaa Farms that Lebanon claims are Lebanese territories.
It was the first time that Hezbollah says it attacked Israeli forces using suicide drones.
Since the Israel-Hamas broke out on Oct. 7, Hezbollah has been attacking Israeli posts along the two countries border.
The drone attack is an escalation by the militant group and comes a day before Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to give his first televised speech since Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing over 1,400 Israeli troops and civilians.
The Palestinian death toll has reached more than 9,000, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
Israeli president meets with foreign ambassadors to discuss plight of those killed or kidnapped by Hamas
JERUSALEM — President Isaac Herzog of Israel met Thursday with ambassadors from countries whose citizens were killed and kidnapped by Hamas in the militant group’s brutal cross-border attack Oct. 7.
The meeting with ambassadors from Thailand, Nepal, the Philippines and Tanzania dealt with the plight of foreign workers killed and kidnapped in the attack. Many worked low-wage jobs in Israeli communities near the Gaza border as farmworkers and caregivers, or were students participating in programs to learn agricultural techniques.
“We are suffering a lot,” said Thai ambassador Pannabha Chandraramya, whose country saw 29 citizens killed by Hamas and 24 taken hostage. “The news about Israel is every day in the Thai media and we are concerned about the well-being of the Thai people who are still living here and working here in Israel,” she said.
Hamas also killed four Filipino caregivers and 10 Nepali students studying agriculture, according to the ambassadors. At least two Tanzanian agriculture students, two Nepalese citizens and two Filipino citizens were taken hostage.
Herzog vowed that Israel would “work tirelessly” to bring the hostages home.
Of the 240 hostages identified by the Israeli government, just over half have foreign passports, according to a preliminary analysis done by the Israeli government. It is unclear how many have dual citizenship and how many are foreign nationals.
UK foreign secretary says it’s ‘very difficult’ to achieve pause in fighting
BLETCHLEY PARK, England — U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly says it is proving very difficult to bring about a pause in the Israel-Hamas war to allow humanitarian aid to reach people in Gaza.
Cleverly said that “pretty much the whole world has been agreed that we need to get increased volumes of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
“We, the U.S., voices all over the world have been pushing for, you know, these humanitarian pauses — temporary, localized, specifically for humanitarian purposes. They’ve proven to be very, very difficult to achieve,” he told reporters at an AI Safety Summit in England.
Cleverly, who has made several trips to the Middle East since the war began, said “we will keep pushing to get those humanitarian pauses … for as long as it takes.”
He said the U.K. position remains that “calls for a broad cease-fire are premature.”
10:59 a.m. EDT
Gaza Health Ministry says more than 9,000 Palestinians have died
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Thursday that more than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed since war broke out more than three weeks ago.
Dr. Ashraf al-Qidra, a ministry spokesperson, said 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza, including 3,760 who are under 18.
More than 1,400 people have been killed on the Israeli side, the vast majority civilians killed by Hamas in its bloody Oct. 7 incursion into Israel.
The Health Ministry is part of the Hamas-run government but includes doctors and veteran civil servants who are not affiliated with the group. Its tolls from previous wars have held up to U.N. scrutiny, independent investigations and even Israel’s tallies.
Al-Qidra warned of an “imminent health catastrophe” after the main generator in a hospital in northern Gaza failed and other hospitals face shortages of fuel and medicine. He said the generator at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the territory’s largest hospital, appears likely to fail soon.
“We appeal to all parties to provide safe passage for the urgent flow of medical aid into Gaza,” he said.
Gaza’s largest hospital struggles to treat hundreds of injured people
BEIRUT — The Gaza Strip’s largest hospital is on its last supply of fuel has it struggles to cope with hundreds of wounded people while hosting thousands of displaced Palestinians in the Hamas-Israel war, a senior doctor said.
“The high number of displaced people are no longer living in the courtyard of the hospital but are also living inside the hospital, including the corridors,” U.K.-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians quoted Shifa Hospital’s chief of surgery, Dr. Marwan Abusada, as saying. Abusada warned that illnesses can spread because of the overcrowding and poor conditions.
Abusada said the overwhelmed hospital is struggling to treat more than 800 wounded people, most of whom suffer from medium or critical injuries.
“The medical team can in no way treat all these injuries, specifically with a lack of medication,” Abusada said, citing the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the small number of aid vehicles entering the territory daily.
Sweden, Norway pledge humanitarian aid for Gaza
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Sweden announced Thursday it will donate an extra 150 million kronor ($13.4 million) in humanitarian support for Gaza in addition to the 560 million kroner ($50 million) in aid to Palestinians it has already earmarked for the whole of 2023.
“It’s about the most basic things for people to get through the day,” International Development Cooperation Minister Johan Forssell said. The aid will mostly be channeled through various U.N. organizations, he said.
In neighboring Norway, the government said Thursday it is increasing support for Palestinian children in Gaza via the U.N. Children’s Fund by donating 25 million kroner ($2 million). International Development Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim said “the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza is absolutely terrible and it is devastating to see how children are affected.”
Biden administration announces plan to combat Islamophobia
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is developing a national strategy to combat Islamophobia as the White House faces skepticism from many Muslim Americans for its staunch support of Israel’s military assault on Hamas in Gaza.
Plans for the initiative, which the White House billed as the first of its kind, were announced Wednesday. It is meant to bring together lawmakers, advocacy groups and other community leaders with the administration in order to “counter the scourge of Islamophobia and hate in all its forms,” the White House said.
The White House originally was expected to announce its plans to develop the strategy last week when Biden met with Muslim leaders, but that was delayed, according to three people familiar with the matter. Two said the delay was due partly to concerns from Muslim Americans that the administration lacked credibility on the issue given its robust backing of Israel’s military, whose strikes against Hamas militants have killed thousands of civilians in Gaza.
Germany imposes a ban on pro-Hamas activity
BERLIN -– Germany’s top security official says she has implemented a formal ban on activity by or in support of Hamas and is dissolving a group that was behind a celebration of Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the government planned to take action against the two groups on Oct. 12.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she is putting the ban on activity related to Hamas, which is already listed by the European Union as a terrorist group, into effect on Thursday.
She said she also is banning and dissolving the German branch of the Samidoun network, which she said “supports and glorifies” groups including Hamas.
Samidoun was behind an Oct. 7 action in which a group of people handed out pastries in a Berlin street in celebration of Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Power generator out at key hospital
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The main power generator in the northern Gaza Strip’s key hospital went out of service early Thursday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
The Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia is near the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp, which has been the target of heavy Israeli airstrikes this week.
Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a televised statement that the hospital is running on a smaller backup generator but had to turn off lights in most rooms, shut down oxygen generators and resort to oxygen cylinders, and turn off mortuary refrigerators.
“These exceptional measures will allow the Indonesian Hospital to work for a matter of days,” Al-Qudra says. “However, if we cannot secure electricity or fuel then we will face a disaster.”
While some aid trucks have entered the blockaded Gaza Strip since the war began last month, Israel has not allowed trucks to bring fuel.
Saudi Arabia launches relief campaign for Palestinians in Gaza
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia has launched a campaign to raise relief funds for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Thursday that King Salman has donated about $8 million to the fund and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has donated over $5 million.
Funds will be raised through the online donation platform Sahem, which the kingdom has used to contribute to relief efforts in other countries.
Contributions to the campaign exceed $15 million with more than 30,000 donors.
Before the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Saudi Arabia had been in talks with the U.S. over normalizing ties with Israel. The kingdom has called for a halt to the violence and for progress toward establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Lebanese shepherds die in crossfire at border
BEIRUT — Two Lebanese shepherds who were caught in crossfire during clashes on the Lebanon-Israel border were found dead Thursday, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force on the border said.
The Lebanese army had called UNIFIL in to help evacuate the two men Wednesday evening after they were reported injured but had to call off the search “due to the darkness and presence of land mines in the area,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said. He said Thursday morning that the men’s bodies had been found.
A Lebanese security official said the shepherds died from gunshot wounds.
Lebanon’s state-run news agency said the shepherds were shot by Israeli troops as they passed with their herds by the Wazani river along the border.
The border has been the site of regular clashes between Israeli forces on one side and Hezbollah and Palestinian armed groups in Lebanon on the other.
The shepherds’ death raised the numbers of civilians killed on the Lebanese side of the border to six since the exchanges of fire started following the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian Hamas group on southern Israel.
Retiring official criticizes UN for failing to stop ‘genocide’ in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS – A retiring United Nations human rights agency official strongly criticized the U.N. for failing to stop what he called “a genocide unfolding before our eyes” in Gaza.
Craig Mokhiber, a U.S. human rights lawyer who joined the U.N. in 1992, claimed the “slaughter of the Palestinian people” is rooted in decades of persecution and purging by Israel “based entirely upon their status as Arabs.”
Mokhiber left his job heading the New York office of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday. His four-page letter to U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk makes no mention of Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Mokhiber had informed the U.N. in March of his planned retirement, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
In the letter, Mokhiber accused the U.S., the U.K. and much of Europe of being complicit in the assault on Gaza by Israeli forces.
Mokhiber, who said he has investigated Palestinian human rights since the 1990s and lived in Gaza, also wrote that a two-state solution is an impossibility. He called for the dismantling of Israel and establishment of “a single, democratic, secular state in all of historic Palestine, with equal rights for Christians, Muslims, and Jews.”
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