By The Associated Press
Palestinian health officials say Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 17 people, including five children and their parents.
The strikes came on the eve of new talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in the 10-month war. The United States, Qatar and Egypt are hoping to broker an agreement, but the sides remain far apart on several issues after months of indirect negotiations.
A top Hamas official has told The Associated Press the group is losing faith in the U.S. as a mediator in the Gaza cease-fire talks. It was not clear late Wednesday if Hamas would attend the talks beginning Thursday.
The overall Palestinian death toll in the war has almost reached 40,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
One strike hit a family home late Tuesday in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. It killed five children, ranging in age from 2 to 11, and their parents, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
An Associated Press reporter who saw the bodies said they had been dismembered by the blast and the 2-year-old had been decapitated.
In the nearby Maghazi refugee camp, a strike on a home early Wednesday killed four people, the hospital said. In the southern city of Khan Younis, the Health Ministry’s emergency service said first responders recovered the bodies of four men killed in a strike on a residential tower late Tuesday. Two more people were killed in a strike on a house in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, according to the emergency service.
Health authorities in Gaza do not say whether those killed in Israeli strikes are militants or civilians. Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in residential areas. The army rarely comments on individual strikes.
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White House says latest round of cease-fire talks will be key
WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says the latest round of talks about a cease-fire in fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza are going to be key.
“Tomorrow’s going to be an important day. We want to see a cease-fire. We want to see an end to this war, we want to see hostages come home, including American hostages, we want to see (an) increase of humanitarian aid going into Gaza,” she said. “And we believe the way to deescalate the tensions that we’re seeing in the Middle East is to get to this deal.”
Pressed on how there could be meaningful talks if Hamas isn’t participating — as it has threatened not to — Jean-Pierre suggested the group might be bluffing.
“There’s always political posturing. We see this all the time in advance of talks. That’s not new,” she said.
Jean-Pierre refused to comment on the U.S. being potentially frustrated with additional Israel demands for a cease-fire, saying, “I’m not going to get into negotiations from here.”
UN chief pushes for talks in Qatar to lead to an immediate cease-fire
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief, the U.N. envoys for the Middle East and Lebanon, and the commander of U.N. peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon have been reaching out to try to maintain calm and prevent a regional conflict, the U.N. deputy spokesman says.
Farhan Haq said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is pushing again for talks in Qatar on Thursday to lead to an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, the release of hostages seized during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, and improved humanitarian access.
“And we’(re hoping this can be achieved one way or another,” he told reporters Wednesday.
Haq also said U.N. humanitarian officials and their partners report that Israeli evacuation orders Tuesday in two areas of eastern Khan Younis affect 5,200 people and have “impacted essential services, including eight water and sanitation facilities, as well as two primary health care centers, disrupting medical services in the area.”
In Deir Al Balah, Haq said, residents in the Zawayda area received evacuation orders in phone calls which were followed by a targeted attack on an open site with tents that had been evacuated.
“Fortunately, no injuries were reported in this incident,” he said. “Emergency response teams and humanitarian agencies are working to assist the displaced people and address the disruptions to essential services.”
The U.S. says it remains committed to talks to end the conflict in Gaza
WASHINGTON — The U.S. remains committed to talks to end the conflict in Gaza, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday in response to comments from a top Hamas official that it was losing faith in the United States’ ability to mediate a cease-fire.
Spokesperson Vedant Patel rejected Hamas’ assertion, saying the U.S. believes the talks can result in a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
“Well, the United States does not think that Hamas is an honest broker,” Patel said, responding to a reporter’s question about Hamas concerns that the U.S. was not negotiating honestly.
Responding to reports that Hamas will sit out the talks, Patel said representatives of Qatar are working to secure their participation.
“We fully expect these talks to move forward as they should. Our point of view is that all negotiators should return to the table,” Patel said. “Our Qatari partners have assured us that there will be representation from Hamas.”
Patel was asked about Tuesday’s announcement that the U.S. has approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles, and whether it contradicted claims that the U.S. is seeking peace in the region. Patel said the deal is part of a “long-standing security partnership with Israel.” He said there was no conflict between the arms deal and a statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken Tuesday criticizing Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir for visiting Jerusalem’s most holy site, a move many Muslims see as provocative.
Patel repeated that criticism on Wednesday, saying Ben-Givr’s visit detracts “from our stated goal of a two-state solution and cause greater instability in the region,” Patel said.
Israel’s ultranationalist finance minister says Israel will create a new settlement in West Bank
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel’s ultranationalist finance minister said Wednesday that Israel is creating a new Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem, in what critics said was the latest land grab in the territory.
In a post on X, Bezalel Smotrich said the new settlement would “allow the continued momentum and building of the settlement enterprise.” He said it was part of Israel’s response to recognition by some countries of the state of Palestine, and was meant to prevent the creation of a future Palestinian state.
Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog group, said the new Nahal Heletz settlement will be built several kilometers southwest of Jerusalem. Construction was likely still years away.
Smotrich, a firebrand settlement supporter, has overseen a number of land seizures in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last October, and has advocated for the formal annexation of the territory and for Israeli settlements to be re-established in Gaza after war is over. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Over the past 10 months, the far-right minister, who is a key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has also introduced crippling financial sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, which governs urban clusters of the Israel-occupied territory.
Last month, Peace Now said 2024 is already the peak year for Israel land seizure in the West Bank.
Hamas blasts U.S. for approving $20 billion arms sales to Israel
BEIRUT — The Palestinian militant group Hamas blasted the United States for approving a $20 billion arms sales to Israel saying this makes it a “full partner” in the war against the Palestinian people.
Hamas’ statement Wednesday came a day after the State Department said the U.S. has approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles.
Hamas said the American military support to Israel comes in the framework of “full adoption of the brutal and criminal behavior to this rogue entity.”
It added that the U.S. support to Israel confirms that Washington is “a full partner in the genocidal and ethnic cleansing war” against Palestinians.
Top Hamas official tells the AP the group is losing faith in the U.S. as mediator
DOHA, Qatar — A top Hamas official has told The Associated Press the Palestinian militant group is losing faith in the United States’ ability to mediate a cease-fire in Gaza.
Osama Hamdan said in an interview Tuesday that Hamas will only participate in a new round of talks scheduled for this week if they focus on implementing a proposal detailed by U.S. President Joe Biden in May and endorsed internationally.
The U.S. described it as an Israeli proposal and Hamas agreed to it in principle, but Israel said Biden’s speech was not entirely consistent with the proposal itself. Both sides later proposed changes, leading each to accuse the other of obstructing a deal to end the 10-month war.
Israel’s prime minister greenlights departure of negotiation team to Qatar for cease-fire talks
TEL AVIV, Israel — The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday the Israeli leader has greenlighted the departure of a negotiating team to Qatar for cease-fire talks.
International mediators are launching a new round of talks on Thursday meant to finally wind down the war in Gaza and free hostages held there.
Israel and Hamas have been mulling an internationally-backed cease-fire proposal detailed in late May by President Joe Biden.
Sticking points remain between the sides, who have each accused the other of obstructing a deal. The killing of Hamas’ leader in a blast in Tehran last month has also complicated progress on reaching a deal.
It was not clear if Hamas would attend Thursday’s talks in Qatar’s capital Doha.
The 10-month-long war has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, displaced much of Gaza’s population and set off a humanitarian catastrophe in the territory.
The war was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel, when militants killed 1,200 people and took another 250 captive.
Hezbollah says it has fired rockets at a northern Israeli town in retaliation
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says it fired rockets at a northern Israeli town on Wednesday in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike that wounded more than a dozen people.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state media said the airstrike targeting a motorcycle in the southern Lebanese village of Abbasiyeh wounded 17 people, four of them seriously. Hezbollah later said its fighters fired rockets toward the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona in retaliation. There were no immediate reports of injuries in Israel.
Cross-border fire has occurred almost daily since the current war in Gaza began. Since then more than 500 people, mostly Hezbollah fighters, have been killed in Lebanon.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza is almost at 40,000, Health Ministry says
The overall Palestinian death toll in the 10-month Israel-Hamas war has almost reached 40,000. That’s according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The ministry says the toll has reached at least 39,965. It says another 92,294 people have been wounded. The ministry in its daily update also says the bodies of 36 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
Senior Biden adviser urges ‘diplomatic action’ to end Israel-Hamas war, fearing escalations could ‘spiral out of control’
BEIRUT — A senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said it was critical to take advantage of “this window for diplomatic action” to end the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and ongoing hostilities in Lebanon, fearing that ongoing escalations could “spiral out of control.”
Amos Hochstein, who has been tasked with monthslong shuttle diplomacy between Lebanon and Israel, spoke at a news conference after meeting Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri, as the Mideast anxiously anticipates retaliatory attacks on Israel from Iran and the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah group.
“The more time goes by of escalated tensions the more time goes by of daily conflict the more the odds and the chances go up for accidents, for mistakes, for inadvertent targets to be hit that could easily cause escalation that goes out of control,” Hochstein said in Beirut.
Cease-fire talks are supposed to resume in Doha on Thursday between Hamas and Israel through Qatari, Egyptian and American mediators.
Hochstein said he and Berri agreed there are “no more valid excuses from any party for any further delay” on a cease-fire based on a framework presented by Biden months ago.
“The deal would also help enable a diplomatic resolution here in Lebanon,” the U.S. envoy added.
Hezbollah and Israel have traded strikes since Oct. 8, a day after the Palestinian Hamas group’s surprise attack into southern Israel sparked the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the besieged Gaza Strip. Hezbollah says it will stop its attacks on northern Israel once there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
However, the initial exchanges along the battered border towns of Lebanon and Israel have since expanded and intensified.
Last month, a rare Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut killed Hezbollah’s top commander who Israel accused of firing a rocket into Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 youths. Hours later, an explosion in Iran killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that Tehran blamed on Israel.
Over the past two weeks, the region has been on a knife-edge, as diplomatic efforts continue to prevent the monthslong regional tensions from spiraling into all-out war. Iran and Hezbollah say they are committed to their retaliatory attack.
Hochstein’s visit to Lebanon comes after he met with Israeli officials on Tuesday. He is scheduled to meet with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Lebanon’s army chief.
Israeli military bulldozers demolish 6 more homes in occupied West Bank, residents say
JERUSALEM — Residents of a beleaguered Bedouin hamlet in the southern reaches of the occupied West Bank say Israeli military bulldozers demolished six more homes in the community on Wednesday, leaving 28 people homeless.
The demolitions in Umm Al-Khair come after military bulldozers last month knocked down several homes in the village, leaving a quarter of the village’s 200 people without shelter.
Videos sent by residents of the village to The Associated Press showed bulldozers rolling into the community on Wednesday morning, escorted by at least one military vehicle. Soldiers could be seen pushing protesters and Palestinians away from the demolition zone, and bulldozers crashed into small tent-like structures, knocking them to the ground.
COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of civilian matters in the West Bank, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, it has alleged that many of the structures in the village were built without permits. Palestinians in these areas have long said it is virtually impossible to get construction permits from Israeli authorities.
Umm Al-Khair has also been the subject of ramped-up settler attacks over the last few months, attacks which residents say have harmed the village water supply and gone unpunished by military authorities. Small Bedouin hamlets in the West Bank are some of the most vulnerable communities to displacement caused by demolitions and settler violence, rights groups say.
