Israel-Hamas war latest: Netanyahu meets with Biden as cease-fire talks face delays
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Joe Biden in Washington on Thursday, a day after Netanyahu delivered a scathing speech to Congress in which he vowed to achieve “total victory” against Hamas and denounced American opponents of the war in Gaza as “idiots.”
Hamas has slammed the speech and accused Netanyahu of obstructing efforts to end the war and return the hostages.
Officials from Egypt, Israel, the U.S. and Qatar had been expected to meet Thursday in Doha with the aim of resuming talks for a proposed three-phase cease-fire to end the war between Israel and Hamas and free the remaining hostages. But an Israeli official said Israel’s negotiating team was delayed and would likely be dispatched next week.
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military’s latest order to leave parts of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis say they are sleeping in the streets. The Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 39,100 Palestinians have been killed in the war.
Here’s the latest:
Relatives of U.S. hostages call Biden-Netanyahu meeting ‘productive and honest’
WASHINGTON — Relatives of U.S. hostages being held in Gaza have met with President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House, calling the discussions “productive and honest.”
Speaking to reporters afterward, the family members said they “came today with a sense of urgency” and emphasized the need to complete a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that could result in the release of their loved ones.
“We got absolute commitment from the Biden administration and from Prime Minister Netanyahu that they understand the urgency of this moment,” the relatives said. They added that they are more optimistic about a deal than they have been in months.
Palestinians denounce Netanyahu’s claims that Israel hasn’t been targeting civilians
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinians in the Gaza Strip expressed anger Thursday over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fiery speech to Congress, denouncing his claims that Israel was targeting Hamas, not civilians.
“We were badly shocked” by the speech, said Im Ismail Farwanah, a woman who fled her home in northern Gaza to escape Israel’s offensives. “He has been bombarding civilians … demolishing homes on the heads of their inhabitants.”
Several Palestinians who spoke to The Associated Press said they had hoped Netanyahu would announce a cease-fire.
Netanyahu pledged in his combative speech to Congress on Wednesday to achieve “total victory” against Hamas and denounced American opponents of the war in Gaza as “useful idiots.” He said the Israeli military was trying to protect civilians by ordering evacuations from battleground areas and blamed Hamas for civilian deaths by operating among them.
Islam Zrei, from the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, noted how Netanyahu didn’t mention a truce. He said the Israeli leader wants to destroy Hamas, “but he can’t do that, so he is wiping out the Palestinian people.”
The war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, has killed more than 39,000 people, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The war has created a humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal Palestinian territory, displaced most of its 2.3 million population and triggered widespread hunger.
Hamas’ October attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants took about 250 hostage. About 120 remain in captivity, with about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.
Iran is behind an online campaign to threaten the Israeli Olympic delegation, Israel says
Israeli officials on Thursday accused Iran of orchestrating an online campaign to intimidate members of the Israeli Olympic delegation.
In a statement, Israel’s National Cyber Directorate said hackers opened online channels to send threatening messages and publish private information about the delegation members who are in Paris for the 2024 Games.
The agency said it is working with the Israeli Olympic Committee and other officials to protect the members of the delegation.
“Iran is taking advantage of an apolitical international sports competition to promote digital terrorist activity against Israel and its right to participate in these competitions,” said Gabi Portnoy, head of the national cyber directorate.
Netanyahu praises Biden’s ‘support for the state of Israel’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised President Joe Biden during made his long-awaited White House visit on Thursday afternoon.
“From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel,” Netanyahu told Biden at the start of their meeting.
The president thanked Netanyahu and noted that his first meeting with an Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, was in 1973 soon after he was elected to the Senate. Biden joked that he was only 12 years old at the time.
Netanyahu’s first White House visit since before President Donald Trump left office in 2020, comes at a time of growing pressure on all three to find an endgame to the nine-month war that’s left more than 39,000 dead in Gaza. Dozens of Israeli hostages are still languishing in Hamas captivity.
Netanyahu is also scheduled to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris later today.
Protesters hold a ‘die-in’ near the White House
Protesters against the Gaza war held a “die-in” across from Lafayette Park and the White House on Thursday as President Joe Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The protesters poured red liquid onto the street, saying it symbolized the blood of those killed in Gaza. They chanted, “Arrest Netanyahu,” and brought in an effigy of Netanyahu with blood on its hands and wearing an orange jumpsuit. The jumpsuit reads, “Wanted for crimes against humanity.”
A small number of counter-protesters wore Israeli flags around their shoulders.
Israeli military has shot 3 U.N. aid convoys recently, U.N. secretary-general says
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that there’s “total lawlessness” in Gaza, adding that three of the world body’s aid convoys have come under fire within three days.
The shootings happened between Sunday and Tuesday, and bullets pierced the vehicles on two occasions, Guterres said at a news conference at U.N. headquarters.
“They were shot by the Israeli military,” he said.
The U.N. had released information earlier this week about two of the incidents, including one Tuesday involving a convoy carrying humanitarian workers and children near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint. No one was injured.
The U.N. said Thursday that the third incident happened Sunday, but word reached headquarters later. Guterres called Gaza’s humanitarian situation “a total disaster,” attributing it to the deadliness and destruction of Israel’s military campaign and to a security vacuum.
“Nobody’s in charge of security anywhere in the area of Gaza,” Guterres said.
Hezbollah attacks Israeli military post, no injuries reported
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said it attacked an Israeli military post in northern Israel with explosive drones after one of its members was killed earlier Thursday in an Israeli airstrike.
Hezbollah said that its attack directly hit the base in Neve Ziv.
After sirens sounded in northern Israel regarding hostile aircraft infiltrations and rocket and missile launches, the Israeli military said multiple “suspicious aerial targets” were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
The army added that unsuccessful interception attempts were carried out. As a result of falling shrapnel from the interception attempts, fires broke out in several areas but no injuries were reported.
Israeli Fire and Rescue Services are operating to extinguish the fires, the army said.
Hezbollah said the attack with drones was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on south Lebanon earlier in the day that killed a member of the group, Abdullah Mohammed Faqih.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also around 90 civilians and noncombatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed.
Israeli strikes on Khan Younis kill at least 7 Palestinians overnight
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes on the southern city of Khan Younis killed at least seven Palestinians overnight into Thursday, according to hospital officials and an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies.
At the start of July, the Israeli military ordered parts of the city to be evacuated. On Monday, it added the Muwasi humanitarian zone and other parts of the crowded south to be evacuated. Renewed hostilities and mass displacement followed.
One strike hit the roof of a house in a neighborhood in eastern Khan Younis, killing three people who were inside. In another neighborhood, at least four others from the al-Attar family, who had previously fled from northern Gaza, were killed in a separate strike that hit their tent.
The bodies were taken to the Nasser Hospital and wrapped in blue and white bags. A group of women and girls wept after seeing the bodies at the hospital before funeral prayers. One girl said, “Goodbye, mother,” as she cried in the arms of a woman standing next to her.
Outside the hospital, a Muslim sheikh led funeral prayers for the dead alongside a group of men. People then gathered around the bodies before they were placed on a truck and sent for burial.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began, 39,175 people have been killed and 90,403 others wounded in Gaza, according to its Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The ministry in the Palestinian enclave also said Gaza’s hospitals received 30 dead bodies and 146 wounded people over the past 24 hours.
Hamas slams Netanyahu’s speech to Congress
BEIRUT — The Palestinian Hamas group slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fiery speech to the United States Congress, accusing him Thursday of obstructing efforts to end the war and return the hostages.
In his high profile visit to Washington, Netanyahu pledged to achieve “total victory” against the militant group in his nearly one-hour address in Congress, and derided protests against the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, now in its ninth month.
Hamas said Netanyahu’s Washington visit was an address to improve his image after the International Criminal Court requested to issue arrest warrants against him for war crimes. The ICC also requested warrants for his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas officials Mohammed Deif, Yehya Sinwar, and Ismail Haniyeh.
“He (Netanyahu) is the one who thwarted all efforts aimed at ending the war and concluding a deal to release the prisoners, despite the continuous efforts of mediators from the brothers in Egypt and Qatar despite the flexibility and positivity shown by the movement,” the militant group said in a written statement, adding that the Israeli prime minister talking about intensified efforts to free the hostages is a “complete lie” to mislead public opinion.
They also rejected Netanyahu’s vision for Gaza’s future — which would consist of a demilitarized civilian administration in the enclave — and accused Netanyahu of being dishonest about aid delivery into the Gaza Strip and downplaying the number of Palestinians killed in the ongoing war.
6 hostage relatives are released after being detained in Washington during Netanyahu’s speech to Congress
TEL AVIV, Israel — A group representing the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza said Thursday that six hostage relatives have been released after they were briefly detained during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the joint session of Congress.
The family members stood in the hall silently during the address Wednesday and wore yellow shirts that read “Seal the Deal Now,” referring to a cease-fire deal to free the hostages, before they were removed from the House chamber by security officers. They were released a number of hours later, the Hostages Family Forum said.
“Benjamin Netanyahu spoke for 54 minutes and he did not mention once the need to seal the deal and to sign the deal now,” said Gil Dickmann, whose cousin, Carmel Gat, is being held in Gaza.
The six said they were invited by members of Congress to attend the speech. Netanyahu brought to the speech rescued hostage Noa Argamani and a number of family members of the hostages as part of his official delegation.
Israel recovers 5 hostage bodies from Gaza
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Thursday it has recovered the bodies of five Israeli hostages in a tunnel under the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, that were abducted by Hamas militants on Oct. 7.
It identified the hostages as Maya Goren, and four soldiers it says died in battle: Sgt. Oren Goldin, Staff Sgt. Tomer Ahimas, Sgt. Maj. Ravid Aryeh Katz and Sgt. Kiril Brodski. It says all five were believed to have been killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas raid that triggered the war, and their bodies were held hostage.
Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities during Hamas’ assault, said Wednesday that it was informed that the body of Goren, 56, was returned to Israel after a rescue mission, without providing additional details. Israeli authorities had said in late 2023 that she was dead.
The chief military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the bodies had been found in a tunnel under Khan Younis. He said the location was in an area that Israel declared in May to be part of an expanded humanitarian zone where Palestinians should take refuge. It was not known how long the bodies had been kept in the tunnel.
Israel has now pronounced dead more than a third of the roughly 110 hostages who remain in Hamas captivity.
Australia sanctions 7 Israelis and a West Bank-based youth group over settler violence
SYDNEY — Australia is imposing financial sanctions and travel bans against seven Israeli citizens and financial sanctions against a West Bank-based youth group over their alleged involvement in settler violence in the occupied territory.
The sanctions announced Thursday are against Hilltop Youth and its leader Meir Ettinger, 32. Other targeted individuals are Yinon Levi, 31; Zvi Bar Yosef, 31; Neria Ben Pazi, 30; Elisha Yered, 23; David Chai Chasdai, 29; and Einan Tanjil, 22.
Australia accuses them of violent attacks on Palestinians. These include beatings, sexual assault and torture of Palestinians resulting in serious injuries and deaths, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government imposed the sanctions “because it’s the right thing to do.” He added that settlements in the West Bank impeded a two-state solution and were illegal under international law.
The sanctions follow the United States’ decision to sanction entities and individuals connected to acts of violence against civilians in the West Bank.
Wong said Australia called on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and cease ongoing settlement activity.
By The Associated Press
