1m ago / 5:11 AM EDT
From trance to terror: The Supernova music festival massacre
5m ago / 5:07 AM EDT
Confirmed Israeli hostage count nears 200
TEL AVIV — Israeli officials have now identified and notified the families of 199 hostages captured during the surprise attack led by Hamas, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari told a media briefing today. The Israeli military put the figure at 155 on Sunday.
18m ago / 4:54 AM EDT
Secretary of State Blinken returns to Israel after Middle East diplomacy tour
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has returned to Israel Monday after a diplomacy tour of the Middle East to prevent the Hamas-Israel war from spilling over into the broader region.
Blinken first travelled to Israel on Thursday to pledge Washington’s solidarity and support, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. He then embarked on a number of stops throughout the Middle East, including Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
“From here, we’re heading back to Israel,” Blinken said Sunday, speaking in Cairo. “I want an opportunity to share everything that I’ve heard, that I’ve learned over the last few days visiting with our other partners and to talk about the way forward with our Israeli allies and friends.”
19m ago / 4:53 AM EDT
Israeli Security Cabinet meeting to be held Monday night
TEL AVIV — Israel’s Security Cabinet will meet tonight at 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) at the IDF’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced this morning.
The meeting comes amid mounting speculation over when an expected ground offensive by Israel into Gaza will begin.
25m ago / 4:47 AM EDT
More than 1 million displaced in Gaza, U.N. says
More than one million people, about half of Gaza’s total estimated population, has been displaced in the nine days of fighting between Hamas and Israel, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said in a report late Sunday.
Of those, nearly 400,000 are sheltering at the U.N. facilities in the enclave, exceeding its capacity to assist “in any meaningful way,” the report said.
35m ago / 4:37 AM EDT
Americans wait in Haifa, Israel, for a ship to evacuate them to Cyprus
39m ago / 4:34 AM EDT
Gaza running out of body bags as death toll reaches 2,750
The death toll in Gaza has reached 2,750, its health ministry said Monday, as the United Nations said the enclave, which has been bombarded and blockaded by Israel for over a week, was running out of body bags.
“The number of killed is increasing,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said in a report late Sunday. “There are not enough body bags for the dead in Gaza.”
Gazan health authorities also said nearly 10,000 people were injured as humanitarian organizations have been raising the alarm that the enclave’s health system is on the brink of collapse.
29m ago / 4:43 AM EDT
Crowds gather at the Rafah crossing as it remains closed; aid convoys wait for access
A hopeful crowd gathered at the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing Monday morning as it remained uncertain whether or when the only non-Israeli-controlled exit out of Gaza would re-open.
On Sunday, a representative for the Palestinian Embassy said foreign national Palestinians would be able to cross the border into Egypt starting at 9 a.m. local time on Monday, when humanitarian aid would also begin crossing into Gaza.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Sunday that “Rafah will be reopened,” and Washington was putting in place a mechanism by which to get aid in with the United Nations, Egypt and Israel.
But early Monday, all sides denied that hostiles had been paused to allow an outflow of people across Rafah.
Meanwhile, photos distributed by AFP on Monday showed a convoy of trucks carrying aid supplies on its way to the Rafah crossing.
KHALED DESOUKI / AFP – .
1h ago / 4:08 AM EDT
‘To evacuate could be a death sentence,’ says son of disabled parents
Dorgham Abusalim has been able to speak to his parents and two siblings in the Gaza Strip only four times since last Saturday.
“My family is on the brink of being starved,” said Abusalim, who was born in the Gaza Strip and is now a writer based in Washington. His father is paralyzed and diabetic; his mother is blind and suffers from hypertension. Both are running out of medicine.
Abusalim’s family is based in the central Gazan town of Deir Al-Balah. “To evacuate could be a death sentence,” he said.
“Many people who fled the north following Israel’s order to displace them, end up in our town. My family is now sheltering three other families. The burden is overwhelming,” he said.
1h ago / 3:49 AM EDT
Hamas denies truce for Rafah crossing
The political wing of Hamas has denied that there is any sort of truce agreement in place to allow the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to open today to allow foreign nationals to leave Gaza.
Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, said in a statement that “There is no truth” to what it called Western and Israeli media reports that a truce had been agreed.Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military also denied that a ceasefire was in place.
