Israel has struck a high-rise building in Gaza City after warning residents to evacuate. Strikes elsewhere in Gaza City killed at least 27 people, health officials said. The military accuses Hamas of using high-rises for surveillance and plans more targeted strikes. Israel has declared Gaza City a combat zone, sparking protests among Israelis worried about hostages. Hamas released a video of two hostages pleading for an end to the war. Israel's offensive has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The Gaza Health Ministry says the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 63,000 as Palestinians face the start of Israel's expanded offensive in Gaza City. The count does not distinguish between fighters and civilians killed in the 22-month war between Israel and Hamas. The ministry says five people have died from malnutrition-related causes over the past day, raising the toll to 322, including 121 children, since the war began. A military official says Israel intends to continue helping aid reach Gaza City during the offensive, but a U.N. humanitarian group fears "a horrific impact" on people already deprived of basic needs.

The director of the U.N. World Food Program says it's "very evident" after a visit to Gaza that there is not enough food and that mothers and children are starving. Cindy McCain, the program's executive director, tells The Associated Press that she spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and says he is "concerned" about the issue. International experts have declared a famine in Gaza City and say it is likely to spread without a ceasefire and the full restoration of humanitarian aid. Israel rejects the famine declaration and has called claims of starvation a propaganda campaign by Hamas.

Israeli and U.S. officials are to meet in Washington to discuss postwar Gaza. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday even as Israel's military calls the evacuation of Gaza City "inevitable" ahead of a new offensive and no signs of a ceasefire are in sight. The talks come amid mounting outrage over this week's double Israeli strike on a southern Gaza hospital that killed journalists, emergency responders and others. Gaza health officials said the death toll from the attack on Nasser Hospital rose to 22 after two more people died Wednesday. The Israeli military offered no immediate explanation for striking twice and no evidence for an assertion that six of the dead were militants.

The Israeli military says that its double strike on a Gaza hospital targeted what it believed was a Hamas surveillance camera. But the first strike killed a cameraman from the Reuters news agency doing a live television shot. That's according to witnesses and health officials. The military on Tuesday released its initial findings into the strike that killed 20 people, including five journalists. It claimed without providing evidence that six of those killed were Hamas militants, but two were identified by their employers as a health care worker at the hospital and an emergency services driver. The military said the back-to-back strikes on southern Gaza's largest hospital were ordered because soldiers believed militants were using the camera to observe Israeli forces.

  • Updated

Israel struck one of the main hospitals in the Gaza Strip and then hit the facility again as journalists and rescue workers rushed to the scene. Health officials said the attack on Monday killed at least 20 people and wounded scores more. It was among the deadliest of several Israeli strikes that have hit both hospitals and journalists over the course of the 22-month war sparked by Hamas' 2023 assault. The strikes came as Israel plans to widen its offensive to heavily populated areas. The first strike hit a top floor of a building at Nasser Hospital. Minutes later, witnesses said, a second projectile hit as journalists and rescuers rushed up an external staircase.

The world's leading authority on food crises says the Gaza Strip's largest city is gripped by famine, and that it is likely to spread without an immediate ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said on Friday that famine is occurring in Gaza City and could spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month. This comes after months of warnings by aid groups that Israel's restrictions of food and other aid into Gaza, and its military offensive, were causing high levels of starvation among Palestinian civilians, particularly children. Israel called the report an "outright lie."

  • Updated

The Israeli military says it plans to call up tens of thousands of reservists for an expanded operation in Gaza City. Defense Minister Israel Katz approved the plan, which involves deploying 60,000 reservists and extending service for 20,000 more. The move comes amid international concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where many inhabitants are displaced and facing famine. The operation aims to target Hamas' underground tunnel network, according to Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, negotiations for a ceasefire continue, with Hamas agreeing to the terms of a proposed 60-day halt to the fighting but with Israel yet to respond.

The U.N. humanitarian office says a record 383 aid workers were killed in global hot spots in 2024, nearly half of them in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas. U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher says, "Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy." The Aid Worker Security Database says the number of killings rose from 293 in 2023 to 383 in 2024, including more than 180 in Gaza. Sudan was second to Gaza and the West Bank, with 60 aid workers losing their lives in 2024 during civil war. The United Nations is marking World Humanitarian Day on Tuesday.

  • Updated

A key mediator on Gaza is stressing the urgency of brokering a ceasefire after Hamas showed a "positive response" to a proposal. But Israel has yet to weigh in as its military prepares an offensive on some of the territory's most populated areas. The prospect of an expanded assault on areas sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians has sparked international outrage. Palestinians say nowhere is safe, and many Israelis fear for the remaining hostages held in Gaza. Qatar on Tuesday warned that even if a ceasefire deal is reached, it will not be "instantaneously implemented."