With hours left to go before a truce in Gaza expires, international mediators worked to extend it to facilitate the release of militant-held hostages and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The cease-fire has paused the deadliest fighting between Israel and Palestinians in decades.
Israel has agreed to extend the truce, which was originally set to expire on Monday, by one day for every 10 hostages freed, and Hamas is expected to release another group of hostages later Wednesday. Twelve hostages, including 10 Israelis, were released Tuesday, bringing the total number of people freed during the truce to 81.
Israel has vowed to resume the war in an effort to end Hamas' 16-year rule of Gaza, but it's facing mounting international pressure to extend the truce and spare south Gaza a devastating ground offensive like the one that has demolished much of the north.
Hamas' ability to negotiate and implement the cease-fire suggests that Israel's air and ground campaigns have not seriously challenged the group's control of Gaza, despite killing thousands of Palestinians and driving three out of four people in the territory from their homes.
Roughly 240 hostages were captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza. About 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial incursion by Hamas.
Currently:
— Mediators seek to extend the truce as Hamas' rule shows resilience
— Blinken urges cease-fire extension, discussions about Gaza's future
— Israel compares Hamas to the Islamic State group. But the comparison misses the mark in key ways
— The family of an infant hostage pleads for his release as truce winds down
— Freed Israeli hostage describes deteriorating conditions while being held by Hamas
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s what's happening in the war:
MORE THAN HALF OF GAZA'S HOSPITALS ARE CLOSED AND DISEASES ARE SURGINGThe World Health Organization said fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals are now functional, as experts have recorded a “deeply alarming” surge in respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, meningitis and other illnesses in recent days.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, WHO’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territories, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, said the agency was bracing for numerous outbreaks, saying it had recorded about 111,000 cases of respiratory illness, and tens of thousands of cases of diarrhea, skin rash, jaundice and chickenpox in the last two weeks.
“Not only has Gaza lost its hospital capacity, it has lost its ability to confirm even the most basic of diseases,” he said, noting that before the war, samples would have been sent to the West Bank or to labs in Israel. Without that capability, he said there is now “a blind spot where we have a huge risk of epidemic diseases.” He said about 50 patients have now been transferred to other medical facilities outside of Gaza. Before the current war, Peeperkorn said Gaza had about 3,500 hospital beds; it now has about 1,500.
WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said that Egypt has made about 11,000 beds available for patients in Gaza who require medical evacuation and said that tens of thousands of doctors and nurses would be available to help. He said there were currently about 2 million displaced people in Gaza and said that prior to the war, the region had among the world’s highest rates of vaccination against childhood diseases.
But he cautioned that without knowing what might happen next in the conflict, it was unclear how long it might take to rebuild the region’s health systems.
“Gaza has the health workers and the expertise to deliver health,” Ryan said. “But we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 24 hours … many of these hospitals we’re supporting are potentially in harm’s way.”
BLINKEN URGES CEASE-FIRE EXTENSION, DISCUSSIONS ABOUT GAZA'S FUTUREBRUSSELS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration would like to see a new extension of a cease-fire agreement in Israel’s war with Hamas after the current one expires to secure the release of more hostages held by Hamas and to ramp up humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza.
As he prepared to make his third visit to the Middle East since the war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, Blinken said Wednesday that in addition to discussing short-term logistical and operational planning, the administration believes it is imperative to discuss ideas about the future governance of Gaza if and when Israel achieves its stated goal of eradicating Hamas. Israel and Arab nations have resisted discussions of such planning, with Israeli officials concentrating on the prosecution of the war and Arab leaders insisting the immediate priority must be ending the fighting that has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians.
“Looking at the next couple of days, we’ll be focused on doing what we can to extend the pause so we can continue to get more hostages out and more humanitarian assistance in,” Blinken told reporters at a news conference in Brussels, where he was attending a NATO foreign ministers meeting. “And we’ll discuss with Israel how it can achieve its objective of ensuring that the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7 never happen again, while sustaining and increasing humanitarian assistance and minimizing further suffering of Palestinian civilians.”
“Everyone’s focused on ... what’s happening in Gaza right now, but we also need to be focused at the same time -- and we are in conversations with many other countries -- on what I call ‘the day after’ and ’the day after the day after.' I mean, what happens in Gaza once the campaign is over?” Blinken said.
ABBAS CALLS FOR AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE TO RESOLVE MIDEAST CONFLICTRAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is calling for an international conference to resolve the Mideast conflict.
He said Wednesday that the Palestinians are ready to work with the international community on a “serious political process” that leads to an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war.
He also again called for a halt to the war in Gaza.
Abbas’ Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Hamas drove his forces out of Gaza when it seized power there in 2007.
Abbas is extremely unpopular among Palestinians, many of whom view the Palestinian Authority as an accomplice to the Israeli occupation because it coordinates with Israel on security matters.
The U.S. has said a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza and the West Bank as part of an eventual two-state solution to the decades-old conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected that idea, and his government is strongly opposed to Palestinian statehood.
The last serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down more than a decade ago.
ISRAEL SAYS 161 HOSTAGES, INCLUDING FOUR CHILDREN, REMAIN IN CAPTIVITYTEL AVIV -- There are approximately 161 hostages still in captivity in Gaza, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said Wednesday. That includes 146 Israelis and 15 foreigners, of whom 126 are men and 35 are women. There are still four children under the age of 18, and 10 people aged 75 and older. It is unclear how many of the hostages are soldiers, he said.
“We want to get all of the hostages home, we’re committed to that pledge, there will be no one left behind,” Levy said at a news conference.
“The current framework allows for a few more days of hostage relief pause, and as long as there is a serious offer on the table to release the remaining hostages as we are demanding, we will of course consider every serious proposal because we’re committed to doing everything to bring them back,” he said.
WHO WARNS THAT MORE PEOPLE COULD DIE FROM DISEASE THAN FROM BOMBING IN GAZACAIRO — The head of the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that more people in the Gaza Strip could die from disease than from bombing.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, said there is a heightened risk of disease outbreaks because of overcrowded shelters and a lack of food, water, sanitation and medication.
He said 111,000 people are suffering from respiratory infections and 75,000 others from diarrhea, more than half of them under age 5.
“Given the living conditions and lack of health care, more people could die from disease than bombings,” he said, calling for a sustained cease-fire. “It’s a matter of life or death for civilians.”
The war, which was trigged by an attack by Hamas on southern Israel on Oct. 7, has displaced up to 1.8 million people, or about 80% of Gaza's population, according to U.N. figures.
PALESTINIANS IN GAZA FEAR RESUMPTION OF WARCAIRO — Palestinians in Gaza fear a resumption of the Israel-Hamas war, which has brought unprecedented levels of death, destruction and displacement in the impoverished coastal strip.
“We are fed up,” said Omar al-Darawi, who works at the overwhelmed Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. “We want this war to stop.”
Ihab Abu Auf, a father of three staying with another family in southern Gaza, said he tried twice to return to his home in the north but was turned back by Israeli troops.
The two men spoke Wednesday as international mediators worked to extend the cease-fire that has paused the fighting for nearly a week. Both said it would be catastrophic if Israel resumes its offensive and sends troops south, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge.
“Where will we go then with our women and children?” Abu Auf said. “They want another Nakba,” or catastrophe, he said, referring to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.
Egypt has refused to accept Palestinian refugees and Israel has sealed its border since start of the war, which was triggered by Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 cross-border attack.
TURKISH PRESIDENT ACCUSES NETANYAHU OF ATROCITIES IN GAZAANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing “one of the worst atrocities” of the century and said he would go down in history as the “butcher of Gaza.”
Erdogan, an outspoken critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, also said his government would ensure that Israel is held accountable for its actions before international courts.
In his bi-weekly address to governing party legislators, Erdogan maintained that Israel’s actions were fueling antisemitism while Western leaders were stoking hatred toward Islam.
“With the murders he committed in Gaza, Netanyahu is firing up antisemitism and endangering the security of the people of Israel and of all Jewish people,” Erdogan said. “Immigrants living in (Western) countries are paying the price for the irresponsible rhetoric of Western leaders that demonize Palestinians.”
4-YEAR-OLD DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL AFTER 50 DAYS AS HOSTAGETEL AVIV — Four-year-old Abigail Edan was discharged from the hospital late Tuesday night, following her release after more than 50 days as a hostage in Gaza, a spokesperson for Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikvah said.
The Israeli-American dual citizen was the first U.S. hostage to be released under the cease-fire. Abigail marked her fourth birthday in captivity.
Both of her parents were killed in the Hamas attack that started the war on Oct. 7. During the rampage, she ran to a neighbor’s home for shelter, and the Brodutch family took her in before militants took the family to Gaza.
Hagar Brodutch and her three children were also released on Sunday. President Joe Biden celebrated her release, telling reporters, “I wish I were there to hold her.”
MANILA WELCOMES RELEASE OF SECOND FILIPINO HOSTAGEMANILA, Philippines — A Filipino-Israeli woman arrived in Israel after being released by Hamas on Tuesday night as part of a group of 12 hostages, the Philippine president announced on social media early Wednesday.
Noralin Babadilla was the second of two Filipinos released from captivity in Gaza during the truce in the Israel-Hamas war. With her release, “all Filipinos affected by the war have been accounted for,” President Ferdinand Marcos said.
Babadilla, who lived in Israel and worked as a caregiver, was visiting friends in Kibbutz Nirim with her husband during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the Israeli Embassy in Manila said in a statement. Her husband, Gideon Babani, was killed during the attack and Babadilla was taken hostage.
Marcos thanked Israel for facilitating Babadilla's release and thanked Egypt and Qatar, which helped mediate the cease-fire, “for their crucial role in this process over the past several weeks.”
G7 URGES RELEASE OF ALL HOSTAGES AND FACILITATED DEPARTURE OF FOREIGN NATIONALSWASHINGTON — The Group of Seven foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the U.S. as well as the high representative of the European Union are calling for the unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and the facilitated departure of foreign nationals from Gaza, according to a statement released by the U.S. State Department.
The G7 also said it supports the further extension of the current pause in fighting.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to work with all partners in the region to prevent the conflict from escalating further,” the statement said.
SEVERAL TONS OF MEDICAL ITEMS AND FOOD FOR GAZA FLOWN INTO EGYPTWASHINGTON — White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the U.S. has airlifted over 54,000 pounds of Gaza-bound medical items and food aid to a staging area in Egypt.
Two more airlifts are planned in the coming days, Sullivan said. Since Oct. 21, more than 2,000 trucks have delivered aid to Gaza, he said.