Israeli warplanes strike targets as US seeks more time to free hostage

By The Associated Press

Israeli warplanes are striking targets across Gaza as the U.S. advised Israel that a delay in its expected ground offensive in the besieged Hamas-ruled territory would allow more time to negotiate the release of hostages. Fears of a widening war have grown as Israel struck targets in the occupied West Bank, Syria and Lebanon and traded fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.

Two aid convoys arrived in the Gaza Strip over the weekend through the Rafah crossing from Egypt. Israel said the trucks carried food, water and medical supplies. Israel has not allowed in fuel, which is critically needed for water and sanitation systems and hospitals.

The war, in its 17th day Monday, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said Monday that at least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed and 15,270 wounded. In the occupied West Bank, 96 Palestinians have been killed and 1,650 wounded in violence and Israeli raids since Oct. 7.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas rampage into southern Israel. In addition, 222 people including foreigners were believed captured by Hamas during the incursion and taken into Gaza, Israel's military has said. Two of those have been released.

Currently:

1. Premature babies hooked up to incubators are at risk of dying because of dwindling fuel in the Gaza Strip

2. Biden walks tightrope with support for Israel as allies and the left push for restraint

3. A third convoy of trucks carrying desperately needed aid reaches Gaza

4. Blinken and Austin say the U.S. is ready to protect American forces should the war escalate

5. Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:

FRANCE'S MACRON TO VISIT ISRAEL, MEET WITH NETANYAHU AND OTHERS

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is traveling Tuesday to Israel to show France’s solidarity with the country and further work on the release of hostages who are being held in Gaza, according to the French presidency.

Macron will have talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and also meet with Israeli-French nationals who have lost loved ones, as well as families of hostages.

Macron may also seize the occasion to have talks with some Arab partners in the region, the French presidency said, without providing further details.

ITALY CONFIRMS DEATH OF 2ND ITALIAN-ISRAELI CITIZEN IN ISRAEL

ROME — Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has confirmed the death of a second Italian-Israeli citizen from the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Tajani, writing on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, said on Monday that Liliach Le Havron, the wife of Evitar Kipnis, whose body was recovered last week, was confirmed dead.

The couple had lived in Be-eri Kibbutz. Both had been reported missing by their loved ones.

“For Italy, another day of mourning,’’ Tajani wrote. A third Italian-Israeli citizen, a young man who was attending the music festival that Hamas assaulted, remains missing.

AID SHIPMENTS NOT ENOUGH TO MEET W

ORSENING CRISIS, AID WORKER SAYS

CAIRO — Mahmoud Shalabi, an aid worker with the Medical Aid for Palestinians group, said the aid shipments that Israel allowed to cross into Gaza were a “drop in the ocean of the needs” required to address the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis there.

Speaking to The Associated Press Monday evening from his home in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, Shalabi said that the aid had not arrived in the northern part of the strip, which Israel wants to empty ahead of its looming ground invasion.

He said the supplies in the first convoy on Saturday were distributed only to bakeries in the southern parts of Gaza, leaving the northern half struggling amid extremely dire conditions.

“The north didn’t receive anything. It’s like a death sentence for the people in the north of Gaza there,” he said.

AIRSTRIKES LEAVE HOSPITAL OVERRUN WITH PATIENTS

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A hospital in Gaza City was overrun with patients from airstrikes Monday with people lying on a blood-covered floor and two children at a time being treated on exam tables.

While a girl stared up at the ceiling from a table at Shifa Hospital, a boy who appeared to be unconscious lay at her feet with an IV drip in his arm and gauze wrapped around his head.

An older child and a man wearing oxygen masks lay on their backs on the floor below as a fifth person in a bright striped top was spread out on the floor nearby.

Medics also worked on a boy covered in gray soot whose legs were splinted and who lay at the foot of another child covered partly with a sheet.

Several other children and adults lay on a tile floor in another area of waiting for care.

THIRD CONVOY OF HUMANITARIAN AID ARRIVES IN GAZA, UN CONFIRMS

CAIRO — A third small aid convoy from Egypt has entered Gaza, where the population of 2.3 million has been running out of food, water and medicine under Israel’s two-week seal.

Juliette Touma, director of communications for the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency, confirmed the arrival of the convoy “with 20 trucks” in Gaza on Monday to The Associated Press, but provided no other details.

HOSPITAL RUNS OUT OF BURIAL SHROUDS AND ROOM IN MORGUE, OFFICIAL SAYS

CAIRO — Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital, in Rafah, registered 61 deaths since Monday morning following a day of intense airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip.

Talaat Barghout, the hospital’s spokesperson, said there is no room in the morgue for all the bodies, and a lack of Islamic burial shrouds — known as the Kafan — to give the dead a proper burial.

“More than half of them are lying on the (hospital) ground,” he said.

Barghout also said the hospital lacks an intensive care unit and does not have the facilities to treat burns. There is only enough fuel to keep the basic hospital going for two more days, he added.

BRITAIN SAYS HOSPITAL EXPLOSION WAS LIKELY CAUSED BY MISFIRED MISSILE FROM GAZA

LONDON — The British government says it has concluded that a devastating explosion at a hospital in Gaza was likely caused by a misfired missile from within Palestinian territory, rather than an Israeli strike.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told lawmakers in the House of Commons that based on an intelligence assessment, “the British government judges that the explosion was likely caused by a missile, or part of one, that was launched from within Gaza towards Israel.”

The conclusion tallies with assessments by U.S. and French officials about the cause of the explosion at the al-Ahli hospital on Tuesday.

Officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza have blamed it on an Israeli airstrike and said the blast killed almost 500 people. A U.S. intelligence report estimated that somewhere between 100 and 300 Palestinians were likely killed.

An analysis by The Associated Press of videos, satellite imagery and photos found the explosion was most likely caused when part of a rocket fired from within Palestinian territory crashed to the ground.

Sunak told British lawmakers that the U.K. stood by Israel in its war against Hamas but would also work to ensure that “a constant stream of aid” reached civilians “suffering terribly” in Gaza. He announced 20 million pounds ($24 million) in U.K. humanitarian aid for Gaza.

US ADVISES ISRAEL THAT DELAY IN GROUND OFFENSIVE COULD ALLOW RELEASE OF MORE HOSTAGES

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has advised Israel that a delay in its possible ground offensive in Gaza would allow more time for the U.S. to work with its regional partners to release more hostages seized by Hamas, according to a U.S. official familiar with the Biden administration's thinking on the matter.

The official, who requested anonymity to discuss the private discussions, said it was unclear how much the argument will “move the needle” on Israeli thinking.

The official noted that Qatar's help in mediating with Hamas was able to win the release of two captives, Judith and Natalie Raanan. The process that led to their release — just two of the more than the 222 people believed taken hostage in Israel in the Oct. 7 attacks — started soon after the Hamas operation. The official said arranging for the release of the Raanans “took longer to come together than folks really realize.”

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Reporting by Aamer Madhani.

ACTIVISTS DENOUNCE NETANYAHU AT INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch authorities detained 19 activists who occupied the entrance to the International Criminal Court on Monday, denouncing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel’s actions during the war with Hamas.

Activists from the Extinction Rebellion group took over a bridge in front of The Hague-based court just after noon, carrying a banner that read “Netanyahu is a war criminal.” The Dutch branch of the activist group, which was originally set up to campaign against climate change, has staged several other pro-Palestinian actions since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

An ICC spokesperson said the demonstration did not disturb the court's normal activities.

After police released the 19 following a brief detention, they joined a small pro-Palestinian protest outside the ICC’s grounds.

The demonstration took place as Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrived in the Middle East to meet with both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

FUEL RUNNING OUT IN HOSPITAL NEONATAL WARDS, DOCTOR SAYS

CAIRO — The head of the neonatal unit in Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said it will run out of fuel within 48 hours.

Dr. Hatem Edhair said there are eight babies in the intensive care unit and 10 others in the neonatal department.

“Half of these children are on CPAP (pressurized air) machines and oxygen machines,” he said Monday. “If the hospital runs out of fuel, half of these babies will die in less than 24 hours.”

Doctors treating premature babies across Gaza have warned that at least 130 are at “grave risk” across six neonatal units because of worsening fuel shortages.

The fuel shortages are caused by the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which started — along with airstrikes — after Hamas militants attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7.

“We are working around the clock,” Edair said. “We need to save these babies.”

IRAN-BACKED MILITIAS SAY THEY TARGETED BASE USED BY US MILITARY

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Iran-backed militias in Iraq said Monday they targeted a strategic base used by the U.S. military in southeastern Syria.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias, said two drones were used to attack the al-Tanf garrison near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders.

The attack came after a string of similar attacks on bases housing U.S. military in Iraq and Syria over the past week. In one, the same group attacked two bases in Iraq with drones, causing minor injuries among U.S. forces.

There was no immediate U.S. comment on Monday's incident and no word on damage or injuries.

The al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria is located at a sensitive location often used by Iranian-backed militants to transport weapons to Hezbollah. The U.S. military has maintained a presence there to train forces as part of a campaign against the Islamic State group.

NORWAY OFFERS TO ASSIST POSSIBLE INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGED WAR CRIMES

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norway is willing to assist in a possible investigation of alleged war crimes in Gaza and Israel, its justice minister said Monday.

”War crimes are never acceptable. Those guilty of any war crimes must be held accountable,” Emilie Enger Mehl said in a statement. “If we receive a request to contribute to an investigation, we are prepared to provide resources quickly. Regardless of who is behind it.”

Norway earlier contributed to the International Criminal Court to investigate possible war crimes, including in Ukraine.

“The international community must come together to protect fundamental principles in a war,” she said.