Israel continues strikes on humanitarian area in Gaza despite official designation
(LONDON) — Israel’s military has conducted at least eight airstrikes in recent months in an area it designated as an expanded humanitarian zone, an ABC News investigation has found using verified videos, photos and personal testimonies.
Israeli officials confirmed the strikes to ABC News, but maintained they were efforts to destroy Hamas militants, commanders and infrastructure hidden within Palestinian neighborhoods. The strikes examined by ABC News all together killed at least 110 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, and hit hospitals in the safe zone that treated victims.
International observers said the strikes, which occurred over a period of weeks, raised questions about whether Israel had intentionally targeted areas where they directed civilians to take refuge. Doing so could be a war crime, according to international law experts.
Muntaha Zaqzouq, 20, moved to this expanded humanitarian area from the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the Israel Defense Forces warned civilians to go there.
At least 800,000 people fled Rafah in May, the majority of whom found shelter in the expanded humanitarian area, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, which works with Palestinian refugees.
Zaqzouq and her two siblings were in their tent in the courtyard of a school when a bomb fell nearby, on July 3, she told ABC News in an interview. The siblings rushed to each other’s side, huddling together inside the tent, before a second bomb ripped apart their tent, she said.
“When the dust started to clear, I looked and found my brother full of blood. I looked at myself and found that I was full of blood, my T-shirt, and my legs had blood on them,” she said.
Zaqzouq’s brother needed 35 stitches to his head, and she herself needed stitches to her leg, she said.
Satellite images and ABC News video corroborate Zaqzouq’s story, showing two strikes north of the school where she was living with her siblings, and her tent shredded.
She and her family had moved six times before settling in the safe zone in Khan Younis, near Nasser hospital, she told ABC News. She said the IDF did not warn them before the bombings.
“No one warned us, no one said that there would be a strike, and they did not call anyone. The strike happened suddenly and the square was full of people sitting outside,” she said.
The IDF told ABC News it “struck a terrorist infrastructure at the provided coordinates.”
As the IDF launched its ground operation in Rafah in May, the Israeli military announced the expansion of an official humanitarian area where the city’s residents could go to be safe.
In a May 6 post on social platform X, the IDF spokesperson for Arabic Media released a map of the designated humanitarian area, which had been expanded to include not just Al-Mawasi, a small area in the southwest of Gaza, but also the western parts of the nearby city of Khan Younis and the entire city of Deir al-Balah to the north.
“For your safety, the IDF calls on you to evacuate immediately to the expanded humanitarian zone,” the post said.
Confirming the borders of the humanitarian area, the IDF in June referred ABC News to their website which has an interactive map of Gaza with the humanitarian zone outlined. Text on the page, referring to following IDF instructions related to the map, reads, “Residents of Gaza! It is a safe way to preserve your safety, your lives, and the lives of your families.”
The IDF amended the boundaries of the humanitarian area on July 22 and again on July 27, removing portions to the east of the “safe zone,” because of what it said was “significant terrorist activity and rocket fire toward the State of Israel from the eastern part of the Humanitarian Area in the Gaza Strip.” None of the IDF airstrikes examined by ABC News occurred in these areas.
ABC News asked the IDF about eight specific airstrikes in the humanitarian area.
“The IDF does not aim to strike humanitarian areas as such,” the IDF told ABC News in June, saying that Palestinian militants use civilian infrastructure for military purposes, but that, “Nevertheless, and on account of the concentrated presence of civilians in these areas, the approval process for these strikes is more stringent.”
In another statement to ABC News in July, the IDF accused Hamas of increasing “its military presence and operations from humanitarian zones,” including firing rockets toward Israel.
The rules around strikes on safe zones are clear, according to David Crane, an American international law expert who has prosecuted war crimes for the United Nations.
“There’s no gray area, it’s black and white,” he told ABC News. “If you intentionally target a safe zone where there are civilians, that’s a war crime.”
Janina Dill, co-director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict, said that there are strict legal rules under international humanitarian law, which is based on rules laid out in the Geneva Conventions, for what is considered a safe zone. She said she believes “Israel’s so-called safe zones do not easily meet the criteria of any of these legally recognized areas.” Thus, strikes in this area would not alone be enough to designate a war crime, she said.
She said that when Israel creates “safe zones” it can be seen as the military attempting to fulfill its legal obligations to warn civilians before attacks in combat areas.
Dill said that attacks in areas designated by Israel as safe “that kill a lot of civilians weaken the legal framing of the evacuation orders as improving the safety of the civilian population.”
Dill also said that when “reasonably foreseeable” civilian casualties are greater than the military advantage of an attack, the attack is prohibited under international law. This is called the “principle of proportionality,” and Dill said when civilians are displaced to an area Israel designated as safe, civilian casualties from attacks in that area are necessarily “reasonably foreseeable.”
She said that “it is very possible that some of these attacks in safe zones are war crimes because they are clearly disproportionate, or they could also be indiscriminate. However, generally, criminality can definitively only be established in and by a court of law.”
Palestinian journalists and Gaza residents who were near three of the strike sites in the humanitarian zone told ABC News they had received messages from the IDF warning them to evacuate the building before an imminent strike. Within a few hours, videos verified by ABC News show the buildings were destroyed by IDF airstrikes.
The IDF told ABC News they were targeting military infrastructure belonging to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad at each of the three sites where prior warning was given.
An IDF airstrike in northwest Rafah killed at least 45 people on May 26, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The IDF said it had not conducted that strike within the borders of the humanitarian area.
“Contrary to circulating reports, we carried out the aforementioned strike outside the area considered a humanitarian zone to which we invited residents to move,” an IDF spokesperson wrote in Arabic on X on May 26.
But two days before, on May 24, the IDF dropped a bomb on a tent camp in Al Mawasi, in the center of the humanitarian area.
A journalist within a few hundred yards at the time of the strike told ABC News people received warning to evacuate before the strike and that no one was killed as a result.
Verified video filmed in the aftermath of the strike shows the massive crater left behind, and people attempting to dig up destroyed tents and belongings.
A woman who witnessed a strike in Khan Younis on June 20, who did not want to share her name for fear for her safety, told the ABC News team in Gaza, “People here came to the Khan Younis area and Nasser Hospital on the basis that it is a safe area. Schools for displaced people have been evacuated.”
Two of the strikes where warnings were given were within 100 feet of schools housing displaced people. Videos from Khan Younis show destruction at the nearby school, with parts of the walls missing and debris covering beds.
Other strikes, including five that ABC News has studied, were not preceded by IDF warnings, witnesses and victims said. ABC News provided the IDF with the details of deadly strikes for which there were no public warnings, but the IDF declined to specify whether precautions were taken to minimize civilian harm in those cases.
Several explosions followed by clouds of smoke sent people running in the Al Mawasi area of Gaza on July 13, as seen in social media videos from the scene, that were verified as authentic.
First responders in ambulances and fire trucks rushed toward the scene. As they arrived, another explosion rang out, video shows, this one on the street where medics had stopped, north of the first strike.
ABC News’ cameras captured dozens of people, including women, children and first responders, rushing into the nearby Nasser Hospital. Ninety people were killed and 300 injured in this attack, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said.
The IDF said the strike was targeting Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’ military wing and a key figure behind the Oct. 7 attack. An Israeli official also told ABC News that they believe “that many of the casualties were also terrorists.”
The strike was one of the deadliest single events of the war.
“There is no ‘safe’ or ‘humanitarian’ zone in Gaza. These ‘designations’ were misleading and deceiving,” the commissioner general of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said following the strike.
An earlier IDF airstrike on July 2 hit a home in Deir al-Balah, killing 13 people, including four children and two women, according to the nearby Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
Video from the scene shows rescuers digging through the rubble of the upper floors of the house, where the walls appear to have been blown out.
The IDF told ABC News that it “struck a terrorist operative in a military building” but did not comment on the deaths of the women and children also in the building or whether specific measures to avoid harming civilians were taken in this strike.
Another strike on June 14 hit another home in Deir al-Balah not far from the Al Aqsa hospital, videos show. Two people were killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Verified videos filmed by local journalists show at least four children being rescued from the building. People are seen digging through rubble to free two of them. Once one girl is freed, the footage shows her taken to an ambulance, where a young boy, blood covering his face, is already on a stretcher.
One video also shows an unconscious woman being rushed to a waiting ambulance, and medical responders attending to an elderly woman emerging from the building.
Asked about this strike, the IDF told ABC News that it “struck a military infrastructure at the coordinate provided.”
The IDF told ABC News that Palestinian militant groups “embed their military objects strategically in, near, and under civilian infrastructure including humanitarian zones.” The IDF also claims Hamas members routinely use Palestinian civilians as human shields.
Dill, the Oxford international law expert, said that civilian casualties must still be taken into account in these situations.
“If an attack against this Hamas member would be disproportionate – due to the use of civilians as human shields in a safe zone – this attack would still be prohibited,” Dill said. “The violation of international law by one party to a conflict does not release the other party from its own obligations neither does it – generally – weaken these obligations.”
Crane, the former UN prosecutor, said safe zones should always be protected.
“If you have safe zones and you have civilians moving into the safe zones, with the understanding that they will not be targeted, that’s important,” he said. “If Israel or Hamas or any, any party to the conflict, if they violate that, then they are in fact committing war crimes.”
(LONDON and GAZA STRIP) — When he left his home on Tuesday morning to get birth certificates for his newborn twins, Mohammed Abu al-Qumsan never imagined he would return with their death certificates instead.
In a matter of minutes, an Israeli strike on the Qastal Tower building, in Deir Al-Balah, where the Abu al-Qumsan family was living after having been displaced from the north of Gaza, killed his 3-day-old twins, Aser and Aysel, together with their mother, Dr. Jumann Arfa, and grandmother, according to family members.
The twins were born on Saturday, Aug. 10, as written on their birth certificate. On that day, Dr. Arfa shared the news in a Facebook post, with friends welcoming her babies in war-torn Gaza and praying for their health and safety.
Now the few comments to congratulate the birth below the announcement are overshadowed by hundreds of condolences to the family.
“I helped her raise funds for her to deliver the twins safely. I only spoke with her yesterday, my heart is truly broken,” a friend wrote.
The Israel Defense Forces in a statement to ABC News said, “The details of the incident as published are not currently known to the IDF.”
The military added, “The IDF is fighting against the murderous terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza following the massacre on October 7. Unlike the terrorist organization Hamas, the IDF targets only military objectives and employs various measures to minimize harm to civilians.”
Abu Al-Qumsan learned about the news from his brother-in-law, Fera Arafa, who told ABC News that he survived the explosion because he was out to buy bread.
“I went to register the children the day before. They said to come back tomorrow. So I went and I was waiting when someone called me, telling me that the apartment which I live in was bombed,” Abu Al-Qumsan told ABC News.
As soon as he got the call, Abu Al-Qumsan said he rushed to the nearby Al-Aqsa Hospital, where he was told the babies and mother had been taken.
Shock and pain overtook him when he saw with his own eyes that the news was true, he said. Videos show him collapsing and shaking, unable to contain his desperation. The couple married in July last year and lived in Gaza City, where she worked as a pharmacist and he worked as a sales representative until Oct. 13, 2023, when they were forced to evacuate to southern Gaza.
At Al-Aqsa Hospital, Arafa grieved as he held his brother-in-law and worried about the future of his remaining family.
Arafa told ABC News he was living in the same apartment as his mother, sister, her husband and their babies. The apartment that was “filled with joy and happiness since the twins came to this life,” he said.
Now a massive hole in the building is a reminder of the deadly attack that put an end to that happiness. It also punctuated the difficulties endured by Abu Al-Qumsan and his family in the last 10 months of war in Gaza: the displacement, the lack of resources, and the pregnancy, carried on during what international humanitarian organizations and the United Nations called a collapsed health system.
“Minutes before the explosion, I was outside the house, my mother phoned me and told me that she wanted bread,” Arafa told ABC News about the morning the Qastal tower apartment was hit. “Minutes after I ended my call with her, a friend called me and told me they had all been killed.”
Arafa said he was overcome by shock.
“What is the reason? I still can’t believe it. A few minutes ago, I was talking to my mother on the phone,” he said. “We are civilians, and we are looking for our livelihood to provide for our daily needs, we have no connection to organizations, parties, or the military, I do not know why we were bombed.”
What began as a simple task of securing birth certificates transformed into a heart-wrenching journey to bury his family and obtain their death certificates, but Mohammed’s sorrow is not unique, according to a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, who told ABC News this is part of a larger tragedy affecting countless families.
“This attack wiped out the entire family from the civil registry, raising the number of newborn deaths to 115 children since the beginning of this conflict,” Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and the Ministry of Health, told ABC News.
Al-Daqran said they are struggling to deal with the psychological pain too.
“The psychological and emotional impact on the father of the two children who were killed is profound. We have approximately 10,000 patients suffering from psychological disorders, most of whom are left untreated and are seen wandering the streets.”
As for the measures and protection for infants and newborns, Al-Daqran said the attacks are directed at every citizen in the Gaza Strip, making it impossible to protect children, and that the lack of aid and resources is affecting the youngest disproportionally.
Thousands of “children have been killed in this brutal conflict over the course of just 10 months. When the authorities closed the [border] crossings and deprived these infants and newborns of baby formula, the situation became even more dire. Tragically, a significant number of newborns have lost their lives due to malnutrition too,” he said.
Two days after the Abu al-Qumsan family lived their tragedy, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants carried on a surprise attack that left over 1,200 killed and hundreds kidnapped, reached the grim milestone of 40,000, on top of the over 90,000 injured, the health ministry said.
According to the ministry, about 11,000 children are among the dead.
“These appalling atrocities have become tragically commonplace, as relentless, indiscriminate assaults continue to claim the lives of so, so many children and leave countless families devastated. Surely, surely, it must be stopped,” a spokesperson for the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said in a statement to ABC News.
(KURSK, Russia) — Russia appears to have launched its first major counterattack to drive Ukrainian forces out of Russia’s Kursk region more than a month after Ukraine began its surprise offensive, according to Russian and Ukrainian sources as well as independent military analysts.
Russian forces appeared already to have some success on Tuesday — retaking some territory and driving a wedge into Ukrainian lines in Kursk, analysts said.
Videos posted by pro-Russian military bloggers and geolocated by ABC News showed a large Russian armored column attacking toward the village of Snagost. Another video appears to show Ukrainian troops taken prisoner.
The Russian counterattack is focused on the western flank of Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk that seized hundreds of square kilometers since it began on Aug. 6.
John Helin — a researcher at the Blackbird Group, which conducts open-source military analysis — wrote on X that Russian troops had launched a push from the west and north, driving a wedge behind Ukrainian troops toward Snagost. Russian military bloggers claim Russian forces are now attacking the village of Obukhov, which would mean Russian troops could have advanced more than 6 miles on Tuesday, Helin wrote in an article for the Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat.
A prominent pro-Ukrainian military blogger, Serhiy Sternenko, confirmed Russia has launched a major counterattack and that the situation is dangerous for Ukraine.
“The situation can develop into a poorly controlled crisis,” Sternenko wrote on Telegram, saying Ukrainian forces lack adequate coordination in the area and are disorganized.
Military analysts and Ukrainian commentators said Russia’s attack was predictable.
“I won’t dramatize about the Kursk region, war is war, a fully expected response from the enemy,” Stanislav Osman, a volunteer soldier with the 24th “Aidar” Assault Battalion, wrote on his Telegram account. But he said Ukrainian commanders had ignored some warnings from Ukrainian front-line troops in the area.
Ukraine succeeded in seizing hundreds of square miles and dozens of villages inside the Kursk region in the early days of its surprise offensive. Russia has struggled to respond. Ukraine has barely advanced since the first two weeks, although it has kept Russian forces on the defensive. Tuesday’s counterattack suggested Russia is now finally seeking to turn the tables and begin trying to push Ukraine back.
Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk has been viewed as a high-risk gamble by most independent military experts. Although it has succeeded in shifting the narrative in the war, analysts have warned Ukraine still risks suffering dangerous losses as it tries to hold onto territory in Kursk.
At the same time, Russian forces have made more rapid advances in eastern Ukraine since the Kursk incursion, appearing to take advantage of Ukraine diverting troops and ammunition. Russian forces have advanced toward the city of Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub, and stretched Ukrainian lines more broadly in southeast Donbas. Though Russia’s rate of advance has reportedly slowed in the past week.
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, cease-fire discussions are occurring in the Middle East, with officials hoping to bring an end to the conflict.
The United States and its allies continue to plead for a cease-fire deal, with discussions set for this week.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Israel says it killed top militant in West Bank operation
Israeli forces killed the “head of a terrorist network,” Mohammed Jabar, in the West Bank Thursday, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Nadav Shoshani told reporters Thursday.
Jabar and “four other armed operatives that were all directly connected to his network” were in a mosque when they were killed by Israeli forces, Shoshani said.
The bodies of Jabar and the four others killed in the mosque have not been handed over to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the ministry said.
IDF special forces were deployed to the specific area where Jabar was located. There was a significant exchange of fire between the armed terrorists hiding inside the mosque and Israeli forces, according to Shoshani.
Jabar was allegedly planning future attacks, the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Anna Burd and Nasser Atta
Israeli delegation continues cease-fire talks in Qatar
A delegation from Israel — including Israeli Security Agency, Mossad and IDF officials — remains in Doha, Qatar, and is continuing hostage release and cease-fire talks for a second day, an Israeli official told ABC News Thursday.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
West Bank death toll at 12, expected to rise
The Palestinian Ministry of Health has said that at least 12 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ground and air operation in the West Bank.
Another five people are believed to have been killed in a mosque Tulkarm on Wednesday, though their bodies have not been recovered or added to the overall toll.
Israel said “terrorists were hiding in the mosque,” in the city, which is one of four areas subject to the ongoing raids.
Israel ‘fueling’ explosive situation in West Bank: UN
The White House remains “deeply concerned about maintaining stability in the West Bank,” a State Department spokesperson has said, as Israeli forces continue to press its multi-city operation.
“We recognize Israel’s very real security needs to protect all citizens from harm,” the spokesperson added.
Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that Israel is “fueling an already explosive situation,” while Guterres himself posted on X calling for an immediate end to the operation.
At least 11 dead, 20 injured in West Bank raids: Palestinian Ministry of Health
At least 11 people are dead and another 20 injured since the Israel Defense Forces launched operations in the West Bank overnight Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Hamas says Israel’s temporary pause for polio vaccinations is not enough
Amid rising calls for a pause in fighting to administer polio vaccinations to children in Gaza, Hamas is saying Israel’s temporary pause is not enough.
“This suspicious method that Netanyahu and his government are trying to impose will thwart the United Nations’ move and deprive hundreds of children of vaccination against polio,” Hamas said in a statement Wednesday.
It is still unclear if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan is different from the United Nation’s requests for a temporary pause in fighting.
Hamas is calling for a comprehensive truce throughout Gaza to allow for a polio vaccination campaign.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
World Food Programme pauses staff movement in Gaza after vehicle targeted
The World Food Programme announced it is pausing the movement of its employees in Gaza until further notice after its team came under fire on Tuesday, near an Israeli checkpoint.
The WFP team — traveling in two armored vehicles — was returning from a mission to Kerem Shalom after escorting a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian cargo routed to central Gaza.
“Despite being clearly marked and receiving multiple clearances by Israeli authorities to approach, the vehicle was directly struck by gunfire as it was moving towards an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) checkpoint. It sustained at least ten bullets: five on the driver’s side, two on the passenger side and three on other parts of the vehicle. None of the employees onboard were physically harmed,” the WFP said in a statement.
WFP called for protection of humanitarian workers providing essential aid to civilians in Gaza.
“The incident is a stark reminder of the rapidly and ever shrinking humanitarian space in the Gaza Strip, where increasing violence compromises our ability to deliver life-saving assistance. The already critical situation is exacerbated by restricted access and heightened risks, leading to decreased food supplies reaching those in desperate need,” WFP said.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Netanyahu approves ‘limited pauses’ in fighting to facilitate polio vaccination in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved “limited pauses” in fighting to allow for polio vaccinations for children in Gaza amid calls from international aid organizations, according to an Israeli official familiar with deliberations.
The pauses will only be in designated areas, according to the official.
A 10-month-old baby was paralyzed and became the first confirmed case of polio earlier this month.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
10 killed in West Bank as IDF says operation ‘won’t end tomorrow’
Ten people have been killed since the start of the Israel Defense Forces’ operation in the West Bank overnight, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Wednesday.
The operation is targeting Jenin, Tulkarm and Nablus in the West Bank, IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani said during a Zoom briefing with reporters Wednesday.
Shoshani implied the operation could go on for a few days, saying it “won’t end tomorrow,” during the IDF briefing.
The IDF did not say how many troops are involved in the operation, but Shoshani called it a “large” operation. Israeli security forces called it a “counterterrorism operation,” in a release Wednesday.
The IDF is surrounding the Ibn Sinai hospital in Jenin “to prevent terrorists from taking shelter there,” Shoshani said, but said the IDF has no plans to “enter, capture or seize” the hospital.
There are no plans to evacuate civilians from the areas where the IDF is operating, Shoshani said.
One of the targets of the operation is the cell that planned a failed suicide bombing attempt in Tel Aviv earlier this month, but the attack did not prompt the large operation, Shoshani added.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Nasser Atta and Guy Davies
US announces new sanctions targeting West Bank extremism
The U.S. State Department announced new sanctions targeting an Israeli nongovernmental organization and an individual, Yitzhak Levi Filant, as part of its ongoing efforts to “address the extreme levels of instability and violence against civilians in the West Bank.”
The organization, Hashomer Yosh, is providing support to an outpost in the West Bank and individuals — who are already designated by the U.S. government — and allegedly prevented Palestinian residents that were forced to leave their homes from returning, according to the State Department.
Filant, identified as the civilian security coordinator of a settlement in the West Bank, is accused of engaging “in malign activities outside the scope of his authority,” including an incident in February where he purportedly “led a group of armed settlers to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols to pursue and attack Palestinians in their lands and forcefully expel them from their lands,” the State Department said in a statement.
“Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region. It is critical that the Government of Israel hold accountable any individuals and entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank,” the State Department said.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Foreign minister urges Gaza-style approach to West Bank ‘terrorist front’
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has framed the unfolding West Bank operation as another front in the country’s showdown with Iran, suggesting Israel should “deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.”
“Iran is working to establish an eastern terrorist front against Israel in the West Bank, according to the Gaza and Lebanon model, by financing and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan,” Katz wrote in a post on X.
Katz said Israel should take “whatever steps are required,” including “the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents.”
“This is a war for everything and we must win it,” he added.
Israel launches largest raids in West Bank in years
The IDF overnight widened a major military operation in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, attacking from the air and from the ground using tanks and bulldozers, ABC News has learned.
The targets of the raid are Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas. The IDF has described the ongoing operation as an “extensive operation to counter terrorism” and to “thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructures.”
Reports indicate that nine Palestinians have so far been killed, though that number could rise. The IDF has reportedly ordered Palestinians to evacuate from the three targets locations, with troops also entering a hospital in the area.
The raid is believed to be the first operation by the IDF targeting several cities at once since the Second Intifada, which ran from 2000 to 2005.
IDF launches large raids in the West Bank
Israel Defense Forces said it launched an “operation to counter terrorism” in the northern West Bank overnight Tuesday.
“The security forces have now begun an operation to counter terrorism in Jenin and Tulkarm in the Menashe division,” the IDF said in a statement.
Hostage in good condition, will remain in hospital for more tests
Qaid Farhan Alkadi, the hostage rescued from a tunnel in Gaza, is in “good condition,” but will remain in the hospital for “another day or two of medical tests to make sure he is still OK,” Shlomi Codish, the CEO of Soroka Medical Center, said during a press conference Tuesday.
Alkadi is being treated at the Soroka Medical Center after being rescued by Israeli forces.
Israeli delegation heads to Doha to continue cease-fire talks
A delegation from Israel — including Israeli Security Agency, Mossad and IDF officials — is heading to Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday to continue hostage release and cease-fire talks, an Israeli official told ABC News Tuesday.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hostage was alone when found by Israeli forces
Qaid Farhan Alkadi was alone when he was located by Israeli forces in a tunnel in Gaza, Israel Defense Forces officials told ABC News.
In the last few days, IDF and Israeli security agency forces had been operating in the area where Alkadi was found and rescued, according to IDF officials. The forces operated underground, in a complex environment where there was suspicion of the presence of hostages, terrorists and explosives, the officials said.
Farhan was located by Israeli forces when he was alone, without his captors, and was rescued from the tunnel, the officials added.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
Hostage families renew calls for cease-fire after hostage rescue
Hostage families are calling for an immediate cease-fire, calling the rescue of Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi — a Bedouin father of 11 from south of Rahat — from a tunnel in Gaza, “nothing short of miraculous,” in a statement.
“However, we must remember: military operations alone cannot free the remaining 108 hostages, who have suffered 326 days of abuse and terror. A negotiated deal is the only way forward,” the hostage families said in a press release.
Al-Qadi was kidnapped from his security job at Kibbutz Magen’s packing factory on Oct. 7. He is the eighth hostage that Israeli forces have rescued alive since Oct. 7, according to an IDF official.
“Every single day in captivity is one too many. The remaining hostages cannot afford to wait for another such miracle,” hostage families said.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
Israel to use ‘all means’ to return remaining hostages
IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told a press conference on Tuesday of the “complex rescue mission” that freed Qaid Farhan Alkadi from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.
“He is back home in Israel,” Hagari said of Alkadi. He is only the eighth hostage rescued alive from Gaza by the IDF, and the first rescued alive from a tunnel under the strip. Alkadi was among scores of people seized in southern Israel during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.
“We cannot go into many details of this special operation but I can share that Israeli commandos rescued Qaid Farhan Alkadi from an underground tunnel, following accurate intelligence,” Hagari said.
“His medical condition is stable and he will undergo examinations in hospital. His family had been waiting 326 days to receive the news they did today.”
“But there are still 108 hostages, whose families are still waiting to hear news that their loved ones are home. And they should know that we will not rest until we fulfill our mission to bring all our hostages back home.”
“We will pursue the return of our hostages through all means possible. I repeat, through all means possible.”
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
Israeli forces rescue hostage from Gaza
The Israeli military announced Tuesday that it had rescued an Arab citizen of Israel who was among scores of people abducted in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attack.
Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, from the Bedouin town of Rahat in southern Israel, was rescued “in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip,” according to Israeli authorities.
An Israeli source told ABC News that the rescued hostage is currently at Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Top US general ends Israel visit
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. has completed a visit to Israel amid intensifying fighting across the Lebanese border and continued uncertainty about a potential Iranian attack on Israel.
Brown met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in Tel Aviv on Monday. The officials discussed Hezbollah’s weekend rocket and drone attack and the “need to de-escalate tensions to avoid a broader conflict,” per a Pentagon readout.
Hezbollah launched its attack in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Fouad Shukr in Beirut last month.
Cease-fire talks moving forward after strikes: Kirby
Cease-fire talks are now moving forward at a working group level in Cairo over the next few days to hammer out specifics, according to National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby.
This weekend’s strikes by Israel and Hezbollah have “not affected the actual work on the ground by the teams trying to get this cease-fire deal in place,” Kirby told reporters Monday.
Kirby also rejected any suggestion that talks broke down this weekend, instead saying they were “constructive” enough to work on “finer details” at lower levels.
“There was no breakdown,” he said. “They made enough progress that they were willing to, or needed to transition to a working group level so you didn’t need the mediators all there and the leadership there.”
Brett McGurk, a top senior adviser on the Middle East at the White House, stayed in Cairo an extra day to kick off the meetings and is still there, Kirby said, adding that all parties are being represented in these discussions.
“One issue that will be for the working groups to flesh out is the exchange of hostages and prisoners that Israel’s holding — what that exchange looks like, how many, some of the details of exactly who will be released on either side and at what pace, those kinds of things,” Kirby said.
Al-Aqsa Hospital still operating despite evacuations
Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah is still operating, despite new temporary evacuation orders from Israeli forces to leave the surrounding area near the hospital.
Out of the 650 patients in Al-Aqsa Hospital, only 100 remain in the hospital that are being treated, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said.
The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged they have been “operating in recent days in the Deir al Balah area,” but they said the evacuation orders did not include “the hospitals and medical facilities in the area,” in response to an inquiry from ABC News.
Three out of 18 water wells are still functioning in Deir al Balah due to “ongoing military operations,” the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees said in a post Monday.
World Food Programme operations ‘severely hampered’ in Gaza
The World Food Programme, the U.N.’s worldwide food assistance program, is being “severely hampered” by the “intensifying conflict” in Gaza.
The agency said border crossings have been limited and roads in Gaza have become so unusable that urgent repairs are needed in order to transport basic needs, like food and medicine.
“Transporting food, water, medicine and hygiene equipment is critical for the survival of communities in Gaza today and will be needed for months to come,” Antoine Renard, the country director for Gaza, said in a statement. “Roads are part of this lifeline.”
6:26 PM EDT Hospital in central Gaza under evacuation order after nearby explosion
Israeli forces issued an evacuation order in the vicinity of the Al Aqsa Hospital, Deir Al Balah, in central Gaza, urging people to flee, according to a statement from Doctors Without Borders Sunday.
“An explosion approximately 250 meters away triggered panic with many choosing to leave the hospital,” the organization said.
Of the approximately 650 patients in the hospital prior to the explosion, only 100 remain, with seven in the intensive care unit, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Doctors Without Borders is considering suspending wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain lifesaving treatment, according to the statement.
“This situation is unacceptable,” the organization said. “Al Aqsa has been operating well beyond capacity for weeks due to the lack of alternatives for patients. All warring parties must respect the hospital, as well as patients’ access to medical care.”
Aug 26, 2024, 4:56 PM EDT Sirens sound in Tel Aviv as Hamas fires rocket from Gaza
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv Sunday night for the first time since January as Hamas launched a single rocket toward central Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces said the Hamas rocket fell into an “open area” in Rishon LeTsiyon, south of Tel Aviv.
Israeli emergency services officials said no one was injured by the rocket, but a 26-year-old woman was hurt going to a shelter.
Hamas confirmed it fired an “M90” rocket at Tel Aviv.
-ABC News Victoria Beaule
4:37 PM EDT Hezbollah leader says missile barrage on Israeli base ‘has ended’
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said missile and drone strikes targeting a “base for military intelligence” near Tel Aviv, Israel, “has ended” for now.
Nasrallah said the strikes carried out Sunday constituted the first and second phases of Hezbollah’s response to Israeli missile strikes in Lebanon. He said Hezbollah reserves the right to “respond” if it learns its strikes on Israel are not “sufficient.”
Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s missile and drone strikes targeted the Glilot military base near Tel Aviv, alleging it is a “base for military intelligence.”
“It contains a large number of officers and soldiers and it manages many of the assassination operations that take place in the region, as well as the sedition and deception operations,” Nasrallah alleged.
Hezbollah believes “a number of drones” reached their target. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said most of the Hezbollah missiles and drones were intercepted and denied that the Glilot military base was hit.
Hagari also confirmed that the soldier who was killed in the Hezbollah missile strike was hit by a fragment of an Iron Dome interceptor.
Nasrallah said a total of 340 missiles were fired at the Glilot military base.
A “preemptive strike” by Israel failed to cause any significant damage, according to Nasrallah.
“What happened was aggression, not a preemptive action,” Nasrallah said.
-ABC News Victoria Beaule
3:33 PM EDT Hamas rejects latest cease-fire deal
Hamas leader Osama Hamdan has released a statement indicating Hamas does not accept the latest iteration of the cease-fire proposal as written.
Hamas insists that changes added by Israel since July 2 are non-starters for them, specifically, Israel Defense Forces positions in the Philadelphi corridor, an eight-and-a-half-mile long demilitarized buffer zone running along the border between Egypt and Gaza. Hamas also objected to a proposal for non-Palestinian control of the Rafah border crossing.
Hamdan said Hamas will not return to the cease-fire talks as long as the new conditions stay in the proposal.
“The occupation set new conditions for accepting the agreement and backed away from what it had previously agreed to,” Hamdan said in a statement. “The delegation informed the mediators today of our opinion.”
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
1:16 PM EDT Soldier killed, 2 others injured in ‘combat’ in Northern Israel, says IDF
An Israeli soldier was killed and two others were injured Sunday “in combat in northern Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces announced.
The circumstances of what led to the death and injuries of the soldiers were not immediately disclosed by the IDF.
The soldier who was killed was identified by the IDF as Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, 21, of Geva Binyamin, Israel. The soldier was a member of the Israeli Navy’s 914th Fleet, according to the IDF.
The two soldiers who suffered light to moderate injuries are also members of the 914th Fleet, according to the IDF. Their names were not immediately released.
-ABC News’ Anna Burd and Jordana Miller
US not involved in Israel’s pre-emptive strike on Lebanon, official says
A U.S. official reaffirmed Sunday that the United States was not involved in Israel’s pre-emptive strike Saturday night on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon but had provided Israel some intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information believed to have been used in the mission.
The U.S. had provided some “ISR support in terms of tracking incoming Lebanese Hezbollah attacks but did not conduct any kinetic operations as they were not required,” the official said.
“We continue to closely monitor the situation and remain well-postured and ready to support the defense of Israel from attacks by Iran and any of its proxies, to include Lebanese Hezbollah,” the official said.
At least three people were killed overnight in the Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Sunday. The casualties included two people who were killed in the village of At Tiri and one in the town of Khiam, the ministry said, adding that two additional people were injured and required hospitalization.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
IDF issues new evacuation order in central Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces announced a new evacuation order Sunday for a small strip of land in a humanitarian area of central Gaza.
The new evacuation order for an area of Deir al-Balah came just days after the IDF ordered the evacuation of two refugee camps in the same area as the Israeli military prepared for a new ground offensive in the humanitarian zone.
The IDF suspects that Hamas terrorists are hiding in the area and using Palestinian refugees as human shields.
Sunday’s evacuation order affected those living in a relatively small area of Deir al-Balah that includes five schools sheltering displaced people and tent camps around them. The area is near the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, one of the largest remaining functional hospitals in Gaza, servicing all of central Gaza.
-ABC News’ Bictoria Beaule
Hezbollah planned to strike Israeli intelligence, sources tell ABC News
Israel believes the Hezbollah targets in central Israel were meant to be a complex of intelligence bases and the headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, just north of Tel Aviv, two Israeli security sources told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Bruno Nota
3 killed, 2 injured in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, officials say
At least three people were killed overnight in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Sunday.
Two were killed in the village of At Tiri and one in the town of Khiam, the ministry said, adding that two additional people were injured and required hospitalization.
The United Nations agency in charge of peacekeeping in southern Lebanon called on Sunday for a cease-fire and for all sides to “refrain from further escalatory action.”
“In light of worrying developments across the Blue Line since the early morning, UNSCOL and UNIFIL call on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action,” the agency said in a statement, referring to a demarcation line separating Israel from Lebanon.
There have been no reports of injuries on the Israeli side, according to emergency services in Israel.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz, Jordana Miller and Victoria Beaule
Israel continues strikes in southern Lebanon, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday said the military was targeting Hezbollah with additional strikes in southern Lebanon.
“In the last hour, the IDF struck Hezbollah launchers in several areas in southern Lebanon to remove threats,” the IDF said in a statement. “In addition, the IDF identified a terrorist cell operating in the area of Khiam in southern Lebanon. The IAF swiftly struck the terrorists.”
-ABC News’ Anna Burd and Victoria Beaule
‘Whoever harms us — we will harm them,’ Netanyahu says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday described his country’s preemptive strikes within Lebanon as a “strong action to foil the threats” raised by a potential attack by Hezbollah.
“It has eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel,” Netanyahu said as he convened his Security Cabinet for a meeting at 7 a.m. local time. “It is thwarting many other threats and is taking very strong action — both defensively and offensively.”
Netanyahu had earlier in the morning been managing the situation with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant from the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, his office said. The prime minister’s office released photos of the pair meeting with military officials.
“We are determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us — we will harm them,” Netanyahu said.
-ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey
‘Thousands’ of Hezbollah rocket launchers destroyed, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday said it had destroyed “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket launchers.
“Approximately 100 IAF fighter jets, directed by IDF intelligence, struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels that were located and embedded in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.
The statement added, “Most of these launchers were aimed toward northern Israel and some were aimed toward central Israel. More than 40 launches areas in Lebanon were struck during the strikes.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Kevin Shalvey
Israel warns Lebanese citizens of danger as it strikes Hezbollah
The Israeli Air Force launched “dozens” of planes to attack locations throughout southern Lebanon, saying it was continuing “to remove threats, to vigorously attack the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”
“Israel’s air defense systems, navy ships and Air Force planes are on a defense mission above the country’s skies, identifying, intercepting threats and attacking wherever in Lebanon it is required in order to remove threats and harm Hezbollah,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.
The aerial strikes within Lebanon were coming as Israeli defenses were dealing with “different types of threats,” including scores of rockets and drones launched into Israeli airspace, he said.
“We have already intercepted a number of rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles that approached the territory of the State of Israel,” Hagari said.He added, “We warn the Lebanese citizens in South Lebanon. We recognize that Hezbollah is firing in a large area near your homes. You are in danger. We attack and remove Hezbollah threats.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Kevin Shalvey
Hezbollah claims hundreds of rockets launched at Israel
Hezbollah claimed early on Sunday to have launched more than 320 rockets toward 11 military locations within Israel and Golan Heights.
The “enemy sites” that had been targeted were detailed in a statement. They included military bases in Meron, Ein Zeytim and Al-Sahl.
Barracks in Naveh Ziv, Ramot Naftali and Zaoura were also among the sites targeted, Hezbollah said.
The group described those launches as a “first stage,” saying they were “targeting Israeli barracks and sites to facilitate the passage of offensive drones towards their desired target deep inside” Israel.