At least six people were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on a home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have crammed into Rafah, one of the areas where Israel has told people to seek refuge. But Israeli forces continue to strike all parts of the besieged territory.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says several thousand Hamas fighters remain in northern Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been blasted into rubble. Heavy fighting is also underway in central Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli officials say Hamas鈥 military structure is still largely intact.
Meanwhile, the United Nations' humanitarian chief says Gaza has become 鈥渦ninhabitable鈥 and 鈥渁 public health disaster is unfolding.鈥
Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, and some 250 others were taken hostage. Israel鈥檚 air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 22,400 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Currently:
鈥 Hezbollah leader says his group must retaliate for suspected Israeli strike in Beirut.
鈥 Families in Gaza search desperately for food and water.
鈥 Israeli defense minister lays out vision for next steps of Gaza war.
鈥 Blinken heads to the Mideast again as fears of regional conflict surge.
鈥 Israel鈥檚 Mossad chief vows to hunt down Hamas members.
Here's what's happening in the war:
ISRAELI MILITARY TO INVESTIGATE FAILURES CONNECTED TO OCT. 7 ATTACK
JERUSALEM 鈥 The Israeli military says it is preparing an investigation into failures connected with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the ongoing war against the Islamic militant group.
The army鈥檚 chief spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Friday that the military is still planning the investigation. But he said it would include a look at the chain of command, decision making and former officials.
He said the investigation aims 鈥渢o improve the army鈥 and is not meant to replace any future external investigations.
On Oct. 7, several thousand Hamas militants stormed across the border and invaded nearly two dozen Israeli communities and army bases, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. It was the worst such attack in Israel鈥檚 history.
Israeli military, intelligence and political leaders have come under heavy criticism for being caught off guard.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far rejected calls for an investigation, saying the government must focus on the war and answer questions later.
The public broadcaster Kan reported earlier that a Security Cabinet meeting late Thursday broke up after four hard-line Cabinet minister shouted at the army鈥檚 commander in chief because they opposed his plans for the investigation.
UNAUTHORIZED JEWISH SETTLEMENTS HAVE INCREASED, WATCHDOG GROUP SAYS
JERUSALEM 鈥 With the world鈥檚 attention focused on the war in Gaza, Jewish settlers have quietly established an unprecedented number of unauthorized outposts in the occupied West Bank, according to a new report from Peace Now, an Israeli watchdog group.
The report found that settlers have built nine unauthorized settlement outposts since the start of the war. The group estimates it鈥檚 the largest number of settlements built over a three-month time frame since outposts began to be established in the 1990s.
Most of the new outposts are primitive. Most consist of only a few tents and an Israeli flag, the report said. But many such outposts have evolved into more permanent developments over the years, often with tacit government support.
Israel鈥檚 government is dominated by supporters of the settler movement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline settler leader, holds special authority over settlement planning.
The report said the outposts sit in parts of the West Bank that are under full Israeli control according to interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Israel says the territory is disputed and the fate of the settlements should be resolved in negotiations. The international community considers all settlements illegal.
鈥淭he three months of war in Gaza are being exploited by settlers to establish facts on the ground,鈥 the report said.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements in addition to 200,000 others in east Jerusalem. The Palestinians seek both areas, captured by Israel in 1967, as parts of a future state.
GAZA HAS BECOME 鈥楿NINHABITABLE,鈥 U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF SAYS
UNITED NATIONS 鈥 The United Nations humanitarian chief says Gaza has become 鈥渦ninhabitable鈥 three months after Hamas鈥 horrific attacks against Israel and 鈥渁 public health disaster is unfolding.鈥
Martin Griffiths said in a statement Friday that 鈥減eople are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded (and) famine is around the corner.鈥
And Gazans are 鈥渨itnessing daily threats to their very existence 鈥 while the world watches on,鈥 he said.
The U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured, families are sleeping in the open as temperatures plummet, and areas where Palestinians were told to relocate have been bombed.
The few partially functioning hospitals are overwhelmed and critically short of supplies, infectious diseases are spreading, and amidst the chaos some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth every day, he said.
Griffiths reiterated U.N. demands for an immediate end to the war and the release of all hostages, declaring, 鈥淚t is time for the international community to use all its influence to make this happen.鈥
He said the humanitarian community is facing an 鈥渋mpossible mission鈥 of supporting more than 2 million people in Gaza while aid workers are killed, communications blackouts continue, roads are damaged, truck convoys are shot at, and vital commercial supplies 鈥渁re almost non-existent.鈥
Gaza has shown 鈥渢he worst of humanity,鈥 Griffiths said, and it鈥檚 long past time for the war to end.
FRANCE AND JORDAN AIRDROP MEDICAL AID INTO GAZA
PARIS 鈥 France announced that a French and a Jordanian military transport aircraft airdropped 7 metric tons (7.7 tons) of medical aid to a Gaza Strip field hospital during a joint operation.
鈥淭he humanitarian situation remains critical in Gaza,鈥 French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday on X, formerly Twitter. 鈥淚n a difficult context, France and Jordan delivered aid to the population and to those who are helping them.鈥
The operation overnight Thursday to Friday was meant to deliver medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital of the southern city of Khan Younis.
The airdrop, a first from a Western country in the Gaza strip, had been agreed during Macron鈥檚 recent visit to Jordan, where he met with King Abdullah II last month, the French presidency said.
Both C-130 planes had French and Jordanian troops onboard as the operation was closely coordinated, the French presidency said.
In November, Jordan already airdropped some medical aid to another field hospital the country is operating in the city of Gaza.
The airdrop comes in addition to over 1,000 metric tons (1,100 tons) of humanitarian aid sent by France to the Gaza civilian population since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in October, including emergency medical kits and medical supplies, highly nutritious food, shelters and family kits.
The French foreign ministry said this week that a ship carrying 350 metric tons (385 tons) of food is expected to arrive in Port Said, in Egypt, on Monday as part of the U.N. World Food Program鈥檚 efforts to provide aid to Gaza civilians. Another ship with a similar shipment left the French port of Le Havre this week.
UNICEF SAYS NUTRITION NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND PREGNANT WOMEN ARE UNMET IN GAZA
JERUSALEM 鈥 The U.N. children鈥檚 agency says most young children and pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are not able to meet their basic nutrition needs.
Only a trickle of humanitarian aid has entered the Palestinian territory Oct. 7, when Hamas鈥 deadly attack into southern Israel ignited the war. Fewer than 200 aid trucks enter each day, less than half the prewar level, and aid groups say the fighting hinders distribution.
A survey by UNICEF released Friday found that 90% of children under age 2 are eating two or fewer food groups each day, mainly bread or milk. A quarter of pregnant women said they only eat from one food group per day.
U.N. officials previously said that one in four Gazans were enduring famine-like levels of starvation.
UNICEF says cases of diarrhea among children under 5 have risen from 48,000 to 71,000, an indication of poor nutrition. Normally, only 2,000 cases of diarrhea are reported each month in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli authorities say there is enough food in the territory, and that they have taken the necessary steps to allow aid in, blaming any shortages on U.N. bodies.
U.N. officials say aid operations are hindered by the Israeli inspections, as well as fighting and road closures within the territory, and have long been calling for a humanitarian cease-fire.
ISRAELI ALLY GERMANY PRESSES FOR BETTER PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN GAZA
BERLIN 鈥 Germany鈥檚 foreign minister is insisting ahead of a trip to the Middle East that 鈥淚srael must do more for the protection of the civilian population鈥 in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
Annalena Baerbock reiterated staunch ally Germany鈥檚 solidarity for Israel in its fight against 鈥渂lind terror鈥 and underlined its right to defend itself.
But she called for more 鈥渉umanitarian pauses鈥 and said Friday that 鈥減eace can鈥檛 be won if the prospect of a life in dignity dries up, if Gaza is uninhabitable after the war.鈥
Baerbock said there must be no postwar occupation of the Gaza Strip, no expulsion of Palestinians and no reduction of the territory鈥檚 size, but 鈥渁t the same time there must no longer be any danger to Israel from the Gaza Strip.鈥
The minister is due to depart Sunday on a trip to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Lebanon.
6 KILLED IN APPARENT ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE ON SOUTHERN GAZA HOME
RAFAH, Gaza Strip 鈥 At least six people were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on a home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight. Officials at the local morgue say the strike occurred late Thursday, just before midnight.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have crammed into Rafah, one of the areas where Israel has told people to seek refuge. But Israeli forces continue to strike all parts of the besieged territory.
Sohad al-Derbashi, whose sister was killed in the strike, said, 鈥淭hey were innocent civilians who had nothing to do with what is going on.鈥 She says the man who was the apparent target of the strike was a civil servant in the Hamas-run government and not a fighter.
Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths. Some 1.9 million people, about 85% of Gaza鈥檚 population, have fled their homes, and U.N. officials say one in four Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing famine-like starvation.
The war was ignited by Hamas鈥 Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and around 250 were taken hostage.
SOUTHERN ISRAELI COMMUNITY SAYS ONE OF ITS RESIDENTS HAS DIED IN CAPTIVITY
JERUSALEM 鈥 A community that was attacked during Hamas鈥 Oct. 7 assault into southern Israel says one of its residents, who was taken hostage, has died in captivity.
The Kibbutz Nir Oz community did not give a cause of death Friday for Tamir Adar, 38. Of some 250 people captured during Hamas' attack, around 80 were taken from Nir Oz alone, out of a population of around 400.
Tamir's grandmother, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, was also abducted by militants that day. She was among more than 100 hostages released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
The Israeli government says militants are still holding 113 hostages, including 19 women and two children under the age of 5, as well as the bodies of 24 others.
Hamas has said it will not release any more hostages until Israel ends its military offensive and withdraws from Gaza. Israel has vowed to crush the militant group and return all the captives.
IRAQ'S PRIME MINISTER CONDEMNS US STRIKE ON A HIGH-RANKING MILITIA COMMANDER
BAGHDAD 鈥 Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Friday condemned the United States' strike in central Baghdad that killed a high-ranking militia commander as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. He reiterated recent calls for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.
A U.S. defense official confirmed Thursday that U.S. forces carried out the strike, saying that Abu Taqwa was targeted because he was actively involved in attacks on U.S. personnel. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, a group of Iranian-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has carried out more than 100 attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. The group has said the attacks are in retaliation for Washington鈥檚 support of Israel and that they aim to push U.S. forces out of Iraq.
Sudani said Friday that the U.S. had bypassed the Iraqi government, which is 鈥渢he body authorized to impose the law.鈥 He added that the Popular Mobilization Force 鈥渞epresent an official presence affiliated with the state 鈥 and an integral part of our armed forces鈥 and that 鈥渁ttacks targeting our security forces go beyond the spirit and letter of the mandate that created the international coalition,鈥 referring to a U.S.-led coalition that assisted in the fight against the Islamic State militant group and maintains forces in Iraq.
He said his government is following up on procedures that would end in the coalition鈥檚 withdrawal from Iraq.
