Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Hamas militants beheaded soldiers and raped women in their attack on Israel, and he vowed that Israel would “crush and destroy” Hamas in response to the attack.
Netanyahu said every Hamas member was a “dead man.”
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Netanyahu made the remarks in a late-night televised address on the war's fifth day as Israeli planes pounded Gaza. The prime minister’s allegations could not be independently confirmed, and authorities did not immediately offer further details. Rescue workers and witnesses have described horrifying scenes, including the slaughter of elderly people and finding bloody rooms crowded with massacred civilians.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday called the Hamas attack “the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” and a campaign of “pure cruelty.”
In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, residents are facing ever-growing uncertainty after the territory's only power plant ran out of fuel and shut down Wednesday. Israel imposed what it called a complete siege on Gaza on Monday. The U.S. announced Wednesday that it is working with Egypt and Israel to open up safe corridors to get civilians out of Gaza.
The war, which has claimed more than 2,300 lives on both sides, is expected to escalate. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined with a top political rival Wednesday to create a war-time Cabinet overseeing the fight to avenge the stunning weekend attack by Hamas militants. Israel is now determined to crush the group’s hold in Gaza.
Here's what's happening on Day 5 of the latest Israel-Palestinian war:
STATE DEPARTMENT WARNS US CITIZENS TO RECONSIDER TRAVEL TO ISRAEL, WEST BANK
WASHINGTON — The State Department upgraded its travel warning for Israel and the West Bank on Wednesday to Level 3, “reconsider travel.”
It kept its travel advisory for Gaza at the department’s highest warning level, Level 4, meaning “do not travel.”
The State Department cited extremists continuing to plot attacks, the possibility of violence erupting without warning, and increased demonstrations.
The travel warning comes as five days of rocket fire and missile barrages between the Hamas militant group and Israel already have led many airlines to suspend commercial flights.
BIDEN SPEAKS WITH UAE PRESIDENT ABOUT HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed on Wednesday about ensuring humanitarian assistance reaches those in need as the war between Israel and Hamas extends into a fifth day, the White House said.
The UAE was the first Gulf country to normalize relations with Israel in 2020 under the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords, which saw Bahrain and Morocco also establish diplomatic ties with Israel.
FAR-RIGHT PROTESTERS RIOT OUTSIDE HOSPITAL IN TEL AVIV
TEL AVIV, Israel — More than a hundred far-right protesters rioted outside one of the main hospitals in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night after hearing reports that doctors there were treating a militant from Hamas, according to Hagai Levine, Chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians.
Protesters from La Familia — a group of notoriously racist Jerusalem fans of the “Beitar” soccer team — blocked the main entrance to the emergency room for three hours, according to videos circulated by doctors on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The ultranationalist soccer fans clashed violently with police and disrupted the passage of emergency crews into the hospital.
At the time of the riot, Sheba hospital was not treating any militants from Hamas, Levine said. It's unclear if militants have been treated in Israel’s public hospitals since the Hamas rampage on Saturday.
The protest came on the heels of a letter circulated Wednesday by Israeli health minister Moshe Arbel that barred Israel’s public hospitals from treating militants. Arbel wrote that injured militants should be referred to the Israeli military or Israel’s intelligence services.
IRANIAN PRESIDENT SPEAKS TO SAUDI ARABIAN CROWN PRINCE ABOUT WAR, NEWS AGENCY SAYS
JERUSALEM — Iranian hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi has spoken by telephone to Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the first time to discuss the Israel-Palestinian war, the state-run news agency reported Wednesday.
IRNA cited an online message from an adviser to Raisi acknowledging a 45-minute call between the two men on Wednesday. There was no immediate acknowledgment from the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a Chinese-mediated détente earlier this year.
BIDEN CONNECTS HAMAS ATTACK TO DECADES OF ANTISEMITISM
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday once again condemned the weekend attack by Hamas militants on Israel, and sought to connect it directly to decades of antisemitism and violence endured by Jews around the world.
“This attack has brought to the surface the painful memories and scars left by a millennium of antisemitism and genocide against the Jewish people,” Biden said. “We have to be crystal clear: There is no justification for terrorism, no excuse and the type of terrorism that was exhibited here is just beyond the pale, beyond the pale.”
Biden had what was at least his fourth phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. He said that during conversations with him, he stressed that “it is really important” that Israel “operate by the rules of war" as it strikes back against Hamas.
“And there are rules of war,” Biden said.
TURKEY NEGOTIATING FOR RELEASE OF HOSTAGES HELD BY HAMAS
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey is holding negotiations for the release of civilian hostages held by Hamas, a Turkish official said Wednesday.
The official said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had instructed Turkish officials to hold talks with Hamas for the release of the civilians. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, could not provide further details on the negotiations.
Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization and has frequently hosted members of the group. Turkey also recently restored full diplomatic ties with Israel after the two countries fell out following a U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem.
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Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed to this report.
UN ENVOY IN CAIRO WORKING WITH PARTNERS TO END WAR
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Mideast envoy is in Cairo working with other key regional and international partners and the Egyptian government on ending the Hamas-Israel conflict, preventing its expansion, and opening a humanitarian corridor to deliver fuel, food and water to access to Gaza which Israel has cut off, the United Nations said Wednesday.
Tor Wennesland is following up on Egypt’s offer to facilitate humanitarian access through the Rafah crossing and to make the El Arish airport available for critical assistance, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Meanwhile, the U.N. humanitarian office reports that 263,000 people have been displaced in Gaza, a 40% increase since Tuesday, Dujarric said. More than 1,000 housing units in Gaza have been destroyed and about 560 severely damaged and rendered uninhabitable in the past day, the U.N. said.
MOURNERS FILL EUROPE'S LARGEST SYNAGOGUE TO REMEMBER VICTIMS
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Mourners filled Europe’s largest synagogue in Hungary’s capital on Wednesday in remembrance of the hundreds of people that were killed in unprecedented attacks against Israel over the weekend by Hamas fighters.
The rabbinic service and solidarity commemoration in Budapest’s Dohany Street Synagogue drew around 3,000 people, including the country’s president, its chief rabbi, the Catholic Primate of Hungary and the mayor of Budapest.
Waving Israeli flags and lighting candles following the service, those gathered listened to the names being read aloud of some of the Israelis killed so far in the war. Some wept as the names were read.
PALESTINIAN WORKERS ARRIVING IN WEST BANK FROM GAZA
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians who have been expelled from their workplaces in Israel have begun showing up in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where a temporary shelter was set up to house them.
The sudden influx of about 600 workers created an “overwhelming situation” that is bound to get worse as more arrive, Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam said Wednesday.
At the shelter where men sat on mattresses, some workers said they had been abused by Israeli soldiers.
“We were working and everything was fine, and suddenly they came to us and detained us,” said Raed Al-Moghribi. “When we told them that we are from Gaza, they started beating us.”
The workers began arriving in Ramallah on Wednesday after Israeli security forces brought them to checkpoints in the West Bank.
Khader Achour, another Gaza resident who had worked in Israel, said he wanted to return home but it had been demolished and his nephew, cousin and neighbor had all been killed.
“I wish to return to my family in Gaza to die among them,” Achour said.
Violence in the West Bank continued to flare Wednesday, with Palestinian health officials reporting that 29 Palestinians had been killed in the Israeli-occupied territory since the start of the Hamas invasion.
THE DEATH TOLL OF US CITIZENS RISES TO 22 AFTER HAMAS ATTACK
WASHINGTON — The number of U.S. citizens who have died in the Israel-Palestinian war has risen to 22, a White House official said Wednesday.
White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby said he did not have details on where exactly the Americans were killed. He said there are at least 17 missing, and of those a handful are believed to be held hostage.
NO CLEAR SIGN THAT IRAN WAS BEHIND HAMAS ATTACK, WHITE HOUSE SAYS
WASHINGTON — White House National Security spokesman John Kirby reiterated Wednesday that there is no clear sign that Iran was behind the Hamas attack on Israel.
“We haven’t seen anything that tells they have specifically cut checks to support this set of attacks, or that they were involved in the training," Kirby said. "And obviously, this required quite a bit of training by these terrorists.”
Kirby said officials are going to continue to review the intelligence to see "if that leads us to a different conclusion.”
Earlier Wednesday, a U.S. official said information collected thus far suggests that while senior Iranian government officials were likely aware that Hamas was broadly planning operations against Israel, they appeared to be caught off-guard by the exact timing and scope of the multipronged attack carried out by Hamas militants on Saturday.
The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the intelligence and spoke on condition of anonymity. —- Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
WHITE HOUSE SAYS US WORKING TO ALLOW SAFE PASSAGE OUT OF GAZA FOR CIVILIANS
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is in active conversations to achieve safe passage out of Gaza for civilians, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday.
Kirby noted that Israel and Egypt are the two most significant players in the efforts.
“We are having active conversations about trying to allow for that safe passage,” Kirby said. “It’s the civilians who did nothing wrong so we want to make sure they have a way out.”
Kirby did not release any other details, such as whether aid groups would be able to use the safe corridors to bring in supplies.
ARAB FOREIGN MINISTERS CALL FOR IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE
CAIRO — Arab foreign ministers called for an immediate cease-fire Wednesday in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza.
The ministers’ call came in a statement released after their meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, which was called by the Palestinians to discuss the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war.
The communique condemned the killing of civilians on both sides and called for the release of all detainees held either by Israel or the Palestinians.
The ministers also called for Israel to end its siege on Gaza, and to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid, food and fuel to Palestinians in the enclave.
DEATH TOLL OF UN STAFFERS IN GAZA RISES TO 11
BEIRUT — The deputy director of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says 11 staffers have been killed in Gaza since Saturday.
Jenifer Austin said in a statement Wednesday that the dead include five teachers at UNRWA schools, one gynecologist, one engineer, one psychological counselor and three support staff.
She said some of the victims were killed in their homes with their families.
“UNRWA mourns this loss and is grieving with our colleagues and the families,” she said.
NETANYAHU AND OPPOSITION AGREE ON UNITY GOVERNMENT, WAR CABINET AFTER HAMAS ATTACK
JERUSALEM — A top opposition Israeli politician says he has reached an agreement to enter a wartime unity government with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and military chief of staff, released what he said was a joint statement with Netanyahu.
The statement said they would form a five-member “war-management” Cabinet. It will consist of Netanyahu, Gantz, current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two other top officials serving as “observer” members.
It said the government would not pass any legislation or decisions that are not connected to the war as long as the fighting continues. It was not immediately clear what would happen to Netanyahu’s existing government partners, a collection of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.
PROMINENT MOSQUE CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO WAR CRIMES BY ISRAEL
CAIRO — Al-Azhar al-Sharif, the Sunni world’s foremost seat of religious learning, on Wednesday called for an international investigation into allegations of war crimes by Israel against civilian Palestinians in Gaza.
In a strongly worded statement, the Cairo-based religious institution called for Arab and Islamic countries to take “a serious and unified position against the West’s inhuman rally” behind Israel’s attacks against “innocent Palestinian civilians.”
It said Israel’s “inhuman siege,” which included cutting off electricity and water, and preventing the delivery of food and humanitarian aid to the strip, is a “genocide and war crimes.”