Israeli protesters call on Netanyahu to resign; 51 reportedly killed in attack on Gaza refugee camp

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making a short detour on his urgent Mideast diplomacy tour, stopping in Cyprus where he's meeting the nation's leader.

The State Department said Blinken was meeting briefly on Sunday with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos mainly to thank them for Cyprus' role in temporarily hosting some American citizens who fled from Israel in the first weeks of the Gaza war.

The U.S. chartered at least one cruise liner that took Americans from the Israeli port of Haifa to Larnaca as Israel's military operations against Hamas intensified and the group accelerated rocket attacks on Israel following its Oct. 7 surprise attack.

Blinken is on his way to Turkey to meet senior officials on Monday.

— Associated Press

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed the situation in Gaza with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts in separate phone calls, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Sunday.

Fidan had exchanged views on "stopping the attacks targeting the civilian population in Gaza" and on achieving an urgent ceasefire, the source said.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas, not civilians, and that the Islamist Palestinian group is using residents as human shields.

Fidan also discussed efforts to guarantee the unimpeded and continuous provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the source added.

Fidan will meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks on Gaza in Ankara on Monday.

— Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought his frenetic Mideast diplomatic push on the Israel-Hamas war to the occupied West Bank on Sunday, meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his latest bid to ease civilian suffering in the Gaza Strip and begin to sketch out a post-conflict scenario for the territory.

Blinken traveled to Ramallah for his previously unannounced visit in an armored motorcade and under tight security just hours after Israeli warplanes struck a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 40 people and wounding dozens, health officials said. Despite the secrecy and the State Department refusing to confirm the trip until after Blinken had physically left the West Bank, protests erupted against his visit and U.S. support for Israel as word of his arrival leaked.

Aside from pleasantries, neither man spoke as they greeted each other in front of cameras and the meeting ended without any public comment. It was not immediately clear if the lack of words indicated the meeting had gone poorly.

— Associated Press

Israeli warplanes struck the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza early Sunday, killing at least 40 people, according to health officials.

The camp is located in the evacuation zone where Israel's military had urged Palestinian civilians in Gaza to seek refuge as it focused its military offensive in the northern areas. Despite such appeals, Israel has continued its bombardment across Gaza, saying it is targeting Hamas fighters and assets everywhere in the besieged enclave. It has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Critics say Israel's strikes are often disproportionate, considering the large number of women and children killed in such attacks.

— Associated Press

Iran said that the United States would "be hit hard" if Washington did not implement a ceasefire in Gaza, the country's Minister of Defence was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Sunday.

"Our advice to the Americans is to immediately stop the war in Gaza and implement a ceasefire, otherwise they will be hit hard," Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani said.

After a surprise attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, the Israelis have sought to defeat the militant group.

Iran considers the U.S. to be "militarily involved" in the conflict.

— Reuters

The World Health Organization (WHO) operating in Palestinian territory said Sunday that it has documented 102 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas conflict began in early October.

"Since 7 October, WHO has documented 102 attacks on health care in the Gaza Strip," the WHO said on X.

"Attacks have resulted in 504 fatalities, 459 injuries, damage to 39 facilities and affected 31 ambulances. Over half of health attacks and over a half of hospitals damaged were in Gaza City," it added. CNBC was unable to independently verify the figures.

To date, it's estimated that more than 9,200 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas. Israel in an update Sunday said that over 1,400 people had been killed — the majority in the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7.

— Holly Ellyatt

Twenty-one Palestinians from one family were killed in Israeli strikes targeting Gaza overnight, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip said on Sunday.

"The victims belong to the family of Abu Hasira when the Israeli shelling targeted their house, full of women and children," the ministry said in a post on its Facebook page.

Reuters could not independently verify the account.

— Reuters

A junior Israeli government minister Amihai Eliyahu who suggested that dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza was an option for Israel has reportedly been suspended following the comments.

Sky News reported Sunday that Eliyahu has now been suspended by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu until further notice. It cited Israel's Army Radio as a source for the report.

— Holly Ellyatt

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to distance himself from comments made by a minister in his coalition government suggesting that dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza is an option in the war.

Asked in an interview with Radio Kol Berama whether an atomic bomb should be dropped on the Gaza Strip, Israel's Heritage minister Amichai Eliyahu, a far-right politician of the Otzma Yehudit party said "this is one of the possibilities," in comments reported by the Times of Israel.

He also reportedly stated that humanitarian aid to the population should be restricted, saying "we wouldn't hand the Nazis humanitarian aid. There is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza."

Eliyahu, who is not part of Netanyahu's war cabinet, backs retaking the Gaza Strip's territory and restoring settlements there, the Times of Israel noted.

When he was asked about the fate of the Palestinian population, he said: "They can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves."

Israel's prime minister sought to distance himself from the comments, stating on X Sunday that "Minister Amihai Eliyahu's statements are not based in reality. Israel and the IDF are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory."

— Holly Ellyatt

Palestinian news agency WAFA said 51 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed and scores wounded in an Israeli bombardment of Gaza's Maghazi camp on Saturday night.

Reuters could not independently verify the WAFA report. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the Hamas-run Health ministry in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qidra, said a large number of people were killed without giving an exact figure, adding scores of people with severe injuries were laying on the ground of a hospital's emergency ward.

Maghazi is located in the Deir al-Balah Governorate in the central Gaza Strip.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas, not civilians, and accuses the militants of using residents as human shields.

— Reuters

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Gaza must be part of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state once the Israel-Hamas war is over, and Ankara will not support any plans "gradually erasing Palestinians" from history.

Erdogan made the remarks a day before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to arrive in Ankara for talks on Gaza.

Turkey, which has sharply escalated its criticism of Israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has intensified, supports a two-state solution and hosts members of Hamas, which it does not view as a terrorist organization, unlike the United States, Britain and others in the West.

Turkey has called for an immediate ceasefire and offered to set up a system to guarantee it.

"Once all of this that is happening is finished, we want to see Gaza as a peaceful region that is a part of an independent Palestinian state, in line with 1967 borders, with territorial integrity, and with East Jerusalem as its capital," Erdogan was on Saturday cited as saying by broadcaster Haberturk and others.

"We will support formulas that will bring peace and calm to the region. We will not be supportive of plans that will further darken the lives of Palestinians, that will gradually erase them from the scene of history."

Erdogan said his intelligence chief was in contact with Israeli and Palestinian authorities, as well as Hamas, but he would no longer regard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a counterpart. He said Turkey did not want to sever ties with Israel.

— Reuters

Firefighters sprayed jets of water across twisted metal and jumbled concrete as flames roared from homes destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the Jabaliya refugee camp.

The escalating bombardment comes as Israel's military said it had encircled Gaza City, the initial target of its offensive to crush Hamas.

It wasn't immediately clear how many people were killed or wounded in the strike late Saturday in the northern Gaza Strip. Rescuers shouted to each other as they tried to pull people from the wreckage.

Associated Press video showed a man, barefoot and with blood soaking through his clothes, being carried on a stretcher through the concrete skeleton of a damaged building.

"Careful, careful!" someone called out as they staggered across the rubble. Others used a bed sheet to haul a dead body from the scene. Inside a bouncing ambulance driving away, a rescuer wearing black latex gloves patted the head of a young boy cradled in his lap. A man screamed off-camera.

— Associated Press

President Joe Biden suggested Saturday there have been some advances in U.S. attempts to persuade Israel to pause military strikes on Gaza for humanitarian reasons.

In a brief exchange with reporters as he left St. Edmond Roman Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Biden was asked if there was progress, and he responded, "Yes," but did not share specifics.

This comes after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Arab counterparts Saturday. He disagreed with them on the need for an immediate cease-fire and made clear the furthest he would go was backing a pause for aid to reach civilians in Gaza. Blinken said a cease-fire would leave Hamas in place.

— Associated Press

The Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, has surrounded the densely populated city of Gaza, a handful of weeks following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks.

The ongoing IDF campaign has been shrouded in mystery, here's what we know about its ground assault in Gaza.

Read the full story on NBC News.

— Amanda Macias

Thousands of people have joined a demonstration in Tel Aviv organized by families of some 240 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.

"Now!" the crowd chanted repeatedly, calling for hostages to be freed without delay after nearly a month in captivity. Many held pictures of the hostages, including photos of children and older people.

Hadas Kalderon of Kibbutz Nir Oz whose two children, ages 16 and 12, were kidnapped called for a cease-fire in exchange for the return of the hostages.

Hamas militants abducted the hostages in an Oct. 7 cross-border raid that triggered the latest Israel-Hamas war. The plight of the hostages and their families has captured the nation's attention.

Ella Ben-Ami, a 23-year-old Israeli whose parents were abducted, said she held Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible.

She called for a halt in all humanitarian aid to Gaza until the hostages are freed.

— Associated Press

Huge crowds of demonstrators gathered around the world on Saturday in pro-Palestinian protests.

In Washington D.C., and New York, tens of thousands of protesters also joined together, some calling on the U.S. government to stop sending military aid to Israel and demanding a ceasefire. And for the fourth weekend in a row, major cities in Europe saw droves of protesters who also called for an end to the war.

London

France

Norway

Romania

Ireland

— Reuters

Thirty trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza via the Rafah border crossing on Saturday, according to NBC News.

The trucks were first delivered to the Palestine Red Crescent. Some were later handed off to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UNRWA. Four of the trucks contain medical supplies, while the others hold food, water and other relief.

Saturday's wave of trucks roughly matches the pace of aid sent since the Rafah crossing opened up for convoys. Since Oct. 21, there have been 451 total convoys sent to Gaza, or about 30 trucks per day.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Thousands of Israelis are protesting outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence in central Jerusalem, calling on the Israeli leader to resign in the wake of the bloody Oct. 7 Hamas rampage that sparked the latest Israel-Hamas war.

Netanyahu has so far refused to take responsibility for the Oct. 7 attack, in which several thousand Hamas militants burst into Israel and killed over 1,400 people and took some 240 hostages back to Gaza. He says officials, including himself, will have to give answers to the public, but only after the war.

Israel has carried out weeks of airstrikes and launched a ground offensive in Gaza, with Palestinian health officials saying over 9,000 people were killed in the fighting.

During Saturday night's protest, demonstrators called on Netanyahu to step down and called for the return of the hostages. They also held a moment of silence for victims of the attack and those in captivity.

"Where were you in Kfar Azza," chanted the protesters, referring to one of the Israeli border communities that was overrun by Hamas.

"I came here to rescue the country," said Nava Hefetz, a rabbi and human rights activist, who attended the protest.

— Associated Press

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday publicly disagreed with foreign ministers from Egypt and Jordan on their demands for a ceasefire in Gaza.

That stance was in stark contrast with Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry and Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi, both of whom called for an immediate cessation of attacks.

Directly addressing Blinken, Safadi said in his opening remarks that the U.S. has a leading role to play in "ending this catastrophe."

Shoukry said, "It is our position that a ceasefire is imperative to deal with the humanitarian consequences of this conflict."

Standing beside Shoukry and Safadi at the joint press conference, Blinken said that it was not the right time for Israel to suspend its action. He said that Israel has an "obligation" to defend itself, though "the way Israel does that" is important.

"A ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7," said Blinken.

The three officials agreed that protecting civilian lives and supplying sustainable humanitarian aid to Gaza should be priorities.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will include Turkey in his trip to the Middle East, as relations between the country and and Israel deteriorate.

Turkey on Saturday recalled its ambassador to Israel because of the situation in Gaza and Israel's refusal to call a ceasefire. Israel had already ordered its own ambassadors in Turkey to return home.

Blinken, who met with Arab leaders in Jordan today, will travel on to Ankara before making his way to Tokyo, Seoul and New Delhi.

Turkey has become more critical of Israel over the course of the war. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Hamas is not a terror organization, though the U.S., the U.K., the European Union, Canada and many other countries have designated it to be one.

— Annie Nova

The Lebanese and Egyptian leaders urged the international community to intensify efforts to "contain the situation and avert expanding the scope of violence."

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati flew to Cairo on Saturday for talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, after his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

According to a statement from el-Sissi's office, they also affirmed the necessity of "relaunching the peace track and implement the state-state solution principle to achieve justice, security and stability to the region's peoples."

— Associated Press

United Nations workers prepare aid for distribution to Palestinians, who have fled their homes due to Israeli strikes and take shelter in a UN-run school, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on Nov. 4, 2023, as battles continue between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

— Getty Images

The director general of the World Health Organization on Friday called for a ceasefire in Gaza following reports of an IDF attack on an ambulance convoy that killed at least 15 people.

"Utterly shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances evacuating patients close to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, leading to deaths, injuries and damage," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X, the social media service formerly known as Twitter.

The deadly Gaza City strike destroyed an ambulance that Israel's military said was being "used by a Hamas terrorist cell." The Israel Defence Forces reported that a "number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike."

Dozens were injured in addition to the 15 people who were killed.

"We reiterate: patients, health workers, facilities, and ambulances must be protected at all times. Always," Tedros wrote, adding: "Ceasefire NOW."

— Nicolas Vega

Turkey is bringing its ambassador in Tel Aviv back to its capital city of Ankara due to Israel's refusal to call a ceasefire.

Ambassador Şakir Özkan Torunlar has been ordered back to Turkey "in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians, and Israel's refusal of calls for ceasefire and continuous and unhindered flow of humanitarian aid," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Last Saturday, Israel ordered its own ambassadors in Turkey to return home.

Israel's foreign minister Eli Cohen said the move was a result of Turkey's "harsh statements" and that he would "conduct a reassessment of Israel-Turkey relations."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has publicly voiced support for Hamas, saying it is "not a terrorist organization, but a group of liberation." He has also criticized Israel's actions in the war and called for a ceasefire.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Humanitarian aid that is set to be delivered for Gaza is loaded on a French Air Force army plane before take-off from the Orleans Air Base, France, on Nov. 4, 2023.

— Reuters

U.S. Special Envoy David Satterfield said on Saturday that U.S. officials had not been told that Hamas is blocking or diverting humanitarian aid flowing into the Gaza Strip amid shortages of food, medicine and fuel.

Speaking to reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman, he said that those distributing aid in Gaza had not reported aid being diverted since trucks resumed crossing the Egypt-controlled Rafah gate on Oct. 21 after diplomatic wrangling to resume the flow.

Those in charge of the aid "do not report to us in this 10 day, 12 day period of assistance delivery, interdiction of or seizure of goods by Hamas," he said.

Between 800,000 to a million people have moved to the south of the Gaza Strip, while 350,000-400,000 remain in the north of the enclave, Satterfield said.

— Reuters

Palestinians in besieged Gaza say it has become increasingly difficult to find food as supermarkets shelves empty faster than the trickle of trucks carrying humanitarian aid through the southern Rafah crossing can distribute.

A rising number of bakeries have also stopped operating due to fuel and water shortages, as well as airstrike damage.

Residents and officials have also complained that there's not enough food coming through Rafah and much of it has already expired or will expire before it can reach people in need.

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesperson for the Rafah crossing, said that in recent days the trucks have contained far more body bags than canned food. He claimed that recently delivered biscuits had already expired and were inedible.

Lynn Hastings, a senior U.N. official based in Jerusalem, said she was aware of the reports of expired food but could not independently confirm them as the World Food Program's food shipments of date bars wouldn't expire for another month.

The WFP has warned that widespread food insecurity across Gaza was quickly becoming a serious crisis.

"There is a real threat of malnutrition and people starving," said Alia Zaki, a spokesperson for the WFP. "There is some food that's still available but people can't reach it. The situation is catastrophic."

— Associated Press

Israel's military hit the family home of the exiled leader of Hamas on the outskirts of Gaza City with an airstrike Saturday and pressed ahead with attacks across the besieged enclave where a humanitarian crisis is rapidly worsening.

The family home of Hamas' exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh, in the Shati refugee camp on the northern edge of Gaza City, was hit Saturday morning by an airstrike, according to the Hamas-run media office in Gaza. It had no immediate details on damage or casualties and there was no immediate comment.

Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told The Associated Press that the house was being used by Haniyeh's two sons.

The home is located in a narrow alley in the refugee camp, which has become a crowded neighborhood of Gaza City over the generations. Haniyeh, a former aide to Hamas' founder, Ahmed Yassin, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2004, has been in exile since 2019.

Overnight strikes also hit the western outskirts of the city and near Al-Quds Hospital.

— Associated Press

The number of French citizens killed as a result of Hamas' attacks in Israel has risen to 39, with nine other French nationals still missing, France's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

— Holly Ellyatt

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society condemned an Israeli attack on a convoy of five ambulances in Gaza on Friday.

In a statement posted on X early Saturday, the PRCS said one of its ambulances, travelling in a convoy to the Rafah border crossing, was hit "by a missile fired by the Israeli forces" two meters from the entrance to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 15 civilians and wounded 60 other people, the PRCS said, echoing figures released earlier by the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas.

Another ambulance in the convoy was "directly targeted" by a missile about a kilometer from the hospital, the PRCS said, damaging the vehicle, its crew and the injured inside.

The PRCS, part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, added that deliberately targeting medical teams constituted "a grave violation of the Geneva conventions, a war crime."

Israel's military said it had launched an airstrike on "an ambulance that was identified by forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone".

"A number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike," it said on Telegram. CNBC was unable to verify the comments.

— Holly Ellyatt

British foreign minister James Cleverly has urged Iran to use its influence with groups in the Middle East region to prevent an escalation of Israel's conflict with Hamas.

Britain's Foreign Office said Cleverly spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday, telling him "Iran bore responsibility" for the actions of groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, that it has supported for many years.

Cleverly also reiterated that Iranian-backed threats against people in the United Kingdom were unacceptable and must stop, a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

Britain has supported Israel's right to defend itself after an Oct. 7 attack by militant group Hamas that Israel said had killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and saw over 200 others kidnapped.

— Reuters

Israel continues to reject U.S. calls for a pause in the fighting to allow more aid into Gaza, saying there would be no temporary cease-fire until an estimated 240 hostages held by militant group Hamas are released.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday with the U.S.' top diplomat reiterating President Joe Biden's calls for a brief halt in the fighting to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu resisted U.S. pressure, issuing a televised statement after his meeting with Blinken in which he said: "I made clear that we are continuing full force and that Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire which does not include the release of our hostages," Reuters reported.

More than 9,200 people have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas. Israel said that over 1,400 Israelis have been killed — the majority in the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7.

Blinken is expected to meet with leaders and officials of Arab nations Saturday, including Jordan's King Abdullah II.

— Holly Ellyatt

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned Friday that even a UN flag cannot provide safety or protection to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip.

"Let's be very clear, there is no place that is safe in Gaza right now," Thomas White, the director of UNRWA affairs, said on Friday, describing the enclave as "a scene of death and destruction."

Although people are sheltering under the UN flag, "the reality is we cannot even provide them safety under a UN flag," he said, speaking from the UN agency's Rafah logistics base.

"We've had over 50 of our facilities that have been impacted by the conflict, including five direct hits. I think at last count 38 people have died in our shelters. I fear that with the fighting going on in the north right now, that number is going to grow significantly," he added.  

UNRWA, the UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees, said Friday that more than 1.5 million people are now displaced and nearly 600,000 are crowded in shelters run by the agency.

UNRWA has itself lost 72 staff members during the conflict. White believed this marked the highest loss ever of UN staff in conflict. 

— Holly Ellyatt

Israel on Friday deported thousands of Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip back to the besieged territory, Palestinian authorities said, capping what many described as harrowing weeks trapped in legal limbo since their detention when the Israel-Hamas war erupted.

Some workers, streaming by foot through an Israeli crossing that had been sealed shut since Hamas unleashed its brutal attack on southern Israel Oct. 7, told of violent mistreatment by Israeli authorities in detention centers. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations.

"We sacrificed and they treated us like livestock over there," one of the workers, Wael al-Sajda, said from the border, pointing to his ankle fitted with an identification bracelet.

Al-Sajda was among the roughly 18,000 Palestinians from Gaza allowed to work in menial jobs in Israel. The permits have been coveted in Gaza, which has an unemployment rate approaching 50%. Israel began issuing the permits in recent years, a measure it thought helped stabilize Gaza and moderate Hamas, despite a broader blockade aimed at weakening the Islamic militant group.

Late Thursday, Israel announced it was revoking the workers' permits and would deport them.

 — Associated Press

The humanitarian group Palestine Red Crescent Society said it received 47 humanitarian aid trucks Friday from the Egyptian Red Crescent across the Rafah border crossing.

The trucks delivered water, blankets, medical supplies, food, tents and mattresses. The group said that it has so far received 421 trucks, but noted fuel is still not allowed into Gaza.

— Christine Wang

Egypt received and treated 17 injured Palestinians, out of the 28 who were expected to arrive, a spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Health told NBC News.

In its summary of the third day of entry for injured and foreign nationals, the ministry said 11 of the expected, injured Palestinians did not arrive due to unspecified "events in Gaza."

Egypt said it conducted medical exams on 448 foreign nationals received, including 96 children who received vaccines.

— Christine Wang, NBC News 

Women, children and newborns have been disproportionately affected by the conflict in the Gaza Strip, both as casualties and in reduced access to health care, U.N. agencies warned.

As of Friday, at least 2,300 women and 3,700 children have been killed in the territory accounting for 67% of all casualties while thousands more have been injured, the statement said, citing health ministry data.

The joint statement was issued by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and  the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The agencies warned that bombardments have further reduced health-care access in Gaza and could lead to more deaths. They estimated that over half of the population in Gaza is now sheltering at UNRWA facilities with limited water and food supplies.

"An immediate humanitarian pause is needed to alleviate the suffering and prevent a desperate situation from becoming catastrophic," the agencies said.

— Christine Wang

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Jordan to continue his latest diplomatic mission to increase humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza and prevent Palestinian civilian casualties as Israel intensifies its war against Hamas.

Blinken, whose call for Israel to temporarily pause some military operations to allow assistance in and foreign nationals out appeared to be rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after they met in Tel Aviv earlier Friday, will meet Jordan's King Abdullah II and the foreign ministers of Jordan and perhaps other Arab nations on Saturday.

Earlier this week, Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel and told Israel's envoy not to return to Amman at least until conditions in Gaza have improved, further complicating Blinken's efforts.

In addition to aid distribution, allowing foreigners out of Gaza and securing the release of hostages held by Hamas, Blinken is looking to persuade Jordan and other Arab states to begin thinking about the future of Gaza — if and when Israel succeeds at eradicating Hamas.

— Associated Press

An Israeli air strike on an ambulance being used to evacuate the wounded from besieged northern Gaza killed 15 people and injured 60 others on Friday, the Hamas-controlled enclave's health ministry said.

Israel's military said it had identified and hit an ambulance "being used by a Hamas terrorist cell." It said Hamas fighters were killed in the strike, and accused the group of transferring militants and weapons in ambulances.

Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq said allegations its fighters were present were "baseless." Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for Gaza's health ministry, said the ambulance was part of a convoy that Israel targeted near Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital.

Qidra said Israel had targeted the convoy of ambulances in more than one location, including at al-Shifa Hospital gate and at Ansar Square a kilometer (0.6 miles) away.

In a statement on the incident, Israel's military gave no evidence to support its assertion that the ambulance was linked to Hamas but said it intended to release additional information.

"We emphasize that this area is a battle zone. Civilians in the area are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southwards for their own safety," the military said.

Reuters was unable to independently verify either side's account.

Video shared on social media, which Reuters has verified, showed people lying in blood next to an ambulance with flashing lights on a city street as people rushed to help.

Another video showed three ambulances standing in a line, with about a dozen people lying either motionless or barely moving next to them. Blood was pooled nearby.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post he was "utterly shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances evacuating patients," adding that patients, health workers and medical facilities must be protected.

— Reuters

IDF strikes ambulances near Gaza hospital, saying Hamas used them; Netanyahu rejects cease-fire before hostage release