Latest developments:
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken makes a surprise visit to Israeli-occupied West Bank.
- Israel says it has hit more than 2,500 terror targets since launching its offensive on Hamas.
- The World Health Organization documents 102 attacks on health care in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
- Netanyahu seeks to distance himself from minister who said dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza was a possibility.
- Former Australian and British prime ministers in Israel to show their “solidarity” with Israel.
- More than 30 Palestinians were killed and many more wounded in an airstrike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp late Saturday. Earlier, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported 51 Palestinians were killed in the strike.
- Israeli strikes kill civilians at shelters in Gaza combat zone, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeks more aid.
- Arab foreign ministers press Blinken for a cease-fire during meetings in Amman.
- "The whole region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come," Jordanian foreign minister says.
- Israel strikes a U.N.-run shelter, killing at least 15 people.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a surprise visit Sunday to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where he met with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, at the Muqata in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Nov. 5, 2023. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/Pool)
Blinken’s unannounced visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah followed his meeting Saturday with Arab leaders in Amman, Jordan. He was also expected to visit Turkey.
Israel said Sunday that since it launched war on Hamas on October 7, “over 2,500 terror targets have been struck.”
The targets were hit, Israel said, with “the combined activities” of Israel’s ground, air and naval forces.
The Israeli military said in the statement posted on its Telegram channel, “Overnight, IDF troops directed aircraft to strike a Hamas military compound containing command and control centers, observation posts, and additional terrorist infrastructure.”
The campaign against Hamas was launched after the surprise Hamas attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and more than 200 people were taken hostage.
The World Health Organization said in a post on social media that since October 7, it has documented 102 attacks on health care in the Gaza Strip, resulting in “504 fatalities, 459 injuries, damage to 39 facilities and affected 31 ambulances.”
The U.N. agency said more than half the health attacks and over half of the targeted hospitals were in Gaza City.
Separately, the Associated Press and other media are reporting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suspending Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu from Cabinet meetings after Eliyahu said dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza would be a possibility.
Netanyahu said on social media that Eliyahu’s comments were “not based in reality.”
Eliyahu is not a participant in Israel’s wartime security Cabinet.
Meanwhile, the former prime ministers of Australia and Britain, Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson, were in Israel to show their “solidarity” with Israel and its people.
Morrison said Sunday, “I am thankful for the opportunity to join former Prime Minister Johnson to come to Israel as a demonstration of solidarity with the people and state of Israel and the Jewish community throughout the world.”
On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "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," according to broadcaster Haberturk and others.
Ankara also said Saturday it was recalling its ambassador to Israel. Israel recalled its envoys to Turkey last month after Erdogan described Hamas as freedom fighters and said he does not view the group as a terrorist organization, unlike the United States, Britain and others in the West.
The developments came ahead of Blinken’s scheduled visit to Turkey.
On Saturday, in Blinken’s meeting with Arab leaders in Amman, Jordan, he was pressed on the need for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza as Israel's military struck a U.N. shelter and school, killing civilians.
Blinken met with his counterparts from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Qatar, as well as the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee and Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters Saturday that although he condemned the Hamas attacks of October 7 and that "nobody in their right mind" would belittle the pain felt by Israel that day, the war in Gaza could not be allowed to continue.
"The whole region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come," Safadi said after meeting with Blinken and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
SEE ALSO: Blinken in Jordan for Talks on Israel-Hamas War, Gaza Humanitarian CrisisThe Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers asked for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, but Blinken said that would be counterproductive. He indicated he could support a pause to allow humanitarian supplies to be delivered and get civilians out of Gaza.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that will happen only if Israeli hostages are freed.
"It is our view now that a cease-fire would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7," Blinken said, in reference to Hamas' attack on southern Israel that triggered the latest Gaza war.
Protests, critical of Israel’s assault on Gaza, took place in cities around the world, including Ankara, Berlin, Istanbul, London, Paris and Washington Saturday. Demonstrators called for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes
Meanwhile, a Palestinian news agency reported that 51 Palestinians were killed late Saturday when Israel bombarded the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The Reuters news agency could not independently verify the WAFA report. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Such strikes have leveled large areas of northern Gaza neighborhoods. About 300,000 of the area's residents are sheltering in U.N. facilities, one of which was hit Saturday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens of others.
The al-Fakhoura school in the Jabaliya district was housing thousands of evacuees when it was hit, Juliette Touma, director of communications for UNRWA, told Reuters.
"I was standing here when three bombings happened; I carried a body and another decapitated body with my own hands," a young boy said in video obtained by Reuters, crying in despair. "God will take my vengeance."
Palestinians comfort a crying man after he lost relatives under the rubble of a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Nov. 4, 2023.
Nearby, a resident comforted a woman in shock.
The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza says at least 231 people were killed in the past day, bringing the death toll to at least 9,488 since the war began between Israel and the Palestinian militants.
The armed wing of the Palestinian militant faction Hamas said Saturday that more than 60 hostages were missing after Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza.
Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al Qassam Brigades, said on Hamas' Telegram channel that 23 bodies of the 60 missing Israeli hostages were trapped under the rubble.
Reuters could not immediately verify the statement.
Death and hunger
In besieged Gaza, Israel opened a three-hour window for Palestinians to move south, but few if any did.
"We don't trust them," said Mohamed Abed, who sheltered with his wife and children on the grounds of Shifa hospital, one of thousands of Palestinians seeking safety at medical centers in the north.
SEE ALSO: Protesters March in Major Cities to Demand Gaza Cease-FirePalestinians say the trickle of humanitarian aid coming through the southern Rafah crossing cannot keep up with the needs of the population.
A rising number of bakeries also have stopped operating due to the fuel and water shortages as well as airstrike damage.
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 said that recently delivered biscuits had 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 they were the World Food Program's shipments.
The WFP has warned that widespread food insecurity across Gaza was quickly becoming a 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."
Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday under an apparent agreement among the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.