Israel’s military ordered hundreds of thousands of civilians living in Gaza City to evacuate ahead of an expected Israel ground offensive. The directive came Friday on the heels of what the United Nations said was a warning it received from Israel to evacuate 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza. Palestinians and some Egyptian officials fear that Israel ultimately hopes to push Gaza’s people out through the southern border with Egypt.
Currently:
Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
US DEFENSE SECRETARY SAYS 2ND CARRIER IS PART OF EFFORT TO PREVENT WIDENING OF WAR
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the additional carrier was being sent “as part of our effort to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas’s attack on Israel.”
The Eisenhower will join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, which is already sailing near Israel, to bolster U.S. presence there with a host of destroyers, fighter aircraft and cruisers.
The Eisenhower deployed from its homeport of Norfolk, Va., Friday. Having two carriers in the region can provide a host of options.
They can disperse and serve as primary command and control operations centers, to cover a wide swath of area. They can conduct information warfare. They can launch and recover E2-Hawkeye surveillance planes that provide early warnings on missile launches, conduct surveillance and manage the airspace.
Both ships carry F-18 fighter jets that could fly intercepts or strike targets. They also have significant capabilities for humanitarian work, including an onboard hospital with medics, surgeons and doctors, and they sail with helicopters that can be used to airlift critical supplies in or victims out.
US TO SEND A SECOND CARRIER STRIKE GROUP TO SUPPORT ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel, two defense officials told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss the move ahead of its announcement.
The Eisenhower will join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, which is already sailing near Israel, to bolster U.S. presence there with a host of destroyers, fighter aircraft and cruisers.
The Eisenhower deployed from its homeport of Norfolk, Va., Friday. Having two carriers in the region can provide a host of options.
They can disperse and serve as primary command and control operations centers, to cover a wide swath of area. They can conduct information warfare. They can launch and recover E2-Hawkeye surveillance planes that provide early warnings on missile launches, conduct surveillance and manage the airspace.
Both ships carry F-18 fighter jets that could fly intercepts or strike targets. They also have significant capabilities for humanitarian work, including an onboard hospital with medics, surgeons and doctors, and they sail with helicopters that can be used to airlift critical supplies in or victims out.
— By Tara Copp
HAMAS SAYS THREE KILLED AFTER CROSSING BORDER BETWEEN LEBANON AND ISRAEL
BEIRUT — Hamas announced early Sunday that three of its members from Lebanon had been killed after crossing the border from Lebanon into Israel and clashing with Israeli forces.
The group said in a statement that its militants had “inflicted losses” before being targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
Since the outbreak of the latest Hamas-Israel war on Oct. 7, there have been sporadic border clashes between Israeli forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and with Palestinian armed groups in Lebanon including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
MONITOR SAYS ISRAEL ATTACKS AIRPORT IN NORTHERN SYRIA
BEIRUT — A Syrian opposition war monitor and a pro-government media outlet say Israel’s military has attacked the international airport of the northern city of Aleppo, putting it out of service.
Al-Watan daily said the Saturday night strike hit the runway of Aleppo airport — putting it out of service just hours after it was fixed following a similar Israeli strike on Thursday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that the strike also hit the runway at Aleppo airport.
The attack on Aleppo airport came shortly after a rocket was reportedly fired from Syria into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
On Thursday, Israeli struck the runways in Aleppo and Damascus International Airport. Aleppo was fixed within a day before it was again targeted Saturday.
There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military, which rarely confirms such strikes.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SENDS SUPPLIES FOR GAZA
A planeload of World Health Organization supplies has landed at Egypt’s el-Arish airport and is destined for Gaza when humanitarian access across the border is possible, the U.N. said Saturday.
The cache includes enough basic essentials for 300,000 people and enough trauma medicines and materials for 1,200 wounded, the U.N. said in a release. It called for opening the Rafah border crossing immediately to humanitarian deliveries.
“The critically injured, the sick and the vulnerable cannot wait,” the world body said.
ISRAEL SAYS IT IS STRIKING MILITARY TARGETS IN SYRIA
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military says it is striking targets in Syria after air raid sirens went off in two villages in northern Israel and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
In a statement, the military did not say what set off the sirens. It said it was firing artillery to strike back.
The incident is the latest in a continued flare-up along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and Syria after an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli communities set off a war with Israel.
FAMILIES OF ISRAELI HOSTAGES SAY SOME OF THEIR LOVED ONES NEED MEDICINE
TEL AVIV, Israel — The relatives of Israelis taken captive by Hamas are demanding Saturday that the militant group allow in medicine to hostages who require it, saying their loved ones are suffering.
“Every day without her medication is torture. She’s being tortured,” said Yifat Zailer, who said her kidnapped 63-year-old aunt has Parkinson’s disease. She was taken along with several other family members, Zailer said.
In its assault on southern Israeli communities, Hamas militants captured dozens of Israelis and some foreign or dual nationals, including children, women and the elderly, dragging them into the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military spokesman Read Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday Israel had so far identified 126 captives. Their fate becomes more complicated as Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza.
GERMANY TO START EVACUATING CITIZENS FROM ISRAEL
BERLIN — The German army will start evacuating its citizens from Israel with military airplanes. German news agency dpa reported that two A400M military transports were on their way from Germany to Israel on Saturday evening and further flights were planned, according to the German defense ministry.
In recent days, the German government helped with the evacuation of around 2,800 German citizens and their family members from Israel following Hamas’ attack on the country a week ago.
So far, they were predominantly flown out by civilian airplanes or brought across the border to Jordan by buses. German carrier Lufthansa stopped its scheduled flights from Israel at the beginning of the week, but it deployed a limited number of evacuation flights which ended on Saturday.
More than 100,000 residents of Israel hold dual German and Israeli citizenship.
HEZBOLLAH FIGHTER DIES DURING EXCHANGE WITH ISRAELI TROOPS
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says one of its fighters was killed during an exchange of fire with Israeli troops on Saturday.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV identified the dead fighter as Ali Youssef Alaaeddine. It gave no other details, saying his death happened “during the Zionist aggression on south Lebanon today.”
Alaaeddine is the fourth Hezbollah fighter killed since tensions increased along the Lebanon-Israel border following the deadly attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on southern Israel Oct. 7. The war has since claimed at least 3,200 lives.
ERDOGAN’S SON JOINS PRO-PALESTINIAN MARCH IN ISTANBUL
ISTANBUL — The son of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan participated in a large pro-Palestinian march in Istanbul on Saturday. Bilal Erdogan was accompanied by former Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and former speaker of Turkish parliament Mustafa Sentop.
“Let us make clear our side, we should at least let our feelings be heard,” Erdogan told The Associated Press.
The crowd of over 1,000 people carried Palestinian and Turkish flags while chanting slogans criticizing Israel and the United States.
Speaking to the AP, Sentop said, “Everyone with a conscience, regardless of race or religion, are displaying their sentiments toward this genocide.”
JAPANESE CHARTER FLIGHT WITH EVACUEES LEAVES ISRAEL
TOKYO — Japan’s Foreign Ministry says a Japanese government-arranged charter flight carrying eight Japanese nationals in Israel departed from Tel Aviv and was expected to arrive in Dubai on Sunday.
Fifty-one other Japanese nationals were separately evacuated by South Korea’s military aircraft, along with 163 South Koreans and six Singaporeans.
About 1,250 Japanese nationals were in Israel as of October 2022, according to government data.
LEBANESE STATE MEDIA SAYS ISRAELI SHELLING HAS KILLED 2 IN CHEBAA
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state news agency says Israeli shelling of a Lebanese border village killed a man and his wife.
The shelling occurred during an exchange of fire along Lebanon’s border with Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops.
National News Agency said Khalil Hachem and his wife, Rabad Akoum, were killed in the shelling of the Lebanese border village of Chebaa.
Hezbollah said its fighters struck several Israeli military positions in the disputed Chebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba hills in the afternoon. It added that hours later, Hezbollah gunmen fired rockets and shells toward an Israeli position in the area inflicting damage.
ISRAELI MILITARY ANNOUNCES IT IS PREPARED FOR ‘COORDINATED’ OFFENSIVE
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has prepared a “coordinated” offensive in the Gaza Strip involving air, ground and naval forces.
In a statement on its website Saturday night, the army said it is “preparing to implement a wide range of offensive operative plans.”
Israel has ordered roughly half of Gaza’s population to evacuate their homes ahead of an expected ground offensive in response to a brutal cross-border Hamas attack.
Israel has not said when the offensive will begin.
HAMAS OFFICIAL SAYS PALESTINIANS WILL NOT MIGRATE TO EGYPT
BEIRUT — A top official with the militant Hamas group says the people of Gaza will not migrate from the strip to Egypt.
In a televised speech Saturday, Ismail Haniyeh said that “all the massacres” will not break the Palestinian people.
“There will be no migration from Gaza to Egypt,” he said, adding that “our decision is to stay in our land.”
Haniyeh said Israel suffered a “strategic strike” and that last week’s attacks by Hamas that have killed more than 3,200 are an indication the end of Israel’s occupation is near.
Haniyeh said the aim of Hamas is to liberate the land and set Palestinian prisoners free, and that the blockade in Gaza be lifted.
HEAD OF GAZA’S LARGEST HOSPITAL SAYS 35,000 PEOPLE ARE SHELTERING IN HOSPITAL COMPLEX
GAZA CITY, Gaza — Medical officials say an estimated 35,000 have crammed into the grounds of Gaza City’s main hospital, seeking refugee ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive.
Mohammad Abu Selim, general director of Shifa Hospital, confirmed that massive crowds had thronged the building and the courtyard outside. Shifa is the largest hospital in the entire Gaza Strip.
“People think this is the only safe space after their homes were destroyed and they were forced to flee,” said Dr. Medhat Abbas, a Health Ministry official. “Gaza City is a frightening scene of devastation.”
The Israeli military has ordered roughly half of Gaza’s population, including all of Gaza City, to evacuate as it prepares to send in ground forces.
Israel has been bombing Gaza into rubble for the past week, killing more than 2,200 and counting in response to a cross-border Hamas attack.
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