As conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate, Hamas releases first video of Israeli hostage
President Joe Biden to visit Israel on Wednesday to signal U.S. support
The latest:
- Biden to visit Israel on Wednesday to signal support.
- Hamas releases first purported video of an Israeli hostage.
- Reserves of fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip expected to last less than a day.
- Israel orders evacuation of 28 villages near its Lebanese border.
- 'Don't test us in the north,' Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warns Hezbollah.
- Iran's top envoy said early Monday evening that a 'pre-emptive action' could be expected in the coming hours, according to state TV.
Truckloads of aid idled at Egypt's border with Gaza as residents and humanitarian groups pleaded Monday for water, food and fuel for dying generators, saying the tiny Palestinian territory sealed off by Israel — and to some extent, Egypt — after last week's rampage by Hamas was near total collapse.
U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday,
"On Wednesday, I'll travel to Israel to stand in solidarity in the face of Hamas's brutal terrorist attack," Biden said on Twitter. "I'll then travel to Jordan to address dire humanitarian needs, meet with leaders, and make clear that Hamas does not stand for Palestinians' right to self-determination"
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the trip early Tuesday in Tel Aviv following hours of talks with Israeli officials, and an invitation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In Gaza, hospitals were on the verge of losing electricity, threatening the lives of thousands of patients, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes searched for bread. Israel maintained punishing airstrikes across Gaza as a ground invasion loomed, while Hamas militants kept up a barrage of rocket attacks, and tensions mounted near the Israel-Lebanon border.
More than a week after Israel cut off entry of any supplies, all eyes were on the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only connection to Egypt. Mediators were trying to reach a ceasefire that would let in aid and let out trapped foreigners. Israeli airstrikes forced the crossing to shut down last week, and local media reported Israel struck the crossing again Monday.
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Israel evacuated towns near its northern border with Lebanon, where the military has exchanged fire repeatedly with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.
Speaking to the Israeli Knesset, Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah, "Don't test us in the north. Don't make the mistake of the past. Today, the price you will pay will be far heavier," referring to Israel's 2006 war with Hezbollah, which operates out of Lebanon
Soon after he spoke, the Knesset floor was evacuated as rockets headed toward Jerusalem. Sirens in Tel Aviv prompted U.S. and Israeli officials to take shelter in a bunker, officials said.
Later Monday, Iran's top envoy said that a "pre-emptive action" could be expected in the coming hours, state TV reported, adding that Israel will not be allowed to take any action in the Gaza Strip without facing consequences.
"All options are open and we cannot be indifferent to the war crimes committed against the people of Gaza," said Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
Families and some non-essential staff working at Canada's missions in Tel Aviv and Ramallah were directed to leave Israel. They left within the last few days. Essential staff remain in place, according to Global Affairs Canada.
Hamas releases hostage video
Diplomatic efforts have been underway to get aid into Gaza, which has endured unrelenting Israeli bombing since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants that killed 1,300 people, including a number of Canadians.
This has become the deadliest of the five Gaza wars for both sides. At least 2,778 have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, the vast majority civilians massacred in Hamas's Oct. 7 assault.
The Israeli military said Monday that at least 199 hostages were taken back in Gaza, higher than previous estimates. The military did not specify whether that number includes foreigners.
A spokesperson for Hamas, on the other hand, said on Monday in a recorded video that the number of Israeli hostages in Gaza could be as high as 250.
Hamas's military wing also published a video believed to be the first of one of the hostages.
The woman, who identified herself as 21-year-old Mia Schem, she says she was captured from the music festival in Israel on the first day of the conflict and later treated in Gaza for a hand injury.
"They take care of me, take care of me, give me medicine," the woman said, according to Haaretz, a news outlet in Israel. "Please get us out of here as soon as possible, please. Thank you."
CBC News has not independently verified the video and cannot confirm the woman's condition.
The Israel Defence Forces responded to the video on Telegram.
"Hamas is trying to portray itself as a humane organization, while it is a murderous terrorist organization responsible for the murder and abduction of babies, women, children, and elderly," it said.
Desperate conditions in Gaza
The combination of airstrikes, dwindling supplies and Israel's mass evacuation order for the north of the Gaza Strip has thrown the tiny territory's 2.3 million people into upheaval and increasing desperation. More than one million have fled their homes, and 60 per cent of them are now in the approximately 14-kilometre-long area south of the evacuation zone, according to the United Nations.
The Israeli military says it is trying to clear away civilians for their safety ahead of a major campaign against Hamas in Gaza's north.Those fleeing northern Gaza still faced airstrikes in the south.
Hospitals are expected to run out of generator fuel in less than 24 hours, meaning life-saving equipment like incubators and ventilators will stop functioning, according to the UN.
"The situation is catastrophic," Dr. Mohammed Qandil, a critical-care physician in Khan Younis, Gaza, told CBC News. The hospital he works at is currently being powered by a generator.
"Once the fuel inside the hospital vanishes, we will face a bad situation. We will turn into a big mortuary, a big grave."
Israel orders evacuation of villages near Lebanon
On the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, crowds of Palestinians with dual citizenship waited anxiously, sitting on suitcases or crouched on the floor, some comforting crying infants.
"They are supposed to be a developed country, talking about human rights all the time," Shurouq Alkhazendar, whose two children are American citizens, said of the United States. "You should protect your citizens first, not leave them all alone suffering and being humiliated in front of the crossing."
In the biggest sign yet that the war could spread to a new front, Israel ordered the evacuation on Monday of 28 villages within two kilometres of the Lebanese border. Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said it had targeted five Israeli positions.
"Israel is ready to operate on two fronts, and even more," said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a military spokesperson.
With files from CBC News and Reuters