Live updates | Blinken urges aid for civilians as Israeli troops tighten encirclement of Gaza City

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to urge protections for civilians in the fighting with Hamas, as Israeli troops

tightened their encirclement

of Gaza City.

Tensions escalated along Israel's border with Lebanon ahead of the first public speech by Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah — an Iranian-backed Hamas ally — since the Hamas

attacked Israel

last month. Nasrallah said his militia is undeterred by U.S. warnings to stay out of the Israel-Hamas war, but stopped short of announcing that Hezbollah is

fully engaging in the war

.

Hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of injured have left the Gaza Strip through

the Rafah crossing

in recent days under an apparent agreement among the U.S., Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.

Israel has allowed more than 260 trucks carrying food and medicine through the crossing, but aid workers say it’s not nearly enough. Israeli authorities have refused to allow fuel in, leaving hospitals with dwindling supplies.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,227, according to the Hamas-run

Health Ministry in Gaza

. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.

Currently:

1. Following an Israeli airstrike, crowded

Gaza hospital

struggles to treat wounded children.

2. As more Palestinians with

foreign citizenship

leave Gaza, some families are left in the lurch.

3. Stay in Israel, or flee? Thai workers caught up in Hamas attack and war

are faced with a dilemma

.

4. Netanyahu has sidestepped accountability for failing to prevent Hamas attack,

instead blaming others

.

5. Find more of AP’s coverage at

https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

.

Here’s what is happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:

NUMBER OF ROMANIANS HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS RISES TO 6

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday that two more Romanian citizens are among the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of Romanian hostages to six.

The ministry said that Romania’s embassy in Tel Aviv and its consulate in Haifa are in contact with the Israeli authorities over the matter. All six hostages hold dual Romanian-Israeli citizenship.

Since Hamas launched its attack on Israel nearly a month ago, at least five Romanian citizens, all of whom resided in Israel and held dual Israeli citizenship, have been confirmed dead.

TARGETED ATTACKS ON MILITANT CELLS IN GAZA CITY HAVE STARTED, ISRAELI ARMY SAYS

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said ground troops continued to exchange fire with Hamas militants Friday in Gaza, as Israeli aircraft killed numerous Hamas militants exiting tunnels.

Footage released by the military showed troops and tanks advancing through grassland toward bombed out buildings as smoke clouds from airstrikes rose in the distance.

The military said it encircled Gaza City on Thursday and was beginning to launch targeted attacks within the city Friday to target militant cells.

MENTAL HEALTH CARE A KEY NEED IN ISRAEL FOLLOWING HAMAS' OCT. 7 ATTACK, WHO OFFICIAL SAYS

GENEVA — Israelis are clamoring for better mental health care following the devastating Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants, a top World Health Organization official said Friday.

Dr. Hans Kluge, the head of WHO Europe, which counts Israel but not Palestinian areas in its region, said his trip to Israel this week on an invitation from Israeli leaders had three priorities: To mourn in solidarity with Israelis, listen to families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and to explore options for more aid for injured or sick Palestinians in Gaza.

While a small amount of aid has been ferried into Gaza and some evacuees were allowed to leave through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, Kluge said prospects for that aid to move through crossing points between Israel and Gaza were “not on the table” for now.

Kluge, who met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the health minister and others, said the country wants to build “the strongest mental health system in the world.”

“The main needs within Israel — which was expressed by everyone, the president, the first lady, the health care workers we met, the new minister of health, whom I met — is mental health, mental health, mental health,” Kluge said in an interview a day after returning to WHO Europe headquarters in Copenhagen.

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU RULES OUT CEASE-FIRE UNTIL HAMAS FREES HOSTAGES

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a temporary cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, saying he will press ahead with a devastating military offensive until hostages held by the Hamas militant group are released.

Netanyahu spoke shortly after meeting Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who pressed Israel for a temporary pause in its offensive to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Blinken also urged Israel to do more to protect civilians from its attacks.

In a statement, Netanyahu said Israel is continuing with “all of its power” and “refuses a temporary cease-fire that doesn’t include a return of our hostages.”

Hamas kidnapped about 240 people in its Oct. 7 cross-border attack that triggered the Israel-Hamas war. The attack killed about 1,400 people, while over 9,200 Palestinians in Gaza have died in Israeli strikes that began the same day, according to Palestinian health officials.

BLINKEN URGES ISRAEL TO DO MORE TO PROTECT GAZA CIVILIANS, INCREASE AID

TEL AVIV — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said more needs to be done to “protect Palestinian civilians” in Gaza and that, without that, there will be “no partners for peace.”

Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv on Friday, Blinken also said, “we need to substantially and immediately increase the sustainable humanitarian assistance” into Gaza.

He said it was critical to restore the path toward a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, calling it the only “guarantor” of a safe and democratic Israel and independent Palestine. He said work on that must begin “not tomorrow, not after today, but today.”

Blinken landed in Tel Aviv on Friday for his third trip to Israel since the war began with Hamas’ incursion into Israel on Oct. 7. Blinken will also visit Jordan and may make additional stops in the region before traveling to Asia early next week.

He met Friday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials to urge them to do everything possible to protect civilians caught in

the fighting,

while underscoring Israel's right to defend itself.

“We stand strongly for the proposition that Israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself, and to make sure that October 7 should never happen again,” Blinken said. “How Israel does this matters and it is very important that when it comes to the protection of civilians who are caught in the crossfire of Hamas’ making that everything to be done to protect them and to bring assistance to those who so desperately need it.”

U.S. President Joe Biden has called for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting in order to arrange the evacuation of dual citizens and foreigners still trapped in Gaza as well as to try to secure the release of more than 240 hostages Hamas is holding.

HEZBOLLAH LEADER THREATENS AN ESCALATION OF BORDER FIGHTING

BEIRUT — The leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah group said Friday that his powerful militia is engaged in unprecedented cross-border fighting with Israel and threatened escalation.

Hassan Nasrallah's widely anticipated speech was his first since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by the Palestinian militants’ deadly Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel.

Nasrallah stopped short of announcing that Hezbollah is fully engaging in the war but said the fighting on the Lebanon-Israel border would “not be limited” to the scale seen until now.

The speech came a day after the most significant escalation in clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the border since the war started, and on the same day as a visit to Israel by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge protections for civilians in the fighting with Hamas.

Nasrallah praised the Hamas attack four weeks ago on farming villages and military posts in southern Israel. More than 1,400 people were killed in Israel in the attack by Hamas, a Hezbollah ally.

“This great, large-scale operation was purely the result of Palestinian planning and implementation,” Nasrallah said, suggesting his militia had no part in the attack. “The great secrecy made this operation greatly successful.”

Since the beginning of the war, Hezbollah has taken calculated steps to keep Israel’s military busy on its border with Lebanon, but not to the extent of igniting an all-out war.

US USING DRONES IN AN ATTEMPT TO LOCATE HOSTAGES

The United States is flying MQ-9 drones over Gaza to gather intelligence and help Israel locate more than 240 hostages taken into the territory by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operations.

Since the attacks, families of the hostages have increased pressure on the Israeli and U.S. governments to find them and bring them home before Israel carries through with any large-scale ground operations. The drone use was first reported by Reuters.

___

Reported by Tara Copp in Washington, DC.

UN WARNS THAT SITUATION IN THE WEST BANK IS ‘ALARMING AND URGENT’

GENEVA — Alongside the blistering Israeli military campaign in Gaza, the U.N. human rights office warned Friday that the situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is “alarming and urgent” because of “multi-layered human rights violations of Palestinians” there.

Large-scale raids overnight by Israeli forces in the West Bank killed seven Palestinians, Palestinian health officials said, raising the death toll to 144 since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants in Israel left at least 1,400 people dead.

Spokesperson Liz Throssell said Israeli forces have increasingly used military tactics and weapons in law enforcement operations, and settler violence “which was already at record levels” has escalated.

“We have serious concerns that the principles of distinction and proportionality are not being respected by both sides,” Throssell said at a news briefing in Geneva. “We strongly urge Palestinian armed groups to immediately stop launching inherently indiscriminate rockets into Israel.”

FRANCE TO SEND 2 FLIGHTS TO EGYPT WITH AID FOR GAZA CIVILIANS

PARIS — France is sending two new flights to Egypt with aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza and is seeking to augment its military deployment in the area to provide medical support, the defense minister said Friday.

Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu told BFM television that the new flights would leave Friday and Sunday. France sent an initial flight last week with 54 tons of aid, and is urging the creation of a humanitarian corridor that would allow Palestinian civilians to flee Gaza and for aid to be brought in.

Lecornu spoke from a French helicopter carrier sent to the eastern Mediterranean to serve as a mobile hospital for people from Gaza.

‘’While Israel should defend itself and should ensure that Hamas can no longer inflict harm, ... the civilian populations of Gaza must be preserved and the best way to protect them is to give them medical care,’’ he said.

Two French children have been killed in northern Gaza and their mother and another sibling were injured, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

They are among more than 30 French citizens who have been killed since the conflict began Oct. 7, most in the initial Hamas attacks. Nine remain missing, including some believed held hostage by Hamas, according to the government.

Five French citizens were evacuated from Gaza this week, and the French government is demanding safe passage out for the remaining French citizens in Gaza -– around 50 people, the ministry said.

GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS DEATH TOLL HAS RISEN TO 9,227

GAZA -- The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says 196 people were killed over the past day, raising the total death toll in the territory since the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7 to 9,227.

The ministry said the dead include 3,826 children and 2,405 women. It said 2,100 people are still missing under the rubble.

Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said Friday that hospitals in Gaza are running out of fuel, with two, al-Shifa and the Indonesian hospital, shifting to smaller generators that only keep the intensive care units, incubators and operating rooms running.

He called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to help bring all types of blood from outside Gaza for use in treating people.

He thanked Egypt for evacuating dozens of wounded people for treatment over the past three days, adding that there are hundreds of serious cases that still need to be evacuated.