The Canadian Armed Forces flew a CC-130J Hercules aircraft over the Gaza Strip to conduct the drop, said Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Defence Minister David McGuinty in a media statement.

Carney said in a social media post Monday that the “humanitarian disaster in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating.”

“Canada is intensifying our efforts with international partners to develop a credible peace plan and will ensure aid moves forward at the necessary scale,” he said.

Carney had posted video earlier in the week of Canadian aid pallets delivered to Gaza via Jordanian military aircraft.

Anand said in a separate social media post that she remains in contact with her counterpart in Jordan to ensure Canadian aid reaches Palestinians via air and land.

Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in March, arguing that Hamas had been selling vital supplies and food to pay its fighters. UN agencies say this was not happening to any large extent.

After 2 1/2 months, Israel allowed Americans to launch the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which set up aid distribution sites. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli army fire and American contractors while trying to access those sites.

Israel recently loosened some restrictions on food and medicine reaching the Gaza Strip in response to an international outcry over starvation in the Palestinian territory.

Global Affairs Canada said in a release Monday that Israel’s ongoing aid restrictions are in violation of international law “and must end immediately.”

“Canada reiterates calls for the guarantee of safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian organizations, including the opening of all crossings, the rapid approval of customs clearances and all humanitarian goods into Gaza, and the issuance of long-term visas for aid workers,” the statement read.

On Wednesday, Carney cited Israel’s aid restrictions and the need to preserve a path to a two-state solution as reasons for declaring that Canada would officially recognize a State of Palestine.

Carney said the move was conditional on the Palestinian Authority undertaking serious reforms and holding an election next year for the first time in two decades.

— with files from Dylan Robertson

Footage showed 28-year-old Emily Damari, 24-year-old Romi Gonen and 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher in a tense handover to the Red Cross on a Gaza City street. They were surrounded by a crowd of thousands, accompanied by masked, armed men wearing green Hamas headbands. The women were taken to Israeli forces and then into Israel, where their mothers were waiting.

The three women were in stable condition, Sheba Medical Center said, and authorities released footage of them reuniting with their families, hugging fiercely and sobbing. Israel’s military also released images showing Damari raising a bandaged hand in triumph. It said she lost two fingers in the attack that sparked the war.

In Tel Aviv, thousands of people who gathered to watch the news on large screens erupted in applause. For months, many had gathered in the square weekly to demand a ceasefire deal.

The Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel killed some 1,200 people and left some 250 others captive. Nearly 100 hostages remain in Gaza.

Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half the dead.

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Here’s the latest:

Trump’s national security adviser says US will back Israel if Hamas runs afoul of ceasefire deal

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser says the U.S. has assured Israel that if Hamas runs afoul of a Gaza ceasefire deal, “we will be with them.”

Michael Waltz said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that trust and confidence is why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “felt comfortable pushing this through his government.”

He says the Trump administration will support Israel as it is “going to do what it has to do” to ensure Hamas never rules the Palestinian territory again.

First photos show hostages reuniting with their mothers

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military released the first photos of the hostages reuniting with their mothers at a reception center in southern Israel, before they were flown by helicopter to the hospital.

In the photos, the women embrace their mothers. Merav Leshem Gonen cradled her daughter Romi, beaming. Emily Damari embraced her mother, and in a video call with her brother, showed off a hand where she lost two fingers on Oct. 7. Doron Steinbrecher and her mother Simona embraced in a fierce hug.

The hostages and their mothers have arrived at a hospital in central Israel, where they will reunite with the rest of their family and receive medical treatment. They are expected to stay in the hospital for a number of days. All of the hostages were able to walk under their own power, despite concerns about their conditions.

Outside of the hospital, hundreds of people danced and cheered to welcome the hostages back to Israel.

Israel’s ambassador to US credits Trump and degrading of Hamas for ceasefire deal

WASHINGTON — Israel’s ambassador to the United States credited President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, along with his country’s degrading of Hamas, for the ceasefire deal that took effect Sunday.

Ambassador Michael Herzog said Hamas realized they were on their own in their fight and “Trump came into the picture and said he wants a deal,” pushing them toward it.

On “Fox News Sunday,” he noted the “unprecedented cooperation” between President Joe Biden’s team and Trump’s envoys.

Going forward, he says he sees “a role for the U.S. and other regional actors to apply and create alternatives to Hamas and stabilize the situation.”

Starmer says release of a British-Israeli woman is ‘a wonderful news’

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has described the release of a British-Israeli woman along with two other hostages Sunday as “wonderful and long-overdue news.”

He also cautioned that the world must not forget about those still in captivity by Hamas militants.

Emily Damari, 28, who has dual British and Israeli nationality, was one of the three female hostages freed Sunday. Her mother, Mandy, released a statement of thanks for supporters “who never stopped saying her name.”

“After 471 days Emily is finally home,” her mother said.

Starmer said despite the news, Sunday “also represents another day of suffering for those who haven’t made it home yet.”

“While this ceasefire deal should be welcomed, we must not forget about those who remain in captivity under Hamas,” he said. “We must now see the remaining phases of the ceasefire deal implemented in full and on schedule, including the release of those remaining hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

Father of an Israeli-American hostage grateful to Trump for work on ceasefire

The father of an Israel-American held by Hamas says he’s grateful for the incoming Trump administration for its work on getting the ceasefire deal over the finish line.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, says the outgoing Biden administration “did extraordinary work” on the framework of the deal.

“However, it took a tweet, the subsequent statements from President-elect Trump to get this home,” the father said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “And what we ask of President Trump and his team is to keep their finger on this.”

President Joe Biden’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, said Sunday that Sagui Dekel-Chen is one of the two Israeli-American hostages would will be released in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement over the coming weeks.

Romanian prime minister welcomes the release of an Israeli-Romanian hostage

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu welcomed the release of the first three hostages from Gaza on Sunday, who included Israeli-Romanian Doron Steinbrecher, 31.

“Their courage to endure captivity in such difficult conditions is an inspiration to us all,” he said in a post on Facebook.

“We need the full implementation of the agreement to continue so that all hostages are safely released and we stand in solidarity with the families still awaiting the return of their loved ones.”

Biden’s Mideast adviser expects 800 trucks of aid into Gaza on Sunday

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s top Middle East adviser says “we have a full ceasefire in effect” and expects 800 trucks of humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza on Sunday.

Brett McGurk helped hammer out a deal in Doha, Qatar, along with President-elect Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and other mediators from Qatar and Egypt.

He noted on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that two Israeli-American hostages will come out in the first phase of the deal over the coming weeks.

“We’ve been working seamlessly with the incoming team. I think this is a testament to President Biden and to President Trump allowing us to work together,” he said.

Relatives of hostages overcome with joy

TEL AVIV, Israel — They jumped and clapped, and cried out and wept. Israel’s military has released footage of relatives watching the three released hostages meeting military representatives after being released.

The military said the three women had reached the initial reception point in Israel to be reunited with their mothers. They would have an initial medical assessment and go to a hospital.

“This is an exciting day,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, and told the freed women that “an entire nation embraces you.”

AP drone footage shows a devastated landscape in southern Gaza

Drone footage by The Associated Press in the opening hours of the ceasefire in Gaza shows a gray and devastated landscape in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The footage of what had been densely populated neighborhoods shows roofs caved in, shattered buildings and massive support beams holding up nothing at all.

The images also show Palestinians moving on foot on some of the city’s streets as people begin to assess the damage without the threat of Israeli fire.

The United Nations has said much of Gaza’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Biden says ‘the guns in Gaza have gone silent’

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden says “the guns in Gaza have gone silent” under a ceasefire deal he outlined in May.

Biden spoke during a visit to a church in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Speaking of the hostages that were being released under the ceasefire, Biden said he had just received a call saying the three were being released. Although he stressed that it was early and it wasn’t immediately clear whether they were out of Gaza, Biden said: “They appear to be in good health.”

Biden said it now falls on the Trump administration to help implement the deal.

“I was pleased to have our team speak as one voice in the final days. It was both necessary and effective and unprecedented,” Biden said.

“Success is going to require persistence and continuing support for our friends in the region, and the belief in diplomacy backed by deterrence,” the president said.

Palestinians in the West Bank gather for the expected release of 90 prisoners from Israel

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Families and friends of some of the Palestinians prisoners set to be released from Israel in exchange for hostages in Gaza gathered in Ramallah as cars honked and people waved the Palestinian flag.

About 90 Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and Jerusalem will be released Sunday after Hamas freed the three Israeli hostages. The Palestinians include 69 women.

Fadia Barghouti was arrested from Ramallah in April and spent three months in prison without being given a reason, she said. Tonight she hopes to see friends she had been detained with.

“I’m happy, because of the ceasefire people can live peacefully,” she said.

She said the war in Gaza is evidence that no one in the Middle East can live peacefully until Palestinians have their rights.

3 released hostages are with Israeli forces in Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel — Three Israeli hostages released from Gaza have been handed over to Israeli forces there in the first test of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The three hostages are Romi Gonen, 24, kidnapped from the Nova music festival, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

Later on Sunday, Israel is expected to release around 90 Palestinian prisoners.

A gradual release of 33 captives over the next six weeks has been agreed on. In exchange, Israel will release almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and Palestinians from Gaza who have been detained.

Israel says the first 3 hostages to be freed from Gaza are with the Red Cross

TEL AVIV, Israel — The first three hostages set to be released from Gaza were transferred to the Red Cross and were on their way toward Israeli forces, the Israeli military announced Sunday, hours after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold.

Israeli media, carrying live footage from Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV, showed the hostages walking between vehicles as their convoy moved through Gaza City, surrounded by a huge crowd, with many people holding up phones and filming.

The vehicles were accompanied by armed men who wore green Hamas headbands and struggled to guard the cars from an unruly crowd that swelled into the thousands.

Palestinian prisoners set for release include 69 women and youngest is 15

BEIRUT — The 90 Palestinian prisoners set to be released Sunday in exchange for three hostages held by Hamas include 69 women, according to a list provided to The Associated Press.

The youngest is Mahmoud Aliowat, 15.

The prisoners to be released include Khalida Jarrar, 62, a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a leftist faction with an armed group that has carried out attacks on Israelis. New York-based Human Rights Watch said her repeated arrests are part of Israel’s wider crackdown on non-violent political opposition.

Dalal Khaseeb, 53, the sister of former Hamas second-in-command Saleh Arouri, is also on the list, which was provided by Hamas. Arouri was killed in an Israeli strike in a southern Beirut suburb in January 2024.

Also listed for release is Abla Abdelrasoul, 68, the wife of detained PFLP leader Ahmad Saadat who killed an Israeli Cabinet minister in 2001 and has been serving a 30-year sentence.

Head of Rafah municipality says the city is a disaster zone

CAIRO — The head of the Rafah municipality in Gaza has told journalists that it has become a “disaster city,” with massive destruction there.

Ahmed al-Sufi said Israel’s military has destroyed a large part of the infrastructure including water, electricity and road networks, in addition to thousands of homes and public facilities.

“Rafah faces a humanitarian tragedy,” he said, as Palestinians across the territory are beginning to discover the scope of the destruction in the first hours of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

First 3 hostages set to be released

TEL AVIV, Israel — Anticipation is growing as the first signs emerge of the handover of the first three hostages set to be released.

Hundreds of people have gathered in Tel Aviv in what has been called “Hostages Square” to watch the news on large screens. For months, thousands of Israelis have gathered weekly at the square to demand a deal to bring everyone home.

Israeli media are reporting that the army has asked the mothers of the three hostages to come to a meeting point at a base next to the Gaza border.

Macron says France will work on full implementation of the ceasefire

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron says France intends to work with other nations to ensure “the full implementation” of the Gaza ceasefire.

A statement Sunday from his office said Macron “is delighted that the Israeli Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement” and that “he warmly thanked the Egyptian, Qatari and American mediators who contributed to it.”

His office said Macron spoke Saturday by phone with the families of two French-Israeli hostages still in captivity, Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi.

The statement said their families “have been living for 15 months in an anguish that the entire French nation shares. … Ohad and Ofer are now both on the first list of hostages to be released.” Macron has said that the two are on the list of 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed concerns about the hostages’ health.

“I don’t know in what condition they will return. We don’t know how many are alive or dead and, among the living, in what psychological state we’ll find them in. But the hostages will be progressively released. It’s a good thing,” he told French broadcaster BFMTV.

Trump’s national security adviser praises Gaza ceasefire

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for national security adviser says the Gaza ceasefire deal should be “celebrated.”

“We will see three women coming out alive,” Michael Waltz, Trump’s pick to be his national security, told CBS of the first hostages set to be released. “Had we not entered this, these people would have died.”

Waltz said the hostages held by Hamas have been captive longer than U.S. hostages held during the Iranian crisis in 1979, “but now we’re going to have a Reagan moment.”

That recalled those hostage being freed after 444 days when Ronald Reagan took office in 1981.

“We’re going to have President Trump being sworn-in as hostages are coming out alive,” Waltz said.

Mother of British-Israeli hostage says ‘I have more hope now’

LONDON — The mother of one of the three female hostages expected to be released Sunday said she was praying her daughter will return to Israel alive, adding, “I have more hope now than I’ve had in the last 15 months.”

Emily Damari, a 28-year-old British-Israeli national, was kidnapped from her apartment on Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a communal farming village hit hard by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

“It would be the most wonderful feeling in the world if she comes back, the most wonderful feeling. But I won’t believe it until I see and feel it for myself,” her mother Mandy said in a statement released on behalf of her family.

Emily Cohen, a family friend who has been representing the relatives, said: “These final few hours have been the most agonizing that you can imagine, after nearly 500 days of unending torment for Mandy and all the other families.”

Earlier Sunday Britain’s government said it stood ready to support Damari upon her release.

Israel reiterates it wants all hostages to return as part of the ceasefire

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told journalists that “both Trump and Biden have given full backing to Israel’s right to return to the fighting if it reaches the conclusion that the second stage of negotiations is ineffectual.”

Mencer adds, however, that Israel wants “all stages” of the phased ceasefire deal to come into effect. Negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase are to start just over two weeks into the first phase that began Sunday.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in a separate statement reiterated that Israel won’t stop the war until everyone returns home. He added that “we will take care to maintain the buffer zones and respond forcefully to any violation and threat.” Israeli forces are withdrawing to buffer zones inside Gaza in the first phase.

Residents in bombed-out Rafah in southern Gaza return to find destruction

CAIRO — Residents n Gaza’s southern city of Rafah returned to find massive destruction following a ceasefire that took hold Sunday. Some found human remains in the rubble.

“It’s an indescribable scene. It’s like you see a Hollywood horror movie,” Mohamed Abu Taha told The Associated Press as he and his brother inspected the family home in Rafah’s Salam neighborhood. He described “flattened houses, human remains, skulls and other body parts, in the street and in the rubble.”

He shared footage of piles of rubble he said had been the family’s house.

Trump welcomes the impending release of 3 hostages from Gaza

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has welcomed the impending release of three hostages held by militants in Gaza as part of a ceasefire agreement with Israel that started Sunday.

“Hostages starting to come out today! Three wonderful young women will be first,” Trump wrote in a post on the social media platform Truth Social.

Pope expresses gratitude for Gaza ceasefire

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis expressed his gratitude for the Gaza ceasefire and praised the role of mediators.

Francis thanked all those involved who worked to make the deal possible, praying that all the hostages will be able to return home and embrace again their loved ones.

The pontiff noted that he continues to pray that whatever has been agreed upon “will be respected.”

Francis also prayed that greatly-needed humanitarian aid will be able to arrive in Gaza as soon as possible, and that the international community will continue to help both sides as to best foster “dialogue, hope and peace.”

UN agency says food trucks entering Gaza

CAIRO — The U.N. World Food Program said trucks have started entering Gaza through two crossings after the ceasefire took hold Sunday.

In a post on X, WFP said the first trucks carried life-saving wheat flour and ready-to-eat food parcels. It said it aims to deliver food daily along humanitarian corridors that include Egypt, Jordan and Israel crossing points.

“This ceasefire is critical for the humanitarian response. Safety, and access must be ensured,” the agency said.

Palestinians in Gaza celebrate the ceasefire

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Celebrations erupted early Sunday across the Gaza Strip as people hoped for respite after 15 months of war that killed tens of thousands and destroyed large areas of the territory. Masked militants appeared at some of the celebrations, where the crowds chanted slogans in support of them, according to Associated Press reporters in Gaza.

Gaza’s Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, held a parade in Gaza City, where the rescuers waved a Palestinian flag alongside other revelers, according to AP footage. It also showed a small group of people carrying the flags of Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group after Hamas, which took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The Hamas-run police began deploying in public after mostly lying low due to Israeli airstrikes. Gaza City residents said they had seen them operating in parts of the city, and the AP reporter in Khan Younis saw a small number out on the streets.

Palestinian residents began returning to their homes in parts of Gaza City early Sunday, even as tank shelling continued to the east, closer to the Israeli border, overnight. Families could be seen making their way back on foot, with their belongings loaded on donkey carts, residents said.

“The sound of shelling and explosions didn’t stop,” said Ahmed Matter, a Gaza City resident. He said he saw many families leaving their shelters and returning to their homes. “People are impatient. They want this madness to end,” he said.

Families of Israeli hostages worry about the next step

PARIS — At a gathering in Paris, relatives of Israeli hostages say the coming days and weeks remain fraught with worries for them despite Hamas promises to release some of the captives under the long-awaited ceasefire with Israel.

Moshe Emilio Lavi, the brother-in-law of hostage Omri Miran, said at the gathering Saturday night that he’s concerned about the health effects for those held for more than 450 days.

“You can imagine that hostages who were subject to torture, abuse, sexual violence, deprived of food, water, sanitation, sunlight for so long — everyone is a humanitarian case, which is why we as families reject the notion this is a humanitarian deal,” he said.

“The first phase is not. If it was, every hostage, including my brother-in-law, Omri, would return home tomorrow. So we are not optimistic.”

Olivier Jaoui, a relative of French-Israeli hostage Ofer Kalderon, said families have “many concerns because we don’t know who is alive, who is dead among the hostages and in particular, for us, Ofer Kalderon, our cousin.”

He added that “another concern, obviously, is in what state they will return.”

One of the strikes killed eight people including two kids in a tent camp in the Muwasi area, which Israel designated a humanitarian safe zone but has repeatedly targeted. The casualties were reported by Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies.

The Israeli military says it only strikes militants, accusing them of operating among civilians. It said late Sunday that it had targeted a Hamas militant in the humanitarian zone.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Around 100 captives are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom Israel believes are dead.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed more than 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

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Here’s the latest:

Israel shoots down a drone from Yemen, military says

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Monday it intercepted a drone launched from Yemen before it entered Israeli territory, days after a long-range rocket attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit Tel Aviv, injuring 16 people from shattered glass.

The military said no air raid warning sirens were sounded Monday. Israel says the Iran-backed Houthis have fired more than 200 missiles and UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The Houthis have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden — attacks they say won’t stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

The attacks on shipping and Israel are taking place despite U.S. and European warships patrolling the area. On Saturday night and early Sunday, the U.S. conducted airstrikes on Yemen. Last week, Israel launched its own airstrikes on Yemen, killing at least nine people, and a Houthi missile damaged a school in Israel.

Qatari delegation meets with top Syrian rebel leader in Damascus

DAMASCUS, Syria — A Qatari delegation visited the Syrian capital on Monday for the first time in more than a decade and met with the country’s top insurgent commander, who said strategic cooperation between Damascus and Doha will begin soon.

Qatar, along with Turkey, has long backed the rebels who now control Damascus, and the two countries are looking to protect their interests in Syria now that former President Bashar Assad has been overthrown.

The Qatari delegation was headed by the minister of state for foreign affairs, Mohammed al-Khulaifi, who met with Ahmad al-Sharaa, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the insurgent group that overthrew Assad on Dec. 8.

Al-Sharaa was quoted as saying by Syrian media that they have invited the emir of Qatar to visit Damascus adding that relations will return to normal soon. Al-Sharaa said Qatar will back Syria during the transitional period and the two countries will soon start “wide strategic cooperation.”

Al-Sharaa also met Monday with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi as well as a Saudi official.

Unlike Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan had relations with Assad’s government until he was removed from power.

Palestinian Authority says another member of its security forces is killed in Jenin

JENIN, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority says a second member of its security forces has been killed in the West Bank town of Jenin during clashes with Palestinian militants.

Brig. Gen. Anwar Rajab, the spokesman for PA security forces, said 1st Sgt. Mehran Qadoos was killed on Monday by “outlaws” in the volatile northern town, where the security forces launched a rare crackdown earlier this month. A member of security forces also was killed on Sunday.

An Associated Press reporter in Jenin heard heavy gunfire and explosions, apparently from a battle between the security forces and Palestinian militants. There was no sign of Israeli forces in the area.

Militant groups had earlier called for a general strike across the territory, accusing the security forces of trying to disarm them in support of Israel’s half-century occupation of the territory.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is internationally recognized but deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters. Israel accuses the authority of incitement and of failing to act against armed groups.

The Palestinian Authority exercises limited authority in population centers in the West Bank. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast War, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Israel’s current government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says it will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Violence has soared in the West Bank following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there.

Palestinians in Jenin observe a general strike

JENIN, West Bank — Palestinians in the volatile northern West Bank town of Jenin are observing a general strike called by militant groups to protest a rare crackdown by Palestinian security forces.

An Associated Press reporter in Jenin heard gunfire and explosions, apparently from clashes between militants and Palestinian security forces. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded. There was no sign of Israeli troops in the area.

Shops were closed in the city on Monday, the day after militants killed a member of the Palestinian security forces and wounded two others.

Militant groups called for a general strike across the territory, accusing the security forces of trying to disarm them in support of Israel’s half-century occupation of the territory.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is internationally recognized but deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters. Israel accuses the authority of incitement and of failing to act against armed groups.

The Palestinian Authority blamed Sunday’s attack on “outlaws.” It says it is committed to maintaining law and order but will not police the occupation.

The Palestinian Authority exercises limited authority in population centers in the West Bank. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast War, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Israel’s current government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says it will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Violence has soared in the West Bank following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister visits military positions in the country’s south

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has begun a tour of military positions in the country’s south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group that battered the country.

Najib Mikati on Monday was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the U.S.-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops both expected to withdraw by the end of next month.

Mikati’s tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country.

“We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy’s (Israel’s) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression,” he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. “Then the army can carry out its tasks in full.”

The Lebanese military for years has relied on financial aid to stay functional, primarily from the United States and other Western countries. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is hoping that the war’s end and ceasefire deal will bring about more funding to increase the military’s capacity to deploy in the south, where Hezbollah’s armed units were notably present.

Though they were not active combatants, the Lebanese military said that dozens of its soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes on their premises or patrolling convoys in the south. The Israeli army acknowledged some of these attacks.

In the nation’s capital, a sea of Israeli flags could be seen draped over participants in front of Ottawa City Hall, with Canadian flags waving alongside them as they called for the release of hostages still being held in Gaza.

They later marched to Parliament Hill, where Liberal MP Mona Fortier, Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar and rabbis were among those delivering speeches at an event to mark the sombre anniversary. 

Hamas’s incursion into Israel last Oct. 7 saw more than 1,200 Israelis killed and about 240 hostages seized. It immediately triggered an Israeli counter-offensive in Gaza that the regional health ministry says has left more than 41,000 dead and rages on to this day.

Among Sunday’s speakers on Parliament Hill was Rachel Look, whose son Alexander was killed while attending a music festival in Israel on the day of the attack.

She said it was “overwhelming” to see everyone on the eve of the anniversary, and spoke of her son’s courage and determination in protecting his friends and strangers during the attack.

“The rise of antisemitism in Canada and globally cannot continue… We must send a strong message against violence, against terror, against Jew hatred,” she told the crowd.

“Let us pray for the immediate release of our hostages that remain in Gaza, for our family in Israel who are also grieving or displaced.”

An increased police presence was evident along the march route, with several uniformed officers present around the crowd.

Fortier said she can “only imagine” the horrors of Oct. 7, and said she knows Canada’s Jewish community is in deep pain, but her remarks prompted some boos from the audience and chants of “Do something,” “Bring the hostages home,” and “Stop supporting Hamas.”

“You’re supporting terrorists,” yelled one person in the crowd, which also booed upon mention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Majumdar, who spoke after Fortier, got a very different reception when roaring applause greeted his appearance on stage.

He billed himself as a proud Zionist, saying Canada is sidestepping long-held policy positions.

“While our people in Canada may not be held hostage in tunnels, our values are held hostage by hateful policy,” he said while urging those gathered to take note of who is supporting them.

“(For) 12 months we’ve stood with you because we believe that from the river to the sea, Israel has a right to exist and be free,” he said to loud applause.

In Toronto, some politicians and community members joined a rally in support of Israel and the hostages that has run every week since Oct. 7, 2023.

“My message today is simple,” said Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, who represents the north Toronto riding where the rally is held, and who is himself Jewish.

“We will not stop in standing up for the values that we cherish in our Ontario. We will not stop in coming together in an allyship voice, standing up against hate, standing up against antisemitism, standing up (against) all forms of hatred that has no place in our Ontario.”

A pro-Palestinian demonstration is set to take place at Montreal’s Dorchester Square on Sunday afternoon, the second such event in the city this weekend, with more planned for Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will exact a very heavy price from any aggression against us on any front” but did not mention the killing. “There are challenging days ahead,” he added.

Israel had pledged to kill Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. The strike came just after Haniyeh had attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president in Tehran — and hours after Israel targeted a top commander in Iran’s ally Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The assassination was potentially explosive amid the region’s volatile, intertwined conflicts because of its target, its timing and the decision to carry it out in Tehran. Most dangerous was the potential to push Iran and Israel into direct confrontation if Iran retaliates. The U.S. and other nations scrambled to prevent a wider, deadlier conflict.

In a statement on his official website, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said revenge was “our duty” and that Israel had “prepared a harsh punishment for itself” by killing “a dear guest in our home.”

Bitter regional rivals, Israel and Iran risked plunging into war earlier this year when Israel hit Iran’s embassy in Damascus in April. Iran retaliated, and Israel countered in an unprecedented exchange of strikes on each other’s soil, but international efforts succeeded in containing that cycle before it spun out of control.

Haniyeh’s killing also could prompt Hamas to pull out of negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in the 10-month-old war in Gaza, which U.S. mediators had said were making progress.

And it could inflame already rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which international diplomats were trying to contain after a weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

Israel carried out a rare strike Tuesday evening in the Lebanese capital that it said killed a top Hezbollah commander allegedly behind the rocket strike. Hezbollah, which denied any role in the Golan strike, confirmed the death of Fouad Shukur on Wednesday, saying he was in the building that was hit. The strike also killed three women and two children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said there was “no sign that an escalation is imminent” in the Middle East and that a cease-fire agreement for Gaza was still possible. He also said the U.S. could not independently confirm reports of what occurred in Tehran. A key question is whether Israel told the U.S., its top ally, ahead of time.

Asked about Haniyeh’s killing, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “This is something we were not aware of or involved in.” Speaking to Channel News Asia, Blinken said he would not speculate about the impact on cease-fire efforts.

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss the strikes with Iran and Israel each pressing the council to condemn the other. But the U.N.’s most powerful body issued no collective message after the meeting. The council’s 15 members variously warned that the Middle East was at a precarious point, worried about potential escalation, called for restraint and diplomacy, and pointed fingers along longstanding fault lines.

Khalil al-Hayya, a powerful figure within Hamas who was close to Haniyeh, told journalists in Iran that whoever replaces Haniyeh will “follow the same vision” regarding negotiations to end the war — and continue in the same policy of resistance against Israel. Hamas’ main consultative body was expected to meet soon, likely after Haniyeh’s funeral Friday in Qatar, to name a successor.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he still had hopes for a diplomatic solution on the Israeli-Lebanon border. “I don’t think that war is inevitable,” he said. “I think there’s always room and opportunity for diplomacy, and I’d like to see parties pursue those opportunities.”

But international diplomats trying to defuse tensions were alarmed. One Western diplomat, whose country has worked to prevent an Israeli-Hezbollah escalation, said the strikes in Beirut and Tehran have “almost killed” hopes for a Gaza cease-fire and could push the Middle East into a “devastating regional war.” The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation.

Israel often refrains from commenting on assassinations carried out by its Mossad intelligence agency or strikes on other countries.

In a statement by his office, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel doesn’t want war after its strike on the Hezbollah commander in Beirut, “but we are preparing for all possibilities.” He did not mention the Haniyeh killing, and a U.S.-provided summary of his call with Austin did not mention it.

The killing of Haniyeh abroad comes as Israel has not had a clear success in killing Hamas’ top leadership in Gaza, who are believed to be primarily responsible for planning the Oct. 7 attack.

Haniyeh left the Gaza Strip in 2019 and had lived in exile in Qatar. Israel has targeted Hamas figures in Lebanon and Syria during the war, but going after Haniyeh in Iran was vastly more sensitive. Israel has operated there in the past: It is suspected of running a yearslong assassination campaign against Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2020, a top Iranian military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a car outside Tehran.

During Haniyeh’s last hours in Iran, a close ally of Hamas, he was smiling and clapping at the inauguration ceremony of the new President Masoud Pezeshkian. Associated Press photos showed him seated alongside leaders from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group and Hezbollah, and Iranian media showed him and Pezeshkian hugging. Haniyeh had met earlier with Khamenei.

Hours later, the strike hit a residence Haniyeh uses in Tehran, killing him, Hamas said. One of his bodyguards was killed, Iranian officials said. Hamas official al-Hayya later said on Iranian state television that Haniyeh was killed by a missile.

Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Israel will face a “harsh and painful response” from Iran and its allies around the region. An influential Iranian parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy was to hold an emergency meeting on the strike later Wednesday.

Hamas’ military wing said in a statement that Haniyeh’s assassination “takes the battle to new dimensions and will have major repercussions on the entire region.”

Netanyahu has said Israel will continue its devastating campaign in Gaza until Hamas is eliminated. On Wednesday, he asserted that “everything” Israel has achieved in recent months was because it resisted pressure at home and abroad to end the war.

Israel’s bombardment and offensives in Gaza have killed more than 39,300 Palestinians and wounded more than 90,900, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

After months of pounding, Hamas has shown its fighters can still operate in Gaza and fire volleys of rockets into Israel. But it is unclear if it has the capacity to step up attacks in retaliation over Haniyeh’s killing.

Besides a direct retaliation on Israel, Iran could work to increase attacks through its allies, a coalition of Iranian-backed groups known as the “Axis of Resistance,” including Hezbollah, Hamas, mainly Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria and the Houthi rebels who control much of Yemen.

As a show of support for Hamas, Hezbollah has been exchanging fire almost daily with Israel across the Israeli-Lebanese border in a simmering but deadly conflict that has repeatedly threatened to escalate into all-out war.

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Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; David Rising in Bangkok; and Jon Gambrell in Ubud, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

The attack marked the first time Iran had ever launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Condemnation was swift, with France saying that “Iran has crossed a new threshold with regard to its destabilizing activities and is risking a potential military escalation.”

Israel’s military said over 100 drones had been fired but that its air defenses were prepared. It didn’t mention ballistic missiles, which are less easily shot down, but Iran said they were part of the attack. The U.S., with its large troop presence in the region, said it would provide unspecified support to Israel.

“We are monitoring the threat,” the Israeli military’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, announced in a nationwide television address, saying it would take several hours for the drones to reach Israel. The Israeli military said it could not confirm if it had intercepted anything or what their targets were.

Iran had vowed revenge since an April 1 airstrike in Syria killed two Iranian generals inside an Iranian consular building. Iran accused Israel of being behind the attack. Israel hasn’t commented on it.

Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. An Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,000 people, according to local health officials.

Almost immediately after the war erupted, Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon, began attacking Israel’s northern border. The two sides have been involved in daily exchanges of fire, while Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have launched rockets and missiles toward Israel.

In a statement carried late Saturday by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged launching “dozens of drones and missiles towards the occupied territories and positions of the Zionist regime.”

IRNA later quoted an anonymous official saying ballistic missiles were part of the attack. A ballistic missile moves on an arch trajectory, heading up into space before gravity brings the weapon down at a speed several times faster than the speed of sound.

Israel has missile defense systems capable of targeting ballistic missiles. However, in a massive attack involving multiple drones and missiles, the likelihood of a strike making it through is higher.

Iran has a vast arsenal of drones and missiles. Online videos shared by Iranian state television purported to show delta-wing-style drones resembling the Iranian Shahed-136s long used by Russia in its war on Ukraine. The slow-flying drones carry bombs. Ukraine has successfully used both surface-to-air missiles and ground fire to target them.

Israel has a multilayered air-defense network that includes systems capable of intercepting a variety of threats including long-range missiles, cruise missiles, drones and short-range rockets.

Hagari, the army spokesman, said Israel was “prepared and ready” with defensive and offensive responses. But he cautioned that the air defenses are not 100% effective and urged the public to heed safety instructions.

The army ordered residents in the Golan Heights — near the Syrian and Lebanese borders — as well as the southern towns of Nevatim and Dimona and the Red Sea resort of Eilat “to stay near protective spaces until further notice.” Dimona is home to Israel’s main nuclear facility, and Nevatim has a major air base.

The army’s Home Front Command canceled school on Sunday and limited public gatherings to no more than 1,000 people. Israel closed its airspace and canceled all flights.

Earlier Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: “Whoever harms us, we will harm them.”

In Washington, President Joe Biden cut short a weekend trip to his beach house in Delaware to return to the White House. He was set to convene a principals meeting of the National Security Council on Saturday to discuss the unfolding attack, the White House said.

“The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

Gen. Erik Kurilla, the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, was in Israel over the weekend consulting with Israeli defense officials about the Iranian threat. The Central Command oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations issued a warning to both Israel and the U.S. “Should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe,” it wrote online. “It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the U.S. MUST STAY AWAY!”

For days, Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had threatened to “slap” Israel for its Syria strike.

In Iran’s capital, Tehran, witnesses saw long lines at gas stations early Sunday as people appeared worried about what may come next. Dozens of hard-liners demonstrated in support of the attack at Palestine Square.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported heavy Israeli airstrikes and shelling on multiple locations in south Lebanon following Iran’s launch of drones. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched “dozens” of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli military site in the Golan Heights early Sunday. It was not immediately clear if there was any damage.

Countries in the region began to close their airspace.

IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD SEIZES A CONTAINER SHIP

Early Saturday, commandos from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel.

Iran’s state-run IRNA said a special forces unit of the Guard’s navy carried out the attack on the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime.

Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment and referred questions to MSC. Geneva-based MSC acknowledged the seizure and said 25 crew members were on the ship.

“We are working closely with the relevant authorities to ensure their well-being, and safe return of the vessel,” MSC said.

Watson, the White House National Security Council spokesperson, said the crew was made up of Indian, Filipino, Pakistani, Russian and Estonian nationals and urged Iran to release them and the vessel.

IRNA said the Guard would take the vessel into Iranian territorial waters.

A Middle East defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, provided video of the attack to The Associated Press in which Iranian commandos are seen rappelling onto a stack of containers on the vessel’s deck.

The video corresponded with known details of the MSC Aries. The commandos rappelled from what appeared to be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which both the Guard and the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have used to raid ships.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. AP correspondents Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Michael Balsamo in New York, Krutika Pathi in New Delhi, Stephen Graham in Berlin, Thomas Adamson in Paris, and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Israel renewed calls on social media and in leaflets dropped from the air for Gaza residents to move south, while Hamas urged people to stay in their homes. The U.N. and aid groups have said such a rapid exodus would cause untold human suffering, especially for hospitalized patients, older adults and others unable to relocate.

The evacuation directive covers an area of 1.1 million residents, or about half the territory’s population. The Israeli military said “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians had heeded the warning and headed south. It gave Palestinians a six hour window that ended Saturday afternoon to travel within Gaza without being harmed along two main routes.

A week after Hamas’ attack, Israel was still working to assess the casualties. With special rabbinic approval, workers at a military base in central Israel continued the grueling task of identifying the bodies of the Israelis and foreign nationals who were killed, mostly civilians. Work is normally halted on Saturday, the Jewish sabbath.

On Saturday night, the Israeli military said in a statement it was preparing a coordinated offensive in Gaza using air, ground and naval forces.

Soon after, in a nationally broadcast address, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari issued a new appeal to residents to move to the southern Gaza Strip. “We are going to broadly attack Gaza City very soon,” Hagari said.

It was not clear how many Palestinians remained in north Gaza by Saturday afternoon, said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. “What we know is that hundreds of thousands of people have fled. And that 1 million people have been displaced in total in one week,” she said.

An estimated 35,000 displaced civilians have crammed into the grounds of Gaza City’s main hospital, sitting under trees in the empty grounds, as well as inside the building’s lobby and corridors, hoping they will be protected from the fighting, medical officials said.

“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.”

Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with possessions crowded a main road heading away from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes continued to hammer the 40-kilometer (25-mile) long territory, where basic necessities like food, fuel and drinking water were running low because of a complete Israeli siege.

Water has stopped coming out of taps across the territory. Amal Abu Yahia, a 25-year-old pregnant mother in the Jabaliya refugee camp, said she waits anxiously for the few minutes each day or every other day when contaminated water trickles from the pipes in her basement. She then rations it, prioritizing her 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. She said she is drinking so little herself, she only urinates every other day.

Near the coast, the only tap water is contaminated with Mediterranean Sea water because of the lack of sanitation facilities. Mohammed Ibrahim, 28, said his neighbors in Gaza City have taken to drinking the salt water.

The Israeli military’s evacuation would force the territory’s entire population to cram into the southern half of Gaza as Israel continues strikes across the territory, including in the south.

Rami Swailem said he and at least five families in his building decided to stay put in his apartment near Gaza City. “We are rooted in our lands,” he said. “We prefer to die in dignity and face our destiny.”

Others were looking desperately for ways to evacuate. “We need a number for drivers from Gaza to the south, it is necessary #help,” read a post on social media. “We need a bus number, office, or any means of transport,” read another.

The U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians expressed concern for those who could not leave, “particularly pregnant women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities,” saying they must be protected. The agency also called for Israel to not target civilians, hospitals, schools, clinics and U.N. locations.

Al-Shifa hospital was receiving hundreds of wounded every hour and had used up 95% of its medical supplies, hospital director Mohammad Abu Selim said. Water is scarce and the fuel powering its generators is dwindling.

“The situation inside the hospital is miserable in every sense of the word,” he said. “The operating rooms don’t stop.”

Patients and personnel from the Al Awda Hospital in Gaza’s far north spent part of their night in the street “with bombs landing in close proximity,” the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said.

An Israeli military spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said the evacuation was aimed at keeping civilians safe and preventing Hamas from using them as human shields. He urged people in the targeted areas to leave immediately and to return “only when we tell them that it is safe to do so.”

“The Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not our enemies. We don’t assess them as such, and we don’t target them as such,” Conricus said. “We are trying to do the right thing.”

Thousands of people crammed into a U.N.-run school-turned-shelter in Deir al-Balah, a farming town south of the evacuation zone. Many slept outside on the ground without mattresses, or in chairs pulled from classrooms.

“I came here with my children. We slept on the ground. We don’t have a mattress, or clothes,” Howeida al-Zaaneen, 63, who is from the northern town of Beit Hanoun, said. “I want to go back to my home, even if it is destroyed.”

The Israeli military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza on Friday to battle militants and hunted for traces of some 150 people — including men, women and children — who were abducted during Hamas’ shocking Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday that over 2,200 people have been killed in the territory, including 724 children and 458 women. The Hamas communications office said that Israel has “completely demolished” over 7,000 housing units so far.

Hamas’ surprise attack killed more than 1,300 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, and roughly 1,500 Hamas militants died during the fighting, the Israeli government said.

Egyptian officials said the country’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza would open Saturday for the first time in days to allow foreigners out. One official said both Israel and Palestinian militant groups had agreed to facilitate the departures, but by Saturday evening there had been no movement.

There were believed to be some 1,500 people in Gaza holding Western passports and additional people with passports from other parts of the world.

Fearing a mass exodus of Palestinians, Egyptian authorities erected “temporary” blast walls on Egypt’s side of the crossing, which has been closed for days because of Israeli airstrikes, two Egyptian officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Israel’s raids into Gaza on Friday were the first acknowledgment that Israeli troops had entered the territory since the military began its round-the-clock bombardment in retaliation for the Hamas massacre. Palestinian militants have fired more than 5,500 rockets into Israel since the fighting erupted, the Israeli military said.

Israel has called up some 360,000 military reserves and massed troops and tanks along the border with Gaza. A ground assault in densely populated Gaza would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh on Saturday, and both called for Israel to protect civilians in Gaza.

“As Israel pursues its legitimate right to defend its people and to trying to ensure that this never happens again, it is vitally important that all of us look out for for civilians, and we’re working together to do exactly that,” Blinken said.

Hamas said Israel’s airstrikes killed 22 hostages, including foreigners. It did not provide their nationalities. The Israeli military denied the claim. Hamas and other Palestinian militants hope to trade the hostages for thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry says 53 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, including 16 on Friday. The U.N. says attacks by Israeli settlers have surged there since the Hamas assault.

The U.S. and Israel’s other allies have pledged ironclad support for the war on Hamas. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, however, said Saturday that the Israeli military needed to give people more time to leave northern Gaza.

“You cannot move such a volume of people in (a) short period of time,” Josep Borrell said.

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Krauss reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Samya Kullab in Baghdad, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Ashraf Sweilam in El-Arish, Egypt, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Matthew Lee in Riyadh contributed to this report.