Israel-Hamas War News Live Updates: 50 dead in Israeli strikes on Gaza hospitals, school

Negotiations are underway to reach a three-day humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about a dozen hostages held by Hamas. That’s according to two officials from Egypt, one from the United Nations and a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic efforts. The deal would enable more aid, including limited amounts of fuel, to enter the besieged territory to alleviate worsening conditions for the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped there. It is being brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, according to the officials and the diplomat.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday claimed that it has destroyed entrances of 130 Hamas tunnels in Gaza since the militant group waged its war against the Jewish nation on October 7. In a post on X, the military said: "IDF combat engineers are currently working to expose and destroy Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including tunnels. Water and oxygen storage discovered inside the tunnels indicates Hamas' preparations for prolonged stays underground. "130 tunnel entrances have been destroyed since the beginning of the war."

Israeli air strikes pounded Gaza City on Thursday as soldiers battled street-by-street with Hamas militants, and tens of thousands of Palestinians desperate for safety fled their homes southwards in the besieged territory. After more than a month of intense bombardment, hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in a "dire humanitarian situation" in battle zones without enough food and water, the United Nations said. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday his forces were "tightening the stranglehold" around Gaza City, as they pressed an offensive launched in response to the Hamas attacks on October 7 that killed 1,400 people in Israel, mainly civilians.

An Israeli tank rolls across a sandy moonscape, surrounded by rubble. Damaged buildings are visible in every direction. Toppled trees lie along the Mediterranean shoreline. The Israeli military escorted international journalists into the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, giving them a glimpse of the aftermath of 12 days of heavy fighting in the area. Israel has been at war against Gaza’s Hamas rulers since the Islamic militant group carried out a bloody cross-border attack on October 7, killing over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 240 others. Israel responded with weeks of intense airstrikes before launching a ground operation on October 27.

Palestinians living in the heart of Gaza’s largest city said Wednesday they could see and hear Israeli ground forces closing in from multiple directions, accelerating the exodus of thousands of civilians as food and water become scarce and urban fighting between Israel and Hamas heats up. The Israeli army has not given specifics on troop movements as it presses its ground assault, vowing to crush Hamas after its deadly October 7 assault inside Israel. But residents said Israeli forces had moved into inner neighborhoods of Gaza City amid intense bombardment all around the surrounding north.

The parents of Omer Neutra, a dual national US-Israeli soldier, are counting on President Joe Biden to bring their son home as he is believed to be one of hundreds of hostages seized by Hamas in its attack from Gaza last month. They have had no word about him since their ordeal, and that of the other hostage families, began on October 7. "We feel we live in a separate universe than most of you," his father Ronen Neutra told AFP in an interview. "We don't sleep well. We don't eat well," he said, his face and voice fatigued. "We stopped working. We have a small business, we haven't been involved in it, everything stopped."

British Foreign Minister James Cleverly on Thursday arrived in Saudi Arabia to drive diplomatic efforts to find a resolution to the conflict in Gaza and southern Israel, the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement. Cleverly will meet with foreign ministers from the Middle East and will discuss efforts to prevent wider regional escalation, including in Lebanon and Yemen.

A Detroit-area couple trapped in Gaza like hundreds of other US citizens described the roar of bombs and the fear of not making it home after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Unable to leave, Zakaria and Laila Alarayshi hunkered down.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Wednesday for a united and Palestinian-led government for Gaza and the West Bank after the war ends, as a step toward Palestinian statehood. That vision sharpens US differences with ally Israel on what the future should look like for the Palestinian territories once Israel's military campaign against Hamas winds down.

Israeli forces and Hamas militants appeared to be battling at close range in Gaza City as thousands of civilians fled south on Wednesday to avoid being trapped in the heart of the conflict. The Israeli military said its troops had advanced into the heart of Gaza City, Hamas' main bastion and the biggest city in the seaside enclave, while the Islamist group said its fighters had inflicted heavy losses. Hamas' armed wing on Wednesday released a video that appeared to show intense street battles alongside bombed out buildings in Gaza City.

No wounded Palestinians or dual nationals were evacuated Wednesday from the Gaza Strip to Egypt via the Rafah crossing, a Palestinian official said. The crossing point remained closed due to Israel's refusal to approve the list of wounded who were to be evacuated, a Hamas official told AFP. The war started over a month ago when Hamas militants crossed into Israel and killed about 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and seized 239 hostages, according to Israeli officials,

Hamas has lost control of northern Gaza as thousands of residents have moved south, Israel's military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing on Wednesday. "We saw 50,000 Gazans move from the northern Gaza Strip to the south. They are moving because they understand that Hamas has lost control in the north," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said. "Hamas has lost control and is continuing to lose control in the north."

The Rafah border crossing into Gaza was closed on Wednesday due to an unspecified "security circumstance" but US officials were working with Egypt and Israel to get it reopened, US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said. Rafah, which is controlled by Egypt and does not border Israel, is the only point of aid delivery since Israel launched a military assault and siege of Gaza in retaliation for an attack by Hamas militants from the coastal strip on Oct. 7.

US Under Secretary of State Uzra Zeya and special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues David Satterfield will meet with Egyptian and UN officials in Cairo to discuss facilitating humanitarian assistance into Gaza, the State Department said on Wednesday.

The Gaza Strip faces an increased risk of disease spreading due to Israeli air bombardments that have disrupted the health system, access to clean water and caused people to crowd in shelters, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday. "As deaths and injuries in Gaza continue to rise due to intensified hostilities, intense overcrowding and disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems pose an added danger: the rapid spread of infectious diseases," WHO said.

The pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up as Israel’s air and ground campaign there intensifies. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that about 15,000 people fled on Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday. The densely populated northern area of Gaza, specifically Gaza City and adjacent crowded urban refugee camps, are the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years. The war, now in its second month, was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

A rare delivery of emergency medical supplies and medicines on Wednesday reached Al-Shifa hospital in the war-ravaged north of the Gaza Strip, the UN said, warning though that far more was needed. In a joint statement, the heads of the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees and the World Health Organization said the aid had reached Gaza's largest hospital "despite huge risks to our staff and health partners due to the relentless bombardments".

Israeli air strikes killed three pro-Iran fighters on Wednesday as they hit sites belonging to the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah group near the Syrian capital Damascus, a war monitor said.