Israel-Hamas war: Blinken talks Gaza aid in Iraq visit

Jordan's King Abdullah said in a post on X, previously known as Twitter, that Jordan's air force personnel air-dropped at midnight an urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza.

"This is our duty to aid our brothers and sisters injured in the war on Gaza. We will always be there for our Palestinian brethren," he wrote.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the besieged Gaza Strip is now split into two, with "significant" strikes on the territory.

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said there was now "a north Gaza and a south Gaza," adding that Gaza city was now "completely encircled."

Hagari nevertheless claimed that civilians were still able to flee to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, where the IDF has been advising them to go.

The evacuation of foreign nationals and injured civilians from Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been suspended for two days, sources told news agencies. 

Egyptian, US and Qatari officials told the Reuters news agency that efforts were underway to resume the evacuations, suspended since Saturday following a deadly attack on an ambulance.

A Hamas government source meanwhile told the French AFP news agency that the border was closed because Israel "prohibits the wounded from crossing into Egypt for treatment."

"No foreigners will be able to leave as long as the injured are stranded" in Gaza, the source added.

The border, the only one in the Gaza Strip which Israel doesn't control, was opened for evacuation only last Wednesday, for the first time since the start of the conflict.

On Friday, a senior US official said Hamas had attempted to get its own wounded fighters out, holding up foreign nationals' evacuation.

Israel has reprimanded a junior member of the far-right cabinet who appeared open to the idea of Israel carrying out a nuclear strike on Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu was suspended from cabinet meetings "until further notice."

"Eliyahu's statements are not based in reality. Israel and the IDF (military) are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory," Netanyahu's office said.

Asked in a radio interview about a hypothetical nuclear option, Eliyahu replied: "That's one way."

The comment drew swift condemnation, both inside and outside of Israel. The Hostages and Missing Persons and Families Forum, which represents the relatives of those taken hostage by Hamas, slammed Eliyahu's statements as "reckless and cruel." 

Several Arab countries also decried Eliyahu's comments, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Arab League Chief Ahmed Abul Gheit said they were not only "racist" but also revealing of Israel's nuclear capability. 

Israel has never acknowledged being a nuclear power.

"Not only does he admit that they possess a nuclear weapon, but he also confirms the reality of the Israelis' abhorrent racist view toward the Palestinian people," Abul Gheit said.

Eliyahu commented on the controversy on social media, saying his statements to the radio interview were clearly "metaphorical."

"However, a strong and disproportionate response to terrorism is definitely required, which will clarify to the Nazis and their supporters that terrorism is not worthwhile," he wrote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected growing calls for a cease-fire in Gaza until all the hostages captured by the militant group Hamas are released.

Israel says over 240 hostages were captured by the group during its October 7 attacks, which left over 1,400 killed, according to Israeli figures.

"There will be no cease-fire without the return of the hostages. This should be completely removed from the lexicon," Netanyahu said.  "We say this to our friends and to our enemies. We will simply continue until we defeat them. We have no alternative."

Qatar's foreign minister meanwhile said that the country's mediators, which have been trying to negotiate the hostages' release for weeks, would not be able to do that without a "period of calm."

"Any hostage release has to be linked to a period of calm that allows for the hostage release to work, which is something we have not seen for a while," Majed Al Ansari, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters.

Various Arab foreign ministers have repeated calls for a cease-fire during meetings with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his ongoing Middle East tour.

Blinken argued that a cease-fire would only allow Hamas, the group listed as a terrorist organization in the US, EU and other countries, to regroup. He has nevertheless tried to advocate for location-specific pauses to allow for aid distribution in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopped in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday evening, in an unannounced visit as part of his ongoing Middle East tour.

Blinken held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani, during his first visit to Iraq as a top diplomat.

The Secretary of State said his country was working hard to ensure the conflict in Gaza does not spill over in the region. He added that the aid delivered to the besieged strip since the start of the conflict is "grossly insufficient."

Blinken added that the US was intensely focused on the release of the hostages held by Hamas.

Ahead of the visit on Saturday, Iran-backed group Kataib Hezbollah, which is based in Iraq, warned that Blinken's trip would be met with an "unprecedented escalation."

Communication and internet services in the Gaza Strip have been cut off again on Sunday evening, Palestinian telecom company Paltel said.

Paltel said in a social media statement that the main access paths were attacked by Israeli forces, which led to the blackout. 

"We regret to announce a complete interruption of all communication and internet services in the Gaza Strip," Paltel said.

Internet watchdog Netblocks confirmed the "collapse in connectivity" in the strip, saying it had a high impact on Paltel, the last remaining major operator serving Gaza.

This is the third communications blackout in Gaza since the start of the Israeli operations, Netblocks said.

Turkish police used tear gas and water cannon to stop pro-Palestinian protesters who were trying to storm an airbase housing US troops.

Hundreds of protesters toppled barricades and clashed with police in riot gear, waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and chanting slogans.

The attack came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to arrive in Turkey.

The rally was organized by the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, an islamic Turkish aid agency, which in 2010 led a flotilla to Gaza attempting to break the siege on the strip, prompting deadly Israeli raids.

The IHH convoy was meant to travel to the Incirlik air base in the southern Adana province to protest Israeli attacks on Gaza as well as US support for Israel. The protest also called for the closure of the airbase.

IHH President Bulent Yildirim addressed crowds in Adana and urged them to refrain from attacking police.

"Friends, it is wrong to throw rocks or do similar things because both the police and soldiers would want to go to Gaza and fight and they will go when the time comes," he said. "Our rage is huge. We cannot hold it in. But Turkey is doing what it can." 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has discussed a Cypriot proposal to establish a maritime aid corridor to the Gaza Strip, according to government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis.

The spokesperson said that Blinken discussed "unfolding developments" in the Middle East with Cypriot President Nikos Cristodoulides, as well as the a potential "dedicated, one-way maritime corridor of sustained flow of humanitarian aid from Cyprus to civilians in Gaza."

The eastern Mediterranean island, which is an EU member state, is located less than 400 kilometers (249 miles) away from the Gaza Strip. It has served as an evacuation hub in previous regional crises.

Earlier on Sunday, Cristodoulides said that Cyprus was in talks with the UN on how to prevent diversion of the aid.

"Ships cannot approach the sea area off Gaza so we are talking to the United Nations which will handle the aid and not Hamas," Christodoulides told reporters.

More than 300 US citizens have left the Gaza Strip, White House official Jonathan Finer told the CBS broadcaster.

Finer said that there were still Americans in the Palestinian enclave who wished to leave.

He did not say how many US citizens still could not leave.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that around 400 American citizens wanted to leave the territory. Along with their family members, this totaled around 1,000 people.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says that the Palestinian Authority (PA) could return to Gaza in the context of a "comprehensive" solution in the Palestinian territories. He made the comments during a visit from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The PA, which is governed by Abbas' Fatah party and based in the occupied West Bank, was driven out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas in 2007. 

"We will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip," Abbas told Blinken, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Reuters news agency cited a senior State Department official as saying that Blinken told Abbas that the PA should play a central role in the Gaza Strip after Israel's military operations.

"(The) future of Gaza was not the focus of the meeting but the Palestinian Authority seemed willing to play a role," Reuters cited the official as saying.

Earlier this week, Blinken told a congressional hearing: "At some point what would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza."

The health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said Sunday that at least 9,770 people have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.

The ministry said at least 4,800 children were among those killed.

Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the European Union as well as Germany, Israel, the United States and among other countries.

The militant Islamist group launched attacks on southern Israel on October 7, which Israeli authorities say killed over 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

France wants an 'immediate, durable' truce in Gaza

While visiting Qatar, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called for a halt in fighting and said France was working on a UN resolution regarding a truce.

"An immediate, durable and observed humanitarian truce is absolutely necessary and must be able to lead to a cease-fire," she told reporters.

She also said that fighting terrorism must be done in accordance with international law.

"It's an international obligation to protect civilians. Too many of them are dying in strikes on Gaza. Schools, hospitals, humanitarian workers, journalists must in particular be safeguarded," she said.

Her comments came just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea of  "any cease-fire that does not include the liberation of our hostages."  He previously said that calls for a cease-fire were "calls to surrender to Hamas."

During her visit to Qatar, Colonna thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, for his efforts towards freeing the hostages. However, while the French minister said releasing the hostages should happen "without delay" and unconditionally, Qatari officials said that the move needed to be linked "to a period of calm that allows for the hostage release to work."

The militant Islamist group Hamas, classified as a terror organization by the European Union as well as Germany, the United States and other nations, took some 240 people hostage and killed 1,400 while carrying out terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7. Since then, Israel's military has conducted air and ground operations in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that have led to over 9,400 dead, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry.

As Israel continues its military operations in the Gaza Strip, US State Secretary Antony Blinken visited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Blinken reaffirmed the US commitment to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid and reestablishing essential services in Gaza and made clear that Palestinians must not be forcibly displaced, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

A spokesperson for Abbas said the Palestinian leader told Blinken there needed to be an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

While the Palestinian Authority manages the West Bank, it has no control over Gaza, which has been dominated by Hamas since 2007. Hamas, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the German government, the EU, the US and some Arab states amongst others, took control of Gaza following a brief armed conflict with Abbas' Fatah party that year.

Earlier this week, Blinken told US lawmakers that "[a]t some point, what would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza."

Israel's war on Hamas to cost over $50 billion, according to report

Israel's  ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip will cost the country some 200 billion shekels (around $51 billion, €47.5 billion), according to a preliminary estimate by the country's Finance Ministry, published in Israel's Calcalist financial newspaper.

For comparison, Israel spent $23.4 billion on its military last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Calcalist reported that the estimated cost of the Hamas war was based on an assumption that the war would last between 8 and 10 months. The estimate also assumes that Iran, Yemen, and the Lebanese Hezbollah would not get fully involved, and that hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists will be able to resume work soon.

Israel's Finance Ministry, however, did confirm the data published by Calcalist.