Israel-Gaza updates: Police killed in border shooting, authorities say

The attack occurred at the Allenby Bridge crossing with Jordan.

Last Updated: September 8, 2024, 8:05 AM EDT

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the latest round of cease-fire discussions appears to have reached an impasse.

Meanwhile, after six hostages were found dead in Gaza, protests erupted in Israel. Protesters have lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanded the government bring the hostages home.

Sep 03, 2024, 11:21 AM EDT

Al-Shifa Hospital reopens 2 departments

Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest and most comprehensive hospital in the Gaza Strip, reopened two of its departments on Sunday after facing shelling, raids and two sieges in the ongoing war, Al-Shifa Medical Complex Director Dr. Marwan Abu Saada told ABC News.

A Palestinian medical worker checks a device at Shifa hospital following the repair and reopening of its emergency department, which was damaged in an Israeli offensive, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, Sept. 1, 2024.
Mahmoud Issa/Reuters

The reopened departments are the Emergency and Accidents Department -- which has 70 beds, two operating rooms, one intensive care unit room and one X-ray room -- and the Kidney Dialysis Department, which has about 22 kidney dialysis machines and serves 36 patients with kidney failure, Abu Saada said.

The hospital had capacity for 800 beds before the war, Abu Saada said.

"As for the medical staff, there is a large deficit in medical personnel, but at least we want to work and serve the community," he said.

Palestinians walk at Shifa hospital following the repair and reopening of its emergency department, which was damaged in an Israeli offensive, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, Sept. 1, 2024.
Mahmoud Issa/Reuters

The maternity building will undergo a six-month restoration to become a general surgery building, he added.

-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini

Sep 03, 2024, 6:32 AM EDT

Cease-fire protesters plan action near Tel Aviv Defense Ministry

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced a fresh protest scheduled for 7 p.m. local time Tuesday in Tel Aviv, close to the entrance of the Defense Ministry building.

The action will be "led by the younger members of the families," the Forum wrote in a post on X, who will "call for a deal to bring all 101 hostages home."

Attendees will protest what the Forum called "the abandonment of the hostages in Hamas captivity."

PHOTO: Protesters hold photos of hostages during a rally on the second day of demonstrations demanding a Gaza deal  on September 2, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Protesters hold photos of hostages during a rally on the second day of demonstrations demanding a Gaza deal on September 2, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Amir Levy/Getty Images

Additional demonstrations elsewhere will include a gathering outside the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, a protest outside Foreign Minister Israel Katz's residence in Kfar Ahim, one in front of Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter's home in Ashkelon and another outside Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin's home in Modi'in.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and David Brennan

Sep 03, 2024, 3:20 AM EDT

Gaza polio vaccination drive reaches 160,000 children

Some 160,000 Gaza children received their first vaccination for polio on Sunday and Monday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The emergency rollout began on Sunday, facilitated by a partial pause in fighting in the strip. Medical teams in the central part of the territory said they were able to vaccinate 72,611 children on the first day of the campaign.

A health worker administers the Polio vaccine to a baby in Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip on Sept. 1, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies said they were hoping to vaccinate 640,000 children during the push. Israel agreed to some pauses in fighting to support the campaign, though airstrikes have continued in its first two days.

Israel has said the vaccination program will continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day.

Polio is among the illnesses feared to be thriving in Gaza after 10 months of war. The strip's long-standing humanitarian difficulties have been exacerbated by the destruction of health care facilities, critical infrastructure, and the displacement -- sometimes repeated displacement -- of most of the territory's residents.

Gaza recently reported its first polio case in 25 years -- a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in a leg. The World Health Organization said the case suggests there could be hundreds more infected who are not symptomatic.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky and David Brennan

Sep 02, 2024, 2:55 PM EDT

Netanyahu asks hostage families for forgiveness, says pressure should be directed at Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asking for forgiveness from the families of the six slain hostages whose bodies were recovered this weekend.

"I ask you for forgiveness that we did not succeed to bring your loved ones back alive. We were close, but we did not succeed," Netanyahu said at a Monday news conference.

Jonathan Polin, father of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin whose body was recovered with five other hostages in Gaza, speaks during the funeral in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024.
Gil Cohen-Magen/POOL via Reuters

Netanyahu again said the Israel Defense Forces must maintain a presence on the Egyptian border, but he said the IDF does not need a "large" presence of forces there. It needs groups of forces in key areas all along the border, he said. Netanyahu also reiterated that the IDF must maintain a presence in the Philadelphi corridor to reach the goals of the war.

When asked how he would define "total victory" in the war, Netanyahu responded, "When Hamas no longer rules Gaza -- we throw them out. I would define the end of the war of World War II when the Nazis no longer ruled Germany. To do that you need to have a military victory and you have to have also a political victory to destroy their governance."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

Netanyahu also said that international "pressure" must be directed at Hamas, not Israel.

"These murderers executed six of our hostages, they shot them in the back of the head. And now after this we're asked to show seriousness, we're asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas?" he said.

People gather to pay their respects on the street on the day of the funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of six Israeli hostages whose body was recovered from Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024.
Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters

Netanyahu added, "I don't believe President [Joe] Biden or anyone serious about achieving peace and achieving the release [of hostages] can seriously ask Israel to make these concessions. We've already made them. Hamas has to make concessions."

A Hamas military spokesman said in a new statement the Israeli hostages won't be freed by force.

"Netanyahu's insistence on freeing the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean their return to their families in coffins, and their families will have to choose between dead or alive," the spokesperson said.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

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