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Israel-Gaza live updates: IDF finds no operational smuggling tunnels in Rafah

The IDF found nine tunnels that ran under the Philadelphi corridor.

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Last Updated: September 12, 2024, 1:08 PM 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 12, 2024, 1:08 PM EDT

Experts believe 2,000-pound bombs were used in deadly Israeli strike in Al Mawasi, Gaza

It is possible 2,000-pound bombs were used in deadly Israeli strike in the humanitarian area of Al Mawasi in Gaza on Sept. 10, two experts told ABC News.

At least 19 people were killed and 60 others were injured in the attack, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Videos and photo captured from the site of the deadly strike show two large craters with fabric and debris buried in the sand. A photo captured by Quds News Network shows what appears to be a conical-shaped missile fragment.

Photo captured from the site of the deadly strike shows two large craters with fabric and debris buried in the sand.
Planet Labs PBC

The remnant of a missile recovered from the site and large craters suggest the most likely munition used to conduct the attack was "a 2,000-pound-class air-delivered bomb fitted with an Israeli-made SPICE 2000 guidance kit," N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of the consultancy Armament Research Services, told ABC News.

A photo captured by Quds News Network shows what appears to be a conical shaped missile fragment.
Quds News

Satellite imagery captured the day before the attack show a cluster of a dozen tents at the location of the strike in the densely populated Al Mawasi area. Imagery captured after the attack shows the temporary structures are nowhere to be seen, replaced instead by two large craters, one measuring almost 46 feet in length.

Satellite imagery captured the day before the attack, show a cluster of a dozen tents at the location of the strike in the densely populated Al Mawasi area.
Planet PBC

The craters are consistent with "multiple MK-84s which are 2,000 pounds" and "the fragment recovered appears to be from a Spice-2,000 bomb guidance kit tail section," Trevor Ball, a former US Army EOD specialist, told ABC News after reviewing the photos and satellite imagery.

The United Nations' Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the kill radius of a 2,000-pound bomb is almost 110 feet.

-ABC News' Chris Looft

Sep 12, 2024, 7:38 AM EDT

Netanyahu says Hamas is hiding its opposition to cease-fire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday accused Hamas of blocking a cease-fire and hostage-release deal.

"Hamas is trying to hide the fact that it continues to oppose the hostage release deal and prevents it from materializing," Netanyahu said in a statement posted to X.

Netanyahu said Israel accepted the offer put forward by the U.S. on Aug. 16, but that "Hamas rejected it and murdered six hostages in cold blood."

A person walks past a digital clock counting days since people were taken hostage by Hamas during the deadly October 7 attack on Israel, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel September 12, 2024.
Jim Urquhart/Reuters

"The world must demand that Hamas release the hostages immediately.," the prime minister said, referring to the 101 hostages still held in Gaza, around half of whom are believed to be alive.

Hamas has repeatedly blamed Netanyahu for the gridlock, alleging the prime minister is intentionally sabotaging talks to retain political power in Israel.

Egyptian and Qatari officials met with a top Hamas official in Doha on Wednesday in a bid to restart cease-fire negotiations, which fell apart after the last round of talks in August.

Hamas released a statement on Wednesday evening reiterating they want to revert to the deal proposed on July 2.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti

Sep 12, 2024, 3:26 AM EDT

Israel's Gaza school strikes 'totally unacceptable': UN chief

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres accused Israel of "dramatic violations of international humanitarian law" over its continued airstrikes on schools-turned-shelters in the Gaza Strip.

Six United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) were among at least 17 people killed in a Wednesday strike on the Al-Jaouni School in Nuseirat in central Gaza, the agency confirmed. It is the fifth time that the school has been targeted since Oct. 7.

A Palestinian woman gestures at the courtyard of a school after an Israeli air strike hit the site, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on September 11, 2024, amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas.
Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

Guterres wrote on X: "What's happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable. A school turned shelter for around 12,000 people was hit by Israeli airstrikes again today." The attacks "need to stop now," he added.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X: "Endless & senseless killing, day after day."

"Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war," he added, noting that at least 220 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza.

"The longer impunity prevails, the more international humanitarian law & the Geneva conventions will become irrelevant," he wrote, adding it was time for both a cease-fire and "accountability."

The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that the strike targeted "a Hamas command and control center in the area."

Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories body hit back at Lazzarini's social media complaint, alleging in its own post that Gaza schools "have been Hamas weapons storage facilities, tunnel access points, and bases of operation for over a decade."

"Maybe if you hadn't turned a blind eye to Hamas's use of UNRWA schools, the current situation would be entirely different," the organization wrote.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller, Will Gretsky and Victoria Beaule

Sep 11, 2024, 6:18 PM EDT

Slain American-Turkish activist's family responds to Biden

Aysenur Eygi's family responded to President Joe Biden's statement released earlier Wednesday where he called her death "totally unacceptable."

The family said that Biden has not called them.

"Let us be clear, an American citizen was killed by a foreign military in a targeted attack. The appropriate action is for President Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris to speak with the family directly, and order an independent, transparent investigation into the killing of Ayşenur, a volunteer for peace," the family said in a statement.

-ABC News' Elle Kaufman

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