Israel-Gaza updates: Death toll in Rafah airstrike rises to 50: Action Aid UK

The area is densely populated with tents, the sources said.

As the Israel-Hamas war crosses the seven-month mark, negotiations are apparently stalled to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, and Israeli forces continue to launch incursions in the southern Gazan town of Rafah ahead of a possible large-scale invasion.


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Over 500 metric tons of aid delivered to Gaza through pier since Friday, officials say

U.S. officials shared an update Thursday on efforts to bring aid into Gaza through the Army's Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) system, a floating pier built to transport aid to the region.

Since Friday, over 506 metric tons of aid have been transported via the pier, according to officials.

Officials from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) held an audio-only briefing with reporters on continued aid efforts.

"Since the first shipments of this aid arrived through the humanitarian maritime corridor on Friday, the UN has been distributing more than 506 metric tons of humanitarian supplies to people in need," Daniel Dieckhaus, Director for USAID’s Levant Response Management Team, said Thursday.

"To put it into perspective, more than two thirds of the supplies entering through this new corridor have already been distributed, or are in the process of being distributed by humanitarian partners directly to people in need," he added.

Humanitarian aid has also been delivered through land-crossing distribution via 70 trucks that crossed the border into Gaza, according to Dieckhaus.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of CENTCOM, noted that, "In the last several days, we've delivered over a million pounds of aid into the hands of Palestinians," adding, "We can all feel good about that."


Biden doesn't say if US has evidence Israel is using starvation as method of war

President Joe Biden refused to say whether the U.S. has any evidence that would support the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s allegation that Israeli leaders are using starvation as a method of war in Gaza.

Biden was asked if that evidence exists and if the administration would commit to releasing that information before any warrants are issued, but he only reiterated that the U.S. does not recognize their jurisdiction.

"We've made our position clear on the ICC. We don't recognize their jurisdiction -- the ICC, the way it's being exercised -- and it's that simple. We don't think there's an equivalence between what Israel did, and what Hamas did," Biden said.

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez


Israel expands operations into central Rafah: IDF

Israeli Defense Forces are now fighting near central Rafah, representing an expansion of its operations, the IDF said Thursday.

Close to 1 million people have been evacuated from Rafah, according to IDF Commanding Officer Daniel Hagari.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky


Egypt threatens to withdraw from Gaza mediation

The Egyptian government said Wednesday that attempts to undermine its efforts to broker a Gaza cease-fire deal could push it to entirely pull out of mediation in the conflict.

Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Services, said Egypt categorically rejected a report from CNN that claimed his government changed the terms of a Gaza cease-fire deal that Israel had already signed off on before submitting it to Hamas.

Rashwan called the report "false" and "devoid of any information or facts."

"The ongoing attempts to cast doubt and insult the Egyptian mediation efforts and roles, with allegations that contradict reality, will only lead to further complicating the situation in Gaza and the entire region, and may push the Egyptian side to take a decision to withdraw completely from the mediation it is carrying out in the current conflict," he said in a statement.

Rashwan added that Egypt would only open the Rafah border crossing if the Palestinian side is operated by Palestinians, reiterating that Cairo does not acknowledge the Israeli control of the Palestinian side of the crossing.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky


Sirens sound in Tel Aviv as Hamas fighters launch rocket attack on Israel

Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv on Sunday for the first time in months as Hamas' armed wing confirmed it launched a rocket attack on Israel's largest city.

Hamas' armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, released a statement saying it had launched a rocket attack on Tel Aviv from Rafah.

"We bombed Tel Aviv with a large rocket barrage in response to the massacres against civilians," the statement said.

The Hamas fighters also posted an accompanying video showing what appeared to be rocket trails in the sky.

Israel Defense Forces said sirens sounded across central Israel Sunday after "eight projectiles were identified crossing from the area of Rafah into Israeli territory.

"A number of the projectiles were intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array," the IDF statement said.

Israel's National Emergency Medical Service (MDA) said it received no reports of serious injuries.

"Following the Red Alert sirens heard in the center of the country: MDA teams did not locate casualties at any of the scenes, except for a patient who was lightly injured on the way to the protected space, and a number of victims with stress symptoms," the MDA said in a statement.

The IDF said later Sunday that it conducted an airstrike on the area where rocket launchers were used to direct rockets toward Tel Aviv, which the IDF said in a statement was "situated near two mosques in the area of Rafah."

Hamas has launched rocket attacks toward the areas around Gaza throughout the war but has not launched longer-range rockets in months. Sirens had not sounded in Tel Aviv in four months from Gaza-related rocket attacks.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaule