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Israel-Gaza live updates: Hamas to send a delegation to Cairo for hostage and cease-fire negotiations
Hamas will send a delegation to Cairo for hostage and cease-fire negotiations.
As the Israel-Hamas war approaches the seven-month mark, renewed negotiations are underway to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, as Israeli forces continue to prepare for an apparent invasion of the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in a phone call over the weekend, discussing increasing the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza and plans for a possible military operation in Rafah, according to the White House.
Latest headlines:
- Hamas to send a delegation to Cairo for hostage and cease-fire negotiations
- Biden and Netanyahu speak: White House
- FBI examining hostage video that appears to show American Keith Siegel, White House says
- Video of kidnapped son brings 'total mix' of emotions, say parents of Hamas hostage
- New video claims to show American hostage in Gaza
IDF denies mass grave claims
The Israel Defense Forces has denied accusations from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry that they buried at least 283 bodies in a mass grave near Nasser Hospital in Gaza.
"The claim that the IDF buried Palestinian bodies is baseless and unfounded," the IDF said in a statement. "During the IDF’s operation in the area of Nasser Hospital, in accordance to the effort to locate hostages and missing persons, corpses buried by Palestinians in the area of Nasser Hospital were examined."
"The examination was conducted in a careful manner and exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages," the IDF said. "Bodies examined, which did not belong to Israeli hostages, were returned to their place."
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said Tuesday that the reports of mass graves are "deeply concerning," but the White House is not in a place to validate the reports.
"I wouldn't expect a U.S. investigation," Kirby said, adding, "We'll certainly talk to our Israeli counterparts."
Israel responds to report released on UNRWA
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, is claiming that more than 2,135 workers at UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, are members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
"Hamas has infiltrated UNRWA so deeply that it is no longer possible to determine where UNRWA ends and where Hamas begins," Erdan said. "Israel calls on the donor countries to refrain from transferring their taxpayers' money to UNRWA-Gaza, as these funds will go to the Hamas terrorist organization, and that violates legislation in the donor countries themselves."
This comes after an independent review of UNRWA released on Monday found the agency had policies in place to back up its principle of neutrality, but also found UNRWA had "serious gaps in implementation," The Associated Press reported. The report made recommendations to improve the agency’s neutrality.
The report also found that Israel hadn’t provided evidence to back up its claim that a significant number of UNRWA employees were members of Hamas or PIJ, the AP said.
Iran calls Israel’s attack 'harassment' that 'caused no damage whatsoever'
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani called Israel’s retaliatory strike against Iran last week "harassment" that has "caused no damage whatsoever."
"In our opinion, this issue is not worthy of addressing," Kanaani said Monday.
State Department considers Gaza a 'severe humanitarian crisis'
The State Department has released its annual assessment of human rights across the globe.
The U.S. assessed that Israelis have killed or injured nearly 80,000 Palestinians in Gaza -- accounting for 3% of the population.
The State Department stressed that Israel "must conduct military operations in accordance with international law and take every feasible precaution to protect civilians."
"We continue to urgently raise concerns surrounding the deaths of and injuries to tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including women, children, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable persons," the U.S. said. "We repeatedly have pressed concerns about Palestinian civilians’ access to humanitarian assistance, displacement of the majority of the population of Gaza, and the unprecedented number of journalists killed."
The U.S. continues to review allegations that Israel violated international laws of war in Gaza and the West Bank, and part of that review will look into whether U.S. weapons were involved, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference Monday.
Blinken said the process will be fair, whether a country is "an adversary or competitor, a friend or an ally."
-ABC News’ Chris Boccia
Netanyahu responds after Blinken says US may impose sanctions on IDF
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the department will be announcing his determinations regarding the Israel Defense Forces under the Leahy Law -- which empowers the secretary of state to withhold funding from units of a foreign military accused of human rights violations -- "in the coming days."
The State Department could announce sanctions against the IDF and withhold aid to the military.
"I think it's fair to say that you'll see results very soon. I've made determinations, you can expect to see them in the days ahead," he told press gathered for G7 meetings.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a statement on X saying sanctions must not be imposed on the IDF.
"In recent weeks, I have been working against the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens, including in my conversations with senior American government officials. At a time when our soldiers are fighting the monsters of terror, the intention to impose a sanction on a unit in the IDF is the height of absurdity and a moral low," Netanyahu said Saturday.
-ABC News' Chris Boccia and Victoria Beaule