Israel-Hamas war latest: An Israeli strike kills at least 19 in a Gaza tent camp

Gaza’s Health Ministry says an Israeli strike on Tuesday on a tent camp in a designated humanitarian zone killed at least 19 people.

The Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, said the strike left craters up to 10 meters (32 feet) deep. The Israeli military said it used precise munitions against a group of militants.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the toll could rise. The ministry is also part of the Hamas-run government. Its figures are widely seen as generally reliable. Its tallies from previous wars have largely coincided with figures from independent researchers, the U.N. and even the Israeli military.

The Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100. Around a third of them are believed to be dead.

Here's the latest:

Israel strikes Bekaa Valley and Nabatiyeh, Lebanese news agency says

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state news agency says an Israeli drone strike in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley killed one person and wounded two others.

Hezbollah later said the dead man as one of its members identifying him as Mohammed Qassem al-Shaer. The Israeli military released video of the strike, adding that al-Shaer was a commander with Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.

Later in the day, Lebanon’s state media said an Israeli airstrike hit a building in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, wounding six people. The airstrike hit the top floor of a four-story building in the city that was targeted several times in the past months.

Legislator Hani Kobeissy, who represents the city, told reporters during a visit to the area that the building is home to civilians, adding that militants have no presence there.

More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since Oct. 8, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups but also more than 100 civilians. In northern Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed by strikes from Lebanon.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the tense border since the exchange of fire began a day after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7.

Turkish-American activist killed in the West Bank hid her travels from family, uncle says

ANKARA, Turkey — The uncle of the Turkish-American activist killed in the West Bank last week says his niece hid the fact that she was traveling to the Palestinian territories to avoid worrying family members.

In an interview with Turkey’s HaberTurk television Tuesday, Yilmaz Eygi also said that based on information from witnesses, he believes his niece was “deliberately” targeted by Israeli soldiers.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, was killed Friday following a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that Eygi, a volunteer with the activist group International Solidarity Movement, was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces who were aiming at someone else.

Yilmaz Eygi said: “From what we watched on the news and according to eye-witnesses it was a murder committed deliberately.”

“She was there as an observer and was away from the main protesters. She was standing afar as an observer for the aid organization. It is not possible for her to harm the soldiers,” the uncle said. His comments were not in response to the Israeli military’s findings.

The uncle spoke to HaberTurk from the the Aegean coastal town of Didim, in western Turkey, where Eygi’s grandfather lives and where her burial is expected to take place.

Yilmaz Eygi said that his niece, who was in Didim 15 days ago, told family members she was traveling to Jordan.

“As her family, as her elders, we didn’t want her to come to any harm. We were opposed to her going to Jordan even. She hid the fact that she was going to Palestine. She blocked us from her social media posts so that we would not see them,” Yilmaz Eygi said.

Turkey urges Arab League to band together to end the war in Gaza

CAIRO — Turkey’s foreign minister is calling on Arab and Muslim states to band together to try to end the war in Gaza. It's the first time a Turkish official has addressed the Arab League in more than a decade.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is the first to attend the gathering of Arab states since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended in 2011. Turkey later fell out with many member countries.

“We cannot accept that Palestinian lives, Arab lives and Muslim lives matter less than others,” Fidan said Tuesday. “Our ranks must be watertight.”

Fidan also expressed concern at increasing violence in the West Bank. Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from the U.S. who also had Turkish citizenship, was shot dead Friday following a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military says she was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces aiming at someone else.

Blinken says Israeli forces need to make ‘fundamental changes’ after shooting

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israeli security forces “need to make some fundamental changes in the way they operate in the West Bank," including changes to rules of engagement. He spoke in London days after a U.S. citizen was shot and killed in the occupied West Bank while protesting Israeli settlements there.

Blinken called the shooting “not acceptable. It has to change, and we’ll be making that clear to the seniormost members of the Israeli government.” He said it’s clear there are “serious issues that need to be dealt with, and we will insist that they be dealt with.”

The Israeli military said Tuesday that 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces aiming at someone else.

The White House earlier said it was “deeply disturbed” by the killing of Eygi, who also held Turkish citizenship, and called on Israel to investigate. Her family seeks an independent investigation.

An Israeli strike on a humanitarian area in Gaza kills and wounds dozens, Palestinians say

JERUSALEM — An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted “significant” Hamas militants and disputed the death toll.

It was among the deadliest strikes yet in Muwasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians to seek shelter from the Israel-Hamas war.

Gaza’s Civil Defense said its first responders recovered 40 bodies from the strike and were still looking for people. It said entire families were killed in their tents.

An Associated Press camera operator saw three large craters at the scene, where first responders and displaced people were sifting through the sand and rubble with garden tools and their bare hands by the light of mobile phones.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants who were operating in a command-and-control center. It said its forces used precise munitions, aerial surveillance and other means to avoid civilian casualties. Hamas released a statement denying any militants were in the area. Neither Israel nor Hamas provided evidence to substantiate their claims.

International law allows for strikes on military targets in areas where civilians are present, provided the force used is proportionate to the military objective — something that is often disputed and would need to be settled in a court, which almost never happens.

Israeli military stops aid convoy for 8 hours, UN agency says

JERUSALEM — The United Nations agency in charge of aid for displaced Palestinians said the Israeli military stopped a convoy for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the troops.

The agency’s head Philippe Lazzarini said the staffers who were held had been trying to work on a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City.

“The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff,” he wrote on the social platform X. “Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armoured vehicles.”

He said the staff and the convoy later returned to a U.N. base but it was unclear if a polio vaccination campaign would take place Tuesday in northern Gaza.

“UN Staff must be allowed to undertake their duties in safety + be protected at all times in accordance with international humanitarian law," he wrote. “Gaza is no different.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The vaccination drive, launched after doctors discovered the first polio case in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years, aims to vaccinate 640,000 children during a war that has destroyed the health care system.