Israel and Hamas blame each other for deadly hospital blast

Antony Blinken, the low-key secretary of state who built his career as a Washington foreign policy hand with aggressive advocacy for intervention in defense of liberal democracy and human rights, has engaged in “marathon diplomacy” these past few days in an effort to limit the scope of the war in the Middle East.

For nearly a week, President Biden’s top emissary and longtime confidant has lived at the brink of an unfolding conflict, shuttling among seven countries over the past 137 hours as he articulates why America is supporting Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas while seeking to keep other nations on the sidelines and limit the loss of civilian life on both sides of the Gaza border.

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Amid the Gaza conflict, Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail are advocating for a ban on any Palestinian refugees’ coming to the U.S. — but already very few Palestinians are admitted, and the Biden administration has no plans to change the status quo.

Out of more than 60,000 total refugees resettled in the U.S. in fiscal year 2023, 56 Palestinians were admitted. In the past 10 years, fewer than 600 Palestinians in all have come to the U.S. as refugees, according to the State Department.

The numbers are so low in large part because Palestinians cannot follow the same pathway into the U.S. as other nationalities. The 1951 Refugee Convention that established the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and defined the criteria for refugees around the world explicitly left out Palestinians living in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. The U.S. uses the refugee agency to identify potential refugees.

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Thousands of protesters who gathered in front of the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul were met with a water cannon and pepper spray from Turkish security forces after some of the crowd forced their way into the compound.

NEAR THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER — While Israel and Hamas fight near Gaza in the south, Israel's north has also been under daily attack.

From Lebanon, the militant group Hezbollah has been launching missiles, mortars and armed drones along Israel's northern border.

Israel is striking back with artillery shells and fighter jets.

Israeli military officials are urging residents to stay away from the border for their own safety and have restricted GPS in what the military calls “active combat zones.”

At least 17 journalists, most of whom were Palestinian, have been killed since Hamas attacked Israel this month and after Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

One was killed in an airstrike in Lebanon. Israel’s military has told Reuters that it was investigating that incident, which occurred in a border region where Hezbollah and Israel had traded fire.

Out of the 17 confirmed journalists killed in the conflict, 13 were Palestinian, three were Israeli and one was Lebanese, according to the committee, known as CPJ for short.

Three journalists have been reported missing or detained, and eight have been injured, it said.

The group had put the number of confirmed journalists killed at 15. It called on all parties to ensure the safety of journalists, who it said are making extreme sacrifices to cover the crisis around the region.

The U.S. State Department today urged Americans not to travel to Lebanon because of rocket, missile and artillery exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah. The new warning also cited kidnappings and new protests over the deadly blast at a Gaza hospital in advising Americans to stay away.

The State Department raised its travel advisory to the highest level, 4, to reflect "terrorism, civil unrest, armed conflict, crime, kidnapping and Embassy Beirut’s limited capacity to provide support to U.S. citizens," the notice says.

Protests erupted in Beirut after the hospital blast, and skirmishes between Israel and militant groups in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, continued to threaten to bring a new, northern front to Israel's wartime stance.

The State Department emphasized the possibility of terrorist attacks, kidnappings and "large protests" that could be unsafe.

It said family members of government personnel and some nonemergency government workers will be authorized to leave Lebanon case by case. The same "authorized departure" status was implemented for the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Friday.

Israel and the West Bank were under a level 3 advisory, and Gaza was at level 4. Level 3 asks Americans to reconsider travel to those areas.

The advisory warns of unpredictable violence.

JERUSALEM — In the sparsely patronized Old City, home to some of the world's most revered religious sites, a Jewish shopkeeper and a Palestinian vendor today expressed the reasons they support their sides in the war.

Esther Weiss, the owner of a jewelry store in the Jewish Quarter, said Gaza militants who attacked Israel on Oct. 7 were fair game for warfare.

"They’re getting back what they sent us," she said. "Who doesn't feel for a family that the house was bombed? Of course we feel for them. But we feel for us first."

In the Muslim Quarter a short walk away, retail stand owner Hani Imam refused to characterize militants who kidnapped and shot civilians in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack as terrorists.

"You cannot control people and treat them like caged animals," Imam said. "You treat them like animals, that’s why they became animals."

Imam didn't want to speak directly to a Jewish counterpart, saying: "The tensions are too high. Way too hot."

Weiss said Israel treats Palestinians well, a claim she said is proven by Palestinians' lining up for work in Israel. "They are not in a cage," she said.

Both said the only way forward is for the two sides to come to terms. "We are a people who want peace," Weiss said.

KFAR AZA, Israel — They’re a band of brothers: Five American Israeli siblings are joining the front lines to fight for Israel.

Naftali, Bentzi, Chaim, Yochanan and Shuey are dual citizens of the U.S. and Israel; they asked that their last name be withheld for security reasons. The youngest, Shuey, is 21 and still completing his mandatory service with an infantry regiment in the Israel Defense Forces. The four others are reservists, so they are putting their daily lives on hold to take up arms.

One brother, Yochanan, traveled from New York, where he was staying with family, to Israel to fight as a tank platoon commander.

Naftali, 34, the eldest, works as a doctor at a Jerusalem hospital, so he would be in medical scrubs on a normal day. Now, he wears a military uniform.

“I called up my commander and I knew right away I have to tell my wife that I have to go,” Naftali said.

“I can’t even describe what my mom is feeling right now, that she had to send in five sons, whether in the reserves or mandatory service, who are currently serving in the IDF,” he added.

Naftali said that if there is a ground invasion of Gaza, he and his brothers would be prepared “to go inside.”

“The horrific attacks that happen here cannot be answered in silence or in a weak response,” he said. “This has to be fierce response, fighting the evil that you see here today.”

Meanwhile, Bentzi, 32, and Chaim, 26, are stationed in the north, where Israel is exchanging fire with Hezbollah. Bentzi said it’s hard to process that his brothers are all in uniform at once.

“It’s unbelievable how all of us are just gathered all around,” he said, “if it’s the north or south, leaving families, doing whatever it needs to keep everyone safe.”

Speaking from deep in Israel’s Negev desert, Shuey described his sense of duty: “I feel like it’s the most important thing I ever did in my life.”

The five brothers are drawing strength from one another, Shuey said.

“I see my brothers standing in the north, in the south, everywhere,” he said, adding that he tells himself, “Look, you’re not alone.”

Photos showed the devastation and grief in Gaza after an explosion at al-Ahli Hospital that the Palestinian Health Ministry says has killed more than 200 people.

The explosion was met with condemnation and outrage, even as the source of the blast remained unclear.

Hamas accused Israel of carrying out an airstrike, which Israel’s military has denied. The Israel Defense Forces says that its analysis and intelligence information shows that a failed rocket fired by Islamic Jihad struck the hospital.

The explosion comes as Biden is on the way to Israel to show U.S. support for the U.S. ally in the wake of terrorist attacks by Hamas.

Biden said that he was “outraged and deeply saddened” by the explosion and the loss of life and that he had directed his national security team to continue gathering information about what happened.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said initial estimates were between 200 and 300 killed.