Pro-Palestinian supporters walk over American and Israeli flags as they take part in a Quds Day protest in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, April 5, 2024. Sunday, April 7, 2024 will mark the 6-month anniversary of the Israel-Gaza-Hamas conflict. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)

Amid widespread outrage over a strike that killed seven aid workers delivering food in the Gaza Strip, Israel punished five military officers on Friday and said it would take steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid, including temporarily reopening a key border crossing into northern Gaza.

Israel's military dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in the drone strikes, saying they mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.

Israel also said it would reopen the Erez border crossing with Gaza's hard-hit north, where the United Nations says much of the population is on the brink of starvation. Israel's announcement came hours after U.S. President Joe Biden said future American support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel doing more to protect civilians and aid workers.

Despite their differences, the Biden administration maintained crucial military aid and diplomatic support for Israel's six-month war against Hamas.

The top U.N. court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies — and the U.N. Security Council has issued a legally binding demand for a cease-fire. On Friday, the U.N.'s top human rights body passed a non-binding resolution condemning Israel's conduct of the war and calling for other countries to stop shipping weapons to it.

The Palestinian death toll has passed 33,000, with another 75,600 people wounded, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

Currently:

— After six months of war, Israel’s isolation grows with no end in sight.

— Israel dismisses two officers for strikes in Gaza that killed aid workers.

— U.N. Human Rights Council calls for halt to weapons shipments to Israel.

— Iran’s Revolutionary Guard head vows payback for apparent Israeli strike that killed top generals.

— Biden tells Netanyahu future U.S. support for war depends on new steps to protect civilians.

— Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

BIDEN URGES EGYPT AND QATAR TO PRESS HAMAS TO COME TO AN AGREEMENT ON ISRAELI HOSTAGES IN GAZA

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas for a hostage deal with Israel, according to a senior administration official, one day after Biden called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a cease-fire in the six-month-old war in Gaza.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private letters, said Biden’s national security adviser will meet Monday with family members of some of the estimated 100 hostages who are believed to still be in Gaza.

The letters to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, come as Biden has deployed CIA Director Bill Burns to Cairo for talks this weekend about the hostage crisis.

White House officials say negotiating a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to facilitate the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel is the only way to put a temporary cease-fire into effect and boost the flow of badly humanitarian aid into the territory.

___

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed.

EGYPT ARRESTS 10 AFTER PRO-GAZA RALLY CALLING FOR CUTTING TIES WITH ISRAEL

CAIRO — A human rights lawyer in Egypt says authorities there have arrested 10 activists who participated in a pro-Palestinian protest, where they accused the government of contributing to the siege of Gaza and called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.

Egypt’s government has condemned Israel’s campaign in Gaza and has played a central role in trying to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. But it has largely banned public protests, and criticism of the country’s ties with Israel is highly sensitive.

On Wednesday, nearly 200 people rallied outside the building of the Journalist Syndicate in Cairo, waving the Palestinian flag and chanting slogans: “What a disgrace! Egypt is helping the siege!” and “No to the Israeli Embassy! No to normalization.”

Later Wednesday, 10 activists who took part in the protest were arrested at their homes, and the next day prosecutors ordered their detention for 15 days while investigations were carried out, according to their lawyer Nabeh Elganadi.

Government critics have called for Egypt to overturn a 2007 agreement that grants Israel the right to inspect convoys entering Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. They say it has allowed Israel to keep the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians at a trickle.

3 LEBANESE MILITANTS KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKE, GROUP SAYS

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on a house in southern Lebanon killed three militants with the Amal movement, a Shiite political party closely allied with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, Amal said Friday.

Israel said warplanes bombed what it described as an Amal military compound and said the group was planning an attack against Israel. The military statement said its jets also struck several locations used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and a jet attacked a person doing “drone observation activity” near the border.

Friday's violence comes as Israel has been trading fire almost daily with Hezbollah and other Lebanese militant groups for months. This was the first apparent Israeli attack in Marjayoun, a large town in southeastern Lebanon, since the latest round of cross-border clashes began on Oct. 8. Hezbollah, a close ally to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, says the clashes aim to pressure Israel to end its war in Gaza.

Fears of the Israel-Hamas war spilling over into other Mideast countries worsened this week after an airstrike, widely attributed to Israel, hit the Iranian Consulate building in Syria. Israel has declined to comment. Tehran, with the endorsement of Hezbollah and its other proxy groups and allies in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, vowed to respond to the attack.

About 280 militants were killed in the clashes, the vast majority Hezbollah combatants. At least 50 civilians were also killed. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border.

ISRAEL LIKELY KILLED ONE OF ITS OWN CIVILIANS ON OCT. 7, MILITARY SAYS

JERUSALEM -- Israel’s military has acknowledged that it likely killed an Israeli civilian on Oct. 7 when a helicopter struck a vehicle she was in with Hamas militants.

The military identified the woman as Efrat Katz, and said she was killed in the communal farming village of Nir Oz. The investigation found that a combat helicopter crew were unaware that Katz was inside the vehicle when they decided to strike it. The military said the strike killed the militants inside and “most likely” killed Katz as well.

The military called the killing a “tragic and unfortunate event that took place in the midst of fighting and conditions of uncertainty,” but did not fault the officers who conducted the strike, saying they were just following orders.

Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 people and dragged 250 hostages back to Gaza on Oct. 7. In Kibbutz Nir Oz, more than 100 Palestinian militants left with some 80 of its roughly 400 residents that day. An additional 20 kibbutz members were killed.

U.N. CHIEF BLAMES ISRAEL'S WAR STRATEGY IN GAZA FOR KILLING SOME 200 AID WORKERS

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations chief is blaming Israel’s military strategy and procedures for the killing of nearly 200 humanitarian workers and is calling for independent investigations to fix those failures and practices.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Friday that the Israeli government acknowledged “mistakes” and announced some disciplinary measures against soldiers following this week’s “appalling killing” of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen.

“But the essential problem is not who made the mistakes, it is the military strategy and procedures in place that allow for those mistakes to multiply time and time again,” he said. “Fixing those failures requires independent investigations and meaningful and measurable change on the ground.”

Guterres said some 196 humanitarian aid workers – including more than 175 United Nations staff –- have been killed in six months of war in Gaza, “and we want to know why each one of them was killed.”

The secretary-general said an independent investigation can only work with cooperation from the Israeli authorities. He repeated the importance of changing Israel's system, strategy and procedures being used in Gaza that led to so many aid workers being killed.

Throughout the war, Israel has insisted that no target is off-limits and its forces have repeatedly struck ambulances and vehicles carrying aid, as well as relief organization offices and U.N. shelters, claiming that armed fighters were in them. Israeli authorities blame militants for civilian deaths, saying the groups operate in populated areas.

Guterres said Israel has informed the U.N. it intends to allow a substantial increase of aid to be distributed in Gaza.

“I sincerely hope that these intentions are effectively and quickly materialized because the situation in Gaza is absolutely desperate,” he said. “Six months on, we are at the brink: of mass starvation, of regional conflagration, of a total loss of faith in global standards and norms.”

“It’s time to step back from that brink,” the U.N. chief said, reiterating his urgent appeals for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and release of all remaining Israeli hostages taken captive on Oct. 7.

BLINKEN SAYS U.S. HAS RECEIVED ISRAEL'S REPORT ON KILLING OF AID WORKERS

BRUSSELS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday the U.S. has received Israel's report on the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza in an airstrike.

The Israeli military said it has dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in the drone strikes, which killed seven aid workers, saying they mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.

“We’re reviewing it very carefully, we’ll be discussing its conclusions with Israeli officials and with humanitarian organizations in the days to come," Blinken said in Brussels. "It’s very important that Israel is taking full responsibility for this incident. It’s also important that it appears to be taking steps to hold those responsible accountable.”

“Even more important is making sure that steps are taken going forward to ensure that something like this can never happen again,” Blinken added.

Blinken said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated to President Biden that Israel would be making additional changes to its procedures to make sure that aid workers are protected.

"So, we’re going to be looking very carefully at what those steps are, how it achieves better deconfliction, better coordination, so that aid workers are protected,” he said.

CIA DIRECTOR EXPECTED BACK IN CAIRO FOR MORE TALKS ON HOSTAGE RELEASES AND CEASE-FIRE

WASHINGTON — CIA Director William Burns is expected to travel back to Cairo on Saturday for more mediation seeking hostage releases and a cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas.

Burns’ latest trip comes as the Biden administration steps up pressure on Prime Minister for a cease-fire in Israel’s six-month war in Gaza, in exchange for Hamas releasing more of the hostages seized in its Oct. 7 attack in Israel.

An official familiar with the negotiations confirmed the plans. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks.

David Barnea, the head of Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, and negotiators from Egypt and Qatar are expected to attend. The Hamas side of the talks are indirect, with proposals relayed through third parties to Hamas leaders sheltering in tunnels beneath Gaza.

President Joe Biden, under pressure for mounting deaths of aid workers and civilians under Israeli fire, stressed in a blunt call with Netanyahu on Thursday that an immediate cease-fire was essential, and urged him “to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home,” the White House said.

ISRAEL DISMISSES 2 OFFICERS FOR STRIKES IN GAZA THAT KILLED AID WORKERS

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Friday that it has dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.

The findings of a retired general’s investigation into the Monday killings marked an embarrassing admission by Israel, which faces growing accusations from key allies, including the U.S., of not doing enough to protect Gaza’s civilians from its war with Hamas.

The findings are likely to renew skepticism over the Israeli military’s decision-making. Palestinians, aid groups and human rights organizations have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of firing recklessly at civilians throughout the conflict — a charge Israel denies.

It was unclear whether the punishments and the apology would calm an international outcry over the deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers or reassure international aid groups that it was safe to resume operations in Gaza, where nearly a third of the population is on the brink of starvation.

WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN CALLS FOR GREATER CHANGE WITHIN ISRAEL'S MILITARY

JERUSALEM — said Friday that Israel’s disciplinary measures following an investigation into the deadly attack on a convoy that killed seven aid workers in Gaza were “important steps forward,” but called for greater change within the military.

It said Israel’s internal military investigation into the attack revealed that troops had “deployed deadly force without regard to its own protocols, chain of command and rules of engagement.” The group said it had followed all required communication procedures when coordinating the convoy with the military.

“Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families,” said the statement, which called again for an independent commission to investigate the attack on the convoy. The Israel Defense Forces “cannot credibly investigate itself,” it said.

Israel’s military said Friday it was dismissing two officers and reprimanding three others for the attack. It said the strike happened because officers had not seen messages about the convoy’s plans and believed that cars transporting the World Central Kitchen workers had been harboring militants.

POLAND PROTESTS ISRAEL'S KILLING OF AID WORKER IN GAZA

WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s deputy foreign minister met with Israel’s ambassador on Friday to protest the killing of a Polish aid worker in Gaza.

After the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said he handed a protest note to Ambassador Yacov Livne over the killing of the Polish aid worker, describing the Polish stance during the meeting as “firm.” The aid worker was among seven who were killed by an Israeli strike while delivering food in Gaza.

He said Livne apologized for the incident, which Szejna said “has no precedent in the history of the civilized world.”

Szejna said Poland expects a transparent investigation and compensation for the victim’s family if it wants it. He also said Poland wants prosecutors in Przemysl, where the Polish aid worker was from, to be allowed to participate in the investigation “and in the entire criminal and disciplinary procedure against the soldiers responsible for this murder.”

U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS BODY CALLS FOR HALT TO WEAPONS SHIPMENTS TO ISRAEL

GENEVA — The U.N.’s top human rights body has called on countries to stop selling or shipping weapons to Israel in a resolution that aims to help prevent rights violations against Palestinians during Israel’s blistering military campaign in Gaza.

The 47-member-country Human Rights Council voted 28-6 in favor of the resolution on Friday, with 13 abstentions.

The sweeping measure, which takes aim at an array of Israeli actions such as impeding access to water and limiting shipments of humanitarian aid into Palestinian areas, also calls on U.N.-backed independent investigators to report on shipments of weapons, munitions and “dual use” items — for both civilian and military purposes — that could be used by Israel against Palestinians. It is not binding.

Western countries were divided, with the U.S., Germany and others opposing the resolution, several abstaining and some European countries voting in favor.

Israel — at times joined by the United States — has regularly and roundly criticized the council for an alleged anti-Israel bias. The council has approved far more resolutions against Israel for its actions toward Palestinians over the years than against any other country.

IRAN'S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD VOWS PAYBACK FOR APPARENT ISRAELI STRIKE THAT KILLED GENERALS

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guard General Hossein Salami vowed Friday that “our brave men will punish the Zionist regime” in retaliation for the airstrike widely attributed to Israel that destroyed the Iranian Consulate in Syria’s capital and killed seven of the guard’s members, including two top generals.

This came after thousands marched chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” during the slain officers’ funeral procession in the capital on Friday.

The marches in Tehran, along with protests in other Iranian cities, took place at a time of heightened concerns about possible retribution by Iran for Monday’s strike that killed 12 people, including four Syrian citizens and a member of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, according to officials.

The protesters in the capital headed to Tehran University, where Salami gave his speech before the weekly Friday prayers.

BLINKEN WELCOMES STEPS TO GET MORE AID INTO GAZA, BUT SAYS THEY MAY NOT BE ENOUGH

LEUVEN, Belgium — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the measures the Israeli government has announced to expand the flow of aid into Gaza are welcome but may not be enough to meet the Biden administration’s demands for dramatic improvements in humanitarian conditions in the territory.

Blinken said Friday that, if fully implemented, the opening of more border crossings could surge aid to Palestinians caught in the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

“We welcome that steps that have been announced by Israel,” Blinken said. “These are positive developments but the real test is results, and that’s what we’re looking to see in the coming days and the coming weeks.”

At the same time, he said the U.S. wanted to see a “better system for de-confliction and coordination” so that aid can be safely delivered and distributed inside Gaza. “All of these things are critical and that really needs to be measured by results,” Blinken told reporters in the town of Leuven, outside Brussels, where he was meeting with U.S. and European trade and commerce officials.

He also called for an “independent, thorough and fully publicized investigation” into the Israeli strikes that killed seven aid workers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced earlier Friday that Israel would act to improve conditions, including reopening a key border crossing into northern Gaza, just hours after President Joe Biden told him in a Thursday phone call that future U.S. support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel taking more action to protect civilians and aid workers.

IRANIANS MOURN GUARD MEMBERS KILLED AT CONSULATE

TEHRAN, Iran — Thousands of Iranians have held a funeral for Revolutionary Guard members killed by an airstrike at Iran's consulate in Syria this week.

People at the funeral ceremony held Friday in Tehran protested the airstrike widely blamed on Israel that killed 12 people, including two elite Iranian generals.

Late Thursday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei performed the Islamic funeral prayer for seven Revolutionary Guard members.

The funeral took place on Quds Day, a pro-Palestine event that uses the Arabic name for Jerusalem, that is held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

State TV showed people at the funeral waving Iranian and Palestinian flags and some chanting “death to America” and “death to Israel.” Similar rallies took place in other Iranian cities and towns.

ISRAELI POLICE DETAIN 8 PALESTINIAN WORSHIPPERS AT JERUSALEM MOSQUE

JERUSALEM — Israel police said they detained eight Palestinian worshippers for allegedly chanting inflammatory slogans at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound as thousands gathered at Islam’s third holiest site for dawn prayers marking the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The incident marks the first flare-up between Israeli forces and worshippers at the compound during this Ramadan, as the Hamas-Israel war rages on in Gaza.

The Islamic militant group Hamas, meanwhile, issued a call to Muslims around the world to participate in a “Friday of Rage for Palestine.”

Police said the eight had chanted in support of what it called “terrorist organizations,” an apparent reference to Hamas. The eight were taken away for questioning.

Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 TV said some of the worshippers were chanting in support of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing.

Both Channel 13 TV and the Qatari network Al-Jazeera said Israeli forces also fired tear gas at worshippers.

Ramadan has passed mostly peacefully in Jerusalem despite the Gaza war in which more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials.

Israel declared war on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants invaded southern Israel and killed over 1, 200 people and took about 250 hostages.

The Al Aqsa Mosque compound has long been a deeply contested religious space. It’s on the Temple Mount, the most sacred site in Judaism where biblical Jewish temples once stood.

ISRAEL SAYS IT'S TAKING STEPS TO ALLOW MORE AID INTO GAZA, AFTER REBUKE FROM U.S.

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says his Security Cabinet has approved steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including the reopening of a key crossing into hard-hit northern Gaza that was destroyed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

A statement early Friday said the Erez crossing would be temporarily reopened for the first time since the Hamas attack. It also said Israel would allow its port in Ashdod to process aid shipments bound for Gaza, and to increase Jordanian aid shipments through another land crossing.

“This increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war,” Netanyahu’s office said.

The announcement did not elaborate on quantities or types of items to be let in.

The decision came after President Joe Biden called on Israel, in a phone conversation with Netanyahu, to take steps “to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers.”

The United Nations says much of the population in northern Gaza is on the brink of starvation.

The heavily fortified Erez crossing for years was the only passenger terminal for people to move in and out of the territory.

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL TO MEET ABOUT ATTACKS ON AID WORKERS IN GAZA

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting about attacks on humanitarian workers in Gaza and the risk of famine in the territory.

The meeting for Friday was requested by Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, joined by Guyana, Slovenia and Switzerland. Israeli airstrikes earlier this week killed seven aid workers from the charity World Central Kitchen, which has demanded an independent investigation.

A U.N. aid convoy is scheduled to head out Thursday night after the U.N. paused night operations for 48 hours, said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. He told reporters the convoy “will hopefully make it to the north.”

“Because of what happened to World Central Kitchen, we had to pause … and regroup and reassess all sorts of factors,” he said.

On the health front, Dujarric said, the World Health Organization reached two hospitals in Gaza City — Al Sahaba and Al Ahil — and delivered supplies and carried out assessments.

But he said Israel has still not given WHO permission to visit Shifa Hospital, and has not provided a reason. Israel's military recently ended its second raid on the facility.

The WHO team spoke with patients who were able to leave Shifa afterward. ”They described dire conditions during the siege, with no food, water or medicine available,” Dujarric said. “One patient said that doctors there resorted to putting salt and vinegar on people’s wounds in place of antiseptics, which are non-existent.”

News from © The Associated Press, 2024