March 10, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

US President Joe Biden has said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "hurting more than helping" Israel in failing to limit civilian casualties.

Speaking to MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart in an interview Saturday, Biden said: "What's happening is he has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas.

Biden has for months warned that Israel risks losing international support over mounting civilian casualties in Gaza. The total death toll in the Gaza Strip is more than 30,900 since October 7, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

His latest remarks point to the increasingly strained relationship between the two leaders.

Biden said a potential Israeli invasion of the Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, is “a red line” for him.

However, he said he would not cut off weapons like the Iron Dome missile interceptors which protect the Israeli civilian populace from rocket attacks in the region.

Correction: This post has been updated with the latest death toll from the Gaza Ministry of Health.

A road being built by the Israeli military splitting Gaza in two has reached the Mediterranean coast, a CNN analysis of satellite imagery shows. It’s part of a security plan to control the territory for months and possibly years to come, Israeli officials have said.

A satellite image from March 6 reveals that the east-west road, which has been under construction for weeks, now stretches from the Gaza-Israeli border area across the entire roughly 6.5-kilometer-wide (about 4-mile-wide) strip, dividing northern Gaza, including Gaza City, from the south of the enclave. About 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) includes an existing road, while the rest is new, according to CNN’s analysis.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN they were using the route to “establish (an) operational foothold in the area” and allow “the passage of forces as well as logistical equipment.”

When asked about the route’s completion, the IDF said the road existed before the war and was being “renovated,” due to armored vehicles “damaging it.” It added that there was: “No beginning and ending.”

Read the full story here.

There are “no dates yet” for Hamas negotiators to return to Cairo to resume talks over reaching a ceasefire in exchange for hostage releases, a member of the Hamas political bureau told CNN on Sunday. 

“There is nothing new,” Hossam Badran told CNN, saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to respond to fair Palestinian demands regarding Gaza’s basic needs.

He listed “stopping the killing, withdrawal, providing relief and the return of the displaced people without conditions” as factors to be considered.

A Hamas delegation left Cairo on March 7 following days of talks without an obvious breakthrough.

Negotiators had hoped to have a draft agreement this week after the days of meetings in Cairo, “but it won’t happen,” said one diplomat familiar with the discussions who described the last few days of talks as “very hectic.”

Egypt state-run Al Qahera news, citing a senior source, said the delegation had left to consult on the proposals, adding negotiations would resume this week.

Israel has warned that if the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza aren’t home by Ramadan they will launch a military offensive into Rafah in southern Gaza where around 1.5 million Palestinians are trying to seek safety from the fighting.

Gaza municipality renewed its appeal for humanitarian aid ahead of the start of Ramadan on Sunday evening. 

Authorities called on international organizations to assist by providing fuel for basic services, electricity generators for water wells, restarting water supplies from Israel's national water company, Mekorot, and providing heavy machinery for "waste management and infrastructure repair."

Gaza is grappling with a severe humanitarian crisis with a growing number of people dying from starvation and dehydration, aid agencies have warned.

At least 25 people have died so far from malnutrition and dehydration in the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said Saturday. 

A ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza is expected to depart from Larnaca, Cyprus, on Sunday, according to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

Cyprus, the European Commission, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom are working to establish a maritime corridor to deliver aid assistance directly to Gaza.

Christodoulides told journalists on Saturday that the first ship was expected to leave within a day.

Christodoulides stated that additional countries are also expressing their interest in participating in the initiative, outlining on Saturday that “we are receiving phone calls from heads of state or government or from foreign ministers, expressing us their desire to participate in the initiative.”

It comes amid a flurry of actions by the international community to alleviate the crisis in Gaza. More than two million people are in need of food and the medical system has all but collapsed.

Israel put Gaza under siege following the October 7 attacks but insists it is working to meet the needs of those on the ground.

The US earlier said it is sending the first equipment needed to establish a temporary pier near Gaza.

Gaza's Civil Defense said Sunday that the use of aid drops into Gaza have not "limited the famine crisis" but rather "increased the number of victims" and led to casualties and injuries. 

The civil defense did not say how many people had been killed or injured by the recent air drops of aid, or from whom the aid had come. 

The civil defense said on Friday at least five people died after an airdrop fell on people and homes of citizens northwest of Gaza City. It is not clear who was delivering the aid.

Footage obtained by CNN last week shows dozens of parachutes carrying parcels descending from a plane conducting an air drop.

Some background: The US recently followed other countries in airdropping aid, to help alleviate a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But aid agencies say airdrops are an ineffective way of delivering help while the US has been accused of not doing more to pressure its ally Israel to open up land routes.

The death toll from Israeli airstrikes on buildings in central Gaza on Saturday afternoon has risen to at least 13, health officials at Al Aqsa Hospital told CNN.

Several witnesses told CNN on Saturday that the airstrikes hit residential buildings in Nuseirat, in central Gaza.

A video obtained by CNN from Al-Aqsa Hospital shows at least four bodies being brought from the area to the facility, including two children who were found dead after being pulled out from under the rubble. 

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the alleged airstrike.

The IDF has repeatedly said they were "operating to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities."

The first equipment for a temporary pier in Gaza is en route -- one of the US' extraordinary measures as Israel continues to severely restrict the distribution of aid within the besieged enclave, and as the harrowing humanitarian crisis continues.

The US and other nations including Jordan are also airdropping aid into the strip, with packages of water, food and other supplies -- but the United Nations and aid agencies have questioned the effectiveness of these airdrops.

Meanwhile, water, hygiene and sanitation services “remain severely constrained” in the war-torn strip, the UN said. Four out of every five households in Gaza are without safe water, the UN warned Saturday. 

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The first equipment needed to establish a temporary pier in Gaza is on its way, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Saturday.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden announced that the US military would begin establishing a port in the territory that could receive large shipments of critically needed food and medical supplies, with Gaza in the grips of a harrowing humanitarian crisis.

CENTCOM said that the US Army Vessel General Frank S. Besson, a logistics support boat, had departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia and was en route to the eastern Mediterranean.

Besson is carrying the first equipment to establish the temporary pier, according to CENTCOM.

But relief could be a long way off. The pier and causeway are expected to take at least one month, possibly two, to build and become fully operational, the Pentagon said Friday -- and will likely require up to 1,000 personnel to complete.

The extraordinary measure is among a flurry of actions by the international community to alleviate the crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s refusal to open additional land crossings or surge more aid by land as it continues to fight Hamas.

In the besieged strip, more than two million people are in need of food and the medical system has all but collapsed.