Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Israel-Hamas war news or read through the updates below.
March 26, 2024 Israel-Hamas war
By Heather Chen, Sana Noor Haq, Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury and Tori B. Powell, CNN
Updated 5:00 p.m. ET, March 26, 2024
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US national security adviser will meet with Israel's defense minister again, White House says
From CNN's Donald Judd
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is meeting again with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for the second time in as many days, the White House said Tuesday, as the Biden administration continues to urge Israel to do more to stem the flow of civilian casualties in Gaza.
“We remain committed to supporting Israel in its fight against Hamas, which has said it wants to repeat October 7 again and again until Israel is annihilated, because we cannot expect Israel to accept a situation in which their citizens continue to live under active threat,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with Biden on Tuesday.
“At the same time…it is critical that Israel do whatever possible to prevent civilian casualties and to conduct operations as strategically and precisely as possible and target operations to protect civilians, including in Rafah,” she continued.
She said the Tuesday meeting between the two officials is an extension "because they believed it was important to continue the conversation."
Some background: Following Monday’s meeting, Jean-Pierre said the national security adviser “welcomed Minister Gallant’s commitment to take additional steps to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” The Monday meeting with Gallant took on renewed importance after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly pulled a planned delegation to the US to discuss operations in Rafah, citing the US’ abstention vote in a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Average of roughly 200 aid trucks a day are now getting into Gaza, senior US official says
From CNN’s Haley Britzky
A senior US defense official said Tuesday that there has been a “significant increase” in the amount of aid flowing into Gaza through various crossings, resulting in nearly 200 trucks coming in a day.
“[W]e are now seeing a rather significant increase in the flow of assistance through the many crossings that it does use — the Rafah crossing, the Kerem Shalom crossing, a new crossing 96 that Israel has opened,” the official said.
While aid was coming in at roughly 100 trucks a day in February, “it’s on its way back up to an average of close to 200 a day,” the official added.
“There's definitely still more to be done. We are contributing with airdrops, we are contributing with the maritime corridor we are addressing we are also — and the Secretary did today — urging continued maximum flow through the crossing, the land crossing points I mentioned, and others,” the official said. “And so we see results but we also see the need for significantly more results.”
Hamas calls on Western countries to end “offensive” aid airdrops into Gaza
From CNN’s Eyad Kourdi, Niamh Kennedy, Celine Alkhaldi
Hamas has called on Western countries to end airdrops of aid into Gaza, warning that the humanitarian delivery method is “offensive, wrong, inappropriate and useless.”
Earlier, CNN spoke to witnesses who said at least 12 people drowned off the northern coast of Gaza on Monday after swimming out to try to retrieve packages airdropped into the sea by an unknown country.
“We call for an end to the operations of landing aid in this offensive, wrong, inappropriate and useless manner,” the Hamas government said Tuesday.
Hamas has from the outset been critical of airdrops, describing them as “useless” and “not the best way to bring aid in.” On Tuesday, they called for further land crossings to be opened "immediately" to allow more substantial aid deliveries.
Israel has denied claims it is limiting aid into Gaza, telling CNN in a previous statement that the country “assists, encourages and facilitates" the entry of aid into the enclave. Despite Israel's claims, the United Nations has repeatedly warned that Gaza is edging closer to famine, and said countries should pressure Israel to loosen its controls on aid entry.
At least 18 people killed in Rafah attack, says Gaza Ministry of Health
From CNN’s Kareem Khadder, Celine Alkhaldi and Eyad Kourdi
At least 18 people, including nine children some of whom were just two years old, were killed after Israel struck residential areas in Rafah overnight into Tuesday, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported.
Others were also injured in shelling near Al-Nasr neighborhood, northeast of the city of Rafah, according to Palestinian state news agency WAFA.
CNN asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on its activity in Rafah. The IDF said it was looking into the incident.
Death toll climbs: The total death toll in Gaza since October 7 now stands at 32,414, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported Tuesday with a further 74,787 people injured.
It said that 81 people were killed over the past 24 hours in the war-torn enclave. CNN cannot independently verify these numbers.
12 Palestinians drown while trying to retrieve parcels, as aid falls into the sea
From journalist AbdelQadder Sabbah and CNN's Kareem Khadder, Jomana Karadsheh and Abeer Salman
At least 12 Gazans drowned on Monday off the coast near Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, as they were trying to retrieve airdropped parcels that had landed in the sea, Palestinian paramedics said.
Footage obtained by CNN shows hundreds of Palestinians rushing to the site of the aid drop, with some venturing into the sea as parcels crashed down on the shores of Gaza. In one graphic scene, several dead bodies are shown, with some civilians performing CPR in a desperate attempt to resuscitate them.
Abu Mohammad, who witnessed the incident, told CNN the aid was dropped almost one kilometer off the coast into the sea, after which multiple men “who don’t know how to swim drowned" and died while trying to obtain the aid.
"There was strong currents and all the parachutes fell in the water. People want to eat and are hungry," he said. "I haven’t been able to receive anything. The youth can run and get these aid (drops) but for us it’s a different story."
It is unclear which country launched that specific airdrop. Egypt, Germany, the UK, the US, Singapore, and a joint UAE-Jordanian mission all flew airdrops over Gaza on Monday. CNN has reached out to all the ministries of defense of the countries who carried out air drops around that time and have not received official responses.
Severe hunger in Gaza: Israel’s severe restrictions on aid entering the Gaza Strip has drained essential supplies. Humanitarian bodies including Oxfam and Human Rights Watch warned Israel is "using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza, which is a war crime." Israel insists there is “no limit” on the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, but its inspection regime means relief is barely trickling in.
Qatar says there is no "negative impact" of UN ceasefire resolution on Israel and Hamas talks
From CNN’s Paula Hancocks, Mostafa Salem, Ami Kaufman and Niamh Kennedy
Qatar has said there is no sign as yet that the UN Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza is having any “negative impact” on high-stakes negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli representatives are still having meetings in Doha, amid speculation that the entire delegation had withdrawn, according to a spokesperson for Qatar, which has served as a key mediator in talks.
“We didn’t have any development that one of the teams had pulled out of the negotiations at this time,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari told journalists on Tuesday.
In response to a question from CNN, Al Ansari said that so far he hadn't noticed “any negative impact” of the UN resolution on the “current negotiations.”
Hopes for a ceasefire: Mediators were working towards a ceasefire before or during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, but gaps between Israel and Hamas over certain demands have delayed an agreement, added Ansari.
A window for a ceasefire before the Muslim holiday of Eid, the second week of April, is now closing, as both Israel and Hamas remain in disagreement over demands.
Israeli forces launch attacks on northern and southern Gaza, after UN Security Council demands ceasefire
From CNN staff
The Israeli military struck parts of northern and southern Gaza on Tuesday, despite the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave a day earlier.
Al Amal Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis was put "out of service" when Israeli troops forced health workers to evacuate, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) encircled the facility earlier this month, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Here are the latest developments:
- Israel's bombardment persists: The IDF said its "troops are operating in the area of Al Amal in Khan Yunis" in southern Gaza. Further north, Israeli forces "are continuing to conduct precise operational activity in the Shifa Hospital [in Gaza City]," the IDF added. CNN cannot independently verify the IDF statements. Human rights groups have warned that Israel has imposed "indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks" in Gaza.
- Airdrops into Gaza: The United Kingdom carried out its first solo airdrop into Gaza on Monday, dropping over 11 tons of food aid into the besieged enclave. The UK stressed its commitment to ensuring that the food aid, including "water, rice, cooking oil, flour, tinned goods and baby formula," reaches those who "need it most."
- Warnings from relief groups: Humanitarian agencies have criticized airdrops as an inefficient and degrading way of getting aid to Palestinians, urging Israeli authorities to lift controls on land crossings into the strip. "You're throwing aid into the wind to people who've been starving and have been denied humanitarian access. This will create chaos," the UN's special rapporteur for food, Michael Fakhri, said earlier this month.
Palestinian man detained by Israeli troops near Al-Shifa Hospital alleges abuse
From CNN’s Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Abeer Salman and Sana Noor Haq
A Palestinian man who was detained by the Israeli military for three days near Al-Shifa Hospital, in northern Gaza, during the IDF's operation there, says he was forced into torture positions, spat on and threatened with execution.
Mohammad Mershid, 25, spoke to CNN while being treated for a head injury at another hospital, Al-Asqa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. He said Israeli troops stormed a house where he was sheltering, near Al-Shifa. They separated men, women and children, and stripped detainees naked inside rooms covered with broken glass, he said.
"They didn’t even interrogate us, they were just enjoying torturing us,” he told CNN on Sunday. “We didn’t know what was happening with our neighbors. We were all besieged and we heard screaming.
They forced us to bend on our knees, and kept our hands on our backs... We all got stitches,” added Mershid. “One of the officers in the military... he kept spitting on me and pulled my hair from my chest.”
Israeli forces threatened him with execution, he says, before he was released and told to flee south along Al-Rasheed Street. Mershid escaped by scrambling over dead bodies that Israeli tanks had crushed “to the ground.” He added: “They shot everything alive, really everything. A lot of cats and dogs, even birds on the street.”
What the IDF says: CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) about the allegations levied by Mershid. The IDF has so far not responded. The IDF previously said it detained 500 people it claims are "terrorists” during its ongoing operation at Al-Shifa Hospital, but did not provide any details of or offer any evidence about the detainees. CNN cannot independently verify the numbers.
