Devastation in Gaza as Israel wages war on Hamas

Our live coverage of Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza has moved here.

When US President Joe Biden met with a group of Muslim community leaders this week, he recounted a recent conversation he had with First Lady Jill Biden relating to the conflict in Gaza, two participants have told CNN.

One of the attendees told the president that the decision to take part in the gathering had been a cause of concern for his wife, given the fierce backlash Joe Biden has drawn for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, according to two people present at the meeting.

Those attendees tell CNN that Biden brought up his own wife and closest confidant.

“It’s got to stop,” he recounted the first lady had said to him recently, according to the recollection of Nahreen Ahmed, who was in the room.

Another participant, who declined to be named, told CNN they remembered the president saying that the first lady had used these words: “Stop it. Stop it now.”

While that attendee said they believed the suggestion was that the first lady was calling for the war to end, Ahmed said it was unclear to her whether the first lady’s comment was directed at the Israel-Hamas war at large, or the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza.

Asked about the president’s remarks, a White House official said there is “no daylight” between the couple on the issue, with both sharing outrage over civilian deaths. The official added that Jill Biden was not calling for Israel to end its efforts against Hamas.

The New York Times first reported on the president’s comments referencing the first lady.

Read more on this story here.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized President Joe Biden following Biden's warning to Israel to take steps to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or face consequences.

"The president’s ultimatums should be going to Hamas, not Israel," Johnson said in a post on X.

"Hamas resisted a ceasefire, brought about needless bloodshed, and refuses to release Israeli and American hostages. Biden should not undercut our ally amidst an existential threat by conditioning our support," he continued.

The United Nations on Thursday welcomed news that Israel had agreed to reopen the Erez crossing into Gaza to allow more aid to enter the besieged enclave. 

The White House welcomed Israel’s decision to open new entry points for aid to enter Gaza on Thursday, saying the move came “at the president’s request following his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu."

The White House also reiterated that US policy in Gaza could change based on Israel’s “immediate” actions.

Watson reiterated that US policy “will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these and other steps, including steps to protect innocent civilians and the safety of aid workers.”

“We are prepared to work in full coordination with the Government of Israel, the Governments of Jordan and Egypt, the United Nations, and humanitarian organizations, to ensure that these important steps are implemented and result in a significant increase in humanitarian assistance reaching civilians in dire need throughout Gaza over the coming days and weeks,” she wrote.

In his phone call with President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted to his US counterpart that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were to blame for the deaths of the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers this week – and assured Biden that his government planned to announce measures to prevent such a mistake from happening again, according to a senior administration official.  

Netanyahu told Biden on Thursday that Israel was set on improving the tracking of non-profit workers inside Gaza and the US president affirmed that such steps were necessary, according to the official. 

The White House has previously said that the two leaders did not go into details of the investigation into the incident that killed the workers, including a dual American-Canadian citizen, which has drawn wide condemnation and angered the White House.

In a half-hour call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden did not lay out the specifics of how he would consider shifting US policy if Israel doesn’t make changes in its handling of the war in Gaza, according to a senior administration official.

He instead spoke in the same broad strokes reflected in the White House readout of the call that concrete changes needed to be made, according to the official. 

Netanyahu pledged during the call that Israel will soon announce new openings of humanitarian crossings, as well as procedural changes to limit civilian harm, according to the official. 

Hours later, an Israeli official told CNN that the security cabinet has approved the reopening of the Erez crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip.

While there were moments of disagreement between Biden and Netanyahu on the call — typical among the two leaders who have known each other for decades — there was no “sparring,” the official said, describing the conversation as “direct.” There is no follow-up call currently planned between the two leaders, the official says.

The Israeli security cabinet on Thursday approved the reopening of the Erez crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip for the first time since the October 7 Hamas attacks, an Israeli official told CNN.

The reopening is to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, the official said.

The cabinet also approved using the Israeli Port of Ashdod to help transfer more aid to the enclave. 

Land crossings into Gaza, through which the bulk of vital aid has traditionally entered the territory, remain heavily restricted by Israel. Aid agencies have accused Israel of throttling the entry of relief into the war-ravaged territory, though Israel has said it has “no limit” on the amount of relief that can enter.

Before the war started, Israel restricted all access to and from Gaza by sea and air, and kept land crossings under tight control. It had two functional crossings with the enclave: Erez, which was for the movement of people, and Kerem Shalom, for goods.

Gaza also has one crossing with Egypt, at Rafah, which is run by Egyptian authorities. While Israel has no direct control over this crossing, it monitors all activity in southern Gaza.

Reaction: The opening of the crossing would be “welcome news” and “certainly in keeping” with what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Joe Biden on Thursday, White House national security adviser John Kirby told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Kirby said he hadn't seen the new reporting, “but if it's true that certainly in keeping with what we heard from the prime minister today in terms of announcements they would be making in coming hours and days about opening up crossings, making it more accessible for humanitarian aid organizations to get food, water, medicine, and fuel into the people of Gaza.”

This post has been updated with comments from John Kirby.

US President Joe Biden posted on social media about his call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday, including a picture of him on the call.  

Biden wrote on X that Israel, “must implement steps to address civilian harm and the safety of workers – and work toward a ceasefire to bring hostages home.”