By Tara Subramaniam, Christian Edwards, Aditi Sangal, Eric Levenson, Adrienne Vogt, Matt Meyer, Tori B. Powell and Emma Tucker, CNN
US President Joe Biden began a speech Thursday evening to Americans by saying that "we're facing an inflection point in history" amid the ongoing war in Israel.
He went on to renew his promise of getting American hostages home to America.
"As I told the families of Americans being held captive by Hamas, we're pursuing every avenue to bring their loved ones home," he said. "As president, there is no higher priority for me than the safety of Americans held hostage."
From CNN's Nic Robertson and Muhammad Darwish in Sderot, Israel
Israeli politicians have previewed what a potential ground invasion into Gaza would look like, as speculation heightens after more than 60 Hamas operatives were arrested early Thursday in the West Bank.
"The Israeli government made a decision, gave a green light to the army to wipe them out and now it’s in the hands of the army," said Nir Barkat, Israel's Minister of Economy.
Some politicians are preparing expectations for a long war.
Minister of Agriculture Avi Dichter, a former head of Israeli security, says Israel wants the level of security control they currently have in the West Bank, where they maintain complete access on their own terms.
"Today, whenever we have a military problem in every single place in the West Bank. We are there," Dichter told CNN.
Dichter said he envisions a margin along the Gaza border at the end of the conflict, which he called a "fire zone."
"No matter who you are, you’ll never be able to come close to the Israeli border," he said.
As casualties continue to grow on both sides of the conflict, Dichter said he rejects calls from the international community for a humanitarian pause to ease civilian suffering.
"We don’t activate against civilians," Dichter stressed to CNN. "In a war, a la guerre comme la guerre. And unfortunately, we have suffered."
From CNN staff
US President Joe Biden is delivering a speech to the American people from the Oval Office.
He is expected to make a direct appeal to continue funding Ukraine and Israel amid their war efforts, according to two administration officials.
The primetime address is taking place on the eve of the White House requesting north of $100 billion from Congress to deliver aid and resources to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the US border with Mexico. Biden is expected to make the argument that supporting Ukraine and Israel is a matter of US national security when the world is at an inflection point.
Biden’s remarks come on the heels of his wartime visit to the Middle East. The US, Egypt and Israel have all signaled readiness for aid to begin moving into Gaza, following Biden’s high-profile visit. However, the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza is not expected to open Friday for a convoy of humanitarian aid to get into Gaza, multiple sources told CNN, despite expectations voiced by Biden and others that it would be open.
CNN's Kayla Tausche and Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.
From CNN's Sharon Braithwaite
The risk of regional spillover from the Israel-Hamas war is real, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday, during a speech at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC.
"We have seen the Arab streets fill with rage, all across the region. The risk of a regional spill-over is real. This is exactly what Hamas was hoping to achieve. And this can derail the recent and historic rapprochement between Israel and its Arab neighbours," von der Leyen said.
"Russia and Hamas are alike. As (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky) has said their ‘essence is the same'. Both have deliberately sought out innocent civilians, including babies and children, to kill and take hostage. It is a barbaric way to fight. And left unchecked, this contagion has the potential to spread, from Europe, across the Middle East and to the Indo Pacific," von der Leyen said.
Von der Leyen went on to say that an escalation is not inevitable.
"Instability can be contained. Dialogue between Israel and its neighbors can and must continue," she said.
"This time of war must also be a time of unrelenting diplomacy. Europe, as the largest foreign investor in many countries across the region, has both leverage and a stake. The same is true for the US. This is a shared American and European interest. The pursuit of a world where freedom prevails is our common destiny," she said.
From Betsy Klein
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff met Thursday with Natalie Sanandaji, an American survivor of the Hamas terrorist attacks, a White House official told CNN.
“Natalie, who is now safely back in the United States, recounted the horrific attacks that unfolded while at a music festival in Israel,” the official said.
“The second gentleman spoke to President (Joe) Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris’s steadfast support of Israel, the need to provide humanitarian aid to innocent civilians, and the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to combat antisemitism and hate of all kinds," the official added.
Sanandaji told her story to CNN last week, describing her harrowing escape from the music festival.
From CNN's Hande Atay Alam
Approximately 700 people have requested evacuation from Gaza so they can return to Turkey, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said Thursday, according to Turkish state media TRT Haber.
Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yilmaz said "322 of them are citizens of the Republic of Turkey, 104 are citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and 214 Turkish citizens have relatives who are Palestinian. We have 55 personnel from Anadolu Agency, TRT (Turkish Radio and Television), and the Ministry of Health."
During a speech at the Turkish Grand National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, Yilmaz also mentioned that the Turkish government is planning to establish a hospital — either in Turkey or in the region — for the treatment of injured people in Gaza.
From Jake Tapper, Jennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt
The Rafah crossing is not expected to open Friday for a convoy of humanitarian aid to get to Gaza, multiple sources told CNN, despite expectations voiced by US President Joe Biden and others that it would be open.
“I would not put money on those trucks going through tomorrow,” one source familiar with the discussions told CNN.
Road repairs need to be done on the Egyptian side of the buffer zone and there are a lot of other details to make sure the aid is sustained, not a one off, the source said.
It’s “a really volatile situation,” the person said. “These people have been waiting for food, for medicine and for water. If they’re told 20 trucks are coming in and we don’t know when is next it’s going to create a really dangerous situation. If I were in that situation, if I didn’t think there would be more trucks, I’d do everything I could to get what’s inside.”
US officials now expect that the first convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt will cross the border this weekend, possibly by Saturday.
A US official cautioned that the situation remained fluid as preparations continued to allow the humanitarian aid through.
US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said at a briefing Thursday afternoon that former Ambassador David Satterfield, the US special envoy for Middle East humanitarian assistance, was “on the ground negotiating with the Israelis” and working on the details “even as we speak.”
“With respect to trucks, I don't want to speak to what the exact agreement will look like because that is a matter that continues to be negotiated, that Ambassador Satterfield is on the ground negotiating,” Miller said.
The agreement is for 20 trucks but there are 200 parked outside so aid could be sustained if there’s an agreement.
Israel is going to want to be involved in the control mechanism, the source says, to make sure they approve what’s going in.
“Things can change quickly for the better and for the worse,” they said.
Miller on Thursday reiterated that the concerns voiced by the Israeli government that Hamas will try to divert the assistance for Gaza and noted “we think that's a legitimate concern.”
Speaking to reporters en route back to the US from Israel Wednesday, Biden said Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi agreed to open the Rafah crossing to “let up to 20 trucks through to begin with.” The road into Gaza had to be fixed and potholes filled before the trucks could pass, the president said. He said it would take about eight hours on Thursday to get the work done, and he expected the trucks to be rolling Friday.
On Thursday, Egyptian state media and an Egyptian security official also indicated that the crossing would be open Friday.
From CNN staff
The death toll in Gaza continues to rise as the war rages on. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 3,785 people have died since October 7, including 1,524 children, 1,000 women and 120 elderly people.
Additionally, 12,493 people have been injured, including 3,983 children and 3,300 women, according to the ministry's spokesperson Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra.
And the US intelligence community assesses that there likely were between 100 to 300 people killed in the blast at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza earlier this week, according to an unclassified intelligence assessment obtained by CNN.
Here are other headlines you should know:
From Asmaa Khalil and CNN's Sarah El Sirgany and Mohammed Tawfeeq,
Egyptian authorities on Thursday started removing cement blocks at the entrance of the Rafah crossing, preparing for its opening, several drivers at the crossing told CNN.
"Currently there's a miles long convoy of humanitarian assistance between Arish and Rafah with trucks on the sides of the road awaiting the possibility of entering Gaza," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told CNN's Christiane Amanpour Tuesday.
Egyptian Red Crescent aid trucks were lining up on the highway in Al-Arish, preparing to move to the crossing once it is open, journalist Asmaa Khalil, who's currently close to Rafah, told CNN. Red Crescent trucks are carrying international aid that arrived in Egypt, security officials said.
Located in Egypt's north Sinai, the Rafah crossing is the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. It falls along an 8-mile (12.8-kilometer) fence that separates Gaza from the Sinai desert.
The crossing is currently shut, with aid unable to get into Gaza. It's no longer expected to open Friday despite an announcement from President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Thursday, multiple sources told CNN.
Shoukry said the crossing has been bombed four times recently, with one bombing occurring while people tried to repair it. He said four Egyptian workers were injured.
After speaking with US President Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi agreed to open the Rafah crossing to allow aid to enter Gaza. Egypt has said it won't allow refugees to flood its territory and has instead insisted that Israel allow it to deliver aid to Gazans.
