One month into war, Israel's troops push deeper into Gaza City as Palestinians flee to the south

A month into the war, Israel’s military says it’s fighting in the ‘depths’ of Gaza City after encircling the northern part of the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will have "overall security responsibility" in Gaza "for an indefinite period" after its war with Hamas. His comments in a TV interview offered the clearest indication yet that Israel plans to maintain control over the territory that’s home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.

Several hundred thousand people are believed to remain in the north in the assault’s path. Hundreds of Palestinians fled Gaza City to the south on Tuesday, raising their hands and waving white flags to move past Israeli tanks. Some came on donkey carts, most on foot, a few pushing aged relatives in wheelchairs, all visibly exhausted and many with nothing but their clothes on their back.

The Palestinian death toll in the war surpassed 10,300, including more than 4,200 children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.

In the occupied West Bank, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and Israeli raids. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.

Here’s what is happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:

WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT DOES NOT SUPPORT ISRAEL RE-OCCUPYING GAZA AFTER WAR

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday reiterated that President Joe Biden does not support an Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip once the war ends.

Asked about Netanyahu’s comments, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he would leave it to Netanyahu to clarify what he means by having "indefinite" control of Gaza’s security.

"There needs to be a healthy set of conversations about what post conflict Gaza looks like and what governance looks like," Kirby told reporters. "What we absolutely agree with our Israeli counterparts on is what it can’t look like, and it can’t look like it looked on October 6."

Biden previously said it would be a "mistake" for Israel to occupy Gaza.

THOUSANDS OF GAZA’S PREGNANT WOMEN AND NEW MOTHERS IN DIRE CONDITIONS, UN SAYS

UNITED NATIONS – The figures are staggering: 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza are unable to access routine maternal health care, 180 women are giving birth there every day, and 5,500 babies have been born since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Dr. Natalia Kanem, head of the U.N. agency that promotes reproductive and sexual health, gave those figures at a U.N. press conference Tuesday where she issued an urgent appeal for fuel for hospitals and incubators, clean water and food for pregnant and lactating women, and for a humanitarian cease-fire.

Kanem said the U.N. has no figures on the number of new mothers or newborns who’ve died since the war began. But she said, "we have seen losses of life" of newborns in hospitals who need incubators and oxygen which require fuel, adding that being in a hospital is essential for Caesarean section deliveries.

While two truckloads of health and delivery kits and medication have arrived in Gaza, "it’s a drop in the bucket" compared to the needs, said Kanem, the executive director of the U.N. Population Fund.

Pregnant women need double the amount of fluid than non-pregnant women, "and if you’re a lactating mother, it’s triple" – and "brackish water is not a solution," she added.

RED CROSS SAYS 2 AID TRUCKS HIT IN GAZA

CAIRO — The International Committee of the Red Cross said two of its trucks were damaged when a convoy of its vehicles in Gaza came under fire on Tuesday.

The ICRC vehicles were hit as they were transporting vital medical supplies to hospitals and health facilities in the besieged enclave, the aid group said. A driver was lightly wounded.

"These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work," said William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza. Officials did not provide further details on the trucks’ location inside Gaza.

ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS ITS GROUND FORCES ARE BATTLING ‘IN THE DEPTHS’ OF GAZA CITY

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Tuesday that its ground forces are now fighting in "the depths" of Gaza City.

The comments signaled a new stage by the Israeli military as it moves in toward what it says is the headquarters and stronghold of the Hamas militant group.

Speaking to reporters, the chief military spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said that Israeli ground forces "are located right now in a ground operation in the depths of Gaza City and putting great pressure on Hamas."

Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel was making great progress in its war, saying that the army has killed thousands of Hamas fighters.

SMALL GROUP OF GAZA KIDS WITH CANCER CROSS INTO EGYPT FOR TREATMENT

CAIRO — A dozen Palestinian children in Gaza who have cancer were allowed to cross the Rafah border on Tuesday for treatment in Egypt.

According to Egypt’s Health Ministry, the 12 children were transferred to specialized cancer hospitals. Authorities did not say whether the children traveled alone or if any family members or guardians were allowed to accompany them.

US ENVOY SAYS WASHINGTON DOESN’T WANT WAR TO EXPAND TO LEBANON

BLIDA, Lebanon — A top U.S. envoy said in Beirut on Tuesday that Washington doesn’t want the ongoing war in Gaza to expand to Lebanon, as a Lebanese woman and her three granddaughters were laid to rest two days after they were killed in an Israeli strike.

The comments from Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, came during an unannounced visit to Beirut to discuss the volatile situation with Lebanon’s parliament speaker and caretaker prime minister.

Hochstein told reporters after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri that restoring calm along Lebanon’s southern border is of "utmost importance."

Hochstein said he heard Berri’s concerns over the tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border, where fighters of the militant group Hezbollah and their allies have been exchanging fire with Israeli troops for about a month, after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7.

Hochstein’s comments came as the Israeli military and Hezbollah exchanged fire on Tuesday following what Israel said was the targeting of one of its posts along the Lebanese border. The clashes along the border have intensified since Israel launched a ground incursion into Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah.

MILITANTS TARGET US BASE IN IRAQ WITH DRONES

WASHINGTON — Militants targeted the U.S. military base in Irbil, Iraq, overnight and again Tuesday morning, but caused no injuries to personnel or damage to the infrastructure, a U.S. defense official said.

The Islamic Resistance, an umbrella organization of Iraqi militant groups backed by Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their drones hit their target without giving any further details.

The overnight attack on Irbil airbase near the city’s commercial airport was a multi-drone attack. Tuesday morning’s attack was with a single drone, said the U.S. defense official, who was not authorized to discuss the strikes and spoke on condition of anonymity. Commercial flights were briefly suspended.

The strikes are part of an ongoing string of attacks in recent weeks by the Iran-backed militants on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, in light of Washington’s support for Israel’s war on Hamas.

The attacks bring the total number of strikes on U.S. and coalition facilities in Iraq and Syria to at least 40 since Oct. 17.

The Islamic Resistance also claimed responsibility for other attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, including a drone attack on Al-Harir in Irbil province, and on the Green Village base in eastern Syria. The U.S. defense official said there were no reports of attacks at Al-Harir.