Israel-Hamas war: Israel steps up strikes, more aid crosses

US President Joe Biden has discussed the Israel-Hamas war with leaders of major Western powers, the White House said, as Israel intensified its attacks on Gaza.

Biden spoke with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy, the White House said.

"The leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians," a White House readout of the discussions said.

It said the leaders discussed their own citizens trapped in the Israel-Hamas war, "in particular those wishing to leave Gaza."

In a joint statement, the leaders also welcomed the release of two hostages and called for the immediate release of all remaining hostages.

Hamas militants stormed across the border into Israel on October 7, launching a raid that killed at least 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials. They also seized more than 200 hostages in the worst attack in Israel's history.

A funeral was held Sunday for Samantha Woll, the president of a Detroit synagogue who was killed over the weekend, as police said there was no evidence of antisemitism as a motive.

Detroit police chief James White said in a brief statement that his force is interviewing "individuals with information that may further the investigation" into the death of Samantha Woll. He gave no details.

"No evidence has surfaced suggesting that this crime was motivated by antisemitism," White said.

Emergency personnel found Woll dead outside her home with multiple stab wounds, police said in a statement Saturday. A trail of blood led officers to Woll's home, "which is where the crime is believed to have occurred."

The murder came amid escalating tensions in Jewish and Muslim communities across the United States over the Israel-Hamas war, which has taken thousands of lives this month.

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Tel Aviv on Tuesday for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office announced.

His visit comes after Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7 and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Among them were 30 French citizens.

Seven French citizens are still missing. One of them, a French woman, has been confirmed as among the hostages taken by Hamas. Macron has said the others are also thought to be hostages, but there has not yet been confirmation.

US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have already visited Israel.

Pope Francis renewed his call Sunday for an end to the Hamas-Israel crisis amid fears it could widen into a regional conflict.

 "War is always a defeat, it is a destruction of human fraternity. Brothers, stop! Stop!" Francis said after his traditional Angelus prayer at Saint Peter's Square in Rome.

Francis also called for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Gaza Strip after trucks were allowed in via the Rafah crossing over the past two days.

"I renew my call for spaces to be opened, for humanitarian aid to continue to arrive and for hostages to be freed," the 86-year-old pontiff said.

Hamas took around 200 hostages when it launched an assault on Israel on October 7. Only two of them — an American mother and daughter — have been released.

The pope also spoke for 20 minutes by phone to US President Joe Biden on Sunday about "conflict situations in the world and the need to identify paths to peace," the Vatican said. 

When asked if he was encouraging Israel to delay an invasion of Gaza, Biden, who is a Catholic, said Saturday that he was talking to Israel's leaders.

Around 12,000 people took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brussels' European Quarter on Sunday, calling on the EU to advocate for a ceasefire and an end to Israel's closure of the Gaza Strip.

Demonstrators carried posters with slogans such as "Stop the attacks" or "Free Palestine."

In response to a large-scale terror assault by the Islamist Hamas, Israel recently attacked hundreds of targets in the densely populated Gaza Strip.

More than 4,650 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.

In France, Paris played host to its first pro-Palestinian demonstration after the organizers — unlike others — publicly condemned the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,400 people.

Around 15,000 people turned out at the Place de la Republique, according to police figures, to express solidarity with Palestinians and call for a ceasefire.

Several other French cities have approved similar protests over the past few days, after France's highest administrative court ruled that they were to be banned on a case-by-case basis, not systematically as an earlier instruction by the French interior minister had suggested.

Several thousand people gathered Sunday in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo at a pro-Palestinian rally, with the mayor invoking the city's bloody siege during Bosnia's inter-ethnic war in the 1990s.

"The city that has endured the longest siege in modern history, Sarajevo, has the right to stand firmly with Gaza today," Mayor Benjamina Karic told the crowd in front of the city hall.

"We know what it's like when there's no water, no food, we know what it's like when children are killed," she said with tears in her eyes.

Sarajevo was under a 44-month siege by Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.

More than 11,500 people, including several hundred children, were killed during the siege.

In Berlin on Sunday, more than 10,000 people joined a rally in support of Israel.

Israel's military has expressed "sorrow" after one of its tanks "accidentally fired and hit an Egyptian post," near the border with Gaza.

"The incident is being investigated and the details are under review," the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement.

"The IDF expresses sorrow regarding the incident" near the Kerem Shalom area, the statement added.

It was unclear whether the firing was linked to an explosion heard near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip earlier Sunday.

The Egyptian army said several border guards sustained minor injuries in the accidental shelling.

Rafah is the only Gaza border crossing open, and only for short periods, to allow international aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israel has regularly bombarded the Palestinian enclave since the Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7.

The Israeli military has said it will step up its air strikes in the northern part of Gaza, in anticipation of a ground offensive.

More than 700,000 Palestinians in Gaza have so far evacuated northern areas of the territory for the south, following instructions to relocate from the IDF.

The United States envisions the prospect of the Israel-Hamas war escalating to the wider region, the country's top diplomat and defense officials said on Sunday.

However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the United States did not want to see the conflict spread.

Blinken told NBC News actions by Iran and its proxies could spark an escalation.

He added that Washington hoped that more hostages would be released by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,400 people.

Israel has since retaliated with deadly air strikes on Gaza that have killed over 4,700 people, Palestinian officials say.

"We're concerned about potential escalation. In fact, what we're seeing … is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region," Austin told ABC's "This Week" program.

"If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation ... our advice is: don’t," he added.

"We maintain the right to defend ourselves and we won't hesitate to take the appropriate action," he added.

Hours earlier, the Pentagon said it was upping readiness in the region in response to "recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces."

Austin ordered the activation of air defense systems and notified additional forces that they may be deployed soon.

A second convoy of humanitarian aid trucks has begun the process of crossing into Gaza, according to multiple news agencies.

A convoy of 17 aid trucks was allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, Egypt's state-run media reported. It was the second shipment into the territory since Israel imposed a complete siege two weeks ago.

AFP news agency described how the first fuel trucks entered the Palestinian enclave Sunday since the violence unfolded two weeks ago.

Six trucks with fuel to power generators at two hospitals crossed from Egypt, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and an Egyptian source told AFP.

Hospital personnel in Gaza have reported that doctors have been performing procedures by the light of cellphones in recent days due to severe fuel shortages.

Residents of the Palestinian territory have been under an almost total Israeli blockade, including the halting of water and power supplies, since the Islamist Hamas militant group launched a terror attack in southern Israel on October 7.

Cindy McCain, the head of the UN World Food Program (WFP) told ABC's "This Week" program that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was catastrophic.

She called for aid agencies to be given secure, sustainable access to the enclave, which she said was a war zone.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has expressed his solidarity with Israel.

Steinmeier delivered the speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, at a solidarity rally under the slogan: "Stand up against terror, hatred and antisemitism — in solidarity and compassion with Israel."

"Since October 7, nothing has been the same," Steinmeier said, adding that not since the Shoah had so many Jews been murdered in an attack.

Steinmeier said that Israel had the right to defend itself, "And Germany stands firmly by Israel's side in this," the German president said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday attended a ceremony in the German town of Dessau-Rosslau, situated around 127 kilometers (78.9 miles) southwest of Berlin, where a newly built synagogue was reopened, 85 years after it was destroyed by the Nazis.

Around 80 guests were invited to the opening, including the anti-Semitism commissioner of the German government, Felix Klein, Israel's ambassador Ron Prosor and the Vice President of the Central Council of Jews, Mark Dainow.

In a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Scholz said that the new synagogue showed that "Jewish life is and remains a part of Germany."

He also warned that "antisemitic hate" did not have a place in the country, and was a criminal offense in Germany.

"Our state will defend Jewish life — everywhere and at all times," the chancellor said. 

German officials have reported multiple antisemitic incidents since the escalation of violence in the Middle East two weeks ago.

On Wednesday, German police said that attackers threw two Molotov cocktails at a synagogue and Jewish community center in Berlin.

India's foreign ministry said it has sent 38.5 tons of humanitarian aid to help Palestinians in Gaza.

Foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi posted pictures of supplies being loaded onto an Indian air force transport aircraft, ahead of its departure to El-Arish airport in Egypt.

"The material includes essential life-saving medicines, surgical items, tents, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, sanitary utilities, water purification tablets among other necessary items", Bagchi posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

On Saturday, the first humanitarian aid convoy was allowed to enter at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The Palestinian territory had been sealed off following the Hamas terror attack in southern Israel on October 7.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday said that "additional steps" had been taken "to further strengthen the Department of Defense posture," in the Middle East.

Austin said that this had been due to "recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces," across the region.

The US chief of defense said that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group — one of two deployed to the region — would be redirected, in order to bolster military presence and "ability to respond to a range of contingencies."

Austin also ordered the activation of air defense systems including a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery along with Patriot battalions "throughtout the region."

Additional forces have also been placed on "prepare to deploy orders." 

The measures come amid escalating tensions following the Hamas terror attack on southern Israel on October 7.

Iranian backed factions have previously threatened to attack US interests over its support of Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that there had been an escalation of attacks on Israeli military positions around the northern border by the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

In a morning briefing, IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said Hezbollah was "playing a very very dangerous game. They're escalating the situation. We see more and more attacks every day."

"Hezbollah... is dragging Lebanon into a war that it will gain nothing from, but stands to lose a lot," Conricus said after pointing out areas where he said the group had been attacking.

Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed Shiite political party and militant group and is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany, and a number of Sunni Arab countries.

Conricus said the attacks around the northern border had resulted in civilian and military casualties and that authorities had evacuated communities in the area.

Israel's defense ministry said that the evacuation of 14 more villages in the north had been approved.

Israeli aircraft struck the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday, killing two Palestinians and wounding several others, Palestinian medics said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said the strike hit an area near al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin refugee camp, a Palestinian militant stronghold in the territory. Jenin was the focus of major Israeli military operations earlier this year.

According to Israel, "terror operatives" from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were planning attacks were killed in an air strike.

The Israeli military said al-Ansar mosque "was used by the terrorists as a command center to plan the attacks and as a base for their execution."

Violence in the West Bank has flared since Hamas gunmen carried out terror attacks on Israel on October 7. Israel has since then carried out retaliatory airstrikes on Hamas in Gaza.

As aid trucks enter Gaza and Israeli airstrikes on the enclave intensify ahead of a seemingly imminent ground offensive, DW spoke by phone with Gaza-based journalist Hazem Balousha about the situation on the ground.

According to Balousha, the aid that arrived in Gaza via Egypt's Rafah crossing is not enough to help.

"Gaza needs more fuel, needs electricity. The fuel is needed for the hospitals according to the officials, and for water wells, and to pump the water to the houses in Gaza Strip," he said.

The journalist also mentioned that people need drinking water which is "very limited" and "hard to get."

Balousha added that another problem in Gaza is the lack of shelters where people can hide from the airstrikes. The people "stay in their cars or literally in the streets," he said.

But what people in Gaza need most is a cease-fire, the journalist said. "Whenever I talk to people, they ask me when it's going to be over. Or is there a talk about a cease-fire, or a truce, or talks, or pressure or anything that will put an end to all of this," Balousha said.