Israel-Hamas war: Biden steps up pressure on negotiators

A German frigate has intercepted a missile attack from Yemen-based Houthi rebels on the southern Red Sea.

The frigate Hessen is part of the European Union's naval mission deployed to the region after the Houthis — who are backed by Iran — launched attacks on shipping in response to Israel's military assault on Gaza.

"The action performed by Hessen was effective, avoiding any damage to seafarers and merchant shipping," the EU's mission, known as Aspides, said in a statement.

Aspides was launched in February to help protect the Red Sea, a key maritime trade route between Asia and Europe.

On the fourth day of operations, Hessen shot down two Houthi drones, and in mid-March the frigate fended off a drone attack on a cargo vessel, according to the German Bundeswehr.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Gaza's al-Shifa hospital is "now an empty shell with human graves after the latest siege."

Israeli forces pulled out of the Palestinian territory's most important medical complex on Monday after what it said was a two-week military operation against Hamas militants.

A WHO-led mission finally accessed the hospital on Friday after multiple failed attempts since March 25, the UN agency said.

"The team witnessed at least five dead bodies during the mission. Most of the buildings in the hospital complex are extensively destroyed and the majority of assets damaged or reduced to ashes," Tedros wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The WHO head said that the hospital would not likely be able to function even minimally in the short term.

"WHO and partners' recent effort to support the revival of basic services at Al-Shifa are now lost, and people are once again deprived of access to lifesaving health care services," he added.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in a statement that the six-month mark of the Gaza warwas a "terrible milestone." In a statement, he said the war claims "more civilian victims" each day.

"We face the unconscionable prospect of further escalation in Gaza, where no one is safe and there is nowhere safe to go. An already fragile aid operation continues to be undermined by bombardments, insecurity and denials of access," he said.

"Every second that it continues sows the seeds of a future so deeply obscured by this relentless conflict," the outgoing humanitarian chief said.  

"It is not enough for six months of war to be a moment of remembrance and mourning. ... There must be a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity," he added.

Griffiths, who served as the UN's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief Coordinator since 2021, announced in March that he will be stepping down from the role by the end of June for health reasons. 

The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said at least 33,137 people had been killed in the territory so far.

It reported 46 additional deaths in the past 24 hours. About 75,815 people have been wounded in the six-month war in Gaza.

Israel declared war on Gaza in response to Hamas' October 7 cross-border attack, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians. The group kidnapped about 250 people.

The Israeli offensive has pushed Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 80% of the population and leaving over 1 million people on the brink of starvation.

Talks over a hostage deal and a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas was scheduled to resume in Cairo on Sunday, according to Egypt's state-owned Al Qahera TV. 

CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani would reportedly mediate the latest round of talks.

Hamas said on Saturday that they would send a delegation to Cairo for the latest discussions. 

The group that launched the terror attack on Israel on October 7 that sparked the war in Gaza wants a permanent cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and a "serious" exchange deal of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.

It has said it will agree to release 40 as part of an initial six-week cease-fire deal that would include the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Israel has offered to allow 2,000 displaced Palestinians — mainly women, children and older people — to the north daily during a six-week cease-fire.

Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by Germany, the United States, and Israel. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has recovered the body of a man held hostage in Gaza, in an overnight raid on Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

"The body of hostage Elad Katzir was rescued by security forces overnight from Khan Yunis and returned to Israeli territory," the IDF wrote on X, former Twittter.

Katzir was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7 by Islamic Jihad militants, a organization allied to Hamas.

 Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by many governments including US and Israel.

The Israeli military said the man was "murdered" in captivity, adding their ground offensive in Gaza following the October 7 attacks was aimed to "locate and bring the hostages home." "We will continue to operate until it is complete," the IDF said.

US President Joe Biden has written to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas to "agree to and abide by a deal," a senior administration official told the AFP and AP news agencies.

Qatari, Egyptian, and US mediators are working to broker a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

But their efforts to secure a cease-fire and an exchange of hostages for prisoners have made no headway since a week-long truce in November.

"This basic fact remains true: There would be a cease-fire in Gaza today had Hamas simply agreed to release this vulnerable category of hostages, the sick, wounded, elderly, and young women," the senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.

On Thursday, Biden called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a cease-fire in the six-month-old war in Gaza.

Australia has announced that it will assign a special adviser to collaborate with Israel in order to ensure that the investigations into the Israeli strike on an aid convoy in Gaza are conducted with complete confidence.

The strike resulted in the death of seven aid workers in the Gaza Strip, including an Australian national.

"We want to have full confidence in the transparency and accountability of any investigation and we will continue to work to achieve that," Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a televised media conference in Adelaide.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday saidtwo officers who were involved in a deadly strike on the World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy in Gaza, killing seven workers on a food delivery mission, had been dismissed.

The findings of an investigation into the Monday killings said the soldiers had mishandled critical information and violated the army's terms of engagement.

Wong described the dismissals as "necessary first steps" but said the government had told Israel in a letter sent overnight that "initial responses suggest that the gravity of the death of seven humanitarian workers is yet to be appreciated by the Israeli government."

"This cannot be brushed aside," Wong said, adding that she expected all evidence in the investigations to be preserved.

Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom was killed in the strike with Polish, British, Palestinian, and US-Canadian nationals.

"We believe these deaths are utterly inexcusable and clear practical action is needed to ensure these tragedies are never repeated," Wong said.

Former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a close ally of President Joe Biden, signed a congressional letter on Friday calling for an end to weapons transfers to Israel.

The letter urged the Biden administration to conduct its own investigation into the Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers earlier this week, including a dual US-Canadian citizen.

"In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers," the letter, signed by Pelosi and 36 other democrats, read. 

Other signatories included Barbara Lee, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

rt,rm/lo,ab (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)