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Netanyahu set to address Congress next month
From CNN's Melanie Zanona and Oren Liebermann
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint meeting of Congresson July 24, according to congressional leadership.
All top four leaders —House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — signed on to the letter invitingNetanyahu.
“I have clear and profound disagreements with the Prime Minister, which I have voiced both privately and publicly and will continue to do so. But because America’s relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends one person or prime minister I joined the request for him to speak,” Schumer said in a statement Thursday night.
An Israeli official also confirmed Netanyahu will address Congress on July 24.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Biden says in ABC interview that he thinks Netanyahu is listening to him
From CNN's SamanthaWaldenberg
President Joe Biden said Thursday that he thinks Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is listening to him, arguing that — in his opinion — Israel has not gone into Rafah “full force," which the United States has been warning Israel against.
"I think he's listening to me,"Biden said. "They were going to go into Russia — into Rafah—full bore, invade all of Rafah, go into the city, take it out, move, move with full force. They haven't done that,” he said in an interview with ABC News, initially saying “Russia” before correcting himself.
“And what they've done is they've agreed to a significant agreement,” Biden said,noting that Hamas still has to accept the proposal. “And look, it's being backed by Egypt, being backed by the Saudis,being backed by the almost the whole Arab world.We’ll see,this is a very difficult time.”
Pressed on whether Netanyahu supports the ceasefire deal currently on the table, Biden said that the Israeli leader“publicly said he is” before adding that “we have to get a ceasefire.”
Catch up on the latest developments in Israel's war in Gaza
From CNN staff
At least 40 peopledied in the strike on the United Nations-run school in Nuseirat, medical workers at the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
The school was run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) before it closed at the start of the war. UNRWA’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said the school was sheltering 6,000 displaced people when it was hit without prior warning to UNRWA or the people living there.
The Israeli military said the strike was a “precise intelligence-based strike targeting dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.”
Here's the latest headlines:
- Threats to Gazans: More than 1 million people, half of Gaza’s population, are “expected to face death and starvation” by mid-July, a UN report warned.
- Regional tensions: Israel and the Lebanese Iran-backed Islamist group Hezbollah are ramping up cross-border attacks after months of low-intensity fighting, prompting the Israeli military to warn this week that it is prepared to launch a large-scale attack on its northern border. Separately, Houthi leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, has vowed to continue attacking Israel and its allies, saying the Yemeni militant group will constantly be developing its military capabilities and will “meet escalation with escalation.”
- Hamas infiltration: An Israeli soldier was killed in what the Israeli military described as a failed Hamas infiltration attempt into Israel early Thursday. The IDF said Thursday it killed three militants who approached the border fence between Israel and Gaza and fired at Israeli soldiers. The militants were killed in Gaza, 300 meters away from the border fence, the IDF told CNN. The whereabouts of a fourth militant who participated in the attempt were unknown, the IDF said.
- Ceasefire and hostage release deal: Egypt has received encouraging signs from Hamas on the latest ceasefire and hostages draftfrom Israel– one that US President Joe Biden took the unusual step of publicly detailing last week – a source familiar with the negotiations told CNN.Hamas is expected to respond to that proposal in the coming days, that source said. Meanwhile, a campaign group for relatives of the hostages held in Gaza has expressed “strong support” for thecall from the United States and 16 other nationsurging Israel and Hamas to “close” the hostage deal.
Israeli army kills 3 Palestinian Islamic Jihad members in West Bank raid, Palestinian health ministry says
From CNN's Jonny Hallam
Israeli forces fatally shot three Palestinians in the occupied West Bankon Thursday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The deaths occurred amid reports of clashes between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces in different areas of the West Bank city of Jenin.
The Israeli military, under the direction of the domestic security agency, known as Shin Bet, said they were carrying out an operation in the city to "eliminate terrorists," according to an Israel Defense Forcesstatement.
The IDF said they had killed militants at "close range" and arrested a "wanted man" in the raid.
Israeli army bulldozers and armored vehicles were seen on the outskirts of Jenin camp, as an Israeli Apache gunship was seen flying overhead "attacking the area" to aid the operation, the IDF said.
In a statement mourning their deaths, Palestinian Islamic Jihad said that three of its members had been killed by Israeli forces on Thursday during the operation in Jenin.
Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance crews were seen on video recovering the bodies of two dead from the street of Jenin, one who had been fatally shot by Israeli forces while riding on a Vespa scooter.
At least eight people were injured, seven by gunfire and one who was run over by an Israeli militaryvehicle, according to the PRCS.
Since October 7, at least 531 Palestinians, including 132 children, have been killed, and more than 5,200 have been injured across the West Bank and Jerusalem by Israeli forces and Israelisettlers, according to the health ministry.
White House is asking Israel for more information about the airstrike on the UN school in Gaza
From CNN's Samantha Waldenberg
The White House is asking Israel for more information on the airstrike on a United Nations-run school in central Gaza that reportedly killed at least 40 people.
The Biden administration does not have “independent verification of what exactly occurred” but it is talking to the Israelis to “try to get a better understanding," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN.
He added that Israel has a “right to go after Hamas” but that “how they do that matters.”
“They absolutely have a right to go after Hamas and we know Hamas shelters in civilian facilities and digs tunnels under houses and that kind of thing. But how they do that matters,” Kirby said. “We obviously don't want to see any civilian casualties whatsoever. So all of this is fresh and new and we're trying to get as much information from the Israelis as we can.”
ACNN analysisfound that the airstrike at the UN school was conducted with a US-made weapon.
The Israeli military defended the strike. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israeli intelligence believed that Hamas fighters who took part in the October 7 attack were operating from inside three classrooms. Earlier, another Israeli military spokesperson, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, told journalists the military was not “aware of any civilian casualties.”
CNN cannot independently verify any of those claims from the Israeli military.
Qatar says it has not received Hamas’ response to latest ceasefire proposal
From CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali and Abeer Salman
Mediators have yet to receive a response from Hamas regarding the latest ceasefire proposal, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari said in a statement on Thursday.
The proposal, detailed by US President Joe Biden in a speech last week in the hopes of fueling progress in the negotiations,includes terms for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel, and is still under consideration by the group.
“The movement reported that it is still studying the proposal,” Al-Ansari said.
Thejoint mediation efforts by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States are ongoing, Al-Ansari added. He urged the public to disregard inaccurate media reports and to rely on reliable official sources, highlighting the sensitivity of the current negotiations.
UN chief condemns deadly Israeli airstrike on UN-run school in Gaza
From CNN's Richard Roth
The United Nations Secretary-General AntónioGuterres on Thursday condemned a deadly Israeli airstrike on a UN-run school in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in central Gaza.
Among the dozens who died in the pre-dawn strike, reportedly 14 were children, according to StéphaneDujarric, a spokesperson for the secretary-general.
Guterres "underscores that UN premises are inviolable, including during armed conflict and must be protected by all parties at all times," Dujarric said.
"The Secretary-General calls on all parties to respect and protect civilians, and ensure their essential needs are met, in accordance with international humanitarian law," Dujarric said. "He reiterates his calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held in Gaza."
Biden administration presses Middle East allies to threaten Hamas in push for a Gaza ceasefire deal
From CNN's Kylie Atwood and MJ Lee
The Biden administration has spent the last week pushingallies in theMiddle Eastto make specific threats to Hamas, as part of an urgent campaign to prod the group toward accepting the latestIsraeli ceasefire and hostage proposalthat would pause the fighting in Gaza.
US officials have publicly called onthe groupto accept previous ceasefire proposals on the table as Israel and Hamashave engagedin months of back-and-forth negotiations, butthere has never been an all-outpressure campaign marked by specific asks to individual countriesas part ofthe Biden administration’s push.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hasheld almost a dozen callswith key players inthe region since Fridayandother top State Department officials have been intimately involved in the all-hands on deck effort.
White House Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk traveled to Egypt this week andCIA Director Bill Burns went toQatarin the hopes ofadding traction to the negotiations.
An initial response from Hamas on Wednesdayto the most recent Israeli proposal, as publicly described by President Joe Biden last week,appeared tosignal that thegaps may still be significant.
Still,the Biden administration believes there isan opportunity to close the deal, one US officialsaid. Another source told CNN Thursday thatEgypt has received encouraging signs from Hamas on the latest proposal, though they declined to detail exactly what those positive indications were.
Hamas is expected to respond to Israel’s proposal in the coming days, sources said.
Read more about the details of the negotiations.
Israeli military defends strike on UN school in Gaza that killed dozens: "We stopped a ticking time bomb"
From CNN's Jonny Hallam and EugeniaYosef
The Israeli military defended its strike of a United Nations school in central Gaza on Thursday, calling it a "precise intelligence-based strike targeting dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists." Medical workers said at least 40 people were killed in the strike.
Late Thursday, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israeli intelligence believed that Hamas fighters who took part in the October 7 attack were operating from inside three classrooms of the United Nations Relief and Works Agencyfor Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) school in Gaza's Nuseirat camp.
Hagari said the Israeli military has identified nine alleged Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters targeted in the strike. He said the IDF believes there were "about 30" Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters hiding inside the UN school but did not provide any further evidence or information as to how the IDF has come to this conclusion.
CNN is unable to independently verify the claim or the identities of those killed.
"The terrorists inside the school were planning more attacks against Israelis, some of them imminent. We stopped a ticking time bomb," Hagari said.
Hagari said Israeli forces, using aerial surveillance over several days, had delayed the strike on the school twice because they had identified civilians in the area.
"We conducted the strike once our intelligence and surveillance indicated there were no women or children inside the Hamas compound inside those classrooms," Hagari said, accusing Hamas of violating international law.
In addition to the at least 40 peoplewho died in the strike on the UNRWA school,five people were killed in a strike on a residential house also in Nuseirat. Three people were killed in artillery shelling in Deir Al-Balah and four others were killed in artillery shelling in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp.
