Israel-Hamas War Images Emerging From Gaza Suggest Urban Fighting”

Updated 

Nov. 9, 2023, 11:01 a.m. ET5 minutes ago

Current time in:

Jerusalem Nov. 9, 6:06 p.m.

1. 

   France is hoping to secure more humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip at an international conference in Paris on Thursday. 

   Yousef Masoud for The New York Times

2. Large plumes of smoke clouded the skies of Gaza on Thursday, as clashes between Hamas and Israeli forces intensified around Gaza City.

   Associated Press

3. Palestinians mourned the death of their relatives after they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis. Many civilians in Gaza fear for their safety.

   Yousef Masoud for The New York Times

4. People cleared the rubble from buildings destroyed by airstrikes days prior in southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.

   Reuters

5. Overcrowding, deteriorating hygiene and lack of access to water, sanitation and health care are putting people in Gaza at risk of a rapid spread of infectious diseases, the World Health Organization warned.

   Said Khatib/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

6. With fuel and medicine scarce, Gaza’s health care system is collapsing. Doctors are being forced to stretch resources to treat the sick and injured and make impossible choices on who lives and who dies.

   Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

7. Tens of thousands of desperate civilians have fled the northern Gaza Strip this week, as Israeli officials reported that their troops had pushed into the heart of the densely populated Hamas stronghold of Gaza City.

   Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

8. Discussions are underway for Hamas to release a small number of hostages, in return for a short pause in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to officials briefed on the discussions.

   Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

Here’s what we know:

Israeli soldiers have advanced deep into the enclave, pushing into Gaza City as part of what Israel says is a campaign to destroy Hamas and its network of tunnels.

• Videos offer glimpses of the battle for Gaza.
• Chickenpox, scabies and other diseases surge in Gaza, the W.H.O. says.
• Palestinian officials say 15 are killed in the West Bank as violence spikes.
• Macron convenes an aid conference on worsening conditions in Gaza.
• Archaeologists look for traces of the missing in the ashes of Hamas’s attack.
• Hamas is discussing conditions for freeing a few hostages, officials say.
• Houthi rebels shot down a U.S. drone off Yemen, the Pentagon says.

Journalists were taken into northern Gaza for four hours on Saturday to see the extent of the Israeli military’s advance.Ronen Bergman/The New York Times

Backed by armored vehicles, Israeli soldiers have engaged Hamas fighters in days of running gun battles in Gaza City, fighting through rubble-filled streets and blasted-out buildings for control of the strip’s largest urban center and the militants’ main stronghold.

Video trickling out of Gaza show striking images of war, offering glimpses of close-quarters urban combat that are reminiscent of the 20th century’s most brutal battles and the savagery of more recent battles like the American-led fight to retake Fallujah in Iraq in 2004.

Gaza’s two million residents are at risk of a rapid spread of infectious diseases, the World Health Organization warned.Yousef Masoud for The New York Times

Intense overcrowding, deteriorating hygiene and lack of access to water, sanitation and health care are putting Gaza’s two million residents at risk of a rapid spread of infectious diseases, the World Health Organization warned, saying it had already seen an increase in illnesses.

Diarrhea, chickenpox, scabies and upper respiratory infections are rampant in a “very concerning” emergence of disease, the agency said on Wednesday, adding that younger children and immunocompromised people were at particular risk.

Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian killed during an Israeli army raid in the village of Dura, close to the West Bank city of Hebron, on Thursday.Hazem Bader/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

At least 15 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank on Thursday, including 11 in Israeli military raids in the city of Jenin, the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said, as rising violence in the territory raised fears that another front could open in Israel’s war with Hamas.

Over 150 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Hamas’s surprise attack from Gaza last month, according to the United Nations, making it one of the deadliest periods there in recent memory. The Israeli military said many were killed in gun battles, violent clashes or attempted attacks on Israelis. Others were killed during Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians, the U.N. said.

President Emmanuel Macron of France has insisted that Israel has the right to defend itself after the Hamas attack, but says it needs to follow international laws on protecting civilians in Gaza.Pool photo by Gonzalo Fuentes

President Emmanuel Macron of France said Thursday that he would increase his country’s funding for humanitarian aid in Gaza and urged countries to pursue a cease-fire, as conditions in the enclave continue to deteriorate under weeks of bombardment by Israel.

“We need a very rapid humanitarian pause, and we must work toward a cease-fire,” Mr. Macron said at a conference in Paris that he had convened to secure more aid for Gazan civilians.

Mourners gathered at the funeral of Lili and Ram Itamari, who were killed in Kfar Aza by Hamas gunmen on Oct. 7. Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times

Moshe Ajami, a veteran Israeli archaeologist, has spent decades sifting through the country’s southern desert to excavate lost ruins that date back more than 2,000 years. But in the past couple of weeks, he has been focused on searching the ashes of homes burned down by Hamas terrorists during last month’s surprise attack, looking for the bones, blood and teeth of Israelis who remain missing.

“As archaeologists, we are trained to identify human remains that others may miss,” said Mr. Ajami, the deputy head of Israel’s Antiquities Authority, during an interview in his office in Jerusalem.

Around 240 hostages are believed to be held by Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

Discussions are underway for Hamas to release a small number of hostages, including some Americans, in return for a short pause in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to officials briefed on the discussions.

Under the terms being negotiated, Hamas would release up to 15 hostages and Israel would pause attacks on Gaza for three days, which would allow time for humanitarian aid to be shipped into the enclave and hostages to be transported out, according to one person briefed on the discussions.

An American MQ-9 Reaper drone in Catania, Italy, last year. Iran-backed Houthi rebels shot down this type of drone off the coast of Yemen on Wednesday, the Pentagon said.Fabrizio Villa/Getty Images

A U.S. military surveillance drone was shot down off the coast of Yemen on Wednesday by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the Pentagon said.

Pentagon officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, confirmed that the drone, an MQ-9 Reaper, had been shot down. But they would not say if the aircraft was armed, where it was flying from or other details.

Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, center, during a vigil commemorating one month since the Hamas terror attack on Israel, outside the House of Representatives on Tuesday.Tom Brenner for The New York Times

The White House on Wednesday condemned Representative Rashida Tlaib for embracing a phrase used by some pro-Palestinian groups, a day after the House censured her for her statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

The White House was referring specifically to the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a slogan widely regarded as a rallying cry for the eradication of Israel.“