Israel-Hamas war: Hundreds of evacuees leave Gaza for Egypt

Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud has discussed efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The meeting in Washington came ahead of the US top diplomat's planned visit to Israel on Friday.

The two officials "explored aspects of cooperation to achieve our shared vision of promoting security and stability, both in the region and the world," the Saudi defense minister said on social media.

Blinken said his visit to Israel, his second in a month, aims to continue diplomatic engagement.

"As I have emphasized, we don’t have to choose between defending Israel and aiding Palestinian civilians. We can and must do both," Blinken said. 

Pope Francis has stressed the need for a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as a special status for Jerusalem.

In an interview with Italian state television RAI, the pope said he was hopeful a regional escalation could be avoided in the current conflict, which began when Hamas militants killed some 1,400 Israelis in a terror attack on October 7.

An escalation, he said, "would mean the end of so many things and so many lives."

He also voiced concern about a rise in antisemitism, adding that much of it "remains hidden."

"(Those are) two peoples who have to live together, with that wise solution, two states. The Oslo Accords, two well-defined states and Jerusalem with a special status," Francis said.

The 1993 Oslo Accords saw Israeli and Palestinian leaders agree to plans that would lay the groundwork for a two-state solution. But those plans have yet to be realized.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that protecting civilians in the Gaza Strip is crucial, according to Berlin.

In a phone call between the two leaders, Scholz "renewed Germany's unwavering solidarity with Israel," a statement from the chancellor's office said.

He "underlined the importance of protecting civilians and humanitarian supplies for the people of the Gaza Strip," the statement added. 

Scholz also welcomed the crossing into Egypt of the first ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians from Gaza earlier on Wednesday. 

The chancellor and Netanyahu "agreed to work together to prevent the conflict from spreading," the statement said.

Israeli tech giant Eyal Waldman lost his daughter Danielle and her boyfriend Noam Shai at the Nova music festival, when at least 260 people were murdered by Hamas militants on October 7. 

The couple tried to escape the gunmen by jumping in a car with three others and headed south, but the pair, both in their 20s, were followed and shot dead by militants with machine guns. One of the victims survived and is believed to have been taken hostage.

Speaking to DW, Waldman spoke of his personal heartbreak and called on the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to resign for "amazing intelligence and communications failures".

"Losing a son or a daughter is something no one should experience," Waldman said. "My daughter and her boyfriend were talking about getting married — unfortunately that will never happen. Instead of having a wedding, we're burying them together."

When asked what has gone wrong from an Israeli perspective, Waldman was unequivocal in his response: "We completely messed up, just amazing how messed up we were. Our intelligence failed, our communications failed.

"There is responsibility on the government, the Prime Minister. They should definitely resign, shamefully," the Jerusalem-born entrepreneur said.

"I hope that after this crisis and unbelievable pain, there will be peace. But only after destroying Hamas and Islamic Jihad and making sure that the people that have done what they've done are eliminated from this place."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it dispatched navy missile boats to the Red Sea on Wednesday after Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen claimed they launched attacks on Israel.

The IDF posted photos and a video on the social media platform Telegram appearing to show missile boats patrolling near the southern Israeli port city of Eilat.

A day prior, Houthi rebels said they had launched three drone and missile attacks towards Israel since the start of the war. The group also vowed to carry out further attacks on Israel.

The IDF said it had intercepted an "aerial threat" over the Red Sea on Tuesday night. Attacks launched at Israel over the Red Sea area have not hit Israeli territory or entered its airspace, either being shot down or falling short.

Concerns have been growing about the war between Israel and Hamas militants potentially spreading to other fronts.

Israel has also exchanged fire with militants from Lebanon's Hezbollah group, which is also supported by Iran, since the war broke out.

Israeli troops have moved forward in their large-scale ground offensive in Gaza and are nearing Gaza City, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

"We are standing at the gates of Gaza City," said Itzik Cohen, the commander of the IDF's 162nd Division, told reporters.

He said that the troops were deep in Gaza and that forces have "destroyed much of Hamas' abilities" and attacked its strategic facilities.

The IDF said that a total of 16 of its soldiers have been killed in fighting since Tuesday in clashes within and near the Gaza Strip.

Gaza City is the largest city in the Palestinian territory and is densely populated.

Israeli officials have repeatedly called for people living in Gaza City and the northern areas of the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south.

Over the weekend, Israeli ground troops advanced into Gaza for the first time in large numbers since the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas militants on Israel.

An estimated 800,000 people have fled from northern areas in Gaza, according to estimates from the Associated Press.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said "several" of its nationals were among those who left Gaza and entered Egypt through the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday.

Staff at Germany's embassy in Cairo met the group at the border crossing, the ministry wrote in a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The ministry did not state exactly how many German nationals were in the group, but said that they were "employees of international aid organizations."

At the same time, the ministry said its staff are working intensively to ensure the remaining German citizens who are in Gaza can leave the territory, as well as continuing its efforts concerning German nationals who were taken hostage by Hamas militants.

German officials are also working on boosting supplies for the "urgently needed aid deliveries for the people in Gaza," the ministry added.

For the first time since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, a group of people with foreign passports were able to leave Gaza and enter Egypt through the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday.

By early evening on Wednesday, over 300 foreign nationals and people with dual citizenship crossed into Egypt, the AFP and Reuters news agencies reported, citing Egyptian officials.

They are the first group to leave Gaza under a deal between Egypt, Israel and Hamas that was mediated by Qatar in coordination with the United States, Reuters reported citing Egyptian security sources and a Palestinian official. 

US President Joe Biden said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that US citizens would be among those leaving Gaza on Wednesday, adding "we expect to see more depart over the coming days."

Among the group were also four Italian nationals, five French nationals, and several German nationals, officials from the three countries said on X.

At least 500 foreign passport holders are expected to cross into Egypt on Wednesday, Egyptian authorities said.

Earlier in the day, a first group of injured Palestinians were also transported into Egypt and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

It was unclear exactly how many injured Palestinians were transported out of Gaza, with Egypt's Health Ministry putting the number at 16, while other Egyptian officials told AFP that 76 injured people had left Gaza through the border crossing.

Jordan announced it has recalled its ambassador to Israel with immediate effect in protest over the war and the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi said in a statement that he also told Israel's ambassador to Jordan not to return to the kingdom. The Israeli ambassador had previously left Jordan two weeks ago amid protests. 

He said the return of both ambassadors to their posts would be contingent on Israel "stopping its war on Gaza" as well as the "humanitarian catastrophe it is causing."

Jordan, which is a key ally of the United States, previously signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. It was the second Arab country after Egypt to establish diplomatic ties with Israel.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden and Jordan's King Abdullah II spoke on the phone about the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas militant group, which rules Gaza.

According to a statement from the White House, the two leaders had discussed "urgent mechanisms to stem violence, calm rhetoric and reduce regional tensions."

Reports have emerged of a round of strikes targeting buildings in a refugee camp near Gaza City for a second day in a row.

The initial attack on Tuesday, which Israel said killed a high-ranking member of Hamas who helped coordinate the October 7 attacks, reportedly killed dozens.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) told DW that it had received word that the area had been struck again.

"A few minutes ago there has been another strike. We're still waiting for information, but we are expecting scores of people to have been killed in this one," NRC spokesman Ahmed Bayram said.

The broadcaster Al Jazeera, which is still reporting from northern Gaza, also said the camp had been struck again. The toll from Wednesday's strikes was not immediately known.

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Peter Lerner told DW he could not confirm if the camp had been struck for a second time. 

However, Lerner did say the Tuesday attack had been targeted at Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari, who he described as "pivotal" in planning the attacks on Israel that killed some 1,400 people.

He also said the strikes had killed a large number of other combatants and destroyed Hamas's tunnels beneath. These claims could not be independently verified. 

The IDF spokesman also reiterated that "Hamas have intentionally instilled their civilian infrastructure within the population."

The World Health Organization (WHO) has welcomed the opening of the Rafah border crossing to allow seriously injured people from Gaza to receive treatment in Egypt.

The Egyptian border authority in Rafah said 81 seriously injured people were due to enter Egypt on Wednesday.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, the WHO said there were up to 65 ambulances equipped with full resuscitation and life support capabilities.

The el-Arish hospital, in the nearby Egyptian city of el-Arish, is set to receive many of those injured.

German and Italian officials said they were in contact with their citizens in the Gaza Strip and informing them about the possibility of leaving via the Rafah crossing.

Ahmed Bayram, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), told DW that his organization had managed to get in contact with a few of its colleagues in southern Gaza.

Bayram said the NRC had spoken to staff after mobile phone services in Gaza had been restored.

"Those who we managed to get in touch with told us that they had absolutely the worst night last night in Khan Younis, which is on the list of Israel's safe areas," Bayram said.

The NRC spokesperson added that "this area has seen ground operations from the southeast… and they reported a bomb falling 50 meters away from where they're staying."

Although Israel ordered Palestinians to flee the north of the Gaza Strip, it has also bombarded targets in southern Gaza.

Russian media reported on Wednesday that 15 anti-Israeli rioters who stormed an airport in Dagestan have been sentenced.

Russia's TASS news agency reported 15 people were sentenced to "administrative arrest."

Some were sentenced to eight days of administrative arrest while others received sentences of 60 hours of community service.

Late on Sunday, hundreds of protesters stormed the Makhachkala airport in Russia's Muslim-majority Dagestan, seeking to attack Jewish passengers arriving from Israel.

Several police officers were injured during the chaotic scenes, and more than 80 were initially detained.

Iranian state media on Wednesday reported that Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a call for Muslim states to halt oil and food exports to Israel, amid the bombardment of Gaza.

"The bombings on Gaza must stop immediately," Khamenei said in a speech, according to Iranian state media while calling for food and oil exports to stop.

Iran has backed Islamist groups opposing Israel for years but has denied direct involvement in the Hamas terror attacks launched on southern Israel on October 7.

Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Wednesday said it had lodged complaints of war crimes with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The group said war crimes had been committed against Palestinian journalists in Gaza and an Israeli journalist in Israel.

"The scale, seriousness and recurring nature of international crimes targeting journalists, particularly in Gaza, calls for a priority investigation by the ICC prosecutor," RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement.

"We have been calling for this since 2018. The current tragic events demonstrate the extreme urgency of the need for ICC action," Deloire said.

The complaints specifically concern the deaths of eight Palestinian journalists who RSF said were killed "in bombardments of civilian areas in Gaza by Israel" and an Israeli journalist who was killed on October 7 "while covering an attack on his kibbutz by Hamas."

According to RSF figures, 34 journalists have been killed since the start of the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas militant group.