Israel-Gaza live updates: DOD says Islamic Jihad responsible for hospital blast
In Israel, at least 1,400 people have died and 3,400 others have been injured since the terrorist group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Oct. 7, according to Israeli authorities.
Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Gaza in retaliation against Hamas. In Gaza, 3,478 people have been killed and more than 12,000 have been injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Tensions are high with the prospect of Israel launching a ground war into Gaza.
Conditions in Gaza are becoming more dire by the day with residents trapped without food, water, medicine and power.
Click here for previous updates.
Latest Developments
Oct 18, 6:53 PM
British PM to visit Israel Thursday
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will visit Israel and meet with Israeli leaders on Thursday, his office announced.
The two-day trip will include meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog "before traveling to a number of other regional capitals," his office said in a statement.
“The attack on al-Ahli Hospital should be a watershed moment for leaders in the region and across the world to come together to avoid further dangerous escalation of conflict. I will ensure the UK is at the forefront of this effort.” Sunak said in a statement.
The prime minister "will stress that any civilian death is a tragedy and tell fellow leaders that, as an international community," Sunak's office said in a statement.
-ABC News' Mike Trew and Ellie Kaufman
Oct 18, 6:00 PM
White House provides more detailed assessment of Gaza hospital explosion
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson released a statement Wednesday providing more details about their assessment that Israel was not responsible for the hospital explosion in Gaza that killed over 500 people.
"Intelligence indicates that some Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip believed that the explosion was likely caused by an errant rocket or missile launch carried out by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The militants were still investigating what had happened," she said in the statement.
Watson reiterated that intelligence officials are "continuing to work to corroborate whether it was a failed PIJ rocket."
-ABC News' Ben Gittleson
Oct 18, 5:50 PM
Biden says aid likely to arrive in Gaza Friday
President Joe Biden told reporters aboard Air Force One that Egypt’s president has agreed to open the Rafah crossing gate to allow up to 20 trucks with aid to travel to Gaza.
He said there are potholes in the road that have to be fixed before the trucks can go through, so the aid may not get there until Friday.
"This has been a very blunt negotiation," Biden said.
The president said according to the agreement, if the aid trucks cross the border, the U.N. will be on the other side to distribute it. However, if Hamas confiscates the supplies, or if it doesn't get through "then it's going to end," Biden said.
The Rafah crossing was shut on Oct. 10 after it was hit by Israeli warplanes on the Palestinian side three times on Oct. 9 and 10.
Gaza has been under siege by Israeli forces for over a week and humanitarian groups, doctors and others on the ground have pleaded for more supplies.
-ABC News' Selina Wang
Oct 18, 5:35 PM
UK government advises citizens to leave Lebanon
The United Kingdom issued an advisory to its citizens living in Lebanon to "leave now while commercial options remain available."
The advisory warned of ongoing mortar, artillery exchanges and airstrikes in the southern part of the country which borders Israel. It also stated there's "a risk of civil unrest."
"Events in Lebanon are fast moving. The situation has potential to deteriorate quickly and with no warning," the government said in the advisory.
The government warned that "the British Embassy may be increasingly limited in the assistance that it can provide," if things escalate.
-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman
Oct 18, 5:11 PM
Biden to address US response to Hamas' attacks Thursday
The White House announced that President Joe Biden will "address the nation to discuss our response to Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel and Russia’s ongoing brutal war against Ukraine," in a televised address from the Oval Office at Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
Oct 18, 3:38 PM
Congressional Intelligence Committees confident hospital blast wasn't result of Israeli military action
The chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a statement that, based on intelligence received by the committee, they believe Tuesday's blast at a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds was not the result of an Israeli airstrike.
“The Senate Intelligence Committee has received and reviewed intelligence related to the attack on al-Ahli hospital in Gaza. Based on this information, we feel confident that the explosion was the result of a failed rocket launch by militant terrorists and not the result of an Israeli airstrike," Sens. Mark Warner and Marco Rubio said in a joint statement Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner and Ranking Member Jim Himes drew similar conclusions.
"Based on information the House Intelligence Committee received from the Administration regarding the hospital attack in Gaza, we believe this was not the result of Israeli military action," Turner and Himes said.
The hospital blast killed at least 471 and injured another 314 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for the explosion with the Israeli military claiming it was a result of a "failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization," while Hamas has said it was the result of an Israeli airstrike. Two U.S. officials told ABC News the Pentagon independently concluded the blast was likely caused by an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that fell short of its target.
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin
Oct 18, 3:53 PM
Protesters gather at Capitol calling for ceasefire
A large group of protesters from Jewish Voice for Peace is demonstrating in the Cannon Office Building of the U.S. Capitol complex, calling for a cease-fire in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Some are carrying signs reading, "ceasefire" and "let Gaza live.”
Some protesters have been arrested.
Outside the Capitol, hundreds of protesters blocked the intersection of Independence Avenue and New Jersey Avenue, directly in front of the Capitol building.
The Anti-Defamation League, a leading Jewish group that combats antisemitism and other discrimination, has labeled Jewish Voice for Peace as "radical" and "anti-Israel," with views that fall outside the "mainstream Jewish community."
-ABC News' Jay O'Brien, Luke Barr and Jack Date
Oct 18, 3:14 PM
Archbishop calls hospital blast a 'crime against humanity'
Archbishop Hosam Naoum, primate of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, called Tuesday's explosion at the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital a "crime against humanity."
It's the oldest hospital in Gaza and the only Christian-led hospital in the area.
"The hospital itself is a sanctuary for people and what happened there is a crime ... a massacre," he said.
The blast killed at least 471 and injured another 314 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for the hospital explosion with the Israeli military claiming it was a result of a "failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization," while Hamas has said it was the result of an Israeli airstrike. Two U.S. officials told ABC News the Pentagon independently concluded the blast was likely caused by an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that fell short of its target.
On the questions surrounding who bombed the hospital, the archbishop said, "What we know is what we saw on TV” and that the victims are "people of the church, not military."
"We hope that … people will come to conclusion that enough with this war, and enough with the lives that have been lost on every side," he said.
-ABC News' Emmanuelle Saliba
Oct 18, 2:36 PM
US vetoes UN Security Council resolution calling for 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza
The U.S. on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza, with U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield saying the "resolution did not mention Israel's right of self-defense."
Meanwhile, Israeli and Palestinian officials both chastised the U.N. at the meeting.
Israel called it a "disgrace" that the U.N. has not condemned Hamas.
"It is really unfathomable! You cannot unite even on that basic thing," Israel Ambassador Gilad Erdan said. "Instead, the council is fixated only on humanitarian corridors and aid. These are important and noble causes, but they are certainly not a solution to prevent Hamas' next atrocious massacre."
The Palestinian ambassador said failure to demand a cease-fire is opening a Pandora's box of risk for the world.
"The events of the last 10 days may shape the next 10 years in our region and beyond. What happens next is decisive," Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour said. "Anyone thinks this is a situation under control for which you can plan and implement they are making false and irresponsible assumptions. This is the kind of war where you will know how it starts and have no clue how it ends."
-ABC News' Brian Hartman
Oct 18, 2:25 PM
70% of Gaza victims are children, women, the elderly
Of the more than 3,000 killed and 12,000 injured in Gaza, 70% are children, women and the elderly, said Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Health Ministry in Gaza.
He said the Ministry of Health has received about 1,300 reports of missing people under the rubble, including 600 children. He said the ministry believes there are some survivors in the rubble.
Tuesday marked the largest single-day death toll in Gaza's history, he said, attributed to the explosion at the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital that killed at least 471. The blast injured another 314 people, including 28 patients who are in critical condition, he said.
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for the hospital explosion with the Israeli military claiming it was a result of a "failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization," while Hamas has said it was the result of an Israeli airstrike. Two U.S. officials told ABC News the Pentagon independently concluded the blast was likely caused by an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that fell short of its target.
