Palestinians walk by the destroyed building of Al Nuseirat Bakery in an Israeli airstrike Wednesday at Nusseirat refugee camp Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Israel has agreed to allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip while the Israeli military keeps up its airstrikes on the Palestinian territory.

More than 1 million Palestinians, roughly half of Gaza’s population, have fled homes in the north and Gaza City after Israel told them to evacuate. The airstrikes early today continued across the entire territory, including in areas in the south that Israel had declared as “safe zones.”

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that limited humanitarian aid would be allowed into Gaza from Egypt following a request from U.S. President Joe Biden.

The war that began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants stormed into Israel, and Israel vowed to destroy the militant group, has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said today that 3,785 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 12,500 others have been wounded.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed. An Israeli military spokesperson said today that the families of 206 people believed to have been captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza had been notified.

Currently:

1. EU demands Meta and TikTok detail efforts to curb disinformation from Israel-Hamas war

2. Woman becomes Israeli folk hero for plying Hamas militants with snacks until rescue mission arrives

3. Egypt and other Arab countries typically don’t want to take in Palestinian refugees.

4. Relatives of people taken hostage by Hamas militants tell their stories as they hope for their safe return.

Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:

EGYPT’S PRESIDENT MEETS WITH JORDAN’S KING

CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has met with King Abdullah II of Jordan for a closed-door discussion about the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas, and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in besieged Gaza.

Egypt’s presidential office said in a statement that followed today’s meeting that the two leaders condemned Israel’s policy of “collective punishment” against Palestinians in Gaza and its efforts to displace “Palestinians from their lands to Egypt or Jordan.”

Few further details were given.

The two countries, which flank Israel on opposite sides, are close allies. Both leaders have since Oct. 7 separately expressed fear about a permanent expulsion of Palestinians into their countries, concerned it could nullify Palestinians’ demand for a future state.

PAKISTAN SENDS PLANE CARRYING HUMANITARIAN AID TO GAZA

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry says the country has sent a plane carrying food, blankets, medicines and essential items to Egypt to deliver humanitarian aid for people living in Gaza.

The minister said in a statement that aid will be transported to Gaza from Egypt.

Pakistan has also called for an immediate cease-fire and halt to the Israeli strikes on Gaza, saying every Pakistani stands in solidarity with Palestinians.

FUNERAL FOR 2 PALESTINIANS KILLED IN THE WEST BANK

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Mourners chanted and clapped as they carried the bodies of two Palestinian men killed in the West Bank through the streets of Ramallah during their funeral today.

“I am crying for those who left their parents,” they shouted. “Mother of the martyr, rejoice. Your son will definitely go to heaven.”

Mohammad Fuwaka, 21, was killed Wednesday while sitting with other young people gathered at a spring in the village of Dura el-Kari’a, his uncle Naseem Fuwaka said.

“They were surprised last night by the settlers who opened fire on them, resulting in the martyrdom of my nephew,” Fuwaka said. “May God have mercy on him.”

The other man, Jibril Awad, 32, was killed after the Israeli army raided the village of Budrus.

ISRAEL’S SUPREME COURT POSTPONES HEARING ON JUDICIAL OVERHAUL

JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court is postponing a flashpoint hearing on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul because some of the government’s representatives in the case have been called up for reserve duty, according to the court postponement order.

The hearing, originally set for Sunday, has now been moved to Nov. 5.

The case deals with the legality of Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s refusal to convene the judicial appointments committee, a move which critics say will help Levin augment the bench to suit his far-right coalition’s policy preferences.

The case will make the third major hearing on the overhaul, after two cases were heard last month. Since the outbreak of war, Netanyahu’s government has largely put the overhaul on hold.

HAMAS SAYS NO AID OR ROAD REPAIR EQUIPMENT HAS ENTERED GAZA

CAIRO — Hamas’ spokesman for the Rafah crossing, Wael Abu Omar, said that no aid or road repairing equipment have entered Gaza from Egypt as of this afternoon.

Egypt and Israel reached a deal Wednesday evening that would allow aid to enter the Palestinian territory through the Rafah crossing.

Later that day, U.S. President Joe Biden said that aid could begin rolling into the region by Friday, but that the roads near the crossing would first need hours of repairs. The crossing has been hit by four Israeli airstrikes since Oct. 7, Egyptian authorities say.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR ‘HUMANITARIAN PAUSE’ IN GAZA

STRASBOURG, France — The European Parliament has called for a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza to make sure aid can reach the needy and stressed that Israel’s right to defend itself can only be done within the strictures of international law.

In the nonbinding resolution adopted today in a 500-21 vote, with 24 abstentions, European lawmakers also called for the immediate release of all hostages kidnapped by Hamas.

The call for a “humanitarian pause” stopped short of demanding a cease-fire.

GAZA HOSPITAL SHUTS OFF LIGHTS TO CONSERVE FUEL

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s second-largest hospital has switched off the lights in the majority of the facility as staff try to conserve energy amid fuel shortages.

Lights are still on in Nasser Hospital’s intensive care unit, but in many other departments, doctors are using cellphones and flashlights to illuminate procedures.

Meanwhile, funerals were held for the victims of an earlier strike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. A mother wept, clutching the small body of her child cocooned in white cloth.

HAMAS COMMANDER KILLED IN AN ISRAELI STRIKE

GAZA STRIP, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s government press office says the commander of the Hamas-led National Security Forces, Maj. Gen. Jihad Muheisen, was killed in an Israeli strike on his home in Gaza City along with some of his relatives.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many of his relatives were killed in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City. The National Security Forces is a paramilitary organization in Gaza taken over by Hamas after its 2007 seizure of the strip.

Separately, Hamas officials told The Associated Press that Hamas legislative council member Jamila al-Shanti was killed in an Israeli airstrike today. She was known as the first woman to be elected to political office within the Hamas group and the widow of one of the founders of the Islamist movement.

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE HITS DENSELY POPULATED AREA IN SOUTHERN GAZA

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit a densely populated area in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, again today.

Many wounded were being rushed to the Nasser Hospital from the strike in the al-Amal neighborhood.

Earlier, a doctor at a hospital said that at least a dozen people were killed and 40 others were wounded in an Israeli strike that hit a residential building in Khan Younis.

PALESTINIAN DEATH TOLL IN GAZA INCREASES TO 3,785

The death toll in Gaza since Israel declared war has risen to 3,785 Palestinians killed, including 1,524 children, 1,000 women and 120 older people, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

In addition, 12,493 others have been wounded, including 3,983 children and 3,300 women.

ISRAEL CONDUCTS A RAID IN THE WEST BANK

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has conducted an extensive raid in the West Bank, arresting more than 80 Palestinians.

The latest in a series of stepped-up Israeli operations in the territory since the outbreak of war, the raid on Wednesday night provoked violent clashes and left three Palestinians dead, including two children.

The military said that 63 of the 80 suspects arrested overnight were linked to Hamas. Of the 524 Palestinians arrested since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 330 are Hamas affiliates.

Forces also demolished the home of a militant who killed an Israeli soldier, Staff Sgt. Shilo Yosef Amir, earlier this year. The militant, who the military identified as Ahmed Yasin Jidan, was shot shortly after killing Amir.

Clashes ensued across the territory in response to the raid, with Israeli forces firing on Palestinians who threw rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Since the latest war began, 73 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank. U.N. monitors are describing the period as the deadliest phase since they started recording data.

SUNAK SAYS UK STANDING BY ISRAEL IN ITS ‘DARKEST HOUR’

JERUSALEM — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says Britain is standing by Israel in its “darkest hour” as it wages war on Hamas following the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 attack.

Sunak spoke alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden made a similar trip to Israel to express solidarity.

“I am proud to stand here with you in Israel’s darkest hour as your friend,” Sunak said.

The U.K. prime minister acknowledged the “shocking scenes” over the past day, including the aftermath of an explosion at a Gaza hospital, saying “we mourn the loss of every innocent life.”

Sunak plans to travel to Saudi Arabia later today to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Britain tries to dampen down regional tensions, get aid into Gaza and secure the release of U.K. hostages held by Hamas.

EU SAYS PROMISE OF AID TO GAZA A START BUT MORE NEEDED

BRUSSELS — On the promise that some aid will be allowed to get into Gaza, the European Union said it was a start. But the bloc said that more needed to be done to be in line with international commitments.

“We also welcome the announcement made by Israel that it will not thwart the deliveries of food, water or medicine coming from Egypt,” European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said.

He also said that a second plane with emergency aid was to land in Egypt later. Together it amounts to about 50 tons of essential humanitarian supplies, medicine, food, water and shelter.

DRONE ATTACK HITS OIL FACILITY HOUSING US TROOPS IN SYRIA

BEIRUT — Syrian opposition activists say a drone attack has been conducted on an oil facility in eastern Syria housing American troops and a U.S. base in a nearby area.

There was no immediate word on casualties and the U.S. military didn’t immediately respond to requests for confirmation.

Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet, said that three drones with explosives struck the Conoco gas field in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq today.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, confirmed that five explosions were heard at the Conoco gas field.

THREE DRONES ALSO HIT A US BASE IN SYRIA

BEIRUT — The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that three drones also attacked the U.S. base of Tanf in eastern Syria near where the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq meet. It said two drones were shot down before reaching their targets while the third hit the base, causing some material damage.

The Observatory, an opposition war monitor, and Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet, said the attack appears to be the work of Iran-based fighters who are deployed in eastern Syria and western Iraq.

Since the fighting in Gaza began on Oct. 7, Iran-backed fighters have been on alert in the region as the U.S. sends aircraft carriers and warships to the region.

Coalition forces were slightly wounded in Iraq in a spate of drone attacks since Tuesday at U.S. bases in Iraq.

UNKNOWN HOW MUCH FUEL REMAINS AT GAZA HOSPITALS

A Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson said it wasn’t known how much fuel hospitals had left in their stocks today.

“The MoH (Ministry of Health) asked all gasoline stations in the Gaza Strip to give whatever they have to sustain the operation of the standby generators of the hospitals,” Medhat Abbas told The Associated Press. “They have collected a very small amount of fuel which of course, because the generators of the hospitals are very large, they are consuming thousands of liters, so we don’t know how long they can continue.”

With medical supplies also running short, doctors are resorting to desperate measures to care for the hundreds of wounded Palestinian patients.

“Surgery is being performed in the corridors of hospitals without anaesthesia, yes without anaesthesia, to save the lives of those who may have hope to live,” he said. “Others are left to die, to succumb to their destiny.

THE SITUATION AT GAZA’S LARGEST HOSPITAL

At Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, director Mohammed Abu Selmia gave the AP an update on fuel stocks.

He said some fuel had been obtained “through UNRWA (U.N. Relief and Works Agency) with assistance from the World Health Organization, he added, saying it was pumped into generators.

“Enough to keep us going for another few hours.”

Ghassan Abu Sitta, a surgeon working at Shifa Hospital, tweeted a photo of a bottle of vinegar.

“Vinegar from the corner shop to treat pseudodomonas bacterial wound infections,” he said. “It’s come to that.”

PALESTINIANS SAY ISRAEL IS TARGETING BAKERIES IN GAZA

Israel has bombed and targeted areas with bakeries in Gaza over the course of the war while dozens of Palestinians were lining up to buy bread, causing high numbers of dead and wounded, Salam Marouf, the head of the government media office, said in a statement.

By repeatedly targeting bakeries, he said that Israel sought to worsen the humanitarian situation, inflict a greater number of casualties and “make it more difficult for citizens, to the point that obtaining some loaves of bread has become a dangerous journey.” More than five bakeries were targeted in different areas to the north and south of Gaza, either directly or in the area where they are located, Maarouf said.

Aid groups, including the World Food Program, have warned Gaza is running low on food supplies with shops only having a few days worth of supplies left.

EGYPT’S PRESIDENT MEETS WITH US GENERAL IN CAIRO

CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi met with Gen. Michael Kurilla, head of the U.S. Central Command, in Cairo to discuss efforts to “intensify cooperation” between the two countries and to “restore stability” in the region, the president’s office said.

Within hours of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, the U.S. began moving warships and aircraft to the eastern Mediterranean to provide Israel with support. Israel has conducted unrelenting airstrikes on Gaza.

Egypt has long acted as a key broker between Israel and Hamas. On Wednesday, Egypt and Israel reached a deal that would allow aid to enter the Palestinian territory.

Also today, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with U.K. counterpart James Cleverly in Cairo, where they talked about ways to de-escalate the conflict and address the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

XI URGES EGYPTIAN PREMIER TO OPEN A HUMANITARIAN CORRIDOR

BEIJING — At a meeting in China’s capital Beijing today, President Xi Jinping urged visiting Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly to open a humanitarian corridor for civilians fleeing the fighting in Gaza.

Xi also reiterated China’s backing of the formation of a Palestinian state as solution to the ongoing violence.

EMERGENCY CREWS WORK TO RESCUE SURVIVORS AT GAZA BUILDING

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — A doctor at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip says at least 12 people were killed and 40 others wounded in an Israeli strike that hit a residential building in a densely populated neighborhood in the city of Khan Younis.

Dr. Mohammed Qandeel said the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received the patients today morning. The city is located within what Israel called a safe zone when it encouraged Gaza residents to evacuate the territory’s north.

Emergency crews rushed to rescue survivors around a crater at least one floor deep where people were believed to be trapped. One rescued woman staggered unsteadily from the scene, screaming that God would take revenge against Israel.

A rescue worker rushed a small, ash-covered child toward an ambulance, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.

AUSTRALIAN LAWMAKER ACCUSES ISRAEL OF ‘PUNISHING’ PALESTINIANS

CANBERRA, Australia — Australian government minister Ed Husic has accused Israel of collectively punishing Palestinians in its war on Hamas.

Husic told Australian Broadcasting Corp. today: “I feel very strongly that Palestinians are being collectively punished here for Hamas’ barbarism.”