Israel-Hamas war: Biden backs Israel over Gaza hospital blast; Israel says it will not prevent Gaza aid from entering Egypt

The U.S. government warned law enforcement nationwide Wednesday that fighting between Israel and Hamas has "sharpened the focus of potential attacks" in the United States for individuals and institutions with "perceived" ties to the turmoil.

 An intelligence bulletin issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FBI and National Counterterrorism Center urged law enforcement officials and private sector security partners to "remain vigilant" in the days following Hamas' deadly assault on Israel.  

According to the bulletin, federal law enforcement observed an increase in threats to Jewish and Muslim communities in recent days, noting that "hoax bomb threats have targeted several synagogues across the United States—likely intended to disrupt services and intimidate congregants."

U.S. intelligence analysts write that while Hamas "has not conducted or called for attacks in the United States," the "perceived success" of their terrorist attacks may motivate homegrown violent extremists.

The bulletin identifies "possible signposts" that may indicate potential violence, including explicit praise of tactics, techniques and procedures associated with Hamas' attack in online spaces commonly associated with or used by violent extremists.  

— Catherine Herridge, Nicole Sganga, Andres Triay  

Read more here.

Dan Raviv, a Middle East news analyst and former CBS News correspondent, said what surprised him most about Hamas' attack on Israel was the country's intelligence and border security failures.

"The Israelis are thought of as the best, in the Middle East certainly, when it comes to security and military strength, yet on the morning of October 7 they didn't know Hamas was going to attack," he told CBS News. "And because Hamas was able to punch right through that border fence, it's amazing, more than 2,000 Hamas and other fighters from Gaza came through."

Raviv argued that if Israel successfully drives Hamas out of power in the Gaza Strip, a stated goal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Palestinian Authority should take control of the territory.

"Persuade them to come back to the Gaza strip, they were kicked out by Hamas in 2007, persuade them to come back with a promise of a lot of money, investment, they can open the port, they're relatively moderate, they've made deals with Israel. So there's a possibility there, maybe," Raviv said.

He noted, however, that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was one of the Arab leaders who pulled out of a summit with President Biden following a deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza.

Residents and doctors in this southern Gaza town said an airstrike slammed into a home, killing seven small children.

The news spread quickly on social media, as grisly images of dead and bloodied toddlers lined up side-by-side on a hospital stretcher stirred outrage in Gaza and the West Bank.

Bandaged and caked in dust, the bodies were brought to the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis along with three other dead members of the Bakri family. Photographers swarmed the operation room as women covered their eyes and doctors wept.

"This is a massacre," hospital director Dr. Yousef Al-Akkad said, his voice choking with emotion. "Let the world see, these are just children."

Local medics also confirmed that the children were killed in a strike and said the Bakri family was just one of many such cases Wednesday.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

CAIRO — Egyptian soccer star Mohamed Salah, arguably the most celebrated Arab footballer, called on world leaders to "come together to prevent further slaughter of all innocent souls" and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza.

"There has been too much violence and too much heartbreak and brutality," the Liverpool striker said in a video that lasted a little under a minute. "The escalations in the recent weeks is unbearable to witness. All lives are sacred and must be protected. The massacres need to stop. Families are being torn apart."

Aid to Gaza "must be allowed immediately," he added. "The people there are in terrible conditions."

They were Salah's first comments on the Israel-Hamas war, after he was criticized by some Arab fans for his silence.

Officials said Wednesday that some aid will begin flowing into Gaza in the coming days.

U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the deadly destruction of a hospital has heaped further pressure on Gaza's crumbling health system, depriving the territory of a facility that cared for 45,000 patients every year.

Speaking in a video briefing from Qatar, Griffiths also said the Al-Ahli hospital was previously struck on Oct. 14.

He also said the death toll in the 11 days since Hamas' surprise attack inside Israel has already exceeded what was seen during seven weeks of Israeli-Hamas hostilities in 2014. Meanwhile, the U.N. Mideast envoy warned that the risk of the conflict expanding is "very real and extremely dangerous."

Tor Wennesland told the council that recent events "have served to reignite grievances and re-animate alliances across the region."

Earlier in the day at the U.N., the United States vetoed a resolution that would have condemned violence against civilians in the Israel-Hamas war and pushed for humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Growing up on Long Island, Omer Neutra was the captain of his high school basketball team, his volleyball team, "and when the soccer team needed a captain, he was captain of the soccer team," his father Ronen says. "That's the kind of guy he is."

Now, Omer's loved ones are fighting for their son and friend, an American who has dual citizenship and serves with the Israeli military.

Anguish for the family set in after representatives from the Israeli consulate in New York rushed to their home on Sunday, Oct. 8.

"They said that he's been taken captive," says his mother, Orna Neutra. "So many have died that it's just insane that you feel relief, to think that your son is not dead, you know?"

Last weekend, the family celebrated Omer's 22nd birthday without him.

"We had a cake with 23 candles," his mother said. "According to our tradition, you put an extra candle. They weren't blown out. We just let them melt into the cake. We said prayers together. It's just devastating." 

Now the Neutras remain focused on getting Omer and other hostages back.

"This is not a time for tears," Orna Neutra said. "I need strong people around me to work together and put the influence on the American government, the Israeli government to do everything, and we mean everything, to bring them back as soon as possible."

Read more here.

Evacuating U.S. citizens trapped in Gaza remains a complex ordeal as the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, a State Department spokesperson told CBS News on Wednesday.

"We have made approximately 2,000 phone calls and sent thousands of emails to U.S. citizens in Gaza, their immediate family members, and their loved ones who are inquiring with us on their behalf," the spokesperson said, adding that the State Department is working to enable U.S. citizens "to make their own decisions regarding their safety and security in an incredibly difficult and fluid situation."

As the U.S. government attempts to persuade regional leadership to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, the State Department has advised U.S. citizens in Gaza to move closer to the crossing if they deem it safe, because it could open with very little notice and for a limited time. 

The American embassy in Cairo has deployed officials as close to the border as security conditions allow, and the State Department is working with the Egyptian government to move U.S. consular personnel to the Egyptian side of the crossing as soon as possible, the spokesperson said.

U.S. citizens can fill out crisis intake forms here if they want to be contacted by the Department of State on short notice.

— Margaret Brennan contributed reporting.

President Biden will deliver an address to the nation Thursday evening, the White House announced.

"President Biden will address the nation to discuss our response to Hamas' terrorist attacks against Israel and Russia's ongoing brutal war against Ukraine," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

The Oval Office address will begin at 8 p.m. ET.

President Biden is on his way back to the U.S. after his trip to Israel.

President Biden spoke with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement. 

"The two leaders discussed ongoing coordination to deliver humanitarian assistance to Gaza and mechanisms to ensure the aid is distributed for the benefit of the civilian population," the White House readout said.

In an unexpected visit to Air Force One's press cabin as the plane refueled in Germany, President Biden told reporters that Sisi had agreed to open up the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to allow up to 20 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza. 

"If Hamas confiscates them or doesn't let it get through … then it's going to end," President Biden said.

"The bottom line is Sisi deserves a lot of credit," Mr. Biden said. "He was completely cooperative … He stepped up, as did Bibi," he added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr. Biden said his argument to regional leaders about humanitarian assistance was, "If you have an opportunity to alleviate the pain, you should do it."

Speaking about civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip, he said, "We're going to get people out," but he didn't elaborate on details of how this would happen. 

"I was very blunt about the need to get humanitarian aid to Gaza," Mr. Biden said.

— Kristin Brown contributed reporting.

The families of hostages held in Gaza have harshly criticized the Israeli government's decision to allow limited humanitarian aid into Gaza.

A statement released Wednesday by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said the move only increased their suffering.

"Children, infants, women, soldiers, men, and elderly, some with serious illnesses, wounded and shot, are held underground like animals and without human conditions, and the Israeli government pampers the murderers and kidnappers with baklavas and medicines," the statement read.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said earlier Wednesday that Israel would allow deliveries of food, water and medicine to Gaza from Egypt as long as the supplies do not reach Hamas.

Hamas militants are believed to be holding about 200 hostages.

A U.S. official says the United States has its own intelligence, including communications intercepts and satellite photos, which gives it "high confidence" Israel was not responsible for the explosion at Gaza's Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. 

The U.S. intelligence, which is in addition to intelligence collected by Israel, indicates that the blast was caused by an errant rocket fired by a terror group in Gaza. 

President Biden said earlier Wednesday that he backed Israel's denial of responsibility for the explosion. 

"I'm deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday and based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you," Mr. Biden said to Netanyahu and reporters in Tel Aviv.

Asked what specifically made him confident that the Israelis weren't behind it, Mr. Biden cited "the data I was shown by my Defense Department."

Senate Intelligence Committee  Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued a statement saying the committee has "received and reviewed intelligence" related to the hospital blast, and "[b]ased 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."

Americans arriving in the United States from Israel said they faced difficulties leaving the country after war broke out after Hamas' terrorist attacks. Some people who left said they feel survivor's remorse, CBS New York reported, while others feel relieved to be in the U.S. while also feeling scared for those in Israel. 

Elan Roach said he and his daughter were "worried sick" waiting for his wife to travel home. Roach said his wife, who spent almost a month in Israel taking care of her mother, was unable to get a flight home until recently, CBS News New York reported.

One woman told CBS New York she feels safer now that she has arrived in the U.S. 

"There was a rocket flying the same day I wanted to come to New York, a lot of rockets all around the airport … So we were afraid to take a flight," the woman said. "It was very difficult to find a flight, so it was a hectic situation. But now, thank God, we're here, we're home, and I feel more safe here – unfortunately, I would like to feel safe in Israel too." 

The U.S. government has been helping people leave the country by air and sea after many major U.S. airlines canceled or suspended flights to and from Israel. Many returning Americans relied on charter flights and foreign airlines to get back.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis directed the state's Division of Emergency Management to draw money from the state's Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund for rescue operations. The state has spent $4 million on those efforts over the weekend, CBS Miami reported.

Read more here. 

The Israeli army said on Wednesday it "thwarted a terrorist cell" in Lebanon, accusing unidentified militants across the border of firing mortar shells at Israel while its war with Hamas raged.

The army said in a statement its forces had fired at the location in Lebanon from which "anti-tank missiles" were presumed to have been launched toward Israeli communities near the border.

Earlier on Wednesday, alerts were activated across northern Israel and the army said it had identified nine launches that crossed from Lebanese territory into Israel.

The military on Tuesday said it had killed at least four Lebanese fighters following attempted cross-border infiltration. It did not say which, if any, groups the militants were affiliated with.

There have already been numerous clashes on the Lebanon-Israel border since Hamas launched its massive and bloody onslaught against Israeli communities and army bases on Oct. 7. There are growing fears worldwide that Israel's war with Hamas could spread if the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon were to intervene in northern Israel. 

"We are in a state of high alert... in the north," Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday. "If Hezbollah makes a grave error, we will respond with force."

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted a photo of her arrival in Israel on social media Wednesday after saying she would travel to the country for a "solidarity mission" amid its war with Hamas. 

"I've just touched down in Tel Aviv," Hochul tweeted. "New York and Israel share a special bond, and I'm proud to be here to show our solidarity with the Israeli people following Hamas's abhorrent acts of terror." 

Hochul arrived in the country just hours after President Biden left. According to CBS News New York, Hochul will meet with diplomatic leaders and those impacted by the Hamas terror attacks. 

Hochul also shared a photo of herself meeting with Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the United States. Hochul thanked him for a "welcome" to Tel Aviv. 

The United States has vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have condemned violence against all civilians in the Israel-Hamas war including "the heinous terrorists attacks by Hamas" against Israel, and would have pushed for humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Twelve of the 15 Security Council members on Wednesday voted in favor of the resolution sponsored by Brazil. The United States voted against, while Russia and the United Kingdom abstained.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote that President Biden was in the region engaging in diplomacy to secure the release of hostages, prevent the conflict from spreading and stress the need to protect civilians. "We need to let that diplomacy play out," she said.

She said resolutions are important and the Security Council must speak out, "But the actions we take must be informed by the facts on the ground and support direct diplomacy efforts that can save lives -- the council needs to get this right."

She also criticized the resolution for not saying anything about Israel's right to self-defense following Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 attacks.

The New York City Police Department said Wednesday that the city is in a "heightened threat environment," with tensions rising amid the war in Israel. 

"The NYPD is doing everything we can do to forestall future violence in our city," the statement said. "However, we know the ongoing events overseas may resonate with individuals domestically and that is hard to anticipate." 

Police asked that New York City residents "remain vigilant" and said the department would continue its "all-out deployment," which has been in place since last Friday. 

Meanwhile, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was traveling to Israel Tuesday on a "solidarity mission." Hochul was expected to meet with diplomatic leaders and those affected by Hamas' attacks, CBS New York reported. 

New York City has seen both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrations since the war began. New York state has the largest Jewish population in the country and in 2020 was home to 21% of the nation's 7.6 million Jews, according to the American Jewish Population Project at Brandeis University. 

President Joe Biden is returning to the United States after a brief visit to Israel on Wednesday. 

The president was expected to spend another day in the Middle East, but a summit in Jordan with King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was canceled.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also returning to the U.S. He traveled to Israel on Oct. 11, and has visited the country twice since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. He also made stops in countries including Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. 

Air Force One will make a brief refueling stop in Ramstein, Germany, before returning to Joint Base Andrews.

The United States will provide $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the White House said in a statement Wednesday. The funding will "help support over a million displaced and conflict-affected people with clean water, food, hygiene support, medical care and other essential needs." 

The aid will be provided through non-governmental organizations and U.N. agencies, the White House said. 

"Civilians are not to blame and should not suffer for Hamas' horrific terrorism," the White House said. "Civilian lives must be protected and assistance must urgently reach those in need."

Israel's wartime cabinet has decided it will not prevent humanitarian aid from entering Gaza through Egypt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement Wednesday. 

"In light of President Biden's demand, Israel would not foil the supply of humanitarian aid via Egypt," the prime minister's office said, according to the AFP.

The aid from Egypt must only be food, water and medicine for civilians in Gaza's south and will be allowed as long as it will not get to Hamas, the statement said.

It said any supply that will reach Hamas would be prevented.

It is unclear when aid would be allowed to enter the territory. 

President Joe Biden said in remarks Wednesday that the United States is working in close cooperation with regional partners "to get trucks moving across the border as soon as possible." Mr. Biden also warned Hamas against stealing from or intercepting any aid that enters Gaza. 

The National Security Council's "current assessment" is that "Israel is not responsible for the explosion" at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a brief statement shared on social media.

Watson said the agency is continuing to collect information and that their statement is based on "analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information." 

The hospital blast is feared to have killed hundreds, but exact casualty numbers remain unclear. Satellite imagery shows "no significant structural damage" to the building, U.S. satellite company Maxar Technologies said.

Israeli and Hamas officials have traded blame for the explosion. During his visit to Israel Wednesday, President Biden said that U.S. military data led him to believe a Palestinian rocket caused the blast. 

Ahead of a widely-expected Israeli ground invasion to go after Hamas in Gaza, Mr. Biden urged the Israeli nation not to be "consumed" by its well-founded anger.

"Choices are never clear or easy for leadership," Mr. Biden said, adding that global powers must ask themselves "very hard questions" and have "clarity about the objectives" of any action they take, to determine "whether the path you are on will achieve those objectives."

"You are a Jewish state, but you are also a Democracy, and like the United States, you do not live by the rules of terror," Mr. Biden said. "We believe in the fundamental dignity of every human life…. If you give that up, then the terrorists win, and we can never let them win."

Mr. Biden said he was "outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life" in an explosion Tuesday night at a hospital in Gaza City.

He said earlier that U.S. military data had left him convinced that an Israeli airstrike did not cause the explosion, as claimed by Palestinian factions and some nations in the region, but rather a failed rocket launch by militants inside Gaza. Israel has said they same, accusing the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group of being behind the explosion.

President Biden said Wednesday that he had pushed Israeli leaders to facilitate an opening of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to enable humanitarian goods into the Palestinian territory after 12 days of airstrikes and a total Israeli blockade.

"Today I asked the Israeli cabinet to increase the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza." 

He said when the first aid convoy would actually make it across the border from Egypt into the Gaza Strip was "a practical matter," but added that the U.S. was working in close cooperation with regional partners "to get trucks moving across the border as soon as possible."

Mr. Biden said the "vast majority of the Palestinian people are not Hamas" and he reiterated his previous comments that the U.S.-designated terror group which has controlled the small strip of land for almost two decades "does not represent the Palestinian people."

He warned Hamas against trying to disrupt or steal the aid convoys from Egypt, saying if they did so, it would "demonstrate once again that they do not have the wellbeing of the Palestinian people" in their minds.

President Biden said his primary message to Israel as he visited the Jewish state 12 days after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its brutal terror attack was: "You are not alone."

Giving remarks in Tel Aviv after meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials, he lamented the bloody attack on Israel and vowed that the world would "not stand by again and do nothing," as it had done when Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust.

Mr. Biden said there was "no higher priority" for him than securing the release of the roughly 200 hostages held by Hamas.

The U.S. satellite company Maxar Technologies released images Wednesday showing what it said was the Baptist hospital in the Gaza Strip before and after an explosion Tuesday night, which Palestinian officials blamed on an Israeli airstrike. Gaza's Hamas rulers said hundreds were killed in the strike, but Israel has vehemently denied any role in the blast, blaming it instead on a rocket fired by another Palestinian militant faction that fell short.

Israel's military released its own images and analysis earlier Wednesday that it said proved a rocket fired from near the hospital by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group had landed in the facility's parking lot.

The satellite imagery "reveals a probable discolored blast area in the main parking area of the hospital compound," Maxar said in a statement accompanying its images on Wednesday, adding that "no significant structural damage to the adjacent buildings was observed." 

President Biden, visiting Israel on Wednesday, has said that U.S. military data led him to believe it was a Palestinian rocket, not an Israeli airstrike, that caused the explosion at the Baptist hospital.

Editor's note: The photo caption above has been corrected to reflect that the Maxar Technologies image shows the aftermath of the explosion at the hospital, but that it is cloud cover at the lower left, not smoke from the blast.

President Biden, on a high-stakes visit to Israel Wednesday just hours after an explosion rocked a hospital in the Gaza Strip and ignited anger toward Israel across the Middle East, said U.S. military data had led him to conclude that it was Palestinian militants behind the blast, not an Israeli airstrike.

Mr. Biden said almost immediately after arriving in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, standing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,  that "based on what I've seen, it appears it was done by the other team," referring to Palestinian militants. 

Meeting later Wednesday with Israeli first responders and victims of Hamas' Oct. 7 terror spree, Mr. Biden was asked what specifically made him confident that the Israelis weren't behind the hospital explosion. He said it was "the data I was shown by my Defense Department."

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip said Wednesday that Israel's 12 days of airstrikes on the Palestinian territory had killed 3,478 people and left 12,065 others wounded. That toll included, however, 471 people the ministry said were killed in a large explosion Tuesday night at a hospital in Gaza City. Hamas has blamed that blast on an Israeli airstrike, but Israel has vehemently denied that and said the explosion was caused by a rocket fired by another Palestinian militant group that fell short.

Israel has cast doubt on claims by Hamas and other Palestinian groups — including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group that Israel has accused of firing the rocket that landed near the Gaza hospital — that as many as 500 people were killed in the explosion at the facility. 

The Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that 70% of the people killed and wounded in the densely-packed Palestinian enclave were women, children and the elderly, adding that it had "received about 1,300 reports of missing persons under the rubble, including 600 children."

Israeli leaders have said all the blame for casualties in Gaza, as the Jewish state retaliates for Hamas' brutal Oct. 7 terror rampage across southern Israel, lies entirely with Hamas' leadership.  

While President Biden met Wednesday with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv, his administration announced sanctions aimed at starving the Palestinian militant group Hamas of its funding.

The White House announced new sanctions targeting 10 Hamas members, operatives and financial facilitators in Gaza and elsewhere, including Sudan, Turkey, Algeria and Qatar. The move targets people whom the U.S. says manage assets in a secret Hamas investment portfolio, which the Treasury Department says is a Qatar-based financial facilitator with close ties to the Iranian regime, a key Hamas commander and a Gaza-based currency exchange.

The U.S. government has long said the bulk of Hamas' funding comes from Iran, but the sanctions announced Wednesday did not specifically single out Tehran. The U.S. has been aggressively sanctioning the Iranian regime, which it sees as responsible for a significant amount of disruption in the Middle East. 

• Why did Hamas attack Israel, and why now?

"The United States is taking swift and decisive action to target Hamas' financiers and facilitators following its brutal and unconscionable massacre of Israeli civilians, including children," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. "The U.S. Treasury has a long history of effectively disrupting terror finance and we will not hesitate to use our tools against Hamas." 

By Richard Escobedo and Kathryn Watson

Within hours after a blast was said to have killed hundreds at a Gaza Strip hospital, protesters hurled stones at Palestinian security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and at riot police in neighboring Jordan, venting fury at their leaders for failing to stop the carnage.

In the West Bank, which has been under lockdown since the bloody, Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas militants ignited the war, protesters clashed with Palestinian security forces and called for the overthrow of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel and the West have long viewed Abbas as a partner in reducing tensions, but his Palestinian Authority is widely seen by Palestinians as a corrupt and autocratic accomplice to Israel's military occupation of the West Bank.

Jordan, long considered a bastion of stability in the region, has seen mass protests in recent days. Late Tuesday, pro-Palestinian protesters tried to storm the Israeli Embassy.

"They are all normalizing Arab rulers, none of them are free, the free ones are all dead!" one protester shouted. "Arab countries are unable to do anything!"

A small group of activists protested late Tuesday near the U.S. and U.K. embassies in central Cairo, calling on Egypt to cut ties with Israel and expel its ambassador. Authorities have beefed up security in Cairo's Maadi district, where the Israeli Embassy is located.

"The U.S. administration is a partner through supporting the crimes committed by the occupation military against the people of Gaza," said Khaled Dawoud, the spokesperson for a coalition of opposition political parties and public figures.

Protests also erupted in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has traded fire with Israeli forces at the border, threatening to enter the war with its massive arsenal of rockets, and as far away as Morocco.

"The Arab street has a voice. That voice may have been ignored in the past by governments in the region and the West… but they cannot do this anymore," said Badr al-Saif, a history professor at Kuwait University. "People are on fire."

Protests were also held elsewhere. Hundreds gathered outside the French embassies in Tunisia and Iran Tuesday evening, accusing France of being an ally of Israel and calling for French and American diplomats to be expelled.

French President Emmanuel Macron has offered Israel his country's support but also warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "nothing can justify targeting civilians," and urged that "humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip must be opened without delay."

Reporting by CBS News and The Associated Press. Read the full story here.

Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist group that has controlled the Gaza Strip for almost two decades, accused Washington of being "biased to Israel" Wednesday, as President Biden lent his initial support for Israel's denial of responsibility in a deadly explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital.

"We hold America and the complicit West who support the Zionist entity fully responsible for all the harrowing Israeli massacres, and the genocide undertaken by the occupation against our people in Gaza, the last of which we saw at the Baptist hospital," Hamas' top official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said at a news conference.

"The West's bias towards the Israeli occupation against our people in Gaza, and the Security Council's failure to adopt a resolution to enforce a humanitarian ceasefire, will remain a disgrace that will haunt them all."

Israel's military said Wednesday that a rocket launched by the Hamas-allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad group fell short, causing the Tuesday night explosion at the Gaza City health facility.

Mr. Biden said earlier, addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they stood together in Tel Aiv, that, "based on what I've seen, it appears it was done by the other team," referring to Palestinian militants. 

By Khaled Wassef and Tucker Reals

Meeting with Israel's war cabinet, President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke briefly Wednesday to journalists, with Netanyahu saying there was a "double war crime" taking place, accusing Hamas of targeting Israeli civilians while hiding behind innocent Palestinians. 

He said Israel would do "everything we can to keep civilians out of harm's way," while making sure his country's "minimum requirements" in the war with Hamas are met.

Mr. Biden said the United States would continue to have "Israel's back" and work with regional partners to prevent more harm to civilians.

Neither leader addressed the Tuesday night explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, nor did they take any questions from the media.

Daytime images from international news agencies of the scene of a deadly explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip showed significant damage to vehicles in a parking lot, with surrounding buildings also bearing what appeared to be shrapnel damage, but they did not show a building in ruins.

Claims from Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the immediate aftermath of the explosion suggested as many as 500 people had been killed in a direct Israeli airstrike on the Baptist, or Al Ahli, hospital in Gaza City.

Israel has strongly denied responsibility, saying Wednesday that a rocket fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group from within Gaza fell short and struck the health facility. The Israel Defense Forces said "there was no direct hit in the hospital itself, but only the nearby parking lot." 

"There is no destruction to the structure of the building, the walls are intact and there are no craters. All of these confirm that there was no damage from aerial weapons," said IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari.

President Biden's bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ran longer than expected Wednesday in Tel Aviv, pushing back the schedule for his later meetings with other top Israeli officials and delaying an expected statement from Mr. Biden. 

Security was tight in Tel Aviv ahead of Mr. Biden's visit, with police and the military lining the streets ahead of his arrival.

The aftermath of the explosion at Gaza City's Al Ahli, or Baptist Hospital on Tuesday night was a scene of chaos and carnage. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 500 people were killed. If confirmed, that would make it the single biggest loss of life in the Palestinian territory in all of the five wars between Hamas and Israel fought over the past 16 years.

Israel has vehemently denied responsibility and accused Hamas and other Palestinian factions of grossly inflating the death toll from the blast. The Israel Defense Forces initially blamed the explosion on Hamas, before saying a rocket misfired by the smaller Gaza-based militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, had caused the blast. Islamic Jihad has called the claim "a lie."

The Anglican church, which runs the hospital, has said the facility was struck previously by an Israeli rocket, four days ago, injuring members of its staff. 

Fadl Naim, a doctor at the Al Alhi Hospital, told CBS News that Israel's army then issued a warning for everyone to evacuate the facility just two days before the devastating explosion on Tuesday night.

"They called our medical director and they told him, 'We warned you yesterday with two rockets, why are you still working in the hospital, why didn't you evacuate the hospital?'"

U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged people on Wednesday to "wait for the facts" to emerge about the deadly explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital, warning that .

"Last night, too many jumped to conclusions around the tragic loss of life at Al Ahli hospital," Cleverly said in a social media post. "Getting this wrong would put even more lives at risk. Wait for the facts, report them clearly and accurately. Cool heads must prevail."

Pope Francis on Wednesday called for all efforts to be made to avoid a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza, and expressed concern at risk of a widening of the Hamas-Israel conflict.

"The victims are increasing and the situation in Gaza is desperate. Please do everything possible to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe," the 86-year-old said at the end of his weekly audience at the Vatican.

He did not explicitly mention the blast that tore through a hospital in Gaza late Tuesday killing hundreds of people, and for which Israel and Palestinians have traded blame.

"The possible widening of the conflict is worrying, while there are so many fronts already open across the world," the head of the worldwide Catholic Church added.

"Let the weapons be silent, let the cry for peace of the poor, of the people, of the children be heard," the pope said. "War does not resolve any problems, it only spreads death and destruction. It increases hatred, multiplies revenge. War erases the future."  

President Biden said soon after arriving in Israel Wednesday that the massive explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip the previous night appeared to have been caused by Palestinian militants, not an Israeli airstrike, as the Israeli military has said.

"Based on what I've seen, it appears it was done by the other team, not you," Biden said as he stood next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." 

He added that "there's a lot of people out there that are not sure, so we've got to overcome a lot of things."

Israel's military released on Wednesday a clip of audio it said was a "recording of a conversation between Hamas operatives regarding the Islamic Jihad failed rocket launch on the hospital," as the Jewish state firmly denied accusations that it had struck a hospital in the Gaza Strip the previous night with a missile.

The audio released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), along with several graphics and satellite photos, were all presented as evidence to back the military's preliminary claim from Tuesday night that the massive explosion at the hospital in Gaza was caused by a misfired rocket from within the small Palestinian territory.

Speaking about the evidence and its investigation into the blast, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters Israel had confirmed "there was no [IDF] attack that came out of the army by land, air or sea," and the military's "analysis confirms that there was no direct hit in the hospital itself, but only the nearby parking lot." 

"There is no destruction to the structure of the building, the walls are intact and there are no craters. All of these confirm that there was no damage from aerial weapons," said Hagari.  

The IDF said one of the graphics it presented shared showed its own radar data tracking rocket launches within Gaza from the alleged launch point used by Islamic Jihad. It included tracking lines indicating dozens of launches from the site, in addition to the one that allegedly fell short and hit the hospital.

In the audio clip of the alleged phone call between Hamas militants, two men can be heard discussing the blast at the hospital in Arabic, with one informing the other, "this is the first time we see a missile like this falling, and that's why we are saying it belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad."

The man tells the other, who sounds confused, that people at the scene of the blast "are saying that the shrapnel is local shrapnel and not like Israeli shrapnel," adding "yes, they shot it from the cemetery behind the hospital."

Both men in the audio clip are identified by the IDF only as "Hamas operatives." Islamic Jihad is an allied but separate Palestinian militant group also based in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Hagari said the IDF had "conducted an investigation immediately because the army takes harm to civilians with the utmost seriousness."

Many users of the online platform X, formerly Twitter, pointed out that some images initially presented by IDF representatives were subsequently deleted or altered.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Wednesday again urged residents of the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City to evacuate south, toward the area of al-Mawasi, some 17 miles down Gaza's Mediterranean coast, where it said humanitarian aid would be made available.

In a social media post, the military said "The IDF calls on #GazaCity residents to evacuate south for their protection."

The IDF has been telling northern Gaza residents to move south as it pounds northern and central Gaza with airstrikes ahead of a widely anticipated ground invasion. But humanitarian conditions have dramatically worsened since Israel cut the flow of food, water, fuel and medicine into Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.

The IDF didn't provide information on how it would get aid into Gaza or distribute it at al-Mawasi.

Jordan's foreign minister confirmed that a summit with President Biden, King Abdullah II of Jordan, President Sisi of Egypt and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority has been canceled. Mr. Biden had been scheduled to travel to Jordan for the summit after his stop in Israel.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that the United States will not be able to make the decision to stop the war. He called the situation in Gaza a breach of international law and the Geneva Conventions. 

The summit was called off after consultations with Egyptian and Palestinian leadership, Safadi said.

A senior Biden administration official said the cancellation was a "mutual" decision. 

"After consulting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, President Biden will postpone his travel to Jordan and the planned meeting with these two leaders and President Sisi of Egypt," a White House official said in a statement.

"The President sent his deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the hospital explosion in Gaza, and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded. He looks forward to consulting in person with these leaders soon, and agreed to remain regularly and directly engaged with each of them over the coming days."

President Biden released a statement Tuesday evening about the deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza City, and said the U.S. is working to gather information about what happened. 

"I am outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted," he said. 

"Immediately upon hearing this news, I spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and have directed my national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened. The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict and we mourn the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "horrified" and "strongly condemns" the strike on a hospital that killed hundreds in Gaza on Tuesday. 

Guterres stressed that hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law.

The U.N. chief's statement was issued after the U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting for Wednesday morning to address the hospital attack and consider a measure calling for a humanitarian pause in the conflict.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said, "Words fail me. Tonight, hundreds of people were killed – horrifically – in a massive strike at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, including patients, healthcare workers and families that had been seeking refuge in and around the hospital. Once again the most vulnerable. This is totally unacceptable."

Türk called hospitals "sacrosanct" and said "they must be protected at all cost."

Türk also said that at least six people were killed in Gaza Tuesday afternoon when a U.N.-run school in Al-Maghazi refugee camp was hit by a strike. "The school had been serving as a shelter for some 4,000 seeking refuge," Türk said.

Health officials in Gaza said at least 500 people were killed in a huge blast Tuesday at a hospital in Gaza City, and Israeli and Palestinian officials traded accusations over who was responsible for the devastating explosion.

Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli airstrike for the attack at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. Hamas called it "a horrific massacre."

Israeli officials said they did not target a hospital and that their review indicated the blast was caused by a rocket launched by the militant group Islamic Jihad towards Israel that fell short.

"An analysis of the IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al-Ahli Al-Mahdi hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit," Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement. 

The Israeli military later posted a video it said showed rockets being launched from inside Gaza, failing to reach Israel, and instead striking the hospital. 

Neither side's claims have been independently verified. 

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement. "Tonight, hundreds of people were killed — horrifically — in a massive strike at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, including patients, healthcare workers and families that had been seeking refuge in and around the hospital." 

All States with influence must do everything in their power to bring an end to this horrendous situation," Türk said. "Those found responsible must be held to account."

Read more here.

Israel has asked the U.S. for $10 billion in emergency military aid, sources familiar with the request confirm to CBS News.

President Biden is considering a full-year supplemental request for around $100 billion, which would cover defense assistance for Israel and Ukraine, border security funding, and aid to countries in the Indo-Pacific including Taiwan.

In 2022, the Biden administration requested $3.3 billion in foreign military financing for Israel and $500 million in missile defense aid, according to a Congressional Research Service report. 

In 2016, Israel and the U.S. signed their third 10-year understanding that $38 billion in military aid would be distributed over the decade, the report noted. The U.S. has said aid to Israel is based on shared strategic goals in the Middle East, commitment to democratic values and historical ties dating to the creation of Israel in 1948. 

Debate over U.S. aid to Israel in recent years has focused on issues regarding Israel's treatment of Palestinians, but Congress continues its "ironclad" U.S. commitment to Israel's security, the report said.