LIVE | Israel-Hamas War Day 23: Thousands loot UN aid warehouses in Gaza

The UN mission in Lebanon says one peacekeeper was lightly wounded after his base in the country's south was hit by a mortar shell.

The militant group Hezbollah, Hamas' allies in Lebanon, has clashed with Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israeli border since the Gaza war erupted on Oct. 7. The skirmishes have remained relatively contained and mostly along a handful of border towns.

The two mortar shells hit a UNIFEL base near the southeastern border village of Houla, the U.N. mission said. The wounded peacekeeper suffered minor injuries and is in stable condition. Earlier Saturday, a shell hit UNIFIL's headquarters in the southern coastal town of Naqoura, but there was no mention of injuries.

UNIFIL did not specify where the shelling came from, and said that they were investigating both incidents.

UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after a 1978 invasion. The mission was expanded after the 2006 war, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Lebanon-Israel border to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into their country's south for the first time in decades. (AP)

Pope Francis repeatedly called for a cease-fire in Gaza on Sunday.

“Let’s continue to pray for Ukraine and for the serious situation in Palestine and Israel and for other regions with wars,” Francis said.

“In particular, in Gaza, leave space to guarantee humanitarian aid. And let the hostages be freed immediately. Let no one abandon the possibility to stop the arms. Cease fire,” he added, speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace above St. Peter's Square.

The pope cited the Rev. Ibrahim Faltas, the vicar of the Holy Land, as joining him in the urgent plea for a cease-fire.

“Stop yourselves brothers and sisters, war is always defeat. Always! Always!” he concluded. (AP)

Norway’s prime minister says Israel's reaction to Hamas' attack exceeds the rules of international law on proportionality.

“It says in international law that (reaction to such an attack) must be proportionate,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told public broadcaster NRK in an interview on Sunday.

“Civilians must be taken into account, and humanitarian law is fully aware of that. I believe that the line has now been far exceeded” by Israel, he said, adding that his primary concern is that emergency aid is not getting into the Gaza Strip.

Norway on Friday voted in favour of the United Nations resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” leading to a cessation of hostilities in Gaza.

“It's a catastrophic situation, and I believe it is clearly in violation of what we call the rules of war or humanitarian law,” he said. “Many fear that the escalation we are now seeing could ignite a much bigger conflict in the region, and obviously a much more lasting conflict.” (AP)

The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza says over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed since war broke out on Oct. 7.

It said Sunday that the toll has risen to 8,005 Palestinians, including more than 3,300 minors and over 2,000 women.

The Health Ministry is part of the Hamas-run government but includes doctors and veteran civil servants who are not affiliated with the group. Its tolls from previous wars have held up to U.N. scrutiny, independent investigations and even Israel's tallies. The ministry released detailed records last week showing the names, ages and ID numbers of most of the deaths it has recorded, saying some bodies have not yet been identified.

More than 1,400 people have been killed on the Israeli side, the vast majority civilians killed by Hamas in its bloody Oct. 7 incursion into Israel. (AP)

Faced with sharp criticism from allies and opposition alike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday apologized for an earlier statement in which he blamed the security services for failing to prevent the deadly Hamas attack on October 7.

“I was wrong. The things I said following the press conference should not have been said and I apologize for that,” Netanyahu posted on X, shortly after deleting his original statement on the same social media platform.

“I give full backing to all the heads of the security services. I am sending strength to the [IDF] chief of staff and the commanders and soldiers of the IDF who are on the frontlines and fighting for our home,” the Israeli prime minister further said.

Late Saturday night, Netanyahu in a post on X said that he never received any warnings of Hamas' “war intentions” at any stage, and stressed that “all the security services, including the head of military intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, were of the opinion that Hamas was deterred and wanted to come to a settlement”.

His comments evoked sharp criticism following which it was deleted.

At a press conference on Saturday evening, reporters repeatedly asked the Israeli prime minister if he accepted responsibility for the failure, a question he evaded saying that there would be a thorough enquiry about it after the War and everyone would have to give answers, "including me".

Several security chiefs have accepted responsibility for the massive failure, but Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister who has been at the helm of affairs since 2009 except for a brief 13-month gap, has desisted from taking any blame for it. (PTI)

As the three-week-old Israel-Hamas war enters what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says could be a “long and difficult” new stage, US President Joe Biden is calling on Israeli and Arab leaders to think hard about their eventual postwar reality.

It’s one, he argues, where finally finding agreement on a long-sought two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict should be a priority.

“There’s no going back to the status quo as it stood on October 6,” Biden told reporters, referring to the day before Hamas militants attacked Israel and set off the latest war. The White House says Biden conveyed the same message directly to Netanyahu during a telephone call this past week.

“It also means that when this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next, and in our view, it has to be a two-state solution,” Biden said. (AP)

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has reiterated his appeal for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza and called for an unconditional release of all hostages and the delivery of sustained relief to the people in the territory.

Guterres, who is on an official visit to Nepal, condemned the “appalling attacks perpetrated by Hamas” and said “there is no justification, ever, for the killing, injuring and abduction of civilians.” He also said he regretted Israel's move to intensify its military operations in Gaza.

He also reminded Israel and Hamas about their obligations under international humanitarian law. “I have always been consistent in my call for strict compliance of the well-established principles and rules of international humanitarian law. The protection of civilians is paramount,” he said.

“The laws of war establish clear rules to protect human life and respect humanitarian concerns. Those laws cannot be contorted for the sake of expediency. The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes,” he added. (AP)

The head of the World Health Organization says they managed to communicate with the agency's team in Gaza after internet and phone connectivity in the enclave were gradually restored.

“They said the last two nights were extremely tense with a lot of airstrikes - without fuel, water, electricity, connectivity and safe shelter to evacuate to,” Tedros Adhanom wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

He added that the WHO team, like others in Gaza, remain unsafe and called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said the agency has 30 employees in Gaza. (AP)