Live updates | More Palestinians fleeing combat zone in northern Gaza, UN says

The pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up as Israel’s air and ground campaign there intensifies. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that about 15,000 people fled on Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday.

The densely populated northern area of Gaza, specifically Gaza City and adjacent crowded urban refugee camps, are the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years. The war, now in its second month, was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

The number of Palestinians killed in the war passed 10,300, including more than 4,200 children, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Tuesday.

In the occupied West Bank, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and Israeli raids. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.

Currently:

— G7 nations announce a unified stance on the war.

— Israel envisions an “ overall security ” role in Gaza indefinitely.

— U.S. House of Representatives censures only Palestinian American in Congress.

— Civilians fleeing northern Gaza’s combat zone report a terrifying journey on foot past Israeli tanks.

— Indian bans pro-Palestinian protests.

— AP PHOTOS: Death, destruction and despair reign a month into latest Israel-Gaza conflict.

— How Lebanon’s Hezbollah group became a critical player in the Israel-Hamas war.

— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

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

ISRAEL CABINET TO MEET IN WEST BANK FOLLOWING WARNINGS OF MORE VIOLENCE

JERUSALEM — Israel’s wartime security Cabinet will meet late Wednesday in the West Bank offices of the military’s Central Command “due to warnings by security officials about the potential for a serious escalation in violence” in the territory, the Ynet website reported, citing a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Israeli media reported last week that the Shin Bet security agency issued such a warning, noting an increase in violence by Jewish settlers.

Deadly violence has been surging in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Israel’s military pursues Hamas militants following the group’s bloody Oct. 7 incursion into Israel from the Gaza Strip. The violence threatens to open another front in the war Israel launched against Hamas after it killed more than 1,400 people in southern Israel and took more than 240 people hostage.

As of Tuesday, 167 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank over the past month, mainly in clashes with Israeli troops. The toll since the beginning of the year was 371.

Some of the dead have been killed in violent anti-Israel protests, and Palestinians have said eight people were killed in attacks by settlers, who have intensified assaults and provocations since the war began.

Daily Israeli military arrest raids in the territory have intensified, with once-rare aerial attacks becoming much more common. The military said Wednesday that 1,430 wanted men have been arrested in the West Bank since Oct. 7, including more than 900 from Hamas.

G7 NATIONS ANNOUNCE A UNIFIED STANCE ON ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

TOKYO — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies announced a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday after intensive meetings in Tokyo, condemning Hamas, supporting Israel’s right to self-defense and calling for “humanitarian pauses” to speed aid to desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement following two days of talks, the nations sought to balance unequivocal criticism of Hamas’ attacks against Israel and “the need for urgent action” to help civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

“All parties must allow unimpeded humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, and access for humanitarian workers,” said the statement, hammered out by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy. “We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and the release of hostages.”

MORE PALESTINIANS FLEEING COMBAT ZONE IN NORTHERN GAZA

JERUSALEM — The pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up as Israel’s air and ground campaign there intensifies, U.N. monitors said Wednesday. About 15,000 people fled on Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The civilians flee during a four-hour window set daily by the Israeli military that assures safe passage from Gaza City and its surroundings to the south. Most of those fleeing were children, the elderly and people with disabilities, the U.N. agency said. Many arrived on foot with minimal belongings.

In a new development, some of those fleeing reported that they had to cross Israeli checkpoints to reach the south and that they had witnessed some arrests by Israeli forces. Others have said they had to walk past Israeli tanks with raised hands while waving white flags.

The densely populated northern area of Gaza, specifically Gaza City and adjacent urban refugee camps, are the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years. The war, now in its second month, was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians remain in the combat area, many sheltering at hospitals or U.N. schools. Some said they were deterred from moving south because of dire humanitarian conditions in the evacuation zone and ongoing Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, including the south.

U.N. monitors say some 1.5 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced.

ISRAELI GOVERNMENT TO CONVENE JUDICIAL SELECTION COMMITTEE

JERUSALEM — After months of refusal, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin said he will convene the judicial selection committee on Nov. 16 to fill empty slots in the Supreme Court and lower benches.

The committee has been a central battleground in Levin’s plan to weaken the country’s judiciary because he wanted to change its makeup to give the government control over appointments. The proposed judicial overhaul touched off months of mass protests across the country by demonstrators who accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of seeking to weaken the only serious check on politicians.

Levin said earlier this week that he would convene the panel soon. In a letter Sunday to the Supreme Court, he said, “wartime is not the time to deal with controversial subjects,” and that he would bring before the panel candidates who have broad support.

The government maintains the courts have overstepped their powers and need to be reined in. The demonstrations against the proposed overhaul were put on hold after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking over 240 hostages, touching off a fierce Israeli assault to crush Hamas.

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE HITS RESIDENTIAL AREA IN SOUTH GAZA

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza — An Israeli airstrike struck a residential area in the Zannah neighborhood east of Khan Younis on Wednesday, destroying at least one house and damaging surrounding buildings.

First responders were searching the rubble for dead or wounded from the strike. At least three people -– two women and a child — were killed, according to an Associated Press journalist. Ambulances were transporting injured people to a hospital, the journalist said.

Khan Younis is in southern Gaza where Israel’s military ordered people in Gaza City and its surroundings to move.

EXPLOSIONS REPORTED ACROSS GAZA CITY AND SHATI REFUGEE CAMP

CAIRO — Residents reported loud explosions across Gaza City and the adjacent Shati refugee camp overnight into Wednesday, as Israel’s military said its troops were battling Hamas forces deep inside the densely populated urban area.

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said an airstrike Wednesday morning hit a house near the Jabaliya refugee camp, also part of that built-up area.

“The bombings were heavy and close,” said Mohamed Abed, who lives in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. He said people around him panicked when they heard the news late Tuesday that Israeli ground forces were fighting deep in the city.

Gaza City is the focus of Israel’s military campaign, now in its second month, to crush the Hamas militant group, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years. The war was triggered by a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.

40 FILIPINOS FLEE GAZA THROUGH RAFAH CROSSING INTO EGYPT

MANILA, Philippines — Dozens of Filipinos fled from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip into Egypt through the Rafah crossing after Filipino diplomats negotiated for their safe passage and Qatar mediated for the border to be opened, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Wednesday.

The 40 Filipinos were traveling to the Egyptian capital of Cairo, where they planned to take flights back to the Philippines, Marcos said in a video message in Manila. Two Filipino doctors managed to leave the Gaza Strip into Egypt last week.

“I hope the rest of our countrymen who also wanted to return home can also exit properly with their spouses and loved ones,” Marcos said.

Most of at least 134 Filipinos in Gaza, many of whom are married to Palestinians, have sought help to leave the besieged territory and are waiting for an opportunity to leave, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said.