US drones are monitoring the Gaza Strip in search of signs of life of Israeli captives that could help rescue them, The New York Times reported Thursday night.
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According to the report, "while Israel frequently conducts reconnaissance flights over Gaza, US defense officials said it was believed to be the first time that US drones have flown missions over Gaza." The report further noted that the aircraft are MQ-9 Reapers and appear to be operated by US Special Operations forces. They were initially detected by the site Flightradar24. The report noted that according to the Pentagon, the aircraft have been conducting flights in the area since the days after the Oct. 7 massacre by the Hamas terrorists. "Two officials said the goal was to assist in locating hostages, monitor for signs of life, and pass potential leads to the IDF," the Times reported. "The flights are concentrated in southern Gaza, approximately 15 miles from the Israeli military's initial push in the north," it continued.
Israel said it had surrounded the Gaza Strip's biggest city and the focus of its drive to annihilate Hamas, as the United States was set to press Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to pauses in fighting to allow aid into the Palestinian enclave.
With the conflict nearing the end of its fourth week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for the second time in a month to meet Netanyahu as Israel's military battled Hamas terrorists, who fought back with hit-and-run attacks from underground tunnels.
"We're at the height of the battle. We've had impressive successes and have passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing," Netanyahu said in a statement after the military said it had encircled the seaside enclave's main city.
As Blinken left Washington for the Middle East, he said he would discuss concrete steps to minimize harm to civilians in Gaza. The White House, meanwhile, said any pauses in fighting should be temporary and localized, and insisted they would not stop Israel from defending itself.
Mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians, along with acute shortages of food, water, medicine, and fuel, have intensified calls by global leaders for a pause in fighting or a ceasefire.
Israel has dismissed those calls, saying it targets Hamas fighters whom it accuses of intentionally hiding among the population and civilian buildings. The White House has also rejected calls for a ceasefire.
Gaza health authorities say at least 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for deadly attacks by Hamas terrorists on southern Israel.
A group of independent United Nations experts warned that Palestinians in Gaza are at "grave risk of genocide".
"We call on Israel and its allies to agree to an immediate ceasefire. We are running out of time," the group of UN special rapporteurs said in a statement.
The Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva called the rapporteur's comments "deplorable and deeply concerning" and blamed Hamas for the civilian deaths. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said a determination of genocide could only be made by a relevant UN judicial body.
Hamas murdered 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages in the attacks on Oct. 7, the deadliest day of its 75-year-old history.
The White House said on Thursday it was looking into a series of pauses in the conflict. "What we're trying to do is explore the idea of as many pauses as might be necessary to continue to get aid out and to continue to work to get people out safely, including hostages," US national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
Blinken also was due to meet Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman on Saturday. In a statement, Safadi said Israel must end the war on Gaza, where he said it was committing war crimes by bombing civilians and imposing a siege.
Gulf Arab power, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), warned on Friday that tension in the Middle East was "approaching a boiling point" and that it was working "relentlessly" to reach an immediate and full humanitarian ceasefire.
"The risk of regional spillover and further escalation is real, as well as the risk that extremist groups will take advantage of the situation to advance ideologies that will keep us locked in cycles of violence," Noura al-Kaabi, a minister of state for foreign affairs, told a conference in Abu Dhabi.
Amid heavy explosions in Gaza, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters his country's "troops completed the encirclement of Gaza City, which is the focal point of the Hamas terror organization".
Brigadier General Iddo Mizrahi, chief of Israel's military engineers, said troops were encountering mines and booby traps.
"Hamas has learned and prepared itself well," he said.
Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas, said in a televised speech on Thursday that Israel's death toll in Gaza was much higher than the military had announced. "Your soldiers will return in black bags," he said.
Israel has said it has lost 18 soldiers and killed dozens of terrorists since ground operations expanded on Friday.
Hamas and allied Islamic Jihad fighters were emerging from tunnels to fire at tanks, then disappearing back into the network, residents said and videos from both groups showed.
Two US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the US was flying intelligence-gathering drones over Gaza to help locate hostages. One of the officials said they had been carrying out the drone flights for over a week.
