Jaclyn Diaz

Nine years ago, Mengistu was taken by Hamas. A deal on the release of some of the hostages taken on Oct. 7 doesn't appear to include him.

A humanitarian assessment team, led by the World Health Organization, gained access to the hospital Saturday. Al-Shifa has just 25 health workers for the 291 remaining patients.

Ziva Jelin and her family survived Hamas' brutal attack on Kibbutz Be'eri on Oct. 7. So did the 61-year-old artist's painting Curving Road, which now hangs in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

President Biden said he was "mildly hopeful" about a deal to free dozens of hostages, including a 3-year-old American. Israel dropped leaflets urging the evacuation of parts of southern Gaza.

Hamas denounced the actions by the Israeli military. The group denied the assertion by Israel and U.S. officials that militants were embedded in Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a posting on social media that it was launching "a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area" of the Gaza Strip's largest medical facility.

Israel has already allowed civilians to use a "humanitarian corridor" into southern Gaza in the past week. Thousands of Palestinians have managed to use this time to head south.

Israeli forces have reached the coast of Gaza, splitting the besieged area in half and essentially cutting off the north from the south.

About 1,400 people were killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and more than 240 people were kidnapped. In the four weeks since, almost 10,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza.

By the end of the window, NPR had not encountered anyone able to use this so-called safe passage. Several drivers said it was impossible for anyone to make it through.