RIYADH - The United States has been working with Egypt, Israel and Qatar to open the Rafah crossing from Gaza into Egypt on Saturday afternoon, a senior State Department official said on Saturday.

"We have been trying to facilitate access for it to be open from 12 to five today. The Egyptians, the Israelis and the Qataris have been working with us on that," the official told reporters traveling with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

A top Hamas commander, who led a terrorist attack in a Gaza community last week, was killed during an airstrike, the Israeli Defense Force announced Saturday.

The military official was identified as Ali Qadhi, leader of the Najaba forces.

In 2005, Ali was arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Israelis before he was returned to Hamas as part of the Gilad Shalit deal, IDF Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Hamas terrorists kidnapped a sole young conscript named Gilad Shalit in 2006, which brokered a deal between the enemies to release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners -- many of whom had committed deadly acts of terrorism against Israel -- for Shalit’s return.

The deal was agreed upon in 2011 but led to an escalation of violence from both sides since.

With Post wires

The Israeli army said on Saturday it was aware of the incident in southern Lebanon in which a Reuters journalist was killed and that it was being investigated.

"We are aware of the incident with the Reuters journalist. We are looking into it. We already have visuals. We're doing cross examination. It's a tragic thing," a military spokesperson told reporters.

Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six other journalists injured in southern Lebanon on Friday when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck them, according to a Reuters videographer who was at the scene.

The Israeli Defense Force confirmed more than 1,300 Israelis have been killed since last Saturday’s attack on the country by Hamas terrorists.

"We are one week, and perhaps 10 minutes, after this horrible world started with the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas, which resulted in more than 1,300 dead Israelis and 3,000 wounded," IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said during a Saturday morning update.

At least 258 Israeli soldiers have been killed in action, according to the IDF.

The spokesman confirmed that Israeli forces are staged on the border of Gaza and are ready for whatever is tasked to them next.

"I draw faith and strength from the level of unity in Israel and from the level of cohesion and battle readiness of Israeli soldiers," Conricus said.

At least 2,269 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have been killed and 9,841 have been wounded since the conflict began, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The IDF shared on Friday that at least 1,000 terrorists have been killed since strikes on Gaza began. 

With Post Wires

Iran’s involvement in helping coordinate Hamas’ deadly terrorist attack on Israel may have begun over a year ago — far earlier than previously known, according to a report.

Dating back to 2022, a close group of leaders from Iran, Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah and Hamas collaborated and assisted in training the Palestinian terrorists that would carry out the unprecedented raid on Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip, according to the New York Times. 

The group of leaders had “advanced knowledge” of the barbaric attack, the outlet notes, citing Iranians affiliated with the infamous Revolutionary Guards Corps and senior leadership and a Syrian affiliated with Hezbollah.

The new information was gleaned from captured Hamas terrorists who, after interrogation, revealed that they had been training for the attack for a year, Israeli defense officials told the New York Times.

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Medical supplies provided by the World Health Organization have landed in Egypt as the UN agency attempts to deliver them to those who are trapped in Gaza.

"A plane with WHO medical supplies to support the urgent health needs in Gaza has landed in Al Arish, Egypt - close to the Rafah crossing," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Saturday.

"We’re ready to deploy the supplies as soon as humanitarian access through the crossing is established," he added. "We continue our plea to Israel to reconsider the decision to evacuate 1.1 million people. It will be a human tragedy.

The Rafah crossing, which connects Egypt and Israel at the Gaza Strip, has been partially closed as Israeli Airstrikes have disrupted operation following last Saturday's attack.

The crossing has been operated by the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Rafah since Israel dismantled its settlements in Gaza back in 2005.

Humanitarian aid packages for Gazan civilians also arrived in Ankara, Turkey on Saturday.

A 17-year-old girl diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and bound to a wheelchair was forcefully taken by Hamas terrorists during the Supernova music festival massacre last Saturday.

Rut Perez was attending the event with her father, Eric, and sister, Yamit when the terror attack began, her sister told The Times on Friday.

Yamit, 20, had left the festival early with a friend, but her father and Rut decided to stay back.

“It was the happiest I’ve ever seen her, dancing in her wheelchair. She was so happy,” Yamit told the outlet.

Both have not been seen since the Hamas gunned down more than 260 people during the invasion.

Yamit does not know if her father or sister is still alive but is pleading with Hamas for answers, given her Rut’s severe disability.

“I am begging Hamas to let my dad take care of her, he’s the only one who knows what she needs,” she said.

Yamit and her mother, Elinor, who is also in a wheelchair, were in Tel Aviv on Thursday with other families of those ripped away by Hamas to speak with hostage negotiators about what they are doing to bring home their loved ones safely.

The Israeli Defense Force has told civilians in northern Gaza to move south of the Gaza River within the next 6 hours.

"In recent days, we have appealed to you to leave Gaza City to the south of Wadi Gaza in order to preserve your safety," wrote the IDF's Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee on X Saturday morning.

"I would like to inform you that the IDF will allow movement on the indicated streets without any harm between the hours of 10:00 a.m. - 16:00 a.m.." — 3 a.m. to 9 a.m. Eastern time.

“If you care about yourself and your loved ones, go south as instructed,” the warning read

“Rest assured that Hamas leaders have taken care of themselves and are taking cover from strikes in the region. Residents of the beach, sand, and west of Olive will also be allowed to move on Daldul and Al-Sana Streets towards Salah Al-Din and Al-Bahr Streets."

The message comes hours after the IDF said they have staged soldiers around Gaza and as the tension of a possible ground invasion by Israel seems imminent.

Israeli Defense Force troops killed terrorists who attempted to sneak into Israel from the Lebanon Border on Saturday.

IDF surveillance detected a terrorist cell that tried to infiltrate Israeli territory from Lebanon," wrote IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari on X.

"An IDF remotely piloted aircraft attacked the cell and eliminated a number of terrorists."

Murad Abu Murad, a top Hamas official who helped orchestrate last week's murderous attack in Israel, was killed during an overnight airstrike, according to the Israeli Air Force.

Murad is the head of Hamas' Air Force, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing Hebrew media.

Fighter jets struck the operational headquarters where Hamas’ “aerial activities were managed."

The IAF also confirmed to have killed “dozens of military targets and operatives of the terrorist organization Hamas” staged around the Gaza Strip, including the terrorist groups Najaba forces -- who “were the main forces that infiltrated the surrounding settlements last Saturday.”

The United Nations' top humanitarian official blasted Israel's order to evacuate 1.1 million people from northern Gaza, claiming it "defies the rules of war and basic humanity.

“Gaza is under intense bombardment. Roads and homes have been reduced to rubble. There is nowhere safe to go,” Martin Griffiths, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator wrote in a statement on X Friday.

“Forcing scared and traumatized civilians, including women and children, to move from one densely populated area to another, without even a pause in the fighting and without humanitarian support, is dangerous and outrageous," Griffiths added.

“Without safe passage and access to basic services, such mass displacement of civilians will have catastrophic humanitarian consequences and long-term implications."

Israel gave civilians 24 hours on Friday morning to evacuate north of the Gaza River as fighting continues and a looming threat of a ground invasion into Gaza appears to be on the horizon.

Earlier Saturday, the IDF confirmed they have troops around the border of Gaza "preparing themselves for whatever target they will get" and they ordered the evacuation to reduce the already growing number of civilian casualties.

President Joe Biden spoke with the families whose loved ones are being held hostage by Hamas terrorists for about 45 minutes on Friday, said the father of kidnapped American Sagui Dekel-Chen.

“As an American citizen, as an Israeli citizen, as someone whose beloved son, we are sure is being held alive, dead, wounded, we don’t know, I could not possibly ask for more than President Biden expressed about the United States’ commitment to getting these people back,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen told CNN.

Sagui Dekel-Chen, of Connecticut, vanished from the Nir Oz kibbutz following the massacre on Saturday morning.

Dekel-Chen said that Biden and his administration are “in this for the long haul” and are focused on getting “not just the American hostages, but all the Israeli hostages.”

The father said that as a dual citizen -- who’s said he’s a proud Israeli citizen -- was “no less proud to be an American as a result of that phone call.”

“Honestly, most of the time, he was listening to people’s stories and their desires for his action, and his answers were inspiring,” Dekel-Chen shared with the outlet.

Dekel-Chen said he’s “absolutely convinced this is a sincere effort” from Biden and his administration to get the hostages homes and is ready to do “whatever is necessary” to bring that outcome to fruition.