Middle East conflict live updates: U.S. defense secretary urges Israel to abandon plan for Rafah offensive

At least 18 Palestinians died after aid was airdropped with parachutes over Gaza and landed in the sea. Twelve people drowned and six were killed in stampedes, Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the civil defense emergency services in Gaza, told The Washington Post.

Israel apprehended more than 500 people it purports are Hamas operatives during its ongoing raid of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the country’s military said Tuesday. Some humanitarian groups and aid agencies have publicly denounced the siege of the hospital this month by Israeli forces, citing humanitarian concerns for doctors and patients.

The head of Hamas’s political operations, Ismail Haniyeh, met with Iran’s foreign minister in Tehran on Tuesday, Iran’s Press TV reported. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari condemned the move as a sign that Iran and Hamas “want to escalate the region.”

At least 32,414 people have been killed and 74,787 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack and says 252 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operation in Gaza.