Israel-Gaza war live updates: Fighting will last ‘more than several months,’ Israeli defense minister tells U.S.

President Biden told reporters Thursday that he wants Israel “to be focused on how to save civilian lives” and to “be more careful,” a reflection of his shifting stance toward Israel’s methods, which have been criticized by human rights organizations and several world leaders.

In north Gaza and Gaza City, Israel Defense Forces soldiers raided cemeteries, vandalized graves and stole dead bodies, a Thursday statement from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said. Field researchers reported that bodies were scattered or disappeared, and that dozens of graves were “seriously damaged.” They also reported that more than 120 mass graves have been constructed recently across Gaza.

In Jenin, in the West Bank, Israeli forces killed at least 12 Palestinians and injured more than 30 during a three-day raid, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday. Late Thursday, the IDF said it had completed what it described as “counterterrorism activity” in Jenin, killing “more than ten terrorists.”

The IDF said early Friday that it had recovered the body of hostage Elia Toledano, 28, during an operation in Gaza and returned the body to Israel. Toledano was abducted during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and had attended the Supernova desert rave, Israeli media reported.

At least 18,787 people have been killed in Gaza and 50,897 wounded since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.