The White House said on Tuesday its independent intelligence supported Israel’s claim that Hamas was using Gaza’s hospitals, including its biggest, to hide command posts and hostages while a glimmer of progress emerged in hostage negotiations.

President Joe Biden said he was in discussions daily with parties involved in talks to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas in its cross-border rampage into Israel on Oct. 7. More than 235 people are thought to still be held by the Islamist group in Gaza.

When asked by reporters at the White House what his message to family members of hostages was, he said: “Hang in there, we’re coming.”

ABC News reported that progress had been made on a hostage deal. A breakthrough could come in the next 48 to 72 hours, it said, citing a senior Israeli political source.

White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on the presidential plane, Air Force One, that intelligence confirmed the Hamas group, which rules Gaza, used tunnels underneath Al-Shifa and other hospitals to conceal military operations and to hold hostages.

Israel has made the same claims, which Hamas denies.

“We have information that confirms that Hamas is using that particular hospital for a command and control node” and probably to store weapons, Kirby said. “That is a war crime.”

Five weeks after Israel swore to destroy Hamas in retaliation for operatives’ cross-border assault, the fate of Al-Shifa has become a focus of international alarm, including from Israel’s closest ally, the United States.

Israeli forces have waged fierce street battles against Hamas fighters over the past 10 days, advanced into the centre of Gaza City and surrounded Al-Shifa, the seaside enclave’s biggest hospital.

Kirby said that the U.S. intelligence came from a variety of methods but that he could not be specific about the evidence.

Hamas said on Telegram it rejected U.S. claims about its use of hospitals and that they “give a green light to the Israeli occupation to commit further brutal massacres targeting hospitals.”

Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director for Human Rights Watch, said that even if Hamas was proven to be using hospitals to conduct military operations, international law required that effective warnings be given before attacks.

This meant people there needed a safe place to go and a safe way to get there, Shakir said. “It’s very alarming because you have to remember hospitals in Gaza are housing tens of thousands of displaced persons.”

AL-SHIFA THE FOCUS OF CONFLICT

Hamas says 650 patients and 5,000 to 7,000 other civilians are trapped inside Al-Shifa hospital grounds, under constant fire from Israeli snipers and drones. Amid worsening shortages of fuel, water and supplies, it says 40 patients have died in recent days, including three premature babies whose incubators were knocked out.

Palestinians trapped in the hospital were digging a mass grave on Tuesday to bury patients who died and no plan was in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators, Ashraf Al-Qidra, Gaza’s health ministry spokesman, said.

An Israeli officer who oversees coordination with Gaza told Reuters he had been in contact with Al-Shifa’s hospital director and presented a plan to evacuate the babies through a safe corridor, possibly to Egypt. He said he was awaiting a response.

Reached by telephone inside the hospital compound, Qidra said that so far no arrangements had been established to carry out any evacuation. “The occupation is still besieging the hospital and they are firing into the yards from time to time,” he said.

Qidra said there were about 100 bodies decomposing inside and no way to get them out.

“We are planning to bury them today in a mass grave inside the Al-Shifa medical complex. It is going to be very dangerous as we don’t have any cover or protection from the ICRC,” he told Reuters, referring to the International Committee of the Red Cross/Crescent.

Israel denies the hospital is under siege and says its forces allow exit routes for those inside. Medics and officials inside the hospital deny this and say those trying to leave come under fire. Reuters could not verify the situation.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply disturbed by the “dramatic loss of life” in the hospitals, his spokesman said. “In the name of humanity, the secretary-general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” the spokesman told reporters.

Medical officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 11,000 people are confirmed dead from Israeli strikes, around 40% of them children, and countless others trapped under rubble. Around two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been made homeless, unable to escape the territory where food, fuel, fresh water and medical supplies are running out.

Israel says Hamas killed 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 rampage. The United States and Britain imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Hamas on Tuesday.

BIDEN ADVISER HEADS TO MIDDLE EAST

Shortly after Biden’s remarks about the hostages, the White House said Biden’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, was heading to the region for talks with officials in Israel, the West Bank, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other nations. Efforts to win the hostages’ release will be among the topics on his agenda.

Hamas leader Ezzat El Rashq said on Telegram Israel was not serious about winning the hostages’ freedom “but is stalling in order to gain more time to continue its aggression.”

The armed wing of Hamas said it was ready to free up to 70 women and children held in Gaza in exchange for a five-day ceasefire. Al-Qassam Brigade spokesman Abu Ubaida said Israel had asked for 100 to be freed.

There was no immediate public response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Relatives of hostages set off from Tel Aviv on a days-long protest march to Jerusalem to plead for more government action.

Yuval Haran, from Kibbutz Be’eri where Hamas fighters killed scores of civilians including his father, said he was marching out of desperation to free seven family members.

“For 39 days we have been in infinite anxiety. We are living this pain each and every moment. And I cannot keep sitting down and waiting,” he said. “They must be brought home now.”

In Washington, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered on Tuesday for a “March for Israel” to show solidarity with Israel in its war with Hamas and condemn rising antisemitism.

Telangana IT Minister and Working President of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), KT Rama Rao on Tuesday took a jibe at Congress and said that the state is guaranteed with one Chief Minister for every six months if the grand old party is elected to power in upcoming assembly polls.

BRS Working President and Telangana Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, IT and Industries Rama Rao, while addressing the Telangana Builders Federation meeting on Tuesday said that a stable government and able leadership is the key to development.

“In Karnataka, 3 people struggled (for CM post). Here 11 people are ready. Even Jana Reddy is waiting to become CM even though his nomination was rejected. Some people are stitching new pyjamas, and new dhotis and some are colouring their beards. I don’t know about 6 guarantees, but 1 CM for every 6 months is guaranteed,” he said.

He also jibed at Congress’s central leadership and questioned its stability.

“Some people keep criticising us. Did Telangana achieve so much development without KCR not doing anything? A stable government and able leadership is the reason for the development in the state. If the head of an institution changes in every 6 months, will any work happen there? Works will happen only if there is a consistent leadership,” Mr Rao said.

Telangana is scheduled to go to assembly elections on November 30 and the counting of votes, along with those of four other poll-bound states, has been scheduled for December 3. The state is set to witness a triangular contest among the BJP, BRS, and Congress.

Further, hitting at the BJP and Congress, Mr Rao said opposition parties of the state want to win Telangana unlike BRS that wants want to win Telangana

“We should have a passion and commitment towards the state. We have worked in the Telangana movement. We want to prove to the country that Telangana is number one. Why will Modi or Rahul think about it? Telangana is just one state out of 29 states for them. But for us, Telangana is the only state. They want to win Telangana, we want Telangana to win,” the Telangana minister said.

On the issue of the Musi River, Mr Rao accused the Congress of ‘destroying’ it.

“Recently, Congress said that they will rejuvenate the Musi River. Who destroyed Musi? Out of 65 years, they ruled for 55 years. Now, they question us. Today, when electricity goes off for 10-15 mins, we see messages on social media criticising us. In a way, I see it as a compliment that earlier people never asked if electricity is not there for 10 hours but today people criticise us if there is no electricity for 15 mins. In those earlier days, it was news if there was electricity. Now, it is news if electricity goes off. This is a fact,” he added.

KTR added, “Recently, farmers from Karnataka are coming here and campaigning that they made a mistake voting for Congress. There was no electricity in Karnataka for Diwali. Diwali is a festival of lights, but Karnataka was in darkness. Do you want electricity or Congress, you should decide.”

Tens of thousands packed a rally in Washington on Tuesday to support Israel and to condemn anti-Semitism in a riposte to weeks of largely pro-Palestinian demonstrations across a deeply divided United States.

With senior members of Congress addressing the event on the National Mall, near the Capitol, the crowd rapidly swelled with people wearing the white and blue colors of Israel and waving placards calling on Palestinian group Hamas to free hostages.

Despite fierce controversy in the United States over the intensity of the Israeli military response to the October 7 surprise cross-border attack by Hamas, rally goer Sergei Kravchick, said, “We of course support Israel…. We’re doing exactly what we have to do.”

Kravchick, 64, said he was “proud” to see the large turnout.

The demonstration, dubbed the March for Israel, centered on combating anti-Semitism and calling for the release of the 240 hostages held by Hamas, according to the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, one of the organizers.

Hamas fighters stormed across the border from the Gaza Strip, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Since then, the Israeli army has heavily bombarded Gaza and launched a ground invasion, killing more than 11,200 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The heaviest fighting has centered around Gaza hospitals.

Speaking by video link from Jerusalem, Israeli President Isaac Herzog told the crowd they were “marching for the right of every Jew to live proudly and safely in Israel and the US and the world.”

“No one will break us,” he said.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — a Democrat — and House Speaker Mike Johnson — a Republican — also spoke, as well as family members of the hostages.

“America feels your pain,” Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States.

– Heavy police presence –

The demonstration comes after multiple large protests around the country — and in cities around the world — calling for a ceasefire and criticizing the Israeli military.

Security was tight, reflecting the wider tensions.

Police stationed snowplows as temporary roadblocks nearby and a military style armored vehicle was also deployed. Protesters’ bags were searched before being allowed to enter the area.

In contrast to pro-Palestinian demonstrations from New York to Los Angeles that have focused on the suffering of civilians in Gaza, Tuesday’s crowd turned its anger on Hamas.

Signs included “Annihilate Hamas” and “From the river to the sea, we support democracy.”

Mark Moore, 48, a Christian pastor from Chicago, said he considers Israel “the only bastion of freedom” in the Middle East and that although he wanted peace ultimately, “I’m praying for peace… secured through victory so it does not continue with this endless cycle of violence.”

Less than two weeks ago, a major pro-Palestinian demonstration took place in Washington, with a large crowd marching up to the fence around the White House, protesting against President Joe Biden’s staunch support for Israeli military policies.