Israel pulls out of truce talks in Cairo, cites Hamas' 'delusional demands': Live updates

Editor's Note: This page is a summary of news on the Israel-Hamas war for Wednesday, Feb. 14. For the latest news on the conflict in the Middle East, view our live updates file for Thursday, Feb. 15.

Israel pulled out its delegation from cease-fire talks in Cairo, blaming Hamas' "delusional demands'' and a lack of new proposals, Israeli media outlets reported Wednesday.

The talks, aimed at pausing fighting in Gaza and freeing the more than 100 remaining hostages, did not yield a breakthrough Tuesday but were extended for three more days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opted to recall his negotiating team.

"Israel did not receive in Cairo any new proposal of Hamas on the release of our hostages,'' Netanyahu's office said in a statement. "A change in Hamas' positions will allow the negotiations to advance,'' he said.

Netanyahu also released a video statement saying "strong military pressure and firm negotiations” are the keys to getting the captives released, the Times of Israel reported.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan blamed Netanyahu, telling The Associated Press that Israel's proposal veered away from agreements the parties had previously reached.

Families of the hostages called Netanyahu’s decision a “death sentence” for their loved ones, who have been held by militants in Gaza for more than 130 days.

Among the main issues preventing a deal is Israel's pledge to crush Hamas and remain in charge of security in Gaza after the war and Hamas' demands of a permanent cease-fire and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the war-torn territory.

Developments:

∎ The State Department has confirmed the death of 17-year-old Palestinian American Mohammad Ahmad Khdour in the West Bank and called for an investigation. The Washington Post reported he was shot in the head. He's the second U.S. citizen, both teenagers, to be killed in the occupied territory since the war started.

∎ U.S. forces carried out an airstrike on an anti-cruise missile in a part of Yemen controlled by the Houthis, the rebel group that for months has launched attacks on commercial and Navy ships in the Red Sea, according to U.S. Central Command.

∎ Family members of hostages held in Gaza as well as former captives were in the Netherlands on Wednesday to file a legal complaint seeking the International Criminal Court to arrest and prosecute the leaders of Hamas.

∎ More than 28,500 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages, triggering the war.

∎ The Israeli military said on X it "located and struck" Hamas infrastructure, including tunnel shafts, but did not say where. At least 10 militants were killed, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Thousands of Palestinians protected from US deportation

About 6,000 Palestinians living in the U.S. will avoid deportation for 18 months thanks to a program President Joe Biden invoked Wednesday, the New York Times reported.

The program, called Deferred Enforced Departure, allows citizens of countries in crisis to remain and work in the U.S. The Times cited a memo in which Biden said many Palestinian civilians are in danger because of the war in Gaza, so he granted authority for some who are in the U.S. to stay.

Biden recently sent a group of top advisers to Michigan, a battleground state with the second-largest number of Arab Americans in the nation, to mend fences with members of that community embittered by his handling of the war.

Israel fighters strike Hezbollah targets after deadly rocket attack

The Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday after rockets launched from Lebanon killed a 20-year-old soldier and injured eight others in the northern Israel town of Safed.

Israeli fighter jets struck several Hezbollah targets, including military compounds, operational control rooms and infrastructure belonging to the Iran-backed militant group operating in Lebanon, according to an IDF statement. At least 10 people were killed and nine wounded in the attack.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded airstrikes and rocket fire along the border with Lebanon since the war broke out in Gaza, prompting Israel to evacuate about 80,000 people from northern communities. The back-and-forth military operations have fueled fears of a wider regional war.

Israel calls for evacuation of hospital where thousands are sheltering

The Israeli military on Wednesday called for the evacuation of a large hospital in southern Gaza where thousands of civilians are sheltering, heightening fears of a potential invasion of the facility.

Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, one of the last operational hospitals in the south, has been surrounded for days by Israeli forces. Hospital officials and the Gaza Health Ministry reported that multiple civilians have been shot by snipers as they attempted to escape the area.

The IDF said in a statement it has proof "Hamas continues to conduct military activities" at the hospital complex and that "the place was used to hold hostages." Israel has not released its proof and its claims could not be independently verified.

"We demand the immediate cessation of all military activity in the area of ​​the hospital and the immediate departure of military operatives from it," the Israeli military said in a statement. "If Hamas does not stop this terrorist activity, within 12 hours, the IDF reserves its right to act against these actions according to international law."

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, said the U.N. agency has lost contact with the hospital's personnel and that four missions have been denied since the weekend. He said the medical facility is "the backbone of the health system in southern Gaza" and called for its protection.

"Civilians killed, orders to evacuate people seeking shelter, the northern wall demolished: I am alarmed by what is reportedly happening at Nasser Medical Complex," he said in a statement on social media. "Hostilities have reportedly destroyed storage facilities for medical equipment and supplies. Access to the hospital remains obstructed – there is no safe corridor for those in need."

Israel's Rafah evacuation plan: 15 campsites, 25,000 tents, report says

An Israeli evacuation proposal for Rafah includes 15 campsites of about 25,000 tents built across southwestern Gaza and field hospitals controlled by Egypt, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Egyptian officials. The creation of the sprawling tent cities would be paid for by the the U.S. and its Arab Gulf partners, the proposal reportedly said.

On Sunday, Netanyahu told ABC that Israel will provide safe corridors for civilians to flee Rafah and escape to areas cleared by the military.

But humanitarian aid groups said there's no place for people sheltering in Rafah to go and that large swaths of the territory have been destroyed by Israel's military operations, including Gaza City and Khan Younis. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees has said little aid has trickled into northern Gaza in recent weeks and that hundreds of thousands are facing a growing threat of starvation.

Meanwhile, Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat said if waves of Palestinians trying to flee Israel's invasion of Rafah enter Egypt, the country would suspend the Camp David Accords of the late 1970s, the Associated Press reported.

Protesters temporarily block traffic on Golden Gate Bridge

Protesters calling for a cease-fire and opposing Israel's offensive in Gaza temporarily blocked all lanes of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge early Wednesday morning.

The demonstration left traffic on San Francisco's Highway 101 at a standstill for about 45 minutes beginning around 8 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol's website.

In early December, protesters marched on the sidewalk of the Golden Gate Bridge but did not stop traffic. A month earlier, protesters temporarily blocked roads on the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco to Oakland.

Since the war began, large demonstrations calling for an end to the fighting have erupted across the United States and other parts of the world, often disrupting travel on major roadways and airports.

Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel Hamas war updates: Israel pulls out of cease-fire talks