Israel-Hamas War Day 12: Hamas Rockets Fired at Tel Aviv Right After Biden Leaves Israel, American Death Toll Rises

Dozens of Hamas terrorists may still be lurking inside Israel more than a week after launching surprise attacks, officials said Wednesday, as President Biden made a high-stakes diplomatic visit — capped by a Hamas rocket attack shortly after he departed on Air Force One.

During the visit, Biden announced that the American death toll in the October 7 terror attacks had risen to 31 and pledged $100 million in aid for Gaza and the West Bank.

The president also said Egypt had agreed to open its border crossing at Rafah to allow 20 truckloads of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel put forward evidence that, it says, proves the Israel Defense Forces are not to blame for an explosion that killed hundreds at a Gaza hospital.

In the United States, dueling protests over that explosion and the larger conflict continued, as did backlash against students who voiced anti-Israel sentiment.

Approximately 1,400 people were killed in the initial terrorist strikes against Israel, with thousands more wounded and about 200 taken hostage.

Since then, more than 3,400 people have been killed in retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, with some 12,000 injured and more than 1 million Gazans displaced.

Dozens of terrorists still in Israel: officials

Almost two weeks after the initial terror attack was launched, dozens of Hamas terrorists are believed to still be in Israel, local outlet Channel 13 reported Wednesday, citing an official assessment.

The revelation comes as Israel has built a tight blockade around Gaza, in anticipation of launching a possible ground incursion into the territory.

Israel has also seen sporadic fighting with Hezbollah terrorists along its border with Lebanon, raising the specter of a potential second front.

31 Americans confirmed killed: Biden

Thirty-one Americans have now been confirmed killed in the initial Hamas terror attacks, President Biden said during his high-stakes Wednesday visit to Israel.

Americans are also believed to be among the Hamas hostages who were taken back to Gaza after the attack.

Hundreds more Americans are believed stranded in Gaza, with an Israeli blockade keeping them and other foreign nationals in place amid deteriorating conditions.

Biden earlier met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as well as first responders and family members of some killed in the terror attacks.

Biden vows $100M amid key supply delays

President Biden on Wednesday committed to sending some $100 million in aid to Gaza and the West Bank, as Israel agreed to let food, water and medicine flow from Egypt to civilians in southern Gaza.

With displaced civilians — and trapped foreign nationals — in dire need of the essentials, supplies have piled up as Israel refused to lift a blockade on Gaza until Hamas freed their approximately 199 hostages.

Israel seemed to soften that stance on Wednesday, on condition that no supplies reach Hamas militants.

Hamas fires rockets after president leaves

Hamas stayed its rocket strikes during President Biden's visit but launched a round toward Tel Aviv shortly after the president departed the city aboard Air Force One.

The barrage was intercepted by the famed Iron Dome defense system, without any injuries immediately reported.

Hamas has fired thousands of rockets since the initial terror strikes on October 7.

Egypt to open border crossing for Gaza aid

Biden told reporters on Air Force One that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi had agreed to let 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter Gaza at his country's Rafa border crossing.

"Sisi deserves some real credit because he was accommodating," Biden said after speaking with Sisi, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Israel offers Gaza hospital strike evidence

The Israeli military on Wednesday offered audio and video evidence that it says proves the Tuesday explosion at a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds was caused by a failed militant rocket launch, rather than an Israeli airstrike.

Independent intelligence analysts and journalists have also said a rocket fired from Gaza appears to be the cause of the deadly blast.

Israel’s military released what it said was a minute-long audio intercept of two Hamas operatives discussing the hospital blast and acknowledging that it was the result of a failed attack by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.

An Israeli military spokesperson also cited a video broadcast by Israeli news channels showing multiple rocket launches taking place near a location reported to be the hospital.

Hamas has accused Israel of destroying the Al-Ahli hospital in an airstrike, with a death toll of between 300 and 500 patients and health workers.

Dueling NYC protests over hospital bombing

Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protesters confronted each other in loud but peaceful demonstrations on Tuesday evening in Manhattan, with the contested hospital explosion a source of disagreement.

Both rallies were organized by New York University students.

The protests initially started at opposite ends of Union Square Park but gradually moved closer to a face-off as the night went on.

However, police officers maintained separation between the two groups, and no arrests were made.

NY governor arrives in Israel

New York Governor Kathy Hochul was met by Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Herzog, when she arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv Israel with a group of top aides and a state police security detail, the Associated Press reported.

Hochul, whose state has the largest Jewish population in the U.S., said there's a "deep, direct connection between New York state and Israel that has always been there, a bond steeled over decades."

The Democratic governor received a security briefing and then traveled for about 30 minutes to meet with Israeli families.

She was set to volunteer at a food pantry, packing boxes and delivering them to people who had to relocate because of the conflict, before heading to Jerusalem for the night.

New York is home to about 1.6 million Jews who comprise 21% of America's Jewish population, according to a 2020 study by Brandeis University.

Law firm pulls job offers over outcry

Prestigious law firm Davis Polk pulled employment offers made to three Ivy League law students after they signed letters holding Israel “entirely responsible” for the Hamas terror attack.

In an internal email obtained by NBC News, managing partner Neil Barr wrote that the views expressed in the widely signed letters "are simply contrary to our firm’s values."

Late Tuesday, the firm was reportedly reconsidering its decision for two of the three students after they challenged their dismissals, arguing that they didn't authorize the letters.

Avoid 'humanitarian catastrophe': Pope

Pope Francis on Wednesday said that a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza and a wider war must be avoided.

"The victims are increasing and the situation in Gaza is desperate," the 86-year-old pontiff reportedly said at the end of his weekly Vatican address. "Please do everything possible to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe."

Francis also warned against allowing the war to spill over beyond Israel and Hamas.

"The possible widening of the conflict is worrying, while there are so many fronts already open across the world," he said. "War does not resolve any problems, it only spreads death and destruction. It increases hatred, multiplies revenge. War erases the future."

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen previously took issue with what he found to be lacking comments from the pope on the terror attack and its fallout.

Keep refugees in Israel, not Sinai: Egypt

Fleeing Gazans should not be sent to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Wednesday, arguing that the region could become a launching pad for further attacks on Israel.

Instead, Sisi said in a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the refugees could go to Israel's Negev desert.

"What is happening now in Gaza is an attempt to force civilian residents to take refugee and migrate to Egypt, which should not be accepted," Sisi said, predicting mass protests in his country should the refugees settle in Sinai, according to Reuters.

Under warning from the Israeli military, civilians have fled northern Gaza since last week, streaming south toward the border with Egypt.

However, the border crossing is yet to open, with Gazans — as well as stranded foreign nationals — waiting to get out, and humanitarian aid waiting to be sent in.