The Latest | With outrage over strike mounting, Israel punishes officers and vows to let more aid in

Amid widespread outrage over a strike that killed seven aid workers delivering food in the Gaza Strip, Israel punished five military officers on Friday and said it would take steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid, including temporarily reopening a key border crossing into northern Gaza.

Israel's military dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in the drone strikes, saying they mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.

Israel also said it would reopen the Erez border crossing with Gaza's hard-hit north, where the United Nations says much of the population is on the brink of starvation. Israel's announcement came hours after U.S. President Joe Biden said future American support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel doing more to protect civilians and aid workers.

Despite their differences, the Biden administration maintained crucial military aid and diplomatic support for Israel's six-month war against Hamas.

The top U.N. court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies — and the U.N. Security Council has issued a legally binding demand for a cease-fire. On Friday, the U.N.'s top human rights body passed a non-binding resolution condemning Israel's conduct of the war and calling for other countries to stop shipping weapons to it.

The Palestinian death toll has passed 33,000, with another 75,600 people wounded, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

Currently:

— After six months of war, Israel’s isolation grows with no end in sight.

— Israel dismisses two officers for strikes in Gaza that killed aid workers.

— U.N. Human Rights Council calls for halt to weapons shipments to Israel.

— Iran’s Revolutionary Guard head vows payback for apparent Israeli strike that killed top generals.

— Biden tells Netanyahu future U.S. support for war depends on new steps to protect civilians.

— Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL MEETS TO DISCUSS KILLING OF AID WORKERS AND THREAT OF FAMINE IN GAZA

UNITED NATIONS — Israel hasn’t done enough to hold its military accountable for killing seven aid workers in Gaza this week, said the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, calling it “outrageous” that only two officers were fired and three others reprimanded for the “commission of war crimes.”

Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, expressed sorrow for “the tragic mistake” that led to airstrikes on the World Central Kitchen convoy delivering food. However, he insisted, “Not only is Hamas responsible for every casualty in Gaza, they are also responsible for the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

The exchange came at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to focus on attacks on humanitarian workers in Gaza and the rising threat of famine. Friday's meeting came on the eve of the six-month anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war.

The Palestinian ambassador accused Israel of violating international laws and rulings requiring the provision of aid to Palestinians.

“No country should arm or shield those committing atrocities,” Mansour said. “They must be held accountable or these crimes will continue.”

Erdan insisted that “Israel abides strictly by the laws of war” and “implemented more precautions to mitigate civilian harm than any other military in history.”

“The only reasons that the aid does not always reach the civilian population is because Hamas loots it, and the U.N. is incapable of handling the capacity of supplies being brought in,” he said.

The U.N. has blamed numerous obstacles imposed by Israel and a lack of security for aid workers.

“It is clear there is no protection of civilians in Gaza,” Ramesh Rajasingham, the U.N. humanitarian office’s coordination director, told the council. The attack on the World Central Kitchen staff was not an isolated incident. “They join more than 220 of our humanitarian colleagues who have been killed, 179 of them U.N. personnel,” he said.

Rajasingham said at least 31 people, including 28 children, are believed to have starved to death in recent weeks.

Slovenia’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Žbogar brought the dire hunger issue directly to its 15 members: If the council were meeting in northern Gaza, all 15 ambassadors would have skipped meals in recent months, 10 would go entire days without eating, and at least five would be parents “to severely, acutely malnourished children” whose lives were threatened.

“Famine is setting in in Gaza,” he said, reiterating the council’s call for an immediate cease-fire and for Israel to provide much greater humanitarian access to save lives.

BIDEN URGES EGYPT AND QATAR TO PRESS HAMAS TO COME TO AN AGREEMENT ON ISRAELI HOSTAGES IN GAZA

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas for a hostage deal with Israel, according to a senior administration official, one day after Biden called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a cease-fire in the six-month-old war in Gaza.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private letters, said Biden’s national security adviser will meet Monday with family members of some of the estimated 100 hostages who are believed to still be in Gaza.

The letters to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, come as Biden has deployed CIA Director Bill Burns to Cairo for talks this weekend about the hostage crisis.

White House officials say negotiating a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to facilitate the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel is the only way to put a temporary cease-fire into effect and boost the flow of badly humanitarian aid into the territory.