In a place denied access to basic forensic technology--and where people disappear into Israeli detention--the fate of thousands remains unknown. One of them is an autistic teenager. In the early morning dark, Abeer Skaik turned to her husband, Ali Al-Qatta, and said that today would be the day they would find their son. Ali nodded in silence, and she handed him the stack of flyers. Each bore a photograph of 16-year-old Hassan smiling widely, his shoulders loose, wearing a plain red T-shirt. He is looking directly at the camera, unguarded. On top of the page, in large letters, Abeer had written a single word in bold red ink: --an appeal. Abeer watched as Ali stepped into a car with a few close friends and drove away. They started the 30-kilometer trip south, from al-Tuffah, east of Gaza City, to the European Hospital in Khan Younis. They had heard that a group of people detained by Israel, including children, would be released there. The gate was already crowded. Families stood shoulder to shoulder, wrapped in blankets against the cold, clutching photographs and ID cards. Ali distributed the flyers among his friends. When the buses of released detainees arrived, he and the others moved slowly through the narrow gaps between clusters of people. Some of those who had just been released were being pulled into embraces. Ali waited at the edge of each reunion. "Have you seen my son?" he asked. One after another, people shook their heads.

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At times, Israeli tanks have deployed along main roads where aid trucks travel. And Israeli ministers have said they debated authorizing private security contractors to protect international aid convoys inside Gaza. Until recently, Israeli forces largely did not target the looters unless they were affiliated with Hamas or other militant groups, according to U.N. officials. But that appears to have changed in recent weeks. In Israeli military drone footage viewed by The Times, looters can be seen confiscating white sacks of aid from cars in southern Gaza in November.

The compound that was hit had been operated by UNRWA, the main U.N. body that aids Palestinians in Gaza. Philippe Lazzarini, the director of UNRWA, wrote on social media that 6,000 Palestinians had been sheltering in the school complex. Khalil Daqran, a spokesman for Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al Balah, said the bodies of at least 40 people killed in the attack had been brought to the hospital. At least some of the victims were women, children and older people, he added, although he declined to provide a precise figure. Colonel Lerner, the Israeli military spokesman, said he was "not aware of any civilian casualties" as a result of the strike. U.S. officials have been encouraging the Israeli military for months to use GBU-39s, which weigh at least 250 pounds, rather than larger 2,000-pound bombs because they are generally more precise.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. JERUSALEM (AP) -- The Israeli military said Friday that it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission, saying the officers had mishandled critical information and violated the army's rules of engagement. The findings of a retired general's investigation into the Monday killings marked an embarrassing admission by Israel, which faces growing accusations from key allies, including the United States, of not doing enough to protect Gaza's civilians from its war with the militant Hamas group. The findings are likely to bolster widespread skepticism over the Israeli military's decision-making.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson react to military leaders testifying during House hearing on President Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal on'Hannity.' President Biden's condemnation of the Israeli airstrike that killed seven food aid workers in Gaza earlier this week isn't sitting well with some critics, who called the president's reaction "obvious hypocrisy." Biden responded after the World Central Kitchen (WCK) nonprofit, founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, announced Tuesday that it was pausing all its operations in Gaza after seven of its food aid workers – including a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen -- were killed by an "unforgivable" Israeli airstrike. "I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday," Biden wrote in a statement. "They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy."