Israel-Hamas War Live Updates: Some 220 hostages are still in Hamas’ captivity.
New Delhi:
Israeli forces on an overnight raid in the occupied West Bank came under fire by a group of Palestinians whom the military then targeted with a drone strike, the Israeli military said today, and medics said two Palestinians were killed.
The military said armed Palestinians “fired and hurled explosive devices” at its forces in Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank. The military then struck them with a drone, and “hits were identified”, it added.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has requested Gaza Strip residents to share actionable information about the locations where Hamas has kept Israeli hostages.
Hamas stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.
Hamas also took 222 people hostage, among them elderly people and young children, according to the Israeli authorities’ latest count. The hostages include dozens of dual nationals and foreigners.
More than 5,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed across the Gaza Strip in retaliatory Israeli bombardments, according to the latest number of dead from the Hamas health ministry in Gaza.
Here are the live updates on the Israel-Hamas war:
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he was cancelling plans to visit Israel because of its “inhumane” war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
“We had a project to go to Israel, but it was cancelled, we will not go,” Erdogan told ruling party lawmakers in parliament, adding that he viewed Hamas as “liberators” fighting for their own land.
Ankara’s relations with Israel froze over an Israeli raid on a Turkish ship carrying aid into Gaza, which killed 10 civilians in 2010.
The raging war between Israel and Hamas is already battering the economies of nearby countries, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund told a Saudi investor forum on Wednesday.
Israel’s neighbours are feeling the effects, especially those that rely on tourism, Kristalina Georgieva said at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
“You look at the neighbouring countries — Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan — there the channels of impact are already visible,” Georgieva told an audience that included global banking elites.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas mounted a shock attack on Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking 222 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
Qatar’s prime minister said on Wednesday there was some progress on hostage negotiations after Palestinian militant group Hamas abducted more than 200 hostages during its Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who is also the minister of foreign affairs, said at a press conference with his Turkish counterpart that he hoped there would be breakthroughs on hostage releases “soon”.
Wealthy gas-producer Qatar has had an open dialogue with both Israel and Hamas, which has brought about the release of four hostages held by Hamas, including two Israeli women on Monday.
The Gulf state, in coordination with the U.S., is leading mediation talks with Hamas and Israeli officials over the hostages’ release as Israel prepares a ground assault on the enclave.
Qatar’s prime minister said on Wednesday that the only way to reach a peaceful solution in Gaza is to keep communication channels open.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who is also the minister of foreign affairs, added in a press conference with the Turkish foreign minister in Doha that Qatar will continue coordinating with Turkey and regional partners to de-escalate the crisis.
He added: “Qatar condemns the collective punishment policy” on Gaza.
Pope Francis on Wednesday renewed his calls for the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants and for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Gaza Strip.
“I am always thinking about the grave situation in Palestine and Israel. I encourage the release of hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he said during his weekly audience.
Francis recalled that he will lead on Friday special prayers for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica, in what he said last week would be a “a day of fasting, prayers, penance”.
Gaza’s Hamas government said Wednesday that Israel’s latest night-time air strikes on the besieged Palestinian territory killed at least 80 people.
A government media office statement said “more than 80 people were martyred and hundreds wounded” in the overnight raids.
The Hamas health ministry said Tuesday that 5,791 people had been killed in air and artillery strikes since Hamas staged cross-border raids on October 7 that Israel says left 1,400 dead. Most of the dead on both sides have been civilians.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has released an audio recording that it claims is a conversation between a Hamas operative and his family – where he is allegedly bragging about killing Israelis during the October 7 mass breach.
In the audio, the man – believed to be a Hamas operative – is heard bragging about killing Israelis while talking to a man who he addresses as his father.
He refers to the Israelis killed in the attack as Jews.
“Look how many I killed with my own hands! Your son killed Jews!,” he is heard saying.
The raging war between Israel and Hamas is already battering the economies of nearby countries, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund told a Saudi investor forum on Wednesday.
“You look at the neighbouring countries — Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan — there the channels of impact are already visible,” Kristalina Georgieva said at the Future Investment Initiative in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Israeli air strikes kill eight Syria troops, says state media: news agency AFP
Gaza’s Hamas government said Wednesday that Israeli air strikes on the besieged Palestinian territory during the night killed at least 80 people.
A statement from the government’s media office said “more than 80 people were martyred and hundreds wounded in massacres committed by the occupation (Israel) raids” overnight.
Thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas since it erupted on October 7.
The United States and Russia led international calls for a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, as Israel maintained its bombardment of the enclave where Palestinians are living in harrowing conditions.
A total of 704 Palestinians, including 305 children, were killed on Tuesday, the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said, a toll the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said was the highest reported in a single day since the conflict began nearly three weeks ago.
Reuters could not independently verify these figures.
Israel launched the strikes on Gaza after Hamas militants attacked southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7 in a rampage that killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
World leaders are now seeking to prevent the conflict from spreading across a region key to global energy supplies.
A UN agency warned it could be forced to stop aid operations in war-riven Gaza on Wednesday due to dwindling fuel supplies, as calls mounted for a humanitarian “pause” in fighting.
After 18 days of withering Israeli air strikes and a near-total land, sea and air blockade of the Palestinian territory, UN refugee agency UNRWA warned operations were at breaking point.
“If we do not get fuel urgently, we will be forced to halt our operations in the Gaza Strip,” said the UN agency, which provides aid to 600,000 displaced Gazans.
Israel launched its campaign in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas militants on October 7.
Gunmen from the Palestinian group poured into Israel from Gaza, killing more than 1,400 people and taking 222 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday alleged violations of international law in Gaza and urged an immediate ceasefire as Israel pounds the Palestinian territory in response to Hamas attacks, with the crisis deeply dividing the Security Council.
Israel voiced anger over the UN chief’s plea before a high-level session of the Security Council, where the Palestinian foreign minister in turn denounced what he described as inaction in the conflict that has killed thousands on both sides, mostly civilians.
Opening the session, Guterres said there was no excuse for the “appalling” violence by Hamas militants on October 7 but also warned against “collective punishment” of the Palestinians.
“I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza. Let me be clear: No party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law,” Guterres said, without explicitly naming Israel.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the US would respond “decisively” if Iran or its proxies attack Americans, the sternest warning yet as the Biden administration tries to keep Tehran from joining the war between Israel and Hamas.
“The United States does not seek conflict with Iran,” Blinken told a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday. “We do not want this war to widen. But if Iran or its proxies attack US personnel anywhere, make no mistake: We will defend our people, we will defend our security, swiftly and decisively.”
Blinken also urged others on the 15-member Security Council, including Russia and China, to tell Iran not to open another front against Israel or attack its partners, and to hold them accountable if it does so.
Israel has not launched a ground invasion of Gaza, despite announcing its imminence, a delay media reports and experts attribute to international pressure, political-military divisions and concerns over hostages.
Eighteen days after the deadliest attack ever launched into Israel by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that rules Gaza, the Israeli military is relentlessly pounding the territory.
But apart from some relatively minor incursions, the much-vaunted land offensive has not been unleashed.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Tuesday announced that the ground personnel massing on the southern border were ready to ‘invade’ Gaza, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Briefing reporters at the country’s southern border, IDF Chief-of-Staff, Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi said, “I want to be clear, we are ready to invade.”
He added that the IDF was in the process of deciding on the ‘exact timing’ of the ground invasion of Gaza in coordination with the country’s political echelons.
The Joe Biden administration in the United States is preparing for the possibility of carrying out a mass evacuation of hundreds of thousands of American citizens from the Middle East if the ongoing conflict in Gaza isn’t contained, the Washington Post reported citing officials.
This comes as Israeli forces, aided by US weapons and military advisers, prepare for a ground offensive against Hamas terrorists responsible for the horrific cross-border attack on October 7 that killed over 1400 people.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to detail internal deliberations, said Americans living in Israel and neighbouring Lebanon are of particular concern, though they stressed that an evacuation of that magnitude is considered a worst-case scenario and that other outcomes are seen as more likely, Washington Post reported.
- Israeli forces on an overnight raid in the occupied West Bank came under fire by a group of Palestinians whom the military then targeted with a drone strike, the Israeli military said on Wednesday, and medics said two Palestinians were killed.
- The military said armed Palestinians “fired and hurled explosive devices” at its forces in Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank. The military then struck them with a drone, and “hits were identified”, it added.
- The Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said two Palestinians were killed, with others injured.
- The strike was at least the third use of Israeli air power in the West Bank since violence in the territory surged after Hamas’ Oct. 7 gun rampage in southern Israel.