Israel-Hamas War Live Updates: Israel’s retaliatory bombardments have killed over 7,000 Palestinians
Israel-Hamas War Live Updates:
Fighting in the Gaza Strip has entered day 21 after Hamas members launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 1,400 people. Since the October 7 Hamas attack, Gaza’s health ministry has said that Israel’s retaliatory bombardments have killed more than 7,000 Palestinians.
The United Nations has warned that “nowhere is safe” in Gaza as Israel stepped up its bombardments in preparation for a widely expected ground offensive.
Since the Hamas attack, Israel has cut off Gaza’s normal supply corridors for water, food, and other necessities.
Get NDTV UpdatesTurn on notifications to receive alerts as this story develops.
The Israeli army Friday accused Hamas of using hospitals in the Gaza Strip as operational centres for directing attacks against Israel, as the war rages in the Palestinian territory.
“Hamas wages war from hospitals” in Gaza, military spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists, adding that the Islamist group was also using fuel stored in these facilities for carrying out its operations.
Medics from the International Committee of the Red Cross entered Gaza Friday for the first time since the outbreak of war on October 7, a spokeswoman for the organisation said.
Six medical staff passed through Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, alongside four other ICRC specialists and six aid trucks.
The organisation’s regional director, Fabrizio Carboni, said the convoy was “a small dose of relief, but it’s not enough”.
“Our surgical team and medical supplies will help relieve the extreme pressure on Gaza’s doctors and nurses. But safe, sustained humanitarian access is urgently needed,” he said in a statement.
Hamas officials visiting Moscow were quoted by Russian media on Friday as saying the terrorist group viewed all its hostages as Israelis, whatever additional passports they held, and could not release any of them until Israel agreed to a ceasefire. Read here
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday the death count given by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza had proved to be “credible” in previous conflicts after Washington raised doubts about figures from the current war.
“In the past, the five, six cycles of conflict in the Gaza Strip, these figures were considered as credible and no one ever really challenged these figures,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Jerusalem.
Israel has struck back with a relentless bombing campaign which Gaza’s health ministry says has killed 7,326 people, mostly civilians, among them 3,038 children.
France wants to evacuate its nationals as soon as possible from the Gaza Strip, which is under heavy bombardment by Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron.
“We want to evacuate them as soon as possible. That is what we are organising with both the Palestinian authorities and Egypt. And this is what several other European countries want to do in coordination with us,” Macron said during a press conference after a two-day summit of European leaders in Brussels.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called for a “humanitarian truce” in the conflict between Hamas and Israel to ensure the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Recognising Israel’s “right” to “fight against terrorism”, Emmanuel Macron pointed to “the complete blockade, the indiscriminate bombardment and even more the prospect of a massive ground operation” as risks for civilians.
A medical team and 10 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Friday via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, carrying water, food and medicine, a Palestinian border official told Reuters.
“This Friday morning, a medical delegation consisting of 10 foreign doctors entered, in addition to 10 trucks entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah land crossing, carrying water, food and medicine, bringing the total number of trucks since the beginning of the war to only 84 trucks,” the official said.
Overly stringent checks on trucks at the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza were slowing the flow of humanitarian aid to a “dribble” as hunger grows among Palestinians there, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain said.
The United States is leading negotiations with Israel, Egypt and the UN to try to create a sustained delivery mechanism for aid to Gaza.
They are wrangling over procedures for inspecting aid and bombardments on the Gaza side of the border.
A Hamas official tied the release of hostages held in Gaza to a ceasefire in Israel’s punishing air war in the enclave, launched after a deadly rampage by Hamas militants into southern Israel nearly three weeks ago.
The United Nations said Friday it was concerned that war crimes were being committed on both sides in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The UN human rights office cited forcible transfer, collective punishment and the taking of hostages as the war continued into its 21st day.
Another eight trucks carrying food, medicine and water are expected to cross into the Gaza Strip today, a senior United Nations official said.
“We have gotten in approximately 74 trucks. We’re expecting another eight or so today,” Lynn Hastings, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told reporters in Geneva.
A United Nations agency today said that 57 staff “confirmed killed” in Gaza war.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general for UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said that “meaningful and uninterrupted” aid was needed for the Gaza Strip as he confirmed 57 of the agency’s staff had been killed during the war.
The Israeli ground troops and fighter jets carried out a night-time targeted raid in central Gaza Strip.
“During the last day, IDF (Israel Defense Forces) ground forces, accompanied by IDF fighter jets and UAVs, conducted an additional targeted raid in the central Gaza Strip,” the army said in a statement.
“As part of the activity, IDF aircraft and artillery struck terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Shujaiya area and throughout the Gaza Strip,” the statement added.
OPERATIONAL UPDATE: The IDF conducted strikes on Hamas terrorist targets over the last 24 hours.
IDF ground troops, fighter jets and UAVs struck:
🔴 Anti-tank missile launch sites
🔴 Command & control centers
🔴 Hamas terrorist operativesThe troops exited the area and no… pic.twitter.com/yNdiY6XTby
– Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 27, 2023
Almost half of Israelis want to hold off on any invasion of Gaza, according to a poll published on Friday.
Asked if the military should immediately escalate to a large-scale ground offensive, 29% of Israelis agreed while 49% said “it would be better to wait” and 22% were undecided, the poll published in the Maariv newspaper said.
Iran’s foreign minister has warned that the US won’t escape unaffected if the Hamas-Israel war turns into a broader conflict.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian accused the US of overseeing “genocide” against the Palestinian people.
“Today in New York and the United Nations I say frankly to the American statesmen who are now managing the genocide in Palestine that we do not welcome an expansion of the war in the region,” he said.
“But I warn if the genocide in Gaza continues they will not be spared from these fires.” he added.
The Rafah crossing with Egypt opened for the sixth consecutive day on Thursday, allowing the entry of 12 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies. As many as 74 trucks with humanitarian aid have entered Gaza since October 21.
The entry of fuel, however, remains banned by the Israeli authorities.
As Israel continued its bombardment, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Lynne Hastings, said that “nowhere is safe in Gaza”. In a statement, she said that despite the Israeli military issuing warnings to people in Gaza City to leave, “advance warnings make no difference”.
“When the evacuation routes are bombed, when people north as well as south are caught up in hostilities, when the essentials for survival are lacking, and when there are no assurances for return, people are left with nothing but impossible choices. Nowhere is safe in Gaza,” she said.
An estimated 1.4 million people in Gaza are internally displaced, with some 6,41,000 sheltering in 150 UN-designated emergency shelters.
Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Arab countries on Thursday condemned and rejected all acts of violence and terrorism against civilians and the targeting of civilian infrastructure and facilities.
A joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Kingdom of Morocco condemned individual or collective forced displacement, as well as the policy of collective punishment.
It emphasized that the absence of a political solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has led to repeated acts of violence and suffering for the Palestinian and Israeli people.
The European Union leaders on Thursday called for “humanitarian corridors and pauses” in Israel’s war with Hamas to get aid into Gaza.
After five hours of talks at a summit of the bloc in Brussels, the leaders called for “continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need through all necessary measures including humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs”.
They said the EU “will work closely with partners in the region to protect civilians, provide assistance and facilitate access to food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter”.
About 900 more American troops have arrived in the Middle East or are heading there to bolster air defenses for US personnel, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
At least five people were injured and a residential building was damaged after a rocket fired in the Israel-Hamas war hit an Egyptian town on the border with Israel on Thursday, the news agency AFP reported citing local media.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday visited the Tekuma Authority, which is carrying out the national mission of rebuilding and developing the communities in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, which were attacked by Hamas on October 7.
PM Netanyahu visited the Tekuma Authority, which is responsible for carrying out the national mission of rebuilding and developing the communities in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, which were significantly harmed in the murderous terrorist assault by Hamas on 7 October. pic.twitter.com/SkaiEoFj5I
– Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 26, 2023
He was briefed by Tekuma Director Moshe Edri on the activity and functions of the Authority.
The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday killed Hamas Commander Hassan Al-Abdullah in an air strike. The Israeli fighter jets carried out the air strike based on IDF and ISA intelligence and killed Al-Abdullah, the Commander of Hamas’ Northern Khan Yunis Rockets Array.
IDF fighter jets carried out a precise air strike based on IDF and ISA intelligence and eliminated the Commander of Hamas’ Northern Khan Yunis Rockets Array, Hassan Al-Abdullah. pic.twitter.com/HrDD4DXAU2
– Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 26, 2023
Israel on Thursday said it has killed Shadi Barud, the Deputy Head of Hamas’ Intelligence Directorate in an aerial strike.
“He took part in the planning of the October 7 massacre and countless other deadly attacks carried out against Israelis,” the IDF said on X.
“We will continue to strike and eliminate Hamas leaders and operatives responsible for the barbaric attacks,” it added.
🔴Shadi Barud, Deputy Head of Hamas’ Intelligence Directorate has been eliminated by an IDF aerial strike.
He took part in the planning of the October 7 massacre and countless other deadly attacks carried out against Israelis.
We will continue to strike and eliminate Hamas…
– Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 26, 2023
Israel today said it has killed three senior Hamas operatives — Ibrahim Jadba, Rifaat Abbas and Tarek Maarouf — in the Daraj Tuffah Battalion.
“The battalion’s operatives played a significant role in the invasion and murderous attack against Israel on October 7, and is considered to be the most significant brigade of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the Israel Defense Forces said on X (formerly Twitter).
Based on precise IDF and ISA intelligence, IDF fighter jets struck 3 senior Hamas operatives in the Daraj Tuffah Battalion.
The battalion’s operatives played a significant role in the invasion and murderous attack against Israel on October 7, and is considered to be the most… pic.twitter.com/WOnmE2Cv3O
– Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 26, 2023
