Israel-Hamas War Day 18 Live | Israel steps up attack; death toll rapidly rising

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make efforts to see that a humanitarian corridor is opened in Gaza so that people can get relief and a ceasefire announced.

He spoke to reporters after addressing a public meeting on Monday night organised at the AIMIM headquarters in Hyderabad “in protest against the atrocities of Israel in Palestine”.

“India is sending aid. But Israel is saying we will not allow it. We are talking about sending aid to Gaza through Rafah, Egypt. Our planes had gone. We demand Prime Minister Narendra Modi to first get a ceasefire made there. Get a ceasefire done in Gaza and a humanitarian corridor is opened there,” he said, when asked about India sending relief materials.

He observed that 50,000 women are pregnant in Gaza and that electricity, oxygen and other essential items are not available in hospitals.

The “attack” in Gaza should be condemned, he said.

What Israel is doing in Gaza is “genocide”, he claimed.

“The Prime Minister of the country has an additional responsibility as head of the G20 that he gets a ceasefire done and get a humanitarian corridor opened there. So that, Palestinians can get relief and their lives can be saved,” he said.

The public meeting passed several resolutions, including supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people to end the occupation of their lands. India must continue to honour the legacy of support to the people of Palestine, a separate resolution said.

India on Sunday sent more than 38 tonne of relief materials including medicines and medical equipment to the people of Palestine, amid mounting global concerns over the plight of civilians living in Gaza. (With PTI inputs)

Describing Hamas as a barbaric terrorist organisation, an Indian American Congressman has said there is a need to eliminate the terror outfit.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a barrage of rocket attacks in Southern Israel on October 7. The unprecedented assault triggered retaliatory strikes from the Israel Defense Forces.

“Hamas is not a militant organisation. Hamas is not a resistance movement. They are just barbaric terrorists. There's no other way to describe it,” Shri Thanedar told a group of eminent Indian-Americans at the US Capitol Hill on Monday.

“This is a time where we just can't just push them. Because they will regroup and come back and do these atrocities once again. That's what they will do. So, we need at this stage to eliminate them; eliminate them from the face of this earth,” he said at an event organised by HinduACTion here in support of Israel.

“We need to dismantle their military operations. We need to free the Palestinian people, the two million Palestinian people who live in Gaza. They need to be freed from these terrorist control of Gaza,” he said. (PTI)

The Pentagon has sent military advisers, including a Marine Corps general versed in urban warfare, to Israel to aid in its war planning and is speeding multiple sophisticated air defence systems to the Middle East days ahead of an anticipated ground assault into Gaza.

One of the officers leading the assistance is Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Glynn, who previously helped lead special operations forces against the Islamic State and served in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the most heated urban combat there, according to a US official who was not authorised to discuss Glynn's role and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Glynn will also be advising on how to mitigate civilian casualties in urban warfare, the official said.

Israel is preparing a large-scale ground operation in an environment in which Hamas militants have had years to prepare tunnel networks and set traps throughout northern Gaza's dense urban blocks.

Glynn and the other military officers who are advising Israel “have experience that is appropriate to the sorts of operations that Israel is conducting,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday. The advisers will not be engaged in the fighting, the unidentified US official said.

The military team is one of many fast-moving pieces the Pentagon is getting in place to try and prevent the already intense conflict between Israel and Hamas from becoming a wider war. It also is trying to protect US personnel, who in the last few days have come under repeated attacks that the Pentagon has said were likely endorsed by Iran. (AP)

Police arrested two people after one of them allegedly fired a shot and another pepper-sprayed protesters outside a pro-Israel rally in Chicago’s northern suburbs, US.

The rally took place Sunday evening at a Skokie banquet hall, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. About 1,000 people attended to show solidary with Israel, according to organisers.

A group of about 200 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the hall. A man allegedly drove his car into the group, got out and fired a shot before police took him into custody. A witness told the newspaper that the man’s car had been covered in Israeli flags.

A man coming out of the banquet hall wearing an Israeli flag as a cape sprayed the crowed with pepper spray before he was arrested. No one was seriously hurt in the melee. (AP)