LIVE | Day 21 of Israel-Hamas war: Israel launches second ground raid in Gaza
Israeli forces backed by fighter jets and drones carried out a second ground raid into Gaza in as many days and struck targets on the outskirts of Gaza City, the military said on Friday (October 27), as it prepares for a widely expected ground invasion of the Hamas-ruled territory.
US warplanes meanwhile struck targets in eastern Syria that the Pentagon said were linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard after a string of attacks on US forces by Iran-backed fighters, adding to the already high regional tensions fuelled by the three-week-old Gaza war.
The Palestinian death toll has soared past 7,000 as Israel has carried out waves of devastating airstrikes in response to a bloody Hamas incursion into southern Israel on October 7. The Health Ministry in Gaza, which tracks the toll, released a detailed list of names and ID numbers on Thursday. The toll includes more than 2,900 minors and more than 1,500 women. More than 1,400 people in Israel, mostly civilians, were slain during the initial Hamas attack, according to the Israeli government. Hamas is holding at least 224 captives inside Gaza, including men, women, children and older adults.
The airstrikes have flattened entire neighbourhoods, causing a level of death and destruction unseen in the last four wars between Israel and Hamas. Over a million people have fled their homes, with many heeding Israeli orders to evacuate to the south, despite continuing Israeli strikes across the sealed-off territory.
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Live Updates
- 27 Oct 2023 2:26 AM GMT
900 troops deployed or are being deployed in Middle East: Pentagon official
Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder has said that at least 900 US troops have been deployed or are in the process of deployment in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The troops include Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery from Fort Bliss Texas, Patriot batteries from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Patriot and Avenger batteries from Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
