LIVE | Day 31: Israel cuts off north Gaza; Palestinian death toll crosses 10,000

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi on Monday exchanged views on the “difficult situation” in the West Asia region and the Israel-Hamas conflict with the PM expressing deep concern at the “terrorist incidents, violence and loss of civilian lives”.

In his telephonic conversation with Raisi, Modi also reiterated India's longstanding and consistent position on the Israel-Palestine issue.

The two leaders exchanged views on the “difficult situation” in the West Asia region and the Israel-Hamas conflict, a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

“The Prime Minister expressed deep concern at the terrorist incidents, violence and loss of civilian lives. He reiterated India's longstanding and consistent position on the Israel-Palestine issue,” it said.

President Raisi shared his assessment of the situation.

Both the leaders stressed the need for preventing escalation, ensuring continued humanitarian aid and early restoration of peace and stability, the statement said. (PTI)

A Nagpur resident has sought help from Indian authorities to ensure his wife, who holds an Israeli passport, and their three-and-half-year-old son can be brought back from the Jewish nation amid the war there.

They had gone to Israel in January to meet relatives but have got stranded in Bnei Brak (in the east of Tel Aviv) after the war started on October 7, Ankush Jaiswal told PTI on Monday.

“My wife and son could not be evacuated from Israel under the government's Operation Ajay since she holds a passport of that nation and these flights were meant for Indian citizens. She is an Overseas Citizen of India. While India does not recognise dual citizenship, Israel does,” Jaiswal said.

Jaiswal claimed his wife approached the Indian Embassy in Israel as well as those in charge of Operation Ajay flights from there with marriage certificate, documents related to her child as well as his (husband) passport details but she was told someone with an Indian passport needs to accompany her back to India.

“I am concerned about the safety of my child and wife. I am worried about the child's exposure to the war there and, therefore, am requesting authorities for help to bring them back safely to India,” Jaiswal said. (PTI)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was wrapping up a gruelling Middle East diplomatic tour on Monday in Turkey after only limited success in his furious efforts to forge a regional consensus on how best to ease civilian suffering in Gaza as Israel intensifies its war against Hamas.

Blinken met in the Turkish capital of Ankara with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan after a frantic weekend of travel that took him from Israel to Jordan, the occupied West Bank, Cyprus and Iraq to build support for the Biden administration’s proposal for “humanitarian pauses” to Israel’s relentless military campaign in Gaza.

The top US diplomat hopes that pauses in the war would allow for a surge of humanitarian aid to Gaza and the release of hostages captured by Hamas during the militants’ deadly October 7 incursion into southern Israel — while also preventing the conflict from spreading regionally.

Neither Blinken nor Fidan spoke as they posed for photographers ahead of their formal talks in Ankara and the top US diplomat was not going to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyep Erdogan who has been highly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an outlier among NATO allies in not expressing full support for Israel’s right to defend itself.

Outside the Foreign Ministry, dozens of protesters from an Islamist group carried Turkish and Palestinian flags and held up anti-US and anti-Israel placards as the Blinken-Fidan meeting got underway. Earlier Monday, police dispersed a group of students marching toward the ministry chanting “murderer Blinken, get out of Turkey!”

US officials are seeking to convince Israel of the strategic importance of respecting the laws of war by protecting non-combatants and significantly boosting deliveries of humanitarian aid to Gaza's beleaguered civilian population.

It remained unclear, however, if Netanyahu would agree to temporary, rolling pauses in the massive operation to eradicate Hamas — or whether outrage among Palestinians and their supporters could be assuaged if he did.

After finishing his talks in Turkey, Blinken will head to Asia where the Gaza conflict will likely share top billing with other international crises at a series of events in Japan, South Korea, and India, including Russia’s war on Ukraine and North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. (AP)

Supporters of an Islamist group marched to the US Embassy in Ankara on Sunday, hours ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's expected arrival in the Turkish capital.

Several hundred protesters chanted “God is great” and held their index fingers skywards as they approached the compound in the city's Cukurambar neighbourhood. Riot police lined up in front of the US complex as the crowd, many carrying black and white flags with Arabic script, called for Turkish soldiers to be sent to Gaza. (AP)

Former US President Barack Obama says “nobody's hands are clean” in the Israel-Hamas war and acknowledged that he's questioned in recent days whether his administration could have done more to push for a durable peace when he was in power.

“If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth,” Obama said in an interview on “Pod Save America.” “And you then have to admit nobody's hands are clean. That all of us are complicit to some degree.”

The former president did make an attempt at peace between Israel and Palestinians during his second term, but months of talks collapsed in 2014 amid disagreements on Israeli settlements, the release of Palestinian prisoners and other issues.

“I look at this and I think back what could I have done during my presidency to move this forward — as hard as I tried, I've got the scars to prove it,” Obama said in an excerpt released on X.

The entire interview is scheduled to be released on Tuesday. (AP)

The US military has acknowledged positioning a nuclear-capable submarine in the Middle East.

It provided no other details in its online statement Sunday, though it posted an image that appeared to show a submarine in Egypt's Suez Canal near its Suez Canal Bridge.

US acknowledgment of an Ohio-class submarine location is incredibly rare as they represent part of America's so-called “nuclear triad” of atomic weapons — which also includes land-based ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs aboard strategic bombers.

Several Ohio-class submarines instead carry cruise missiles and the capability to deploy with special operations forces, so it's unclear if the submarine operating now in the Mideast carries nuclear ballistic missiles.

The US has deployed submarines into the region before and announced its recent presence as tensions were high with Iran.

Central Command separately released an image of a nuclear-capable B-1 bomber also operating in the Mideast on Sunday. (AP)

A dozen Australians who fled the war in Gaza arrived in Sydney on Sunday after travelling last week through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.

Elated evacuee Sara El-Masry told Nine News on arrival at Sydney Airport: “It means the world to me that we were able to leave safely and we were able to come here and see their (family) faces one more time. I honestly didn't think I would make it.”

Another seven evacuees returned to other Australian cities on Saturday. The Australian government continues to press for more Australians to be allowed to leave Gaza. There are about 67 citizens, permanent residents and their family members that the Australian government says it is trying to help leave Gaza. (AP)

The UN Security Council scheduled closed consultations on the Israel-Hamas war on Monday afternoon at the request of China, which holds the council presidency this month, and the United Arab Emirates, the Arab representative on the council. (AP)

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has said in a press release on Thursday (November 2) that Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives on the Gaza strip since it began the large-scale bombing in retaliation for Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

The rights group said that Israel has admitted to bombing over 12,000 targets in the Gaza strip.

Euro-Med Monitor said that the destructive power of the explosives dropped on Gaza could exceed that of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The human rights group also claims that Israel has used internationally-banned weapons like cluster and phosphorous bombs, which can cause severe fatal burns.