LIVE | Israel-Hamas War Day 23: Thousands loot UN aid warehouses in Gaza
Israel is determined to bring back all the hostages, said Netanyahu, and maintained that the expanding ground operation “will help us in this mission”
Israel has entered into a “new phase” in the war by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while warning of a “long and difficult” war against the militant group Hamas. He said these activities would only increase as Israel prepares for a broad ground invasion.
Netanyahu’s statement has stoked concerns of a broader Middle Eastern conflict. He also vowed to “destroy the enemy above ground and below ground”. He said that Israel is determined to bring back all the hostages, and maintained that the expanding ground operation “will help us in this mission”.
However, Hamas’ armed wing has said that it was ready to release the hostages if Israel freed all the Palestinians held in its prisons, reported AFP. “The price to pay for the large number of enemy hostages in our hands is to empty the (Israeli) prisons of all Palestinian prisoners,” it said. “If the enemy wants to close this file of detainees in one go, we are ready for it. If it wants to do it step-by-step, we are ready for that too.”
Israel said fighter jets struck over 450 military targets belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip over the past day. These included operational command centers, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts.
Gaza’s largest hospital attacked
Israeli warplanes also carried out airstrikes early Sunday near Gaza’s largest hospital, which is packed with patients and tens of thousands of Palestinians seeking shelter, report AP quoting residents. Israel has accused Hamas of using the hospital as its base.
The strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced a “second stage” in Israel's war on Hamas. Residents said the latest airstrikes destroyed most of the roads leading to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which is part of the northern half of the besieged territory, which Israel has told people to evacuate. According to news agencies, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the death toll due to Israeli airstrikes has now crossed 8,000.
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) also said that they were heading towards a new phase of the ongoing war on Hamas. The IDF is expanding its operations. “We are moving to the next phase of our war against Hamas, Gaza from the air, land and Sea. On October 7, the Hamas committed a crime against humanity. Israel is in a war it did not start and it did not seek. Hamas is attacking Israeli civilians while firing from among dozens of civilians. These are both war crimes,” an IDF spokesperson said.
Communication restored
Phone and internet communications were restored to many people in Gaza, the telecommunications providers told media on Sunday. A rare few Palestinians with international SIM cards or satellite phones took it upon themselves to get the news out.
Elon Musk said his Starlink satellite service would support internet access for “internationally recognised aid organisations in Gaza”, which have faced a telecommunications blackout since Friday. Starlink is a network of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide internet to remote locations, or areas that have had normal communications infrastructure disabled.
Israeli bombs had cut off cellular and internet service for most of the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations has reiterated its appeal for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.
People asked to relocate
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari urged civilians residing in the northern regions of Gaza and Gaza City to temporarily relocate to the safer South, where they can access essential supplies such as water, food, and medicine.
“The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are expanding their operations. We are moving to the next phase of our war against Hamas in Gaza, from the air, land, and sea. On October 7, Hamas committed a crime against humanity. Israel is in a war, it did not start, and it did not sink. Hamas is attacking Israeli civilians while firing from among dozen civilians. These are both war crimes. Our fight is with Hamas. Not with the people of Gaza,” Hagari said in a video posted to the IDF's profile on 'X'.
More than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel after Hamas attacked Israeli towns from the Gaza border on October 7. In addition to that, at least 222 people including foreigners were believed captured by Hamas during the incursion and taken into Gaza. Four of them have been released since then.
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Live Updates
- 29 Oct 2023 8:55 PM IST
UN peacekeeper wounded in southern Lebanon
The UN mission in Lebanon says one peacekeeper was lightly wounded after his base in the country's south was hit by a mortar shell.
The militant group Hezbollah, Hamas' allies in Lebanon, has clashed with Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israeli border since the Gaza war erupted on Oct. 7. The skirmishes have remained relatively contained and mostly along a handful of border towns.
The two mortar shells hit a UNIFEL base near the southeastern border village of Houla, the U.N. mission said. The wounded peacekeeper suffered minor injuries and is in stable condition. Earlier Saturday, a shell hit UNIFIL's headquarters in the southern coastal town of Naqoura, but there was no mention of injuries.
UNIFIL did not specify where the shelling came from, and said that they were investigating both incidents.
UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after a 1978 invasion. The mission was expanded after the 2006 war, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Lebanon-Israel border to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into their country's south for the first time in decades. (AP) - 29 Oct 2023 8:55 PM IST
Pope calls for cease-fire and release of hostages
Pope Francis repeatedly called for a cease-fire in Gaza on Sunday.
“Let’s continue to pray for Ukraine and for the serious situation in Palestine and Israel and for other regions with wars,” Francis said.
“In particular, in Gaza, leave space to guarantee humanitarian aid. And let the hostages be freed immediately. Let no one abandon the possibility to stop the arms. Cease fire,” he added, speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace above St. Peter's Square.
The pope cited the Rev. Ibrahim Faltas, the vicar of the Holy Land, as joining him in the urgent plea for a cease-fire.
“Stop yourselves brothers and sisters, war is always defeat. Always! Always!” he concluded. (AP) - 29 Oct 2023 8:55 PM IST
Norway PM criticizes Israel
Norway’s prime minister says Israel's reaction to Hamas' attack exceeds the rules of international law on proportionality.
“It says in international law that (reaction to such an attack) must be proportionate,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told public broadcaster NRK in an interview on Sunday.
“Civilians must be taken into account, and humanitarian law is fully aware of that. I believe that the line has now been far exceeded” by Israel, he said, adding that his primary concern is that emergency aid is not getting into the Gaza Strip.
Norway on Friday voted in favour of the United Nations resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” leading to a cessation of hostilities in Gaza.
“It's a catastrophic situation, and I believe it is clearly in violation of what we call the rules of war or humanitarian law,” he said. “Many fear that the escalation we are now seeing could ignite a much bigger conflict in the region, and obviously a much more lasting conflict.” (AP) - 29 Oct 2023 8:54 PM IST
Gaza health ministry says Palestinian death toll tops 8,000
The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza says over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed since war broke out on Oct. 7.
It said Sunday that the toll has risen to 8,005 Palestinians, including more than 3,300 minors and over 2,000 women.
The Health Ministry is part of the Hamas-run government but includes doctors and veteran civil servants who are not affiliated with the group. Its tolls from previous wars have held up to U.N. scrutiny, independent investigations and even Israel's tallies. The ministry released detailed records last week showing the names, ages and ID numbers of most of the deaths it has recorded, saying some bodies have not yet been identified.
More than 1,400 people have been killed on the Israeli side, the vast majority civilians killed by Hamas in its bloody Oct. 7 incursion into Israel. (AP) - 29 Oct 2023 6:01 PM IST
Netanyahu says he was wrong to criticise security apparatus
Faced with sharp criticism from allies and opposition alike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday apologized for an earlier statement in which he blamed the security services for failing to prevent the deadly Hamas attack on October 7.
“I was wrong. The things I said following the press conference should not have been said and I apologize for that,” Netanyahu posted on X, shortly after deleting his original statement on the same social media platform.
“I give full backing to all the heads of the security services. I am sending strength to the [IDF] chief of staff and the commanders and soldiers of the IDF who are on the frontlines and fighting for our home,” the Israeli prime minister further said.
Late Saturday night, Netanyahu in a post on X said that he never received any warnings of Hamas' “war intentions” at any stage, and stressed that “all the security services, including the head of military intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, were of the opinion that Hamas was deterred and wanted to come to a settlement”.
His comments evoked sharp criticism following which it was deleted.
At a press conference on Saturday evening, reporters repeatedly asked the Israeli prime minister if he accepted responsibility for the failure, a question he evaded saying that there would be a thorough enquiry about it after the War and everyone would have to give answers, "including me".
Several security chiefs have accepted responsibility for the massive failure, but Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister who has been at the helm of affairs since 2009 except for a brief 13-month gap, has desisted from taking any blame for it. (PTI) - 29 Oct 2023 5:57 PM IST
ME leaders must consider two-state solution after war ends: Biden
As the three-week-old Israel-Hamas war enters what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says could be a “long and difficult” new stage, US President Joe Biden is calling on Israeli and Arab leaders to think hard about their eventual postwar reality.
It’s one, he argues, where finally finding agreement on a long-sought two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict should be a priority.
“There’s no going back to the status quo as it stood on October 6,” Biden told reporters, referring to the day before Hamas militants attacked Israel and set off the latest war. The White House says Biden conveyed the same message directly to Netanyahu during a telephone call this past week.
“It also means that when this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next, and in our view, it has to be a two-state solution,” Biden said. (AP) - 29 Oct 2023 5:54 PM IST
UN chief reiterates appeal for humanitarian ceasefire
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has reiterated his appeal for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza and called for an unconditional release of all hostages and the delivery of sustained relief to the people in the territory.
Guterres, who is on an official visit to Nepal, condemned the “appalling attacks perpetrated by Hamas” and said “there is no justification, ever, for the killing, injuring and abduction of civilians.” He also said he regretted Israel's move to intensify its military operations in Gaza.
He also reminded Israel and Hamas about their obligations under international humanitarian law. “I have always been consistent in my call for strict compliance of the well-established principles and rules of international humanitarian law. The protection of civilians is paramount,” he said.
“The laws of war establish clear rules to protect human life and respect humanitarian concerns. Those laws cannot be contorted for the sake of expediency. The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes,” he added. (AP) - 29 Oct 2023 5:53 PM IST
WHO restores contact with a team in Gaza
The head of the World Health Organization says they managed to communicate with the agency's team in Gaza after internet and phone connectivity in the enclave were gradually restored.
“They said the last two nights were extremely tense with a lot of airstrikes - without fuel, water, electricity, connectivity and safe shelter to evacuate to,” Tedros Adhanom wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
He added that the WHO team, like others in Gaza, remain unsafe and called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said the agency has 30 employees in Gaza. (AP)