LIVE | Israel-Hamas War Day 26: Rafah border opens; Gaza links cut off again
Israeli military claims large number of militants killed in Jabaliya camp airstrikes, including the commander overseeing Hamas operations in northern Gaza
A barrage of Israeli airstrikes levelled apartment buildings in a refugee camp near Gaza City on Tuesday (October 31), and footage showed rescuers pulling men, women, and children out of the rubble. Israel said the strike destroyed a Hamas command centre set up in civilian houses and a network of tunnels underneath.
The toll from the strikes in the Jabaliya camp was not immediately known. The Israeli military said a large number of militants were killed, including the commander overseeing Hamas operations in northern Gaza.
The director of the nearby hospital where casualties were taken, Dr Atef Al-Kahlot, said hundreds were wounded or killed, but he did not provide exact figures. Neither side’s account could be independently confirmed by news agency The Associated Press.
Several hundred thousand Palestinians remain in northern Gaza in the path of the ground assault. They have crowded into homes or are packed by the thousands into hospitals that are already overwhelmed with patients and running low on supplies.
Some 800,000 Palestinians have reportedly fled to the south, but many have not, in part because they say nowhere is safe as Israeli airstrikes in the south have continued to cause civilian deaths. The window to flee may be closing, as Israeli forces reached Gaza’s main north-south highway this week.
More than 8,500 Palestinians have been killed in the war, mostly women and minors, the Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday, without providing a breakdown between civilians and fighters. The figure is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’s initial attack, also an unprecedented figure. Palestinian militants also abducted around 240 people during their incursion and have continued firing rockets into Israel.
More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes, with hundreds of thousands sheltering in packed UN-run schools-turned-shelters or in hospitals alongside thousands of wounded patients.
(With agency inputs)Live Updates
- 1 Nov 2023 12:54 PM GMT
Al Jazeera condemns Gaza attack; Israel prepares response
Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan, a broadcast engineer working at Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau, tragically lost 19 family members, including his father and two sisters, in Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia refugee camp.
Following this devastating incident, Al Jazeera issued a statement on Tuesday, condemning the Israeli forces' actions as a "massacre" and an "unforgivable act." In retaliation, Israel's Communications Minister, Shlomo Karhi, has revealed that a decision to shut down Al Jazeera's channel in Israel and seize its equipment is pending approval from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The government has conducted legal and security assessments regarding this step.
Karhi stated during a debate in the Knesset plenum that preparations have been made to remove Al Jazeera from cable TV providers Hot and Yes, close its offices, confiscate journalists' broadcast equipment, revoke government press passes, and suspend communications and internet services provided by Israeli companies to Al Jazeera. All necessary measures are in place pending approval.
- 1 Nov 2023 12:47 PM GMT
Bolivia cuts ties with Israel over "aggressive and disproportionate" military actions
Bolivia has severed diplomatic relations with Israel, citing the "aggressive and disproportionate" military actions in Gaza. The country has called for a ceasefire and pledged to provide aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
- 1 Nov 2023 12:40 PM GMT
Indian-origin soldier among Israelis killed in Gaza
A 20-year-old Indian-origin Israeli soldier was among the Israeli combatants killed while fighting in Gaza, community members and the Mayor of the town said on Wednesday.
Staff-Sgt. Halel Solomon was from the southern Israeli town of Dimona.
“It is with great sorrow and grief that we announce the death of a son of Dimona, Halel Solomon, in the battle in Gaza,” Dimona's Mayor, Benny Bitton said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
“We share in the grief of the parents, Ronit and Mordechai, and the sisters: Yasmin, Hila, Vered, and Shaked .... Halel aspired to do a meaningful service and enlisted in the Givati (Brigade). Halel was a devoted son and had respect for his parents always in his eyes. Possessing immense good qualities he believed in endless giving, modesty, and humility. The whole city of Dimona is grieving his passing,” Bitton wrote.
Dimona is a town in the south of Israel identified with Israel’s nuclear reactor but some also describe it as “little India” given the large concentration of Jews from India in the township.
Indian community members told PTI that he was “a young man with pleasant manners and a very bright future ahead.” They expressed huge sorrow at his passing away and at the loss of lives of other young Israelis “fighting a just war for Israel’s existence.” At least 11 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the battle in Gaza in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “difficult war” with “painful losses,” but vowed to continue “until victory.” “We are in a difficult war. This will be a long war. We have so many important achievements but also painful losses,” Netanyahu said.
“We know that every soldier of ours is an entire world. The entire people of Israel embrace you, the families, from the depth of our hearts. We are all with you during your heavy sorrow. Our soldiers have fallen in the most just of wars, the war for our home,” the Israeli Prime Minister said.
“I promise the citizens of Israel: We will complete the work – we will continue until victory,” he stressed.
— PTI
- 1 Nov 2023 11:34 AM GMT
Gaza's communications cut again for hours, as dozens of foreigners and wounded prepare to exit
Gaza was plunged into another communications blackout on Wednesday, with internet and phone service cut for several hours as Israeli troops battled Hamas militants. Meanwhile, dozens of foreign passport holders crowded into a border crossing ahead of what could be the first such departure from the besieged Palestinian enclave. Communications began to be restored later in the day, but aid agencies warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation. Daily airstrikes have displaced more than half of the population and basic supplies are running low.
- 1 Nov 2023 10:42 AM GMT
Boycott Israel: Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urges Muslim countries
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged Muslim nations to halt oil and food exports to Israel as a means to pressure it into stopping bombardment of the Gaza Strip, as reported by state media. "The bombings on Gaza must stop immediately ... the path of oil and food exports to the Zionist regime should be stopped," Iranian state media quoted him as saying.
- 1 Nov 2023 10:15 AM GMT
Hamas: 7 hostages, including 3 foreigners, killed in Gaza camp bombing
Hamas reported on Wednesday that seven hostages, among them three individuals holding foreign passports, were killed during Israel's airstrike on Gaza's largest refugee camp. The attack occurred at the Jabalia camp, where Israel claimed to have targeted a Hamas military commander inside a tunnel complex. According to a statement from the Hamas military wing, "Seven detainees were killed in the Jabalia massacre yesterday, including three individuals with foreign passports."
- 1 Nov 2023 9:14 AM GMT
White House exploring future scenarios for Gaza Strip
The White House said that the United States, along with other countries, is exploring various options for the future of the Gaza Strip in the event that Hamas militants lose control.
- 1 Nov 2023 8:57 AM GMT
Pakistan condemns Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia refugee camp
Pakistan's temporary Prime Minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, strongly condemned the recent Israeli airstrikes on a refugee camp near Gaza City. He called on the global community to step in and stop these attacks. In a statement, Kakar insisted that the air raid on Jabalia camp, which resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives, including women and children, highlighted the continuous brutality and war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. He said that such inhumane acts cannot be tolerated or ignored and urged the world to take immediate action.
- 1 Nov 2023 8:21 AM GMT
Foreigners start leaving Gaza as Rafah border opens
The Rafah crossing from Gaza Strip to Egypt opened for people for the first time since October 7 on Wednesday, giving an opportunity to hundreds of trapped foreign passport holders to leave the war-torn territory, news agency AFP reported.
While convoys of aid have been allowed through the border between Egypt and Gaza, people were not allowed to cross. Around 400 foreigners and dual nationals, along with some 90 sick and wounded, are expected to leave during the day. - 1 Nov 2023 8:00 AM GMT
Internet, phone lines severed in Gaza again
Palestinians reported another widespread outage of internet and phone service in Gaza early on Wednesday, hours after Israeli air strikes levelled apartment buildings near Gaza City and as ground troops battled Hamas militants inside the besieged territory.
The Palestinian telecoms company Paltel reported a “complete disruption” of internet and mobile phone services in Gaza, marking the second time in five days that residents were largely cut off from the world. Communications also went down over the weekend, as Israeli troops pushed into Gaza in larger numbers.
Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation in Gaza, where more than half of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians has been displaced and basic supplies are running low more than three weeks into the war triggered by Hamas’s bloody October 7 rampage into southern Israel.
Attempts to reach Gaza residents by phone were unsuccessful early Wednesday. Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org confirmed that Gaza “is in the midst of a total or near-total telecoms blackout consistent with” the weekend blackout. (AP)
