Israel-Hamas War News Live:
As the Israel-Hamas war escalates, India today sent humanitarian aid to Palestine. An IAF C-17 flight carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine departed for El-Arish airport in Egypt, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
“The material includes essential life-saving medicines, surgical items, tents, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, sanitary utilities, water purification tablets among other necessary items,” the MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
🇮🇳 sends Humanitarian aid to the people of 🇵🇸!
An IAF C-17 flight carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine departs for El-Arish airport in Egypt.
The material includes essential life-saving medicines,… pic.twitter.com/28XI6992Ph
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) October 22, 2023
Earlier today, Israel warned it would “increase” its attacks in Gaza’s north and called on Gazans to move south out of harm’s way.
“For your own safety move southward. We will continue to attack in the area of Gaza City and increase attacks,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a briefing to Israeli reporters.
Israel started its “total siege” of Gaza after an October 7 cross-border attack on its cities by Hamas members, who killed 1,400 people.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has said that Israel’s air and missile strikes had killed at least 4,385 Palestinians, including hundreds of children.
Here are the live updates on the Israel-Hamas war:
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An Israeli soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile on Sunday during a raid into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the military said.
Israeli troops have been conducting raids across the border, which the military says are meant to clear the area and gather intelligence about missing people and captives being held by militant group Hamas in the enclave.
Israel has set up hundreds of volunteer security squads in the two weeks since the Gaza war erupted and is arming them should there be knock-on Jewish-Arab unrest, authorities said on Sunday, despite what police said was “exemplary” conduct so far.
The last Gaza war in 2021 saw sometimes violent pro-Palestinian protests among the Arab citizens who make up 21% of Israel’s population.
Triggered by a devastating Oct. 7 mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen, the current war – and escalations of hostilities on the Lebanese border and in the occupied West Bank – have stirred worries for Israel’s already frayed internal ethnic relations.
Scores of people rushed to Deir el-Balah hospital to identify bodies on Sunday after Israel stepped up its air strikes on Gaza, as the territory’s Hamas rulers said 4,651 people have now been killed since the start of the war.
Authorities said Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, had suffered most from one of the most intense nights of shelling since Israel started its bombardment in response to Hamas’ cross-border attacks on October 7.
More than 260 people died in 24 hours, according to the health ministry toll, which said 1,873 of those killed in the past fortnight were children.
Israeli aircraft killed Muhammad Katamash, the deputy head of the Hamas terrorist organization’s regional artillery array in Gaza on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces announced.
Katamash was responsible for fire and artillery management in the terror group’s Central Camps
Brigade and played a significant role in the planning and execution of the organization’s fire plans against Israel in all rounds of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military said on Sunday that one of its tanks accidentally hit an Egyptian position near the border with the Gaza Strip.
“The incident is being investigated and the details are under review. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) expresses sorrow regarding the incident,” it said in a statement, giving no further details.
China believes “force is not a way to resolve” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is once again calling for a ceasefire, its envoy for the Middle East pleaded in Egypt, the foreign ministry said Sunday.
Egypt on Saturday hosted a “summit for peace” where UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for swift “action to end this godawful nightmare” after two weeks of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
Beijing’s envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, met Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit on the sidelines of the summit.
The widely unpopular Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is facing growing anger on the streets of the occupied West Bank as Israel wages its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The 88-year-old leader is seen as out of touch with the increasing desperation of the Palestinian people and Israel’s furious response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas has only exacerbated their discontent.
Fresh 17-Truck Aid Enters Gaza As Israel Intensifies Strikes
A 17-truck aid convoy entered Gaza from Egypt on Sunday as Israel intensified strikes on the Palestinian enclave facing a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the war sparked by Hamas’s bloody attack.
A special flight carrying 143 persons, including two Nepalese citizens and four infants, wanting to leave Israel amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict, left for India on Sunday as part of ‘Operation Ajay’.
It was the sixth flight as part of Operation Ajay launched on October 12 to facilitate the return of those Indian nationals who wish to return home following the brazen attacks on Israeli towns by Hamas militants from Gaza on October 7.
The flight is carrying 143 persons, including two Nepalese citizens and four infants, informed sources told PTI.
Just In: 17 trucks carrying aid enter Gaza from Egypt:
Pope Francis pleaded Sunday for an end to the Hamas-Israeli conflict amid fears it could widen, and called for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into to the Gaza Strip.
“War is always a defeat, it is a destruction of human fraternity. Brothers, stop! Stop!” Francis said after his traditional Angelus prayer in Rome’s Saint Peter’s Square.
Hezbollah’s escalating attacks on Israel risk “dragging Lebanon into a war”, Israel’s military said Sunday, after renewed cross-border exchanges of fire that have raised fears of a wider conflict.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is allied with Hamas, which touched off the latest violence with a bloody October 7 rampage in Israel that killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has retaliated with relentless strikes on the Iran-backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip that have killed more than 4,300 Palestinians, also mainly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday that his country would continue to work with Qatar to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.
He also thanked Qatar for its assistance on the release of two American civilians.
Turkey sent a plane with a medical team and supplies to Egypt today carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
“Our plane took off to help Gaza. The presidential plane filled with medicine and medical supplies, carrying 20 specialist doctors, departed from Ankara to Egypt,” Mr Koca said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
GAZZE’YE YARDIM İÇİN UÇAĞIMIZ HAVALANDI. Cumhurbaşkanlığımıza ait, ilaç ve tıbbı malzeme ile dolu, 20 uzman hekimin bulunduğu uçak Ankara’dan Mısır’a hareket etmiş durumda. pic.twitter.com/UDUlzBm4op
– Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) October 22, 2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it a “false propaganda” a claim by Hamas that the group wanted to release two more hostages on humanitarian grounds but that Israel declined to receive them.
Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, said it informed Qatar of the group’s intention to release the two additional people on Friday. In a later statement, Abu Ubaida said Hamas was ready to free the two people on Sunday “using the same procedures” involved in the release of two American hostages.
In a brief statement, Mr Netanyahu’s office said: “We will not refer to false propaganda by Hamas.”
“We will continue to act in every way to return all the kidnapped and missing people home,” the statement added.
The Hamas government today said that at least 55 people were killed in overnight raids on the Gaza Strip.
“More than 55 martyrs,” the government press office said in a statement.
It also said that more than 30 homes had been destroyed in the hours after an Israeli military spokesman said that raids would be increased.
As the Israel-Hamas war escalates, India today sent humanitarian aid to Palestine. An IAF C-17 flight carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine departed for El-Arish airport in Egypt, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
“The material includes essential life-saving medicines, surgical items, tents, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, sanitary utilities, water purification tablets among other necessary items,” the MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
🇮🇳 sends Humanitarian aid to the people of 🇵🇸!
An IAF C-17 flight carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine departs for El-Arish airport in Egypt.
The material includes essential life-saving medicines,… pic.twitter.com/28XI6992Ph
– Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) October 22, 2023
Escalating attacks by Hezbollah group risk “dragging Lebanon into a war”, Israel’s military said today.
“Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into a war that it will gain nothing from, but stands to lose a lot,” the news agency AFP quoted Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus as saying.
“They’re escalating the situation,” he added.
Canada’s National Department of Defence said on Saturday that Israel was not behind the Al-Ahli hospital strike in Gaza.
“Analysis conducted independently by the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command indicates with a high degree of confidence that Israel did not strike the Al-Ahli hospital on 17 October 2023,” it said in a statement.
The strike was more likely caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza, the Defence department said based on analysis of open source and classified reporting.
Canada’s findings are similar to conclusions by the US and France.
Amid an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the US will send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and additional Patriot air defense missile system battalions to the Middle East, the Pentagon said on Saturday.
“Following detailed discussions with President (Joe) Biden on recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces across the Middle East Region, today I directed a series of additional steps to further strengthen the Department of Defense posture in the region,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
“These steps will bolster regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for U.S. forces in the region, and assist in the defense of Israel,” he added.
The US has sent a significant amount of naval power to the Middle East in recent weeks, including two aircraft carriers, their support ships and about 2,000 Marines.
Israel has amassed tanks and troops for a planned Gaza ground invasion with the objective of “crushing” Hamas.
In a video distributed by the Israeli military on Saturday, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told troops, “We are going to go into the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas operatives and Hamas infrastructure and we will have in our mind the memories of the images and those who fell on Saturday two weeks ago.”
Israeli troops have carried out live fire drills “in preparations for the next stage of war”, footage released by the Israeli Army on Saturday showed.
The US has proposed a draft UN Security Council resolution that says Israel has a right to defend itself, the news agency Reuters reported.
The draft text also calls for the protection of civilians including those who are trying to get to safety.
It was not immediately clear if or when the US planned to put the draft resolution to a vote.
Israel today said it killed “terror operatives” from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in an air strike on a mosque in the West Bank’s Jenin.
The strike hit the Al-Ansar mosque, which the Israeli military said “was used by the terrorists as a command centre to plan the attacks and as a base for their execution”.
The IDF & ISA just conducted an aerial strike on a Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist compound in the Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin.
Recent IDF intel revealed that the Mosque was used as a command center to plan and execute terrorist attacks against civilians. pic.twitter.com/gQfyv6wUAV
– Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 22, 2023
The Israeli military said those targeted had already carried out “several terror attacks over the last months, and were organising an additional imminent terror attack”.
It said they were “neutralised”, without giving details on the number killed in the strike.
Israel has said it would “increase” its attacks in Gaza’s north and has called on Gazans to move south out of harm’s way.
“For your own safety move southward. We will continue to attack in the area of Gaza City and increase attacks,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a briefing to Israeli reporters.
At least 11 Palestinians were killed today after Israel attacked Gaza with air strikes.
Palestinian media reported at least 11 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.