Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu with Israeli infantrymen outside the Gaza Strip on Saturday. (Photo: @netanyahu/x) Israel-Hamas War Highlights (October 14): Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday was seen visiting the Israeli infantrymen outside the Gaza Strip and in a video shared by him on X (formerly Twitter) he was heard saying to them: “You ready for the next stage? The next stage is coming.”He did not elaborate in the video, which showed the infantrymen nodding in response to his question.
As thousands of Palestinians fled the north of the Gaza Strip, from the path of an expected Israeli ground assault, Israel said it would keep two roads open to let people escape until 4:00 pm on Saturday. Israel had given the entire population of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, until Saturday morning to move south. “For your safety, take advantage of the short time to move south – from Beit Hanoun to Khan Yunis,” said IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee in a tweet. He also shared a map of the two routes one of which ran alongside the coast and the other one down the centre of the Gaza Strip.
At least 2,269 Palestinians have been killed and 9,814 others wounded due to Israeli attacks in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian health ministry said in a report on Saturday. The Israeli military, meanwhile, said that militants who were allegedly trying to infiltrate from Lebanon were killed by a drone, news agency Reuters reported. The Israeli Air Force has also claimed to have killed Merad Abu Merad, the head of the Hamas Aerial System in Gaza.
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The Israeli military said on Saturday its forces were preparing to implement a wide range of operational offensive plans as expectations grew of an imminent invasion of the Gaza Strip, a week after Hamas gunmen launched a devastating attack on Israel.
In a statement, the Israeli military said its forces were deployed across the country, increasing operational readiness for the next stages of the war, "with an emphasis on significant ground operations". (Reuters)
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths on Saturday said that the humanitarian situation in Gaza, already critical, is now "fast becoming untenable. There is no power, water or fuel in Gaza, and food is running dangerously low, Griffiths said.
In Gaza, families have been bombed while inching their way south along congested, damaged roads, following an evacuation order by Israel that left hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for safety but with nowhere to go, he said. Even wars have rules, and these rules must be upheld, at all times, and by all sides, he said.
"Civilians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory are suffering from a week of utter anguish and devastation," Griffiths said. "I fear that the worst is yet to come."
According to a Reuters news report, the Israeli Military spokesperson has said that the bodies of some abducted Israelis have been found at the edges of the Gaza Strip.
The European Commission on Saturday announced that it would triple its humanitarian aid to Gaza.
After speaking to the Secretary General of the UN António Guterres, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: '“The Commission will immediately increase the current humanitarian aid envelope foreseen for Gaza by 50 million euros. This will bring the total to over 75 million euros.'
'We will continue our close cooperation with the UN and its agencies to ensure that this aid reaches those in need in the Gaza strip. The Commission supports Israel's right to defend itself against the Hamas terrorists, in full respect of international humanitarian law. We are working hard to ensure that innocent civilians in Gaza are provided support in this context,” she stated further.
The leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Saturday Palestinians will not leave Gaza or the West Bank to migrate to Egypt, after calls from the Israeli army for more than a million of the enclave's residents to leave their homes and head south.
"Our decision is to remain in our land," Ismail Haniyeh added in a televised speech, while addressing Egypt in that part of his address.
Egypt shares a border with Gaza and has been alarmed by the possibility that the enclave's residents could be displaced by Israel's siege and bombardment of the territory, launched in retaliation for a devastating incursion by Hamas militants.
Like other Arab states, Egypt has said that Palestinians should stay on their lands as the war escalates, and that it is working to secure delivery of aid into the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday that Palestinian civilians "who want to save their lives" must heed Israel's warning to evacuate southward in Gaza. (Reuters)
The head of Gaza's largest hospital today said 35,000 people sheltered inside the hospital ahead of the expected Israeli ground operation.
According to a Reuters news report, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was seen visiting the Israeli infantrymen on the Gaza periphery in an official video, and asking the soldiers if they were ready for the next stage.
Israel had given the entire population of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, until Saturday morning to move south. In urging the evacuation, Israel’s military said it planned to target underground Hamas hideouts around Gaza City. The evacuation directive covers an area of 1.1 million residents, or about half of the territory’s population. The Israeli military said “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians had already heeded the warning and headed south. It said Palestinians could travel within Gaza without being harmed along two main routes from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time.
In response to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, numerous countries have initiated the evacuation of their citizens from Israel. Several nations, including the United States, Denmark, Finland, and France, have established dedicated assistance counters at Tel Aviv airport to facilitate the departure of their nationals from the region. These efforts reflect the international concern for the safety and well-being of their citizens amidst the escalating tensions in the area.
The US government is encouraging its citizens in Gaza to move south toward the Rafah crossing with Egypt to be ready for its possible reopening amid the humanitarian crisis in the coastal enclave after a Hamas attack in Israel drew Israeli military retaliation, the State Department said on Saturday.
"We have informed US citizens in Gaza with whom we are in contact that if they assess it to be safe, they may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing," a State Department spokesperson said. "There may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time." (Reuters)
The Palestinian health minister said on Saturday that 28 Palestinian medics were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7.
At least 2,269 Palestinians have been killed and 9,814 others wounded due to Israeli attacks in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian health ministry said in a report on Saturday. (Reuters)
Israel-Hamas War: Majed S. F. Bamya, an observer for the State of Palestine, emphasized the importance of applying international rules consistently and without double standards. He highlighted that discrimination based on region, race, or national origin should not be accepted, as it would undermine human rights and international humanitarian laws. Bamya also expressed concern over the situation in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli actions were causing severe suffering, and he called for an end to the siege, cessation of killings, and immediate humanitarian aid access, questioning the application of international laws in such circumstances.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to seek China’s help in preventing the Israel-Hamas war from spreading.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken called Wang on Saturday from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to ask China to use whatever influence it has in the Middle East to keep other countries and groups from entering the conflict.
Miller would not say which countries and groups the U.S. believes Beijing has influence with but China is known to have close trade and political ties with Iran, which in turn supports Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement. Miller declined to characterize Wang’s response but said the U.S. believes it and China have a shared interest in Middle East stability. (AP)
Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across the Middle East and in parts of Asia, Europe and the United States on Friday in support of Palestinians and condemnation of Israel as it intensified its strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas assaults.
Jewish communities in the U.S., France and elsewhere also held rallies in solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack from Gaza, the deadliest killing spree against Israeli civilians in the country’s 75-year history.
There has been strong support and sympathy for Israel from Western governments and many citizens over the Hamas attacks, but the Israeli response has also prompted anger, particularly in Arab and Muslim countries.
In Turkey, crowds gathered outside mosques chanting against Israel and saluting Hamas. In the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, 46-year-old business owner Mikail Bakan said: “All the Muslim world needs to be one against Israel.” (Read More)
As an unrelenting Israeli bombardment intensified on Saturday, bakeries in Gaza were running out of bread, drinking water was in short supply and power outages left families without charged phones to find out if fleeing relatives were safe.
“There is an electricity crisis, food crisis, water crisis, a crisis of everything,” Eyad Abu Mutlaq, 45, said in Khan Younis in south Gaza, a region filling up with thousands of people fleeing the north for fear of an Israeli invasion.
“It is only God who can resolve it,” he said after touring four bakeries to find long queues or no supplies. (Read More)
Missiles were fired at an Israeli army post in southeastern Lebanon - a Reuters witness said on Saturday. The witness also reported heavy shelling from Israel and the sound of gunfire. (Reuters)
According to a Reuters news report, the Chinese Foreign Minister has said that the country has called for an International Peace Conference as soon as possible on the Israeli-Palestinian Issue.
The bloody history behind how Israel, and Palestine, came into existence (Read the Indian Express Research article here)
Hamas’s armed wing on Saturday said that nine, and not eight captives (including 4 foreigners) were killed due to Israeli Air strikes in Gaza over the past 24 hours.
According to a Reuters news report, Israel has given Palestine’s Red Crescent a new deadline, to evacuate its Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City at 13 GMT on Saturday.
? People are scrambling to evacuate northern Gaza even as Hamas told Palestinians to stay home. No decision on a ground offensive has been announced, although Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border. Israel said it would keep two roads open to let people escape until 4:00 pm on Saturday.
? At least 2,269 Palestinians have been killed and 9,814 others wounded due to Israeli attacks in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian health ministry said in a report on Saturday.
? An Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in southern Lebanon on Friday, killing one and wounding six 4.
? Patients and medical staff of Al Awda Hospital in Gaza spent part of their night on the street “with bombs landing in close proximity,” following Israel's orders to evacuate the facility, the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said.
?Egyptian officials said the southern Rafah crossing would open later Saturday to allow foreigners to exit.
? The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced over the past 12 hours in the Gaza Strip. Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, warned that the Gaza Strip is running out of clean water and fuel is urgently needed in order to have safe drinking water.
? A plane carrying medical supplies for Gaza from the United Nations health agency landed Saturday in el-Arish airport in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, awaiting the reopening of the Rafah crossing point. That's according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization
? The United States Air Force said overnight that it had deployed F-15E fighter aircraft in the Middle East to support its operations backing Israel after Hamas' unprecedented attack October 7. (AP)
Israel Hamas War: The internationally accepted rules of armed conflict, which serve as a fundamental framework for humanitarian law, originated from the 1949 Geneva Conventions. These conventions have received ratification from every member state of the United Nations and have been further supplemented by rulings in international war crimes tribunals. In the ongoing Israel Hamas conflict, these rules play a pivotal role in guiding and regulating the conduct of parties involved, emphasizing the importance of protecting civilians, minimizing suffering, and respecting human rights amid the hostilities.
Israel's military said on Saturday it killed two Hamas commanders who were behind the cross-border deadly rampage into Israel a week ago.
The military said it killed Merad Abu Merad, who was the head of the Hamas aerial system, and Ali Qadi, a company commander of a commando force. (Reuters)
After flying out more than 400 Indian nationals from Israel on two consecutive days, the Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv has announced two special flights on Saturday to further facilitate more Indians wanting to leave the country amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The special flights are 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, triggering fresh tension in the region.
The first flight is expected to leave at 5:00 pm local time and can carry 230 passengers.
The second flight is scheduled at 11:00 pm local time and can carry 330 passengers. (PTI)
New aid flights arrived on Saturday in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula where relief materials are being held until safe delivery into the nearby Gaza Strip can be secured, an official from the Red Crescent and an aid volunteer said.
Two aid flights, including one from Turkey, arrived at Sinai's Al Arish airport, about 45 km (28 miles) from the Gaza border, bringing the total number of planes that have arrived this week carrying humanitarian relief for Gaza to at least five, the Red Cross official and the aid volunteer said.
The World Health Organization said a plane carrying trauma medicines and health supplies had also landed. "Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. (Reuters)
The Lebanon State Media on Saturday said that the country would submit a formal complaint to the UN Security Council on “Israel’s deliberate killing” of Lebanese journalist Issam Abdullah.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Army on Saturday said that they are investigating the incident in which a Reuters journalist was killed in southern Lebanon.
Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six other journalists injured in southern Lebanon on Friday when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck them, according to a Reuters videographer who was at the scene.
Qatar said on Saturday that it categorically rejects any attempt to forcibly displace the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip.
A statement from the Qatari foreign ministry said that the state of Qatar "call on lifting the siege of Gaza Strip, and provide full protection for the Palestinian civilians according to the international and humanitarian laws". (Reuters)
As thousands of Palestinians fled the north of the Gaza Strip, from the path of an expected Israeli ground assault, Israel said it would keep two roads open to let people escape until 4:00 pm on Saturday. Israel had given the entire population of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, until Saturday morning to move south. “For your safety, take advantage of the short time to move south – from Beit Hanoun to Khan Yunis,” said IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee in a tweet. He also shared a map of the two routes one of which ran alongside the coast and the other one down the centre of the Gaza Strip.
(shared by IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee on X)
Thousands of Palestinians fled the north of the Gaza Strip on Saturday from the path of an expected Israeli ground assault, while Israel pounded the area with more air strikes and said it would keep two roads open to let people escape.
Israel had given the entire population of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which includes the enclave's biggest settlement Gaza City, until Saturday morning to move south. It announced overnight that it would guarantee the safety of Palestinians fleeing the area on two main roads until 4:00 pm.
Here is a video shared by The Guardian which shows drone footage of Palestinians leaving northern Gaza:
? Egypt, Israel and the United States have agreed to allow foreigners in Gaza to pass through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, a senior Egyptian official says.
? The official said Saturday that Israel has agreed to refrain from striking areas the foreigners would pass through on their way out of the besieged Palestinian territory.
? He said Qatar also was involved in the negotiations and the participants received also approval from the Palestinian militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
? A second official at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing point said they received “instructions” to reopen it on Saturday afternoon for foreigners coming from Gaza.
? The first official said negotiations were still underway to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through the crossing point.Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.Israel has ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians from the northern Gaza Strip. (AP)
A senior State Department official form the United States today said that the US has been working with the Egyptians, Israelis and Qataris to have the Rafah border crossing from Gaza to Egypt open on Saturday from 12-5 pm.
The Israeli Army on Saturday said that they are investigating the incident in which a Reuters journalist was killed in southern Lebanon.
Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six other journalists injured in southern Lebanon on Friday when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck them, according to a Reuters videographer who was at the scene.
"We are aware of the incident with the Reuters journalist. We are looking into it. We already have visuals. We're doing cross examination. It's a tragic thing," a military spokesperson told reporters.
New aid flights arrived in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday where relief materials are being held until safe passage for their delivery into the nearby Gaza Strip can be secured, an official from the Red Crescent and an aid volunteer said.
Egypt says its side of the Rafah crossing that connects Sinai with the Gaza Strip remains open, though traffic has been halted for several days because of Israeli bombardments on the Palestinian side of the border.
The crossing is the main exit point for the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million residents that is not controlled by Israel. Israel and Egypt have upheld a blockade on the enclave, tightly controlling movement of goods and people, since Palestinian Islamist group Hamas took control there in 2007. (Reuters)
Images: Google Maps
Air India and SpiceJet will operate one flight each to Tel Aviv on Saturday to bring back Indians amid escalating tensions due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to officials.
These chartered flights will be operated under Operation Ajay, which the government has launched to facilitate the return of those who wish to come back from Israel.
The officials in the know said Air India will be operating a flight from the national capital to Tel Aviv while SpiceJet will operate a flight from Amritsar to Tel Aviv. Both flights are expected to return and land at the Delhi airport on Sunday morning, they added.
One of the officials said Air India is scheduled to operate another flight to Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Air India extended the suspension of its scheduled flights to and from Tel Aviv till October 18.
Air India, which normally operates five weekly scheduled flights to Tel Aviv, had earlier suspended the services till October 14.
The carrier will operate chartered flights to bring back Indians depending on the requirements, the official added. Under Operation Ajay launched by the government to bring Indians who wish to come back from Israel, the airline so far has operated two flights.
The Palestinian Health Ministry today said that at least 2,269 Palestinians have been killed and 9,814 others wounded due to Israeli attacks in the West Bank and Gaza.
According to the Ministry, the death toll included 2,215 dead from Gaza and 8,714 injured. Fifty-four people have died and 1,100 were wounded in the West Bank.
In the last 24 hours, at least 324 Palestinians have been killed, according to a Gaza health ministry report. According to the report, the dead included at least 126 children and 88 women. The territory is witnessing a massive exodus as hundreds move further south following an evacuation order by the Israeli military.
Ayman Safadi, Jordan's Foreign Minister, said that Israel's order to Gaza residents to flee south could push the Middle East to 'abyss' of new conflict, news agency Reuters reported.
The region has been witness to near-continuous conflict since the creation of Israel in 1948.
Safadi also said that apart from the military order, Israel's blocking of humanitarian to Gaza and putting the area under a blockade was a "flagrant" breach of international law.
As Israel conducted airstrikes in Gaza as 'retaliation' for the Hamas attack last week, Palestinians found themselves looking for casualties beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings and structures.
The ongoing war has claimed over 2,800 lives so far.
(Photo credits: Reuters)
The Israeli Air Force today claimed to have killed Merad Abu Merad, the head of the Hamas Aerial System in Gaza. The air force said he “was largely responsible for directing terrorists during the massacre on Saturday”.
Last Saturday (October 7), Palestinian militant group Hamas had launched an attack on the southern part of Israel, which led to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu declaring war. As per latest data, over 2,800 lives have been lost in the conflict.
On Friday, the Israeli military ordered more than one million residents in Gaza to flee south "for their own safety", as it prepared to launch a ground offensive. Thousands of Gazans have since then fled the city, while some have refused to leave. Hamas has meanwhile called the military order "fake propaganda" and asked Gaza residents to "stay put".
This has led Israel to accuse Hamas of "sheltering behind civilians".
The Israeli military said that militants who were allegedly trying to infiltrate from Lebanon were killed by a drone, news agency Reuters reported.
Yesterday, a shelling by Israel had killed a Reuters videographer near the Israel-Lebanon border, leaving six journalists injured.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said that the military will allow the safe movement of Gazans moving south on two main roads between 10 am and 4 pm today.
On Friday, the IDF had ordered more than one million residents of Gaza to flee to the south "for their own safety", as it started preparing for a ground offensive, for which it has also amassed tanks.
The deadline for more than a million Gaza residents to relocate to the south passed today, as the Israeli military had given them 24 hours to flee "for their own safety" on Friday. According to news agency Reuters, the deadline passed at 5 am local time.
The military, which is preparing for a ground offensive, said it had seen a "significant movement" south of Palestinian civilians.
"We have seen a significant movement of Palestinian civilians towards the south," Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told a video briefing early on Saturday. He did not mention the deadline and did not take questions.
He added: "Around the Gaza Strip, Israeli reserve soldiers in formation (are) getting ready for the next stage of operations. They are all around the Gaza Strip, in the south, in the centre and in the north, and they are preparing themselves for whatever target they get, whatever task. The end state of this war is that we will dismantle Hamas and its military capability and fundamentally change the situation so that Hamas never again has the ability to inflict any damage on Israeli civilians or soldiers."
Tens of thousands of Palestinians were estimated to have headed south from northern Gaza after the Israeli order, according to the United Nations, which said more than 400,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced before the military order on Friday.
According to Reuters, many Palestinians in Gaza refused to leave, with mosques broadcasting the message, "Hold on to your homes. Hold on to your land."
After the directive, the United Nations warned of disastrous human consequences due to the forcible displacement. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it was impossible for Gazans to heed Israel's order to move south without "devastating humanitarian consequences".
"The noose around the civilian population in Gaza is tightening," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said. "How are 1.1 million people supposed to move across a densely populated war zone in less than 24 hours?"
An Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in southern Lebanon on Friday, killing Issam Abdallah, a Reuters videographer, and leaving six other journalists injured.
According to Reuters, Abdallah was part of a crew in southern Lebanon which was providing a live signal.
Abdallah was based out of Beirut, as stated in his bio on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter). He described himself as a 'video journalist'.
The shelling occurred during an exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. The Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing sporadic acts of violence since Saturday’s attack by the Palestinian group militant Hamas on southern Israel.
Radhika, an associate professor working at Tiruchirappalli's Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) is currently stranded in Israel, and has sought help to return to India, her husband, who is an HoD at the same university said.
T Ramesh, her husband, told news agency PTI, "For three days since Saturday she had to seek protection under a shelter, the moment she heard the siren before the bombardment and returned to her room in The Negev after the Israeli government made the announcement... She is very anxious to return home and our 13-year-old son, who is also apprehensive, wants to see his mother back home safe."
He added that she is safe at present, and is being provided with food and water.
Radhika left for Israel on September 23 to attend a two-month government of India sponsored training programme at the Ben-Gurion University, according to PTI. Ramesh said that the Indian embassy had already contacted her and assured that her request would be processed at the earliest.
21 people from Tamil Nadu arrived on the first flight under 'Operation Ajay' on October 12. “All the 21 people from Coimbatore, Tiruvarur, Cuddalore,Tiruchirappalli, Theni, Karur, Virudhunagar, Namakkal, Pudukottai, Kancheepuram, and Chennai had arrived at the Chennai and Coimbatore airports, respectively, on Friday morning,” an official release in Chennai said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has confirmed that "over 120 civilians" are being held as hostages in Gaza by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
On Friday, Hamas had said that 13 hostages, including foreigners, had been killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza.
Earlier, when Hamas had launced its attack on southern Israel on October 7, it had taken an estimated 150 Israelis, mostly civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, back with them into Gaza. With an Israeli ground assault imminent, the fate of these hostages, held at multiple locations in Gaza, remains unknown.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said that Palestinian militant group Hamas was "worse than al-Qaeda", referring to the terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks.
Addressing an event in Philadelphia, Biden said: "The more we learn about the attack, the more horrifying it becomes. More than 1,000 innocent lives lost, including at least 27 Americans... These guys make -- they make al-Qaeda look pure. They're pure evil. Like I said from the beginning, the United States, make no mistake about it, stands with Israel. The United States stands with Israel."
The US has re-affirmed its solidarity with Israel multiple times since the war broke out a week ago.
Here's other top quotes by Biden on the war:
As the deadline for Gaza residents to relocate to the south draws near, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry has put out a statement categorically rejecting the call for what it called a 'forcible displacement' of civilians.
"The Kingdom renews its call to the international community to act quickly to stop all forms of military escalation against civilians; prevent a humanitarian disaster, and to provide the necessary relief and medical assistance for the people of Gaza," the statement said.
It added: "The Kingdom calls for the lifting of the siege on the people in Gaza; the evacuation of civilian casualties; the commitment to international laws and norms and international humanitarian law, and for moving the peace process forward in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council and the United Nations, and the Arab Peace Initiative which aims to find a just and comprehensive solution and establish an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital."
Issam Abdallah, a Reuters videographer, was killed in an Israeli shelling on the border in south Lebanon on Friday. Six other journalists were left injured.
Images from the scene showed a charred car.
“We are deeply saddened to tell you that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed,” the Reuters news agency said in a statement. It added that two of its journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, were wounded in the shelling.
Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV, said two of its employees, Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar, also were among the wounded. France’s international news agency, Agence France-Presse, said two of its journalists also were among the wounded, but the agency did not release their names.
The shelling occurred during an exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
Palestinians fled in a mass exodus on Friday from northern Gaza after Israel’s military told more than 1 million people to evacuate to the southern part of the besieged territory ahead of an expected ground invasion in retaliation for the surprise attack by the ruling Hamas militant group.
As airstrikes hammered the territory throughout the day, families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with possessions streamed down a main road out of Gaza City.
Hamas’ media office said warplanes struck cars fleeing south, killing more than 70 people. The Israeli military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza to battle militants and hunted for traces of some 150 people abducted in Hamas's assault on Israel nearly a week ago.
In urging the evacuation, Israel’s military said it planned to target underground Hamas hideouts around Gaza City. But Palestinians and some Egyptian officials fear that Israel ultimately hopes to push Gaza’s people out through the southern border with Egypt.
Hamas told people to ignore the evacuation order, and families in Gaza faced what they saw as a no-win decision to leave or stay, with no safe ground anywhere. Hospital staff said they couldn’t abandon patients.
In the nearly week-old war, the Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that roughly 1,900 people have been killed in the territory — more than half of them under the age of 18, or women. The Hamas assault last Saturday killed more than 1,300 Israelis, most of whom were civilians, and roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed during the fighting, the Israeli government said. (AP)
The second flight under Operation Ajay to evacuate Indians from Israel has reached Delhi.
The special chartered flight with the second batch of 235 Indian nationals, including two infants, took off from the Ben Gurion airport Friday at 11.02 pm local time.
Read more here
China's Special Envoy on the Middle East on Friday met with representatives of the Arab League in China for an emergency session on the crisis in Israel and Gaza, according to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry released on Saturday.
China's special envoy, Zhai Jun, told the meeting that China supports the 22-member strong Arab League in playing an important role on the "Palestinian issue" and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.
"The international community should earnestly enhance its sense of urgency to return to the correct basis of the Two State Solution to realise the peaceful coexistence of the two states of Palestine and Israel," Zhai said, according to the statement. (Reuters)
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which attacked Israel last week taking more than 1,000 innocent lives, is worse than al-Qaeda, US President Joe Biden said Friday.
"The more we learned about the attack, the more horrifying it becomes. More than 1,000 innocent lives lost, including at least 27 Americans," Biden said at the top of his remarks on Hydrogen Hubs in Philadelphia.
"These guys make -- they make al-Qaeda look pure. They're pure evil. Like I said from the beginning, the United States, make no mistake about it, stands with Israel. The United States stands with Israel," Biden said.
"Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel yesterday, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is there today," the President said.
"We're making sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself and respond to these attacks. It's also a priority for me to urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza," he said.
Biden said at his direction, his teams are working in the region, including communicating directly with the governments of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations, and the United Nations to surge support and humanitarian consequences for Hamas attack to help Israel.
"We can't lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas and Hamas's appalling attacks, and their suffering as a result, as well. This morning, I spoke with the family members of all those Americans who are still unaccounted for, on a Zoom call, for about an hour and 10, 15 minutes," he said.
"They're going through agony not knowing what the status of their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, children are. You know, it's gut wrenching. I assured them my personal commitment to do everything possible -- everything possible to return every missing American to their families," he said.
"We're working round the clock to secure the release of Americans held by Hamas, in close cooperation with Israel and our partners around the region, and we're not going to stop till we bring them home," Biden said at the event. (PTI)
More than one million Gaza residents face a deadline to flee south, as the Israeli military prepares a ground offensive, for which it amassed tanks on Friday. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that retaliation for the Hamas attack last week in the southern part of the country has “just begun”.
United Nations Chief Antonio Guterres is in constant contact with the Israeli authorities, urging them to 'avert a humanitarian catastrophe, news agency Reuters reported a UN spokesman as saying. Israel has amassed tanks near Israel's border with Gaza and carried out 'localised raids' in the region over the last 24 hours. (Reuters)
The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala on Friday expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine, seeking peace for the strife-torn West Asian region, by calling for an end to the war and the implementation of the two-nation agreement by the United Nations. At a press conference held in Thiruvananthapuram, CPI(M) State Secretary M V Govindan today announced that the party would mobilise members of civil society from October 13 to October 20 and hold public meetings where slogans will be raised seeking peace in Palestine and the implementation of the two-nation UN agreement. (PTI)
US President Joe Biden spoke with family members of 14 Americans unaccounted for after attacks by Hamas militants on Israel, the White House said on Friday. Earlier, US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin, after meeting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had said that "America's support for Israel is iron-clad". "We will continue to coordinate with Israel to help secure the release of innocent people in the clutches of Hamas," he added. (Reuters)
The Israeli military has said that there are at least 120 captives in Gaza, news agency Reuters reported.
The Israeli military Friday said that it had carried out "localised raids" in Gaza over the last 24 hours, according to news agency Reuters. Earlier, the Palestinian pro-Hamas Shehab news agency had reported that 17 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza Strip.
Qatar is seeking to open a humanitarian corridor so aid can reach the Gaza Strip, Qatari Prime Minister Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Friday at a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He also called on partners, especially the United States, to save civilians from the consequences of the crisis. (Reuters)