Israel-Hamas War Updates: After days of diplomatic negotiations regarding the terms of relief delivery, trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, which had been stuck in Egypt, successfully crossed into the blockaded Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing on Saturday.
Amid escalating regional tensions due to the conflict in Gaza, Israel’s national security council issued an urgent directive on Saturday, urging its citizens to promptly depart from Egypt and Jordan.
Hamas has reportedly released two American hostages who were held in Gaza since an incident where militants entered southern Israel on October 7. This release occurred even as Israeli airstrikes continued to target the southern Gaza region, which has seen an influx of civilians who followed Israeli instructions and fled there from the north.
Israel’s evacuation of a substantial town near the Lebanese border is raising concerns of a possible ground invasion of Gaza, a move that has the potential to spark regional instability.
President Joe Biden on Friday said that he can’t let terrorists like ‘Hamas’ and tyrants like ‘Putin’ win.
Biden underscored the existential threat Hamas poses to Israel’s democracy in a speech that also touched on Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s invasion.
“We can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace and have opportunity,” he said.
According to US officials, there have been multiple attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria in recent days, Reuters reported. Washington remains on high alert due to concerns about the actions of Iran-backed groups, particularly as regional tensions escalate amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Over the past two weeks, President Joe Biden has deployed significant naval forces to the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers, additional warships, and approximately 2,000 Marines.
With the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 7th, there has been a noticeable increase in attacks targeting US forces. One such incident occurred on Wednesday when a drone struck US forces in Syria, causing minor injuries, while another drone was successfully intercepted and neutralised.
In response to Hamas’s October 7th attack, Israel has initiated a continuous barrage of the Gaza Strip, prompting the call-up of an unprecedented 360,000 reservists. Regrettably, the assault has led to a significant loss of life, with an estimated 1,400 casualties, primarily civilians.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, a minimum of 4,137 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, have lost their lives, and 13,000 have sustained injuries in Gaza. The United Nations has reported that over one million people have been displaced from their homes due to the ongoing conflict.
Check all the Israel-Hamas LIVE updates here
Israel-Hamas war: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, on Saturday, discussed situation of Gaza in phone call with Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
Erdogan told Haniyeh about Ankara’s efforts for a ceasefire and about its efforts to ensure humanitarian aid reach Gaza and possible treatmeent of the wounded in Turkey.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Lebanon-based Hezbollah said that it is already “in the heart of the battle.”
A top official of the group vowed that Israel will pay a high price whenver it starts a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
“We are trying to weaken the Israeli enemy and let them know that we are ready,” said Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem.
Israel-Hamas LIVE Updates: Qatari foreign minister, on Saturday, said that it was continuing the coordination with US and international partners to release hostages and reduce escalation in the Gaza strip, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani spoke to his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken in a phone call on Saturday.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: Pulitzer Prize-winning authoer Viet Thanh Nguyen said on Saturday that a Jewish organisation in New York City canceled a reading he was supposed to give on Friday without explaination. The cancellation of his programme came after he signed an open letter condemning Israel’s “indiscriminate violence” against Palestinian in Gaza.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American professor and writer whose novel “The Sympathizer” won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was scheduled to speak at the 92nd Street Y literary center in Manhattan at 8 p.m.
Israel-Hamas LIVE Updates: Web Summit Chief Executive and founder Paddy Cosgrave stepped down from his position on Saturday. The decision came after his comments on Israel-Hamas war led to some technology companies and investors to withdraw plans to attend its conference in Portugal in November.
“Unfortunately, my personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend,” Cosgrave said in a statement.
“I sincerely apologise again for any hurt I have caused.”
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: Speaking at the peace summit taking place in Egypt, President el-Sissi made it clear that the forced displacement of Palestinians will not take place at the cost of Egypt.
“I want to state it clearly and unequivocally to the world that the liquidation of the Palestinian cause without a just solution is beyond the realm of possibility, and in any case, it will never happen at the expense of Egypt, absolutely not,” he said.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: A 50-year old Indian internal medicine specialist was dismissed from his job in Bahrain over his anti-Palestine tweet, his employer in the Gulf country has said.
The Royal Bahrain Hospital in a statement on Friday described Dr. Sunil Rao’s tweet, which he had subsequently deleted, as a violation of the hospital’s code of conduct.
“It has come to our attention that Dr Sunil Rao, who is working as a Specialist in Internal Medicine, has posted tweets on social media that are offensive to our society,” said the hospital statement.
“We would like to confirm that his tweets and ideology are personal and do not reflect the opinion and values of the hospital,” it said.
Israel-Hamas live updates: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday, said that one-fifth of the rockets fired by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have been misfired. They The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday said that one-fifth of the rockets fired by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have misfired in the last 24 hours, landing inside Gaza and killing civilians, The Jerusalem Post reported.
IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said this amounts to more than 550 rockets. “They are killing their own people,” he said.
A Palestinian spokesperson has said that the aid trucks that crossed into Gaza today didn’t even have enough supplies for even one school.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: Hamas militants on Saturday, said that they won’t discuss fate of Israeli army captives until Israel ends its aggression on Gaza.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE updates: Two Thai nationals were injured in northern Israel on Saturday amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The two Thai nationals were injured during the exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel-Hamas war Latest Updates: While speaking at the summit in Egypt, Italian PM Georgia Meloni asked the world leaders to not fall in the trap of Hamas.
“I have the impression that this was the real aim of the Hamas attack, not to defend the rights of the Palestinian people, but an attack that would create an unbridgeable gap between the Palestinians and the Israelis, meaning that the target is all of us, and we cannot fall into this trap, which would be very stupid,” she said.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli Embassy in Beijing turned to China’s social media platform Weibo, to engage with public. But the embassy had to face the fury of Chinese netizens who were expressing strong anti-Israel sentiments. Netizens posted hate speech on Israeli embassy’s social media account and also showed support to millitant group Hamas.
Israel-Hamas LIVE Updates: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the continous air strikes on Gaza by Israel.
He said that the “reprehensible assault” by Hamas can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, UN news reported on Saturday.
“The grievances of the Palestinian people are legitimate and long, but nothing can justify the reprehensible assault by Hamas that terrorized Israeli civilians. At the same time, these abhorrent attacks can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” UN News quoted Guterres as saying.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant clarified that his country is not planning to occupy Gaza strip but is aiming to destroy Hamas government and the terror group.
Following the elimination of Hamas, Galant said there would be a new “security reality” in the Gaza Strip.
Gallant made his remarks while speaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee meeting in Tel Aviv on Friday.
Israel-Hamas war: Drawing attention towards the need of civilians who are suffering due to the raging war in Gaza, UN officials said that at least 100 trucks a day are required in Gaza to cover urgent needs, and that any delivery of aid should be sustained and at scale. Before the outbreak of conflict, an average of about 450 aid trucks were arriving there daily.
Israel-Hamas LIVE UPdates: Israeli aircraft and soldiers, on Saturday, targeted militants who had fired rockets and anti-tank missiles near the border with Lebanon.
“Hits were identified during both strikes,” the military said. Soldiers were responding to a third round of missiles, it added.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE News: Amid the raging war between Israel and Hamas, thousands of pro-palestinian demonstrators marched in London on Saturday. The demonstrators demanded Israel to stop its bombardment of Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third week.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE updates: French foreign minister Catherine Colonna on Saturday, underlined the need for a humanitarian corridor to deliver aid to civilians in Gaza and its establishment could lead to a ceasefire.
“The distribution of aid to civilian populations, starting with the most vulnerable, assumes a humanitarian corridor, which can lead to a ceasefire,” she said at the Cairo Peace Summit hosted by Egypt on the escalating war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: A pipe bomb exploded near the Israeli embassy in Cyprus early on Saturday. Two people have been arrested in the case so far. However, there was no injuries reported due to the attack.
Israel-Hamas: In the ongoing summit in Egypt, UK Foreign Minister Cleverly said that he spoke to Israel and called for restraintt from the Israeli military.
Israel-Hamas war Latest Updates: Amid the ongoing war, death toll of civilians in Gaza rose to 4,385 on Saturday. Till now, around 13,651 injured since the conflict between Hamas and Israel, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The dead include 1,756 children and 976 women, the health ministry added.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: First emergency aid trucks, carrying humanitarian assistance, entered the enclave from Egypt on Saturday. The aid has come after the civilians are struggling to save themselves amid Israelis air attacks.
U.S. President Joe Biden had said earlier this week that agreement had been reached for 20 aid trucks to cross through Gaza’s Rafah border point with Egypt, and said on Friday he believed those first trucks would pass through within 48 hours.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE: Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, on Saturday, said that the international community must avoid an escalation in the war between Israel and Hamas and set a roadmap towards the two states solution.
The summit is being held as Israel prepares a ground assault on Gaza following Hamas’ attack that killed 1,400 people.
Israel-Hamas War LIVE Updates: At least 307 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, said Israeli military on Saturday.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: In the ongoing Cairo Peace Summit, Arab leaders condemned Israel’s two-week-old bombardment of Gaza on Saturday and demanded renewed efforts to reach a Middle East peace settlement to end a decades-long cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
“The message the Arab world is hearing is that Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli ones,” he said, adding he was outraged and grieved by acts of violence waged against innocent civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
Israel-Hamas War LIVE Updates: Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, on Saturday, sadi that the Cairo summit has invited leaders to come to an agreement for roadmap to end humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip. Roadmap’s goals included the delivery of aid to Gaza and agreeing a ceasefire, followed by negotiations leading to a two state solution, he said.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: Amid the raging war, Israel is facing a shortage of bulletproof jacakets and protective gear due to the sudden spike in demand. The country is facing attacks from two fronts.
Speaking to ANI, Yoav Dotan, said, “Right now the country is in full mobilisation. The whole country is mobilised towards the war efforts. Men and women have been drafted into the Army under emergency degree. They don’t have enough equipment, but slowly the equipment is getting to all the units”.
Israel-Hamas war: As Egypt opens a summit on the Gaza crisis on Saturday, to try to head off a wider regional war, there are lesser chances of the success of the summit. The country is struggling to come up to a common position on the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants.
The United States Embassy in Jerusalem has issued a ‘security alert’ for its citizens ahead of the opening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
The US Embassy has warned of a “potentially chaotic and disorderly environment” and asked its citizens to respond to the message with their current location. Read the complete story here.
Four trucks carrying health supplies have started to move towards the Rafah border crossing, on their way to Gaza, the World Health Organization said in a statement on Saturday.
The organization also said it was working with the Egyptian and Palestine Red Crescent societies to ensure the safe passage of the critical supplies. (Reuters)
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday led a protest by her party against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and said its consequences can be very grave for the world in the coming times.
Mufti and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) activists gathered at the party headquarters near Sher-e-Kashmir Park here and tried to march towards the Lal Chowk city centre but were stopped by a posse of policemen near the General Post Office (GPO). (PTI)
At least 13 Palestinians were killed on Saturday from an airstrike in Gaza’s Deir El Balah neighborood, Hamas’ Al Shehab news agency reported.
The incident happened over a single residential unit, Al Shehab said. (Reuters)
Hamas’ media office issued a statement on Saturday saying that expected truckloads of aid ‘will not change the catastrophic medical conditions in Gaza’.
Earlier on Saturday, Egyptian State TV showed footage of Egypt opening its border with the Gaza Strip at the Rafah crossing point, where at least 20 trucks of aid are expected to cross through the border, Hamas’s media office said. (Reuters)
Aid deliveries have begun moving into the besieged Gaza Strip, two weeks after the militant group Hamas rampaged through southern Israel and Israel responded with airstrikes.
Israel says Hamas has freed two American hostages who had been held in Gaza since the war began Oct. 7. Israeli airstrikes continued to hit southern Gaza, an area swollen by civilians who fled there from the north on Israeli instructions.
The war, which is in its 15th day on Saturday, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that 4,137 Palestinians have been killed and more than 13,000 others wounded. (AP)
The management of a Kerala-based private apparel firm that has been supplying uniforms for Israel’s police force for the past several years has decided not to take up any new orders until the war in Gaza is stopped.
News about the horrifying killings, continuing bloodshed, the bombing of hospitals and the never-ending scenes of hardships of innocent people forced Maryan Apparel Pvt Limited here to put a temporary freeze on new orders from the Israel police force.
Thomas Olickal, who runs Maryan Apparel, said the firm had not thought of making any change in their business plan even after the war broke out in the West Asia region early this month but took the decision after seeing the suffering inflicted on the civilian population in Gaza. (PTI)
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Egypt into war-torn and besieged Gaza started passing through the Rafah border crossing Saturday, a security source and an Egyptian Red Crescent official told AFP.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Saturday at least 17 of its staff had been killed in the Gaza war, warning that the death toll would likely rise.
“To date, 17 of our colleagues have been confirmed killed in this vicious war. Very sadly, the actual numbers are likely to be higher,” UNRWA said in a statement. (AFP)
The border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened on Saturday to let desperately needed aid flow to Palestinians running short of food, medicine and water in the territory that is under an Israeli siege.
More than 200 trucks carrying roughly 3,000 tons of aid had been positioned near the crossing for days before heading into Gaza. An Associated Press reporter saw the trucks entering. (AP)
A convoy including 20 aid trucks was due to enter the Gaza Strip on Saturday from Egypt carrying medicine and food supplies, a statement from Palestinian group Hamas said.
“The relief aid convoy that is supposed to enter today includes 20 trucks that carry medicine, medical supplies, and a limited amount of food supplies (canned goods),” Hamas’s media office said. (Reuters)
As hundreds of tanks and armed soldiers gather near the Gaza border, waiting for a nod from the political regime and the military top brass to begin a ‘ground offensive’, the US and Europe are quietly pushing Israel to hold off the mission, The Times of Israel reported on Saturday.
According to The Times of Israel, the request came fearing that the move would all but scuttle efforts to secure additional hostage releases for the foreseeable future. (ANI)
Political scientist and founder of Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer cautioned that the ongoing war has the potential to escalate into a broader and significantly more destructive Middle East conflict should Iran become directly embroiled in the situation, NDTV reported. Read the report here.
The officials of the Indian Embassy in Israel met a few community representatives and assured them of all possible assistance amid the ongoing war with Hamas.
“Embassy officials met a few community representatives in Israel. Discussed the current situation and assured all possible assistance,” the Indian Embassy in Israel posted on X
The list of attendees expected at the Cairo Peace Summit include:
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
Jordanian King Abdullah
Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani
Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa
British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs James Cleverly
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov
China’s envoy for Middle East issues Zhai Jun
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
European Council President Charles Michel
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. (Reuters)
Israel calls on its citizens to immediately leave Egypt and Jordan, the National Security Council said Saturday as regional tensions flared over the war in Gaza.
“Israel’s National Security Council raises its travel warnings for Egypt (including Sinai) and Jordan to level 4 (high threat): recommendation not to travel to these countries and for those staying there to leave… as soon as possible,” the council said in a statement. (AFP)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has acknowledged the emotional toll that the war between Israel and Hamas has taken on US diplomats amid media reports of internal dissent over Washington’s handling of the conflict.
Blinken sent a letter to all State Department employees Thursday night noting the “challenging” circumstances affecting the US diplomatic corps, some of whom feel the “ripples of fear and bigotry” the conflict has generated. (AFP)
The US Embassy in Israel said the Gaza-Egypt border may open on Saturday, suggesting that such a move would enable foreigners to leave the besieged Palestinian enclave. (Reuters)
Bodies of four of the 10 students from Nepal who were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel are set to be flown for Kathmandu on Saturday from Israel, the Nepal Embassy in Tel Aviv said.
In a statement, the Nepal Embassy said the bodies will be flown to Kathmandu on Saturday afternoon at 1:25 pm (Israel local time) via a stopover at Dubai.
“Killed in Hamas attack in Kibbutz- Alumim in Southern Israel, bodies of 4 Nepali students whose legal procedures has been completed will be flown for Kathmandu at 1:25 PM (Local Time- Israel). The FlyDubai flight number FZ 1210 from Israel to Dubai and then FlyDubai flight number FZ 8351 has been arranged to fly from Dubai to Kathmandu. As per the flight details, the bodies will reach Kathmandu on Sunday morning. Identities of remaining bodies is under process,” the Nepal Embassy in Tel Aviv stated. (ANI)
There was a celebratory mood inside the Labour Party’s London headquarters on Friday, buoyed by two huge by-election victories that suggest Keir Starmer is on course to be the UK’s next prime minister.
But a noisy protest down the road was a reminder of a rumbling issue that harbors risks for the Labour leader, even as his party rides high in the polls: Activist anger over his stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza that could yet grow if the war intensifies. (Bloomberg)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was booed during his visit to a mosque in Toronto over his response to the Israel-Hamas war, The Toronto Sun reported.
According to The Toronto Sun, Liberal MPs in Canada are joining calls by Muslim groups for Canada to push for a ceasefire in the region, while major Canadian Jewish groups have demanded Trudeau retract an earlier comment as lending credence to the claim by Hamas that Israel was responsible for an attack on a hospital in Gaza city. (ANI)
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