Tag: Israel Hamas war

At least 500 killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza City hospital: Palestinian health ministry

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The Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on October 17 hit a Gaza City hospital packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter, killing hundreds. If confirmed, the attack would be by far the deadliest Israeli airstrike in five wars fought since 2008.

Photos from al-Ahli Hospital showed fire engulfing the hospital halls, shattered glass and body parts scattered across the area. The ministry said at least 500 people had been killed.

Follow Israel-Hamas war, day 11 LIVE updates here

Several hospitals in Gaza City have become refuges for hundreds of people, hoping they would be spared bombardment after Israel ordered all residents of the city and surrounding areas to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said there were still no details on the hospital deaths: “We will get the details and update the public. I don’t know to say whether it was an Israeli air strike.” In the south, continued strikes killed dozens of civilians and at least one senior Hamas figure Tuesday in attacks it says are targeted at militants.

U.S. officials worked to convince Israel to allow delivery of supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals after days of failed hopes for an opening in the siege.

With Israel barring entry of water, fuel and food into Gaza since Hamas’ brutal attack last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken secured an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss creation of a mechanism for delivering aid to the territory’s 2.3 million people.

U.S. officials said the gain might appear modest, but stressed that it was a significant step forward.

Still, as of late Tuesday, there was no deal in place. A top Israeli official said Tuesday his country was demanding guarantees that Hamas militants would not seize any aid deliveries. Tzahi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council, suggested entry of aid also depended on the return of hostages held by Hamas.

“The return of the hostages, which is sacred in our eyes, is a key component in any humanitarian efforts,” he told reporters, without elaborating whether Israel was demanding the release of all of the roughly 200 people Hamas abducted before allowing supplies in.

A Palestinian child injured in an Israeli air strike is carried inside the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern of Gaza Strip, on October 17, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
AFP

U.S. President Joe Biden prepared to head to the region as he and other world leaders tried to prevent the war from sparking a broader regional conflict. Violence flared Tuesday along Israel’s border with Lebanon, where Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants operate.

With tens of thousands of troops massed along the border, Israel has been expected to launch a ground invasion into Gaza — but plans remained uncertain.

“We are preparing for the next stages of war,” military spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said.

“We haven’t said what they will be. Everybody’s talking about a ground offensive. It might be something different.” In Gaza, dozens of injured were rushed to hospitals after heavy attacks outside the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, residents reported. Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official and former health minister, reported 27 people were killed in Rafah and 30 in Khan Younis.

An Associated Press reporter saw around 50 bodies brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Family members came to claim the bodies, wrapped in white bedsheets, some soaked in blood.

An airstrike in Deir al Balah reduced a house to rubble, killing a man and 11 women and children inside and in a neighboring house, some of whom had evacuated from Gaza City. Witnesses said there was no warning before the strike.

Shelling from Israeli tanks hit a UN school in central Gaza where 4,000 Palestinians had taken refuge, killing six people and wounding dozens, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agencysaid.

At least 24 UN installations have been hit the past week, killing at least 14 of the agency’s staff.

Palestinians injured in an Israeli air strike await treatment at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern of Gaza Strip, on October 17, 2023.

Palestinians injured in an Israeli air strike await treatment at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern of Gaza Strip, on October 17, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
AFP

The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas hideouts, infrastructure and command centers.

A barrage of strikes crashed into the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, leveling an entire block of homes and causing dozens of casualties among families inside, residents said. Among those killed was one of Hamas’ top military commanders, Ayman Nofal, the group’s military wing said — the most high-profile militant known to have been killed so far in the war.

Nofal, formerly the intelligence chief of Hamas’ armed wing, was in charge of Hamas militant activities in the central Gaza Strip, including coordinating activities with other militant groups.

Mr. Netanyahu sought to put the blame on Hamas for Israel’s retaliatory attacks and the rising civilian casualties in Gaza.

“Not only is it targeting and murdering civilians with unprecedented savagery, it’s hiding behind civilians,” he said.

In Gaza City, Israeli airstrikes also hit the house of Hamas’ top political official, Ismail Haniyeh, killing at least 14 people. Haniyeh is based in Doha, Qatar, but his family lives in Gaza City. The Hamas media office did not immediately identify those killed.

Israel sealed off Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and resulted in some 200 taken captive into Gaza. Hamas militants in Gaza have launched rockets every day since, aiming at cities across Israel.

Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 2,778 people and wounded 9,700, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Nearly two-thirds of those killed were children, a ministry official said.

Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead, health authorities said.

More than 1 million Palestinians have fled their homes — roughly half of Gaza’s population — and 60% are now in the approximately 14-kilometer (8-mile) long area south of the evacuation zone, the UN said.

Aid workers warned that the territory was near complete collapse. Hospitals were on the verge of losing electricity, threatening the lives of thousands of patients, and hundreds of thousands of people searched for bread and water.

The UN agency for Palestinians said more than 400,000 displaced people are crowded into schools and other facilities in the south.

The agency said it has only 1 liter of water a day for each of its staff members trapped in the territory.

Israel opened a water line into the south for three hours that benefitted only 14% of Gaza’s population, the UN said.

At the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt, truckloads of aid were waiting to enter. The World Food Program said that it had more than 300 tons of food waiting to cross into Gaza.

Civilians with foreign citizenship — many of them Palestinians with dual nationalities — also waited in Rafah, desperate to get out.

“We come to the border crossing hoping that it will open, but so far there is no information,” said Jameel Abdullah, a Swedish citizen.

Repeated reports that an opening was imminent have proven false as negotiations continued to grind on, including the US, Israel and Egypt.

A senior Egyptian official called it a “very tough, complicated back-and-forth process” and said talks were over deliveries through Rafah and Israel’s Karam Shalom crossing to Gaza. He said Israel was insisting to search all aid, and wants to “ensure that such aid won’t benefit Hamas.” He said Egypt proposed that the UN oversee the whole process, including inside Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to brief the press on the talks.

Officials for Hamas and Israel cast doubt on an immediate opening, saying they were unaware of an agreement.

Mr. Blinken arrived in Israel last Thursday with a full-throated message of unequivocal U.S. support for Israel in its campaign to destroy Hamas. But in meetings with seven Arab leaders over the next three days, Mr. Blinken’s tone shifted subtly, talking more prominently about the need for humanitarian aid.

US officials said it had become clear by then that already limited Arab tolerance of Israel’s military operations would evaporate entirely if conditions in Gaza worsened. They said that outright condemnation of Israel by Arab leaders would be a boon to Hamas and could encourage Iran, according to four officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration thinking. That prompted Mr. Blinken to press Mr. Netanyahu on an aid deal.

Mr. Biden’s visit to Israel Wednesday will signal the White House’s support for a key ally. He will also travel to Jordan to meet with Arab leaders amid fears the fighting could spread in the region.

Israel evacuated towns near its northern border with Lebanon, where the military has exchanged fire repeatedly with Hezbollah militants.

Israel said it killed four militants wearing explosive vests who were attempting to cross into the country from Lebanon on Tuesday morning. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Israel’s continuing offensive in Gaza could cause a violent reaction across the region.

“Bombardments should be immediately stopped. Muslim nations are angry,” Khamenei said, according to state media. 

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Israel’s Negev Bedouins, forgotten victims of the Hamas attack, rally to provide aid

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From our special correspondent in Hura, Israel – The victims of the October 7 Hamas attack included at least 19 members of the Negev Bedouin Arab community, both civilians and members of the Israeli armed forces. The loss has prompted community volunteers to provide aid to a minority that has often suffered state discrimination, as well as calls for a return to peace negotiations to end the deadly cycle of violence.

Mazen Abu Siam’s face furrows with worry lines as he recalls the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and its deadly toll on his community.

“Fortunately, it happened on a Saturday, the Sabbath. If the attack happened during the week, there would have been many more Bedouin victims in the kibbutz, perhaps even dozens. This is unprecedented in our history,” explains Siam.

The Hamas attack inflicted a heavy toll on the Negev Bedouin Arabs, an ancient, traditionally pastoralist nomadic people now settled mostly in Israel’s southern Negev desert. Twelve members of Siam’s community were killed, seven are currently being held hostage and dozens more were injured in Saturday’s attack.

Read more‘Bring my baby back alive’: Families of Israeli hostages cling to hope

“The first rocket fired by Hamas fell here, in Hura. It killed a 5-year-old boy. Another killed four children two kilometres away, wounding the rest of the family. The third killed a woman and her grandmother,” says Siam, reclining on embroidered cushions in a Bedouin tent propped by a modern metal structure seemingly at odds with the traditional interiors.

His quiet recounting of death and hostage tolls is suddenly cut short by the deafening roar of F-16 fighter jets overhead. The veterinarian and Bedouin activist, who is also a member of the municipal council of the nearby town of Rahat (population 80,000), barely raises an eyebrow. The Gaza Strip is barely 40 kilometres away. He’s grown accustomed to the sounds of war.

‘Unrecognised’ Bedouin settlements

The Negev Bedouins were particularly vulnerable to the Hamas attack, according to Siam. “These people were living in makeshift houses. They have no shelter to protect themselves, nowhere to run. Unlike our towns, they have no sirens to alert them when rockets are fired. So, they don’t even know that an attack is taking place,” he explains.

Israel’s Negev Bedouin Arabs have long suffered state discrimination, according to human rights groups. Since the 1970s, they have been pushed out of and denied access to their pastoral lands and crammed into settlements, many of which are officially “unrecognised” and subject to evictions, unlike those built by Jewish citizens, according to Human Rights Watch.

Many of the illegal settlements, which are built with whatever materials are at hand, do not have access to running water or electricity. Residents rely on solar energy in the absence of state-provided electricity.

“Bedouins are an integral part of Israeli society. Many work in agriculture, particularly on kibbutzim, but also in construction, technology, medicine, justice… But if you live in an unrecognised place, you don’t have the same rights as others,” says Siam, who is campaigning for Bedouin access to basic services.

Family room turned makeshift warehouse

The deadly Hamas attack has galvanised volunteers and community leaders. “Faced with the urgency of the situation, we committed ourselves to helping the poorest people in the community,” explains Siam.

Community volunteers include residents like Farhan Abu Riach, who spearheaded a private humanitarian initiative, transforming part of his house into a makeshift warehouse.

Under bright neon lights, Riach’s children are hard at work securing cardboard cartons with tape and filling the boxes with packets of flour, chickpeas, infant milk powder, stuffed toys … the donations are varied. “We want to show these people, who are the most deprived in socioeconomic terms, that we haven’t forgotten them,” says Riach.

Farhan Abu Riach and his children fill cartons with humanitarian aid for Bedouin community recipients on October 17, 2023. © Assiya Hamza, FRANCE 24

All the donations come from Jewish friends in Tel Aviv. In this arid region of southern Israel, this is not a new phenomenon. “We should all be united and work together to find long-term solutions and keep the peace,” says Riach simply.

Message of peace ‘amid the horror’

Oday Samanah, an energetic young man, manages the operation in this town of around 20,000 inhabitants. “Hura is the logistics headquarters. Here, we’re making sure that everyone gets what they need. We’ve set up a special team of volunteers to deal with any emergencies in the community, whether it’s food, shelter or anything else. We also make sure that information from the Israeli army, such as security announcements, are brought to everyone,” he explains.

Mazen Abu Siam and Oday Samanah in Hura, October 16, 2023.
Mazen Abu Siam and Oday Samanah in Hura, October 16, 2023. © Assiya Hamza FRANCE 24

The young municipal employee, a volunteer on this mission, prefers not to dwell on the horrors of a crisis that has dragged on for decades and hit his community particularly hard. “We’re in the middle of this horror, but I want to convey a message of coexistence and peace. Arabs, Jews. Extremists on both sides want us to fight. We can still live together. I think we have to seize the opportunity of this crisis to be stronger together,” says Samanah.

That message of peace is also hammered home by Siam. “I’m an Arab, a Muslim, an Israeli. I am heartbroken by all the violence I have seen on both sides. We must never attack women, children, those who are not involved in a conflict. On either side. War is never the solution to anything. We need to talk to each other to find solutions,” he says.

Rahat, a southern Israeli town of around 80,000 residents, on October 16, 2023.
Rahat, a southern Israeli town of around 80,000 residents, on October 16, 2023. © Assiya Hamza FRANCE 24

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Druze, Circassians, people of different faiths have always coexisted in this ancient land, notes the activist. “We will continue to live side by side. This is not a religious war. Only the terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah want to destroy the State of Israel. The Palestinians, especially those in the Gaza Strip, have suffered a great deal. With each escalation of violence, their living conditions have worsened, even though they have been issued many work permits. Most Gazans want to live in peace. No one wants to grow up under bombs,” he says.

For the Negev Bedouin Arabs, it’s impossible to pick a side between their Jewish and Palestinian brothers. Like many in the community, Siam has family and commercial ties with the Palestinians of the West Bank.

“The situation is different in Gaza, which is under blockade. We’re not allowed to go there as Israeli Arabs, and we’re attacked like any other Israeli,” says Siam, noting that authorities in Israel and Gaza have never entered into “negotiations” despite several eruptions of violence over the past few years.

For this pacifist, dialogue is essential for breaking the cycle of violence. “The world has looked the other way for far too long. I hope that the United States, China, Europe… everyone tries to find a long-term solution,” he says. “The Palestinian people must be free in their country and obtain rights. Stop fighting and negotiate.”

This is a translation of the original in French.

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Morning Digest | SC to pronounce judgment in same-sex marriage case; UNSC to vote on resolutions on Israel-Hamas war, and more

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People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people, on October 16, 2023, in Boston.
| Photo Credit: AP

Same-sex marriage case | Supreme Court to pronounce judgment today

A Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud is scheduled on October 17 to pronounce its judgment in a series of petitions seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriage. The case was reserved on May 11 for judgment.

Same-sex marriage verdict LIVE updates | Top court to pronounce judgment at 10:30 A.M.

The other four judges on the Bench are Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PS Narasimha. Justice Bhat is scheduled to retire on October 20.

UN Security Council meets to vote on rival resolutions on Israel-Hamas war

The U.N. Security Council met Monday evening to vote on rival Russian and Brazilian resolutions that reflect deep divisions over the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the latest Hamas’ attacks and Israeli retaliation.

But immediately after the meeting was gaveled to order, the United Arab Emirates ambassador, Lana Nusseibeh, asked for members to go into closed consultations, and the 15 council ambassadors left the room. Several diplomats said they wanted a delay in the vote, especially on the Brazil resolution.

CBI files chargesheet against six accused in Manipur sexual violence case

The Central Bureau of Investigation on October 16 filed a chargesheet against six accused persons and a report against one child in conflict with the law in connection with the incident in which women were gang-raped, stripped and paraded by a violent mob in Manipur this May.

‘Practical issues’ in forming alliance with SP in Madhya Pradesh, says Kamal Nath

A day after the Samajwadi Party (SP) said it had worked out an alliance with the Congress for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election, the Congress’ chief ministerial candidate, Kamal Nath, on October 16 said discussions were held with the SP, but there were some “practical issues” in forming an alliance in the State.

Political storm over ‘cash for query’ allegation against TMC MP Mahua Moitra intensifies

The political storm over BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s “cash-for-query” allegation against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra intensified, with Ms. Moitra serving a legal notice to Mr. Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai who supplied the alleged evidence against her.

Union Minister of State for Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, was among several BJP leaders who spoke out against Ms. Moitra, saying, “If true, this is indeed shocking and shameful.” The Adani Group also issued a statement, which said the latest allegations corroborate their stand that “groups and individuals have been working overtime to harm its name and market standing.” 

Will ‘measure’ Congress ‘strengths’ before going ahead with seat distribution in U.P., says SP

In a dramatic turn of events, the Samajwadi Party (SP), on October 16, said if Congress is not ready to accommodate the U.P.-centric party in Madhya Pradesh suitably and decide tickets as per its whims and fancies in coming Assembly elections, the SP will ‘measure’ Congress ‘strengths’ before going ahead with seat sharing under the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, in U.P., India’s political most crucial State sending 80 Lok Sabha members.

Caste census not to divide people but to ensure that the deserving get their due: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, addressing an election rally at Baran in Rajasthan on October 16, asserted that their demand for caste census is not meant to divide people or snatch anybody’s rights but only to ensure that deserving groups get their rightful share in development.

India and U.K. discuss Indo-Pacific and trade at ‘2+2’ Foreign and Defence Dialogue

Reaffirming mutual commitment to maritime freedom, India and the United Kingdom on October 16 discussed the situation in the Indo-Pacific region. The discussion was held here during the inaugural “2+2” Foreign and Defence Dialogue which acquired a special significance because of the ongoing talks between the two sides for a Free Trade Agreement.

Journalist bodies seek President Murmu’s intervention for protection of media freedom

Media bodies on October 16 sought President Droupadi Murmu’s intervention to ensure that the freedoms of speech, and to profess occupation and livelihood, in the Constitution, were protected. Journalists also held a day-long protest at the Press Club of India against attacks on media freedom.

Opposition leaders meet Palestinian Ambassador to express solidarity, call for urgent ceasefire

Several Opposition leaders met Palestinian Ambassador Adnan Abu Alhaija on October 16 to express their concern for the Palestinian people and said that India should exercise its diplomatic influence to call for an immediate ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

In Brazil’s Amazon, rivers fall to record low levels during drought

The Negro River, the Amazon’s second largest tributary, on Monday reached its lowest level since official measurements began near Manaus 121 years ago. The record confirms that this part of the world’s largest rainforest is suffering its worst drought, just a little over two years after its most significant flooding.

Cricket World Cup 2023 | Zampa triggers Sri Lanka’s fall before Marsh, Inglis hand Aussies first win

It took an apocalyptic dust storm and a freak bout of rain for Australia to get its World Cup campaign back on track with a five-wicket win against Sri Lanka at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Monday.

While it wasn’t exactly the statement win the Aussies were looking for after two successive defeats, the return of Mitchell Marsh (52, 51b, 9×4) to his characteristic best and Adam Zampa (four for 47) to his wicket-taking form were positives they would settle for.

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Gaza’s crowded hospitals near breaking point as Israeli ground invasion looms

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Palestinians in besieged Gaza crowded into hospitals and schools on October 16, seeking shelter and running low on food and water. More than a million people have fled their homes ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas after its fighters rampaged through southern Israel.

As the enclave’s food, water and medicine supplies dwindled, all eyes were on the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, where trucks carrying badly needed aid have been waiting for days as mediators press for a cease-fire that would allow them to enter Gaza and allow foreigners to leave. Rafah, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt, was shut down nearly a week ago because of Israeli airstrikes.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Israel “has not taken a position to open the crossing from the Gaza side.” The Israeli government did not respond to a request for comment.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in U.N. facilities are on less than 1 litre of water per day. Hospitals warn they are on the verge of collapse, with emergency generators that power machines like ventilators and incubators down to about one day of fuel and supplies of medicine almost exhausted.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded since the fighting erupted, more than in the 2014 Gaza war, which lasted over six weeks. That makes this the deadliest of the five Gaza wars for both sides.

More than 1,400 Israelis have died, the vast majority of civilians killed in Hamas’s October 7 assault. The Israeli military said on Monday that at least 199 hostages were taken back in Gaza, higher than previous estimates. The military did not specify whether that number includes foreigners.

Israeli airstrikes have pulverised entire neighbourhoods as Palestinian militants continue to fire rockets into Israel. Israel is widely expected to launch a ground offensive in order to kill Hamas leaders, recover captives and destroy the group’s military infrastructure, much of which is in residential areas.

Street-by-street fighting would likely cause mounting casualties on both sides.

Israel has ordered more than 1 million Palestinians — almost half the territory’s population — to leave Gaza City and the surrounding area for the enclave’s south. The military says it is trying to clear away civilians ahead of a major campaign against Hamas in the north, where it says the militants have extensive networks of tunnels and rocket launchers.

Hamas has urged people to stay in their homes, and the Israeli military on Sunday released photos it said showed a Hamas roadblock preventing traffic from moving south.

For a third day, Israel’s military announced a safe corridor for people to move from north to south between the hours of 8 a.m. and noon. It said more than 6,00,000 people have already evacuated the Gaza City area.

Hospitals in Gaza are expected to run out of generator fuel in the next 24 hours, endangering the lives of thousands of patients, according to the UN. Gaza’s sole power plant shut down for lack of fuel after Israel completely sealed off the 40 km long territory following the Hamas attack.

The World Health Organization said hospitals are “overflowing” as people seek safety. “We are concerned about disease outbreaks due to mass displacement and poor water and sanitation,” it said. Four hospitals in northern Gaza are no longer functioning and 21 have received Israeli orders to evacuate. Doctors have refused, saying it would mean death for critically ill patients and newborns on ventilators.

The WHO said water shortages caused by Israel’s decision to cut off water supplies, combined with a lack of fuel for pumps and desalination stations, put thousands of hospital patients at risk.

“Water is needed to ensure sanitary conditions on inpatient wards, in operation rooms, and emergency departments. It is essential for the prevention of hospital-associated infections and for the prevention of outbreaks in hospitals,” the WHO said.

The U.N. health agency said life-saving assistance for 300,000 patients is currently awaiting entry through Rafah. On the Gaza side, crowds of Palestinians with dual citizenship waited anxiously, sitting on suitcases or crouched on the floor, some comforting crying infants.

“They are supposed to be a developed country, talking about human rights all the time,” Shurouq Alkhazendar, whose two kids are American citizens, said of the United States. “You should protect your citizens first, not leave them all alone suffering and being humiliated in front of the crossing.”

Over 1 million people — about half of Gaza’s population — have left their homes in a little over a week. Some headed to the south, while tens of thousands are still sheltering in hospitals and U.N. facilities in the north, according to the U.N. Travel within Gaza is difficult and dangerous, with roads destroyed and Israel offering only short windows for civilians to travel without the threat of strikes.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said it has been forced to ration water in schools and other facilities that have been turned into shelters, giving people just 1 litre (1 quart) a day to cover all their needs.

Israel has said the siege won’t be lifted until Hamas releases all the captives, but the country’s Water Ministry said water had been restored at one “specific point” in Gaza, at a location outside the southern town of Khan Younis. Aid workers in Gaza said they had not yet seen evidence the water was back.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military ordered residents to evacuate 28 communities near the Lebanese border after increasing cross-border fire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The military order affects towns that are within 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) from the border.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a military spokesman, said the evacuation would allow Israeli forces to operate with greater latitude. “Israel is ready to operate on two fronts, and even more,” he said. “If Hezbollah makes the mistake of testing us, the response will be deadly.”

Hezbollah released video showing snipers shooting out cameras on several Israeli Army posts along he border, apparently to prevent Israel from monitoring movements on the Lebanese side.

In the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, the U.S. government began evacuating some 2,500 American citizens by ship to Cyprus. Commercial airlines have largely stopped flying into Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, making it extremely difficult to get out of the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to Israel for a second time in less than a week after a six-country tour through Arab nations aimed at preventing the fighting from igniting a broader conflict. President Joe Biden is also considering a trip to Israel, though no plans have been finalised.

Biden postponed a planned trip to Colorado on Monday to talk about his domestic agenda and instead will hold meetings with top aides on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

In a television interview Sunday night, Biden, who has repeatedly proclaimed support for Israel, said he thought it would be a “big mistake” for the country to reoccupy Gaza.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan, told CNN the country does not want to occupy Gaza but will do “whatever is needed” to obliterate Hamas’ capabilities.

Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of U.S. warships in the region and the call-up of some 360,000 reservists, have positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group. Israel said it has already struck dozens of military targets, including command centers and rocket launchers, and also killed Hamas commanders.

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Morning Digest | Fourth flight with 274 Indians flies out from Israel; India will bid to host 2036 Olympics, PM Modi confirms, and more

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Indian nationals evacuated from war-hit Israel arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport as part of ‘Operation Ajay’, in New Delhi on October 14, 2023.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Fourth flight with 274 Indian nationals flies out from Israel

A special flight carrying 274 Indian nationals wanting to leave Israel amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict left for home on Saturday, the second in a day and fourth since the launch of ‘Operation Ajay’.

The Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv earlier earlier announced that two special flights will operate from Ben Gurion airport on Saturday.

Shadow from fallen Sikkim dam falls on India’s hydroelectric projects in Bhutan

The Chungthang dam of Sikkim Urja Limited’s 1,200 MW Teesta-III hydroelectric project on river Teesta gave way on October 4, contributing to the death of at least 94 people in the downstream areas of Sikkim and West Bengal. The devastation has refreshed worries over two of three India-assisted, under-construction mega hydropower projects in Bhutan — the 1,200 MW Punatsangchhu Stage-I (Puna-I) and the 1,020 MW Punatsangchhu Stage-II (Puna-II). These projects, along with the 660 MW Kholongchu, are estimated to cost ₹21,637.28 crore, funded by India, benefiting States in northern and eastern India.

India will bid to host 2036 Olympics, PM Modi confirms

India aspires to host the 2036 Summer Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed on Saturday. The country is enthusiastic about organising the quadrennial global sports extravaganza and is fully committed to making this dream a reality, he said.

If its bid is successful, India will become only the fourth Asian country to host the Games.

ICC World Cup: IND vs PAK | Rohit Sharma and bowlers make it 8-0 for India in ODI World Cups against Pakistan

Like fireflies dancing on a surreal night, fans held aloft their cellphones, switched on the torchlights and swayed. The surreal moment at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14, summed up the state of the much-anticipated World Cup match between India and Pakistan.

Rohit Sharma’s men were on the ascendant and stayed that way right through with the skipper leading from the front. Chasing Pakistan’s 191, India scored 192 for three in 30.3 overs and registered a seven-wicket victory. The Men in Blue found their batting and bowling arms in sync, and Pakistan capitulated.

Modi government failed to mitigate problems faced by women: Sonia Gandhi

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said that instead of mitigating the problems faced by women, the past nine years had seen a sustained effort by the Modi government to turn women purely into symbols, to be counted and appreciated only in their restricted traditional roles in a patriarchal framework.

Addressing the Women’s Right Conference organised here by DMK MP K. Kanimozhi to commemorate the birth centenary of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Ms. Gandhi said that just as in every other frontier of rights, freedoms, equity, and equality, even among women, all the remarkable gains of the past 70 years had disappeared.

Rajiv Gandhi assassination case | Freed convict Santhan wants to return home

Santhan alias Suthenthiraraja, one of the seven life convicts granted premature release in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has requested the Sri Lankan President to help him return to the island nation and live there with his aged mother. 

MHA data shows nearly half of fresh FCRA registrations under the religious category are for Christian NGOs

Over the past nine years, of the 407 non-government organisations (NGOs) that got the Centre’s nod to receive foreign funds for religious purposes, 194 showed they ran Christian programmes, according to data available with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

However, there are several NGOs that have not listed religion as at least one of their purposes, but are perceived to be working in that space. For instance, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is registered as a social organisation in Maharashtra and a religious one in Delhi.

Skygazers watch ‘Ring of Fire’ eclipse over Western Hemisphere

Skygazers across the Americas turned their faces upwards Saturday for a rare celestial event: an annular solar eclipse. A crowd of people wearing protective eyewear gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, one of many across the western United States watching as the Moon passed between the Sun and Earth at its furthest point from our planet.

Manipur court issues arrest warrant against Meitei Leepun chief Pramot Singh

A court in Manipur has issued a non-bailable warrant for the arrest and production of Meitei Leepun chief Pramot Singh in a case registered against him by the Churachandpur police in June for allegedly promoting enmity between communities and making statements prejudicial to national integration.

LJP factions battle for Hajipur seat in 2024 Lok Sabha polls

The intra-family war of words over the Hajipur (reserved) Lok Sabha seat is getting shriller by the day. Just two days after Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan said that it would be easier to win if his mother Reena Paswan contested from the seat, his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras countered on Saturday, saying that if Mr. Paswan wanted to field his mother from the Hajipur seat, he too would put up someone from his family to contest the Jamui (reserved) parliamentary seat. Mr. Paswan is the MP from Jamui.

Red Fort to host India’s maiden art, architecture and design biennale

Come December, the national capital’s iconic Red Fort will house for a week the replicas of some landmark Indian buildings and structures, including the new Indian Parliament, Tamil Nadu’s Velankanni Railway Station, and Srinagar’s Shalimar Bagh as part of the country’s maiden art, architecture and design biennale.

Will intensify stir if Maratha quota is not announced by Oct 24, says activist Jarange Patil

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Saturday threatened to intensify his agitation after October 24 if the Maharashtra government fails to provide reservation to the community in jobs and education.

Addressing a massive gathering at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, he said that after October 24, it would be either his “funeral procession or the Maratha community’s victory celebration”.

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Will Israel’s Gaza offensive stop Hamas? | Explained

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An Israeli soldier at Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel on October 14, 2023 walks next to bullet holes, in the aftermath of a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The story so far: On October 7, a Jewish Sabbath day, Hamas launched a surprise attack into southern Israel, raiding its military bases and residential areas, killing at least 1,300 people and injuring thousands more. The Hamas attack has triggered a massive military response from Israel, which has been pounding Gaza ever since, using missiles, jets and dangerous munitions, including, what Human Rights Watch says, white phosphorus. Some 1,900 Gazans have been killed in strikes, and Israel has also asked some 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to move towards the south within 24 hours, while it is preparing for a ground attack.

Why did Hamas launch the attack?

One explanation is that Hamas wanted to break the status quo. Over the years, the Israelis had built a security model that allowed them to keep the Palestinians under check while the occupation continued. Israel has a network of extensive checkpoints and barriers in the West Bank. Israel also saw that the Palestine issue was no longer a hindrance to improving ties with other Arab countries. When the UAE signed a normalisation agreement in 2020, Israel gave no concessions to the Palestinians. Similarly, Saudi Arabia and Israel were in advanced stage of talks until last week. So, from an Israeli point of view, the status quo allowed them to treat the Palestinian problem as a security nuisance that can be managed without major consequences. Hamas, on October 7, shattered this model — it not just drilled holes into Israel’s perceived sense of security but also brought Palestine back to the fore of West Asia’s geopolitical cauldron.

What was the status quo before Hamas’s attack?

The contested Palestinian territories include three parts of historical Palestine — the West Bank, East Jerusalem (both were captured by Israel from Jordan in 1967) and Gaza strip (captured in the same year from Egypt). There’s no geographical contiguity between the West Bank (which is on the western bank of the Jordan River) and the Gaza strip, a tiny enclave sandwiched between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea. Since then, the West Bank has been under Israel’s military occupation. In 1980, Israel passed the Jerusalem law, declaring unified Jerusalem as its capital, effectively annexing the eastern half of the city, including the Old City, which hosts the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Wailing Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Since the 1970s, Israel has also encouraged Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which together now have close to 7,00,000 Jewish settlers. Gaza was under Israeli occupation and had Jewish settlers until 2005 when Israel, faced with Hamas’s violent resistance, announced a unilateral disengagement from the enclave.

Watch | What does the Hamas attack mean for Israel, Palestine and West Asia?

Currently, East Jerusalem is under Israel’s total control, though a vast majority of Arabs of the city are not Israeli citizens; the West Bank is under Israel’s direct occupation (the Palestinian Authority, a provisional self-governing body established as part of the 1993 Oslo Agreement, has very limited powers in limited areas of the West Bank) and Gaza is under Israel’s blockade. The Islamist Hamas has been running Gaza since 2007, while the secular Fatah, the backbone of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), has been running the Palestinian Authority since its formation — except for a brief interregnum in 2006 when Hamas swept the parliamentary elections. There is no peace process, no united or organised Palestinian movement and no international push for the two-state solution.

What would be the impact of the attack?

By carrying out the largest attack by a non-state actor in Israel’s history, Hamas has taken a huge risk. It was certain that Israel’s response would be much more forceful this time than its past attacks on Gaza. Hamas’s attack, from a strategic and humanitarian sense, has put the life of millions of Palestinians in further danger. Hamas has also put itself on the line. The Islamist group, which had carried out suicide attacks in the 1990s and early 2000s, had shown signs of moderation in recent years — it came up with a new charter in 2017 that had expunged the anti-Semitic language of its original charter and promised a lasting ceasefire (hudna) with Israel if it withdraws to the 1967 border. But the October 7 attack, in which Israeli civilians were indiscriminately targeted, suggests that Hamas hasn’t evolved much when it comes to using terror as a means. Hamas is now likely to face a long phase of military attacks from Israel.

Is there a risk of wider regional war?

Since 1973, no Arab country has gone to war with Israel. On the contrary, six Arab countries reached normalisation agreements with Israel ever since, even when the occupation continued and deepened. But Israel faces at least three non-state rivals (Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad) and one conventional rival (Iran). Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, both based in Gaza, were part of the Sabbath attack. Hezbollah, the Shia militia-cum-political party of Lebanon, had fired rockets into Lebanon’s contested Shebaa Farms, which are occupied by Israel, showing solidarity with the Palestinians, and Israel has retaliated with strikes on southern Lebanon. Hezbollah says it’s ready to fight Israel when the time comes, but doesn’t show any immediate inclination to join Hamas’s war. Iran, which has close ties with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, has issued a statement saying it supports Palestinian resistance, but is unlikely to join a direct war with Israel, unless it comes under direct attack. So, as of now, the chances for a regional spillover are slim.

What does this attack mean for Netanyahu?

If Hamas took a huge risk and put the Gazans and itself in further jeopardy by carrying out the Sabbath attack, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also doesn’t have easy options. He has promised to crush Hamas. But Hamas, unlike the transnational, pan-Islamist jihadist outfits such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, has deep roots in the Palestinian nationalist cause and is popular among the Palestinians.

Israel’s own past military operations against non-state actors show a complicated history — Israel had won the battles many times, but failed to make long-term strategic gains or peace. It fought Hezbollah for 18 years in southern Lebanon but the Shia militant group today is as powerful as ever. If Israel’s deterrence against Hamas had worked, the Sabbath attack wouldn’t have occurred in the first place. So here, the question before Israel is whether it wants to carry out a short-term operation in Gaza and retreat or reoccupy the enclave of 2.3 million people and bring them under Israel’s direct control. The first option would allow Hamas to regroup in the long term, and the second option could trigger a long urban war of attrition in one of the world’s most densely populated areas. Mr. Netanyahu himself will have to answer questions once the initial shock and hubris settle. The Likud leader’s long-term promise was that only he could ensure Israel’s security. Yet, Israel’s biggest security crisis unfolded on his watch.

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Thousands protest across Middle East over Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

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Tens of thousands of Muslims demonstrated on October 13 across the Middle East in support of the Palestinians and against the intensifying Israeli bombardment of Gaza, underscoring the risk of a wider regional conflict as Israel prepares for a possible ground invasion.

Follow Israel-Hamas war, day 7 LIVE updates here

From the typically sedate streets of downtown Amman in Jordan, to Yemen’s war-scarred capital of Sanaa, crowds of Muslim worshippers poured into the streets after weekly Friday prayers, angered by devastating Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that began after the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel last Saturday.

At the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police were permitting only certain older men, women and children to enter the sprawling hilltop compound for prayers, trying to limit the potential for violence. Only 5,000 worshippers made it into the site, the Islamic endowment that manages the mosque said. On a typical Friday, some 50,000 perform the prayers.

An Associated Press reporter watched police allow just a Palestinian teenage girl and her mother into the compound out of 20 worshippers who tried to get in, some of them even over the age of 50. Young Palestinian men who were refused entry gathered at the steps near Lion’s Gate, eyes downcast, until police shouted at them and shepherded them outside the Old City ramparts altogether.

“We can’t live, we can’t breathe, they are killing everything that is good within us,” said Ahmad Barbour, a 57 year-old cleaner, red-faced and seething after police blocked him from entering for prayers.

“Everything that is forbidden to us is allowed to them,” he added, referring to the Israelis.

The mosque sits in a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, and conflicting claims over it have spilled into violence before. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam and stands in a spot known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism.

Also read | Palestinians rush to buy food, struggle under strikes as Israel readies possible ground operation

Hundreds of young Palestinian worshippers who had been turned away from the Old City threw down small prayer rugs on the street in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz and prayed in the open. When some of the men started shouting, Israeli police charged into the crowd with batons and fired rounds of tear gas at the worshippers, wounding at least six people, said the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Thousands demonstrated in Amman in neighboring Jordan, some crying out: “We are going to Jerusalem as millions of martyrs!”

“What do they want from Palestine? Do they expect them to leave?” asked protester Omar Abu-Sundos. “For what remains of Palestine to leave? They won’t leave.”

In Beirut, thousands of supporters of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group waved Lebanese, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags, chanting slogans in support of Gaza and calling for “death to Israel.” The Iranian-backed militant group in neighboring Lebanon has launched sporadic attacks since the Hamas assault, but largely stayed on the sidelines of the war.

However, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general warned that it would be “on the lookout” for the United States and British naval vessels heading to the Mediterranean Sea. U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, have repeatedly warned Iran and the regional militias Tehran backs to stay out of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“Your battleships do not interest us, nor do your statements frighten us,” Naim Kassim said at a rally in a southern suburb of Beirut. “When the time is right to take action, we will do so.”

In Baghdad, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square — the protest hub of Iraq’s capital — for rallies called by the influential Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr.

“We, as Iraqis, know the pain of having an occupier on our land,” said protester Alaa al-Arabyia, referring to the U.S. occupation of Iraq following its 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. “Palestinian women have husbands, loved ones and sons fighting the occupation. We stand with them in their struggle.”

Across Iran, a supporter of Hamas and Israel’s regional archenemy, demonstrators also streamed into the streets after prayers. In Tehran, they burned Israeli and American flags, chanting: “Death to Israel,” “Death to America,” “Israel will be doomed,” and “Palestine will be the conqueror.”

“The Palestinian people are fed up, now your idea is to destroy Gaza, the houses of the people,” Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi said in a speech in the country’s southern Fars province. “The people of the world and Palestine will cause trouble for you.”

In the Syrian capital of Damascus, protesters — including Palestinians from the Yarmouk refugee camp formed after the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation — also rallied.

“I tell the people not to leave their homes otherwise they will be like our grandparents who left Palestine and came to Syria but never returned,” Ahmad Saeed, a 23-year-old Palestinian living in Syria, said, referring to the 1948 war.

In Yemen’s Sanaa, held by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels still at war with a Saudi-led coalition, demonstrators crowded the streets waving Yemeni and Palestinian flags. The rebels’ slogan long has been: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse of the Jews; victory to Islam.”

“We are ready to participate actively and send hundreds of thousands of mujahedeen … .to defend Palestine, the Palestinian people and the holy sites,” the Houthi government said in a statement Friday.

After Friday prayers, Egyptian demonstrators ringed the historic Al-Azhar Mosque in downtown Cairo, the Sunni Muslim world’s foremost religious institution, chanting that Israel remained their enemy “generation after generation.” They repeated the traditionally nationalistic slogan, “We give our souls and blood to Al-Aqsa.”

In Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, some worshippers trampled on American and Israeli flags.

“International media and international courts turn a blind eye to the injustices with the Palestinians. But they only notice the actions that the Palestinians take to defend themselves,” said Faheem Ahmed, a worshipper in Karachi. “They call it terrorism.”

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Hamas practiced in plain sight, posting video of mock attack weeks before border breach

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Less than a month before Hamas fighters blew through Israel’s high-tech “Iron Wall” and launched an attack that would leave more than 1,200 Israelis dead, they practiced in a very public dress rehearsal.

A slickly produced two-minute propaganda video posted to social media by Hamas on September 12 shows fighters using explosives to blast through a replica of the border gate, sweep in on pickup trucks and then move building by building through a full-scale reconstruction of an Israeli town, firing automatic weapons at human-silhouetted paper targets.

Israel-Hamas war October 13 LIVE updates

The Islamic militant group’s live-fire exercise dubbed operation “Strong Pillar” also had militants in body armour and combat fatigues carrying out operations that included the destruction of mock-ups of the wall’s concrete towers and a communications antenna, just as they would do for real in the deadly attack last Saturday.

While Israel’s highly regarded security and intelligence services were clearly caught flatfooted by Hamas’ ability to breach its Gaza defences, the group appears to have hidden its extensive preparations for the deadly assault in plain sight.

“There clearly were warnings and indications that should have been picked up,” said Bradley Bowman, a former U.S. Army officer who is now senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington research institute. “Or maybe they were picked up, but they didn’t spark necessary preparations to prevent these horrific terrorist acts from happening.”

The Associated Press reviewed and verified key details from dozens of videos Hamas released over the last year, primarily through the social media app Telegram.

This image from video posted to social media by Hamas on Sept. 12, 2023 shows a live-fire exercise dubbed operation “Strong Pillar” outside Al-Mawasi, a Palestinian town on the southern coast of the Gaza Strip.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Using satellite imagery, the AP matched the location of the mocked-up town to a patch of desert outside Al-Mawasi, a Palestinian town on the southern coast of the Gaza Strip. A large sign in Hebrew and Arabic at the gate says “Horesh Yaron,” the name of a controversial Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

Mr. Bowman said there are indications that Hamas intentionally led Israeli officials to believe it was preparing to carry out raids in the West Bank, rather than Gaza. It was also potentially significant that the exercise has been held annually since 2020 in December, but was moved up by nearly four months this year to coincide with the anniversary of Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.

Also Read | Israel orders evacuation of 1.1 million people from northern Gaza, says U.N.

In a separate video posted to Telegram from last year’s Strong Pillar exercise on December 28, Hamas fighters are shown storming what appears to be a mockup Israeli military base, complete with a full-size model of a tank with an Israeli flag flying from its turret. The gunmen move through the cinderblock buildings, seizing other men playing the roles of Israeli soldiers as hostages.

Michael Milshtein, a retired Israeli colonel who previously led the military intelligence department overseeing the Palestinian territories, said he was aware of the Hamas videos, but he was still caught off guard by the ambition and scale of Saturday’s attack.

“We knew about the drones, we knew about booby traps, we knew about cyberattacks and the marine forces … The surprise was the coordination between all those systems,” Mr. Milshtein said.

The seeds of Israel’s failure to anticipate and stop Saturday’s attack go back at least a decade. Faced with recurring attacks from Hamas militants tunnelling under Israel’s border fence, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a very concrete solution — build a bigger wall.

With financial help from U.S. taxpayers, Israel completed the construction of a $1.1 billion project to fortify its existing defences along its 40-mile land border with Gaza in 2021. The new, upgraded barrier includes a “smart fence” up to 6 metres (19.7 feet) high, festooned with cameras that can see in the dark, razor wire and seismic sensors capable of detecting the digging of tunnels more than 200 feet below. Manned guard posts were replaced with concrete towers topped with remote-controlled machine guns.

Also Read | Israel ‘emergency government’ sworn in amid war against Hamas

“In our neighbourhood, we need to protect ourselves from wild beasts,” Mr. Netanyahu said in 2016, referring to Palestinians and neighbouring Arab states. “At the end of the day as I see it, there will be a fence like this one surrounding Israel in its entirety.”

Shortly after dawn on Saturday, Hamas fighters pushed through Mr. Netanyahu’s wall in a matter of minutes. And they did it on the relative cheap, using explosive charges to blow holes in the barrier and then sending in bulldozers to widen the breaches as fighters streamed through on motorcycles and in pick-up trucks. Cameras and communications gear were bombarded by off-the-shelf commercial drones adapted to drop hand grenades and mortar shells — a tactic borrowed directly from the battlefields of Ukraine.

Snipers took out Israel’s sophisticated roboguns by targeting their exposed ammunition boxes, causing them to explode. Militants armed with assault rifles sailed over the Israeli defences slung under paragliders, providing Hamas airborne troops despite lacking airplanes. Increasingly sophisticated homemade rockets, capable of striking Israel’s capital of Tel Aviv, substituted for a lack of heavy artillery.

Satellite images analysed by the AP show the massive extent of the damage done at the heavily fortified Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel. The images taken on Sunday and analysed on Tuesday showed gaping holes in three sections of the border wall, the largest more than 70 metres (230 feet) wide.

Once the wall was breached, Hamas fighters streamed through by the hundreds. A video showed a lone Israeli battle tank rushing to the sight of the attack, only to be attacked and quickly destroyed in a ball of flame. Hamas then disabled radio towers and radar sites, likely impeding the ability of the Israeli commanders to see and understand the extent of the attack.

What are Israel’s options after the Hamas attack? | Analysis

Hamas forces also struck a nearby army base near Zikim, engaging in an intense firefight with Israeli troops before overrunning the post. Videos posted by Hamas show graphic scenes with dozens of dead Israeli soldiers.

They then fanned out across the countryside of Southern Israel, attacking kibbutzim and a music festival. On the bodies of some of the Hamas militants killed during the invasion were detailed maps showing planned zones and routes of attack, according to images posted by Israeli first responders who recovered some of the corpses. Israeli authorities announced on Wednesday they had recovered the bodies of about 1,500 Islamic fighters, though no details were provided about where they were found or how they died.

This image from video posted to social media by Hamas on Sept. 12, 2023 shows a live-fire exercise dubbed operation “Strong Pillar” outside Al-Mawasi, a Palestinian town on the southern coast of the Gaza Strip.

This image from video posted to social media by Hamas on Sept. 12, 2023 shows a live-fire exercise dubbed operation “Strong Pillar” outside Al-Mawasi, a Palestinian town on the southern coast of the Gaza Strip.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Military experts told the AP the attack showed a level of sophistication not previously exhibited by Hamas, likely suggesting they had external help.

“I just was impressed with Hamas’s ability to use basics and fundamentals to be able to penetrate the wall,” said retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Stephen Danner, a combat engineer trained to build and breach defences. “They seemed to be able to find those weak spots and penetrate quickly and then exploit that breach.”

Ali Barakeh, a Beirut-based senior Hamas official, acknowledged that over the years the group had received supplies, financial support, military expertise and training from its allies abroad, including Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. But he insisted the recent operation to breach Israel’s border defences was homegrown, with the exact date and time for the attack known only to a handful of commanders within Hamas.

Details of the operation were kept so tight that some Hamas fighters who took part in the assault on Saturday believed they were heading to just another drill, showing up in street clothes rather than their uniforms, Barakeh said.

Last weekend’s devastating surprise attack has shaken political support for Mr. Netanyahu within Israel, who pushed ahead with spending big to build walls despite some within his own cabinet and military warning that it probably wouldn’t work.

In the days since Hamas struck, senior Israeli officials have largely deflected questions about the wall and the apparent intelligence failure. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, acknowledged the military owes the public an explanation, but said now is not the time.

“First, we fight, then we investigate,” he said.

Also Read | How Hamas’s attack unfolded in Israel’s southern border towns 

In his push to build border walls, Mr. Netanyahu found an enthusiastic partner in then-President Donald Trump, who praised Mr. Netanyahu’s Iron Wall as a potential model for the expanded barrier he planned for the U.S. Southern border with Mexico.

Under Mr. Trump, the U.S. expanded a joint initiative with Israel started under the Obama Administration to develop technologies for detecting underground tunnels along the Gaza border defences. Since 2016, Congress has appropriated $320 million toward the project.

But even with all its high-tech gadgets, the Iron Wall was still largely just a physical barrier that could be breached, said Victor Tricaud, a senior analyst with the London-based consulting firm Control Risks.

“The fence, no matter how many sensors … no matter how deep the underground obstacles go, at the end of the day, it’s effectively a metal fence,” he said. “Explosives, bulldozers can eventually get through it. What was remarkable was Hamas’s capability to keep all the preparations under wraps.”

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Israel-Hamas war | Palestinians rush to buy food, struggle under strikes as Israel readies possible ground operation

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Palestinians lined up outside bakeries and grocery stores in Gaza on Thursday after spending the night surrounded by the ruins of pulverized neighborhoods darkened by a near-total power outage. Israel launched new airstrikes and said it was preparing for a possible ground invasion.

International aid groups warned that the death toll in Gaza could mount after Israel stopped all deliveries of food, water, fuel and electricity and the tiny enclave’s crossing with Egypt closed. The war — which was ignited by a bloody and wide-ranging assault on Israel by Hamas militants — has already claimed at least 2,600 lives on both sides.

Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters Thursday that forces “are preparing for a ground maneuver” should political leaders order one. A ground offensive in Gaza, whose 2.3 million residents are densely packed into a sliver of land only 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.

Follow live updates from the Israel-Hamas war on October 12, 2023

As Israel pounds Gaza, Hamas fighters have fired thousands of rockets into Israel since their weekend assault. Militants in the territory are also holding an estimated 150 people taken hostage from Israel.

Palestinians fleeing airstrikes could be seen running through the streets, carrying their belongings and looking for a safe place. Tens of thousands have crowded into U.N.-run schools while others are staying with relatives or even strangers who let them in.

Lines formed outside bakeries and grocery stores during the few hours they dared open, as people tried to stock on food before shelves are emptied. On Wednesday, Gaza’s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down, leaving only lights powered by scattered private generators.

A senior official with the the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that the lack of electricity could cripple hospitals.

“As Gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stops, and X-rays can’t be taken,” said Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC’s regional director. “Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues.”

Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said nothing would be allowed into Gaza until the captives were released. “Not a single electricity switch will be flipped on, not a single faucet will be turned on, and not a single fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home,” he tweeted.

After Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Saturday and massacred hundreds of people in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush and destroy” the group, which has governed Gaza since 2007.

“Every Hamas member is a dead man,” Netanyahu said in a televised address late Wednesday.

Also Read: What did Hamas achieve from the attack on Israel?

The Israeli government is under intense public pressure to topple the militant group rather than continuing to try to bottle it up in Gaza after four previous conflicts ended with Hamas still firmly in charge of the territory. Israel has mobilized 360,000 reservists, massed additional forces near Gaza and evacuated tens of thousands of residents from nearby communities.

Netanyahu now has the backing of a new war Cabinet that includes a longtime opposition politician.

The U.S. has also pledged unwavering support, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday to meet with Israeli leaders. He plans to meet Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose authority is confined to the occupied West Bank, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in a 1967 war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state, but there have been no peace talks in over a decade.

In Gaza, the Israeli military said overnight strikes targeted Hamas’ elite Nukhba forces, including command centers used by the fighters who attacked Israel on Saturday, and the home of a senior Hamas naval operative that it said was used to store unspecified weapons. Other airstrikes killed commanders from two smaller militant groups, according to media linked to those organizations.

“Right now we are focused on taking out their senior leadership,” Hecht, the military spokesman, said of Hamas. “Not only the military leadership, but also the governmental leadership, all the way up to (top Hamas leader Yehia) Sinwar.”

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said Israeli strikes demolished two multistory houses without warning, killing and wounding “a large number” of people, mainly civilians. Hamas has threatened to kill hostages if Israel strikes Palestinian civilians without warning.

Also Read: Analysis | Why did Hamas launch a surprise attack on Israel?

While Israel has insisted that it is giving notice of its strikes, it is employing a new tactic of leveling whole neighborhoods, rather than just individual buildings. And Israeli military briefings have emphasized the destruction wrought.

Hecht said Israel was not “doing carpet bombing, though some people would like to see that.” He said targeting decisions were based on intelligence and civilians were warned.

Even with the evacuation warnings, Palestinians say some are unable to escape or have nowhere to go, and that entire families have been crushed under rubble.

Other times, strikes come with no notice, survivors say.

“There was no warning or anything,” said Hashem Abu Manea, 58, who lost his 15-year-old daughter, Joanna, when a strike late Tuesday leveled his home in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians were killed in the West Bank on Thursday when Israeli settlers sprayed bullets at a funeral for three people killed in a settler rampage the day before. Footage showed Jewish settlers in their cars swerving into the funeral procession and cutting off the road before stopping and opening fire.

Shock, grief and demands for vengeance against Hamas are running high in Israel since Saturday’s assault. Netanyahu alleged atrocities, including binding boys and girls and shooting them in the head, burning people alive, raping women and beheading soldiers. The prime minister’s allegations could not be independently confirmed.

Armed settlers have rampaged through West Bank villages and hurled stones at passing Palestinian cars, residents say. The Health Ministry says 28 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and two in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem since Saturday.

The U.N. said late Wednesday the number of people displaced by the airstrikes had soared 30% within 24 hours, to 339,000, two-thirds of them crowding into U.N. schools. Others sought shelter in the shrinking number of safe neighborhoods.

The U.N. humanitarian office said Israeli strikes have leveled 1,000 homes since the retaliation began last Saturday, with another 560 housing units severely damaged and rendered uninhabitable. It said an Israeli cutoff has resulted in dire water shortages for over 650,000 people. Sewage systems have been destroyed, sending fetid wastewater into the streets.

Egypt has engaged in intensive talks with Israel and the United States to allow the delivery of aid and fuel through its Rafah crossing point, which is closed after an airstrike hit nearby earlier this week.

But it has pushed back against proposals to establish corridors out of Gaza, saying an an exodus of Palestinians would have grave consequences for their hopes of one day establishing an independent state. Egypt is also likely concerned about a potential influx of hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

The death toll in Gaza rose to more than 1,350 killed, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The Israeli military said more than 1,300 people, including 222 soldiers, have been killed in Israel, a staggering toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria that lasted weeks.

Thousands have been wounded on both sides.

Israel says roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israel, and that hundreds of the dead inside Gaza are Hamas members.

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Israel pounds Gaza neighbourhoods, as people scramble for safety in sealed-off territory

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Israeli warplanes hammered the Gaza Strip neighbourhood by neighbourhood on October 10, reducing buildings to rubble and sending people scrambling to find safety in the tiny, sealed-off territory as Israel vowed a retaliation for Hamas’ surprise weekend attack that would “reverberate… for generations.”

Aid organisations pleaded for the creation of humanitarian corridors to get aid into Gaza, warning that hospitals overwhelmed with wounded were running out of supplies. Israel has stopped entry of food, fuel and medicines into Gaza, and the sole remaining access from Egypt shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit near the border crossing.

Click here to read LIVE Updates

The war began after Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Saturday, bringing gunbattles to its streets for the first time in decades. More than 1,800 lives have already been claimed on both sides, and perhaps hundreds more. Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza hold more than 150 soldiers and civilians hostage, according to Israel.

The conflict is only expected to escalate. Israel expanded the mobilization of reservists to 360,000 on Tuesday, according to the country’s media. After days of fighting, Israel’s military said Tuesday morning that it had regained effective control over areas Hamas attacked in its south, and of the Gaza border.

A looming question is whether Israel will launch a ground offensive into Gaza — a 40 kilometer-long (25 mile-long) strip of land wedged among Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea that is home to 2.3 million people and has been governed by Hamas since 2007.

On Tuesday, a large part of Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood was reduced to rubble after warplanes bombarded it for hours the night before. Residents found buildings torn in half or demolished to mounds of concrete and rebar. Cars were flattened and trees burned out on residential streets transformed into moonscapes.

Palestinian Civil Defense forces pulled Abdullah Musleh out of his basement together with 30 others after their apartment building was flattened.

Also read | 1,500 bodies of Hamas militants found around Gaza strip, says Israel Army

“I sell toys, not missiles,’’ the 46-year-old said, weeping. “I want to leave Gaza. Why do I have to stay here? I lost my home and my job.”

The Israeli military said it struck hundreds of targets in Rimal, an upscale district home to ministries of the Hamas-run government, universities, media organizations and the aid agency offices.

The devastation signaled what appeared to be a new Israeli tactic: warning civilians to leave certain areas and then hitting those areas with unprecedented intensity. On Tuesday afternoon, the military told residents of another nearby neighborhood to evacuate and move into the center of Gaza City.

“There is no safe place in Gaza right now, you see decent people being killed every day,” Hasan Jabar, a Gaza journalist, said after three other Palestinian journalists were killed in the Rimal bombardment. “I am genuinely afraid for my life.”

Tuesday afternoon, Hamas fired barrages of rockets toward the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and Tel Aviv. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The bombardments and Israel’s threats to topple Hamas sharpened questions about the group’s strategy and objectives. But it is unclear what options it has in the face of the ferocity of Israel’s retaliation and the potential of losing much of its government infrastructure.

Hours after Saturday’s incursion began, a senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri said the group had planned for all possibilities, including “all-out war,” and was ready to suffer “severe blows.”

Desperation has grown among Palestinians, many of whom see nothing to lose under unending Israeli control and increasing settlements in the West Bank, the blockade in Gaza and what they see as the world’s apathy.

Al-Arouri’s comments suggested Hamas expected the fight to spread to the West Bank and possibly for Lebanon’s Hezbollah to open a front in the north. But despite some eruptions of violence, neither has happened on a significant scale, especially amid a heavy Israeli lockdown on West Bank Palestinians.

In hopes of blunting the bombardment, Hamas has threatened to kill one Israeli civilian captive any time Israel targets civilians in their homes in Gaza “without prior warning.” Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, warned in response that “this war crime” would not be forgiven.

Israel, in turn, appears determined to crush Hamas no matter the cost.

The militants’ attack stunned Israel with a death toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria — and those deaths happened over a longer period of time. It brought horrific scenes of Hamas militant gunning down civilians in their cars on the road, in streets of towns, and at a music festival attended by thousands in the desert near Gaza, while dragging men, women and children into captivity.

U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about coordination with allies to “defend Israel and innocent people against terrorism,” the White House said.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that more than 1,000 people have been killed in Israel. In Gaza and the West Bank, 830 people have been killed, according to authorities there; Israel says hundreds of Hamas fighters are among them. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.

The bodies of roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were found on Israeli territory, the military said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether those numbers overlapped with deaths previously reported by Palestinian authorities.

In Gaza, more than 187,000 people have fled their homes, the U.N. said, the most since a 2014 air and ground offensive by Israel uprooted about 400,000. The vast majority are sheltering in schools run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Damage to three water and sanitation sites have cut off services to 400,000 people, the U.N. said.

On Monday, Israel announced a “complete siege” on the territory, halting deliveries of food, fuel, water, medicines, electricity and other supplies. That leaves the only access in and out through the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

But that too was shut down Tuesday after Israeli strikes raised palls of smoke nearby and sent families waiting with suitcases for a chance to get out running for cover. A day earlier, the Egyptian Red Crescent managed to get in one shipment of medical supplies.

Egyptian officials were talking with Israel and the U.S., pushing to set up humanitarian corridors in Gaza to deliver aid, an Egyptian official said. There were negotiations with the Israelis to declare the area around the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza as a “no fire zone,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The U.N.’s World Health Organization echoed the call for humanitarian corridors. It said that supplies it had pre-positioned for seven hospitals in Gaza have already run out amid the flood of wounded.

“With the number of casualties currently coming in, these hospitals are now running beyond their capacity,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jazarevic told reporters in Geneva. The head of the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said surgical equipment, antibiotics, fuel and other supplies were running out at two hospitals it runs in Gaza as well.

In a briefing Tuesday, army spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht suggested Palestinians should try to leave through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The prospect of an exodus of Gazans into its territory has alarmed Egyptian officials. After Hecht’s comments, the Egyptian state-owned Al-Qahera news channel, which is close to security agencies, quoted an unnamed security official pushing back. “The occupation government is forcing Palestinians to choose between dying under bombardment or leaving their land,” the official was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile in the West Bank, Palestinians entered a fourth day under severe movement restrictions. Israeli authorities have sealed off crossings to the occupied territory and closed checkpoints, blocking movement between cities and towns. Clashes between rock-throwing Palestinians and Israeli forces in the territory since the start of the incursion have left 15 Palestinians dead, according to the U.N.

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