Israel-Hamas war updates: Israel’s warning to Hamas’ Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar; Scott Morrison arrives in Israel for visit
Israel has issued a stark message to Hamas fighters as troops fight street battles with militants, while a former Australian PM has arrived to visit the war-torn country. Warning: Graphic
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Israel will “find and eliminate” Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said as Israeli forces fought street battles with Hamas militants inside the Palestinian territory.
“We will find Sinwar and will eliminate him,” Mr Gallant told a news conference.
Soon after the war between Israel and Hamas erupted, Israel said that Sinwar was a “dead man walking,” and that he and the leader of the group’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif, were the army’s top targets in the conflict.
Security sources outside Gaza say Sinwar and Deif are now holed up in a network of tunnels built to resist the ferocious bombardment Israel launched in response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas which killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
It came as the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres issued a statement, saying that “nowhere is safe” in Gaza as he repeated his calls for a ceasefire.
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SCOTT MORRISON ARRIVES IN ISRAEL
Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has arrived in Israel with his former British counterpart Boris Johnson for what has been described as a solidarity visit.
Mr Morrison is the first Australian politician to visit Israel since the Hamas attacks on October 7.
It is understood he and Mr Johnson plan to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and families of those held hostage in Gaza, as well as Israel Defence Force (IDF) soldiers.
They are also scheduled to tour an IDF situation room and plan to visit villages in Israel’s south where Hamas attacked and killed more than 1400 people, and abducted at least 240 women, children and elderly people.
Mr Morrison was one of six Australian prime ministers who last week signed a letter condemning the actions of Hamas and the creepings of anti-semitism in Australia. During his time as prime minister, in 2018 his government officially recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital - a move the Albanese government reversed in the months after winning the 2022 election.
And while world leaders have been visiting Israel in recent weeks, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed he would not be making the trip. In recent weeks he has met with US president Joe Biden in Washington and is currently in Beijing, China, for meetings with president Xi Jinping and premier Li Qiang.
ANXIOUS WAIT FOR 67 AUSTRALIANS
Australians stuck in Gaza are anxiously waiting for their chance to cross into Egypt amid hopes there could be further evacuations over the coming days.
Last week, 25 Australian citizens and their family members escaped the besieged territory after being allowed through the Rafah crossing.
But there has been no further movements, Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Tim Watts confirmed on Sunday.
“We are pressing very hard because we know how dire the situation is in Gaza. Its is a very serious humanitarian situation there,” he said.
“It really is a very serious humanitarian situation there … that’s also why we’ve been calling for a humanitarian pause to enable that desperately needed humanitarian support to get to the people that need it, safely.”
‘OVER 30 KILLED IN GAZA CAMP ATTACK’
More than 30 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a camp in central Gaza late on Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry said, amid ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas militants.
“More than 30 martyrs arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the massacre committed by the occupation in Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip,” health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a statement.
An eyewitness told AFP that multiple houses had been impacted by an air strike.
Hamas said in a statement posted on Telegram that Israel had “directly” bombed citizens’ homes, adding that most of the dead were women and children.
PROTESTERS GATHER IN WASHINGTON DC
Thousands of protesters have gathered in Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza in a show of solidarity with Palestinians, demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The demonstration appeared to be one of the largest expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people to date, The Washington Post reports.
“Free, free Palestine,” and “End the siege on Gaza now,” the protesters shouted. Other slogans targeted the US President: “Biden, Biden you can’t hide, you signed off on genocide” and “We say no, Genocide Joe.”
BLINKEN PUSHES FOR FIGHTING ‘PAUSES’
Israel is battling into the fifth week of its war to crush Hamas, showing no signs of letting up even as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced a rising tide of anger in meetings with Arab foreign ministers.
Mr Blinken reaffirmed US support for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting in Gaza to ensure desperate civilians get help a day after Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the idea short shrift.
Speaking at a news conference in Amman about sparing civilians and speeding up aid deliveries, Blinken said: “The United States believes that all of these efforts will be facilitated by humanitarian pauses.” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, whose country has been acting as the sole conduit for foreigners to escape the Gaza Strip and for aid to get in, called for an “immediate and comprehensive ceasefire”.
ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES AGAINST HEZBOLLAH
Footage on social media has shown Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, after repeated rocket and missile fire on northern Israel.
🚨 الغارة الإسرائيلية بين عيتا ورميش pic.twitter.com/9j70cel77G
— bintjbeil.org (@bintjbeilnews) November 4, 2023
FOREIGN NATIONALS EXPECTED TO LEAVE GAZA
A total of 30 foreign nationals are expected to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing Saturday, according to an official source on the Egyptian side of Rafah, CNN reports.
MORE STRIKES FROM ISRAEL
These photos show the impact of the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 4 amid the ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas.
AUSSIE FAMILY RETURNS FROM GAZA
An Adelaide family has been reunited with loved ones after managing to escape war-torn Gaza.
The family of four, who asked not to be identified for fears over their safety, arrived back at Adelaide Airport on Saturday night.
There they were met by more than 20 family members and friends, sharing warm embraces and plenty of tears, as relief washed over them following their three-week ordeal.
“I’m very tired and very exhausted,” said the Adelaide man in a brief statement at the international arrivals gate.
“It’s been a very intricate pursuit and we’re extremely thankful it worked out eventually.”
ISRAEL LAUNCHES SOUTHERN GAZA OP
Israeli ground forces have encircled Gaza’s largest city, trying to rout Hamas in retaliation for October 7 raids that killed an estimated 1,400 people inside Israel, most of them civilians.
The US wants a pause in fighting to allow civilians to move to Egypt and the flow of more aid into Gaza.
The Israeli army said its troops had launched an operation in southern Gaza overnight, after deadly strikes hit an ambulance convoy and a school-turned-refugee shelter in the besieged Palestinian territory.
12 KILLED AT UN SCHOOL
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 12 people were killed Saturday when Israel struck a United Nations school where thousands of displaced Palestinians were sheltering.
The ministry reported in a statement “12 martyrs and upwards of 54 wounded so far as a result of targeting Al-Fakhura school, which is sheltering thousands of displaced people in Jabalia (refugee) camp in the northern Gaza Strip”.
ISRAEL WON’T CALL A TRUCE AS HEZBOLLAH LEADER SPEAKS
Netanyahu has rejected international calls for a pause in fighting in Gaza, as Hezbollah’s leader praised Hamas’ October 7 terror attack as a “glorious jihadi operation”.
In his first comments since Hamas’ terrorist attacks, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said he was “proud” of all those who died while attacking Israel but denied his group was involved.
He added the Lebanese terror group is ready for an escalation of conflict.
“This glorious, blessed large scale operation was one hundred per cent Palestinian in terms of decision and execution,” he said. “The Palestinians had kept it secret.”
With Hezbollah already involved in border skirmishes with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), Nasrallah labelled the US as an “aggressor” saying it would “pay the price” for its involvement in the region and added his terror group was “ready for all possibilities”.
Those comments came as Netanyahu said his government opposed any temporary ceasefire in Gaza unless Hamas freed all hostages.
ISRAEL BOMBED AMBULANCE TO STOP HAMAS
Israel has also claimed responsibility for bombing an ambulance outside the Al-Shifa Hospital, which killed 15 people and wounded more than 60 others. It said it was used by a “Hamas terrorist cell” and the attack had “neutralised” those inside.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said in a statement one of its ambulances had been struck “by a missile fired by the Israeli forces”, about two metres from the entrance to the hospital in Gaza City.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack, adding the conflict “must stop”.
World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “utterly shocked” by the strike.
“We reiterate: patients, health workers, facilities and ambulances must be protected at all times. Always”, he said.
A senior White House official said Hamas had also tried to use a US-brokered deal on opening the Egyptian border crossing to get its cadres out.
Hamas provided a list of wounded Palestinians for evacuation with one-third of the names those of Hamas members and fighters.
PALESTINIANS GATHER IN WEST BANK AFTER MEN KILLED
Palestinians gather during the funeral of several men killed during an overnight raid by the Israeli army into the Jenin refugee camp, near the city of Jenin, in the northern Israeli occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in raids across the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, as violence surges in the occupied territory in tandem with the Gaza war.
DEATH TOLL RISES
More than 23,500 people have been wounded across Gaza in four weeks of war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Some 16 hospitals across Gaza are no longer functioning because of damage from strikes and the lack of fuel, according to the Hamas authorities that rule Gaza.
HAMAS BATTLEPLANS, WEAPONS, SMUGGLED OXYGEN SEIZED
The IDF has also uncovered Hamas battleplans, communication devices and personal details of Hamas terrorists in a raid on the group’s Jabaliya stronghold.
Two senior Israeli officials added oxygen concentrators were smuggled in boxes of cookies in aid destined for Gaza through the border with Egypt. They would have been used to aerate the terror organisation’s tunnel network.
“These weren’t for use in the hospitals, but below them. That’s why they were smuggled among boxes of cookies,” an official said.
ISRAELIS TOLD TO HIDE IDENTITY
Israel’s National Security Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cautioned “all citizens of Israel to exercise heightened caution when travelling anywhere abroad”.
“I can’t believe I had to announce this”, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said, adding, “We know that Jewish communities and their institutions, Israeli diplomatic missions and airports handling flights to and from Israel are key targets for violent antisemites.
“Rethink if foreign travel is really necessary. If you have to go, avoid displaying outward signs of your Israeli or Jewish identity.
“Citizens planning to travel to countries with specific travel warnings are asked to postpone their visits and we emphasise Arab and Middle Eastern states, the Northern Caucuses and countries bordering Iran.”
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Originally published as Israel-Hamas war updates: Israel’s warning to Hamas’ Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar; Scott Morrison arrives in Israel for visit
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