Israel Hamas war updates: Hamas to free hostages as Israel bombs refugee camp
Foreigners being held hostage by Hamas will be released “in the next few days” as Israel rained bombs on a crowded Palestinian refugee camp, killing over 50 people. Latest updates. Warning: Graphic
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Foreigners being held hostage by Hamas will be released “in the next few days”, a spokesman for the terror group claimed, while vowing to turn Gaza into a “graveyard” for Israel’s military’.
“We have informed intermediaries that we will release a certain number of foreigners in the next few days,” Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a televised address.
About 240 hostages are believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza, after the militant group attacked communities across southern Israel on October 7, triggering a fierce bombing campaign and ground incursion of the territory by the Israeli military.
Five hostages have been released to date, including four after negotiations through a diplomatic backchannel and one following an operation by the Israeli army.
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The announcement came as international warnings increased over the spiralling bloodshed and mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza, on a day in which Israeli troops and Hamas militants engaged in “fierce battles” in the north of the strip.
“Gaza will be a graveyard and a quagmire for the enemy, its soldiers and its political and military leadership,” Obeida said.
Warplanes kept up a relentless barrage of strikes on Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry said that 8,525 people had died so far, including over 3,500 children.
Israel rained bombs on Gaza as huge explosions ripped through a crowded Palestinian refugee camp,with at least 400 killed or injured killing and leaving two giant craters in the densely populated area.
Wails filled the dusty air as volunteers clawed through the concrete blocks and twisted metal in a desperate search for survivors and bodies.
Israel was condemned for the attack in what was called “a heinous Israeli massacre” at the Jabalia camp.
But Israel’s IDF hit back, saying the blast was a “wide-scale strike on terrorists and terror infrastructure”.
The commander of Hamas’s Central Jabaliya Battalion Ibrahim Biari was killed in the strike, the IDF said.
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ISRAEL MILITARY HITS 11,000 TARGETS
The Israeli army its forces had carried out attacks on more than 11,000 militant targets in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of its ongoing war with Hamas.
“Since the beginning of the war, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has struck over 11,000 targets belonging to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip,” a statement from the military said.
Gaza has in recent days seen fierce battles between Israeli ground troops and militants as Israel has pressed its mission to “crush” Hamas after it went on a rampage on October 7 killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including women, children and the elderly.
הפעילות הקרקעית של צה"ל ברצועת ×¢×–×” × ×ž×©×›×ª; מתחילת הלחימה צה"ל תקף יותר מ-11,000 מטרות של ××¨×’×•× ×™ הטרור:
— ×¦×‘× ×”×”×’× ×” לישר×ל (@idfonline) November 1, 2023
כוחות ×ž×©×•×œ×‘×™× ×©×œ צה"ל תקפו במהלך הלילה מטרות טרור רבות ברחבי רצועת ×¢×–×”, ×‘×™× ×™×”×Ÿ מפקדות מבצעיות וחוליות של מחבלי חמ×ס>> pic.twitter.com/pXCLk6N3Td
PAKISTAN, SAUDI ARABIA CONDEMN ISRAEL’S REFUGEE CAMP STRIKE
Pakistan interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kara has condemned Israel’s airstrike on a refugee camp near Gaza City.
“(The) air raid on Jabalia camp, where hundreds of lives were lost, including women and children, was a stark reminder of ongoing Israeli brutalities and war crimes in Gaza,” Mr Kakar said in a statement.
“Such reprehensible acts can never be condoned or forgotten. The world must act now to end this carnage.”
It comes as Saudi Arabia denounced the strike “in the strongest terms possible”.
The attack, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said, had “caused the death and injury of a large number of innocent civilians”.
The statement is the latest sign the Israel-Hamas war has fractured efforts to normalise relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Before the Hamas attacks, the United States had been close to brokering a deal that would have seen Saudi Arabia – home to Islam’s holiest sites – recognise Israel for the first time.
Supporters of the deal believe it could have transformed the Middle East, after decades in which Israel had very limited diplomatic, commercial and security ties with its neighbours.
In October, a source familiar with that process told AFP that Riyadh had decided to “pause discussion on possible normalisation”.
Saudi Arabia had previously warned Israel against any further ground operations in the Gaza Strip.
9 IDF SOLDIERS KILLED IN GAZA GROUND OPERATION
The Israel Defense Force announced on Wednesday afternoon that another nine soldiers were killed during battles with Hamas.
The deaths of the soldiers - aged between 19 and 24 - follows that of another two killed in a separate battle.
The IDF released the names of the soldiers as: Ariel Reich, 24, from Jerusalem; Asif Luger, 21, from Yagur; Adi Danan, 20, from Yavne; Halel Solomon, 20, from Dimona; Erez Mishlovsky, 20, from Oranit; Adi Leon, 20, from Nili; Ido Ovadia, 19, from Tel Aviv; Lior Siminovich, 19, from Herzliya; and Roei Dawi, 20, from Jerusalem.
“In addition, during the fighting in the last day, two fighters from the 77th Battalion, a fighter from the Sabar Battalion and a fighter from the Rotem Battalion were seriously injured. Their families have been informed,” IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
Meanwhile, the Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) said on Wednesday internet and communications were cut off in the Gaza Strip.
“To our good people in the beloved country, we are sorry to announce that communications and internet services have been completely cut off in Gaza,” it said in a statement.
BLINKEN TO RETURN TO ISRAEL
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East this week, as President Joe Biden seeks “urgent mechanisms” to reduce regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.
“Secretary Blinken will travel to Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the Israeli government, and then will make other stops in the region,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
The White House said later Mr Biden had spoken with the leader of key US partner Jordan, where Mr Blinken has visited multiple times since Hamas launched its October 7 attack on Israel.
Mr Biden and King Abdullah II “discussed urgent mechanisms to stem violence, calm rhetoric, and reduce regional tensions,” a White House statement said.
It added that the two leaders “agreed that it is critical to ensure that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced outside of Gaza” and that Mr Biden had “confirmed unwavering US support for Jordan and His Majesty’s leadership.
Days after the surprise attack by Hamas militants, Mr Blinken traveled to Israel as a show of US support.
A marathon session of shuttle diplomacy in the region ensued, with the US diplomat making more than a dozen stops in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and back in Israel.
He accompanied Mr Biden to meetings with Israeli government officials and victims during the US leader’s one-day visit to Tel Aviv on October 18.
The United States is Israel’s biggest supporter, providing it with substantial military aid.
Mr Blinken on Wednesday also spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog to reiterate US support for Israel’s right to defend itself and to call on the nation “to take feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians,” the State Department’s Miller said in a separate statement.
‘TEXTBOOK GENOCIDE’: TOP UN OFFICIAL RESIGNS
The director of the New York office of the UN high commissioner for human rights has resigned in protest of United Nations handling of Israel-Hamas war, calling attacks on Gaza “a textbook case of genocide”.
Craig Mokhiber resigned in a contentious four-page letter the UN high commissioner in Geneva, Volker Turk, saying: “This will be my last communication to you” in his role in New York.
“Once again we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes and the organization we serve appears powerless to stop it. What's more, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe, are wholly complicit in the horrific assault.
‘Not only are these governments refusing to meet their treaty obligations “to ensure respect” for the Geneva Conventions, but they are in fact actively arming the assault, providing economic and intelligence support, and giving political and diplomatic cover for Israel’s atrocities.
‘We must recognize that the US and other western powers are in fact not credible mediators, but rather actual parties to the conflict who are complicit with Israel in the violation of Palestinian rights, and we must engage them as such.”
‘CHILDREN WERE CARRYING OTHER INJURED CHILDREN’
Witnesses and medics have described the horrific scenes after an Israeli strike targeted the densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza which left catastrophic damage and killed a large number of people.
The IDF said “numerous other Hamas terrorists” were hit in the strike, and claimed the Central Jabalya Battalion had taken control of civilian buildings.
However, Hamas has strongly denied the presence of one of its leaders in the refugee camp and accused Israel of attempting to justify what he described as a “heinous crime against safe civilians, children, and women in Jabalya camp.”
Eyewitness Mohammad Al Aswad described a “horrific scene” to CNN in the aftermath of the strike.
“Children were carrying other injured children and running, with grey dust filling the air. Bodies were hanging on the rubble, many of them unrecognized. Some were bleeding and others were burnt,” Mr Al Aswad told CNN by telephone.
“I saw women screaming and confused. They didn’t know whether to cry for losing their children or run and look for them, especially since many children were playing in the neighborhood.”
JORDAN CONDEMNS ISRAEL’S AIRSTRIKE ON A REFUGEE CAMP
Jordan’s foreign ministry has condemned Israel’s airstrike on a refugee camp, saying the attack contradicts human and moral values as well as international humanitarian law.
“Jordan’s Foreign Ministry condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli aggression that targeted the Jabalya camp in the Gaza Strip this evening,”Jordan’s foreign ministry posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Holding Israel, the occupying power responsible for this dangerous development … [The Jordanian Foreign Ministry] affirmed the Kingdom’s strong rejection and condemnation of this act, which contradicts all human and moral values and the rules of international humanitarian law.”
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said it was “horrified” by the “senseless violence”.
“We condemn this latest episode of senseless violence and reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire to prevent more deaths across the Strip. Enough is enough,” they posted to X.
Nurse Mohammed Hawajreh said in a statement: “Young children arrived at the hospital with deep wounds and severe burns. They came without their families. Many were screaming and asking for their parents.”
ALBO SPEAKS WITH ISRAELI PM
Several world leaders have spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu throughout the day as updated them on the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli leader spoke with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, as well as Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Mr Netanyahu also thanked the leaders for their support and said this is a war for the “entire enlightened world”.
DOZENS OF HUMANITARIAN AID TRUCKS CROSSED INTO GAZA
Dozens of trucks carrying humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Tuesday evening it received 59 trucks. By late Tuesday evening, 70 trucks had entered the strip, the spokesperson for Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement.
The shipments include only water, food, and medical equipment. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it has received a total of 217 trucks so far, but fuel desperately needed has not been allowed to enter Gaza yet.
US MAKES ‘REAL PROGRESS’ IN HELPING FOREIGNERS FROM GAZA
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said they have made “real progress” in the last few hours in negotiations to secure a safe passage for Americans and other foreigners who wish to depart Gaza.
There were around 400 American citizens and their family members totalling around 1000 people stuck in Gaza and wanting to get out.
“While I can’t make an announcement today, we do think we’ve made very real progress on this as I said in just the past few hours,” Mr Miller told a news briefing on Tuesday local time.
The United States has been working with Qataris and Egyptians to open the Rafah border crossing into Egypt to allow American citizens inside Gaza to leave after Israel intensified its bombardment of the densely populated coastal enclave.
“We would hope that any agreement to get any individuals out would also unlock the possibility of American citizens or their families and other foreign nationals coming out,” he said.
PALESTINIAN WOMEN FORCED TO GIVE BIRTH WITHOUT ANAESTHESIA
In a statement, ActionAid said it was “very concerned” about a lack of clean water contributing to a rise in sickness and a lack of hygiene, alongside the “serious deterioration in living conditions” across the Palestinian territory.
“The chaos and horror unleashed in Gaza is affecting women in devastating ways,” a gender and advocacy specialist based in Ramallah ActionAid, Soraida Hussein-Sabbah, said.
“Every day we hear of doctors delivering the babies of women who are dying in childbirth. It is catastrophic.”
US TO SEND 300 MORE TROOPS TO MIDDLE EAST
The US will send a further 300 troops to the Middle East to support those already deployed in the region.
However, Pentagon spokesperson Brig Gen Patrick Ryder said while they won’t specify where in the Middle East the additional troops will be, he said they would not go to Israel.
“These additional troops will provide capabilities and explosive ordnance disposal communications and other support enablers for forces already in the region,” Mr Ryder said.
IDF STATEMENT ON REFUGEE CAMP STRIKE
An IDF statement read: “IDF forces under the command of the Givati Brigade took over a Hamas military stronghold in West Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, in-ground operations today.”
They added that “about 50 terrorists were eliminated”.
IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari added: “During this operation many terrorists were killed.
“Terrorists who were with him inside the building as well as under the building in tunnels.
“The targeting of the building he was in led to destruction in other buildings because of this extensive underground infrastructure.
TANKS ‘MOVING IN AND FIRING’
A CNN team on the ground in Israel near the Gaza border said an increased number of Israeli tanks were moving through the northeastern part of the Gaza Strip, and firing.
Tank fire can be heard too.
Sporadic machine gun fire was also heard from the area, indicating close-range combat within the strip, as the IDF continued to fire artillery rounds from outside the border.
Overnight, the Israeli military attacked “hundreds” of Hamas targets, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a briefing.
Hagari also said that “in the north during the night, the warplanes attacked in Lebanon and destroyed the infrastructure of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah.”
“In combined and co-ordinated attacks by the ground and air forces, terrorists were eliminated,” Hagari said.
“The policy is clear: we will attack in any response to any attempted attack and eliminate any cell that tries to penetrate or shoot towards the territory of the state of Israel. IDF forces are at a very, very high level of readiness,” Hagari continued.
300 TARGETS HIT INCLUDING HAMAS TUNNELS
The IDF said 300 targets, including antitank guided missiles, rocket launch positions, tunnel entrances and Hamas military compounds, were hit by ground, air and navy forces.
During ground operations, the Israeli military said its troops clashed with terror cells who fired missiles and heavy machine gun fire at the forces.
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— ×¦×‘× ×”×”×’× ×” לישר×ל (@idfonline) October 31, 2023
The IDF shared images of its troops in the Gaza Strip on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Meanwhile, Israeli army Maj Gen Yaron Finkelman told troops in a recording there can be “no result other than victory.”
“We are launching an attack on Hamas and the terror groups in the Gaza Strip. Our goal is one, victory. No matter how long the fighting will be, how difficult, there is no other result but victory,” he said.
“We will fight in the alleys, we will fight in the tunnels, we will fight where necessary. We will strike the terrible enemy that stands before us.”
מפקד פיקוד ×“×¨×•× ×‘×”×¢×¨×›×ª מצב ברצועת ×¢×–×”: pic.twitter.com/bKAJZtTg7Q
— ×¦×‘× ×”×”×’× ×” לישר×ל (@idfonline) October 31, 2023
Israeli troops pushed deeper into Gaza on Tuesday, driving tanks and armoured bulldozers through the rubble of shattered buildings, scouring for Hamas militants who carried out the worst attack in the country’s history.
WHO HOSPITAL FEARS
Desperate Palestinian families scrabbled through debris searching for survivors and mourned over the bodies of some of the thousands killed, draped in white shrouds.
Israeli soldiers are seeking to free at least 240 hostages, advancing through a bomb-scarred landscape, with buildings reduced to a mangled mess of stone and twisted metal by weeks of withering air and artillery strikes.
AFPTV footage over Gaza showed a huge plume of smoke billowing up from another Israeli strike.
The World Health Organisation said it is extremely concerned by reports of air strikes in the vicinity of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in the last two days.
The hospital, which is located south of Gaza City, is the main cancer centre in the Gaza Strip.
“Services have been severely reduced because of cut-off electricity and restricted entry of medicines, other medical supplies, fuel and water. It is currently sheltering internally displaced people,” the WHO wrote in a post on X.
‘MURDERER’: PROTESTS DISRUPT US AID TALKS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Senate Appropriations Committee testimony was repeatedly disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters calling for an immediate ceasefire, the New York Post reports.
As Blinken was midway through remarks on the Russia-Ukraine war, protesters drowned out the secretary of state’s remarks with chants of “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go.”
“You have blood on your hands, murderer!,” a demonstrator could be heard shouting.
It comes as the US is trying to get 100 trucks a day with humanitarian aid to be able to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
“That is the bare minimum of what’s needed, but we’ve got to do it,” Blinken said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, where he was making the case for billions in supplemental funding, some of which will be used for humanitarian aid.
Prior to the war, 500 to 800 trucks a day with assistance were entering the strip, Blinken said. Now it’s “almost 60.”
UN CHIEF ‘DEEPLY ALARMED’ BY ESCALATION IN CONFLICT
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has released a statement saying he is “deeply alarmed” by the intensification of the conflict in Gaza, adding: “This includes the expansion of ground operations by the Israel Defense Forces accompanied by intense air strikes, and the continued rocket fire towards Israel from Gaza.”
Guterres goes on to reiterate his call for a ceasefire so “unimpeded humanitarian access to be granted consistently”.
“International humanitarian law establishes clear rules that cannot be ignored,” he says. “It is not an a la carte menu and cannot be applied selectively.”
ISRAEL INTERCEPTS REBEL MISSILE FROM RED SEA
The Israeli military said its forces intercepted a missile fired from the Red Sea region, as tensions surged across the Middle East amid Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
“A surface-to-surface missile was fired toward Israeli territory from the area of the Red Sea and was successfully intercepted by the ‘Arrow’ aerial defence system,” the military said in a statement.
The Israeli air force also scrambled jets following the detection of the missile.
“All aerial threats were intercepted outside of Israeli territory. No infiltrations were identified into Israeli territory,” the military said.
The military’s statement came hours after Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels fired drones towards Israel in retaliation for its war against Hamas, a senior official from the group told AFP.
The Huthis, who seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 and control large swathes of the country, are “part of the axis of resistance” against Israel and are fighting with “words and drones”, he added.
NUMBER OF HOSTAGES HELD IN GAZA NOW UP TO 240
The number of hostages believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza has risen to 240, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a press conference.
The IDF completed its first successful hostage extrication since October 7 on Monday, rescuing a female Israeli soldier who was abducted by Hamas.
Pvt. Ori Megidish was “actively rescued” with “boots on the ground” in a joint operation between the IDF and the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), also known as Shin Bet, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CNN.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it was “doing everything to bring all the kidnapped and missing people home.”
Netanyahu’s office issued a brief statement after Hamas released a short video showing three Israeli women believed to be hostages in Gaza.
“Our hearts go out to you and the other abductees. We are doing everything to bring all the kidnapped and missing people home,” the statement said.
The video comes just days after progress in hostage negotiations fell through, a fact referenced by the speaker who mentions a supposed “ceasefire” which Israeli leaders have rejected.
80 AID TRUCKS TO ENTER GAZA
The first 80 aid trucks, carrying medical supplies, water and food, were expected to enter Gaza through the Rafah Crossing on Wednesday, although the UN said at least 100 a day was needed.
Israel has allowed a total of 144 trucks carrying food, water and medicine into Gaza since it began allowing aid to enter on October 17, including over 50 trucks on Sunday and Monday alone, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Surgeons in Gaza are conducting amputations and other operations on hospital floors without anaesthetic, and children are forced to drink salty water, said Jean-Francois Corty, vice-president of Medecins Sans Frontieres, which has 20 staff on the ground.
UN officials say at least 100 trucks worth of aid are needed a day for the enclave, which received from 500 trucks daily before Israel imposed a siege on October 7 in response to the Hamas terror group launching a brutal attack on Israeli communities.
YEMEN REBELS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR DRONE ATTACK
The southern city of Eilat was on alert over a possible drone attack, after a projectile shot toward the city was launched from Yemen.
A spokesperson for the Iran-backed Houthi militia says it will deliver an “important statement” in the coming hours, widely expected to address the suspected launches toward Israel.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels fired drones towards Israel in retaliation for its war against Hamas, a senior official from the group said.
“These drones belong to the state of Yemen,” Abdelaziz bin Habtour, prime minister of the Huthi government, said.
The Huthis, who seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 and control large swathes of the country, are “part of the axis of resistance” against Israel and are fighting with “words and drones”, he added.
IMPENDING ‘CATASTROPHE’ WARN AID AGENCIES
Multiple aid and humanitarian organisations are expressing concern about an impending “catastrophe” inside Gaza due to the lack of clean water and food and the rising death toll of civilians.
The Save the Children Foundation has said about 3500 Palestinian children have been killed in just three weeks.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UN Security Council it is important to protect all civilian lives.
“A civilian, is a civilian, is a civilian,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.
Ms Thomas-Greenfield also acknowledged more than 60 staff have been killed from The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which helps Palestinians.
She also expressed the US’s deep concern for the uptick in violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
– with AFP
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