Israel declares ‘next phase of war starts today’
Israel has announced it will immediately send in its troops to Gaza and step up its strikes over the terror attacks carried out by Hamas.
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Israel has confirmed it will send troops into Gaza and step up its strikes “today”, two weeks after the deadly terror attacks.
Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, killing 1400 people and abducting around 200 hostages.
In response, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a massive bombing campaign, levelling entire city blocks in Gaza in preparation for a ground invasion of the tiny strip of land which is home to 2.4 million Palestinians.
Read on for the latest news.
Israel declares ‘next phase of war’
Israel is to immediately step up its strikes in Gaza to increase pressure on Hamas, a military spokesman told a press conference on Saturday.
Israel has also massed tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks along the Gaza border for a widely anticipated ground invasion.
“We have to enter the next phase of the war in the best conditions, not according to what anyone tells us. From today, we are increasing the strikes and minimising the danger,” military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari told a press conference.
His comments came hours after the first international aid to reach Gaza since October 7 crossed the border from Egypt into the besieged Palestinian territory.
In Israel, military commanders visited frontline units on Saturday. “Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there -- but we are also preparing for them,” chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told one infantry brigade on a visit.
‘End this godawful nightmare’
Israel’s military campaign against Hamas has levelled entire city blocks in Gaza, killing more than 4,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
As international tensions soar, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was hosting a peace summit in Cairo on Saturday attended by regional and some Western leaders.
“The time has come for action to end this godawful nightmare,” Guterres told the summit, calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire”.
The region “is reeling in pain and one step from the precipice”, he added. Egypt, historically a key mediator between Hamas and Israel, has urged “restraint” and called to restart long-frozen peace talks.
But diplomatic efforts to end the violence have made little headway, with Israel and its enemy Iran, a supporter of Hamas and other armed groups, among those absent from the Cairo talks.
First humanitarian aid trucks enter Gaza
The Rafah Crossing briefly opened between Egypt and Gaza to allow much-needed aid to be transported into the Gaza Strip, according to reports.
The first trucks began arriving from Egypt shortly before 11am local time on Saturday.
Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, said a relief aid convoy of 20 trucks would enter the city carrying medicine, medical supplies and a limited amount of food and canned goods.
Local Egyptian television programs showed footage of aid trucks entering Gaza through the Rafa crossing, according to Reuters.
The Rafa crossing was briefly opened, allowing the passage of the convoy of trucks. It closed shortly after they passed into Gaza.
The aid trucks have been stuck in Egypt for days waiting to be able to enter the embattled region.
They are the first humanitarian aid trucks to help citizens in Gaza since the conflict erupted two weeks ago.
Hamas’ media office said earlier on Saturday that there were 20 trucks with essential supplies due to arrive.
“The relief aid convoy that is supposed to enter today includes 20 trucks that carry medicine, medical supplies, and a limited amount of food supplies,” Hamas reportedly said.
However, the Hamas media office added that the truckloads of aid “will not change the catastrophic medical conditions in Gaza”.
Reports: Another 13 people killed from Israeli air strike
Hamas are claiming that 13 more Palestinians have been killed in an air strike at a residential unit in the city of Deir al-Balah.
Reuters made the report based off Hamas media.
This has not been independently verified.
Gaza hospitals ‘on brink of collapse’
Just two weeks into the Israel-Palestine conflict, hospitals in Gaza are reportedly already overflowing and way over capacity.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that the region’s embattled hospitals “are on the brink of collapse”.
According to the UN body, hospitals are 150 per cent capacity, causing the injured to have to lie in floors and corridors.
On top of that, 60 per cent of Gaza’s primary healthcare facilities have shut down.
“Only eight (out of 22) of UNRWA health centres in Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah governorates are providing primary health care services to critical outpatients and patients in need of treatment for non-communicable diseases,” the UN statement read.
The situation is made more desperate as hospitals are facing shortages in power, medicine and equipment.
Biden backflips on Gaza comment
The White House has had to make an embarrassing backflip because US President Joe Biden misheard a question directed at him.
On Friday night local time, reporters asked President Joe Biden questions about the Israel-Palestine conflict at US as he boarded Air Force One, according to Reuters.
With the loud plane engines roaring, White House officials have now claimed he didn’t correctly hear a question.
One reported asked President Biden if Israel should delay an invasion of Gaza until more hostages can get out.
Biden replied with “Yes.”
However, the White House was adamant this was not the stance of the US — so much so that they issued a statement clarifying the incident.
A few hours later the White House’s press team backtracked this, blaming it on the fact President Biden did not properly hear the question.
“The president was far away. He didn’t hear the full question,” White House communications director Ben LaBolt said.
They claimed the questions sounded more like “Would you like to see more hostages released?”
“He wasn’t commenting on anything else,” Mr LaBolt added.
Humanitarian aid should arrive ‘next 24-48 hours’
About 1.4 million people have been displaced in Gaza, and more than 544,000 are sheltering in 147 UN-designated emergency shelters that are in “increasingly dire conditions,” according to a statement by the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
More than 60% of Gaza’s population of about 2 million people are now displaced.
Trucks carrying humanitarian relief are still stuck on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing into Gaza.
US President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday that the trucks should enter Gaza “within the next 24-48 hours”.
Palestinian protesters scream at CNN reporter
CNN reporter Sara Sidner has been accosted by furious Palestinian protesters while reporting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, as tensions continue to rise in the region.
During the tense confrontation, one male protester got right in Sidner’s face, called her and her network “genocide supporters,” and screamed “F--- CNN!” before Sidner was pulled away from the scene by her security team.
The scene was captured on a Friday “CNN This Morning” broadcast, with the camera crew following Sidner as she toured Ramallah reporting on Palestinians raging against Israel’s war with Gaza, launched after the Hamas terrorist group raided the Israeli border, murdered civilians and took hostages.
Wearing a helmet and safety vest, Sidner spoke into the camera about protesters and the Arab world at large showing “solidarity” against Israel that was “called for by Hamas.”
As she continued reporting, a man wearing a scarf and green sweatshirt jumped in between Sidner and her producers, approached the reporter and began screaming, “You are genocide supporters! You are not welcome here! Genocide supporters!”
Sidner remained calm and kept her voice low as the man put his face close to hers and continued yelling.
Pointing a finger close to her face and pushing into her, the Palestinian demonstrator exclaimed, “F--- CNN! F--- CNN! F--- CNN! Genocide supporters!”
After a few more seconds of the man yelling at Sidner, and other bystanders attempting to block her camera crew, Sidner’s team pulled her away from the man and the growing mob.
-with Fox News
Biden links Hamas attack to Saudi deal
US President Joe Biden has linked the deadly Hamas attacks to a pending deal between Israel, US and Saudi Arabia at a fundraiser, The Times of Israel reports.
“One of the reasons Hamas moved on Israel … they knew that I was about to sit down with the Saudis,” he said.
“Guess what the Saudis wanted to recognise Israel,” he said, offering details on US efforts to broker a normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia that appear to have been put on hold following the October 7 Hamas onslaught.
Saudi Arabia has been very critical of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza over the past two weeks and US officials have acknowledged that the normalisation effort is no longer their immediate focus, as they work to support Israel against Hamas.
Biden officials have suggested that scuttling the normalisation effort may have been a motivation of Hamas but the president’s remarks appear the furthest anyone in his administration has gone to suggest a direct correlation.
Hollywood actors pen letter to Biden
A-list Hollywood celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Joaquin Phoenix, Ramy Youssef and Andrew Garfield have penned a letter to US President Joe Biden urging him to call for a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas.
Dozens of top-flight names from the world of entertainment asked Biden to work to achieve an “immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel before another life is lost”.
“We urge your administration, and all world leaders, to honour all of the lives in the Holy Land and call for and facilitate a ceasefire without delay – an end to the bombing of Gaza, and the safe release of hostages,” said the letter, released by artists4ceasefire.org.
“Saving lives is a moral imperative.”
Friday’s letter, which was also signed by Jon Stewart, singer Dua Lipa, Susan Sarandon and Channing Tatum, comes a week after hundreds of Hollywood figures signed an open letter condemning the “barbaric acts” committed by Hamas fighters.
New details on church attack
Former US politician Justin Amash has written on X that several of his relatives were killed when a Greek Orthodox Church in the Gaza Strip was hit overnight by an Israeli air strike.
“Our family is hurting badly,” Amash wrote on X.
“May God watch over all Christians in Gaza – and all Israelis and Palestinians who are suffering, whatever their religion or creed.”
He confirmed that several of his relatives were killed at Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church where they had been sheltering when part of the complex was destroyed.
Palestinian officials said at least 500 Muslims and Christians had taken shelter from Israeli bombardments at the church, and the Hamas-run government’s health ministry said 16 were killed.
I was really worried about this. 😔 With great sadness, I have now confirmed that several of my relatives (including Viola and Yara pictured here) were killed at Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza, where they had been sheltering, when part of the complex was destroyed as… pic.twitter.com/w5k1xEeTgF
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 20, 2023
The Israeli military said part of the church was damaged in a strike on a nearby militant command centre, and that it was reviewing the incident.
Hamas released footage of the hostages
The American hostages who were released from Hamas were seen being freed in newly released footage.
Video circulating on X shows Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie being filmed up close before they walk over to a first aid vehicle flanked by several men.
In the clip, members of Hamas – whose bodies and faces are blurred – are seen taking the mother and daughter out of a car. The video then shows the pair before Hamas hands them over to the Red Cross.
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 20, 2023
Hamas posts first video of them releasing hostages.
18-year-old Natalie Raanan from Chicago and her mother Judith are now in safety and are being taken care of by the Israeli Army. pic.twitter.com/cmLI8Xi6Ir
Biden requests $106bn for Ukraine, Israel, border
US President Joe Biden requested urgent military aid for Ukraine and Israel in a massive $106 billion ($AU167bn) security package, but he faces a tough battle to get it through US Congress.
Biden’s demand came a day after he drew a direct link between the Hamas attack on Israel and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to convince Americans that the United States must show global leadership.
The 80-year-old Democrat argued in an impassioned Oval Office speech that the huge sums involved – a total of $105.85 billion ($AU164bn), including $61 billion ($AU93bn) in military aid for Ukraine and $14 billion ($AU22bn) for Israel – would secure US interests for generations.
But Biden’s request comes as the US House of Representatives remains in chaos, with Republicans, who hold a narrow majority, in their worst meltdown in decades and unable to elect a speaker for the past 17 days.
The package also includes $7 billion ($AU11bn) for countering China and strengthening allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and over $9 billion for humanitarian assistance for Gaza, Ukraine and Israel.
Most importantly, however, the huge funding ask is an attempt to bolster waning support for Ukraine by linking it with funding for Israel – which does have widespread bipartisan backing.
Freed hostages ‘doing good’
A man whose daughter and granddaughter were abducted by Hamas in southern Israel says he has spoken to his daughter since her release and that he believes she will be home soon, AP reports.
“She’s doing good. She’s doing very good,” Uri Raanan, who is based in the Chicago suburb of Bannockburn, said. “I’m in tears, and I feel very, very good.”
The 71-year-old said he saw on the news that Hamas was releasing an American mother and daughter, and he spent the day hoping they meant his daughter, Judith Raanan, and his granddaughter, 17-year-old Natalie, who live in Evanston.
More hostages could be released
Hamas has issued a statement saying they are working with mediators in Egypt, Qatar and other “friendly countries”
“This commitment remains resolute as we endeavour to enact our decision to release individuals of foreign nationalities under temporary custody, when security circumstances permit,” the statement added.
Gaza hospital told to evacuate
A hospital in Gaza says they have been contacted by the Israeli army demanding the immediate evacuation of the hospital in preparation for a night-time air strike, CNN reports.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also issued an urgent appeal saying it has “received a threat from the occupying authorities to bombard Al-Quds Hospital and has demanded the hospital’s immediate evacuation.”
This is AL-Quds #Hospital that is facing threats of bombardment and demands for the evacuation of 12,000 citizens who sought refuge in this place for safety.#NotATarget#Gaza_under_attack_nowpic.twitter.com/jCbV9dVObP
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) October 20, 2023
Al-Quds Hospital currently houses over 400 patients and approximately 12,000 displaced civilians who have sought refuge there as a safe haven, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The Israel Defense Forces said it requested residents in the northern area of the Gaza Strip to evacuate “in order to mitigate civilian harm.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society urged the international community to take immediate action to prevent a potential humanitarian catastrophe similar to the tragic incident at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, which was bombed Tuesday.
In a statement Friday, Gaza’s Head of the Government Media Office Salamah Marouf said “medical teams have made their decision not to respond to the occupation’s threat and not to comply with evacuation warnings. They prioritise their humanitarian role and professional duties, remaining in their positions and continuing to provide services to patients and the wounded, as well as assisting the displaced”.
Israel unveils 3 stage plan
Israel’s Ministry of Defence unveiled its three-phase plan to create a new “security “regime” in the Gaza Strip, announcing the first phase had begun.
“We are in the first phase, in which a military campaign is taking place with [air strikes] and later with a [ground] manoeuvre with the purpose of destroying operatives and damaging infrastructure in order to defeat and destroy Hamas,” said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
October 7th was the day the music died.
— Israel ישר×ל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) October 20, 2023
Omer was kidnapped and is currently being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas terrorists.
His family asked that we share this video and help bring him home.
Please RT. pic.twitter.com/s4upAPKmzM
The aerial bombardment and coming ground incursion of the first phase are expected to destroy the ability of Hamas to both operate its terrorist activities and govern the civil institutions in Gaza.
Speaking at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Tel Aviv, Gallant added that by the end of the war, Israel’s responsibility for the Gaza Strip will cease.
The second phase of the war will enter “lower intensity” fighting as Israeli troops “eliminate pockets of resistance”.
“The third step will be the creation of a new security regime in the Gaza Strip, the removal of Israel’s responsibility for day-to-day life in the Gaza Strip, and the creation of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel and the residents of the [area surrounding Gaza],” he said.
“We will topple the Hamas organisation. We will destroy its military and governing infrastructure. It’s a phase that will not be easy. It will have a price,” he said, adding the war would be long and drawn out. “It’s not a day, it’s not a week, and unfortunately it’s not a month,” he said.
Several dead in strike at Gaza church: Hamas
An Israeli air strike on a Hamas command centre has damaged a church and left a number of people dead.
The Hamas-controlled interior ministry said several displaced people sheltering at a church compound in Gaza were killed and injured after an Israeli strike late Thursday.
The strike left a “large number of martyrs and injured” at the compound of the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City, the ministry said.
Images from this morning show that the Porphyrius Church is still standing. A wall of the building next to the church sustained some damage when the IDF targeted the Hamas site. pic.twitter.com/HRqPFUEaxj
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) October 20, 2023
Witnesses told AFP the strike appeared to have been aimed at a target close to the place of worship where many Gaza residents had taken refuge as the war raged in the Palestinian enclave.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said its fighter jets had hit a command and control centre involved in launching rockets and mortars toward Israel.
“As a result of the IDF strike, a wall of a church in the area was damaged,” it said, adding “we are aware of reports on casualties. The incident is under review”.
Witnesses said the strike damaged the facade of the church and caused an adjacent building to collapse, adding that many injured people were evacuated to hospital.
Saint Porphyrius is the oldest church still in use in Gaza and is located in the city’s historic neighbourhood.
The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressed its “strongest condemnation” of the strike at its church compound.
“Targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli air strikes on residential areas over the past 13 days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored,” the Patriarchate said in a statement.
The church is not far from the Al-Ahli Arab hospital, which was hit by a deadly air strike on Tuesday.
Photo of US hostages released
A handout photo provided by the Israeli government shows two American hostages Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan, following their release on Friday.
In the photo the women are seen holding hands with Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, Israel’s co-ordinator for the captives and missing.
Judith and her daughter were released due to Judith’s declining health, the Times of Israel reported.
“In response to Qatari efforts, Al-Qassam Brigades released two American citizens (a mother and her daughter) for humanitarian reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless,” Hamas said in a statement.
The two victims were transferred from Gaza to the Israeli border by the Red Cross.
US President Joe Biden said he was “overjoyed” to hear the news and had spoken on the phone to the two women after they were freed and promised they would have the government’s support “as they recover from this terrible ordeal”.
No sign hospital blast was ‘Israeli strike’
France’s military intelligence agency said on Friday that there was no evidence that an Israeli strike had caused the explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of people.
“The most probable hypothesis is that a Palestinian rocket exploded with a charge of about five kilos,” on Tuesday, the Directorate of Military Intelligence said, adding there was “nothing to indicate … an Israeli strike”.
The DRM decided to make its analysis public at the request of the French presidency in the interests of transparency, it said.
The DRM said it identified a hole at the blast site, not a crater, about one metre (three foot) by 75 centimetres, and 30-40 centimetres deep.
“It takes about five kilograms of explosives to produce this effect, certainly less than 10 kilograms,” he said.
The statement said an Israeli bomb or missile was unlikely to be behind such an impact because the minimum charge of such weaponry is much higher.
A charge of five kilograms would be consistent with rockets acquired or manufactured by Palestinian groups.
Since Tuesday, the Palestinians and Israelis have blamed each other for the hospital incident.
Macron says France messaged Hezbollah
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday says France had been in direct contact with Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah to avoid a flare-up on Lebanon’s southern border after the attack by Hamas on Israel.
“We sent messages to Hezbollah very directly through our ambassador and our services,” Macron told a group of reporters, adding that despite rocket fire on the border there has been “no escalation” but “we remain very cautious”.
US welcomes release of hostages
The US has welcomed the release of two Americans held hostage by Hamas and “shares in the relief that their families, friends and loved ones are feeling,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
“But there are still 10 additional Americans who remain unaccounted for in this conflict, Blinken continued.
He added that they are among an estimated 200 others from various countries being held in Gaza, including men, women, elderly people and children.
“Every single one of them should be released.
”The urgent work to free every single American, to free all other hostages, continues.”
The top US diplomat said that during his recent travel to Israel, he met with loved ones of US citizens captured by Hamas.
US President Joe Biden also “had the opportunity to hear directly from the families,” he said.
“What I shared with the families, as the president did as well, is that the entire United States government will work every minute of every day to secure their release, to bring their loved ones home,” he said.
“They have my solemn pledge – those who continue to have loved ones held hostage by Hamas – that we’ll continue to do that.”
‘Fed up’ at lack of support for Palestine
Australia’s largest mosque cancelled its traditional prayers on Friday and chose instead to hold prayers in the park for Palestine.
Hundreds gathered at Parry Park in Lakemba with fury not just for Israel but also directed at the Australian government.
Lebanese Muslim Association President Hafez Alameddine told 9News: “As long as they condemn some of what is happening in Palestine and Israel we are fine but nobody is saying anything and we are fed up.”
The comments come as more than a dozen public protests are planned to be held in Sydney over the next seven days.
A pro-Palestine march through the streets of Sydney today is expected to attract over 5000 attendees.
“We aware of at this stage up to 17 protest events not just in the city, not just in the CBD but other parts of the Sydney metropolitan area and outer areas,” NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told reporters on Friday.
“So it is a dynamic situation and we will be dealing with those matters (as they) become known to us.”
Frydenberg labels protesters ‘national disgrace’
Former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has condemned anti-Semitic protests on the Sydney Opera House steps as an “abomination”, in his first comments since the Hamas terror attack on southern Israel.
The prominent member of the Jewish community made the remarks in a speech in support of victims of terrorism, which was published in The Weekend Australian.
He said he never believed he would feel as his grandparents did amid the rising tide of Jewish hatred that heralded the Holocaust, nor as his parents did amid the threat to Israel posed by the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
“But now I do,” he said.
“I stand before you anguished and anxious about the future.”
“When fears over safety see Jewish students afraid to attend lectures on campus, Jewish parents feel the need to keep their children home from school, and Jewish schools advise students not to wear their uniforms that makes them identifiable outside school grounds we know we have a problem.
“And when hundreds of demonstrators in Sydney chant ‘f. k the Jews’ and ‘gas the Jews’ we know just how dangerous and serious that problem really is.
“What happened last week outside the Sydney Opera House was nothing short of an abomination.
“A national disgrace that has become an international embarrassment.”
Two American hostages released by Hamas
Two American hostages abducted by Hamas in early October have been released “for humanitarian reasons”, the terrorist group announced Friday.
“In response to Qatari efforts, Al-Qassam Brigades released two American citizens (a mother and her daughter) for humanitarian reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless,” Hamas said in a statement, according to the Times of Israel.
Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie, were both released and are en route to a military base in central Israel to meet their family, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed on X.
The two victims were transferred from Gaza to the Israeli border by the Red Cross, the officials added.
The Raanans were released due to Judith’s declining health, the Times of Israel reported.
The women were taken hostage when Hamas stormed Kibbutz Nahal Oz 13 days ago, the outlet previously reported.
They were enjoying a “really special” trip to Israel to celebrate a relative’s birthday and observe the Jewish holiday season when the Hamas war started, their rabbi, Meir Hecht, told the outlet.
The Raanans’ release was “hopefully the start of more to come”, a diplomatic source told CNN.
The same source also confirmed that there were no exchanges involved in the release, the outlet noted.
The Israeli military said earlier on Friday that most of those abducted to Gaza were still alive.
“The majority of the hostages are alive. There were also dead bodies that were taken … to the Gaza Strip,” an army statement said.
The military said more than 20 hostages were minors, while between 10 and 20 were over the age of 60.
There are also between 100 and 200 people considered missing since the Hamas attacks, the army added.
— NY Post
Grim sign Gaza invasion imminent
Israeli troops and tanks have amassed near the border amid fears of a full-scale ground invasion.
Increased military activity was reported in the area with footage showing tanks on the move near Gaza around sunrise local time.
It comes after Israel‘s defence chief Yoav Gallant told troops they will soon see Gaza “from the inside.”
The minister wished the men luck as he said “there is no forgiveness” for the Hamas‘ horror attack.
He told the soldiers: “There is no forgiveness for this thing. Only total annihilation of Hamas organisation, terror infrastructures, everything that has to do with terrorists and whoever sent them.
“It will take a week, it will take a month, it will take two months, until we eliminate them.
“You are not alone in battle. We trust you and count on you.
“Carry on training while there is time, get organised, be prepared, the command will come. Thanks guys, we count on you, good luck.
“And anyone who now sees Gaza from a distance will soon see it from inside, I promise you.”
Aid trucks waiting to cross into Gaza
Trucks of international aid for Gaza should be rolling “in the next day or so”, the United Nations said Friday, with Palestinians desperate for lifesaving supplies after sustained bombing from Israel, still reeling from its bloodiest-ever attack.
Some 175 lorries crammed with vital medicines, food, and water stretched into the distance at the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which has removed concrete roadblocks and is scrambling to repair the route into besieged Gaza — the only one not controlled by Israel.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Islamist militant group launched an unprecedented raid from the Gaza Strip on October 7, killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians shot, mutilated or burned to death, according to Israeli officials.
Hamas gunmen also kidnapped some 200 hostages including foreigners from around two dozen countries ranging from Paraguay to Tanzania. The majority are still alive, the Israeli army said Friday.
In response, Israeli bombers have levelled entire city blocks in Gaza in preparation for a ground invasion they say is coming soon. The Hamas-run health ministry said 4,137 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in the onslaught.
Israeli jets pounded more than 100 Hamas targets in Gaza overnight, the army said, with AFP reporters hearing loud explosions and witnessing plumes of smoke billowing from the northern Gaza Strip.
Embracing frontline soldiers and clad in body armour, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged them to “fight like lions” and “win with full force”.
Fists clenched and voice raised, Netanyahu told cheering troops: “We will deal harsh blows to our enemies in order to achieve victory.” Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told some of the tens of thousands of personnel preparing the ground invasion that “the order will come soon.”
‘Beyond catastrophic’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah crossing to personally oversee preparations, as workmen operating bulldozers on the Gazan side battled to make the road passable.
A spokesman for UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told reporters in Geneva a first delivery was due “in the next day or so”, following a deal clinched by US President Joe Biden to allow 20 trucks of aid for civilians.
Medicine, water purifiers and blankets were being unloaded at El Arish airport near Gaza, an AFP reporter saw, with Ahmed Ali, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent, saying he was getting “two to three planes of aid a day”.
But World Health Organisation emergencies director Michael Ryan said Biden’s 20-truck deal was “a drop in the ocean of need” and that 2,000 trucks were required.
The UN says more than one million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people are displaced, with the humanitarian situation “beyond catastrophic” and deteriorating daily.
Refugees from northern Gaza told harrowing tales of bombs, profiteering, and extreme temperatures as whole families trekked on foot to flee the violence.
Mother of seven Fadwa Al-Najjar walked for 10 hours with her family from northern Gaza to reach a UN camp in the southern town of Khan Yunis, saying she saw cars hit by a strike on the road just in front of them.
“We saw bodies and limbs torn off and we just started praying, thinking we were going to die,” she said.
‘It’s unimaginable’
On the other side of the conflict, the full horror of what Israel suffered on October 7 and following days was still emerging, as traumatised residents recounted their stories.
Shachar Butler, a security chief at the Nir Oz kibbutz, where Hamas militants killed or kidnapped a quarter of the 400 residents, recalls more than a dozen gunmen spraying bullets indiscriminately and lobbing grenades at homes.
“It’s unimaginable,” the 40-year-old told AFP as part of a trip organised by the Israeli military.
“Anytime someone tried to touch my window, I shot him,” he said. “The people who came out got kidnapped, killed, executed, slaughtered.” Butler estimated as many as 200 militants attacked the kibbutz, entering from three sides before going house-to-house. Homes there were still charred with burned personal belongings strewn everywhere.
Israel says around 1,500 Hamas fighters were killed in clashes before its army regained control of the areas under attack.
‘45 of us gone’
During a rare Oval Office address, Biden vowed the United States would take the lead in supporting Israel and Ukraine, saying he would make an “urgent” request to Congress for aid later Friday.
Fresh from a whirlwind trip to Israel this week, Biden is hoping to staunch the possibility of a wider Middle East war.
The United States has moved two aircraft carriers into the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, both Hamas allies, from getting involved.
The conflict has inflamed passions across the region, with protests planned in several countries and Hamas urging demonstrators to target Israeli and US embassies.
Both sides traded blame for deadly strikes, the latest coming at a church compound in Gaza late Thursday.
The Hamas-controlled interior ministry said several people sheltering at the church were killed and wounded, blaming an Israeli strike.
The Israeli army acknowledged a wall of the church had been damaged in one of its air strikes targeting a “command and control centre belonging to a Hamas terrorist” and said the incident was “under review”.
“This place is dedicated for praying, a place of love and peace,” said witness Abu Khalil Jahshan. “There is no safe place here in Gaza.” Meanwhile, Gaza students in Egypt told AFP of their nightmare watching events unfold from far away.
Haya Shehab, 21, learned from an Instagram post that her extended family’s home had been bombed, killing 45 people — dozens of them cousins.
“Just like that, 45 of us gone,” said Shehab, who studies at a private university in Cairo
Originally published as Israel declares ‘next phase of war starts today’
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