Israel Hamas war: ‘Striking inside Gaza’: Israel’s move as Hamas ‘fires missiles’
Images of Israeli forces taking part in a “ground activity” in the Gaza Strip has emerged as Hamas claims fired on Israeli forces in two areas. Follow latest updates. Warning: Graphic
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Israel Defence Force spokesman Lt Colonel Jonathan Conricus says the freedom of Private Ori Megidish was secured in a joint operation involving special operations units.
Private Megidish had been held hostage by Hamas for three weeks before being freed on Monday in the Gaza Strip.
Lt Colonel Conricus described her liberation as a “short moment of joy”.
“We are striking inside the Gaza Strip, we are operating on the ground, with ground troops engaging with the enemy and striking the enemy wherever it is in those areas,” he told Sky News Australia.
“In a short moment of joy for Israel, one of our 238 hostages was freed in a joint rescue operation performed by different Israeli special forces: IDF and ISA – our Internal Security Agency – based on dedicated intelligence, facilitated by the fact that we have ground troops in Gaza operating.
“We are operating using all of the assets we have available against Hamas with good results, and are very committed to returning all of our 238 hostages and to dismantle Hamas.”
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Lt Colonel Conricus said Israel had not given up on negotiating the return of the remaining hostages.
“We're not negotiating with Hamas, there are intermediaries in the picture,” he said. ”Of course (we have not given up on negotiations). I don’t think the state of Israel would ever say no to any possibility of Israeli hostages being returned, whether it is direct, indirect, by force or through diplomacy.
“In whatever way, it is great, and the ultimate aim is to have Israelis back home with their loved ones, as safe and sound and as quickly as possible. Nothing would be ruled out by Israel.”
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ISRAELI FORCES IN GAZA
Israeli Defence Force has shared images on social media platform X of its troops taking part in “ground activity” in the Gaza Strip.
The caption on posts reads: “Commander of the Southern Command assessing the situation in the Gaza Strip” and “The ground activity of the IDF forces in the Gaza Strip”, according to Google translator.
מצורף דף מפקד של מפקד חטיבת ×’×•×œ× ×™, ×ל"× ×™×יר פל××™: pic.twitter.com/nPkcq36SUx
— ×¦×‘× ×”×”×’× ×” לישר×ל (@idfonline) October 31, 2023
It comes amid unverified claims by Hamas that its militants have fired machine guns and anti-tank missiles towards Israeli forces, according to Reuters.
The al-qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said its fighters clashed with Israeli forces “invading the southern Gaza axis”.
A CNN crew filming near Gaza also reported an increase of arms action, saying heavy artillery fire has been heard at the Israel-Gaza border.
GRUESOME HAMAS ATTACK FOOTAGE TO BE SHOWN TO AUSSIE MEDIA
Gruesome footage of Hamas militants murdering hundreds of Israeli civilians will today be aired to a group of Australian journalists, marking the first time the horrific video compilation is being shown outside Israel.
The Israeli government has previously shown the video, created using GoPro footage taken by the militants themselves, to a group of international media in Israel.
Only a small section of the longer video was allowed to be published online out of respect for the victims and their families.
70PC OF PEOPLE KILLED IN GAZA ARE WOMEN, CHILDREN: UN
The head of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees has warned that the level of destruction across Gaza “is unprecedented” and that there’s a “human tragedy unfolding under our watch”.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told the UN Security Council that nearly 70 per cent of those reported killed are children and women.
At least 8306 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s relentless bombardment – 3457 of them children – as the tiny territory faces a spiralling humanitarian crisis.
That number surpasses the number of children killed annually across the world’s conflict zones since 2019.
“Most of the people of Gaza felt abandoned. They feel the world is equating all of them to Hamas. This is dangerous, an entire population is being dehumanised,” Mr Lazzarini said.
“The atrocities of Hamas do not absolve the state of Israel from its obligations under international humanitarian law. Every war has rules and this one is no exception.”
It comes as Israeli tanks advanced into Gaza City as the army ramped up its war on Hamas saying it had killed dozens of militants in hundreds of strikes.
The military said it had struck more than 600 targets in 24 hours, up from 450 the previous day, in one of the most intense days of the conflict unleashed when Hamas militants crossed into Israel on a killing rampage.
ISRAELI STRIKE DAMAGES GAZA’S CANCER HOSPITAL
An Israeli strike has damaged the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital — Gaza’s leading cancer hospital.
The hospital’s director Sobhi Skaik told CNN that the building suffered a direct hit to the third floor which caused damage to oxygen and water supplies.
He said 200 people worked at the hospital, treating thousands of patients from across the strip each year.
“We hope that a cancer patient will not be killed in a hospital bed as a result of airstrikes,” Mr Skaik said.
A video circulating on social media and geolocated by CNN showed smoke emerging from the hospital’s central building.
“The most severe damage is the anxiety and panic that afflicts patients,” Mr Skaik said. “Today, there were people who fled the hospital because of what they saw.”
The hospital, which is located just to the south of Gaza City, was funded by the Turkish government, which expressed its anger over the strike in a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
“There is no explanation for such an attack, even though all necessary information, including the coordinates of the institution in question … was shared with the Israeli authorities in advance,” Turkey officials said.
NO CEASEFIRE, SAYS NETANYAHU
Benjamin Netanyahu said a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas “will not happen”, as the UN warned not enough aid was coming in to meet “unprecedented humanitarian needs”.
In a briefing to foreign press, Netanyahu said a ceasefire would amount to surrendering to Hamas.
“Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism … this will not happen,” he said, vowing Israel would “fight until this battle is won”.
Israel ally the United States also objected to a ceasefire.
“We do not believe that a ceasefire is the right answer right now,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, adding that “pauses” to get aid into Gaza should be considered instead.
ISRAELI TANKS, BULLDOZERS MOVE INTO GAZA
Columns of Israeli tanks and armoured bulldozers were seen churning through the sand, and snipers took positions inside emptied residential buildings, in footage released by the army.
Dozens of tanks advanced for more than an hour into the southern fringes of Gaza City and blocked the main north-south highway, “firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it”, an eyewitness told AFP by phone.
Air strikes also cratered the road and brought down buildings, residents said, before the tanks withdrew.
The Israeli ground forces were supported by heavy fire from the air and artillery, with the army striking more than 600 targets within 24 hours, up from 450 reported by the military a day earlier.
Hamas said it had fired anti-tank missiles at two Israeli armoured vehicles and that “blows delivered by the resistance have prevented” Israeli troops from establishing a presence in Gaza.
ISRAEL RESCUES FEMALE SOLDIER
The Israeli military said on Monday its troops killed four major Hamas operatives as part of its expanded ground operations in Gaza.
The IDF also said it “destroyed terror infrastructure, including anti-tank missile launchers and other launch pads,” it added.
During the ground incursion into Gaza, a female Israeli soldier who had been kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 was released.
In a statement the Israel Defense Forces said: “Overnight, the soldier PVT Ori Megidish was released during IDF ground operations,” adding, “the soldier was medically checked, is doing well, and has met with her family.”
This is the moment Ori Megidish, the female solider rescued by Israel last night, was reunited with her family.
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) October 30, 2023
We have 238 more families to reunite. #BringThemHomepic.twitter.com/qpJF7Ccjvx
HOSTAGE SHANI LOUK KILLED
Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli woman abducted by Hamas fighters when they stormed a music festival in the Israeli desert, is dead, Israel’s foreign ministry said.
“Our hearts are broken,” the ministry wrote in a message on X, as it confirmed Louk’s death.
“Shani, who was kidnapped from a music festival and tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists, experienced unfathomable horrors,” it said. “May her memory be a blessing.”
Louk had been missing since Hamas fighters stormed the Supernova rave near the Gaza border as they carried out the worst attack in Israel’s history.
Shortly after the attack, images began circulating online of a young woman lying face down and nearly naked in the back of a pick-up truck in Gaza filled with armed men.
Louk’s family said they recognised Shani in the footage because of her dreadlocks and distinctive tattoos.
The family initially held out hope she had been badly injured and was receiving hospital treatment in Gaza.
Louk’s sister Adi spoke of her “great sorrow” as she shared the news of Shani’s death on Instagram.
Their mother, Ricarda Louk, told German media they had been informed of Shani’s death by the Israeli military.
No official information was given about the circumstances of Shani’s death. But Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Germany’s Bild daily that her “skull has been found”.
US ‘CONFIDENT’ OF INCREASING AID TO GAZA
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Washington was “confident” of increasing the number of aid trucks to Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt to around 100 a day.
Limited aid has entered Gaza from Egypt under a US-brokered deal, but its volume has fallen far short of the hundreds of trucks a day aid agencies say are needed.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, called for the Security Council to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs,” he said.
FIVE KILLED IN WEST BANK
Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in the West Bank on Monday, said health officials in the occupied territory, as violence escalated.
The army said its forces encountered explosive devices in a raid on Jenin and labelled another incursion, near Hebron, a “counter-terrorism operation”.
The Palestinian health ministry said four people aged 23 to 28 were killed during the Israeli early morning raid on the northern city of Jenin.
According to the official Palestinian agency Wafa, “more than 100 military vehicles and two bulldozers” took part.
The raid targeted Jenin and its refugee camp, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups and the target of frequent military incursions.
Another nine people were wounded, a ministry statement said.
Military drones hovered over the area and army snipers were positioned on buildings around Jenin’s main hospital, Wafa said.
Part of the hospital’s perimeter wall was demolished by armoured military bulldozers.
The Israeli military said its troops uncovered “explosive devices that were planted under the roads in order to attack the forces” during the raid in Jenin.
The Palestinian health ministry also confirmed that another 23-year-old man died after being shot by a settler days ago in Ras Karkar, northwest of Ramallah.
The deaths came a day after five Palestinians were killed by army fire during several military incursions into the West Bank
HAMAS RELEASES VIDEO OF THREE HOSTAGES
Hamas released a video showing three of the more than 230 people Israel says were seized by Palestinian militants in massive October 7 raids that triggered an all-out war in Gaza.
The three women were seen sitting on plastic chairs against a tile wall at an undisclosed location.
One of them, speaking in Hebrew, urges Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a prisoner exchange for the release of all captives.
“Bibi Netanyahu, we have been captives for 23 days. Yesterday, you held a press conference with the families of the abducted,” one woman said.
“We know that you were supposed to have a ceasefire, and you were supposed to release us all. You said you were committed to freeing us all.
“Instead, we bear the political negligence, your security, and your paramilitary group, due to the failure you created in the field on October 7th. It wasn‘t so, no one came, no one heard about us. We are the innocent citizens who pay taxes to the state, stuck in a disturbing dilemma.
“You’re killing us, killing us all. Do you want advice on how to kill us all? Isn’t it enough that you’ve sacrificed everyone?.”
Mr Netanyahu denounced the anguished images of the three women as “cruel psychological propaganda” and vowed to “do everything to bring home all the kidnapped and missing people”.
In a statement, Mr Netanyahu named the hostages as Yelena Trupanov, Daniel Aloni and Rimon Kirsht, who were referred to in Hamas’s 76-second video as “Zionist detainees addressing a message to Netanyahu and his government”.
Following the release of the video, friends and relatives of the three Israeli women shown in captivity came together to call on the international community to push harder for their release.
“This is our first proof of life,” Shahar Cohen, a friend of the Trupanov family, shouted in front of dozens of Israeli and foreign journalists in Tel Aviv.
“As both an Israeli and an American citizen, I’m personally asking you, President Biden, please, do any and everything in your power to bring everyone home now.”
‘IMPOSSIBLE EVACUATION’: ISRAEL WARNS GAZA HOSPITAL
The Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza, which is treating hundreds of patients while offering shelter to 12,000 displaced people, has received new warnings from Israel to immediately evacuate the hospital ahead of a possible bombardment.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the order was “impossible” to follow without endangering patient’s lives.
The hospital is located north of Wadi Gaza, the line Israel urged people in Gaza to flee south of as it continues to strike what it says are Hamas targets in the north.
The head of the WHO said calls to evacuate Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City were “deeply concerning”.
“We reiterate – it’s impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
US RULES OUT SENDING COMBAT TROOPS
The United States has comprehensively ruled out sending combat troops into either Israel or Gaza, as world leaders continued to press for restraint and more humanitarian aid to be sent into the Palestinian enclave.
US Vice President Kamala Harris said in an interview “we have absolutely no intention, nor do we have any plans, to send combat troops into Israel or Gaza, period.”
Her comments come as a potential hostage swap to release Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails stalled and Israel was warned investigations have been launched into alleged war crimes committed in Israel, Gaza and West Bank.
HAMAS BLOCKS FOREIGN NATIONALS FROM LEAVING
Hamas is blocking foreign nationals from leaving Gaza, according to United States officials.
Jake Sullivan, the White House’s chief security adviser has said Israel and Egypt are prepared to let hundreds of foreigners leave the Strip but Hamas had refused.
Mr Sullivan said “The Egyptians are prepared to let Americans and other foreign nationals out of Gaza. The Israelis have no issue with that. But Hamas is preventing their departure and making a series of demands.”
FEARS GROW OF NEW WAR FRONT
Skirmishes have intensified on the Israeli-Lebanese border with Iran-backed Hamas ally Hezbollah, raising fears of a new front.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza “may force everyone” to act in the latest warning that the conflict could spread across the region.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone and expressed “their shared concern at the risk of escalation in the wider region”, a Downing Street spokesman said.
‘CIVIL ORDER’ COLLAPSING, WARNS UN
The talks came as the United Nations again warned “civil order” was starting to collapse in Gaza after thousands of starving locals ransacked its food warehouses there, taking wheat, flour and other supplies.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said “thousands of people” broke into several of its warehouses and distribution centres in Gaza, grabbing basic items like flour and hygiene supplies.
“This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down,” it said.
– with AFP
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