Israel tanks mass on Gaza border as troops told to prepare for invasion
Israeli troops and tanks have amassed near the border early this morning amid fears of a full-scale ground invasion.
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US President Joe Biden says Hamas has “unleashed pure unadulterated evil”, as he announced a new request to Congress for military funding for Israel and Ukraine while warning against repeating the mistakes of 9/11.
Mr Biden’s comments on Thursday night came as Israel appeared to be on the brink of launching a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, nearly two weeks after Hamas terrorists killed more than 1400 people and captured around 200 hostages in the worst attack in the country’s 75-year history.
Tens of thousands of Israeli troops have massed at the border with the tiny parcel of land, which is home to 2.4 million Palestinians. “Anyone who now sees Gaza from a distance will see it from the inside, I promise you,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops at the border on Thursday in a fiery speech.
He added there would be “no forgiveness” for the attacks on Israel, “only total annihilation of [the] Hamas organisation — terror infrastructures, everything that has to do with terrorists and whoever sent them”.
Read on for the latest news.
‘Majority’ of hostages in Gaza are alive: Israel army
Most of the 200 or so people kidnapped in Israel by Hamas militants and taken to the Gaza Strip are still alive, the Israeli military said on Friday.
“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 children, 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.
On October 7, the Palestinian militant group carried out a deadly assault on Israel, the worst in the country’s 75-year history, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has responded with a relentless bombardment that has killed at least 3,785 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory
Gaza war death toll rises to 4,137: Hamas health ministry
At least 4,137 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel began bombarding the Palestinian enclave, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said Friday.
The ministry said another 13,162 people have been wounded in the Israeli strikes, which have been ongoing since October 7.
UN boss arrives at border
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Friday to oversee preparations for the delivery of aid.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said that the first aid delivery via the Rafah crossing should take place “in the next day or so”.
Cargo planes and trucks have been bringing humanitarian aid to Rafah for days, but so far none has been delivered to the Gaza Strip, which Israel has besieged and bombed for 13 days.
Rafah is the only crossing into the blockaded Palestinian territory that is not controlled by Israel, which agreed to allow aid to enter after a request from its ally the United States.
“We are actively engaging with all the parties, with Egypt, Israel, the United States... in order to have these trucks moving as soon as possible,” Guterres said.
It comes as US President Joe Biden faced criticism after pledging 20 trucks of aid, with critics claiming the amount was far too low considering Gaza’s population of over two million.
More than 3,700 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli strikes on Gaza, also mainly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the overcrowded Palestinian territory.
Pregnant woman and children killed in airstrike
WARNING: Graphic
A pregnant Palestinian woman and her two young daughters have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza, near the border with Egypt.
The woman, Arij Marwan al-Banna, was seven months pregnant and was killed instantly.
Images showed the heartbreaking scene in a hospital room where a doctor gently placed the unborn baby, no larger than his hands, onto Arij’s lifeless body after trying unsuccessfully to save the child.
The doctors carefully wrapped the baby’s tiny body in a makeshift white body bag and placed it next to her mother in a black body bag.
Arij had moved her family from the north of the Gaza Strip to what was considered a “safe zone” in the southern city of Rafah after Israeli authorities issued evacuation warnings to over a million people.
Troops amass near Gaza border
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.”
UN refugee chief says military escalation ‘catastrophic’ for Gaza
Any escalation of military activities in the Gaza Strip will be “catastrophic” for people there, the UN high commissioner for refugees said Friday.
“(I) can tell you with certainty that any further escalation or even continuation of military activities will just be catastrophic for the people of Gaza,” Filippo Grandi told reporters in Japan.
While stressing that refugee agency UNHCR has no formal mandate in the Palestinian Territories or Israel, Grandi said that he “shares the extreme worry and anguish that has been expressed by many of my colleagues including the UN secretary general” about the conflict.
Aid piles up in Egypt
Food, medicines, water purifiers, hygiene products and blankets: the aid was piling in Egypt’s Sinai region at El Arish airport, which even opened an extra landing strip to cope with deliveries.
Rafah, the border crossing into Gaza that Egypt had promised to open on Friday, is a few dozen kilometres to the east.
It is the only crossing into the blockaded Palestinian territory that is not controlled by Israel.
On a visit to Cairo, UN chief Antonio Guterres said Thursday that there needed to be “rapid, unimpeded humanitarian access” after dire warnings about the impact of the sustained Israeli blockade.
Israel army orders evacuation of northern city after Lebanon clashes
The Israeli army announced plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday, after days of clashes with Hezbollah fighters along the border with Lebanon.
“A short while ago, the Northern Command informed the mayor of the city of the decision. The plan will be managed by the local authority, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Defence,” the military said in a statement.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions have traded cross-border fire with Israel for days.
US troops attacked in Iraq, Syria
US troops stationed in Iraq and Syria have been attacked “repeatedly” in recent days, according to a Pentagon spokesperson.
Intelligence officials say attacks have ramped up since Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza, but will not yet confirm if there is a link between the two conflicts.
Troops stationed just outside Baghdad airport were targeted by rockets on Thursday, after multiple drone strikes were thwarted across both Iraq and Syria.
Tension continues to grow in the Middle East as Western nations continue to show support for Israel, sparking fears from analysts across the globe,
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani last week condemned Israel and called on world powers to stand up to the “terrible brutality” in Gaza.
“While I‘m not going to forecast any potential responses to these attacks, I will say that we will take all necessary actions to defend U.S. and coalition forces against any threat,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters on Thursday.
“Any response, should one occur, will come at a time in a manner of our choosing.”
Middle East teetering on ‘the edge of an abyss’
UN agency chief Philippe Lazzarini has declared the “world is losing its humanity” as conflict escalates in Gaza, warning the Middle East is in its darkest hour.
He warned we may be witnessing the calm before the storm of a far greater conflict, should further nations join the conflict that has already claimed over 4,000 Palestinian lives.
“The world is now losing its humanity,” Lazzarini, who works with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said on Friday.
Speaking in Jerusalem, Lazzarini condemned Hamas‘s attack on Israel, calling it a “horrific and barbaric massacre” that had created a ”national trauma, a collective trauma in Israel”.
“But this event still does not justify that the war is conducted without any restraint,” he said.
“And I do not believe that killing even more civilians is in the interest of the future security and peace here in the region.”
Festival survivor feels unsafe in New York amid protests
A US woman who escaped Hamas’ assault on an Israeli music festival earlier this month has admitted she does not feel safe even after returning to New York, claiming “brainwashing” on social media is sparking antisemitism and anti-Israel protests.
“A lot of people ask me if I feel safe now that I‘m back in New York. I don’t,” 28-year-old Natalie Sanandaji told Fox News.
“A lot of the things I’ve been hearing and seeing since getting back. A lot of the videos of the protests. These pro-Palestinian protests. Something I would like to say about that is, whatever side you’re on in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all the power to you.
“But this is not about Israel-Palestine. This is about Hamas, a terrorist organisation who is just as complicit in the deaths of these innocent Palestinians as they are in the deaths of innocent Israelis.”
“The amount of antisemitism I‘ve seen in videos since coming back to New York, antisemitism all over Europe and the United States, that scares me more than anything.”
2.05pm — Ancient church reportedly struck
The Hamas-controlled interior ministry said several displaced people who had taken shelter at a church compound in the Gaza Strip have been killed and injured after an Israeli strike late on Thursday.
The strike left a “large number of martyrs and injured” at the compound of the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church, the ministry said.
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.
Israel bombs the third oldest church in the world — 2,000 year old Greek Orthodox Church in the northern Gaza Strip, the Church of St. Porphyrius — where both Christians and Muslims were taking shelter.
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) October 19, 2023
At least 40 deaths reported so far. pic.twitter.com/okRSTyOfDj
The ancient Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza, a significant historical site dating back to 425 AD, has reportedly been struck by Israeli airstrikes. The church bears the name of Saint Porphyrius, the bishop renowned for introducing Christianity to Gaza during his tenure… pic.twitter.com/5aL14EQnYK
— Jehad Abusalim جهاد أبو سليم (@JehadAbusalim) October 19, 2023
The Israeli army when contacted told AFP it was checking the reported strike. 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 airstrikes on residential areas over the past 13 days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored,” the Patriarchate said in a statement.
1.10pm — Banker sacked for ‘Hitler’ remark
Citibank has fired one of its staffers after she posted “revolting” commentary on Instagram that endorsed the mass murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
“No wonder why Hitler wanted to get rid of all of them,” Nozima Husainova wrote with a smiley face emoji in an Instagram story, which has since been deleted along with the 25-year-old’s Instagram and other social media accounts.
The post was a screenshot shared to X by non-profit watchdog StopAntisemitism late on Wednesday, which also posted a photo of her Instagram profile that boasted more than 4500 followers.
Ms Husainova had written the explosive comment in response to a post about the Gaza hospital bombing that was initially blamed on Israel, but was later revealed to be caused by the Islamic Jihad terror group after its operatives misfired a rocket.
The investment bank confirmed to the NY Post that Ms Husainova was fired after the remark, which was earlier reported on by The Daily Mail.
“We terminated the employment of the person who made the revolting anti-Semitic comment on social media. We condemn anti-Semitism and all hate speech and do not tolerate it in our bank,” a Citi spokesperson said.
“No wonder why Hitler wanted to get rid of all of themâ€. - Nozima Husainova
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 18, 2023
Unbridled antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/GFdEMMdrI6
Critics on social media bashed Ms Husainova’s endorsement of the Holocaust as “vile”, “unbridled anti-Semitism”.
Following news of her firing, StopAntisemitism posted to X, “Thank you Citi for saying NO! to anti-Semitism”, while other users expressed gratitude that the bank “did the right thing”.
Ms Husainova could not be reached for comment.
According to Ms Husainova’s now-deleted LinkedIn page, she graduated from CUNY Brooklyn College in June 2021 with a degree in finance before landing a job as a personal banker at Citi, a role “to foster relations with customers to build loyalty and to help increase sales to individual consumer clients”, according to the bank.
According to recruiting site Glassdoor, the average Citi staffer in Ms Husainova’s role takes home just under $US75,000 ($119,000) per year.
Ms Husainova had assumed the entry-level position for the Wall Street firm for just two years before being sacked.
— NY Post
11am — ‘An inflection point in history’
US President Joe Biden says the world is “facing an inflection point in history”.
“One of those moments where the decisions we make today will determine the future for decades to come,” he said in a primetime address from the Oval Office on Thursday night.
Mr Biden said Hamas had “unleashed pure unadulterated evil in the world”.
“In Israel I saw people who were strong, determined, resilient and also angry, in shock and in deep, deep pain,” he said.
“I also spoke with President Abbas [of the] Palestinian Authority, and reiterated the United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination, and the actions of Hamas terrorists don’t take that right away.”
He added that “as hard as it is, we cannot give up on peace”. “We cannot give up on a two-state solution,” he said. “Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity and peace.”
Mr Biden spoke of the need to continue supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia, likening Hamas to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Hamas and Putin share this in common, they both want to completely annihilate a neighbouring democracy,” he said.
The President said on Friday he would be sending an “urgent budget request” to Congress to “fund America’s national security needs to support our critical partners including Israel and Ukraine”.
“It’s a smart investment that will pay dividends for American security for generations,” he said, describing the security package as an “unprecedented addition to our security”.
“We’re going to make sure the Iron Dome continues to guard the skies over Israel, we’re going to make sure other hostile actors in the region know that Israel is stronger than ever and prevent this conflict from spreading,” he said.
“In Ukraine, I’m asking Congress to make sure we can continue to send Ukraine the weapons they need to defend themselves and their country without interruption. From the outset, I have said I will not send American troops to fight in Ukraine. All Ukraine is asking for is help. The weapons, munitions, the capacity, the capability to push invading Russian forces off their land. And the air defence systems to shoot down Russian missiles before they destroy Ukrainian cities.”
While Mr Biden did not specify how much he was seeking, US media reports suggest he intends to ask Congress for $US60 billion ($95 billion) for Ukraine and $US14 billion ($22 billion) for Israel.
Mr Biden also warned of the threat of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism domestically, suggesting many in the Muslim community “are outraged saying to yourself ‘here we go again’ with Islamophobia and distress we saw after 9/11”.
“When I was in Israel yesterday, I said that when Americans experienced the hell of 9/11, we felt enraged as well but we sought and got justice and we made mistakes,” Mr Biden said.
“So I cautioned the government of Israel not to be blinded by rage. And here in America, let us not forget who we are. We reject all forms of hate. Whether against Muslims, Jews or anyone.”
10.55am — Hamas turns pipes into rockets
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has shared video from Hamas showing how the terror group digs up water pipes in Gaza to be turned into rockets.
The al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, has previously boasted of the practice, releasing slickly produced propaganda videos of its weapons squads digging up water pipes, making rockets and firing them indiscriminately into Israel.
Hamas says it has launched more than 6000 projectiles at Israel since October 7, ranging from the short-range “Qassam” and “Grad” rockets, to the longer-range M-75 and R-160 rockets, according to The Week.
In 2021, a report by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs noted Hamas had developed enormous capacity to produce its own weapons inside the heavily blockaded Gaza Strip.
The think tank said Hamas was “no longer a force fighting an asymmetrical war with asymmetrical tactics and weapons”.
“Hamas is now manufacturing a large part of its own weapons, expanding its research, and developing drones and unmanned underwater vehicles, engaging in cyber warfare, and on the cusp of graduating from unguided rockets to precision GPS-guided drones and missiles,” the report said.
“They collect unexploded Israeli ordnance for the explosives contained within, recycle streetlight poles or war detritus from the deserted Israeli communities in Gaza for launch tubes, and make projectile tubes from plumbing pipes. The destruction of several hi-rise buildings in May 2021 left much more wiring, pipes, rebar, cement, and metal available for ‘recycling’.”
10.30am — US says 100-300 dead at hospital
The US intelligence community has estimated there were likely 100 to 300 people killed in the strike at the Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, according to excerpts of a document seen Thursday by AFP — far fewer than the nearly 500 deaths that health authorities in the Hamas-ruled enclave originally described.
An unclassified US intelligence assessment, provided to AFP by a Capitol Hill source, estimates the number of people killed at the hospital Tuesday night at the “low end of the 100-to-300 spectrum”.
“We are still assessing the likely casualty figures and our assessment may evolve, but this death toll still reflects a staggering loss of life,” the document said. “The United States takes seriously the deaths of all civilians, and is working intensively to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
The strike occurred at around 7pm local time on Tuesday, when the health ministry in Gaza said an Israeli air strike had hit the Christian-run Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza City. Gaza officials have said at least 471 people were killed in the blast, with more than 300 wounded.
Hamas has accused an Israeli air strike for the killings, while Israeli army has blamed a misfired rocket from another Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad.
According to the US intelligence document, “Israel probably did not bomb [the] Gaza Strip hospital” and the United States is continuing “to work to corroborate whether the explosion resulted from a failed PIJ (Palestine Islamic Jihad) rocket”.
The document also says there was “only light structural damage at the hospital”, with “no observable damage to the main hospital building and no impact craters”. AFP correspondents at the scene saw dozens of bodies, with medics and civilians recovering bodies wrapped in white cloth, blankets or black plastic bags.
Bloodstains and torched cars could be seen in the hospital courtyard. Images of the hospital after the strike published by the Maxar satellite monitoring group show the hospital buildings mainly appeared to be intact.
Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus has also disputed the Hamas-run ministry’s figures, asking, “Where are all the bodies?”
Hamas has dismissed Israel’s position, saying its “outrageous lies do not deceive anyone”. The United States’ death toll estimate is higher than the 50 people that a senior European intelligence source previously told AFP he believed had been killed.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has said there is “no excuse for hitting a hospital full of civilians” in Gaza, but has not apportioned blame for the blast.
9.50am — Kids ‘tortured’ in front of parents
Hamas terrorists tied up families in their homes and tortured young children in front of their parents, according to Israeli first responders.
Yossi Landau, a volunteer with Zaka, a group that deals with human remains after terror attacks and natural disasters, has described the unthinkable scenes encountered by first responders after the October 7 massacres across southern Israel that left 1400 dead.
In one house, Mr Landau said, the bodies of a father and a mother were found with their hands tied behind their backs. A boy and a girl, aged six or seven, were on the other side of the dining room also with their hands tied behind their backs.
Hamas terrorists made the family members watch each other being brutally tortured while eating dinner at the table, Mr Landau told a press conference.
“The bodies were tortured,” he said.
Mr Landau said to “start using that imagination” on who was “tortured before” — “if this was the children looking at the parents being tortured” or the parents being forced to watch the children.
“And when I say tortured, I would say missing body pieces,” he said.
“An eye, just taken out, an eye. Fingers being [cut off]. All this happened, and by the end they all had a bullet. In the middle there’s a table. Those terrorists [were] sitting and eating the Saturday meal that was prepared for this family. They ate this meal while torturing these children.”
9.10am — Aussies urged to leave Lebanon
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has urged Australians to leave Lebanon as quickly as possible.
DFAT on Thursday updated its travel advice to the highest level, “do not travel”, citing the “volatile security situation and the risk of the security situation deteriorating further”.
“If you’re in Lebanon and wish to leave, you should depart through the first available commercial option as soon as you’re able to do so,” DFAT said.
“Airports may pause operations with little notice due to heightened security concerns. This may cause flight delays or cancellations for a sustained period. The Australian government’s ability to assist you to depart Lebanon will be very limited in a deteriorating security situation.”
DFAT warns terrorist attacks “could occur anytime and anywhere, including in Beirut.”
8.25am — Biden to give prime-time address
US President Joe Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office at 8pm on Thursday (11am AEDT).
The speech will cover the US response to the Hamas terror attacks, and also the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“We are at a global inflection point that is bigger than party or politics,” Mr Biden wrote on X.
7.20am — Israel has ‘green light’ for invasion
The Israeli military appears to be on the brink of launching a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip nearly two weeks after Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel.
The country’s Economy Minister Nir Barkat told ABC News on Thursday that the Israeli Defense Forces has a “green light” to begin an offensive — just in time for the arrival of hefty military arms from the US.
“We shall do all efforts to bring our hostages, to bring our hostages [back] alive,” he insisted while acknowledging that the “first and last priority” is destroying Hamas.
Hamas has claimed that it is holding about 203 Israeli hostages within the network of tunnels it built underneath Gaza — which Mr Barkat vowed will become the “world’s biggest cemetery”.
The IDF is intent on decimating the terrorist group “even if it takes a year” — with hostages and civilian casualties taking a back seat, Mr Barkat explained.
Mr Barkat’s announcement came shortly after a US defence official told The Wall Street Journal that the US shipped nearly one million rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and tens of thousands of 30mm rounds to Israel in anticipation of the ground offensive.
The generous delivery is part of a previously agreed-upon annual military sale from the US to Israel, the outlet explained. Thus far this year, Israel has also received tens of thousands of 155mm rounds from the US, the report stated.
Also on Thursday, the IDF confirmed that it was in the process of approving final plans for a ground invasion of Gaza — which is a 365 square kilometre parcel of land between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea.
— NY Post
6.55am — US intercepts missiles from Yemen
A US Navy ship on Thursday shot down missiles and drones that had been fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen, possibly at Israel, the Pentagon said.
Three “land-attack cruise missiles and several drones” were intercepted by a destroyer, a spokesman told reporters. The attack had been conducted from Yemen and “potentially toward targets in Israel”.
The ship, USS Carney, was patrolling in the Red Sea as part of a heavily reinforced US military presence ordered by President Joe Biden to maintain stability in the wake of war between Israel and the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip.
The spokesman said that missiles were fired from Yemen where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are at war with a government backed by a Saudi-led coalition.
According to the spokesman, there were no US casualties and “we cannot say for certain what these missiles were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen, heading north along the Red Sea”.
“Our defensive response was one we would have taken for any similar threat in the region,” he said. “We have the capability to defend our broader interests in the region and to deter regional escalation and broader expansion of the conflict that began with Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians.”
Mr Biden has ordered increased air and naval assets — including dispatching two aircraft carriers — to the Middle East to guard against the Israel-Hamas war spilling over in the tinderbox region.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon also ordered 2000 personnel on standby for potential deployment.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the deployment would allow the United States “to respond more quickly” to the crisis, while the White House stressed it did not intend to put US combat forces on the ground.
US media reported the troops being readied for deployment would cover support roles, such as medical assistance and handling explosives.
Mr Biden flew to Israel in a dramatic show of US support this week and was due to speak from the White House later Thursday in a speech urging Congress to fund military backing for Israel and another embattled US ally — Ukraine.
Asked by journalists late on Wednesday about reports that his administration had told Israel that US forces would fight alongside Israeli troops in response to any attack by the powerful Lebanese movement Hezbollah against Israel, Biden said this was “not true”.
However, he said that “our military is talking with their military about what the alternatives are” in the event of a Hezbollah attack.
6.46am — Saudi slams ‘heinous’ Gaza attacks
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said on Thursday that attacks on civilians in Gaza were “heinous” and warned of “dangerous repercussions” should the war between Israel and Hamas expand, state media reported.
Mohammed bin Salman, the Gulf kingdom’s de facto ruler, made his comments during a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who before visiting Riyadh met with Israeli leaders and pressed them to let more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Prince Mohammed “affirmed that the kingdom considers targeting civilians in Gaza a heinous crime and a brutal attack, stressing the necessity of working to provide protection for them”, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
He also “stressed the need to make all possible efforts to reduce the pace of escalation and ensure that the violence does not expand in order to avoid its dangerous repercussions on security and peace in the region and the world”.
Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7 and killed at least 1400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death, according to Israeli officials.
Israel says around 1500 Hamas fighters were killed in clashes before its troops regained control.
More than 3700 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed across the Gaza Strip in retaliatory Israeli bombardments, according to figures from its Hamas-run health ministry.
Mr Sunak and Prince Mohammed “agreed that the loss of innocent lives in Israel and Gaza over the last two weeks has been horrific”, according to a readout from Mr Sunak’s office.
They also “agreed on the pressing need for humanitarian access into Gaza to provide vital water, food and medicine”, it said.
Mr Sunak “encouraged the crown prince to use Saudi’s leadership in the region to support stability, both now and in the long term”, it added.
Prince Mohammed also spoke by telephone on Thursday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, SPA reported.
In that conversation he advocated for “strengthening international and regional efforts to stop military operations” and urged the UN to provide “safe humanitarian corridors” to get food and medical care into Gaza.
Since the war broke out, Saudi Arabia has issued a series of statements denouncing the displacement of Palestinians from their homes and attacks on “defenceless civilians” while affirming its support for the Palestinian cause.
The violence has dealt a blow to efforts by US President Joe Biden’s administration to broker a deal that would see Saudi Arabia, guardian of Islam’s holiest sites, recognise Israel.
Last week, a source familiar with that process told AFP that Riyadh had decided to “pause discussion on possible normalisation”.
6.36am — Besieged Palestinians await aid
Palestinians in war-torn Gaza on Thursday awaited the arrival of emergency aid promised in a deal struck by US President Joe Biden, as Israel’s military kept up its bombardment of targets in the Hamas-run enclave.
Cargo planes delivered stocks including food and medicine, water purifiers and hygiene products to Egypt’s El Arish airport, awaiting the opening of the Rafah border crossing to Gaza.
Egyptian state-linked broadcaster Al Qahera News said the crossing — the only one into and out of the besieged enclave not controlled by Israel — would open on Friday.
On a visit to Cairo, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said there needed to be “rapid, unimpeded humanitarian access” after dire warnings about the impact of the sustained Israeli blockade.
“We need food, water, medicine and fuel now. We need it at scale and we need it to be sustained, it is not one small operation that is required,” he added.
In Geneva, the emergencies director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Michael Ryan, said aid needed to get in “every day”, calling the deal struck by Mr Biden with Israel and Egypt to allow in 20 trucks “a drop in the ocean of need right now”.
“It shouldn’t be 20 trucks — it should be 2000 trucks,” he said.
Entire city blocks have been levelled in Gaza, displacing more than one million of the 2.4 million population, the UN has said.
“The pace of death, of suffering, of destruction … cannot be exaggerated,” said UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths.
There are fears of worse to come if Israel launches an expected ground invasion to destroy Hamas and rescue more than 200 Israeli and foreign hostages.
Mr Biden, on a flying visit to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet on Wednesday, reiterated strong US support for its long-time ally but also stressed the need to address the plight of Palestinian civilians.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Thursday condemned what they said was the “collective punishment” of Gazans.
They also warned about the conflict spreading, with anger across the Middle East at Israel and its Western allies.
“If the war does not stop [it threatens] to plunge the entire region into catastrophe,” a statement from the Jordanian royal court read.
Sisi and Abdullah, whose countries were the first Arab states to make peace with Israel in 1979 and 1994, are seen as key mediators between Israel and the Palestinians.
They had been due to have four-way talks with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Mr Biden. But Amman cancelled the summit.
Cairo has so far kept the Rafah crossing closed, pointing to repeated Israeli strikes near the checkpoint and voicing fears that Israel may be hoping to permanently drive Palestinians out and into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The UN World Food Programme said it has 951 tonnes of food at or on the way to Rafah — enough to feed 488,000 people for one week, a spokesperson said.
6.30am — ‘Maximum 50 killed’ at hospital
The Arab world has been united in anger and condemnation of Israel since a blast at a Gaza hospital compound on Tuesday.
Israel temporarily recalled its diplomats from Turkey as a security precaution and called on citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.
Both sides in the war have traded blame, but neither the provenance of the strike nor the death toll could immediately be independently verified.
The strike left scores of bodies and charred cars at the Ahli Arab hospital compound in northern Gaza, AFP images showed.
Hamas accused Israel of hitting the hospital during its massive bombing campaign and Gaza’s health ministry put the death toll at 471.
Israel blamed a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket — a claim backed by US President Joe Biden — pointing to the lack of a large impact crater typical of its air strikes, and said fuel from the errant rocket exploded.
A senior European intelligence source told AFP that he believed a maximum of 50 people were killed.
Hamas has dismissed Israel’s position, saying its “outrageous lies do not deceive anyone”, and slammed the United States, accusing it of being complicit in the ongoing strikes on Gaza.
6.24am — Foreigners killed or abducted
Scores of foreigners were killed, wounded or taken hostage after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
The worst attack in Israel’s 75-year history killed more than 1400 people, mostly civilians, inside the country, according to Israeli officials.
Some 203 people have been confirmed as having been abducted, Israel said on Thursday.
Israel has responded with bombardment that has killed at least 3785 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the territory.
According to an AFP count, around 200 foreigners have been confirmed dead by their national authorities, many of them also holding Israeli nationality.
Among the victims are 31 dead and 13 missing US citizens, 30 dead and 17 Thai hostages, and 28 dead and seven missing French nationals.
Also killed or abducted were citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Nepal, Argentina, UK, Canada, Austria, China, Romania, Belarus, Brazil, Philippines, Peru, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Paraguay, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.
One Australian was killed in the attacks.
4.18am — US issues global travel ‘caution’
The State Department on Thursday issued a rare “worldwide caution” advisory for US citizens everywhere, citing terrorism and potential for anti-American demonstrations.
The alert said US citizens should be aware of “increased tensions in various locations around the world”.
This includes “potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against US citizens and interests”.
The war between Hamas in Gaza and US ally Israel has sent tensions surging in the Middle East.
The State Department urged Americans to “stay alert in locations frequented by tourists” and to enrol in a program known as STEP, which allows citizens to be located more quickly in case of emergency.
3am — IDF troops told to ‘get ready’
Israel appears to be on the brink of launching a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, nearly two weeks after Hamas terrorists killed more than 1400 people and captured around 200 hostages.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops at the border on Thursday to “get organised, be ready” to move in, warning of a “lengthy” and “difficult” battle ahead. Tens of thousands of Israeli troops have massed at the border with the tiny parcel of land, which is home to 2.4 million Palestinians.
“Anyone who now sees Gaza from a distance will see it from the inside, I promise you,” Mr Gallant said in a fiery speech, adding there would be “no forgiveness” for the attacks on Israel, “only total annihilation of [the] 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,” he said. “You are not alone in battle.”
— with AFP
Originally published as Israel tanks mass on Gaza border as troops told to prepare for invasion
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