Israel Hamas war updates: Netanyahu steps up ground assault as death toll exceeds 8000
The International Criminal Court has warned Israel strikes on civilian infrastructure will need to be justified as Israel ramped up its attacks in Gaza. Follow latest updates. Warning: Graphic.
Israel pounded Hamas-ruled Gaza in an escalating air and ground campaign as the UN warned civil order was “starting to break down” in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Hamas’ armed wing said its fighters were engaged in “heavy fighting” with Israeli forces in Gaza after Israeli deployed more ground forces across the Palestinian territory late on Friday as part of “stage two” of the war.
Israel’s military said it had struck 450 Hamas targets within the past 24 hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu steeled the nation for a “long and difficult war” to “eradicate” Hamas “for the sake of our existence”.
Desperate Palestinians in Gaza burst into aid centres after more than three weeks of siege and bombardment, the UN said, as Israel escalated ground operations in the Hamas-run territory.
Thousands of Palestinians broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to grab flour and basic hygiene products in a mark of growing desperation and breakdown of civic order in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the unrelenting retaliatory Israeli bombardment has killed more than 8000 people, mainly civilians and half of them children.
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FORMER AUSTRALIAN PMS SIGN JOINT STATEMENT
Six former Australian prime ministers have signed a joint statement condemning “the cruel and murderous attack on Israeli families by Hamas on October 7”.
The two page statement, signed by John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, has called for “the unconditional release of all the hostages taken by Hamas”.
“We call for sustained humanitarian access to ensure essential supplies can reach innocent Palestinians,” the statement said.
“We are horrified by the thousands of deaths and injuries inflicted on innocent Palestinian civilians, including many, many Palestinian children.”
It also encourage Australians to “treat each other with love and with respect. We must support those who are grieving and distressed.”
This is the statement issued today by six former PMs of Australia pic.twitter.com/nb2moESGak
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) October 30, 2023
AIR STRIKES HIT NORTH GAZA: REPORTS
Air strikes have been reported by Palestinians in northern Gaza, reports Palestinian media.
Israeli art strikes have reportedly hit areas near the Shift and Al-Quds hospitals in Gaza City.
ISRAEL ATTACKS SYRIAN TERRITORY
Israel’s military said it had carried out strikes on military infrastructure inside Syria, as fears grow that its war against Hamas could spur broader regional conflict.
“A short time ago, an IDF fighter jet attacked the launchers from which the launches were made last night from Syrian territory towards Israeli territory,” the military said.
The Israeli jet “struck military infrastructure in Syrian territory”, it said.
The military did not provide more details, but according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan News, the strikes took place near Daraa.
בתגובה לשיגורי×: צה״ל תקף ×ת ×”×ž×©×’×¨×™× ×ž×”× ×‘×•×¦×¢×• ×”×©×™×’×•×¨×™× ×ž×©×˜×— סוריה
— ×¦×‘× ×”×”×’× ×” לישר×ל (@idfonline) October 29, 2023
מטוס קרב של צה״ל תקף ×œ×¤× ×™ זמן קצר ×ת ×”×ž×©×’×¨×™× ×ž×”× ×‘×•×¦×¢×• ×”×©×™×’×•×¨×™× ×ž×©×˜×— סוריה לעבר שטח ישר×ל ×מש pic.twitter.com/IBJ3So7vq0
Concerns are growing about the regional fallout from Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.
There has been a string of attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria as well as increasing exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon border since the Gaza conflict began.
Late Sunday, the Israeli military said it was striking “Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon”, also in response to rocket fire.
ICC CALLS ON ISRAEL TO ‘JUSTIFY EVERY STRIKE’
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan says Israel’s strikes on civilian infrastructure will need to be justified as they begin investigations into the crimes, allegedly committed in Israel, Gaza and West Bank.
“There should be no doubt that every decision-maker, from head of government, to military advisors, to lawyers that have targeting-making decisions, should be on clear notice that they will be required to justify every strike against every civilian object,” Mr Khan told CNN.
“What I can say, clearly, is the wilful killing and hostage-taking are great breeches of the Geneva Conventions. In all circumstances, human objects have to be protected, unless you can establish that they've lost their protection.
Mr Khan said civilian targets, such as a “house or school or hospital or a church or a mosque,” are required to be protected under international law unless they become military objectives.
He also warned that denying humanitarian assistance to civilians is a crime.
“What kind of hope does a baby have, does a child have, to medical care if there‘s no anaesthetic? If there’s no morphine? If there’s no medicine,” Mr Khan said.
“Whether a child is born Jewish in Israel or is a Christian or Muslim in Gaza, they‘re children and we should have that sense of humanity, that legal, ethical, moral responsibility to do right by them.”
Mr Khan visited the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza on the weekend and that the organisation was looking at the situation in Israel and Palestine “independently”.
“We need co-operation. We need assistance. But we’re going to have the determination, the stamina and the professionalism to make sure we separate allegation from facts,” he said.
#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC was at the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip this weekend.
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) October 29, 2023
Watch his remarks on the current situation in Israel and the State of Palestine. 👇 pic.twitter.com/Z22DMLaAv3
NETANYAHU DELETES SOCIAL MEDIA POST
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been slammed after he accused his security chiefs in a now-deleted social media post of failing to warn him about the Hamas attack prior to October 7.
Amid a chorus of disapproval from opponents and allies, Mr Netanyahu deleted the post before he issued a rare apology and stated Israel’s security heads had his “full backing.”
However, the incident has done little to quell increasing frustration and anger directed at Israel’s leader for failing to anticipate the attack which killed 1400 Israelis, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
In the now-deleted post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Netanyahu said: “At no point was a warning given to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Hamas’ intention to start a war. On the contrary, all the defense officials, including the heads of the Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet, assessed that Hamas was deterred.”
He then quickly deleted after sharp criticism and tweeted: “I was wrong. Things I said following the press conference should not have been said and I apologise for that. Israel’s security chiefs had his “full backing,” he added.
GAZA RECEIVES LARGEST AID SHIPMENT
Nearly three dozen trucks entered Gaza on Sunday in the largest aid convoy since the war between Israel and Hamas began.
However, humanitarian workers said the assistance still fell desperately short of needs after thousands of people broke into warehouses to take flour and basic hygiene products.
With the death toll soaring over 8000, mostly women and minors, 33 trucks carrying water, food and medicine entered the only border crossing from Egypt.
Gaza director for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, Thomas White said: “The aid warehouse break-ins are a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza.
“People are scared, frustrated and desperate.”
It comes as Save the Children has called for an “immediate ceasefire” of the conflict, reporting more children have been killed in Gaza in the past three weeks than the total number of children killed annually in conflict zones around the world since 2019.
3,195 children killed in #Gaza in just three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed across the world's conflict zones since 2019. We are calling for an immediate ceasefire. pic.twitter.com/vrEQ846tPB
— Save the Children International (@save_children) October 29, 2023
ANGELINA JOLIE WEIGHS IN ON WAR
Hollywood A-lister and former UN special envoy Angelina Jolie has spoken out on the Israel Hamas war and the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
In a post on her Instagram account, Jolie said: “What happened in Israel is an act of terror. But that cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation, and not even the basic human right to cross a border to see refuge …
“The denial of aid, fuel and water is collectively punishing a people. Humanity demands an immediate ceasefire. Palestinian and Israeli lives – and the lives of all people globally – matter equally.”
Jolie revealed she had “chosen to support the work of Doctors Without Borders” by making a donation.
BIDEN CALLS TO ‘SIGNIFICANTLY’ INCREASE GAZA AID
Joe Biden emphasised the need for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza in the Palestinian territory, during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said in a statement.
The US President also agreed in a separate call with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to “the significant acceleration and increase of assistance flowing into Gaza beginning today and then continuously,” a second White House statement said.
Meanwhile, a senior US official said they applied pressure on Israel to restore connectivity in Gaza after phone and internet service was severed late last week.
The blackout — which left civilians, aid groups and journalists without any means of communicating with the outside world — came amid heavy Israeli bombardment of the enclave.
“We don't have a perfect picture of what is happening in Gaza. We do feel strongly that the restoration of that communications was a critical thing,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the MSNBC.
“ Because aid workers need to be able to communicate, civilians need to be able to communicate, and of course, journalists need to be able to document what is happening in Gaza to report it to the wider world.”
INTERNATIONAL OUTCRY
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that 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 telephone and expressed “their shared concern at the risk of escalation in the wider region”, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store called the situation in Gaza “catastrophic”.
Speaking on NRK public radio, Store said Israel “has the right to defend against attacks” but its response has been disproportionate and “clearly violates what we call the rules of war or humanitarian law”.
SEVERAL INJURED AFTER MOB STORMS RUSSIAN AIRPORT
Several people have been injured at an airport in Russia after it was stormed by a mob looking for Israeli citizens.
Russia’s aviation agency closed down Dagestan’s main airport, diverting flights, after a mob stormed it looking for Israeli citizens following reports that a plane from Israel was arriving.
“As a result of the incident at Makhachkala airport there are injured (people), who are receiving medical help,” Russia’s Dagestan health ministry said on Telegram, without elaborating.
Videos published on Telegram showed men crossing barriers, taking control of cars who left the airport and coming into the airport.
One video showed a man who had climbed on onto the wing of a plane belonging to the Russian Red Wings company.
According to images posted on social media, some of those in the mob had asked to look at the passports of people at the airport before heading for the plane.
In #Dagestan, a crowd stormed the building of Makhachkala airport in search of Jews from a flight from Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/TaBvakBKIE
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 29, 2023
One of the men held a poster that read “Killers of children have no place in Dagestan”.
The Kremlin has not yet commented on the events.
According to Flightradar, a Red Wings flight coming from Tel Aviv had landed in Makhachkala at 7pm local time.
According to the Russian independent media Sota, the flight was meant to transit in Makhachkala before flying on to Moscow.
The airport will be closed until November 6, the agency added.
The Kremlin has not yet commented on the events.
HOSTAGE OFFER DISMISSED
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant accused Hamas of playing “psychological games” over hostages after it offered to free all captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
He told relatives of the 230 hostages in Gaza: “Hamas is cynically using those who are dear to us – they understand the pain and the pressure.”
Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar had said on Saturday the Islamist group was ready to conduct “an immediate prisoner exchange”.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, there are some 5200 Palestinians currently held in Israel jails, of whom 559 are serving life sentences.
LEBANON CLASHES INTENSIFY
Skirmishes across the Lebanese-Israeli border between Israel and the Hamas ally Hezbollah have intensified.
Iran-backed Hezbollah claimed it had downed an Israeli drone and that Israel had killed one of its fighters.
Hamas’s military wing in Lebanon announced it had launched rockets at Israel.
In response to multiple rocket launches, the Israeli army said on Sunday local time it had returned fire and bombed Hezbollah infrastructure.
88 AUSSIES STILL TRAPPED IN GAZA
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said the “Australian Government is assisting 88 Australians, permanent residents and immediate family members in Gaza”.
“We understand the situation is extremely distressing for them and their loved ones,” she said.
“Australia continues to advocate with the US, Egypt, Israel, and governments with influence in the region, for the opening of the Rafah border crossing for humanitarian purposes, including the passage of civilians and the safe passage of Australians and their families.
“We are doing what we can to support Australians and their families in Gaza, including providing the best available information and options for their safety, and communicating through all available channels.
“Communication with those in Gaza is becoming increasingly difficult and we are engaging with partners and organisations in the region to try to address this.”
Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Australian Government’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas) or 1300 555 135 (from within Australia).
WHITE HOUSE: ‘PROTECT INNOCENT GAZA RESIDENTS’
Israel must protect innocent Gaza residents by distinguishing between Hamas militants and civilians in the Palestinian territory, the White House warned ahead of a call between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu.
“There is a burden, as I said before and as the president has said, on Israel to take the necessary steps to distinguish between Hamas, who does not represent the Palestinian people, and innocent Palestinian civilians” in Gaza, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CNN talk show State of the Union.
“We do believe that thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in this bombardment, and every single one of those deaths is a tragedy,” he said, adding just as those in Israel are.
ISRAELI TROOPS ENTER GAZA THROUGH ‘GATES OF EVIL’
Benjamin Netanyahu described the conflict against Hamas as a “second independence war”, echoing Palestinian fears they are entering a second “Nakba”, referring to their mass displacement during the creation of Israel.
At a press conference attended by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and opposition party leader Benny Gantz in the early hours of Sunday (AEDT), Mr Netanyahu said troops had entered the Gaza Strip through the “gates of evil”.
“This is our second independence war,” he said.
“We’re going to save our country. We’re going to fight in the air, ground and we are going to fight and win.”
Israel extended its ground operations into Gaza, throwing the country into a total communications blackout as it struck telecommunications infrastructure.
“This is the second stage of the war … Our calls are very clear – to destroy the military and government ability of Hamas and return the victims home,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Earlier, the IDF dropped leaflets into Gaza warning residents to evacuate south, stating the territory was now a “battlefield”.
ISRAEL ATTACKS WEST BANK
Israeli forces killed five Palestinians on Sunday across the occupied West Bank, health officials said, raising to more than 110 the death toll in surging violence there since the start of the Gaza war.
The Palestinian health ministry said five people aged 29 to 35 were shot dead by Israeli forces at dawn, two of them in Nablus’s Askar refugee camp.
The other incidents took place in Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, Bethlehem’s Dheisheh refugee camp and in Tamun north of Nablus.
The Palestinian ministry did not provide further details.
The Israeli military said that during activity to demolish the home of a militant in Askar, “explosive devices were hurled at Israeli security forces and exchanges of fire took place with terrorists”.
UN APPEALS FOR A CEASEFIRE AS CIVIL ORDER COLLAPSES
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned the situation in Hamas-ruled Gaza is declining rapidly as he repeated desperate appeals for a ceasefire to end the “nightmare” of bloodshed.
“The situation in Gaza is growing more desperate by the hour. I regret that instead of a critically needed humanitarian pause, supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations,” Guterres said on a visit to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
The UN also warned that “civil order” was starting to collapse in Gaza after thousands of people ransacked its food warehouses in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
The UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said wheat, flour and other supplies had been pillaged at several warehouses.
“This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege,” said UNRWA’s Gaza chief Thomas White.
One of the warehouses in the central town of Deir al-Balah had been used to store supplies from humanitarian convoys that began crossing into Gaza from Egypt on October 21, it said.
“Thousands of people broke into several UNRWA warehouses and distribution centres in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies,” UNRWA said.
CIVILIANS TOLD MOVE AS ISRAEL OPS EXPAND
The IDF wants to “increase the urgency” of its warning to Palestinians in the northern part of Gaza to move south, as the military is “moving to the next phase” of the war and “expanding its operations”.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in an English-language video posted the message to the IDF X profile.
From Monday, he said “humanitarian efforts to Gaza, led by Egypt and the US, will be expanding,” without further details.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also called for a “pause of hostilities” to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
“UNRWA warns about the desperate situation of Gaza people without electricity, food, water” he adds, referring to the UN relief agency for Palestinian Refugees.
“Far too many civilians, including children, have been killed. This is against International Humanitarian Law,” he said.
“Hamas terrorists operate inside and under civilian buildings, precisely because they know the IDF distinguishes between terrorists and civilians.â€â€”RAdm. Daniel Hagari pic.twitter.com/DWaa4R27No
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 29, 2023
INTERNET IN GAZA BEING RESTORED
Internet connectivity in the Gaza Strip is being restored, the global network monitor Netblocks said, AFP reports.
“Real-time network data show that internet connectivity is being restored in the #Gaza Strip,” the company wrote on X, while an AFP employee in Gaza City said shortly after 4am (1pm AEDT) that he could use the internet and phone network and had contacted people by phone.
‘CATASTROPHIC FAILING’: RED CROSS CHIEF’S SHOCK
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross has expressed her shock at “the level of human suffering”.
“It is unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza amid the massive bombardments, and with a military siege in place there is also no adequate humanitarian response currently possible,” Mirjana Spoljaric Egger said.
“This is a catastrophic failing that the world must not tolerate.”
Medecins Sans Frontieres called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza “to prevent more deaths … and allow desperately needed humanitarian supplies in.”
“We have teams on standby ready to send medical supplies and to enter Gaza, as soon as the situation allows it. But if the bombing continues with the current intensity, any effort to increase medical aid will inevitably fall short,” the organisation said.
ISRAEL SLAMS ELON MUSK OVER STARLINK
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, said that his office “will cut any ties with Starlink” following Elon Musk’s announcement that he will provide his Starlink satellite services to aid organisations in Gaza.
In a post on social media platform X, Mr Karhi wrote: “Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this. Hamas will use it for terrorist activities. There is no doubt about it, we know it, and Musk knows it. Hamas is ISIS.
“Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters, elderly people. All of them!
“By then, my office will cut any ties with Starlink.”
ROCKET ATTACK ON ISRAEL’S SIXTH LARGEST CITY
A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip has caused extensive damage to property in the coastal city of Ashdod, The Times of Israel reports.
The United Hatzalah emergency service says its medics treated several people for acute anxiety.
Footage from the scene shows that the rocket landed on a street, damaging nearby cars and homes.
Interceptors launched in Ashdod earlier this hour. pic.twitter.com/yKZQmkjNPD
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) October 28, 2023
‘LONG AND DIFFICULT’: ISRAEL PM’S WAR WARNING
Benjamin Netanyahu likened the soldiers protecting Israel to the folkloric Jewish heroes of ancient times as well as those who emerged from the country’s war of independence in 1948, the Six-Day War of 1967, and the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
In some of his strongest remarks on the stakes of this battle, Mr Netanyahu said the fight posed a test not only for Israel but would “affect all of western civilisation”.
“For the good of humanity as a whole, we must destroy Hamas,” he said.
Israel’s Prime Minister said fighting inside the Gaza Strip would be “long and difficult”.
“The war in the (Gaza) Strip will be long and difficult and we are prepared for it,” Mr Netanyahu told a news conference after meeting families of hostages held in Gaza since the
Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7.
Mr Netanyahu said defeating Hamas was an “existential test” for Israel, charging that 90 per cent of the group’s military budget came from Iran.
“We must defeat Hamas because the test is an existential test for us,” Netanyahu told a news conference.
“Iran supports Hamas. I think that 90 per cent of Hamas’s military budget comes from Iran.
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