Israel-Hamas war highlights: IDF tank 'accidentally' fires on Egyptian post

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Sunday that 29 of its staff had been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of war between Hamas militants and Israel.

"We are in shock and mourning. It is now confirmed that 29 of our colleagues in Gaza have been killed since October 7," UNRWA wrote on X. 

Egypt's military spokesman on Sunday said an unspecified number of border guards sustained "minor injuries" from "fragments of a shell accidentally fired from an Israeli tank".

The Egyptian army said Israel had "immediately expressed its regret over the unintentional incident and an investigation is underway". The Israeli military had earlier reported that it accidentally hit an Egyptian border post near the Kerem Shalom area between Egypt, Gaza and Israel.

"Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest, and Mission Iraq’s limited capacity to provide support to U.S. citizens. On October 20, 2023, the Department ordered the departure of eligible family members and non-emergency U.S. government personnel from U.S. Embassy Baghdad and U.S. Consulate General Erbil due to increased security threats against U.S. government personnel and interests," the travel advisory read. 

Reports indicate that Israel has 'accidentally' hit the Egyptian position. This comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Sunday, 22 October 2023), visited the IDF Commando Brigade in the north.

"I cannot tell you if Hezbollah will decide to fully enter the war or not. If Hezbollah decides to enter the war..it will be making the mistake of its life. We will strike it with a force that it cannot even imagine", Netanyahu told forces in the North. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirms Hezbollah will "make the mistake of its life" if it starts a war with Israel, adding that that the consequences for Lebanon would be "devastating", during a visit to the troops on the northern border with Lebanon.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sunday (Oct 22) that Washington would take appropriate action in response to any escalation in the Middle East of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, adding the US maintains the right to defend itself.  Read more

Web Summit's CEO Paddy Cosgrave stepped down from his position on Saturday amid backlash for his public statements that suggested Israel was committing war crimes.

In a statement, Cosgrave said that his personal comments “have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend.”

The Israeli defence ministry said on Sunday that at least 120,000 citizens have been internally displaced due to the country's war with Hamas. 

The Chinese foreign ministry said on Sunday that force was not a way to resolve the Israel-Hamas war and urged for a ceasefire. 

"China believes that force is not a way to resolve the problem and that responding to violence with violence will only lead to a vicious circle of revenge," a foreign ministry statement read. 

The first fuel trucks crossed from the Rafah border passage on Sunday into the war-torn Gaza Strip, the news agency AFP reported. 

For a second consecutive day, trucks carrying aid crossed the Rafah border passage on Sunday from Egypt into the war-torn Gaza strip, the news agency AFP reported on Sunday. 

Seventeen trucks passed on Sunday carrying essential supplies. On Saturday,  a day 20 trucks carried medical aid, food and water into the Palestinian enclave .

A group of 100 environmental activists in Israel wrote a letter to climate activist Greta Thunberg after she uploaded posts on X expressing solidarity with Palestine and Gaza.

According to a report by The Times of Israel on Sunday, the activists said that Thunberg's post on the matter were “appallingly one-sided, ill-informed, superficial and are in complete contrast to your ability to deep dive into details and get to the bottom of complex issues.”

“Do you think Hamas represents human rights and freedom? Think again!” the letter said.

The Palestinian health ministry said in an update on Sunday that the death toll in Gaza has climbed to 4,651 and 14,245 have been injured so far. 

The Israeli army on Sunday (Oct 22) warned Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that its escalating attacks on Israel risked dragging Lebanon into a war. Read more

The Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday (Oct 22) that 4,469 people have been killed so far due to Israeli strikes in the region. On the Israeli side, the death toll stands at 1,400. 

The Israeli army's top spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said that at least 212 people are currently being held captive by Hamas in Gaza. He also mentioned that several Palestinian fighters, including the deputy chief of Hamas's rocket forces, were killed overnight. Additionally, Hamas claimed that 55 people in Gaza were killed in Israeli air raids overnight.

The Gaza Strip has witnessed the destruction of 31 mosques since October 7, according to a statement from Gaza's ministry of endowments. This figure, previously at 26, rose by five due to recent Israeli attacks on the territory, reported Al Jazeera.

The IDF has said that an overnight airstrike has killed a senior IDF commander.

“We are not stopping our attacks on the Strip,” said IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari as quoted by The Times of Israel.

“We are increasing the attacks in the Gaza Strip in order to reduce the threats to our forces in preparation for the next phase of the war,” he said.

Hagari also said that families of 212 Israeli hostages have been notified that their loved ones are being held in Gaza strip.

Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu is facing calls to quit from a section of former Israeli officials even as the Israel-Hamas war goes on.

The Observer quoted former PM Ehud Barak who suggested that people do not trust Netanyahu to lead the nation.

“I don’t believe that the people trust Netanyahu to lead when he is under the burden of such a devastating event that just happened under his term,” he told the Observer.

The Guardian quoted an unnamed former IDF chief of staff who said Netanyahu should "resign now". Another unnamed ex-intelligence official said that the government was 'dysfunctional'.

Rocket alarms have been sounded in Tel Aviv as Israeli military geared up for intensified strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Jonathan Concricus has warned that Hezbollah's attacks on Israel are "drgging Lebanon into a war"

"Hezbollah... is dragging Lebanon into a war that it will gain nothing from, but stands to lose a lot," Conricus said.

Nepal repatriated the dead bodies of three Nepali students who lost their lives in the brutal Hamas attack on Israel. The bodies were received by Nepal’s Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud and Israeli Ambassador Hanan Goder at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport.

The Israel Defence Forces said that two members of Hamas’s Nukhba commando forces were killed in an airstrike near the Gaza border fence last night. The military stated that other Hamas terrorists also lost their lives in the same incident. 

As per French military intelligence's assessment the most likely cause of explosion that occured at Gaza City’s Al-Ahli hospital was a misfiring of a Palestinian rocket which carried an explosive charge of about 5kg (11 pounds). 

Smoke was seen in the skyline of northern Gaza as explosions were heard and airstrikes conitnued. On its 16th day, the war turned out to be deadliest of five Gaza wars that took place between the two sides.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry stated that the death toll reached 4,385 on Saturday while 13,561 were wounded.

In an exclusive interview with WION's correspondet Sidhant Sibal, Palestinian envoy Adnan Abu Al-Haija thanked India for sending humanitarian aid. 

"I would like to thank the Government of India for this humanitarian step. And I think our people in Gaza, need the medicine, needs this kind of relief. Situation after 15 days of complete closure of food, water, medicine, oxygen and petrol," he said. 

Israel Defence Forces and the country's Ministry of Defence announced the expansion of a state-funded evacuation plan for the communities which are living in the northern areas that are close to the border with Lebanon.

The expansion applied to 14 additional communities that are Snir, Dan, Beit Hillel, She'ar Yashuv, Hagoshrim, Liman, Matzuva, Eylon, Goren, Gornot HaGalil, Even Menachem, Sasa, Tziv'on and Ramot Naftali.

The IDF and two other agencies announced the evacuation plan of 28 communities which are living within 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) of the Lebanese border.

The humanitarian aid being sent by the Indian government will be handed over to Egyptian red crescent, after landing at El-Arish airport in Egypt, and will enter Gaza via Rafah Crossing Point. 

The Hamas said that around 55 people were killed in overnight raids carried out by Israel on the Gaza Strip, hours after it announced that it was stepping up strikes.

"More than 55 martyrs," said the government press office, in a statement on the latest night of bombings carried out. It added that the Israeli army destroyed more than 30 homes in the hours after a spokersperson of the Israeli military said that raids would be increased.

An IAF C-17 flight, which was carrying aroundd 32 tonnes of disaster relief material and 6.5 tonnes of medical aid for the Palestinians departed for El-Arish airport in Egypt.  

The humanitarian air includes essential life-saving medicines, surgical items, tents, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, sanitary utilities, water purification tablets, along with other necessary items.

Amid escalating Israel-Hamas war, Israeli army knocked out Damascus, Aleppo airports in latest air strikes, as reported by Syria state media. 

In the wake of strikes on airports, the flights were re-routed to Latakia.

"At around 5:25 am (0225 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out... an air attack... targeting Damascus and Aleppo international airports, leading to the death of a civilian worker at Damascus airport and wounding another," said the military source, in the statement published by state news agency SANA.

"Material damage to the airports' runways put them out of service," the statement further read.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said that the civilians residing in Gaza are being pushed "to the edge of catastrophe", as they cited acute shortages of water, food and medical supplies inside the enclave.

The agency stated that it urgently needs $74 million for sustaining its emergency response  for the next 90 days in Gaza. 

The stores of coastal enclave have food reserves of less than a week and there capability to replenish these stocks is "compromised by damaged roads, safety concerns, and fuel shortages," said the WFP.

The UN agency also asked “for the protection of vital infrastructure and the safeguarding of civilians so they can access humanitarian aid points and services".
 

The Israeli military has expressed concern over the increasing hostilities initiated by the militant group Hezbollah, cautioning that these actions could lead to Lebanon being embroiled in a conflict. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Jonathan Conricus stated that Hezbollah's actions were escalating tensions and could ultimately be detrimental to Lebanon.

Israel has declared its plan to increase the frequency of air strikes in Gaza as part of preparations for an anticipated "next phase" of its military campaign, which could potentially encompass a ground invasion.

The Canadian National Department of Defence has asserted that Israel bears no responsibility for the attack on Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza. In their statement, they mentioned, "An analysis conducted independently by the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command reveals a strong level of certainty that Israel was not behind the strike on Al-Ahli hospital on October 17, 2023."

The Israeli army declared on Saturday that those who chose to remain in the northern Gaza Strip, defying a prior evacuation order to move south, would be labelled as associates of "terrorists." Israeli aircraft distributed "urgent warning" flyers in the besieged enclave, urging residents in the northern Gaza to relocate to the southern part.

"To the residents of the Gaza Strip," the Israeli army wrote.

"Being in the north of the Gaza Valley puts your lives in danger," it said, adding that "anyone who does not go to the south of the Gaza Valley and chooses not to stay in the northern area"  will be considered  "as an associate of the terrorist organization."

The convoy of 20 trucks carrying aid supplies that reached Gaza on Saturday fell significantly short of meeting the needs of those in the besieged area. The shipment, which included 44,000 bottles of drinking water supplied by UNICEF, was only sufficient for "22,000 people for one day," which is a small fraction of the more than 2 million individuals residing in the Gaza Strip. This water was part of a humanitarian convoy from the Egyptian Red Crescent and UN agencies, and it represents the only convoy to pass through the Rafah crossing during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

The Pentagon announced on Saturday (Oct 21) that, in reaction to recent assaults on US forces in the region, the United States would be dispatching a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and extra battalions of Patriot air defence missile systems to the Middle East.

An Israeli operation in the Jenin refugee camp within the occupied West Bank reportedly struck a mosque, resulting in at least one reported fatality, according to Palestinian medics. Initially, medics informed Reuters that the strike had caused the deaths of two individuals and left several others wounded.

The Israeli military has claimed that the strike on the Al-Ansar mosque in the Jenin refugee camp targeted several individuals associated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Israel asserts that these groups had been using the building as a command centre for planning attacks.