Israel-Hamas war highlights | Israeli strike hits near Gaza's biggest hospital: Hamas

Hamas said on Friday that a deadly Israeli strike hit a convoy of ambulances, which the health ministry said killed multiple people. 

The health ministry said that "several citizens were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike at the entrance to Al-Shifa hospital" in Gaza City.

The White House on Friday urged Hezbollah not to 'take advantage' of Israel-Hamas war. The White House's appeal comes after Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Washington that preventing a regional war depended on stopping the Israeli attack on Gaza.

Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that his country would not agree to a temporary truce in the Gaza Strip unless Israeli hostages are released.

"We're continuing with all our force and Israel is refusing a temporary truce that doesn't include the release of our hostages," Prime Minister Netanyahu said following a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv.

Blinken said that the Benjamin Netanyahu-led Israeli governmnent was committed to ensure humanitarian aid in Gaza, adding a mechanism has been identified to ensure provision of fuel to hospitals. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that more needs to be done to protect Palestinian people. Addressing a press conference in Israel, Blinken said, "Hamas does not care for well-being of Palestinian people. They use them as shield." 

The Hezbollah chief also said that the October 7 attack by Hamas was a Palestinian operation hidden from everyone. "The attack was an exclusively Palestinian operation," Nasrallah said. 

Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people is not a secret to the world. 

In his speech, Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah paid tribute to Palestinian civilians who have been killed by Israeli forces. 

The United Nations said on Friday that the situation in the West Bank had become alarming and urgent amid the increasing and multi-layered human rights violations of Palestinians. 

Addressing a press conference in Geneva, the UN rights office spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell said that Israeli forces were increasingly using military tactics and weapons in law enforcement operations, including an operation involving air strikes on the Jenin refugee camp. 

The families of nine Israeli victims of Hamas October 7 attack lodged a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for suspected war crimes. In a statement, the families' lawyer Francois Zimeray said they want the families prosecuted for genocide, and the ICC to issue an international arrest warrant for the Palestinian militant group's leaders. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli President Herzog on (Friday) Nov 3. Blinken during the talks said that the United States will stand strongly with Israel and that his country will make sure that such events don't happen again. 

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Friday the death toll since the start of Israel's war against the Palestinian militant group in the territory reached 9,227.

The ministry said 3,826 children and 2,405 women were among the dead.

Israel on Friday released hundreds of Palestinian workers who said they had been held in an Israeli-run jail since the Israel-Hamas war broke out Oct. 7.

The workers were dropped off by buses early Friday near Gaza and walked into the southern edge of the besieged enclave through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

The workers were among what Israeli rights groups believe are thousands of laborers marooned in Israel since the outbreak of the war.

The situation in the West Bank is "alarming and urgent", the United Nations said Friday, noting in particular the violence carried out by Israeli settlers against the Palestinian population.

While much attention has been focused on the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, "the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is alarming and urgent", UN human rights office spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell told a briefing in Geneva.

The UN on Friday launched an emergency aid appeal seeking $1.2 billion to help some 2.7 million people in Gaza and the West Bank.

"The cost of meeting the needs of 2.7 million people - that is the entire population of Gaza and 500,000 people in the occupied West Bank - is estimated to be $1.2 billion," the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

"The original appeal, launched 12 October, asked for $294 million to support nearly 1.3 million people. The situation has grown increasingly desperate since then," it added.

The Israeli military said it’s on "very high alert" along the country’s northern border with Lebanon and will "respond to every event" on the border.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, described as a terrorist by Israel, is set to give a major speech later on Nov 3.​​​​​​

Thailand’s foreign minister said he has pressed his Iranian counterpart over the release of 23 Thais taken taken hostage by Hamas during its attack on Israel.

Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara travelled to Qatar and Egypt this week for talks on the hostages, and met his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in Doha.

"I pointed out to them that Thais working there are low-income people, and work in the agricultural sector to boost their income," Parnpree told reporters in Bangkok on Friday.

"I talked to the Iranian foreign minister and told him the Thais’ work is unrelated to politics and conflict. I asked him to send a message to the Hamas group that they are just labourers."

Thirty-two Thai nationals have been killed and 19 wounded in the conflict, and the kingdom has evacuated more than 7,000 of its citizens on repatriation flights.

Thousands of workers from Gaza who were working in Israel and West Bank prior to the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war were sent back, Reuters reported.

The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Thursday night: "Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza."

"We used to serve them, work for them, in houses, in restaurants, and in markets in return for the lowest prices and despite that we were humiliated," Jamal Ismail, a worker from the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, was quoted as saying by the Reuters.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reached Israel in his second trip to West Asia this week, weeks after his much-criticised shuttle diplomacy in the region failed to yield geopolitical results aimed towards a purported de-escalation of Israel-Hamas war and access to humanitarian aid into Gaza Strip.

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Israel. Prior to his departure, Blinken had said that he would seek "concrete steps" on part of Israel to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza. US President Joe Biden has already called for a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war. This is Blinken's second trip to the Middle East since outbreak of war on October 7.

"We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimise harm to men, women and children in Gaza," Blinken told reporters before departing for Israel. "This is something that the United States is committed to."
 

Ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's Israel visit, the Israeli army has said that its forces have "completed the encirclement" of Gaza City. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said,"We are already more than on the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing."

Two Palestinians have been reportedly killed in Israeli airstrike conducted in Jenin.

Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for Hamas' armed force, in a televised speech on Thursday said that Israel's death toll in Gaza was much higher than the military had announced. 

"Your soldiers will return in black bags," he announced.

As per Israeli data, the nation has lost 18 soldiers and has killed dozens of Hamas militants since expanding its ground operations on Friday.

Brigadier General Iddo Mizrahi, chief of Israel's military engineers, as per Reuters said that Israeli troops were encountering mines and booby traps in the tunnels knows as "Gaza Metro".

"Hamas has learned and prepared itself well," he said.

Israel has announced that it had surrounded the Gaza Strip's biggest city and the focus of its drive to annihilate Hamas.

"We're at the height of the battle. We've had impressive successes and have passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement after the Israeli military said it had encircled the seaside enclave's main city.

Amid heavy explosions in Gaza, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters his country's "troops completed the encirclement of Gaza City, which is the focal point of the Hamas terror organisation".

WhatsApp recently introduced an Artificial Intelligence-based feature that lets users generate images based on prompts. In a disturbing development, the said feature, as per a report, is returning pictures of a gun or a child with a gun when prompted with terms like "Muslim boy Palestinian", "Palestine" or "Palestinian".

In contrast, searches using prompts like "Israeli boy" would bring up results of children playing sports like soccer or reading.

Read more here.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday left for his second Middle East trip in less than a month.

Talking to reporters before departing, the US official said that during the trip to Israel, he would discuss "concrete steps" that should be taken to minimise harm to Gaza civilians. This comes amid mounting alarm over the soaring number of casualties due to Israel's bombardment of the enclave.

"We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimise harm to men, women and children in Gaza, and this is something that the United States is committed to. I'm not going to get into the details here, but it's very much on the agenda," said Blinken.

"When I see a Palestinian child—a boy, a girl—pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building, that hits me in the gut as much as seeing a child from Israel or anywhere else. So this is something that we have an obligation to respond to, and we will," he added.

Discussions will also focus on the future of Gaza, humanitarian aid for the people there, ways to ensure the conflict does not spread and the release of more than 200 hostages kidnapped by Hamas.

Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel, on Thursday, exchanged fire. This happened in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on the Lebanese border.

The Shi'ite Islamist group, in a statement, announced that it had mounted 19 simultaneous strikes on Israeli army positions in Israel using guided missiles, artillery and other weapons.

In response, the Israeli army, as per Reuters, conducted air strikes on Hezbollah targets. IT also made use of tank and artillery fire. The shelling as per Reuters struck the outskirts of Khiyam town some 6 km (3.75 miles) from the border, slightly injuring one civilian.

The town's mayor told Reuters that the "intensity of the shelling was higher than previous days. The shelling and the counter shelling were more than any previous level and included the whole area."

The Israeli government late Thursday announced that it is cutting all contact with Gaza and will return Gazans working inside the country to the besieged Palestinian territory. 

"Israel is severing all contact with Gaza. There will be no more Palestinian workers from Gaza," the Israeli security cabinet announced in a statement. 

"Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza," it added, without specifying how many people would be sent back.

Prior to the war, according to COGAT, the Israeli defence body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, Israel had issued work permits to some 18,500 Gazans. 

A report by Reuters citing two American officials said that the United States has been flying surveillance drones over Gaza in search of hostages taken by Hamas following its attack on Israel on October 7. 

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, US officials told Reuters, that flying intelligence gathering drones over Gaza to assist with hostage location efforts. One of the officials said they had been carrying out the drone flights for over a week.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric who earlier this week recalled his envoy to Israel expressed his concerns over Gaza during a meeting with his American counterpart Joe Biden. 

Boric said he condemned the October 7 attacks by the Hamas on Israel and called for the release of Israeli hostages taken by the Palestinian militant group but called Israel's retaliatory bombardment of Gaza had been disproportionate and was violating international law.

"I told President Biden of our concerns on what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The number of civilian deaths grows day by day," said Boric, as quoted by Reuters. 

He added, "We can say no doubt that the response has been disproportionate and violates international humanitarian law. What is happening in the Gaza strip is simply unacceptable."

White House said it is concerned about attacks on Israeli forces by Hezbollah but said there is no indication that the Iran-backed militant group is ready "to go in full force." 

"We're concerned about continued attacks on Israeli forces there in the north, as are the Israelis, but I don't believe we've seen any indication yet specifically that Hezbollah is ready to go in full force," said National Security spokesperson John Kirby. 

This comes as Hezbollah said it mounted multiple strikes on Israeli army positions including its first using explosive drones and Israel retaliated with air strikes on southern Lebanon in a sharp escalation of violence, on Thursday.

The United States Vice President Kamala Harris said Washington would not seek to impose any conditions on the support it gives Israel to defend itself after the October 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"We are not going to create any conditions on the support that we are giving Israel to defend itself," Harris told a news conference in Britain. 

"We are going to continue to stand with Israel's right to defend itself and, let's be clear and never forget what happened on Oct. 7, where hundreds, thousands, 1400, innocent people were killed, slaughtered. Young people who were simply attending a concert," she added.

A second Palestinian was fatally shot by Israeli forces in West Bank's Jenin, said the Palestinian health ministry. The man was identified as 26-year-old Jehad Ibrahim Naghnaghieh. Four people were also reported to be injured. 

The United States House of Representatives on Thursday passed a Republican-led bill to  provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel amid its fight with Palestinian militant group Hamas. This is despite after Democrats insisting that it has no future in the Senate and the Biden's threat to veto it. 

The bill passed with a 226 to 196 with most Republicans supporting the bill and most Democrats objecting. It was introduced after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson took the gavel and became the Speaker after weeks of chaos, in his first major legislative action. 

The House bill has sought to provide billions for Israel's military, including $4 billion for procurement of Israel's Iron Dome and David's Sling defense systems as well as transfers of equipment from American stocks.

Jack Lew, the United States' new ambassador to Israel and treasury secretary under President Barack Obama, was sworn in and is accompanying Secretary Antony Blinken on his trip to Israel, said the State Department. 

"Ambassador Lew’s swearing in today as the the new US ambassador to Israel arrives at a critical moment in Israel. The ambassador is an incredibly qualified, dedicated public servant who will provide invaluable leadership for the US Embassy in Jerusalem," said State Department agency, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, in a post on X. 

He will remain on the ground to take the reins at the US embassy in Jerusalem, reported Times of Israel.

Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi will reiterate the urgent need to "stop the war" on Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid during a meeting with Washington's top diplomat, said the Jordanian foreign ministry, in a statement.

Safadi and Blinken, who are set to meet in Amman on Saturday, will also discuss the "catastrophic situation unfolding in the Gaza Strip," said the ministry.

The Palestinian health ministry in occupied West Bank said a man, who they identified as 31-year-old Sulieman Mohammed Stiteh was shot by Israeli forces during a raid in Jenin.

The ministry also reported that two people were injured, one of whom was said to have sustained a "severe injury in the abdomen". 

United States President Joe Biden called for humanitarian pauses in fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas that would involve a "temporary, localized" cessation of hostilities but stopped short of calling a ceasefire. 

This comes after National Security Council spokesman John Kirby clarified Biden's remarks after the US president at a campaign event on Wednesday was urged by a member of the audience to call for a ceasefire in the war to which he said "I think we need a pause."

"A humanitarian pause… is temporary, localized and focused, focused on a particular objective or objectives, humanitarian aid in, people out," Kirby told reporters.

He added, "The general idea is that in that geographic space, for that limited time, there would be a cessation of hostilities, enough to allow whatever it is you're trying to allow."

A journalist working for the Palestinian Authority's television channel was killed after an Israeli strike on Gaza, his network reported. 

"Our colleague Mohammed Abu Hatab fell as a martyr along with members of his family in an Israeli bombardment against his home in Khan Yunis" in the south of the territory, said broadcaster Palestine TV station. 

A report by AFP citing medical sources at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis said at least 11 people were killed in the strike. 

Berlin said that it issued a ban on Palestinian militant group Hamas' activities and organisations linked to the group which attacked Israel on October 7. 

"With Hamas, I have today completely banned the activities of a terrorist organisation that aims to destroy the state of Israel," said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, in a statement, on Thursday. 

The minister also issued a prohibition for the organisation Samidoun, an international network that "spread anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda under the guise of a 'solidarity organisation' for prisoners," said the German official. 

The statement also said that the organisation "supported and glorified various foreign terrorist organisations, among them Hamas."  

A Japanese air force aerial refuelling and transport plane left Israel for Japan late on Thursday carrying 46 passengers including 20 Japanese nationals, 15 South Koreans, four Vietnamese and one Taiwanese, said the Japan's foreign ministry. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is weighing Washington's request for a short humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, said Times of Israel citing Hebrew-language Kan News. 

According to Israeli media reports, ceasefire of several hours is possible. This comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is will arrive in Israel on Friday for a second-war time visit to the region. 

Ahead of his visit, Blinken on Thursday said he would discuss "concrete steps" that Israel should take to minimize harm to Gaza civilians amid mounting alarm and criticism over soaring casualties. 

Blinken said discussions will also focus on the future of Gaza if and when Hamas are defeated, which includes getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza and ways to ensure the conflict does not spread. 

He would also discuss securing the release of more than 200 hostages kidnapped by the Palestinian militant group, said Washington's top diplomat.

The spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, said Qassam Brigades, Abu Obaida, in a video statement as per Al Jazeera said that its fighters have continued to carry out "successful operations" against the Israeli army. 

He claimed that fighters killed "a large number" of Israeli forces, without providing more details. According to Obaida, fighters have attacked Israeli forces using "anti-armour missiles, direct clashes, and dropping bombs from drones."

This comes after Hamas' military wing threatened that Gaza would be a "curse" for Israel, warning that its invading soldiers would go home "in black bags".

"Gaza will be the curse of history for Israel," Obeida had said in a previous statement. adding that Israel could expect "more of your soldiers to return in black bags".

The United States has managed to get 74 Americans with dual citizenship out of the Gaza Strip said President Joe Biden at the White House. This comes a day after evacuees began crossing into Egypt. 

"Good news, we got out today 74 American folks, dual citizens," US president told reporters in the Oval Office. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said 102 trucks carrying humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.

The trucks were "loaded with provisions such as food, water, relief supplies, medicines, and medical equipment," said the PRCS, in a post on X. 

It added, "As of now, a total of 374 trucks have been received, but there hasn't been permission to bring in fuel yet."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that they have killed around 130 Hamas militants during clashes in northern Gaza in the past few hours. 

The Israeli troops "continue to wage fierce battles against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip" said IDF spokesperson in a post on X. 

He also said that they are locating weapons and destroying Hamas' infrastructure as well as their "military compounds". 

Experts from the United Nations, on Thursday (Nov 2) called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, saying time is running out for Palestinians who find themselves at "grave risk of genocide".

This comes after nearly four weeks of Israeli bombardment against the Gaza in retaliation for deadly attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed amid Israeli strikes. 

However, Israel says it is aiming its attacks at Hamas, not civilians, and accuses the group of using them as shields.

"We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide," the group of experts, made up of seven UN  special rapporteurs, said in a statement.

It added, "We demand a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure that aid reaches those who need it the most." Meanwhile, Israeli mission to the UN called the comments "deplorable and deeply concerning" and blamed Hamas for civilian deaths.