Israel-Hamas War Top developments (Oct 31): Another barrage of rockets launched at central Israel

The United Nations said on Tuesday that 26 trucks carrying humanitarian aid arrived in war-torn Gaza on Monday, bringing the total number of deliveries to just 143 in the last 10 days.
 

The IDF said on Tuesday that another barrage of rockets was launched at Tel Aviv and central Israel

Two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, Roei Wolf and Lavi Lipshitz, both in their 20s, were killed in battle in the northern Gaza Strip. 

The Israeli police said on Tuesday that around 826 civilians killed by Hamas militants were identified so far. 

Multiple deaths and injuries have been reported at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to BBC.

The Hamas-run heath ministry, and the director of the nearby Indonesian hospital, say at least 50 people have been killed.

The ministry said the blast was caused by an Israeli air strike.

There has been no comment yet from Israel on the reported blast. The BBC is working to verify details of the incident.

A rise in antisemitism since Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel is part of "preexisting increase in the United States and around the world," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told a Senate committee.

"Hamas terrorists horrifically attacked thousands of innocent men, women and children in Israel on Oct. 7, brutally murdering, wounding and taking hostages of all ages," Mayorkas said. "In the days and weeks since, we have responded to an increase in threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab-American communities and institutions across our country."

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said at least 50 people were killed Tuesday in Israeli bombardment of a refugee camp in the Palestinian territory.

"More than 50 martyrs and around 150 wounded and dozens under the rubble, in a heinous Israeli massacre that targeted a large area of homes in Jabalia camp in the northern (Gaza) Strip," a ministry statement said.

A "public health catastrophe" is imminent in Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday (October 31), amid overcrowding, mass displacement and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure. WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier warned of the risk of civilian deaths not directly linked to Israeli bombardment.

People took part in a protest near the French embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut to condemn French President Emmanuel Macron's comments on the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Iran said on Tuesday it was "natural" for Tehran-backed groups to attack Israel in light of its war on Hamas, warning of a wider spillover if no ceasefire is reached. The remarks were made by Iran's top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Qatar's capital Doha where he met with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and his Qatari counterpart to discuss a push for a diplomatic breakthrough. 

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels Tuesday pledged more attacks against Israel if its war on Hamas in Gaza continues, saying it had already fired drones and ballistic missiles in three separate operations. 

"The Yemeni Armed Forces... confirm that they will continue to carry out qualitative strikes with missiles and drones until the Israeli aggression stops," said a Huthi military statement aired on the rebels' Al-Masirah TV. 

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired drones towards Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for its war against Hamas. Abdelaziz bin Habtour, Prime minister of the Huthi government, says these drones are his governement's "contribution to resist this aggressive and oppressive aggression" of Israel against Palestinians.

Israeli author and Iran specialist Avi Melamed believes the flames of the current conflict between Israel and Gaza are being fanned by Iran. He says it is all part of the country's master plan to become the biggest power in the Middle East.
 

Israeli forces were engaged in "fierce battles" with Hamas militants inside the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the army said, as it continued to pummel the Palestinian territory with air and artillery strikes.

Israeli forces are "engaged in fierce battles with Hamas terrorists deep inside the Gaza Strip," the army said in a statement, adding that dozens of militants had been killed in the past few hours.

Labour Leader Keir Starmer calls for a humanitarian pause in Gaza, claiming a ceasefire is "not the correct decision for now" and "would only benefit Hamas"

A World Health Organization official on Tuesday warned of an impending “public health catastrophe” was in Gaza amid mass displacement and damage to infrastructure in the ongoing Isral-Hamas

A spokesperson for the UN children’s agency warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration with just 5 per cent of normal water supplies available, Reuters news agency reported.

At least 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has claimed.

Health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said 130 healthcare staff have been killed, and 15 hospitals are now out of service along with 32 healthcare centres.

The Israeli Army demolished the West Bank home of exiled Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri with explosives on Tuesday as war raged with the Islamist group in Gaza.

The Israeli military said forces entered the village of Arura, near Ramallah, and shot at people who were "hurling" rocks towards them during the demolition.

Aruri is accused by Israel of masterminding numerous attacks. He was elected deputy to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in 2017, before being officially named the group's number two.

Saudi Arabia’s military, as per reports, has gone into a state of high alert following deadly clashes with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the publication reported that the rebels also tried to fire a missile over the kingdom toward Israel.

As per the report, four Saudi soldiers died in the fight with Houthi forces in the mountainous southwestern Jazan Province on the border with Yemen.

For combating Hamas inside the maze of tunnels underneath Gaza, Israel as per reports will make use of weapons called "Sponge Bombs." Here's all you need to know about the innovative weapon and how they work.

Click here to read the WION explainer

Israel said on Tuesday its forces attacked Hamas gunmen inside the Islamists' vast tunnel network beneath Gaza. The tunnels are a key objective for Israel as it expands ground operations inside Gaza to wipe out the ruling Hamas movement following its gun rampage three weeks ago that Israeli authorities say killed over 1,400 people.

"Over the last day, combined IDF combat forces struck approximately 300 targets, including anti-tank missile and rocket launch posts below shafts, as well as military compounds inside underground tunnels belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization," the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

Militants responded with anti-tank missiles and machine gun fire, it said adding, "The soldiers killed terrorists and directed air forces to real-time strikes on targets and terror infrastructure."

The director of a hospital in Gaza said Israeli strikes took down the facility's oxygen and water supply system. 

Doctor Sobhi Skeik, director of the Turkish Palestinian Hospital, stated that Israeli strikes on Monday evening destroyed two rooms on the third floor.

“Just out of luck no one was in the rooms at the time,” Skiek said. There was no evacuation order from the Israeli army before the strike, he claimed.

(WION was unable to verify this information independently)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a watchdog for free press, said Sunday that the death of a video journalist in Lebanon earlier this month was caused by a targeted strike, rather than an accidental attack.

The organisation based its investigation on video evidence and witness testimonies, into two strikes that killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six journalists from Reuters, AFP and Al Jazeera.

(WION can't verify this information independently).

Israel has backtracked on its vow to not issue visas to UN officials. Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, tweeted Monday that he was in Israel — less than a week after Israel’s UN ambassador said it had “refused” to grant Griffiths a visa.

Last Wednesday, a spat erupted between Israel and UN over comments by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, that the Jewish country saw as "justification" of Hamas' Oct 7 assault. On Monday, Israel’s ambassador in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, said, “We haven’t said categorically that we’re not giving visas. We are … We understand their need to be there.”
 

To get Hamas release 22 Thai nationals currently held hostage, Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara is paying an urgent visit to Qatar and Egypt.

Parnpree will “discuss the situation of Thai nationals being held hostage as a result of the ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza”, the ministry said in a statement. 

He is set to meet Qatar's PM and foreign minister on Tuesday and Egyptian foreign minister on Wednesday.

Multiple United Nations agencies addressed the Security Council, on Monday (Oct 30) as the 15-member body convened for yet another emergency after four failed efforts to reach a consensus on a Gaza resolution. 

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Hamas said its militants in Gaza fired anti-tank missiles at Israel's invading forces early on Tuesday. 

The al-Qassam brigades, Hamas' armed wing, said militants clashed early on Tuesday with Israeli forces "invading the southern Gaza axis, (including) with machine guns, and targeted four vehicles with al-Yassin 105 missiles," referring to locally produced anti-tank missiles.

The militants also targeted two Israeli tanks and bulldozers in northwest Gaza with the missiles, al-Qassam said.

Israel said on Monday (Oct 30) that its forces freed a soldier from Hamas captivity during the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. 

Click Here to read details of the report 

Japan has imposed a fresh set of sanctions on individuals and a company connected to Hamas, according to a statement released by the Japanese foreign ministry on Tuesday.

The sanctions consist of freezing the assets of individuals and a company that have helped fund Hamas, and is in line with new sanctions announced by the United States government earlier this month.

Individuals including Hamas operatives Muhammad Ahmad 'Abd Al-Dayim Nasrallah and Ayman Nofal were newly added to the list of people and organisations deemed as terrorists by Japan.

Israel's United Nations ambassador displayed a yellow star on his chest Monday as he addressed the Security Council. He pledged to wear the badge until members of the body condemn Hamas "atrocities". 

"Some of you have learned nothing in the past 80 years. Some of you have forgotten why this body was established," envoy Gilad Erdan said.

He denounced the Security Council for "staying silent" over the unprecedented deadly attacks by Hamas militants against Israel on Oct 7

Messaging platform Telegram will block channels which called for anti-Semitic violence in Russia's Dagestan region said the platform's founder Pavel Durov. 

"Channels calling for violence will be blocked for violating the rules of Telegram, Google, Apple and the entire civilised world," Durov wrote on his own Telegram channel.

He also posted a screenshot from "Utro Dagestan" (Morning Dagestan), a channel that contained threats to the tiny community of Jews living in Dagestan.

Click here to find out what happened in Dagestan

The Palestinian militant group claims to be fighting Israeli troops with machine guns and anti-tank missiles in north and south Gaza early on Tuesday (Oct 31) after Israel's tanks and infantry attacked the Palestinian enclave's main city. 

Al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Gaza's ruling Hamas, said their fighters clashed early on Tuesday with Israeli forces "invading the southern Gaza axis, (including) with machine guns, and targeted four vehicles with al-Yassin 105 missiles," referring to locally produced anti-tank missiles.

The militants also targeted two Israeli tanks and bulldozers in northwest Gaza with the missiles, said the al-Qassam, as per Reuters. 

WION was unable to independently verify the authenticity of this claim.

Officials from the Biden administration raised alarms at reports of anti-Jewish incidents on university campuses in the United States and met American Jewish leaders on Monday to discuss steps to counter the surge, said the White House. 

"There is no place for hate in America, and we condemn any anti-semitic threat or incident in the strongest terms," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told a regular briefing.

She also said that their administration is closely monitoring threats at Cornell University in New York, and would do "everything we can" to counter anti-Jewish actions and threats across the country.

Last week, the Anti-Defamation League reported a 400 per cent spike in US antisemitic incidents overall since an October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel.

The New York-based organisation reported that out of the 312 incidents between October 7-23 about 190 were linked to the Israel-Hamas war. 

According to a student newspaper and the campus Hillel group, over the weekend threats were posted online to Jewish students and the Center of Jewish Living at Cornell. 

After four failed efforts to reach a consensus on a resolution on Gaza, the UN Security Council convened yet again to discuss the ongoing crisis during which Gilad Erdan, Permanent Representative of Israel called the Palestinian militant group Hamas "modern day Nazis". 

"Hamas are modern day Nazis...they are the rulers of Gaza!" said Erdan at the emergency meeting of the UNSC. He added, "Just like in the rise of Nazism…the world is silent, deafeningly silent."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed what he terms a propaganda video released by the Hamas terror group which shows three hostages kidnapped by them criticising the government for the ongoing war.

The terror group had released a 76-second video which purportedly shows three Israeli ladies seated on plastic chairs and facing the camera.

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Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine said 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza are "enduring suffering that no human beings should endure," said Mansour during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Gaza.

"This resolution...must be immediately and fully implemented! If you voted in the General Assembly what is stopping, you from voting here?" said Mansour referring to the Jordan-led resolution passed in the UNGA last week which called for a "humanitarian truce" amid the ongoing war.  

He also called for an immediate ceasefire.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak fired a government aide after he called for a “permanent ceasefire” in Gaza amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. 

Last week, Bristow in the letter to Sunak said that a “permanent ceasefire” in Gaza would save lives and allow aid to reach those in need.

However, the UK government has previously supported the idea of “humanitarian pauses” but not backed calls for a complete ceasefire.

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The United States Vice President Kamala Harris will discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict and "consult on next steps in our support for Ukraine" with the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak during a visit to London later this week, said a White House official on Monday. 

The US VP is also expected to attend a summit and deliver a speech on artificial intelligence, reported Reuters. 

The United States does not back calls for ceasefire amid the ongoing conflict, said the White House, adding that humanitarian "pauses" in fighting to get aid into Gaza. 

"We do not believe that a ceasefire is the right answer right now," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. He added, "We do not support a ceasefire at this time."

He also said that he is "confident" about increasing the number of aid trucks getting into Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt to around 100 a day per day. 

"This first phase that we talked to the Israelis about is trying to get it up to about 100 a day", said Kirby, adding that around 45 trucks had entered yesterday. 

Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting, representative from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that they are running out of "essential supplies" in Gaza calling for a pause in the fighting on "humanitarian grounds." 

"We simply don’t have enough essential supplies to provide… at this scale… patients are laying on the floors and corridors and surgeons are operating without anesthesia," said Lisa Doughten, OCHA Representative. 

"We have very real fears about what lies ahead...pause the fighting on humanitarian grounds," she added. 

More than than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day, said Catherine Russell, executive director of the United Nations' children agency (UNICEF). 

"The true cost of this latest escalation will be measured in children’s lives lost to the violence and those forever changed by it," said Russell while speaking to the UN Security Council. 

The US State Department on Monday said that its last planned charter flight to help Americans depart Israel will leave Tuesday (Oct 31) from Tel Aviv.

This comes over weeks after the United States government began chartering flights from Tel Aviv to Athens, Greece to help Americans leave Israel amid its ongoing war. 

However, there are still other limited international commercial flights available from Tel Aviv, the State Department noted.

"It is purely a demand issue...We have consistently seen the demand for our charter flights go down," State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said saying only about 25 per cent of seats offered on US charter flights have been filled by Americans and relatives seeking to leave Israel.

During his televised remarks, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday accused the United States of being responsible for what he called "deadly chaos" unfolding in the Middle East.

"Who is organising the deadly chaos and who benefits from it today, in my opinion, has already become obvious... It is the current ruling elites of the US and their satellites who are the main beneficiaries of world instability," said the Russian president, as quoted by AFP. 

A female Israeli soldier was rescued from captivity in the Gaza Strip, said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) following an operation in the Palestinian militant group Hamas-run territory. 

The release of soldier Ori Megidish was "secured during a ground operation after being kidnapped by Hamas on October 7", the army said in a statement.

"The soldier was medically checked, is doing well, and has met with her family."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ceasefire amid the ongoing war in Gaza "will not happen" as it would amount to surrendering to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. 

He also called on other countries to help Israel in the struggle to free more than 230 hostages, including 33 children, kidnapped by Hamas during its October 7 attacks and said that the international community must demand the captives "be freed immediately, unconditionally".

"Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7," said Netanyahu. 

He added, "Calls for a ceasefire are a call for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. This will not happen," adding that Israel would "fight until this battle is won".