Israel-Hamas war highlights: Hamas delegation visiting Moscow, says Russian foreign ministry

Hamas on Thursday released a list of around 7,000 names of people in Gaza it said had been killed in Israeli strikes since its deadly cross border raids on October 7.

The list was produced a day after US President Joe Biden said he had "no confidence" in the militant group's death toll figures. Israel says 1,400 people were killed in the mass Hamas attacks on its territory.

The French foreign ministry says the number of French citizens who have been killed in Hamas's attacks on Israel has risen to 35, up from 31.

The ministry said nine nationals were still missing, with some of those being held hostage by Hamas.

"We are doing everything we can to secure their release," the ministry said in a statement.

It said they are in contact with all the families of the French people "who have disappeared or are being held hostage".

The foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and Morocco condemned on Thursday the targeting of civilians and violations of international law in Gaza by Israeli forces.

In a joint statement, the Arab nations reportedly said that Israel’s right to self-defense following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks did not justify breaking the law and neglecting Palestinians’ rights.

Israel's ambassador has also addressed the UN, telling the emergency General Assembly session that "Hamas are the new Nazis" and Israel is at "war with Hamas and Hamas alone".

Gilad Erdan goes on to list graphic details of some of the atrocities carried out on 7 October against Israeli civilians.

"No horror movie compares to the pure brutality Hamas carried out," Erdan says.

Addressing the emergency UN meeting in New York Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, called on world leaders to help "stop the bombs" in order to save the lives of civilians from Israeli air strikes.

"What choice do you make as a parent when there are only impossible choices. When death is everywhere, devastation is everywhere," he tells diplomats at the UN General Assembly.

He said Israel has destroyed over 40 per cent of homes in Gaza - which the UN said earlier this week - and made "an entire population homeless and displaced", accusing Israel of trying to "forcibly transfer" people out of Gaza.

Approximately 50 people held hostage in Gaza have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, according a spokesperson for Hamas's armed wing, Abu Obeida.

A delegation from Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that controls Gaza, is currently visiting Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a weekly briefing on Thursday, without providing any further details.

Russia’s state-run RIA news agency, quoting a source from the Palestinian delegation, said senior Hamas member Abu Marzook was among those visiting Moscow.

Moscow has repeatedly blamed the current crisis on the failure of US diplomacy, and called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the resumption of talks aimed at finding a peace settlement.

The French assault vessel Tonnerre was on Thursday heading to the eastern Mediterranean to support hospitals in Gaza that are struggling to cope with the high number of victims of Israeli air strikes as fuel and medical supplies run low.

President Emmanuel Macron said he was sending the helicopter carrier to help Gazans get access to medicines and care.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed the Western nations' response to Israel's counter operations in Gaza, saying that the West is not taking action because the "blood spilled is Muslims' blood".

"What happened to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?" he asked. "They [the West] won't look at it if it doesn't serve their purpose. Why? Because the blood being spilled is Muslim blood."

The Gaza health ministry n Thursday said that at least 7,028 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes since the militant group's October 7 attacks on Israel.

Around 2,913 children and 1,709 women are among the dead, marking the highest number of war fatalities in Gaza since Israel unilaterally withdrew from the territory in 2005.

A top Palestinian diplomat said that ceasefire was 'essential' for humanitarian aid to reach war torn Gaza. 

Israeli tanks took part in a “targeted raid” overnight in northern Gaza, the army said in a statement Thursday, as it prepared its forces for a ground invasion.

“Overnight, the IDF conducted a targeted raid using tanks in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of preparations for the next stages of combat,” the army said.

“The soldiers exited the area at the end of the activity.

The Palestinian Authority's foreign minister on Thursday called Israel's offensive in Gaza a "war of revenge", as he called for a ceasefire in the conflict.

"This time the war that Israel is waging is different. This time... it's a war of revenge," Riyad al-Maliki said in The Hague. "First we need to end this one-sided aggression and then we need to call for a ceasefire."

Malaysia is working with its partners to drag Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), confirmed its Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

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Israel launched a brief incursion into Gaza with tanks taking part in a "targeted raid" overnight in the northern part, the army said in a statement on Thursday (Oct 26). This comes amid Israel's preparation for a ground invasion. 

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US President Joe Biden told reporters Thursday that the progress on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) could be one of the many reasons Hamas launched attacks on Israel. 

Biden told reporters at a joint news conference with the visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that his analysis is based on his instinct and does not have any proof for this.

“I'm convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did, and I have no proof of this, just my instinct tells me, is because of the progress we were making towards regional integration for Israel, and regional integration overall. We can’t leave that work behind,” Biden said.

The @Eye.on.palestine account was blocked by Meta after it detected a hacking attempt on Wednesday (Oct 25). The account has more than six million followers on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

“These accounts were initially locked for security reasons after signs of compromise, and we’re working to make contact with the account owners to ensure they have access,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement. “We did not disable these accounts because of any content they were sharing,” it added.

To evade scrutiny by social media companies, Palestinian-focused creators are increasingly using "algospeak", reported the Washington Post.

It described "algospeak" as a collection of phrases, special spellings and code words that prevent their posts from being removed or suppressed by social media companies due to community guidelines.

Some are changing spellings of common Arabic and English words like “Palestine,” “genocide” and “Hamas” to evade detection.

The IDF is planning a three-phase operation in the Gaza Strip. In the first phase, which is already going on, intense air bombardment and aerial assault are employed to destroy Hamas’ infrastructure and neutralise terrorists. 

In the second phase, any remaining resistance within Gaza would be wiped off. And in the final phase, the IDF may look forward to creating a buffer zone around Gaza, leaving it totally dependent on the international community for essentials.

IDF is expected to pound Gaza with US-made GBU-28 “bunker busting” bombs to hit the tunnel infrastructure. 

The ground operation will surely result in the destruction of several Gazan districts and civilian casualties in thousands.

Read the detailed report here.

As the war grinds on between Israel and Hamas, one should not forget the decades-old “alliance” between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Gaza-based terrorist organisation.

The basis of this collaboration of more than a decade was their shared hatred for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Read this detailed report here.

Palestinian journalist Duaa Sharaf and her child were allegedly killed early Thursday after Israeli jets bombed her house in Gaza, claimed Al Jazeera.

In a Telegram post, Voice of Al-Aqsa Radio confirmed that Sharaf was no more, who was a presenter at the station. As per unverified claims by Hamas, at least 22 journalists have been killed in Israeli raids since Oct 7 assault by Hamas terrorists.

Disclaimer: WION can't verify these claims independently. 

While Israeli soldiers have had entered Gazan territory in the past to conduct military operations, it is the first time that tanks have been used.

Israeli overnight raids are believed to have killed a number of Hamas fighters and damaged a significant amount of infrastructure.

This operation could be a prelude to the ground invasion that IDF has been preparing for days now. However, Israel is also facing pressure from US regarding ensuring safety of hostages as it prepares to escalate the situation.

Some families in Gaza are now wearing ID bracelets to avoid burial in mass graves, while hoping that their dead bodies will be recovered if they are killed.

This comes as Palestinians in Gaza bury the unidentified dead in mass graves, with a number instead of a name, residents say.

Some, cited by Reuters, have also decided to divide their families to prevent from being killed in a single strike.

North Korea's foreign ministry has accused Israel of bombing Ahli al-Arabi Hospital earlier this month. It said that the blast was a war crime committed "under the undisguised patronage of the United States".

In a statement carried on state-run news agency KCNA, a ministry spokesman blamed the United States for "giving Israel a green light to massacre Palestinians without any worries" by supplying the warring nation with weapons and military support, including deploying aircraft carriers in the Middle East.

"This shows that the US is an accomplice who connived at and fostered Israel's genocide."

However, the foreign ministry statement did not give any evidence to support the comments.

The Israeli army carried out a "targeted raid" overnight in northern Gaza with tanks and infantry, it said in a statement Thursday, as it prepared its forces for a ground invasion.

"Overnight, the IDF conducted a targeted raid using tanks in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of preparations for the next stages of combat," the army said in a statement.

"The soldiers exited the area at the end of the activity."

US President Joe Biden said he believes Israel has the rights to defend its citizens while protecting innocent civilians in Gaza who are victims of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

"Israel has to do everything in its power, as difficult as it is, to protect innocent civilians," he said during a press conference as part of a White House visit by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The US President also said he had "no notion" that the Palestinians were telling the truth about how many had been killed. 

"I'm sure innocents have been killed, and it's the price of waging a war."

Biden also expressed concern about "extremist settlers" attacking Palestinians in the West Bank, accusing them of adding fuel to fire.

"They're attacking Palestinians in places that they're entitled to be," he said.

Over 20 Chilean artists performed on Wednesday in a charity concert to raise funds to aid Palestinians living in Gaza and Cisjordania.

It was called the "Chile sings to Palestine against all kind of violence" concert, and it was organised by the Palestinian community. The concert gathered dozens in the capital city of Santiago. Ticket prices started at 5 dollars.

"All the money will be sent to hospitals and humanitarian aid to Gaza, which has been too battered. It’s the biggest genocide seen this century committed by Israel," a concert goer told Reuters.

The ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, has led to a significant decline in flight bookings to the West Asia. A Reuters report cited recent data compiled by travel analysis firm ForwardKeys, which revealed that the repercussions of this conflict are being felt far beyond Israel's borders, affecting countries like Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. 

Read more here

During a nationally televised address on Wednesday, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is readying a ground war in Gaza.

Even as Israel faces ever-louder international calls to temper Israel's ferocious 19-day bombing campaign in the Hamas-controlled territory, Netanyahu has announced plans to press ahead with moves that have troubled allies and threaten to worsen an already cascading humanitarian crisis. 

Addressing fellow Israelis that are still grieving and angry after Hamas's bloody attacks, he said: "We are in the midst of a campaign for our existence", while insisting Israel will decide how the war is prosecuted."

The PM, while boasting of "raining down hellfire on Hamas" and killing "thousands of terrorists", said his war cabinet and the military would determine the timing of a "ground offensive" to "eliminate Hamas" and "bring our captives home."

However, he said "I will not detail when, how or how many."

Read here: 

Iran’s elite Quds Force trained 500 Hamas terrorists before Oct 7 attack: Report

More than 114 million people are believed to be displaced due to the war raging across the world, as per a United Nations' refugee agency report. The report was put together before the war erupted in Israel and Gaza this month.
 

Arab group of diplomats stood in firm support for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after Israeli officials expressed outrage over his remarks that the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel “did not happen in a vacuum.” Israel had said that these comments were equated to a justification for terrorism.
 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council, "Where wars rage, women suffer. Where authoritarianism and insecurity reign, women and girls’ rights are threatened. We see this around the world."

Guterres added, "far too many women’s organizations struggle to fund their essential work, as military spending soars; Far too many perpetrators of sexual violence walk free; And far too many peace processes exclude women.” 

Read here: 'It is time...': Israel urges India to designate Hamas as terrorist organisation

Israeli and US authorities have intensified their financial hunt into Hamas in recent days as they track illicit funds via cryptocurrencies, as per an AFP report. 
 

Ambassador of Israel to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan at the UNSC meet on Wednesday said that Hamas has perpetrated the most barbaric massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

"...If this other resolution truly focused on the humanitarian situation as it was presented. The over 220 hostages being held by Hamas would not be a general signed note at the very end of the resolution. It would be the first demand. The hostages held by Hamas must be the top humanitarian priority of the international community. Their well-being should come before aiding the supporters of the terrorists who abducted them. Despite the wording of the Russian resolution, there can never be any false, immoral comparisons between the Hamas savages and the law-abiding democracy of Israel. Israel is fighting sheer evil, and this should be crystal clear to every person in this room... Hamas is solely responsible for the Palestinian situation in Gaza. Hamas is committing crimes against humanity...," the envoy added. 
 

Colombia loads a plane with a ton of humanitarian aid to be sent to Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. Colombia's Ambassador to Algeria said that the military plane will have a stop in Israel before its return to "bring about a hundred Colombian nationals back to Colombia".
 

According to reports quoting people familiar with intel, hundreds of the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas' fighters received specialised combat training in Iran. 
 

Two people were being treated for glass and shrapnel injuries overnight Wednesday after a rocket fired from Gaza hit a residential building in Israel, said the Israeli Magen David Adom ambulance service, according to Reuters. 

In a statement, the ambulance service said a rocket struck the central Israeli city of Rishon Letzion, south of Tel Aviv. 

In an update to the "Red Alert sirens across Central Israel" the ambulance service said that their EMTs and paramedics are treating and evacuating four casualties, "all in mild condition 2 in Rishon Letzion and 2 in Petach Tikva". 

Representative Mike Johnson, a Republican from the US state of Louisiana secured the gavel and became the new Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, on Wednesday (Oct 25), ending weeks of chaos in Congress and GOP infighting. 

His first action as leader of lower chamber of US Congress was a resolution supporting Israel.

"The first bill I'm going to bring to this floor in a little while will be in support of our dear friend Israel and we are overdue in getting that done," Johnson had said in his acceptance speech. 

The House backed the resolution entitled "Standing with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists," which received a near-unanimous vote of 412 lawmakers with 10 Democrats in opposition and six members voting "present," reflecting traditional strong support in Congress for the Israel. 

Click here to read more about new Speaker of the US House

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday warned the Israel-Hamas war could spread well beyond the Middle East, and it was wrong that innocent women, children and old people in Gaza were being punished for other people's crimes.

"Our task today, our main task, is to stop the bloodshed and violence," said Putin during a Kremlin meeting with Russian religious leaders of different faith, according to a Kremlin transcript of the meeting.

He added, "Otherwise, further escalation of the crisis is fraught with grave and extremely dangerous and destructive consequences. And not only for the Middle East region. It could spill over far beyond the borders of the Middle East." 

In a supposed criticism of the West he also said that certain unnamed forces were seeking to provoke further escalation.

He also conveyed his condolences to the families of Israelis and citizens of other countries who were killed or wounded by Hamas during its October 7 attack. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that its air defense systems intercepted a surface-to-air missile launched from Lebanon at an Israeli military drone.

The Israeli military said that it responded by striking the source of the launch and the drone was apparently not damaged in the attempt.

United States President Joe Biden said that while it Israel has a right to defend itself, it must do everything to protect civilians. "Israel has a right, and I would add responsibility, to respond to the slaughter of its people," Biden told reporters at the White House. 

He also went on to accuse Hamas of "hiding behind" Palestinian civilians, as Israel bombards the territory, but said Israel must follow the "laws of war."

The US president also called for an immediate end to Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. That's pouring gasoline on the fire," he said. "They're attacking Palestinians in places that they're entitled, and...it has to stop now."

The UNSC also failed to adopt the Russian-led resolution calling for a "humanitarian ceasefire" and unhindered aid into Gaza due to insufficient votes in favour of the proposal. 

Here's what happened: 

4 countries in favour: China, Gabon, Russia, and United Arab Emirates

2 voted against: United Kingdom and United States

9 countries abstained: Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland. 

The United States-led Security Council resolution calling for “humanitarian pauses” and safe passage of relief into Gaza was rejected after two permanent members of the council voted against Washington's proposal. 

Here's what happened: 

10 countries voted in favour: Albania, France, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

3 countries voted against: Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates

2 countries abstained: Brazil and Mozambique

The United Nations Security Council is currently in the midst of voting on rival proposals by the United States and Russia for action on the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Both countries have sought UNSC resolutions to address shortages of food, water, medical supplies and electricity in Gaza. However, US has called  for pauses to allow aid to enter Gaza, while Russia wants a humanitarian ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that he would "have to give answers" for security lapses exposed after Palestinian militant group Hamas' attacks on October 7. 

"We will examine in detail, we will get to the bottom of it," said Netanyahu, who has come under fire after Gaza militants breached Israeli border defences.

"The fault will be examined and everyone will have to give answers, including me. But all this will happen later," said Netanyahu, in a televised address. 

He added, "As prime minister I am responsible for securing the future of the country." Israel says 1,400 people, most of whom civilians, died in the attacks.