Israel-Hamas war, Day 15 updates | Hezbollah official says his group already ‘is in the heart’ of Israel-Hamas war

The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron the importance of de-escalation in the Israel-Hamas war, the Saudi state news agency SPA said late on Friday.

During the call, Prince Mohammed bin Salman said it is important to “ensure violence does not expand to avoid dangerous repercussions on security and stability,” it said, adding the crown prince stressed the kingdom’s rejection of targeting civilians in any way and importance of adhering to international humanitarian law.

Reuters

Hamas on Friday freed an American woman and her teenage daughter who had been held hostage in Gaza, Israel said, the first such release from among the roughly 200 people the militant group abducted from Israel during its Oct. 7 rampage.

Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie were out of the Gaza Strip and in the hands of the Israeli military, an army spokesman said. Hamas said it released them for humanitarian reasons in an agreement with the Qatari government.

The release comes amid growing expectations of a ground offensive that Israel says is aimed at rooting out Hamas militants who rule Gaza. Israel said Friday it does not plan to take long-term control over the tiny territory, home to some 2.3 million people.

AP

A suicide drone hit an airbase in Iraq hosting US troops on Saturday, Iraqi security sources said, but the Pentagon said it could not confirm that such an attack took place.

Armed factions close to Iran have threatened to attack US interests in Iraq over Washington’s support for Israel since Hamas militants killed more than 1,400 people in a shock cross-border attack from Gaza on October 7.

Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 4,300 people, according to its Hamas-controlled health ministry.

“The drone came down inside the (Ain al-Assad) base” in the western province of Anbar, without causing any casualties or damage, a military source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

AFP

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Saturday that he was talking to the Israelis, when asked whether he his encouraging them to delay an invasion of Gaza.

“I’m talking to the Israelis,” Biden told reporters.

Reuters

Israel’s Ministry of Health instructed a number of hospitals to temporarily disconnect their systems from the internet amid fears of a cyberattack, the ministry announced on Saturday night.

“In the effort to elevate the economy’s resilience, the National Cyber Directorate and the Health Ministry are acting to strengthen hospitals against attacks and are examining every suspicion,” the ministry’s statement said.

“As part of this effort, we are conducting self-initiated actions such as temporarily severing the internet connection. At this stage, this does not influence the hospitals’ ability to function, and patients were treated as usual.”

The statement did not indicate that the measures were in response to a current attack or any specific threats.

ANI

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it has detected 550 failed rocket launches and misfires since the beginning of the Gaza war, the military announced on Saturday night.

“The terrorist organisation Hamas uses the residents of the Gaza Strip as human shields and fires from civilian infrastructure. Since the beginning of the fighting, the IDF has detected about 550 failed launches fired from the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said.

The military also released footage of rocket barrages being launched from Gaza, in which several rockets could be seen crashing into the Strip.

ANI

The organiser of the Web Summit, one of the tech sector’s leading events, announced his resignation Saturday following a backlash over his online posts following the Hamas attacks on Israel.

“Unfortunately, my personal comments have become a distraction from the event,” Paddy Cosgrave of Ireland explained in a brief statement sent to AFP.

“I sincerely apologise again for any hurt I have caused,” added the co-founder of the tech mega gathering created in 2009 in Dublin but held in Lisbon since 2016.

A spokesperson for the organisation said: “Web Summit will appoint a new CEO as soon as possible, and Web Summit 2023 in Lisbon will go ahead as planned.”

AFP

A top official with Hezbollah vowed that Israel will pay a high price whenever it starts a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and said Saturday that his militant group based in Lebanon already is “in the heart of the battle.”

The comments by Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, came as Israel shelled and made drone strikes in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah fired rockets and missiles toward Israel. Hezbollah said six of its fighters were killed Saturday, the highest daily toll since the violence began two weeks ago.

For Hezbollah, heating up the Lebanon-Israel border has a clear purpose, Kassem said: “We are trying to weaken the Israeli enemy and let them know that we are ready.” Hamas officials have said that if Israel starts a ground offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah will join the fighting.

AP

The only thing worse than the screams of a patient undergoing surgery without enough anesthesia are the terror-stricken faces of those awaiting their turn, a 51-year-old orthopedic surgeon says.

“We have a shortage of everything, and we are dealing with very complex surgeries,” Abed, who works with Doctors Without Borders, told The Associated Press from Al Quds Hospital. The medical center is still treating hundreds of patients in defiance of an evacuation order the Israeli military gave Friday. Some 10,000 Palestinians displaced by the bombing have also taken refuge in the hospital compound.

“These people are all terrified, and so am I,” the surgeon said. “But there is no way we’ll evacuate.”

Across the territory’s hospitals, ingenuity is being put to the test. Abed used household vinegar from the corner store as disinfectant until the stores ran out, he said. Too many doctors had the same idea. Now, he cleans wounds with a mixture of saline and the polluted water that trickles from taps because Israel cut off the water.

AP

Israel on Saturday described as “propaganda” a claim by Hamas that the militant group had wanted to release two more hostages on humanitarian grounds but that Israel declined to receive them.

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, said it informed Qatar of the group’s intention to release the two additional people on Friday, the same day it freed Americans Judith Tai Ranaan and her daughter Natalie.

In a later statement, Abu Ubaida said Hamas was ready to free the two people on Sunday “using the same procedures” involved in the release of Judith and Natalie.

Reuters

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday that Canada would continue to work with Qatar to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, after two American civilians were released a day before.

The Islamist group Hamas released two U.S. hostages on Friday, mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan, who were kidnapped in its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Trudeau thanked Qatar for its assistance on the hostage release in a post on social media platform X.

Reuters

Casualties were reported along the Israel-Lebanon border Saturday as the army traded fire with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah amid fears of a new front opening as Israel battles Hamas.

In south Lebanon, Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah said four of its fighters were killed. Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said one of its fighters was also killed.

In northern Israel, a strike in the Margaliot area of the border wounded two Thai farm workers, Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service said.

One was wounded in the chest, the other sustained a limb injury, the service said.

There are around 30,000 Thai labourers in Israel, many working in the agricultural sector.

AFP

Four fighters from the Lebanese group Hezbollah were killed along the border with Israel on Saturday, the Iran-backed group said, taking to 17 the number of its members it says have died during two weeks of escalating violence in the frontier region.

A security source in Lebanon said one of the fighters was killed in the Lebanese area of Hula, opposite the Israeli community of Margaliot, which Israel said was the target of an anti-tank missile attack. The Israeli army said it fired back.

Hezbollah later said three other members were killed on Saturday, without providing details. Israel said its soldiers struck a cell attempting to launch anti-tank missiles toward the area of Shlomi, an Israeli town some 70 kilometres (44 miles) from Margaliot.

The Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, which also has a presence in southern Lebanon, separately said one of its members was killed in Saturday’s fighting.

Reuters

A spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas said on Saturday the group intended to release two more hostages for “humanitarian reasons”, but that Israel had declined to receive them.

Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, said in a brief statement said that it informed Qatar on Friday of Hamas’ intention to release the two people.

Reuters

The management of a Kerala-based private apparel firm that has been supplying uniforms for Israel’s police force for the past several years has decided not to take up any new orders until the war in Gaza is stopped.

News about the horrifying killings, continuing bloodshed, the bombing of hospitals and the never-ending scenes of hardships of innocent people forced Maryan Apparel Pvt Limited here to put a temporary freeze on new orders from the Israel police force.

Thomas Olickal, who runs Maryan Apparel, said the firm had not thought of making any change in their business plan even after the war broke out in the West Asia region early this month but took the decision after seeing the suffering inflicted on the civilian population in Gaza.

“We have been making uniforms for the Israel police since 2015. The Hamas attack, killing civilians cannot be accepted. Similarly, the revenge by Israel also cannot be accepted,” Olickal said in a video message announcing the decision.

PTI

Paddy Cosgrave, the chief executive officer of a prominent European tech conference called Web Summit, resigned from his role on Saturday amid backlash for his public statements that suggested Israel was committing war crimes.

A spokesperson for Web Summit, which organizes one of the world’s largest tech conferences every year, said in an e-mailed statement sent to The Associated Press that it will appoint a new CEO, and the conference will go ahead next month in Lisbon as planned.

Cosgrave, the Irish entrepreneur who is also founder of Web Summit, said in a statement Saturday that his personal comments “have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend.”

“I sincerely apologise again for any hurt I have caused,” he said.

AP

The United Nations is hoping a second convoy of trucks will be sent into Gaza on Sunday under a light inspection system that will allow relief deliveries to scale up into next week, its humanitarian chief said.

“I’ve been hearing this afternoon - but we’re in negotiation on it right now - that we may get another convoy tomorrow, maybe even slightly bigger, 20 to 30 trucks,” U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said in an interview on the sidelines of a conference about Gaza in Cairo.

“It’s incredibly important that there is no gap in the aid going across the border,” he said. The U.N. says 100 trucks daily are needed to meet essential needs in Gaza, where Israel has imposed a “total siege” as it bombards the enclave in retaliation for a deadly incursion by Hamas militants.

Reuters

President Joe Biden is trying to sweeten his pitch for more money for Ukraine by mixing in billions of dollars for securing the U.S.-Mexico border in the hope that it will bring more Republicans on board.

“The border has never been a money issue,” said Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas. “It has always been a policy issue. So we need to get in a room, go to the White House and sort that out.”

The funding request is an attempt not only to manage people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, but also to deal with the growing numbers of migrants who are already here, waiting for their cases to play out.

AP

Russia intends to hold another UN Security Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the war between Israel and militant group Hamas, Russia’s deputy UN envoy said Saturday.

Russia convened a meeting on the war on Monday but its ceasefire resolution failed due to opposition from four council members including the US, which criticised its draft for not mentioning Hamas.

“We will definitely convene a new meeting of the Security Council. As practice has shown, no one but us dares to do so,” Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

He did not say when Russia, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, would hold the meeting.

“Regarding a resolution, I don’t know how fast we’ll get to the next stage of trying to pass a resolution,” he added.

AFP

Israel’s military spokesman said Israel plans to step up its attacks on the Gaza Strip starting on Saturday as preparation for the next stage of its war on Hamas.

Asked about a possible ground invasion into Gaza, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Saturday night that the military was trying to create optimal conditions beforehand.

“We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks, from today,” Hagari said.

He repeated his call for residents of Gaza City to head south for their safety.

AP

Hinduism respects all sects and India has never seen strifes on issues like the one that has led to the ongoing Hamas-Israel war, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Saturday. He was speaking at a programme organised at a school here to mark 350 years of the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

“In this country, there is a religion, culture that respects all sects and faiths. That religion in Hinduism. This is a country of Hindus. That does not mean we reject all other (religions). Once you say Hindu, it is not needed to be told that Muslims too were protected. Only Hindus do this. Only India does this. Others have not done this,” Bhagwat said.

“Everywhere else, strifes are underway. You must have heard of the war in Ukraine, Hamas-Israel war. In our country, there were never wars on such issues. The invasion during Shivaji Maharaj’s times was of that kind. But we never fought battles on this issue with anybody. That is why we are Hindus,” he told the audience.

PTI

The Israeli Police announced on Saturday that 765 civilians killed in Hamas’ October 7 assault on Gaza-area communities have been identified.

“The 765 victims represent 74 per cent of civilians killed in the fighting whose bodies have been brought for identification,” the police statement said.

Around 300 soldiers were also killed defending Israel’s southern communities.

“Thousands of police have been working shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and are taking part in the tough work of identification,” police said.

ANI

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen said on Saturday a Jewish organization in New York City cancelled a reading he was due to give on Friday without explanation, a day after he said he signed an open letter condemning Israel’s “indiscriminate violence” against Palestinians in Gaza.

Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American professor and writer whose novel “The Sympathizer” won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was scheduled to speak at the 92nd Street Y literary center’s Christopher Lightfoot Walker Reading Series event in Manhattan at 8 p.m.

Writing on Instagram, Nguyen said he learned at 3 p.m. that the event had been canceled by the 92NY. The center describes itself on its website as “a proudly Jewish organization.”

“Their language was ‘postponement,’ but no reason was given, no other date was offered, and I was never asked,” Nguyen wrote. “So, in effect, cancellation. Some people in social media comments say they heard it was a bomb threat. I’ve heard no such thing from 92Y staff.”

In a statement to Reuters, a spokesperson for 92NY confirmed it postponed the event, citing Nguyen’s stance on Israel as well as the Oct. 7 attack by militants of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and continued holding of hostages, which it said “has absolutely devastated the community.”

Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati it was important to respect the interests of his people, who would be affected if the country were drawn into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the State Department said on Saturday.

Spokesperson Matthew Miller said the call took place on Friday. Blinken also affirmed U.S. support for the Lebanese people and noted growing concern over rising tensions along Lebanon’s southern border, Miller said in a statement.

Reuters

Qatar, a key power in the efforts to release hostages seized by Hamas from Israel, believes they can be released “very soon” thanks to ongoing discussions, a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman told the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper Saturday.

Doha’s mediation played a key role in the release on Friday evening of two American hostages who had been held since the Palestinian militant group’s attack against Israel on October 7, with the Gulf state adding that it was in talks with Israel and Hamas.

“I can’t promise you this will happen today or tomorrow or after tomorrow. But we are taking a path that will very soon lead to release of the hostages, especially civilians,” Majed Al-Ansari said.

“We are currently working on an agreement under which all civilian hostages will be initially released,” he added.

AFP

The first aid trucks arrived in war-torn Gaza from Egypt on Saturday, bringing urgent humanitarian relief to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave suffering what the UN chief labelled a “godawful nightmare”.

AFP journalists on Saturday saw 20 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is responsible for delivering aid from various UN agencies, pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza.

The crossing -- the only one into Gaza not controlled by Israel -- closed again after the trucks passed.

The lorries had been waiting for days on the Egyptian side after Israel agreed to a request from its main ally the United States to allow aid to enter.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the 20 trucks admitted so far fell far short of the needs of Gazans, more than one million of whom have been forced from their homes.

“Much more” aid needs to be sent, Guterres told a peace summit in Egypt on Saturday.

A top official with Hezbollah vowed that Israel will pay a high price whenever it starts a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and said Saturday that his militant group based in Lebanon already is “in the heart of the battle.”

The comments by Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, came as Israel shelled and made drone strikes in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah fired rockets and missiles toward Israel.

For Hezbollah, heating up the Lebanon-Israel border has a clear purpose, Kassem said: “We are trying to weaken the Israeli enemy and let them know that we are ready.” Hamas officials have said that if Israel starts a ground offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah will join the fighting. - AP

People searched for neighbours buried under the rubble of a house in central Gaza that was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday. Witnesses said 12 people in one household died in the strike and five others were believed to be trapped.

People clambered on slabs of concrete and twisted metal looking for survivors. A woman in a bloodstained headscarf was helped out of the wreckage.

Men carried a body on a stretcher to an ambulance, and another man ran, carrying the limp body of a small child. Others helped lead away shocked-looking people covered in dust, including a boy with a bloody face.

The house was some 200 meters (yards) from the Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. - AP

A senior Israel Defense Forces official says the military will try not to strike zones in Gaza where humanitarian aid is being distributed, unless rockets are fired from the area.

“It’s a safe zone. We have a system which every time we decide that an area … is a safe zone, we declare no attack in this area. We won’t attack them,” he told a group of foreign journalists.

He added that the definition of what constitutes a “legitimate target” has changed, because the use of civilian infrastructure by Hamas “turns a private home into a legitimate target. And anyone who supports that home is a legitimate target.”

He acknowledged that the IDF has attacked houses where there are civilians living among militants.

— AP

The United States on Saturday welcomed the arrival of aid trucks from Egypt in the war-torn Gaza Strip, and urged all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged “all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open to enable the continued movement of aid that is imperative to the welfare of the people of Gaza,” according to a statement.

AFP journalists on Saturday saw 20 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is responsible for delivering aid from various UN agencies, pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza.

“We have been clear: Hamas must not interfere with the provision of this life-saving assistance,” Mr. Blinken said. “Palestinian civilians are not responsible for Hamas’s horrific terrorism, and they should not be made to suffer for its depraved acts.”

The opening of the supply route came after days of intense negotiations and an agreement reached by U.S. President Joe Biden with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during Mr. Biden’s visit to Israel earlier this week.

Saturday’s was the first such delivery since the war broke out two weeks ago between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist militant movement which rules the Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million people. - AFP

Gaza’s children are showing ever more signs of trauma two weeks into Israel’s intense bombardment, parents and psychiatrists in the tiny, crowded enclave say, with no safe place to hide from the falling bombs and little prospect of respite.

Children make up about half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, living under near constant bombardment with many packed into temporary shelters in U.N.-run schools after fleeing their homes with little food or clean water.

“Children ... have started to develop serious trauma symptoms such as convulsions, bed-wetting, fear, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, and not leaving their parents’ sides,” said Gaza psychiatrist Fadel Abu Heen. - Reuters

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in London and other cities on Saturday to demand Israel stop its bombardment of Gaza, as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third week and its ripples spread around the globe.

On the day a trickle of aid entered Gaza, where more than 1 million people have had to leave their homes because of the conflict, protesters gathered in the rain at Marble Arch near London’s Hyde Park before marching to the government district, Whitehall.

Waving Palestinian flags, participants called for an end to Israel’s blockade and airstrikes launched in the wake of a brutal incursion into southern Israel by the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza.

British authorities have urged demonstrators to be mindful of the pain and anxiety felt by the Jewish community. London’s Metropolitan Police force says it has seen a 13-fold upsurge in reports of antisemitic offenses in October compared to last year. Reports of anti-Muslim crimes have more than doubled.

Police said there wer “pockets of disorder and some instances of hate speech” during protests, but “the majority of the protest activity has been lawful and has taken place without incident.”

In Australia, thousands marched through central Sydney on Saturday, shouting “Shame, shame Israel” and “Palestine will never die.” - AP

Israeli aircraft and soldiers on Saturday targeted militants who had fired rockets and anti-tank missiles near the border with Lebanon, the military said.

“Hits were identified during both strikes,” the military said. Soldiers were responding to a third round of missiles, it added. - Reuters

A two-truck U.N. convoy that entered Gaza from Egypt is carrying over 44,000 bottles of drinking water from the U.N. children’s agency - a day’s supply for 22,000 people, according to UNICEF.

“This first, limited water will save lives, but the needs are immediate and immense,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said.

The agency said it has supplies for up to 250,000 people at the Rafah crossing that can be brought into Gaza in a matter of hours. - AP

Iraq’s prime minister warned Saturday that if the war between Israel and Hamas spreads to other countries in the region it will affect the flow of oil to international markets.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani was apparently referring to Iran-backed militias that have started launching attacks against U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria and have warned they will step in if Hamas is threatened.

Al-Sudani told an international summit held in Egypt that Baghdad rejects the emptying of the Gaza Strip because “the Palestinians have no other place but their land.”

He called for an immediate cease-fire and an exchange of prisoners to end the current conflict.

Al-Sudani said that the situation would not have reached this point had U.N. Security Council resolutions been respected, an apparent reference to Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank.

Al-Sudani warned that the current conflict “will impact global security, escalate regional conflict, jeopardize energy supplies, exacerbate economic crises, and invite further conflicts.” - AP

The death toll in Gaza rose to 4,385 dead with 13,651 injured since the conflict between Hamas and Israel escalated on Oct. 7, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The dead include 1,756 children and 976 women, the health ministry added. - Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Saturday that he rejected “attempts at forced displacement” of the people of Gaza by Israel.

The summit is being held in Egypt as Israel prepares a ground assault on Gaza following Hamas’ attack that killed 1,400 people. More than 4,100 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s counteroffensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, amid a growing humanitarian crisis.

- Reuters

South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech at the Cairo Peace Summit on Saturday that countries should refrain from supplying weapons to either side of the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

He also said the use of force and bombing of the Gaza strip by Israel violated international law.

“We hold the firm view that the attack on civilians in Israel, the ongoing siege of Gaza and the decision to forcibly move the people of Gaza, together with the indiscriminate use of force through bombing, are violations of international law,” he said in a speech shared by the presidency in its official WhatsApp group.

- Reuters

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday urged a “humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas and called for global “action to end this godawful nightmare”.

The war has left thousands dead and displaced a million Palestinians, who Guterres said need “much more” than the 20 trucks that were entering the besieged territory of 2.4 million people.

The Palestinians need “a continuous delivery of aid to Gaza at the scale that is needed”, he told regional leaders at Cairo’s “Summit for Peace”.

- AFP

Arab leaders condemned Israel’s two-week-old bombardment of Gaza on Saturday and demanded renewed efforts to reach a Middle East peace settlement to end a decades-long cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Speaking at a hastily convened gathering dubbed the Cairo Peace Summit, Jordan’s King Abdullah denounced what he termed global silence about Israel’s attacks on the enclave and urged an even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

“The message the Arab world is hearing is that Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli ones,” he said, adding he was outraged and grieved by acts of violence waged against innocent civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.

“The Israeli leadership must realise once and for all that a state can never thrive if it is built on a foundation of injustice ... Our message to the Israelis should be that we want a future of peace and security for you and the Palestinians.”

- Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said “we won’t leave, we will remain on our land” during his opening speech at the Cairo Peace Summit on Saturday.

The summit is being held in Egypt as Israel prepares a ground assault on Gaza following Hamas’ attack that killed 1,400 people. More than 4,100 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s counteroffensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, amid a growing humanitarian crisis.

- Reuters

The Israeli government has ordered cryptocurrency wallets associated with the Hamas militant group to be frozen in order to cut off their blockchain-based funds, reported analytics platform Elliptic on Tuesday, citing a Hebrew language news source.

Read more here...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed the arrival of trucks carrying humanitarian aid in the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, marking the first delivery of relief goods since the start of the war.

“It is good and important news that the first humanitarian aid is now being delivered to the people in Gaza,” Scholz said on X, formerly Twitter, adding that Germany would work “through all channels to alleviate the suffering in this conflict.”

- AFP

The first convoy carrying aid into the besieged Gaza Strip Saturday “must not be the last”, the UN humanitarian chief said as trucks loaded with supplies entered the war-torn enclave.

“I am confident that this delivery will be the start of a sustainable effort to provide essential supplies... to the people of Gaza,” said Martin Griffiths after 20 trucks crossed from Egypt into Gaza.

“This first convoy must not be the last,” he warned.

- AFP

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday led a protest by her party against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and said its consequences can be very grave for the world in the coming times.

Mufti and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) activists gathered at the party headquarters near Sher-e-Kashmir Park here and tried to march towards the Lal Chowk city centre but were stopped by a posse of policemen near the General Post Office (GPO).

The protesters raised slogans against Israel while Mufti was seen carrying the Palestinian flag.

Speaking to reporters, Mufti said about 1,500 children and thousands of other innocents have been killed in Palestine so far but the whole world is watching as a mute spectator.

“When 500 children were killed in two years in Ukraine, the whole world cried, but today no one is speaking up,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.

Mufti said the conflict could increase terrorism around the world.

“There is oppression in Palestine, supply of food, water and medicines has been stopped, and people are being bombarded. Israel is doing to Palestine what was done to the Jews in the holocaust and its consequences can be very grave in the coming times.

- PTI

At least 13 Palestinians were killed on Saturday from an airstrike in Gaza’s Deir El Balah neighborood, Hamas’ Al Shehab news agency reported.

The incident happened over a single residential unit, Al Shehab said.

- Reuters

Hamas’ media office issued a statement on Saturday saying that expected truckloads of aid ‘will not change the catastrophic medical conditions in Gaza’.

Earlier on Saturday, Egyptian State TV showed footage of Egypt opening its border with the Gaza Strip at the Rafah crossing point, where at least 20 trucks of aid are expected to cross through the border, Hamas’ media office said.

- Reuters

The management of a Kerala-based private apparel firm that has been supplying uniforms for Israel’s police force for the past several years has decided not to take up any new orders until the war in Gaza is stopped.

News about the horrifying killings, continuing bloodshed, the bombing of hospitals and the never-ending scenes of hardships of innocent people forced Maryan Apparel Pvt Limited here to put a temporary freeze on new orders from the Israel police force.

Thomas Olickal, who runs Maryan Apparel, said the firm had not thought of making any change in their business plan even after the war broke out in the West Asia region early this month but took the decision after seeing the suffering inflicted on the civilian population in Gaza.

“We have been making uniforms for the Israel police since 2015. The Hamas attack, killing civilians cannot be accepted. Similarly, the revenge by Israel also cannot be accepted,” Olickal said in a video message announcing the decision.

Maryan Apparel in the district makes the light blue, long-sleeve uniform shirts of the Israel Police Expressing deep concern over the present situation in Gaza, he said denying food and water to over 25 lakh people, bombing hospitals, killing innocent women and children is unacceptable.

“We want the war to end and peace to prevail,” he said The businessman said his firm will honour the existing contracts as per the international agreement but has decided not to accept any new orders until the war ends.

“We request everyone to stop the war. The Israel police force will not be short of uniforms because of our decision. But this a moral decision. Bombing of the hospitals cannot be accepted... We have decided not to take further orders temporarily,” he added.

- PTI

The border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened on Saturday to let desperately needed aid flow to Palestinians running short of food, medicine and water in the territory that is under an Israeli siege.

More than 200 trucks carrying roughly 3,000 tons of aid had been positioned near the crossing for days before heading into Gaza.

-AP

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Saturday at least 17 of its staff had been killed in the Gaza war, warning that the death toll would likely rise.

“To date, 17 of our colleagues have been confirmed killed in this vicious war. Very sadly, the actual numbers are likely to be higher,” UNRWA said in a statement.

- AFP

Israel calls on its citizens to immediately leave Egypt and Jordan, the national security council said Saturday as regional tensions flared over the war in Gaza.

“Israel’s National Security Council raises its travel warnings for Egypt (including Sinai) and Jordan to level 4 (high threat): recommendation not to travel to these countries and for those staying there to leave... as soon as possible,” the council said in a statement.

-AFP

Thousands took part in a pro-Palestinian march in Australia’s biggest city, Sydney, on Saturday. Rallies were also scheduled on Saturday in state capitals Brisbane, Perth and Hobart.

-Reuters

Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by phone to discuss the “latest situation resulting from the ongoing brutalities of Israeli occupation forces against innocent Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” a Pakistani government statement said Saturday.

Mr. Kakar expressed Pakistan’s strong condemnation of the Israeli strikes on Gaza, the statement added. Kakar described the Israeli strikes on Gaza “as deplorable and willful acts of Israeli aggression against innocent Palestinians.” Both leaders emphasized the need for the international community “to urge Israel to immediately halt the bloodshed,” it added.

The two sides agreed on the necessity of lifting the blockade on Gaza to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and medical assistance to affected people. Pakistan dispatched its first batch of assistance to Palestinian people on a plane that landed in Egypt on Friday.

-AP

The U.S. Embassy in Israel said the Gaza-Egypt border may open on Saturday, suggesting that such a move would enable foreigners to leave the besieged Palestinian enclave.

In a social media post, the embassy said it had “received info” that the Rafah crossing would open at 10 a.m. (0700GMT). “We do not know how long it will remain open for foreign citizens to depart Gaza,” it added.

-Reuters

Egypt is hosting dozens of regional leaders and senior Western officials for a summit on the war between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza.

The meeting on Saturday in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, just east of Cairo, will discuss ways to de-escalate the fighting and seek a cease-fire amid mounting concerns about a regional conflict, Egypt’s state-run media reported. Among those attending the summit are the leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinian Authority.

Also attending are the prime ministers of Italy, Spain, Greece and Canada and the president of the European Council, according to the state-run Al-Ahram daily newspaper. Foreign ministers from Germany, France, the U.K. and Japan are also attending, the paper reported.

-AP

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani left Baghdad for Cairo early on Saturday to attend a peace conference over the war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, the prime minister’s media office said.

-Reuters

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was booed during his visit to a mosque in Toronto over his response to the Israel-Hamas war

Thousands took part in a pro-Palestinian march in Australia’s biggest city, Sydney, on Saturday, getting last-minute approval amid concerns after some protesters at an earlier rally had chanted anti-Jewish slogans.

In Sydney, around 15,000 people attended Saturday’s march, organiser Palestine Action Group said, with demonstrators chanting “Palestine will never die” and waving Palestine flags. Police, including officers on horseback, patrolled the event that closed city streets, and a police helicopter circled overhead.

Police said no arrests had been made, and Palestine Action Group spokesperson Amal Naser said the march was peaceful.

A rally outside the Sydney Opera House two days after the Hamas attack had ignited heated debate after a small group were filmed chanting “Gas the Jews”.

Pro-Palestine rallies were also scheduled on Saturday in state capitals Brisbane, Perth and Hobart, Palestine Action Group said, after thousands attended largely well behaved rallies around Australia last weekend.

-AP

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday called and spoke to two Gazan students enrolled for M.A. Linguistics at Kerala University.

A statement issued by the CMO said they lost their home and relatives to an Israeli air strike on Friday afternoon.

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A petition signed by 86 Nobel peace laureates demands that Hamas release all children taken hostage, saying holding them in captivity “constitutes a war crime, a grievous offense against humanity itself.”

The petition noted that the Geneva Convention on safeguarding civilians in war mentions children 19 times, stressing that the “current plight of the kidnapped children far exceeds any scenario envisioned by the accord.”

“Children should never be regarded as pawns in the theater of war,” it said. “It is our sacred duty to protect the innocent and shield the vulnerable.”

-AP

French President Emmanuel Macron said the release of two Americans who were held hostage in Gaza is “a very good result” and expressed hope it could help pave the way for others to be freed, including French-Israelis.

So far, France has one confirmed hostage, 21-year-old Mia Schem, who was shown dazed and injured in a video that Hamas’ military wing released Monday.

Six other French citizens also are missing and Mr. Macron said Friday that they’re presumed to be hostages “but without certainty.”

French contacts with Israeli authorities and other contacts via Qatar “keep up our hope that we will be able to find solutions to get the maximum number of hostages out,” he said. “We are confident: the channels we have are the good ones and are useful,” he said.

Mr. Macron said he is still weighing the possibility of traveling to the Middle East but that it would be dependent on more talks with leaders in the region.

- AP

An Egypt official said two aid-packed trucks entered the Egyptian side of the border crossing early Saturday, but that they have not passed through into the Gaza Strip.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not briefed to speak with the media.

Israel announced Wednesday that

-AP

A group of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq said U.S. forces “must leave immediately” or their bases in Iraq and elsewhere in the region will continue to come under attack.

Militant groups have launched rocket and drone attacks in recent days against U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, most of which were claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. The group has said the attacks are retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel and a warning not to intervene in the Israel-Hamas war.

“These are only warning messages to them, and serious work has not yet begun,” the militias said in a statement.

The statement concluded by saying that if Israel launches a ground invasion into Gaza, “watch the border with Jordan carefully.” It did not elaborate.

-AP