PARIS, Oct 17 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden is due to visit Israel on Wednesday to show solidarity with the Jewish state, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to let humanitarian aid reach the besieged residents of Gaza, Washington said.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid have reached Rafah, the only crossing point into Egypt from the Palestinian enclave. A witness told Reuters that some 160 trucks left the nearby Egyptian town of Al-Arish.
Washington is also trying to rally Arab states to avoid a wider regional war, after Iran promised “preventive action” from the “resistance front” of its allies, including Lebanese Hebzollah.
Israel has promised to annihilate Hamas after the attacks carried out on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist group in southern Israel, which left 1,300 dead, mainly civilians, the deadliest day in the history of the State Hebrew.
Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip have killed around 3,000 Palestinians since then. The total blockade imposed on the enclave blocks food, fuel and medical supplies, which are quickly running out.
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THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
7:32 p.m. – An Israeli airstrike on Al Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip caused at least 500 casualties, according to the spokesperson for the Palestinian enclave’s Ministry of Health.
7:22 p.m. – The al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, say they have fired an R-160 rocket at Haifa in northern Israel.
7:00 p.m. – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will visit Israel this week, Sky News reports. Downing Street did not immediately confirm the information.
6:23 p.m. – At least six people were killed in an Israeli strike on a Gaza school run by UNRWA, the United Nations agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, in the Al Maghazi refugee camp, says UNRWA on X.
6:21 p.m. – Rating agency Fitch Ratings places Israeli sovereign debt on negative watch, citing the increased risk of extension of the current conflict with Hamas.
6:08 p.m. – At least 940 children and 1,032 women have died in bombings in the Gaza Strip since October 7, says Hamas.
6:02 p.m. – Israel has attacked around 5,000 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip since October 7 and canceled a “large number” of raids in order to avoid too many civilian casualties, says a senior Israeli official. Israel, he said, is determined to eliminate Hamas “even if it takes months or years.”
5:34 p.m. – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu about access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
5:22 p.m. – The head of Israeli military intelligence, General Aharon Haliva, sent a letter to his subordinates, published by Israeli media, in which he acknowledges the failure of his services in the October 7 attack and endorses it all responsibility.
4:46 p.m. – Around 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and 12,500 injured in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry says. Sixty-one Palestinians were killed and another 1,250 injured in the West Bank during the same period.
3:30 p.m. – An Israeli airstrike killed a Hamas commander, Ayman Nofal, in Gaza, the Palestinian armed group’s armed wing said.
3:04 p.m. – Israeli bombings killed four people on Tuesday in southern Lebanon, near the village of Alma el Chaab, security sources in Lebanon said, without giving further details.
2:56 p.m. – About 2,000 U.S. troops have been placed on heightened readiness given the “evolving security environment in the Middle East,” but no decision has been made to deploy them, the department said American Defense.
2:24 p.m. – Over the past 24 hours, 80 Palestinians have died in Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza, the Hamas media office said.
2:04 p.m. – The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office no longer excludes a link between Monday’s deadly attack in Brussels and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, RTBF reported. The perpetrator of the attack reportedly sent numerous messages of support to the Palestinian people.
2:02 p.m. – The toll of French nationals killed in Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7 has risen to 21 deaths and 11 people are still missing, “most likely hostages of Hamas,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. communicated.
1:44 p.m. – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is expected to visit Egypt as the humanitarian situation in Gaza worsens, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Guterres is expected to arrive in Cairo on Wednesday and meet officials, including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sissi.
1:21 p.m. – Jordan will host a four-way summit in Amman on Wednesday with US President Joe Biden and the Egyptian and Palestinian leaders to discuss the “dangerous” repercussions of the Gaza war in the region and find a political solution, state media said.
12:37 – Israel will face a new shockwave from the resistance front if its “atrocities” do not stop in Gaza, Ali Fadavi, a deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
12:25 p.m. – Emmanuel Macron
will go
in Israel when a “concrete agreement” can be reached on a non-escalation of the conflict or on the humanitarian situation, he declared during a press conference in Albania.
12:10 – Spain will increase its humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip with a package worth 1 million euros and is ready to send more, said the country’s acting foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, during a press conference.
11:00 – The United Nations human rights office says Israel’s siege of Gaza and its evacuation order could constitute an international crime of forcible transfer of civilians.
11:00 a.m. – The Israeli military is preparing for the next phase of its campaign against the Gaza Strip, but plans may not match widespread expectations of an imminent ground offensive, said spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht of the Israeli army.
11:47 – Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Egypt will host a summit of heads of state on Saturday to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, during a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart in Beirut, adding that Turkey is in talks with Hamas over the release of foreigners, civilians and children taken hostage by the group.
10:42 a.m. – The World Health Organization says it needs urgent access to Gaza to deliver aid and medical supplies as the UN agency warns of a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave occupied by Israel.
10:42 – Fouad Abu Btihan, a Hamas-appointed official in charge of Gaza crossings, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza along with some of his relatives, Hamas Radio reported.
10:27 – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said no one will be able to stop the world’s Muslims and “resistance forces” if Israel’s crimes in Gaza continue, Iranian state television reported. Gaza state television reported that Iran’s supreme leader also said Israeli officials should be tried for crimes they committed against Palestinians.
9:45 a.m. – Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned against any attempt to push Palestinian refugees into Egypt or Jordan, adding that the humanitarian situation must be managed inside Gaza and the West Bank.
9:35 a.m. – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for avoiding escalation in the Middle East and warned Hezbollah and Iran against intervening in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
9:28 a.m. – An Israeli military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the status of the Gaza Strip after Israel’s planned assault on the Palestinian enclave would be a “global issue” to be discussed. an international debate.
8:53 a.m. – Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping could discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during their meeting in Beijing this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, quoted by the Russian news agency RIA .
8:02 a.m. – At least 49 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike that hit homes in Khan Younis and Rafah, Gaza’s interior ministry said.
7:48 a.m. – The Israeli army said it had killed four people who tried to cross the border fence with Lebanon in order to plant an explosive device. (Writing by Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)
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