Page 58 - Gaza Conflict

Israel orders evacuation of 1.1 mn people from northern part of Gaza: UN

Israel's military on Friday directed the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region that is home to 1.1 people, within 24 hours, a UN spokesman said. The order, delivered to the U.N., comes as Israel presses an offensive against Hamas militants. UN spokesman Stphane Dujarric called the order impossible without devastating humanitarian consequences. This could signal an impending ground offensive, though the Israeli military has not yet confirmed such an appeal. On Thursday it said that while it was preparing, a decision has not yet been made.

Hamas practised in plain sight, posting video of mock attack before breach

Less than a month before Hamas fighters blew through Israel's high-tech Iron Wall and launched an attack that would leave more than 1,200 Israelis dead, they practised in a very public dress rehearsal. A slickly produced two-minute propaganda video posted to social media by Hamas on September 12 shows fighters using explosives to blast through a replica of the border gate, sweep in on pickup trucks and then move building by building through a full-scale reconstruction of an Israeli town, firing automatic weapons at human-silhouetted paper targets. The Islamic militant group's live-fire exercise dubbed operation Strong Pillar also shows militants wearing body armour and combat fatigues swiftly carrying out operations that included the destruction of mock-ups of the wall's concrete towers and a communications antenna, just as they would do for real in the deadly attack last Saturday. While Israel's highly regarded security and intelligence services were clearly caught flatfooted by ..

Here's the assistance US is providing to boost Israeli military amid attack

Within hours of the horrific attack by Hamas, the U.S. began moving warships and aircraft to the region to be ready to provide Israel with whatever it needed to respond. A second U.S. carrier strike group departs from Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday. Scores of aircraft are heading to U.S. military bases around the Middle East. Special operations forces are now assisting Israel's military in planning and intelligence. The first shipment of additional munitions has already arrived. More is expected, soon. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will arrive in Israel Friday to meet with Israeli leaders to discuss what else the U.S. can provide. For now, the buildup reflects U.S. concern that the deadly fighting between Hamas and Israel could escalate into a more dangerous regional conflict. So the primary mission for those ships and warplanes is to establish a force presence that deters Hezbollah, Iran or others from taking advantage of the situation. But the forces the U.S. sends are capable of .

At least 27 Americans killed in Hamas attacks in Israel: White House

At least 27 American citizens have died and 14 remain unaccounted for as a result of unfolding violence in Israel and the US will arrange charter flights to evacuate its citizens from the strife-torn Jewish state, the White House has announced. Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a barrage of air strikes in Southern Israel on Saturday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in response launched multiple attacks targeting Hamas' key infrastructure. So far, over 2,000 people have been killed in Israel and the Gaza Strip in the biggest escalation in decades between the two sides. India is one of the first countries to evacuate its citizens from Israel. On the sixth day of violence, the Israeli military said more than 1,300 people, including 222 soldiers, were killed in Israel. In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, over 1,400 people have been killed in Israel's offensive against the Palestinian militant group, according to authorities there. "We are all acutely aware of limited availability

US to arrange charter flights to evacuate its citizens from Israel: WH

: The United States will arrange for charter flights to evacuate its citizens from Israel, the White House said Thursday. So far, 27 American citizens have died in the attacks by palestinian militant group, Hamas and 14 remain unaccounted for. India is the first country to evacuate its citizens from Israel after Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7. On the sixth day, the Israeli military said more than 1,300 people, including 222 soldiers, were killed in Israel. In Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, over 1,400 people have been killed in Israel's offensive against the Palestinian militant group, according to authorities there. We are all acutely aware of limited availability right now on commercial flights out of Israel and the demand signal by U.S. citizens who may want to depart. The president has asked his team to ensure that we are assisting U.S. citizens who do want to leave Israel and providing them with a safe means of doing that, said John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications

Operation Ajay: Flight carrying 212 Indians from Israel lands in Delhi

MoS Chandrasekhar welcomed the passengers at the Delhi airport as they streamed into the lounge area from the tarmac side

As Israel battles Hamas, all eyes are on Hezbollah, the wild card on north

Will Lebanon's heavily armed Hezbollah militia join the Israel-Hamas war? The answer could well determine the direction of a battle that is bound to reshape the Middle East. Hezbollah, which like Hamas is supported by Iran, has so far been on the fence about joining the fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip's Islamic militant rulers. For the past six days, Israel has besieged Gaza and hammered the enclave of 2.3 million Palestinians with hundreds of airstrikes in response to a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel. Israel, which has vowed to crush Hamas, is now preparing for a possible ground offensive. While the country's political and military leaders weigh the next move, they are nervously watching Hezbollah on Israel's northern border and have sent troop reinforcements to the area. Hezbollah, with an arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles capable of hitting virtually anywhere in Israel, is viewed as a far more formidable foe than Hamas. Israel is anxious that

Trump's criticism of Netanyahu draws strong condemnation from GOP rivals

Several of former President Donald Trump's Republican rivals denounced him on Thursday for lashing out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days after Hamas' deadly attack, a rare moment in which multiple competitors directly criticised the GOP front-runner. Trump at a rally Wednesday night said Netanyahu let us down just before the U.S. killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020. He also said Israeli leaders needed to step up their game" and referred to Hezbollah, the group Israel fears may launch a large-scale attack from the country's north, as very smart. In an interview that aired Thursday, he added to his criticism, saying Netanyahu was not prepared" for the deadly weekend incursion from Gaza. Now is not the time to be attacking our ally," said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of Trump's 2024 rivals, echoing denunciations from the White House and elsewhere. More than 2,700 people are dead on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides, and Hamas is believed to have ..

Zionist in my heart: US President's devotion to Israel faces a new test

Joe Biden had been to Dachau, the infamous concentration camp in Germany, several times before, but he sensed changes when he visited as vice president with a teenaged granddaughter. It seemed as though things had been rearranged to make visitors less uncomfortable," he recalled in a memoir published two years after the 2015 visit. "They had softened the cruel edges over the years. Unwilling to settle for what he believed was a more sanitised experience, Biden asked the guides to bring them to the gas chamber, where they slammed the door behind us with a frightening clank. For Biden, it's a direct line from there to the Hamas attacks on Israel, which caused the largest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust. In a searing speech from the White House, Biden said the bloodshed "brought to the surface painful memories and the scars left by a millennia of antisemitism and genocide of the Jewish people. The massacres and kidnappings have sparked a crisis that threatens t

At least 45 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on refugee camp

Gaza's interior ministry on Thursday said that an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza has killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens more. Eyad Bozum, the spokesperson of the interior ministry, told The Associated Press that a late afternoon airstrike hit the al-Shihab family house at the center of the Jabaliya camp. The al-Shihab house was packed with dozens of relatives at the time of the airstrike. Some family members had fled heavy bombing from other parts of the strip and taken refuge there. Bozum said the death toll was likely to rise from that airstrike, because civil defence workers were still pulling bodies from the rubble and counting the dead.

US has no plans to send troops to Israel following attack: White House

The US has no plans to send troops to Israel, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said Thursday. There is no intention, no plan, and frankly, no desire by the Israelis, he said. Kirby also said there have been ongoing conversations with Israel about the continued need for continued flow of humanitarian assistance" into Gaza. He said establishing corridors to provide safe passage out of Gaza for civilians is the right thing to do for innocent victims who are actually being held hostage as well by Hamas.

Can't deny that Hamas attack was because of Israel-Gaza war: Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said it cannot be denied that the terrorist attack by Hamas was the cause of the Israel-Gaza war and asserted that the immediate task at hand was to stop the violence and his party had issued a statement and adopted a resolution in that context. In a post on X, Chidambaram said the Israel-Gaza war threatens to escalate and cause more deaths on both sides. "It cannot be denied that the terrorist attack by Hamas was the cause of this war. Hamas has earned the world's condemnation," he said. The former Union minister said that the massive retaliation by Israel against Gaza has intensified the violence. Apart from soldiers, hundreds of civilians including women and children have been killed, he noted. Violence does not solve anything and it certainly will not solve the decades-old enmity between Israel and the de facto rulers of Gaza, he said. "The immediate task at hand is to stop the violence. It is in the context of stopping the viol

US defence secy to visit Israel to discuss military aid following attack

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin plans to visit Israel on Friday, the second high-level US official to visit Tel Aviv in two days, in a deliberate show of support and an effort to determine what additional military aid is needed in the war with Hamas. Austin is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive travel details Austin's arrival comes just a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited and vowed American support for Israel in a meeting with Netanyahu. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Austin said the US is working urgently to get Israel what it needs to defend itself, including munitions and our iron Dome interceptor interceptors.

WTO chief warns of 'big impact' on trade if Israel-Hamas conflict widens

"Everybody's on eggshells and hoping for the best," she said

UK PM Sunak deploys Royal Navy ships to support Israel against Hamas

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has directed UK military assets to be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel, reinforce regional stability and prevent escalation, Downing Street announced in London on Thursday. A Royal Navy task group will be moved to the eastern Mediterranean next week as a contingency measure to support humanitarian efforts and maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft will begin flying in the region from Friday to track threats to regional stability such as the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups. The military package, which includes P8 aircraft, surveillance assets, two Royal Navy ships RFA Lyme Bay and RFA Argus three merlin helicopters and a company of Royal Marines, will be on standby to deliver practical support to Israel and partners in the region, and offer deterrence and assurance. We must be unequivocal in making sure the types of horrific scenes we have seen this week will not be repeated. Alongside our allies, the deployment o

Israel minister threatens no humanitarian aid to Gaza till abductees return

According to Palestinian sources, over 1,350 people have died and more than 5,000 have been injured as a result of Israel's air raids on the Gaza Strip

230 Indians expected to be brought back from Israel in 1st chartered flight

Around 230 Indians are expected to be brought back from Israel on Friday in a chartered flight under Operation Ajay, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. India launched the operation to facilitate the return of those Indians who wish to come back home as a series of brazen attacks on Israeli towns by Hamas militants over the weekend triggered fresh tensions in the region. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing on Thursday that the chartered flight is expected to reach Tel Aviv this evening and it will bring back the first batch of around 230 Indians on Friday. We are closely monitoring the situation, he said. On the attacks by Hamas on Israeli cities, Bagchi said India considers them as terrorist strikes. To a question on India's position on the Palestine issue, he said New Delhi always advocated resumption of direct talks towards establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine living side-by-side and at peace with Israel.

How Deif, secretive Hamas commander masterminded attack on Israel

His wife, 7-month-old son, and 3-year-old daughter were killed by an Israeli air strike in 2014

Lights out in Gaza: Israeli strikes destroy only power plant in territory

Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip struggled to find any safe area on Wednesday, as Israeli strikes demolished entire neighbourhoods, hospitals ran low on supplies and the territory's only power plant ran out of fuel, deepening the misery of a war sparked by a stunning and deadly assault by Hamas militants. Airstrikes smashed entire city blocks to rubble in the tiny coastal enclave and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath mounds of debris. The bombardment raged on even though militants are holding an estimated 150 people snatched from Israel soldiers, men, women, children and older adults. Israel has vowed unprecedented retaliation against the Hamas militant group ruling the Palestinian territory after its fighters stormed through the border fence on Saturday and gunned down hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival. Since then, militants have continued to fire rockets at Israel, including a heavy barrage at the southern town of .

Israel claims 'hostile aircraft' entered country from Lebanon, alarms north

The Israeli military said Wednesday night that hostile aircraft had entered the country from Lebanon, setting sirens blaring across northern Israel as it urged citizens there to shelter. The military did not specify the kind of aircraft. But Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Palestinian militants are known to have drones and gliders. The news came after Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli military position earlier Wednesday, claiming to have killed and wounded troops. The Israeli military confirmed the attack but did not comment on possible casualties. The Israeli army shelled the area in southern Lebanon where the attack was launched.