Israel-Hamas War Highlights: Blinken in Israel says US has been clear there should not be second, third front in conflict

'Goal to eliminate Hamas control and Hamas terrorism from the Gaza Strip'

US flying drones over Gaza in search of hostages

United States has been flying surveillance drones over Gaza in search of hostages taken by Hamas when the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, two US officials said. (Reuters)

Israel says it has encircled Gaza City, Hamas resists using hit-and-run attacks from underground tunnels

Israeli forces on Thursday encircled Gaza City - the Gaza Strip's main city - in their assault on Hamas, the military said, but the Palestinian militant group resisted their drive with hit-and-run attacks from underground tunnels.

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US to press Israel for ‘pauses’ in war with Hamas

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will urge the Israeli government to agree to a series of brief cessations of military operations in the Gaza Strip to allow for hostages to be released safely and for humanitarian aid to be distributed, White House officials said Thursday.

The message comes as President Joe Biden revealed Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had previously agreed to halt shelling briefly on October 20 to allow for the release of two Americans, Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17.

(NYT)

Hezbollah chief to break silence on Israel-Hamas war

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is likely to break weeks of silence since war broke out between Hamas and Israel, in a speech on Friday that could impact the region as the Gaza conflict rages.

(AFP)

Chile's Boric, after condemning Israel over Gaza, raises concerns with Biden

Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who this week condemned Israeli military's air bombardment of Gaza and recalled his envoy to Israel, on Thursday said he told President Joe Biden that Israel's actions were violating international law.

Boric said he condemned the October 7 attack on Israel by the Hamas militant group that killed 1,400 people, and called for the release of Israeli hostages, but added Israel's retaliatory bombardment of Gaza had been disproportionate and was violating international law.

(Reuters)

City University of New York students rally in support of Palestinians, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 2, 2023.

UAE warns against risk of regional spillover from Gaza war

The United Arab Emirates warned on Thursday that there was a real risk of a regional spillover from the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, adding that it was working "relentlessly" to secure a humanitarian ceasefire.

"As we continue working to stop this war we cannot ignore the wider context and the necessity to turn down the regional temperature that is approaching a boiling point," Noura al-Kaabi, a minister of state for foreign affairs, told a policy conference in the capital, Abu Dhabi.

"The risk of regional spillover and further escalation is real, as well as the risk that extremist groups will take advantage of the situation to advance ideologies that will keep us locked in cycles of violence."

(Reuters)

UAE flag.

Pictures from Tel Aviv and around the world as war rages between Israel and Hamas

'Hamas must be eliminated' - Israel Defense Forces say in a video showing Gaza City

IDF releases names of four soldiers killed in Gaza battle

The IDF has reportedly published the names of four more soldiers who were killed in a battle with Hamas, bringing the total number of IDF soldiers killed in the combat to 23.

The soldiers were named as Cpt. Beni Wais, 22, from Haifa, a platoon commander in the 195th Battalion, 460th Brigade; Maj. (res.) Uriah Mash, 41, from Talmon, an soldier in the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade; Maj. (res.) Yehonatan Yosef Brand, 28, from Jerusalem, an armored fighter in the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade; and Sgt.-Maj. Gil Pishitz, 39, from Harish, a tank driver in the 9th Battalion, 401st Brigade.

(The Jerusalem Post)

Blinken arrives in Israel in bid to curb civilian harm in Gaza war. (AFP)

Eight Palestinians killed in separate incidents in West Bank: Palestinian medical sources

Palestinian medical sources said on Friday that eight Palestinians were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank overnight. One of them died of wounds from a previous incident, the said.

(Reuters)

Irish PM says Israel actions in Gaza resemble 'something approaching revenge'

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday described Israel's actions in Gaza as "something approaching revenge", in some of the strongest criticism of Israel by a leader of a European Union member state.

"I strongly believe that ... Israel has the right to defend itself, has the right to go after Hamas, that they cannot do this again," Varadkar told journalists during a visit to South Korea, according to comments broadcast by state radio RTE.

"What I'm seeing unfolding at the moment isn't just self defence. It looks, resembles something more approaching revenge," Varadkar said. "That's not where we should be."

(Reuters)

Blinken holds meeting with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is holding a meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Following the private meeting attended just by the two men, another meeting will be held.

(The Times of Israel)

Palestinians holding foreign passports wait for permission to leave Gaza at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Wagner planning to send air defence system to Hezbollah: Report

The United States has intelligence that Russia's Wagner mercenary group plans to provide Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militia, an air defence system, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified US officials.

The Journal said Wagner plans to supply the Pantsir-S1 system, known by NATO as the SA-22, which uses anti-aircraft missiles and air-defence guns to intercept aircraft.

Wagner Group, which was funded by the Russian state and has been brought firmly under Kremlin control since an aborted mutiny by its former leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in June, did not reply to a request for comment from Reuters.

(Reuters)

Thousands of Gazan workers sent back from Israel, occupied West Bank: Report

Thousands of cross-border Gazan workers and labourers in Israel and the occupied West Bank were sent back to Gaza on Friday, Reuters journalists said.

Some of the Gazan workers returned through the Kerem Shalom crossing east of the Rafah border crossing between the besieged Gaza Strip and Egypt, they said.

The office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Thursday night: "Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza."

(Reuters)

A Palestinian holding a foreign passport looks through her bag as she waits for permission to leave Gaza.

US, allies try to craft Gaza endgame as deaths, destruction mount

As Israeli forces intensify their assault against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, diplomats in Washington, the United Nations, the Middle East and beyond have started weighing the options for the "day after" if the Palestinian militant group is ousted - and the challenges they see ahead are daunting.

Discussions include the deployment of a multinational force to post-conflict Gaza, an interim Palestinian-led administration that would exclude Hamas politicians, a stopgap security and governance role for neighboring Arab states and temporary UN supervision of the territory, according to a source familiar with the matter.

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Aid needs in Gaza, West Bank estimated at $1.2 billion: UN

The United Nations humanitarian office said on Friday the cost of meeting the needs of people in Gaza and the West Bank was estimated at $1.2 billion.

"The cost of meeting the needs of 2.7 million people - that is the entire population of Gaza and 500,000 people in the occupied West Bank - is estimated to be $1.2 billion," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Israel said to stop warning Russia ahead of Syria strikes, amid worsening ties

UN cites 'alarming' rise in Israeli army operations in West Bank

The United Nations rights office on Friday described "alarming" conditions in the occupied West Bank, saying Israeli forces were increasingly using military tactics and weapons in law enforcement operations there.

"While much attention has been on the (Hamas) attacks inside Israel and the escalation of hostilities in Gaza since the 7th of October, the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is alarming and urgent," said Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Israeli raids kill 7 Palestinians in West Bank, says ministry

Blinken in Israel says US has been clear there should not be second, third front in conflict

Israel's military looking into Gaza Health Ministry report of ambulance convoy hit

Israel's military said on Friday it was looking into a report by the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip that scores of Palestinians were killed and wounded in an Israeli strike on an ambulance convoy.

Reuters could not immediately verify the Health Ministry's report.

Hezbollah tells US to halt Israel's Gaza attack to prevent regional war

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah warned the United States on Friday that preventing a regional conflict depended on stopping the Israeli attack on Gaza, and said there was a possibility of fighting on the Lebanese front turning into a full-fledged war.