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PremiumIsrael-Gaza War: The war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas has continued to escalate on Day 23 (Sunday). In a media address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firmly said that war would intensify ahead of a broad ground invasion into the Gaza territory. He also said that Israel is determined to bring back all the hostages, and maintained that the expanding ground operation “will help us in this mission." Meanwhile, cellular and internet service returned on Sunday after vanishing for most of Gaza for past two days.
Israeli bombs had cut off cellular and internet service for most of the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations has reiterated its appeal for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.
Check all the Israel-Gaza War Highlights here
Israel-Gaza war: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Sunday with U.S. President Joe Biden, after Israel expanded its ground operation in Gaza. The statement releaseddetails by Netanyahu's office didn't provide detail on the conversation.
Israel-Gaza war LIVE: US President Joe Bidden is discussing Israel-Gaza war with Middle East regional leaders, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, though he did not specific which leaders.
"It's something I was on the phone late last night working on. Something the president will be working on today in conversations he's having with regional leaders and we will continue to pound away at this problem until we've gotten any American who wants to leave Gaza out," Sullivan told MSNBC.
Israel-Gaza live updates: The US urged Israel Defence Forces to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. "The IDF, the Israeli government, should be taking every possible means available to them to distinguish between Hamas -- terrorists, who are legitimate military targets -- and civilians, who are not," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CNN talk show "State of the Union."
Israel-Gaza war: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Sunday, said Iran does not want war to "spread out" after the attack by Palestinian millitants of Hamas on Israel that killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
"We don't want this war to spread out," Amirabdollahian told CNN.
Israel-Gaza war: Israel must protect innocent Gaza residents by distinguishing between Hamas militants and civilians in the Palestinian territory, the White House warned Sunday ahead of a call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel-Gaza war: Thousands of people gathered in large number to take out rally against Israel's bombing of Palestinians in Gaza. Most of the people who gathereed were the supporters of Pakistan's main politico-religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami. THe supporters took out rally in Islamabad on Sunday and chanted anti-American slogans and accusing the U.S. of “backing the aggressor."
Israel-Gaza War Latest updates: As Israel continues its ground attack on Gaza, the head of self-driving auto technologies firm Mobileye, Amnom Shashua, on Sunday urged the immediate ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.
"We must cut our losses and do it quickly. The only solution to the current situation in Israel is to replace the government, and it needs to happen immediately," Shashua wrote in an opinion piece in financial daily Calcalist.
Israel-Gaza live updates: UK PM Rishi Sunak and French PResident Emmanuel Macron, on Sunday, underlined the need to send aid in Gaza for civilians. The two leaders underlined the urgency to send relief materials like food, fuel, water, and medicine and to get foreign nationals out.
"The leaders stressed the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support into Gaza. They agreed to work together on efforts both to get crucial food, fuel, water and medicine to those who need it, and to get foreign nationals out," a spokesperson for Sunak said.
Israel-Gaza war LIVE Updates: CPI (M) leaders, on Sunday, condemned India's abstention from voting in the UN General Assembly on a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict as they protested here to express solidarity with Palestinian people and called for a ceasefire.
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar were joined by other party leaders including Md Salim, Brinda Karat, Prakash Karat, and all members of the Central Committee for the symbolic protest held outside their AKG Bhawan office.
Israel-Gaza war: United Nations peacekeeping force UNIFIL on Sunday, said that one of its members was injured after shells hit the mission's base near a village located on the Lebanese-Israeli border on Saturday.
The Israeli army and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon have been exchanging fire on a daily basis since the start of the Gaza conflict three weeks ago
Israel-Gaza war: Pope Francis, on Sunday, called for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. He appealed for the release of hostages by the militant group in Gaza.
"Let no-one abandon the possibility of stopping the weapons," he said at his weekly blessing in St. Peter's Square. "Ceasefire ... we say 'ceasefire, ceasefire'. Brothers and sisters, stop! War is always a defeat, always," he added.
Israel-Gaza war: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday, claimed that the senior intelligence officials and top security leaders didn't warn him of Hamas attack.
At a time when top officials are taking the onus of their failure to avert the horrifying attack, PM Netanyahu chose to point out the lack of intelligence support to thwart the surprise attack. In his post on X, Netanyahu said that he was not warned about the attack that took place on October 7. (Read more)
Israel-Gaza war: The Israeli military intensified airstrikes in Gaza. The jewish nation didn't even leave Gaza's largest hospital which is also receiving heavy bombarding.
Internet and phone connectivity were restored for many people on Sunday after Israeli strikes had knocked out most communications in the territory late Friday.
Israel-Hamas war LIVE Updates: Israel would allow a dramatic increase in aid to Gaza in the coming days, said Colonel Elad Goren of Cogat, the Israeli Defence Ministry agency, on Sunday.
He also asked Gaza residents to move to the south, which is described as a “humanitarian" zone in the south of the territory. "In the coming week we were planning to increase dramatically the amount of assistance" headed for Gaza from Egypt, said Colonel Elad Goren of Cogat, the Israeli Defence Ministry agency that coordinates with the Palestinians.
"We have marked a humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip in the Khan Younis area ... we still recommend that the civilian population that evacuated will go to this zone," he told media during an online briefing.
In one of the major indication of a break down of civil order in Gaza, thousands of residents broke down warehouses and aid centres to take flour and other necessary items, said UN on Sunday.
"This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza," the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement.
One of the warehouse where people attacked was located in Deir al-Balah, a UNRWA stores supplies from the humanitarian convoys crossing into Gaza from Egypt.
In response to shelling fired toward Israel on October 28, The Israel Defence Force attacked Syrian Army posts and pro-Iranian militia positions in the Quneitra area of southern Syria, Syrian media reported.
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson stated on October 28 that Israel's escalated bombing in Gaza, that was initiated on October 27, complicated Doha's efforts to secure the release of the hostages captured from Israel during Hamas's terror attack on October 7, reported CNN.
Former head of Israel's national intelligence agency Yossi Cohen said, “We cannot wait quietly for proposals for deals, without entering the Gaza Strip," reported Kan public broadcaster.
He said, “It is possible and necessary to eliminate the rule of Hamas and at the same time be open to mediating future deals for the release of the hostage."
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters poured onto the streets of Brooklyn, New York's largest district, voicing their anger against Israel's attack on Hamas.
New York has for the past three weeks been rocked by demonstrations, rallies, and vigils in support of the Palestinians and Israel.
Hundreds of people were arrested Friday when police broke up a large demonstration of mostly Jewish New Yorkers who had taken over the main hall of Manhattan's Grand Central station in protest at Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says thousands of people broke into its Gaza aid warehouses to take food and other "basic survival items".
The break-in was "a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down," UN agency's director in Gaza said.
Israel Defense Forces has killed three Palestinians across the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The health ministry said three people aged 29 to 31 were shot dead by Israeli forces at dawn, with the incidents taking place in Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, in Nablus's Askar refugee camp and in Tubas.
Since 7th October, more than 110 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed in the West Bank.
Israel has started its long-expected ground invasion of Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning of a “long and difficult" war against the militant group Hamas that has stoked concerns of a broader Middle Eastern conflict. Israel said fighter jets struck over 450 military targets belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip over the past day. These included operational command centers, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts.
Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes early Sunday near Gaza's largest hospital. The strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a “second stage" in Israel's war on Hamas. Residents said the latest airstrikes destroyed most of the roads leading to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which is part of the northern half of the besieged territory, which Israel has told people to evacuate.
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) on Sunday said that they were heading towards a new phase of the ongoing war on Hamas. The IDF is expanding its operations.
"We are moving to the next phase of our war against Hamas, Gaza from the air, land and Sea. On October 7, the Hamas committed a crime against humanity. Israel is in a war it did not start and it did not seek. Hamas is attacking Israeli civilians while firing from among dozens of civilians. These are both war crimes," an IDF spokesperson said.
The Israeli military on Sunday told civilians in Gaza to move to the south of the besieged Strip, where it said humanitarian efforts "will be expanding".
Turkey is marking the 100th anniversary of the creation of the modern, secular republic from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire on Sunday. However President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has opted for a low-key celebration of the centennial, which comes months after a devastating earthquake that killed 50,000 people and coincides with the Israeli-Hamas war that has roiled the Middle East.
Phone and internet communications were restored to many people in Gaza, the telecommunications providers told media on Sunday. A rare few Palestinians with international SIM cards or satellite phones took it upon themselves to get the news out.
Elon Musk said that his Starlink satellite service would support internet access for "internationally recognised aid organisations in Gaza," which have faced a telecommunications blackout since Friday.
Starlink is a network of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide internet to remote locations, or areas that have had normal communications infrastructure disabled.
The Embassy of Israel in India has joined the "Balloons of Hope: Bring the Hostages Home" campaign as war rages sin Gaza.
The people released 229 balloons into the Delhi sky, with each balloon representing the innocent lives apprehended and currently held in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israel Embassy in New Delhi.
These balloons serve as a symbol of the fervent wish for the safe return of the hostages, the Embassy said.
the "Balloons of Hope" campaign has attracted involvement from more than 15 countries worldwide in an unprecedented display of international unity against the Hamas offensive.
Prime Minister Narendra spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi regarding the crisis in West Asia. He wrote on the X platform, “We share concerns regarding terrorism, violence and loss of civilian lives. We agree on the need for early restoration of peace and stability and facilitating humanitarian assistance".
Telephone and internet communications are returning gradually to the Gaza Strip, several Palestinian media outlets said early on Sunday.
Hamas’s top leader in Gaza Yehiyeh Sinwar said the Palestinian militant groups are ready to release Israeli hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s jails. However, the Israeli military has dismissed the offer by calling it a “psychological terror". Instead, Israel is working on multiple channels to free the hostages.
Israel’s military has said that its warplanes struck 150 underground Hamas targets in northern Gaza, including tunnels, combat spaces, and other infrastructure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war against Hamas will be “long and difficult," calling it a battle of good versus evil and a struggle for Israel’s existence.
Netanyahu added that Israel has opened a “new phase" in the war – by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea. He said these activities would only increase as Israel prepares for a broad ground invasion.
Israeli forces continued a relentless bombardment on Saturday in Gaza. One airstrike by Israeli defence forces damaged the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia.
Besides, a Palestinian militant group in Gaza said it fired a barrage of rockets Saturday evening on Tel Aviv and Ashkelon and Ashdod in southern Israel.
Demonstrations took place in central Paris, Turkey, London, Indonesia, Pakistan, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and New York calling for a ceasefire in the increasingly intense war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel’s military has said it will be able to continue its devastating campaign on Gaza while rescuing the hostages and has dismissed the possibility of a Hamas-proposed cease-fire deal in exchange for their release.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met the families of hostages on Saturday.
He and his wife Sara told the families in Tel Aviv that getting abductees released is one of the goals of the war and that the greater the pressure, the greater the chances for bringing them home.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has reiterated his appeal for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.
“This is the moment of truth. Everyone must assume their responsibilities. History will judge us all," Guterres said.
Oman's Foreign Ministry says Israel’s siege and bombardment of Gaza amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Oman has a long record of serving as a key broker between Iran and the West when regional tensions flare.
The ministry called for the international community to immediately intervene to stop the Israel-Hamas war and to speed humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza.
A top Hamas official said Saturday that by shutting down most communications, Israel aims to prevent “the truth" about what is happening in the Gaza Strip from reaching the world.
Speaking to reporters in Beirut, Ghazi Hamad said Israel has made “baseless claims and lies" about Hamas militants hiding in tunnels under the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza "to justify the targeting of the hospital."
He said that Israel has forced Palestinians south with plans to try to push them to move to Egypt.
“We strongly reject that and say that our Palestinians will stay in their land," Hamad said.
Israel’s military says it is striking Hezbollah military infrastructure in Lebanon after “several anti-tank missile and mortar shell launches were identified from Lebanese territory toward Israel," including Israeli military posts along the Israel-Lebanon border.
There has been concern that the Israel-Hamas war could expand into Lebanon and northern Israel if Hezbollah decides to join the conflict.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said 377 people have been killed since Israel expanded its large ground offensive on Friday evening. So far, the death toll in Gaza has surged to 7,703, including 3,195 children and 1,863 women.
Hamas’s armed wing has announced that it is ready to release hostages captured during the October 7 attacks in return for all Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons.
“The price to pay for the large number of enemy hostages in our hands is to empty the [Israeli] prisons of all Palestinian prisoners," Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement broadcast by the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television channel, Agence France-Presse reports.
“If the enemy wants to close this file of detainees in one go, we are ready for it. If it wants to do it step-by-step, we are ready for that too," he added.
Israel Defense Forces said the video shows Israeli forces targeting Hamas anti-tank positions and buildings used as meeting points.
“Starting in the early evening last night, the IDF, led by combined combat teams of armored, engineering and infantry forces, is operating on the ground in the northern Gaza Strip," the post said.
Following the comments by Turkish President Erdogan, Italy's deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini said that they were "grave and disgusting and did not help with de-escalation".
"I will propose to my colleague (Foreign Minister Antonio) Tajani to send a formal protest and to summon the Turkish Ambassador," Matteo Salvini said.
Tel Aviv rejected Tayyip Erdogan's assertion saying that, “Israel wholeheartedly rejects the Turkish president's harsh words about the terrorist organization Hamas. Even the Turkish president's attempt to defend the terrorist organization and his inciting words will not change the horrors that the whole world has seen."
UN Secretary General said he was meeting with Qatari Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Guterres said he came to express “our full gratitude, appreciation and support for Qatar’s tireless mediation initiatives, namely for the release of the hostages kept in Gaza".
In a subsequent post on X, he said: “I was encouraged by what seemed to be a growing consensus for the need of at least a humanitarian pause in the Middle East."
“Regrettably, instead I was surprised by an unprecedented escalation of bombardments, undermining humanitarian
"PM Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. They exchanged views on the updates of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, and the danger of the ongoing escalation either for its devastating effects on civilian lives, or the threat it poses to the security of the region as a whole..., "posts Spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency on Facebook
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told a massive pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul that Israel was an occupier, and repeated his stance about Hamas not being a terrorist organisation.
“I reiterate that Hamas is not a terrorist organisation. Israel was very offended by this. (...) Israel is an occupier, Erdogan speaks clearly because Turkey does not owe you anything," he told hundreds of thousands of supporters.
According to media reports, US has been quietly moving ahead with expanding a secret base it maintains in Israel’s Negev desert, just 32km (20 miles) from Gaza.
Code-named “Site 512," the construction at the radar facility atop Mt. Har Qeren will include what US government records describe as a “life support facility", or barracks-like structures for staff.
The Intercept said on Friday the $35.8m facility, which was not publicly announced or previously reported, was obliquely referenced in an August 2 contract announcement by the Pentagon.
