Latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Smoke and dust rise following an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 30, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. — AFP pic

JERUSALEM, Nov 1 — The deadliest ever Gaza war raged for a 25th day yesterday after Hamas staged its October 7 attack on Israel, killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Israel has relentlessly bombarded the Palestinian territory ever since and sent in ground forces. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 8,525 people have been killed, more than 3,500 of them children.

Here are five key developments from the past 24 hours:

Massive strike targets commander

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Dozens of people were killed yesterday in Israeli bombing of Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

It gave an initial toll of more than 50 dead and 150 wounded, but said dozens more were likely buried under the rubble, denouncing what it called “a heinous Israeli massacre”.

The Israeli military confirmed it struck Jabalia, saying the operation “assassinated” Ibrahim Biari, commander of Hamas’s Jabalia brigade, who was linked to the October 7 attacks.

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Egypt to treat wounded

Egypt was set to start treating the wounded from Gaza from today with an opening of the Rafah border crossing, medical and security sources said.

The border authority in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said Egypt had agreed to let in 81 of the worst casualties.

It came as the UN children’s agency Unicef denounced as “appalling” the soaring number of minors killed in the conflict, which Gaza’s health ministry yesterday said had risen to 3,542.

Attacks beyond borders

Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement have traded near-daily fire since October 7, amid fears the conflict will spread to include other Iranian proxies.

Yesterday Lebanon accused Israel of white phosphorus attacks over which it said it would file a complaint to the United Nations.

Elsewhere, Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels said they had attacked Israel yesterday, launching “a large batch of ballistic missiles” and “a large number of armed aircraft” at Iran’s regional arch-foe.

Israel’s army confirmed a “hostile aircraft intrusion” had set off warning sirens in Eilat, later saying a surface-to-surface missile was intercepted outside Israeli territory.

Iran said it was “natural” for such groups to attack Israel and warned of a wider spillover if no ceasefire is reached.

Fierce battles, ambushes in Gaza

Israeli forces were locked in “fierce battles” with Hamas militants deep inside Gaza, the army said yesterday. Troops had hit anti-tank missile launching cells and observation posts, seizing many guns and explosives and killing dozens of militants “in the past few hours”, it said.

Hamas’s armed wing said it had ambushed troops in northern Gaza, with its fighters having “opened fire” on three Israeli military vehicles in Al-Tawam area.

The Israeli army later said two of its soldiers were killed during combat operations in northern Gaza.

Envoy’s yellow star angers Yad Vashem

Israel’s UN ambassador pinned a yellow star on his chest — a symbol of the oppression of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe — as he addressed the Security Council, denouncing it for “staying silent” over the October 7 bloodshed.

“We will wear this star until you wake up and condemn the atrocities of Hamas,” he told the deeply divided 15-member council which has failed to adopt a single resolution on the war.

But his action was criticised by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, which said Erdan’s gesture “disgraces the victims of the Holocaust as well as the state of Israel”. — AFP