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    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Israeli airstrikes crush apartments in Gaza refugee camp, as ground troops battle Hamas militants

    01 Nov, 2023 | 11:38:54 AM IST
    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Israeli airstrikes crush apartments in Gaza refugee camp, as ground troops battle Hamas militants
    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: A barrage of Israeli airstrikes leveled apartment buildings in a refugee camp near Gaza City on Tuesday, with rescuers clawing through the destruction to pull men, women and children from the rubble. Israel said the strike, which targeted a senior Hamas military leader, destroyed a militant command center and an underground tunnel network.

    The toll from the attack in the Jabaliya camp was not immediately known. The director of the nearby hospital where casualties were taken, Dr. Atef Al-Kahlot, said hundreds of people were wounded or killed, but he did not provide exact figures.

    The Israeli military said dozens of militants were killed, including a key Hamas commander for northern Gaza.

    Israel aggressively defended the attack, with military spokesman Jonathan Conricus saying the targeted commander had also been a key planner of the bloody Oct. 7 rampage that started the war, and that the apartment buildings collapsed only because the vast underground Hamas complex had been destroyed.

    Neither side’s account could be independently confirmed.

    The strike underlined the anticipated surge in casualties on both sides as Israeli troops battling Hamas militants advance deeper into the northern Gaza Strip toward dense, residential neighborhoods. Israel has vowed to crush Hamas’ ability to govern Gaza or threaten Israel following the Oct. 7 assault, which ignited the war. Hamas, an Islamic militant group, openly calls for the destruction of Israel.

    Israel said two of its soldiers were killed in fighting in northern Gaza, the first military deaths it reported since the ground offensive into the tiny Mediterranean territory accelerated late last week.

    Several hundred thousand Palestinians remain in northern Gaza in the path of the ground assault. They have crowded into homes or are packed by the thousands into hospitals that are already overwhelmed with patients and running low on supplies.

    In the Jabaliya refugee camp — a densely built-up area of small streets on Gaza City’s outskirts — dozens of rescuers searched for survivors amid a series of obliterated buildings and others that had partially collapsed.

    Young men carried the limp forms of two children from the upper floors of the crumbling frame of one damaged apartment building, while helping down another child and woman. It was unclear whether the children were alive or dead. Gray dust, apparently left by pulverized concrete, seemed to coat nearly everything.

    The Israeli military said it carried out a wide-scale strike in Jabaliya on Hamas infrastructure “that had taken over civilian buildings.”

    Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari said an underground Hamas installation beneath a targeted building collapsed, toppling other nearby buildings. Conricus later said the main strike had hit between buildings.

    “We don’t intend for the ground to collapse,” he told reporters. “But the issue is that Hamas built their tunnels there and that they’re running their operations from there.”

    He said the commander killed in the strike, Ibrahim Biari, played an important role in the Oct. 7 attack and had been involved in anti-Israeli attacks going back decades.

    Also on Tuesday, the Israeli military said ground troops took control of a Hamas military stronghold in west Jabaliya, killing 50 militants.

    Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denied the military’s claim, saying it was trying to justify “its heinous crime” against civilians.
    1 New Update
    11:38:52 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Gold softens on caution ahead of Fed's policy decision and concerns over Middle-East conflict

    Israel Hamas War Live: Gold started November on a softer note, with investors on the watch for the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision due later in the day, after concerns over the Middle East conflict boosted the safe-haven asset's prices above $2,000 an ounce last month, Reuters reported.Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,978.36 per ounce by 0351 GMT on Wednesday, while U.S. gold futures dropped 0.4% to $1,987.00.Spot gold posted a 7.3% jump in October, with prices hitting an over five-month high of $2,009.29 last week.The market pushed prices above $2,000, but it came back down, it tried to move up again, but it didn't move substantially higher, signalling there is more or less fatigue in the market, said Brian Lan of Singapore dealer GoldSilver Central.The major factor for the market is the Middle East conflict and whether there is an escalation with other parties joining the war, Lan added.Israeli airstrikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 50 Palestinians and a Hamas commander.Markets now await the outcome of the Fed's monetary policy meeting concluding later in the day, followed by the U.S. monthly jobs report on Friday.
    11:17:56 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Israeli army says it hit 11,000 Gaza 'terror targets' since war's start

    11:03:27 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: White House will develop an anti-Islamophobia strategy but faces scepticism from Muslim Americans

    Israel Hamas War Live: President Joe Biden's administration is preparing to announce that it will develop a national strategy to combat Islamophobia, according to people briefed on the matter, as it faces scepticism from many in the Muslim American community for its staunch support of Israel's military assault on Hamas in Gaza. The White House announcement had originally been expected to come week when Biden held a meeting with Muslim leaders, but was delayed, three people said. Two of them said the delay was due in part to concerns from the Muslim American community that the administration lacked credibility on the issue given its robust support for Israel's military, whose strikes against Hamas militants have also killed thousands of civilians in Gaza.The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss the White House plans.The launch of the anti-Islamophobia strategy has been anticipated for months, after the administration in May released a national strategy to combat antisemitism that also made passing reference to countering hatred against Muslims.The formal strategy is expected to take many months to formalise, following a similar process as the plan to counter antisemitism involving various government agencies.Incidences of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate have skyrocketed in the US and abroad since the surprise October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel that killed over 1,400 and saw hundreds taken hostage, and Israel's response in Gaza, where it has pledged to use force to "destroy" Hamas.
    10:39:58 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: The FBI director warns about threats to Americans from those inspired by the Hamas attack on Israel

    Israel Hamas War Live: FBI Director Christopher Wray warned on Tuesday that Hamas' rampage inside Israel could inspire violence in the U.S., telling lawmakers that multiple foreign extremist groups have called for attacks against Americans and the West in recent weeks, AP reported.

    “We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration the likes of which we haven’t seen since ISIS launched its so-called caliphate years ago,” Wray said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

    In his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Wray gave his most detailed and ominous assessment of potential threats to the U.S. since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli soldiers and civilians.

    His reference to the Islamic State, a reminder of when the FBI scrambled to disrupt hastily developed plots of violence by people inspired by the group's ascendancy, underscores the bureau's concerns that the current Middle East conflict could create a similarly dangerous dynamic.

    Though the FBI isn’t currently tracking an “organized threat” inside the United States, law enforcement is concerned about the potential of attacks by individuals or small groups, as occurred during the rise of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq a decade ago.

    The bureau has already seen an increase in attacks on overseas military bases and expects cyberattacks targeting American infrastructure to get worse as the conflict expands, he said.

    “It is a time to be concerned. We are in a dangerous period,” Wray said. “We shouldn’t stop going out, but we should be vigilant.”
    10:24:18 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: The son of one of Hamas’ founding leaders, Mosab Hassan Yousef, speaks.

    10:22:48 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Nine Israeli soldiers killed in combat in Gaza, AFP reports citing military

    10:13:26 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Saudi Arabia condemns 'in strongest terms' Israeli strike on Gaza camp

    09:56:36 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: US Secretary of State Blinken to visit Israel again on Friday

    Israel Hamas War Live: “Secretary Blinken will travel to Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the Israeli government, and then will make other stops in the region," CNN quoted State Department spokesman Matthew Miller as saying to reporters on Tuesday.Blinken has made multiple visits to Israel since the Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on October 7.Besides Israel, Blinken made trips to Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt last month.He had also accompanied President Joe Biden to meetings with Israeli government officials and victims his historic war-time visit to Tel Aviv on October 18.
    09:49:42 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Internet, phones 'completely' shut off in Gaza, AFP reports citing Palestinian operator

    Israel Hamas War Live: Internet and phone networks were down across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Palestinian telecommunications agency said, in the second such blackout in the war-ravaged territory in less than a week."To our good people in the beloved country, we are sorry to announce that communications and internet services have been completely cut off in Gaza," the Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) said on X. Internet and the phone network were completely cut last week, but were restored at the weekend.The government of Palestinian militant group Hamas had at the time accused Israel of causing the shutdown in order to "perpetrate massacres" in the Gaza Strip.Palestinian telecoms provider Jawwal had blamed Israel's "heavy bombardment" of the territory for the blackout.
    09:40:47 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Oil rises ahead of Fed meeting as Middle East conflict persists

    Israel Hamas War Live: Oil prices edged up in early Asian trade on Wednesday ahead of key global central bank meetings this week including the U.S. Federal Reserve, as the market also closely watched the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas conflict, Reuters reported.Brent January crude futures rose 0.3%, or 28 cents, to $85.30 a barrel by 0330 GMT, after falling more than 1% on Tuesday. Brent December futures settled 4 cents lower at $87.41 a barrel at the contract's expiry on Tuesday.U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 0.2%, or 16 cents, to $81.02 a barrel after losing about 1.6% in the previous session."Crude prices are steadying ahead of a key issuance update by the Treasury and FOMC rate decision," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee that sets the direction of U.S. monetary policy."Geopolitical risks remain and that seems to be offsetting some of the record production levels that are coming from the U.S."Crude oil inventories in the U.S. rose by about 1.3 million barrels last week, while fuel stockpiles fell by about 360,000 barrels, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Distillate inventories fell by about 2.5 million barrels.
    09:15:30 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Chile recalls Israel ambassador for talks after Gaza attacks

    Israel Palestine War Live: Chile's government recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations on Tuesday after what it described as Israel's violations of international humanitarian law stemming from its recent military attacks on the Gaza Strip.

    "Chile strongly condemns and observes with great concern... these military operations," the South American nation's foreign ministry said in a statement.

    Chile said Israel's operations amounted to "collective punishment" of Gaza's Palestinian civilian population, the ministry said.

    It also called for an immediate end to hostilities, the release of hostages held by Hamas militants who control Gaza, and to allow the transit of humanitarian aid for Gaza's population of some 2 million residents.
    09:04:47 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Bolivia cuts ties with Israel over Gaza strikes, others recall envoys

    Bolivia on Tuesday said it was severing diplomatic ties with Israel over its "disproportionate" attacks in Gaza, as two other Latin American countries recalled their ambassadors over the mounting humanitarian crisis.

    Bolivia "has decided to cut diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive being carried out in the Gaza Strip," deputy foreign minister Freddy Mamani told a press conference.

    Minister of the Presidency Maria Nela Prada also announced the country was sending humanitarian aid to Gaza.
    08:52:29 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: US Senate confirms Jacob Lew as ambassador to Israel, filling a key diplomatic post during the war with Hamas

    Israel Palestine War Live:The Senate has confirmed Jacob Lew as ambassador to Israel, filling the key diplomatic post as the country is fighting a war with Hamas.

    Lew, a treasury secretary under President Barack Obama, was confirmed 53-43.

    He has promised to stand side by side with Israel's leaders as they respond to the militant group’s surprise attack on Oct. 7, telling senators in his confirmation hearing earlier in October that “at this moment, there is no greater mission than to be asked to strengthen the ties between the United States and the state of Israel.”

    President Joe Biden nominated Lew, who goes by Jack, last month to fill the post left vacant when Tom Nides left as ambassador in July. Democrats say Lew’s wealth of government experience — he also was chief of staff to Obama and White House budget director under Obama and President Bill Clinton — makes him the right person to fill the post at a a critical moment in the two countries’ relationship.
    08:29:06 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, says IDF

    Israel Palestine War Live: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that it has lost two soldiers since the incursion inside Gaza began on Friday.

    IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a press conference here also confirmed the attack on Gaza's largest refugee camp in Jabalia.

    He said that the IDF had killed Ibrahim Biari, the Northern commander of Hamas, who was based in Jabalia.

    Hagari added that many Hamas militants were also neutralised in the attack.
    08:17:24 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Arab League, Egypt, Jordan slam Israeli airstrikes on Gaza refugee camp

    Israel Palestine War Live: Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit has strongly condemned the deadly Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

    In a statement on Tuesday, the AL chief said that it was "a new crime" in Gaza and that the international community should no longer remain silent, Xinhua news agency reported.

    Meanwhile, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement the attack was a "flagrant violation of international laws".

    Jordan's Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack and said Jordan held Israel responsible for the dangerous development.

    It also denounced Israel's ongoing escalation of tension in the West Bank and Israeli settlers' increasing attacks on Palestinian civilians.

    It also called on the international community to assume its responsibility, stop the ongoing conflict, and provide international protection for Palestinians.

    Israeli warplanes hit the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp on Tuesday. After the attack, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said in a statement that more than 50 people were killed, approximately 150 others injured, and "dozens" of others buried under the rubble.
    08:07:50 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Blinken says US, others exploring options for future of Gaza after Hamas

    Israel Palestine War Live: The United States and other countries are looking at "a variety of possible permutations" for the future of the Gaza Strip if Hamas militants are removed from control, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

    Blinken told a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing the status quo of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas being in charge of the densely populated enclave could not continue, but Israel did not want to run Gaza either.

    Between those two positions were "a variety of possible permutations that we're looking at very closely now, as are other countries," Blinken said.

    What would make most sense at some point, Blinken said, was an "effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority" to have governance over Gaza, but it was a question whether that can be achieved.
    07:32:37 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: US to send 300 additional troops to Middle East, says Pentagon

    Israel Palestine War Live: Amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the United States is sending additional troops to the US Central Command region, which covers the Middle East and parts of Africa, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said on Tuesday (local time).

    Ryder said that these troops will provide capabilities, explosive ordnance disposal, communications and other support enablers for forces already in the region. He said that additional US troops are not going to Israel.

    While addressing a press briefing on Tuesday (local time), he said, "I can announce the decision to deploy an additional 300 troops to the US Central Command region from home stations in the continental United States. These additional troops will provide capabilities, explosive ordnance disposal, communications and other support enablers for forces already in the region."

    The region monitored by the US Central Command encompasses 20 countries, including Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and northern Red Sea, and the five republics of Central Asia.
    07:25:03 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Blinken to visit Israel as US seeks 'urgent' steps to ease regional tensions

    Israel Palestine War Live: Top US diplomat Antony Blinken will begin a new Middle East trip this week, a spokesperson announced Tuesday, as President Joe Biden seeks "urgent mechanisms" to reduce regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.

    "Secretary Blinken will travel to Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the Israeli government, and then will make other stops in the region," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, without further details.

    The White House said later that Biden had spoken Tuesday with the leader of key US partner Jordan, where Blinken has visited multiple times since Hamas launched its October 7 attack on Israel.
    06:54:02 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: U.S. military and diplomatic leaders urge a divided Congress to send aid to both Israel and Ukraine

    Israel Palestine War Live: The nation's top military and diplomatic leaders urged an increasingly divided Congress on Tuesday to send immediate aid to Israel and Ukraine, arguing at a Senate hearing that broad support for the assistance would signal U.S. strength to adversaries worldwide.

    The testimony from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the Senate Appropriations Committee came as the administration’s massive $105 billion emergency aid request for conflicts in the two countries encountered roadblocks.

    While there is bipartisan support in the Democratic-led Senate for aid to both Ukraine and Israel, the request faces deep problems in the Republican-led House. New Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed focusing on Israel alone, and slashing money for the Internal Revenue Service to pay for it.

    As the congressional divisions deepen, Blinken and Austin warned that the consequences of failing to help Ukraine in its war with Russia and Israel as it strikes back against Hamas would be dire. Inaction, they said, would threaten the security of the U.S. and the rest of the world.
    06:37:59 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Dozens killed in Gaza camp strikes as Israel targets key militant

    Israel Palestine War Live:Dozens of people were killed Tuesday in Israeli bombing of Gaza's largest refugee camp, the Hamas-run health ministry said, with Israel's army confirming it had targeted a Hamas commander involved in the October 7 attacks.

    Wails filled the dusty air as volunteers clawed through the concrete blocks and twisted metal at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza in a desperate search for bodies and survivors, with AFP video footage showing at least 47 corpses being recovered.

    Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, had no immediate comment on the claim, but quickly vowed to turn Gaza into a "graveyard" for Israeli troops.
    06:22:06 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: UN expert says Israel-Hamas war emboldens Iran 'repression'

    Israel Palestine War Live: The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran said Tuesday that the Israel-Hamas war has emboldened "repression" inside the country, whose ruling clerics have championed the Palestinian militants.

    Javaid Rehman, a human rights expert given a mandate from the Human Rights Council in Geneva, said that the Islamic republic was responding to a loss of credibility after mass protests set off by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman detained by police for failing to obey the strict public dress code.

    "They were already planning further repression," Rehman said at a Washington roundtable hosted by the National Union for Democracy in Iran, an advocacy group.
    06:09:02 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Blinken to arrive in Israel on Friday

    Israel Palestine War Live: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive in Israel on Friday, where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials, an Axios reporter said on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
    06:07:59 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Bolivia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza conflict

    Israel Palestine War Live: Bolivia said Tuesday it was severing diplomatic ties with Israel as a rebuke for its bloody offensive in the Gaza Strip, after Hamas militants killed more than 1,400 people in an attack last month.

    The government "has decided to cut diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive being carried out in the Gaza Strip," deputy foreign minister Freddy Mamani told a press conference.
    06:07:28 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: Protesters pack out London station demanding Gaza ceasefire

    Israel Palestine War Live: More than a hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at London's Liverpool Street station on Tuesday, hanging banners from balconies and occupying the main concourse while demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

    Videos posted online by the "Sisters Uncut" protest group showed a large group of demonstrators inside the station during rush hour, chanting and waving pro-Palestinian flags and banners.

    British Transport Police (BTP) said they attended Liverpool Street station shortly after 1700 GMT following reports of a protest on the station concourse.
    06:06:47 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: US cites progress on work to secure passage for Americans out of Gaza

    Israel Palestine War Live: The United States has made "real progress" in the last few hours in negotiations to secure a safe passage for Americans and other foreigners who wish to depart the Gaza Strip, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.

    "While I can't make an announcement today, we do think we've made very real progress on this as I said in just the past few hours," Miller told a news briefing.

    The United States has been working with Qataris and Egyptians to open the Rafah border crossing into Egypt to allow American citizens inside Gaza to leave after Israel intensified its bombardment of the densely populated coastal enclave.

    So far, traffic at Rafah has reopened one way allowing aid trucks to go slowly into Gaza.

    "We would hope that any agreement to get any individuals out would also unlock the possibility of American citizens or their families and other foreign nationals coming out," Miller said.
    06:06:15 AM IST, 01 November 2023

    Israel Hamas War Live News Updates: EU's Borrell condemns West Bank attacks by Israeli settlers

    Israel Palestine War Live: The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell on Tuesday renewed calls for a pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict and condemned attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

    After a series of calls with senior Arab officials, Borrell's office said he had "expressed great concern over attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, which he firmly condemned".

    Brussels has previously called for civilians on both sides of the conflict to be protected, for Hamas to release hostages without preconditions and for "humanitarian pauses" to allow aid into Gaza.
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