The Israeli army asserts that the majority of the 200 prisoners taken from Israel and detained by Hamas in Gaza “are alive.”
The Israeli military claimed on Friday that most of the 200 or so persons who were abducted in Israel by Hamas militants and transported to the Gaza Strip are still alive.
“The majority of the hostages are alive,” an Israeli Army spokesman stated in a statement.
Dead bodies were also transported to the Gaza Strip.
The announcement precedes the anticipated Israeli ground attack aimed at targeting strategic Hamas locations, which follows over 100 IDF bombings over the previous night.
Any further military build-up, according to the UN refugee chief, would be “catastrophic” for Gaza as Israel strikes “more than 100” targets in a single night.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees declared on Friday that any increase in military activity in the Gaza Strip would be “catastrophic” for the Palestinians living there.
Filippo Grandi told reporters in Japan, “I can tell you with certainty that any further escalation or even continuation of military activities will just be catastrophic for the people of Gaza.”
Grandi stated that the UNHCR “shares the extreme worry and anguish that has been expressed by many of my colleagues including the UN secretary general” regarding the crisis, but he emphasised that the organisation has no official mandate in Israel or the Palestinian Territories.
This is in line with the UN’s announcement that the first aid shipment into the beleaguered Gaza Strip should arrive “in the next day or so” through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
A tunnel and weapons storage facilities were among the more than 100 targets in Gaza that the Israeli military claimed to have hit overnight.
As Egyptian border restrictions are lifted, planes delivering humanitarian supplies arrive close to Gaza.
Only twenty minutes from the Gaza border, an additional plane loaded with new humanitarian supplies has touched down in Egypt.
Calls to establish a corridor for the shipment of essential “life-saving” commodities into Palestine are growing as the arrival occurs.
Barriers to Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt were taken down during the course of the night.
WHO demanded ‘rapid, unrestricted and continuous humanitarian access, including through Rafah’.
The Kremlin denounces Biden’s remark that likened Putin to Hamas as “unacceptable” while Russia maintains its invasion of Ukraine.
Remarks made by US President Joe Biden on Friday equating Russian President Vladimir Putin to the extremist Palestinian organisation Hamas were denounced by the Kremlin as “unacceptable.”
Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that the current state of affairs on the global stage was potentially perilous and that if Israel began its planned ground assault to try to drive Hamas out of Gaza, the threat to Russian people would increase significantly.
Referring the question to the foreign ministry, Peskov declined to specify who would represent Russia at a peace conference on the Palestinian crisis in Cairo on Saturday.
The Kremlin official’s remarks coincide with Putin’s forces’ ongoing brutal invasion of Ukraine.
According to reports, Russian shelling of the city of Vovchansk has injured two men, ages 57 and 69, and damaged four residential properties as well as a children’s facility.
The violence in Israel and Gaza has left the Director-General of the World Health Organisation “shocked, appalled, and saddened.”
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressed his distress at the conflict between Israel and Gaza.
The health chief expressed her emotions in a post on X, the previous Twitter platform, writing, “The situation in Israel and Gaza has shocked, appalled, and saddened all of us at the WHO.”
“More life-saving supplies should be delivered into Gaza,” Dr. Adhanom Ghebreyesus begged, lamenting the “attacks on health care in both Gaza and Israel.”
“Our trucks are loaded and ready to go,” the health chief continued, urging Israel to contribute fuel.”
Bullets and bombs are not the solution to this situation,” he continued.
Nothing but anguish and destruction will result from war.
As protestors burn images of the Israeli president in Kuala Lumpur, they march against US embassies in Indonesia and Malaysia.
On Friday, almost a thousand demonstrators from a number of Jakartan mosques marched on the heavily guarded US embassy in the country’s capital.
They called for a stop to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and denounced the United States’ unwavering backing for Israel.
Similar demonstrations were also held outside the grounds of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a few miles from the US embassy, and outside the UN mission.
Protesters set fire to images of Israeli President Isaac Herzog outside the US consulate in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Former Israeli government adviser claimed that Hamas ‘appropriated’ funds from humanitarian aid to construct an underground bunker system.
Former Israeli government senior advisor Ashley Perry charges Hamas with constructing an underground tunnel network in Gaza with humanitarian funds.
According to Mr. Perry, who spoke with Sky News, Hamas built bunkers “for them and their families,” and the group “don’t care about the average civilian on the ground.”
According to him, the Israeli blockade was ‘ensuring the water, electricity, and air was taken out’ from the bunkers, ‘forcing’ the leaders of Hamas onto the ground so the Israeli Defence Force could target them.
A video shows the IDF bombarding over 100 locations in Gaza during the night in preparation for an onslaught.
According to an update published on X by the Israel Defence Forces, fighter jets have struck over a hundred ‘operational targets’ operated by Hamas.
According to the IDF, attacks destroyed “dozens of operational headquarters, munitions warehouses, and tunnel shafts.”
Israel also declared that it had ‘eliminated a terrorist who was in the naval force’ of Hamas and that he had participated in the horrific terrorist actions in the Gaza Strip’.
UN assistance head says that aid trucks will arrive in Gaza “in the next day or so.
“International assistance trucks for Gaza are expected to arrive “in the next day or so,” according to a statement released by the UN on Friday.
UN humanitarian head Martin Griffiths’s spokesman informed reporters in Geneva that “deep and advanced negotiations” were underway with all parties to guarantee that relief gets to the affected areas “as quickly as possible.”
“A first delivery is due to start in the next day or so,” they stated.
Ahmed Ali, the head of the Egyptian Red Crescent, said he was receiving “two to three planes of aid a day” as an AFP reporter watched medicine, water purifiers, and blankets being unloaded at El Arish airport near Gaza.
Israelis residing in Kiryat Shmona are not required to leave, according to the IDF.
Regarding the evacuation of Kiryat Shmona, which is close to the Lebanon border, the Israel Defence Forces have modified their stance.
Approximately twenty thousand people were ordered to leave their homes earlier today, however the IDF has now stated that the evacuation order is not required.
More global leaders attend conferences in an effort to reduce conflict between Israel and Palestine.
According to a French diplomatic source on Friday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will be present at a discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Saturday in Egypt.
Last week, Colonna had already visited Israel, Cairo, and Beirut as part of Paris’s efforts to lessen the likelihood of a regional escalation.
According to diplomatic sources, there was still a chance that President Emmanuel Macron might show up for the gathering.
It occurs during this week’s regional visits by US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
A bombing overnight destroys an Orthodox church in Gaza, raising concerns that it may have been housing hundreds of
According to the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip was damaged last night.
500 Muslims and Christians were reportedly taking refuge there at the time of the explosion, according to unverified accounts from Gaza health officials.
According to the Israeli military, a command and control centre that was responsible for firing rockets and mortars towards Israel was struck by fighter jets.
The IDF said in a statement that “a wall of a church in the area was damaged as a result” of the hit, and that “we are aware of reports on casualties.”
The event is being investigated.
Rescue workers can be seen searching through massive amounts of debris and wreckage in video footage from the scene.
The’strongest criticism’ of the walkout was issued by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Before the anticipated ground attack, Israeli forces gather at the Gaza border.
On the Israel-Gaza border, columns of Israeli tanks have gathered, and tens of thousands of soldiers seem to be getting ready for combat today.
Heavy machine gunfire was heard along the border in the early hours of this morning, which prompted the massing of personnel and artillery near the border.
A woman holding her weeping baby daughter to her chest and expressing her gratitude for months of feeling her tiny movements was meant to be a happy scenario.
Rather, there was silence in the hospital room as the doctor gently put the unborn child—which was scarcely larger than his palms—atop her mother’s motionless body.
Beijing and Moscow would “work together,” according to a Chinese official, to assist resolve the situation.
Russia and China “share the same position on the question of Palestine,” according to Zhai Jun, China’s Special Envoy to the conflict.
In remarks shown by Chinese network CCTV, the envoy stated, “China and Russia share the same position on the question of Palestine, and China is ready to maintain communication and coordination with the Russian Federation in order to cool down the situation as soon as possible.”
According to Zhai, Beijing claims that the conflict is exacerbated because “the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people have not been guaranteed.”
According to reports, an Israeli raid in the West Bank resulted in the arrest of a Hamas spokesperson.
During yesterday’s operation on the West Bank, Israeli troops detained Hassan Yousef, the spokesman for Hamas.
In an interview with CNN this morning, Israel’s security service Shin Bet confirmed the arrest.
Yousef is a prominent Palestinian politician who acts as the official spokesperson for Hamas in the West Bank.
Violence in the Middle East must stop spreading, according to Rishi Sunak and the Emir of Qatar.
Together, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and Rishi Sunak intend to stop the violence from spreading across the Middle East.
According to a Downing Street statement, the two “agreed that leaders had a responsibility to do everything possible to prevent it” and “underlined the imperative of avoiding any escalation in the violence”.
“They agreed on the urgent need to get food, water and medicine to civilians who are suffering,” said the statement.
“The leaders looked forward to meeting again soon to deepen the bilateral relationship between our countries.”
Sir Keir Starmer says Israel can’t deny Gaza humanitarian aid.According to Sir Keir Starmer, Israel is not entitled to deny Gaza humanitarian help.
“Israelis do have the right to self-defense, but they do not have the right to refuse the necessary humanitarian aid.”
Right now, it is really urgent.
As part of a concerted diplomatic effort to stop the Israel-Hamas battle from escalating into a larger regional confrontation, Rishi Sunak is visiting Egypt.
The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, have already had discussions with the prime minister.
Downing Street announced that he would meet again in Egypt with peers from the region.
As fighting rages in Gaza, Palestinian health officials reported on Friday that 13 people had died as a result of an Israeli military incursion in the occupied West Bank.
Figures from the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah show that since the Gaza crisis broke out on October 7, at least 81 Palestinians have been murdered by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank.
Additionally, one Israeli security force member has died on the land.
According to a high-ranking Israeli official, if the BBC persisted in “crossing the line in accordance with our laws,” the government would respond.
It followed Israel’s President Isaac Herzog’s ‘atrocious’ declaration that the country’s policy of labelling Hamas militants was unacceptable.
Israel’s ministry of communications is considering shutting down the local office of Al Jazeera, which is owned by Qatar, due to allegations that its reporting favoured Hamas.
After the go-ahead for a ground invasion, there was heavy machine gun fire heard along the Israel-Gaza border in the early hours of Friday.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant assured troops that they would soon be able to view the Palestinian enclave “from inside” during a visit to troops stationed at the Gaza border on Thursday.
According to an IDF army commander who spoke with DailyMail.com on Thursday, his forces had “a very high level of optimism” and they were prepared for an invasion.
Major Updates
The Israeli army asserts that the “majority” of the 200 hostages taken from Israel and detained by Hamas in Gaza “are alive.”
The violence in Israel and Gaza has left the Director-General of the World Health Organisation “shocked, appalled, and saddened.”
Before the anticipated ground attack, Israeli forces gather at the Gaza border.
Any further military build-up, according to the UN refugee chief, would be “catastrophic” for Gaza as Israel strikes “more than 100” targets in a single night.
According to reports, an Israeli raid in the West Bank resulted in the arrest of a Hamas spokesperson.
Violence in the Middle East must stop spreading, according to Rishi Sunak and the Emir of Qatar.
Israel increases its military presence along the Gaza border as a ground invasion approaches.
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