Israel-Hamas War Live Updates: Blinken To Visit Israel For Second Time Since War Began
Israel-Hamas War: More than 8,000 people have been killed in Gaza so far.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit to Israel on Friday, US State Department said on Tuesday. This will be Blinken’s second visit to Israel since war began.
“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,” US State Department spokesman said in his statement.
The visit comes as Israel intensifies its ground offensive in Gaza amid deepening humanitarian crisis.
Earlier On Tuesday, Isareli military carried out air strikes on densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing dozens of people.
Israel also claimed that the top commander of Hamas, who was involved in October 7 attack, was also killed in air strike on Gaza.
Hamas, however, dismissed Israel’s claim and said that no one of its leaders was present in the camp during the attack.
According to Gaza health ministry, more than 8,000 people have been killed, mostly children and women, in Israeli bombardments since war began on October 7.
Here are the live updates on the Israel-Hamas war:
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At least 195 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Hamas-run government media office said.
Some 120 were still missing under the rubble, and at least 777 more were wounded, the office said in a statement.
Israel’s defence and finance ministers clashed on Wednesday over whether some West Bank tax revenues should be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, underlining the tensions straining the government as Israeli forces push on with the war in Gaza.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called for tax revenues collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians in parts of the West Bank under direct Israeli control, to be disbursed without delay.
“The State of Israel is interested in maintaining stability in Judea and Samaria, always and especially during these times,” Gallant said in televised remarks, using the term used by many in Israel to refer to the West Bank, where there has been a sharp rise in violence since the war with Hamas began three weeks ago.
Pope Francis said on Wednesday a two-state solution was needed for Israel and Palestine in order to put an end to wars such as the current one and called for a special status for Jerusalem.
In an interview with Italian state television RAI’s TG1 news channel, Francis also said he hoped a regional escalation could be avoided in the conflict that began when Hamas militants entered Israel, killing some 1,400 Israelis, mainly civilians, and taking about 230 hostages.
The United States on Wednesday called violence by West Bank settlers in tandem with the Israel-Hamas war “incredibly destabilizing” and urged Israel to rein them in.
Settler violence in the West Bank is “incredibly destabilizing and counterproductive to Israel’s long-term security in addition to, of course, being extremely harmful to the Palestinians living in the West Bank,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Deadly Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip’s largest refugee camp “could amount to war crimes”, the UN Human Rights Office said on Wednesday.
“Given the high number of civilian casualties & the scale of destruction following Israeli air strikes on Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes,” the office wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Israeli security forces arrested 46 wanted Palestinians in overnight counter-terror raids around Judea and Samaria on Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The IDF said 30 of the people arrested were associated with Hamas. Soldiers confiscated guns and 40,000 shekels (USD 9,900) intended for terror activity.
The German Ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann said on Wednesday that Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel was a terrorist attack. He added that they have also asked Israel to analyse their actions in Gaza and also keep in mind Humanitarian International Law.
“We consider Hamas attack as a terrorist attack. Right to self-defence, now I understand that when it comes to Israel, at the same time we ask Israel to look into their actions in Gaza to accept and keep in mind humanitarian international law, it’s very important,” he said.
The Hamas terror attack of Oct. 7 has left 116 children from 59 families orphaned, according to data presented to the Knesset’s Labor and Welfare Committee on Tuesday.
“The State of Israel has not faced such a situation since its establishment, neither in numbers nor in substance. There is no need to explain the importance of sensitivity when it comes to the treatment of those children. As a committee, we intend to accompany the responsible parties, to assist and be at their disposal for any need that comes their way,” said committee chair MK Israel Eichler.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to Jordan, whose relations with Israel have sharply deteriorated over the Gaza war, on a new crisis trip, the State Department said Wednesday.
The top US diplomat will visit Jordan after previously announced talks on Friday in Israel, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Israel’s air strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, his spokesman said Wednesday.
“The Secretary-General is appalled over the escalating violence in Gaza, including the killing of Palestinians, including women and children in Israeli airstrikes in residential areas of the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
President Joe Biden said US citizens began the process of evacuating from Gaza on Wednesday, as hundreds of injured residents and foreigners left the war-torn Palestinian territory.
“We expect American citizens to exit today, and we expect to see more depart over the coming days. We won’t let up working to get Americans out of Gaza,” Joe Biden said on X, formerly Twitter.
The UN child rights committee said there were “no winners in a war where thousands of children are killed”, as they condemned mounting “grave human rights violations” in the Gaza Strip.
“The committee calls for an end to the devastating harm being wreaked on children’s lives in the occupied Palestinian territory. We add our voice to those calling for an immediate ceasefire. We urge the immediate release of child hostages, with their caregivers,” the independent committee, which monitors countries’ adherence to the children’s rights convention, said in a statement.
Seventy-six wounded Palestinians and 335 foreigners or dual-nationals have left the war-torn Gaza Strip for Egypt so far on Wednesday, an Egyptian official at the Rafah crossing said.
The Egyptian authorities had said they would allow 90 wounded Palestinians and around 545 foreigners and dual nationals to cross on Wednesday.
Fifteen Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting in Gaza since Tuesday, a spokesman for the country’s military told AFP.
Israeli troops have been fighting Hamas militants on the ground since Friday, backed by heavy air strikes which have killed multiple civilians in the Palestinian territory.
Jordan said it would “immediately” recall its ambassador to Israel in protest at the war against Gaza’s Hamas rulers trigged by the militant group’s October 7 attacks.
“Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi decided to immediately recall Jordan’s ambassador to Israel,” the foreign ministry said, adding that the move was “to condemn the Israeli war that is killing innocent people in Gaza”.
The Israeli military said it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea as reinforcements, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and vowed to carry out more “to help the Palestinians to victory”.
Images disseminated by the military showed Saar-class corvettes patrolling near Eilat port in the Red Sea, which Israel sees as a new front as its war in Gaza draws retaliation from Iran-aligned pro-Hamas forces elsewhere in the region.
The World Health Organization welcomed Wednesday’s first evacuations of wounded patients out of the Gaza Strip, but stressed that thousands of injured civilians and people with chronic illnesses also needed treatment.
Ambulances transported wounded residents out of the Palestinian enclave for urgent medical care in neighbouring Egypt.
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday, welcomed Egypt’s announcement that it would treat 81 injured or sick people from the Gaza Strip in its hospitals.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes Egypt’s decision to accept 81 injured and sick people from the #Gaza Strip for treatment. WHO has been working to support the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population in planning and establishing a comprehensive triage, stabilization, and medical evacuation system, by providing ongoing training for health care staff. WHO is also working with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society to ensure that psychological trauma support services are available to patients” said the WHO.
An NGO defending press freedom said it had filed a complaint alleging war crimes with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the death of journalists in the Israel-Hamas war.
Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, said its complaint concerned “war crimes committed against Palestinian journalists in Gaza” and “against an Israeli journalist”.
Specifically, the complaint concerned “eight Palestinian journalists who were killed in bombardments of civilian areas in Gaza by Israel, and an Israeli journalist who was killed on October 7 while covering an attack on his kibbutz by Hamas”, the organisation said in a statement.
A first group of foreigners and dual nationals fleeing war-torn Gaza arrived in Egypt, mostly women and children, an Egyptian official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Parents with strollers and elderly people were seen among those getting off a bus on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in footage broadcast by an Egyptian TV channel close to the intelligence services.
Turkey and Iran called for a regional conference aimed at averting the spread of the Israel-Hamas war.
“We do not want the human tragedy in Gaza to turn into a war that affects the region’s countries,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a joint media appearance with Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who urged the meeting to be held “as soon as possible”.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Wednesday 8,796 people have been killed since the war with Israel erupted on October 7.
The death toll includes 3,648 children while 22,219 people have been wounded, a health ministry statement said.
Hamas said Wednesday that seven hostages, including three foreign passport holders, were killed in Israel’s bombing of Gaza’s largest refugee camp.
Dozens of bodies were seen on Tuesday at the Jabalia camp where Israel said it killed a Hamas military commander in a strike on a tunnel complex.
“Seven detainees were killed in the Jabalia massacre yesterday, including three holders of foreign passports,” said a statement from the Hamas military wing.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to continue Israel’s war on Hamas despite suffering “painful losses” in ground fighting inside the Gaza Strip.
“We have so many important achievements, but also painful losses. We know that every soldier of ours is an entire world,” Netanyahu said in a televised address after the army confirmed at least 11 soldiers killed in ground fighting on Tuesday.
“We will continue until victory.”
Bolivia said on Tuesday 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.
“We demand an end to the attacks” in the Gaza Strip “which have so far caused thousands of civilian deaths and the forced displacement of Palestinians,” she said at the same press conference.
Israel’s Netanyahu promises ‘victory’ despite ‘painful losses’ in Gaza: news agency AFP
Scores of foreign passport holders started leaving war-torn Gaza Wednesday after Egypt opened the Rafah crossing for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, AFP correspondents said.
It was not immediately clear how many people managed to leave via Rafah on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, but live footage from the scene showed crowds of people entering the Palestinian side of the terminal.
Although more than 200 trucks of desperately-needed aid have crossed into Gaza from Egypt, no people have been allowed to flee the battered enclave, with some 400 foreigners and dual nationals expected to make the crossing on Wednesday.
First foreigners leave Gaza for Egypt through Rafah crossing: news agency AFP
A first group of foreign passport holders is to be allowed to leave the war-battered Gaza Strip for Egypt Wednesday, an Egyptian official at the Rafah border crossing told AFP.
“A first group of foreign passport holders is going to pass through the Rafah terminal to Egypt on Wednesday,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Television channels close to the Egyptian intelligence services broadcast live images of a fleet of ambulances entering the terminal from the Egyptian side in readiness to bring out 81 seriously wounded Palestinians for treatment in Egyptian hospitals, according to Egyptian and Palestinian officials.
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday roundly condemned a deadly Israeli bombing of Gaza’s largest refugee camp that killed dozens of people — including, Israel says, a Hamas commander.
Israel said it had targeted a Hamas tunnel complex under the densely populated Jabalia camp on Tuesday, killing local battalion commander Ibrahim Biari, who it believes was involved in the militant group’s October 7 attacks.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that its forces had carried out attacks on more than 11,000 militant targets in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of its ongoing war with Hamas.
“Since the beginning of the war, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has struck over 11,000 targets belonging to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip,” a statement from the military said.
Israeli army says it hit 11,000 Gaza ‘terror targets’ since war’s start: news agency AFP
Nine Israeli soldiers were killed during combat operations in Gaza on Tuesday, the military said, bringing the total number of troops killed since October 7 to 326.
Two other soldiers were seriously wounded in fighting in the Palestinian territory Tuesday, according to the Israeli military, which has been waging a war against Hamas since the Palestinian militant organisation carried out the worst attack in Israel’s history.
Internet, phones ‘completely’ shut off in Gaza, says Palestinian operator: news agency AFP
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.
