Israeli forces conducted another ground raid in Gaza in advance of an expected invasion of the Hamas-ruled territory. U.S. warplanes, meanwhile, struck targets in eastern Syria after attacks on U.S. forces by Iran-backed fighters, adding to regional tensions fueled by the 3-week-old Gaza war. The Palestinian death toll passed 7,000 as Israel launched waves of airstrikes in response to the bloody Hamas rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which tracks the toll, released a detailed list, including names and ID numbers on Thursday. In the occupied West Bank, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids since Oct. 7. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack. In addition, 229 people — including foreigners, children and older adults — were taken by Hamas during the incursion and remain in captivity in Gaza. Four hostages were released earlier.
Quock Read
- Israeli Actions in Gaza
- Israeli forces, supported by jets and drones, executed a second ground raid in Gaza.
- The military reported striking targets on the outskirts of Gaza City.
- Preparation for a potential ground invasion of the Hamas-controlled territory is underway.
- U.S. Actions in Syria
- U.S. warplanes targeted sites in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
- This response followed attacks on American forces in the region.
- Mysterious objects hit towns in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, intensifying tensions.
- Casualties and Captives
- Palestinian death toll surpasses 7,000 due to Israel’s airstrikes.
- More than 1,400 Israelis, primarily civilians, were killed during the initial Hamas attack.
- Hamas has taken at least 229 people captive inside Gaza.
- Destruction in Gaza
- Airstrikes have caused unprecedented death and destruction.
- Over a million residents have fled their homes, with many moving south despite ongoing airstrikes.
- The military reported strikes in Shijaiyah, a neighborhood previously impacted in the 2014 Gaza war.
- Israeli Military Statements
- Raids enable forces to target militants and eliminate threats.
- The intention is to prepare the ground for future stages of the conflict.
- Visual Evidence of Destruction
- Satellite photos showcase the extensive damage in Gaza, with entire neighborhoods obliterated.
- Conflict Dynamics
- Palestinian militants have launched thousands of rockets into Israel.
- The current conflict risks sparking a broader war in the region.
- Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire along the border.
- U.S. has deployed additional forces and equipment to deter potential involvement by Iran and its allies.
- International Stance and Aid
- The EU is addressing the humanitarian crisis, though Israel insists on strict screening for aid deliveries.
- UNRWA warns of collapsing services in Gaza, with dwindling food, medicine, and fuel supplies.
- The Red Cross sent medical supplies and water purification tablets to Gaza.
- Regional Impacts
- A missile struck Egypt’s Red City of Taba on the Sinai Peninsula, injuring six.
- U.S. airstrikes targeted Iran-backed fighters in Syria.
- The U.N. General Assembly session continues discussions on the Gaza war, with Arab nations pushing for a cease-fire resolution.
Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war, as reported by the Associated Press:
Israel strikes the outskirts of Gaza City during a second ground raid
Newslooks- DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP)
Israeli forces backed by fighter jets and drones carried out a second ground raid into Gaza in as many days and struck targets on the outskirts of Gaza City, the military said Friday, as it prepares for a widely expected ground invasion of the Hamas-ruled territory.
U.S. warplanes, meanwhile, struck targets in eastern Syria that the Pentagon said were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after a string of attacks on American forces, and two mysterious objects hit towns in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, adding to the already high tensions fueled by the three-week-old Gaza war.
The Palestinian death toll has soared past 7,000 as Israel has carried out waves of devastating airstrikes in response to a bloody Hamas incursion into southern Israel on Oct. 7. The Health Ministry in Gaza, which tracks the toll, released a detailed list of names and identification numbers on Thursday. The toll includes more than 2,900 minors and more than 1,500 women.
The overall number of deaths far exceeds the combined toll of all four previous wars between Israel and Hamas, estimated at around 4,000.
More than 1,400 people in Israel, mostly civilians, were slain during the initial Hamas attack, according to the Israeli government. Hamas is holding at least 229 captives inside Gaza, including men, women, children and older adults.
The airstrikes have flattened entire neighborhoods, causing a level of death and destruction unseen in the last four wars between Israel and Hamas. More than a million people have fled their homes, with many heeding Israeli orders to evacuate to the south, despite continuing Israeli strikes across the sealed-off territory.
The military said ground forces raided inside Gaza, striking dozens of militant targets over the past 24 hours. It said aircraft and artillery bombed targets in Shijaiyah, a neighborhood on Gaza City’s outskirts that was the scene of an urban battle in the 2014 Gaza war.
The military said the soldiers exited the territory without suffering any casualties. It reported an earlier, hourslong raid into northern Gaza early Thursday.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the raids enable forces to “uncover the enemy,” to kill militants and to remove explosives and launch pads. The aim is “to prepare the ground for the next stages of the war,” he added.
The damage to Gaza from nearly three weeks of bombardment showed in satellite photos of several locations taken before the war and again in recent days.
Entire rows of residential buildings simply disappear in the photos, reduced to smears of dust and rubble. A complex of 13 high-rises by the sea was pounded to dust near Gaza City’s al-Shati refugee camp, leaving only a few tottering bits of facade, according to the photos by Maxar Technologies.
The military says it only strikes militant targets and accuses Hamas of operating among civilians in an attempt to protect its fighters. The Israeli military said that an airstrike killed one of two masterminds of the Oct. 7 massacre, Shadi Barud, the head of Hamas’ intelligence unit.
Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel since the war began.
Hamas’ military wing said Thursday that Israeli bombardment has so far killed about 50 of the hostages. There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials, who have denied previous, similar claims.
The conflict has threatened to ignite a wider war across the region.
Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed ally of Hamas in Lebanon, has repeatedly traded fire with Israel along the border, and Israel has carried out airstrikes targeting Iran-linked groups in Syria. The United States has sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the region, along with additional fighter jets and other weaponry and personnel, in part to deter Iran and its allies from entering the war on the side of Hamas.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the strikes in eastern Syria were “a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on Oct. 17.” He said the operation was separate from the Israel-Hamas war.
Iran-backed fighters later fired rockets at an oil facility housing U.S. troops in eastern Syria, according to Syrian opposition activists. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the U.S. strikes had wounded seven Iran-backed Iraqi fighters.
Egypt’s military said a drone crashed into a building in the Red Sea town of Taba, on the border with Israel, slightly wounding six people. State media had initially said it was a rocket. In a separate incident, the state-run Al-Qahera news said a “strange object” landed near a power station in the Red Sea town of Nuweiba, further south. Footage showed debris and smoke rising from the side of a nearby mountain.
Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, said “an aerial threat was identified in the area of the Red Sea,” which appeared to be the source of the Taba incident. He said that fighter jets were dispatched to the area and that Israel, Egypt and the U.S. were tightening their defenses in the region.
Last week, a U.S. Navy destroyer in the northern Red Sea shot down three cruise missiles and several drones launched toward Israel by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in northern Yemen.
The war has also sparked protests across the region, and more demonstrations were held Friday in cities across the Middle East after weekly Muslim prayers.
In Gaza, supplies of food, medicine and fuel for powering emergency generators are running low. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, which provides basic services to hundreds of thousands of people, including operating schools turned into shelters, has said it may run out of fuel within days.
Gaza’s sole power station shut down because of a lack of fuel days after the start of the war, and Israel has barred all fuel deliveries, saying it believes Hamas would steal them for military purposes.
About 1.4 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have fled their homes, with nearly half of them crowding into U.N. shelters. Hundreds of thousands remain in northern Gaza, despite Israel ordering them to evacuate to the south and saying that those who remain might be considered “accomplices” of Hamas.
Over the past week, Israel has allowed more than 80 trucks with aid enter from Egypt through the Rafah crossing, the only entry point into Gaza not controlled by Israel. But aid workers say the convoys meet only a tiny fraction of the territory’s mounting humanitarian needs. Before the war, an average of 500 trucks entered Gaza each day, according to the United Nations.
The U.S. has been working with other mediators to send in more humanitarian aid, but Israel is insisting on strict screening procedures for all trucks that enter. Washington says Hamas has refused to open the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing to let hundreds of foreign passport holders leave.
The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said that its aid operations were crumbling, citing distressing reports from local staff.
“For the first time ever, they report that now people are hungry.” Philippe Lazarini told reporters in Jerusalem. “Civil order is collapsing.”
A TRICKLE OF AID GETS INTO GAZA AS ‘HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE’ DEEPENS
The International Committee of the Red Cross says that 10 of its staffers, including a combat surgery team, entered Gaza on Friday, along with six trucks of medical aid and water purification tablets.
The medical supplies are enough to treat between 1,000 and 5,000 people, the ICRC said, and the water purification tablets can treat 50,000 liters of water.
This crucial humanitarian assistance is a small dose of relief, but it’s not enough,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s regional director. “Our surgical team and medical supplies will help relieve the extreme pressure on Gaza’s doctors and nurses. But safe, sustained humanitarian access is urgently needed.”
“This humanitarian catastrophe is deepening by the hour,” he said.
Meanwhile, UNESCO said that since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, more than 200 schools have been damaged in the Gaza Strip — around 40% of all schools there.I
IRAN-BACKED FIGHTERS IN SYRIA FIRE ROCKETS AT OIL FACILITY HOUSING AMERICAN TROOPS
BEIRUT — Syrian opposition activists say Iran-backed fighters fired rockets at an oil facility housing U.S. troops in eastern Syria.
The attack came hours after American fighter jets launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Pentagon said the strikes were in retaliation for a slew of drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region that began early last week.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said six rockets hit al-Omar oil field in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. The Observatory said it wasn’t clear if there were any casualties.
The Observatory said the U.S. strikes earlier Friday wounded seven Iraqi Iran-backed fighters.
RUSSIA DEFENDS HOSTING HAMAS OFFICIAL FOR TALKS
MOSCOW — The Kremlin dismissed criticism of a visit to Moscow by a senior Hamas figure, saying that Russia considers it necessary to maintain contacts with all warring parties.
Russia has tried to maneuver carefully over the Israel-Hamas war as it seeks to expand its global clout. The Israeli Foreign Ministry criticized Moscow for hosting Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, and urged Russia to expel him.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it discussed the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of Russian nationals and other foreign citizens during Thursday’s talks with Hamas.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia considers “it necessary to continue contacts with all the parties and we will certainly continue our dialogue with Israel.”
He wouldn’t comment when asked if Hamas’ visit could hurt Russia-Israeli ties.
Also in Moscow on Thursday was Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, Ali Bagheri Kani, who told Abu Marzouk that Tehran’s “priority” in negotiations “is an immediate cease-fire, providing assistance to the people and lifting the repressive blockade of Gaza.”
The Iranian official also met with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who serves as the Kremlin envoy for the Middle East.
4 PALESTINIANS, INCLUDING MILITANT COMMANDER KILLED IN WEST BANK CLASHES OVERNIGHT
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in the West Bank during a widescale overnight arrest raid, Palestinian health officials said. A militant commander was among those killed.
Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, the death toll in the occupied West Bank has reached 110, making it one of the deadliest periods there in at least a decade.
Palestinian officials said three of the Palestinians were killed when a firefight with local gunmen erupted in the Jenin refugee camp.
The Israeli military said forces responded with live fire when assailants hurled explosive devices and shot at troops in the camp. One of the three killed was a commander for the military wing of the militant Islamic Jihad group, the group said.
Israeli forces killed a fourth Palestinian early Friday morning in the west Bank City of Qalqilya, Palestinian health officials said.
Israeli forces arrested at least 70 Palestinians in the raid, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, which represents current and former prisoners. Since the start of the war, Israeli authorities have made more than 1,530 arrests of Palestinians in the West Bank.
FRANCE’S TOP DIPLOMAT SAYS HAMAS IS HOLDING ‘AT LEAST SOME’ OF THE 9 FRENCH CITIZENS MISSING SINCE OCT. 7
PARIS — French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna says that at least some of the nine French citizens who have been missing since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel are being held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza.
In an interview with the French radio station RTL on Friday, she said the nine “disappeared” on Oct. 7.
“We have no specific news (of them) but some of them we know have been taken hostage,” Colonna said and added that the French government is working with Egypt and Qatar to free them.
“We demand the release of all hostages and not just French hostages,” she added.
On Thursday, the French foreign ministry said that 35 French citizens have been killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Hamas and other militants in Gaza are believed to have taken more than 220 people, including an unconfirmed number of foreigners and dual citizens.
HEAD OF UN AGENCY FOR PALESTINIANS SAYS SERVICES IN GAZA COLLAPSING FAST
JERUSALEM — The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Friday that remaining public services in Gaza are collapsing fast and that people now face food shortages.
Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the international community “seems to have turned its back on Gaza.”
He said the agency was very short on fuel in Gaza and needs about 160,000 liters (42,200 gallons) of fuel a day to supply hospitals and bakeries.
As for UNRWA staffers in Gaza, “for the first time ever, they report that now people are hungry,” Lazzarini said. “Civil order is collapsing.”
Asked how long supplies will last, Lazzarini said “certainly no more than few days.” Lazzarini added that 57 employees of the agency in Gaza have been killed since the war started on Oct. 7.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to this human tragedy,” he said.
Also Friday in Geneva, Lynn Hastings, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Palestinian territories, said there was “a significant backup of some 150 aid trucks” at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. More trucks were stalled in the nearby Egyptian city of el-Arish.
Though Israel has blocked all fuel from accessing the Gaza Strip, Hastings said that UNWRA has been able to access a limited amount of fuel to power desalination plants and distribute to bakeries and hospitals.
She said that if desalination plants run out of fuel, raw sewage that is currently being pumped into the sea will begin to spill onto the streets.
MISSILE HITS EGYPTIAN RED SEA CITY NEAR ISRAEL BORDER
CAIRO — A missile that landed in Egypt’s Red City of Taba on the Sinai Peninsula early on Friday injured six people, Egyptian state media said.
The source of the missile was not identified. An Israeli army spokesman said that “an aerial threat was identified in the area” of the Red Sea earlier on Friday, forcing Israel to scramble fighter planes.
According to al-Qahera news, which has close ties to Egypt’s intelligence service, the missile struck a medical facility where ambulances were parked and a hospital administration building. An investigation is underway.
All six people had minor injuries and were being treated at a hospital, Egypt’s Health Ministry said.
An unnamed security source cited by al-Qahera said Egypt reserved the right to respond to the attack. Once the destination for the launch is determined, all options are available, he added.
Taba lies right on the border with Israel, and is some 6 miles, or 10 kilometers, from the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
Israeli Read Adm. Daniel Hagari said “the origin of the hit that occurred in Egypt” appeared to be from the threat over the Red Sea. The issue is under investigation, he said.
“Israel will work with Egypt and the United States and will tighten the defense in the region against threats from the area of the Red Sea,” he added.
In a separate incident Friday, al-Qahera news said a “strange object” landed near a power station in the Red Sea town of Nuweiba, not far from Taba. Footage broadcasted by the news outlet showed debris and smoke rising from the side of mountain near the town. No further information was available.
US TARGETED 2 SITES TIED TO IRAN-BACKED FIGHTERS, ACTIVISTS SAY
BEIRUT — The U.S. airstrikes on Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour targeted two locations where Iran-backed fighters are based, according to Syrian opposition activists.
Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet, said the main target was an area known as the farms just outside the town of Mayadeen. The site had been evacuated and no one was hurt, he said.
The second strike early Friday hit an area known as the “green belt” in the Boukamal area that borders Iraq, he said.
“These strikes were expected because of the repeated provocative acts,” said Abu Layla referring to attacks that targeted U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria.
Abu Layal said the farms area is an important point where weapons brought from Iran are stored and then shipped to other areas in Lebanon.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, also reported strikes on the farms area near Mayadeen and Ashara near the border with Iraq. The Observatory said ambulances were seen rushing to the area, but it was not clear if there were casualties.
The Pentagon said the airstrikes targeted two locations linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in retaliation for drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region.
UNGA SESSION ON THE WAR RESUMES FRIDAY MORNING
UNITED NATIONS — “Stop the bombs and save lives!” the Palestinian ambassador pleaded at an emotional U.N. meeting Thursday on the war in Gaza. But Israel’s envoy was adamant, declaring again, “We will not rest until Hamas is obliterated.”
The war sparked by Gaza’s Hamas rulers’ surprise attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 played out in the vast hall of the 193-nation General Assembly, where Arab nations expected to adopt a resolution Friday calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza after the Security Council’s four failed attempts to agree on any action.
At the assembly’s resumed emergency special session, speaker after speaker backed the Arab resolution’s cease-fire call — except for Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who told the 193-member world body, “A cease-fire means giving Hamas time to rearm itself, so they can massacre us again.”
The emergency General Assembly meeting resumes Friday morning, with about 100 speakers remaining.
The resolution being putting to a vote in the afternoon calls for an immediate cease-fire and demands that all parties respect international law and protect civilians. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding. But they do reflect world opinion and the size of the vote in favor will be closely watched.
