One million Gazans displaced in a week, says UN; 2,670 killed in Israeli attacks

President Joe Biden is considering a trip to Israel in the coming days, but nothing has been finalized, a senior administration official said Sunday.

A trip would send the strongest message yet that the U.S. is behind Israel following the October 7 attack by Hamas. The administration has already pledged military support, sending U.S. aircraft carriers to the region as well as aid. Officials have said they would ask Congress for upward of $2 billion in aid for both Israel and Ukraine. - AP

Medics in Gaza warned Sunday that thousands could die as hospitals packed with wounded people ran desperately low on fuel and basic supplies. Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave struggled to find food, water and safety ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive in the war sparked by Hamas’ deadly attack.

Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of U.S. warships in the region, positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group. A week of blistering airstrikes have demolished entire neighborhoods but failed to stem militant rocket fire into Israel. - AP

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said Sunday that the policies and actions of Hamas “do not represent the Palestinian people”, the news agency Wafa reported.

The Palestinian Liberation Organisations (PLO) was the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, he added, during talks with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Wafa added. - AFP

The World Health Organization chief on Sunday urged Hamas to release all civilian hostages, as he warned that the war between Israel and the Islamist group would only bring destruction and horror. - AFP

More than one million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip in the last week, the UN said Sunday, after sustained Israeli bombardment and warnings about a ground attack targeting Hamas commanders.

Seven days of relentless bombing targeting those who masterminded the attack have flattened neighbourhoods and left at least 2,670 people dead in the Gaza Strip, the majority ordinary Palestinians. - AFP

Israel’s strikes on the Gaza Strip have led to an “unprecedented human catastrophe” in the Palestinian territory, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees said Sunday.

“Not one drop of water, not one grain of wheat, not a litre of fuel has been allowed in the Gaza Strip for the last eight days,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of UNRWA, told journalists. - AFP

The Israeli military said Sunday it had confirmed 155 people were being held hostage by Hamas since the Palestinian militant group staged its deadly attack last week.

Families of “155 hostages” have been contacted by the authorities, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said, updating an earlier figure confirming 126 hostages. - AFP

More than 1,000 people are missing under the rubble of buildings that were destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza, the Palestinian civil defence team said on Sunday.

In a statement, the civil defence team said many others were pulled alive out of the rubble, 24 hours after buildings were struck.

- Reuters

Israel’s strikes on the Gaza Strip have led to an “unprecedented human catastrophe” in the Palestinian territory, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees said Sunday.

“Not one drop of water, not one grain of wheat, not a litre of fuel has been allowed in the Gaza Strip for the last eight days,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of UNRWA, told journalists.

Israel on Sunday said water had resumed to the south of the Palestinian enclave.

- AFP

Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel exchanged deadly cross-border fire Sunday, with the Iran-backed group claiming responsibility for strikes that Israel said killed a civilian.

The exchanges -- and a rocket that hit a U.N. peacekeeping base -- further raised tensions on Israel’s northern border, as it targets Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip to the south.

The Israeli army closed the border area to civilians as tit-for-tat fire with Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions in Lebanon intensified.

More than 10 people have been killed in Lebanon and at least two in Israel since last Sunday.

- AFP

The death toll of French citizens from the Hamas attacks in Israel has risen to 19, and 13 others are still unaccounted for, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Sunday during a visit to Tel Aviv.

- Reuters

Joe Biden spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about humanitarian assistance for Gaza, the U.S. President posted on X Sunday.

Mr. Biden said he told Mr. Abbas he was working with partners in the region to ensure humanitarian supplies reach civilians in Gaza.

- Reuters

U.N. Security Council members held difficult talks Sunday on a possible resolution over the war between Israel and Hamas, with two drafts on the negotiating table, diplomats said.

On Friday, Russia circulated a draft that calls for “an immediate, durable and fully respected humanitarian ceasefire” in the war triggered by the October 7 Hamas attack from Gaza on southern Israel.

That draft calls for “unimpeded” humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, which had already been under a years-long Israeli blockade and is now under a full-blown siege, with basics like electricity and food supplies cut off.

- AFP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday there was a consensus among the United States’ Arab allies to contain the Israel conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“There’s determination in every country I went to make sure that this doesn’t spread,” Mr. Blinken told reporters before leaving Egypt for Israel, after visiting seven countries in the region.

“No one should do anything that could add fuel to the fire in any other place... It’s clear from my conversations with all of these other countries, that they strongly share that view and they’re using their own relationships to try to make sure that this doesn’t happen.”

- AFP

Iran warned Israel of escalation if it failed to end aggressions against Palestinians, with its Foreign Minister saying other parties in the region were ready to act, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

“If the Zionist aggressions do not stop, the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger,” Hossein Amirabdollahian was quoted as saying.

- Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt “will be open” for aid into the blockaded strip, he said while departing from Cairo.

“We’re putting in place with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel, with others, the mechanism by which to get the assistance and to get it to people who need it,” he told reporters.

Mr. Blinken also said that the United States had appointed an envoy, veteran former diplomat David Satterfield, to work on aid to Gaza.

- AFP

Israel’s planned ground invasion of Gaza “could lead to a genocide of unprecedented proportions”, the heads of the Arab League and African Union said Sunday in a joint statement.

Both organisations called on “the United Nations and the international community to stop a catastrophe unfolding in front of us, before it is too late”, as Israel readies for a ground invasion following Hamas’s surprise attack last week.

- AFP

The European Union’s national leaders back Israel’s right to defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law, they said in a statement issued on Sunday.

“The European Union condemns in the strongest possible terms Hamas and its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks across Israel and deeply deplores the loss of lives,” said the statement from the European Council, which brings together the leaders of the bloc’s 27-member countries.

- Reuters

Israel is not interested in having a war on its northern frontier with Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said as tensions mount between the two countries.

“We have no interest in a war in the north, we don’t want to escalate the situation,” Mr. Gallant said in a video released by his office, as he visited troops in the country’s south.

“If Hezbollah chooses the path of war, it will pay a very heavy price... But if it restrains itself, we’ll respect the situation and keep things the way they are, despite them being in a process of shooting from both sides.”

- AFP

At least 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded since Israel launched its attack on the Gaza strip on the ninth day of conflict, the enclave’s health ministry said on Sunday.

Also Read: Balancing policy: On Israel, Palestine and India’s line

- Reuters

At least two Israeli women security officers of Indian origin were killed in the unprecedented attack carried out by the Palestinian militant group Hamas earlier this month, official sources and people from the community confirmed on Sunday.

Lieutenant Or Moses, 22, a commander in the Home Front Command, from Ashdod and Inspector Kim Dokraker, a Border Police officer in the police’s Central District, were killed in the attack on October 7, official sources confirmed. Both of them are said to have died on duty in combat.

- PTI

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that Israel told him it has turned the water supply back on in southern Gaza.

“I have been in touch with my Israeli counterparts just within the last hour who reported to me that they have, in fact, turned the water pipe back on in southern Gaza,” Mr. Sullivan told CNN. Israel had halted the flow of water as part of its siege of the Hamas-ruled territory since the war broke out last weekend.

- AFP

The German Air Force has flown out 160 people from Israel over the weekend, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday, as the world is waiting for the ground attack on Gaza to start.

The Ministry said the Bundeswehr was ready for a military evacuation operation if necessary.

- Reuters

Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza will have budgetary implications but they are manageable since the country entered the conflict with a very solid fiscal position, Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron said on Sunday.

In a speech to a G30 panel, Mr. Yaron said that Israel’s economy was “strong and stable” and has in the past recovered from difficult periods.

- Reuters

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel’s reaction to Hamas’ attack went beyond self-defence and amounted to collective punishment.

In televised comments during a meeting with Antony Blinken in Cairo on Sunday, President Sisi also said he rejects the targeting of any civilians in the ongoing conflict.

- Reuters

Israeli Defence Minister said on Sunday that Israel has no interest in waging war on its northern front, and that if the Lebanese group Hezbollah restrains itself, Israel would respect the situation along the border as it is today.

- Reuters

The United States said Sunday it fears an escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas and the prospect of Iran getting directly involved.

Speaking on CBS, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan cited the possibility of a new battle front on the Israel-Lebanon border and added, “We can’t rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged some way. We have to prepare for every possible contingency.”

- AFP

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday the United States is focused on ensuring American citizens can find safe passage out of Gaza into Egypt.

Mr. Sullivan, who spoke to CBS’s “Face the Nation”, also said the U.S. is making sure the broader civilian population leaving Gaza has access to food, water, medicine and shelter.

- Reuters

China supports the “just cause of the Palestinian people in safeguarding their national rights”, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart on Sunday as Beijing takes an increasingly clear stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

- AFP

Thousands marched in Rabat on Sunday in support of Palestinians under siege in Gaza, in the biggest anti-Israeli protest since the 2020 normalisation of diplomatic relations. At the march, organised by Islamists and leftist groups, protesters chanted: “Palestine is resisting” and “All against normalisation” as they burned an Israeli flag.

- Reuters

An estimated one million people have been displaced in the first seven days of the conflict in Gaza, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees said Sunday.

“The number is likely to be higher as people continue to leave their homes,” UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma said.

- AFP

Water has run out at U.N. shelters across Gaza as thousands packed into the courtyard of the besieged territory’s largest hospital as a refuge of last resort from a looming Israeli ground offensive and overwhelmed doctors struggled to care for patients, they fear will die once generators run out of fuel.

- AP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened Israel’s expanded emergency cabinet for the first time on October 15, saying the national unity on display sent a message at home and abroad as as the country gears up to “demolish Hamas” in Gaza.

The meeting, held in military headquarters in Tel Aviv, began with ministers standing for a moment’s silence in memory of some 1,300 Israelis killed in Hamas’ shock Oct 7 onslaught.

The Israeli military said on October 15 it had confirmed 126 people held as hostages by Hamas since the Palestinian militant group staged their deadly attack eight days earlier.

Authorities had initially estimated about 150 Israeli and foreign captives after Hamas launched its October 7 attack that killed at least 1,300 in Israel.

Heavy Israeli bombardment since has killed over 2,300 in the Palestinian enclave and tens of thousands of troops have massed along Gaza’s border in readiness for an invasion.

Military spokesman Richard Hecht also said that 286 Israeli soldiers had now been killed in military operations launched in response to the unprecedented Hamas attacks.

Israeli officials say the number of known hostages had been revised down as bodies from the Hamas attack sites in southern Israel have been found and identified.

Hecht told a briefing that 126 hostages had been “confirmed”.

The figure was up from 120 reported on Saturday, and officials cautioned the number was likely to keep changing in coming days.

Pope Francis called on Sunday for humanitarian corridors to allow the delivery of essentials to the Gaza Strip, which is under heavy Israeli bombardment following a bloody attack by its rulers, Hamas.

“Humanitarian law must be respected, especially in Gaza, where it is urgent and necessary to guarantee humanitarian corridors and help the population,” said the Pope after his traditional Angelus prayer in Rome’s Saint Peter’s Square.

- AFP

Iran warned that “no one can guarantee” control of the situation if Israel invades Gaza. “If the attacks of the Zionist regime (Israel) against the defenceless citizens and people of Gaza continue, no one can guarantee the control of the situation and the non-expansion of the conflicts,” Iran’s foreign ministry quoted Foreign Minster Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying during his meeting with Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

- AFP

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has condemned the “horror and barbarism” unleashed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas and pledged continued support to Israel in restoring security as he marked one week of the conflict in the Middle East.

In a statement issued by 10 Downing Street and also on social media on Saturday evening, the British Indian leader also reiterated his commitment to the Jewish community in the country that all protective measures would be deployed.

“No words can begin to describe the horror and barbarism unleashed in Israel a week ago. Daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, grandparents were taken from people in the cruellest and most horrific way possible,” reads Sunak’s statement.

PTI

Amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show solidarity with the Palestinian people saying the Palestine issue is not just of Muslims alone, it is a humanitarian issue and it is a matter of all those who want justice.

Addressing a gathering here on Saturday night, the Hyderabad MP citing media reports said the “zaalim” Israeli government has bombarded Gaza with 6,000 bombs in the last six days and due to which over 1,500 Palestinian people including children and women were killed and several thousands are injured.

He alleged that whatever is happening in Gaza is “ethnic cleansing” and wanted the Indian government and the country to condemn “the war crimes” Israel is doing.

Owaisi said he stands with Palestine and will continue to do so, adding the poor people of Gaza, with a population of 21 lakh, 10 lakh have been rendered homeless.

PTI

When Hamas unleashed its attack on thousands of Jews attending a music festival in southern Israel earlier this month, an Israeli Arab paramedic insisted on staying at the scene to try to save lives.

In the end, he gave his own.

Awad Darawshe was 23, single, handsome — but he wasn’t at the Tribe of Nova festival to dance. He worked for Yossi Ambulances and was among a team of paramedics assigned to work the festival in a tent on the site’s periphery.

He was killed when Hamas militants slipped undetected into Israel from the Gaza Strip and butchered their way through the festival crowd and into nearby villages, settlements and kibbutzim.

AP

Pope Francis on Sunday called for humanitarian corridors to help those under siege in Gaza and renewed his appeal for the release of hostages held by militant Islamist group Hamas.

“I strongly ask that the children, the sick, the elderly, women and all civilians do not become victims of the conflict,” the Pope said during his weekly address to the crowds in St. Peter’s square.

“Humanitarian right must be respected, above all in Gaza.”

Reuters

Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel exchanged deadly border fire Sunday, with the Iran-backed group claiming responsibility for strikes that Israel said killed a civilian, further raising cross-border tensions during Israel’s war with Gaza-based militants.

The Israeli army closed the border area to civilians as tit-for-tat fire with Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions in Lebanon intensified, killing more than 10 people in Lebanon and at least two in Israel since last Sunday.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) responded with fire and destroyed Hezbollah positions and the source of the fire,” an army spokesman said.

“In addition, there was fire at an Israeli military position. There were no casualties. The IDF responded with fire to the source of fire there too.”

A military spokesperson told AFP that, “we have a dead civilian and a number of people wounded in the attack” by an anti-tank missile in Shtula.

AFP

Britain remains supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself but has urged it to show restraint in any military action against Palestinian militant group Hamas in order to minimise harm to civilians, Foreign Minister James Cleverly said.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, Mr. Cleverly said he had raised the need to minimise civilian casualties in conversations with the Israeli government.

“Restraint, discipline - these are the hallmarks of the Israeli defence force that I want to see,” Mr. Cleverly told Sky News.

“Of course, we respect Israel’s right to self-defence ... We’ve said do everything you can to minimise civilian casualties. Do everything you can to prevent Hamas getting what they want, which is this to escalate into a wider regional conflict.”

Reuters

Israel’s order to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip has triggered “mass displacement” towards the south of the Palestinian enclave, the United Nations said Sunday.

Israel has warned 1.1 million Palestinian civilians to leave northern Gaza and a steady stream of families in overloaded cars, trucks and donkey carts have since headed south.

“Mass displacement from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip has been ongoing since... Friday morning, after Israel ordered residents to evacuate the areas ahead of military operations,” the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said in an update.

Convoys of humanitarian aid stacked up near Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, unable to enter the Palestinian enclave being bombarded by Israel, witnesses told AFP.

The Rafah crossing -- the only passage in and out of the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel -- has been closed since Tuesday, after three Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian border post within 24 hours.

On Saturday, an American official confirmed to AFP that Egypt and Israel had reached an agreement to allow American citizens to leave Gaza via Rafah.

However, Egypt has imposed conditions on the deal.

Officials refused for “the crossing to be designated for only foreigners to cross,” according to Egyptian news channel Al-Qahera News, which has ties to Egyptian intelligence agencies.

“The Egyptian stance is clear, which requires the aid to arrive in Gaza,” the report added, as alarm grows over shortages of essential supplies in the blockaded territory.

AFP

Medics in Gaza warned Sunday that thousands could die if hospitals packed with wounded people run out of fuel and basic supplies, as civilians struggled to find food, water and safety ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive in the war sparked by Hamas’ deadly attack last week.

Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of U.S. warships in the region, positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group. A week of blistering airstrikes have demolished entire neighborhoods but failed to stem militant rocket fire into Israel.

AP

Countries that exclude athletes from competing for political reasons risk harming their plans to host an Olympic Games, the IOC said Sunday.

The “growing politicization of sport” was flagged as a problem by International Olympic Committee member Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the former president of Croatia, in an update to global sports leaders about countries who want to host the games in future.

Though she did not identify problematic countries, Poland and Indonesia have expressed interest in hosting the 2036 Olympics. It is the next Summer Games available to be awarded.

“We have witnessed more and more government restrictions being placed on athletes’ access to international sporting competitions,” Grabar-Kitarović said in Mumbai at the IOC’s annual meeting. It opened Saturday with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying his country wants to be the 2036 host.

AP

The Israeli army on Sunday ordered an immediate evacuation of civilians near its frontier with Lebanon after cross-border fire killed one person.

“In accordance with the situational assessment and the recent shooting incident in northern Israel, the area up to four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the northern border with Lebanon has been closed,” the army said in a statement.

AFP

Two flights from Tel Aviv carrying a total of 471 Indians landed in the national capital on October 15.

One flight was operated by Air India and another by SpiceJet.

A total of four flights have been operated under Operation Ajay, which was launched by the government to facilitate the return of Indians who wish to come back from Israel, where an intense conflict is going on with militant group Hamas.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Sunday said the third flight with 197 passengers landed at the Delhi airport in the morning.

The fourth flight with 274 passengers onboard touches down in the national capital, he said in posts on social media platform X and also shared pictures of passengers.

Read the full story here

The Israeli army said Sunday it had killed the Hamas commander behind one of the attacks on kibbutz communities that triggered retaliatory bombardment and preparations for a ground invasion.

Billal al-Kedra is the latest Hamas commander or official whose death Israel has announced since it began bombing Gaza Strip targets eight days ago in its campaign to crush Hamas.

Kedra was killed in an air strike on the Khan Yunis district of Gaza on Saturday night, said a military statement.

According to the army, al-Kedra “was responsible for the Kibbutz Nirim massacre” one of dozens staged when Hamas forces crossed into Israel on October 7 to gun down, stab and burn at least 1,300 people, mostly civilians.

Media reports said at least five people were killed in their homes in Nirim where community members were besieged for nine hours before the army fought off the Hamas militants.

“Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror operatives were also killed” in the night raid by fighter jets, the military statement said.

AFP

Israeli forces were Sunday readying for a looming Gaza ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group that unleashed the bloodiest attack in the country’s history.

Entire Gaza city blocks lie in ruins and hospitals are overflowing with thousands of wounded in the besieged territory, but there were fears of worse to come.

A bereaved and infuriated Israel has massed forces outside the long-blockaded enclave of 2.4 million people ahead of what the army has said will be a land, air and sea attack involving a “significant ground operation”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wearing a flak jacket, visited front line troops Saturday. “Are you ready for what is coming?” he said. “More is coming.”

AFP

Military forensic teams in Israel have examined bodies of victims of last week’s Hamas attack on communities around the Gaza Strip and found multiple signs of torture, rape and other atrocities, officers said on Saturday.

Around 1,300 bodies have been brought to an army base in Ramla in central Israel where forensic checks to determine the identity of the dead and the circumstances of their death are carried out by specialist teams.

Around 90% of the military dead have been identified and teams are half way through identifying civilians, said Rabbi Israel Weiss, former army chief rabbi, one of the officials overseeing the identification of the dead. He said many bodies showed signs of torture as well as rape.

“We’ve seen dismembered bodies with their arms and feet chopped off, people that were beheaded, a child that was beheaded,” a reserve warrant officer identified only by her first name of Avigayil told reporters.

She said multiple cases of rape were found by forensic examination of the bodies, which have been stored in refrigerated containers.

“We do the identification with all the means that we have,” said a military dentist, identified as Captain Maayan. “We see them in severe stages of abuse. We see gunshots and we see signs that are purely torture.”

Reuters

Jews in communities far from Israel gathered at synagogues this weekend for Shabbat services held amid the ongoing war ignited by Hamas militants’ attack on Israel a week earlier. Rabbis led prayers of peace and shared grief with their congregations. At many synagogues security was tight.

The deadly Hamas attack is not just another geopolitical event for Jewish people, explained one U.S. rabbi. It is dredging up generations of visceral trauma, especially in Pittsburgh – the city scarred by the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

“More Jews were killed last Shabbat … than on any other day since the Holocaust,” said Rabbi Daniel Fellman during a service at Temple Sinai. “It isn’t that Hamas wants the destruction of Israel. It’s that Hamas wants the destruction of you and me.”

“The world deserves better, the Palestinian people deserve better and we need to do better.”

AP

The United States is offering Americans in Israel and their immediate relatives evacuation by sea from northern Haifa to Cyprus on Tuesday, a U.S. embassy spokesperson said.

The spokesperson was confirming an advisory circulated online on Monday.

Reuters

Military forensic teams in Israel have examined bodies of victims of last week’s Hamas attack on communities around the Gaza Strip and found multiple signs of torture, rape and other atrocities, officers said on Saturday.

Reuters

President Joe Biden reiterated the U.S.’ unwavering support for Israel and emphasised the need for humanitarian aid for the people of Palestine as he held separate phone calls with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders amid escalating tensions in Gaza, the White House has said.

In his first call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas since Hamas’ unprecedented assault on Israel a week ago, Mr. Biden stressed that the militant group “does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination”.

Mr. Biden discussed with Abbas the U.S.’ efforts to work with the United Nations, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and others to ensure humanitarian supplies reach civilians in Gaza.

The President also called Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his fifth such call Hamas’ assault last week.

In both calls, Mr. Biden stressed the need to prevent the conflict from expanding. He spoke to both leaders about coordination with the United Nations, Egypt, Jordan and other countries in the region to ensure access to water, food and medical care for all civilians.

PTI

An anti-armour missile was fired from inside Lebanon at an Israeli border village on Sunday, causing at least four casualties, Israel’s Army Radio said.

The Israeli military did not immediately confirm that information, saying only that it was striking in Lebanon after a reported attack on Shtula village. Shtula, a farming community, abuts the border and faces the Lebanese town of Ayta a-Shab.

Reuters

The Gaza Health Ministry says 2,329 Palestinians have been killed since the latest fighting erupted, making this the deadliest of the five Gaza wars for Palestinians.

The death toll on Sunday surpassed that of the third war between Israel and Hamas, in the summer of 2014, when 2,251 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, were killed, according to U.N. figures.

Two flights from Tel Aviv carrying a total of 471 Indians landed in the national capital on Sunday morning.

One flight was operated by Air India and another by SpiceJet.

A total of four flights have been operated under Operation Ajay, which was launched by the government to facilitate the return of Indians who wish to come back from Israel, where an intense conflict is going on with the militant group Hamas.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Sunday said the third flight with 197 passengers landed at the Delhi airport in the morning.

PTI

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a crisis tour of the Middle East, sought support Sunday from the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, which has warm ties with Israel but has put normalisation on hold.

The top U.S. diplomat met for nearly an hour in the early morning with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the royal’s farm residence in the Riyadh area, a U.S. official said.

AFP

On October 7, a Jewish Sabbath day, ​Hamas launched a surprise attack​ into southern Israel, raiding its military bases and residential areas, killing at least 1,300 people and injuring thousands more. The Hamas attack has triggered a massive military response from Israel, which has been pounding Gaza ever since, using missiles, jets and dangerous munitions, including, what Human Rights Watch says, white phosphorus. Some 1,900 Gazans have been killed in strikes, and Israel has also asked some 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza ​to move towards the south within 24 hours​, while it is preparing for a ground attack.

​Click here to read the explainer by our International Affairs Editor Stanley Johny. ​

Israel’s Communications Minister said on Sunday he was seeking a possible closure of Al Jazeera’s local bureau, and accused the Qatari news station of pro-Hamas incitement and of exposing Israeli soldiers to potential attack from Gaza.

The proposal to shut down Al Jazeera had been vetted by Israeli security officials and was being vetted by legal experts, Shloma Karhi said, adding that he would bring it to the cabinet later in the day.

Israel pressed on Sunday with preparations for a ground offensive in Gaza, after giving Palestinians a little more time flee northern areas it has vowed to target in response to the deadliest attack in its history.

Hamas fighters gunned down, stabbed and burned to death more than 1,300 people in the attack that Israel has compared to 9/11 in the United States, sparking a massive retaliatory bombing campaign targeting the Islamist group that has killed over 2,200 in Gaza.

AFP

Australia plans more flights to repatriate citizens from Israel after plans for two flights were cancelled on Saturday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, but they depend on concerns about security.

Israeli troops were preparing on Sunday for a ground assault on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in retaliation for a rampage by the group’s fighters in Israeli towns eight days ago that was the worst attack on civilians in the country’s history.

Reuters

The death toll in the Gaza Strip climbed to 2,329 Palestinians dead and 9,714 injured on Sunday morning, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The latest casualty toll reflects those killed and injured by Israel since the conflict started on Oct. 7.

Reuters

The fourth flight from Israel under ‘Operation Ajay’ carrying 274 Indian passengers landed in the national capital on Sunday.

Union Minister of State General (Retd) V.K. Singh received the Indian passengers at the airport. He interacted with them and also gave tricolours to every Indian passenger.

Mr. Singh informed that more flights will be carried out to evacuate the Indian citizens amid the situation in Israel.

ANI

A senior Israeli official accused Iran on Sunday of trying to open a second war front by deploying weapons in or through Syria as Israel steps up a counter-offensive in Gaza to the south.

Reuters

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for a fresh approach from the world to maintain a stable geopolitical system in the wake of the escalating conflict involving Israel and Hamas.

Speaking at a dinner hosted by the Geopolitical Cartographer, an international research foundation specialising in the Indian Ocean, under the theme ‘Emerging New Order in the Indian Ocean Region’, Mr. Wickremesinghe on Friday night talked about the importance of the current situation in West Asia and its potential impact on the global order.

PTI

Israel’s actions in Gaza have gone “beyond the scope of self-defence” and the Israeli government must “cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza”, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi said in remarks published Sunday.

AFP

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in the US capital on Saturday, marching past the White House to chants of “Free Palestine” as the death toll continued to climb in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“What is happening today is just beyond the pale. It’s so upsetting, we are watching people being killed by an army that this country supports,” demonstrator Linda Houghton told AFP.

AFP

Eighteen Keralies, including a two-year-old, are among the 198 Indians evacuated from strife-torn Israel early October 15 as part of the Central government’s “Operation Ajay”. As many as 14 of them are students.

The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said the flight carrying the evacuees touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi at 1:15 a.m. on October 15.

Hamas announced early Sunday that three of its members from Lebanon had been killed after crossing the border from Lebanon into Israel and clashing with Israeli forces.

The group said in a statement that its militants had “inflicted losses” before being targeted by Israeli airstrikes.

AP

Chinese envoy Zhai Jun will visit the Middle East next week to push for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict and promote peace talks, state broadcaster CCTV reported Sunday.

Mr. Zhai “will visit the Middle East next week to coordinate with various parties for a ceasefire, to protect civilians, ease the situation, and promote peace talks,” CCTV said in a video posted to its official social media account on Sunday.

The CCTV report came as Israel appeared poised for a ground offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza.

AFP

A Reuters videographer killed in Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon was laid to rest in his hometown Saturday in a funeral procession attended by hundreds of people.

Draped in a Lebanese flag, Issam Abdallah’s body was carried on a stretcher through the streets of the southern town of Khiam, from his family’s home to the local cemetery.

Dozens of journalists and Lebanese lawmakers attended the funeral.

Abdallah was killed Friday evening near the village of Alma al-Shaab in south Lebanon when an Israeli shell landed on a gathering of international journalists covering an exchange of fire along the border between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.

Reuters