Israel bombarded Gaza with airstrikes early Monday and its planes hit Hezbollah cells in southern Lebanon, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a meeting of his top generals and war cabinet to assess the escalating conflict. Follow FRANCE 24’s live coverage of the crisis. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
Issued on: October 23, 2023 – 05:12
2 minutes
The latest news in brief:
- Egypt’s military spokesman said on Sunday that an unspecified number of border guards suffered “minor injuries” from “fragments of a grenade accidentally fired by an Israeli tank.”
- The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said 29 of its staff have been killed in Gaza since October 7.
- French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Tel Aviv on Tuesday to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the French presidential office said Sunday evening.
- A second aid convoy with 14 trucks reached Gaza on Sunday. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths warned that the besieged enclave needed “more, much more” help.
- The Hamas government said on Sunday that at least 55 people had been killed in nighttime raids in the Gaza Strip, after Israel said it would step up attacks.
- The leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain issued a joint statement underscoring their support for Israel and its right to self-defense, but also urging it to abide by international humanitarian law and to protect civilians.
- The death toll in Gaza rose to 4,651, according to the latest figures from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The official number of people killed in the October 7 Hamas attack has not been revised since Saturday; it remains at 1,400.
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Important developments from Sunday, October 22nd:
US President Joe Biden called a meeting of the so-called quint – the USA, France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy – as well as Canada, after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The second aid convoy for desperate Palestinian civilians reached Gaza on Sunday as Israel expanded its attacks on targets in Syria and the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian discussed the means to stop Israel’s “brutal crimes” in Gaza in a phone call late Sunday, Hamas said in a statement.
Read our blog to find out how the day’s events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Portal)