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 and the Israeli prime minister warned Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group that if it starts its own war, we will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine.
Israel has been on the verge of launching a ground offensive in Gaza for days after Hamas brutally devastated a number of Israeli communities on October 7th. Tanks and troops are gathered at the border with the Gaza Strip, waiting for the command to cross.
Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the country had stepped up airstrikes in the Gaza Strip to hit targets that would reduce the risk to troops in the next phase of the war.
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Fears of an expansion of the war grew as Israeli warplanes struck targets across the Gaza Strip, two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank that was allegedly used by militants.
Palestinians gather around the remains of a mosque destroyed in Israeli attacks as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues in the northern Gaza Strip, October 22, 2023. STRINGER/Portal
Israel has been engaged in a firefight with Hezbollah militants since the start of the war, and tensions have been rising in the West Bank, where Israeli forces have battled militants in refugee camps and carried out two airstrikes in recent days.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops in northern Israel that if Hezbollah starts a war, “it will make the mistake of a lifetime. We will cripple her with a force she cannot even imagine, and the consequences for her and the Lebanese state will be devastating.”
Hamas said it fought with Israeli forces near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, destroying a tank and two bulldozers.
Late Sunday, Hagari announced that one soldier had been killed and three others injured by an anti-tank missile in an attack in Gaza. This was part of efforts to rescue more than 200 hostages kidnapped in the October 7 attack.
There is a trade conflict between Israel and Hezbollah
On Saturday, 20 trucks entered the Gaza Strip in the first aid shipment since Israel imposed a full siege two weeks ago.
Israeli authorities said late Sunday they had allowed a second shipment of aid to the Gaza Strip at the request of the United States. COGAT, the Israeli defense agency responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said the aid included water, food and medical supplies and that everything was inspected by Israel before being brought to Gaza.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees confirmed the arrival of 14 trucks.
Israel has banned the import of fuel into the Gaza Strip.
In a sign of how precarious any aid delivery remains, the Egyptian military said Israeli shelling hit a watchtower on the Egyptian side of the border, causing minor injuries. The Israeli military apologized and said a tank accidentally fired and hit an Egyptian post and the incident was being investigated.
A view of the destruction after Israeli warplanes hit a building in Rafah, Gaza, on October 22, 2023. After the attack, search and rescue efforts began by civil defense teams and locals. Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images
Aid workers said far more help was needed to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where half of the territory’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes. The United Nations humanitarian agency said Saturday’s convoy carried about 4% of average daily imports before the war and “a fraction of what is needed after 13 days of complete siege.”
The Israeli military said the humanitarian situation was “under control” despite the UN demanding the entry of 100 trucks a day.
Israel repeated its calls for people to leave the northern Gaza Strip, including by airdropping leaflets. It is estimated that 700,000 people have already fled. But hundreds of thousands remain. This would increase the risk of numerous civilian casualties in any ground offensive.
Israeli military officials say Hamas’s infrastructure and underground tunnels are concentrated in Gaza City in the north and that the next stage of the offensive there will involve unprecedented violence. Israel says it wants to destroy Hamas. Officials have also talked about establishing a buffer zone to deter Palestinians from approaching the border, but gave no details.
Hospitals packed with patients and displaced people are running low on medical supplies and fuel for generators, forcing doctors to perform surgeries with sewing needles, resort to vinegar as a disinfectant and work without anesthesia.
Smoke rises as Israeli airstrikes continue in Gaza City, Gaza, on October 22, 2023. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images
According to the World Health Organization, at least 130 premature babies are at “major risk” due to a lack of generator fuel. It said seven hospitals in northern Gaza were forced to close due to damage from strikes, lack of power and supplies or Israeli evacuation orders.
The lack of vital supplies, including ventilators, is forcing doctors to ration treatment, Dr. Mohammed Qandeel, who works at Khan Younis Nasser Hospital. Dozens of patients continue to arrive and are treated in crowded, dark hallways as hospitals cut power to intensive care units.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Qandeel said.
Palestinians seeking refuge in UN schools and tent camps are running out of food and drinking dirty water. The lack of fuel has crippled water and sanitation systems.
Heavy airstrikes have been reported across the Gaza Strip, including in the southern part of the coastal strip, where Israel has urged civilians to seek refuge. At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, south of the evacuation line, several bodies wrapped in white shrouds lay lined up outside.
Khalil al-Degran, a hospital official, said more than 90 bodies had been brought in since early Sunday, as the sound of nearby bombings echoed behind him. He said 180 wounded people had arrived, mostly children, women and the elderly who had been displaced from other areas.
Air strikes also destroyed the marketplace in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Witnesses said at least a dozen people were killed.
Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing on October 21, 2023. Khaled Omar/Xinhua via Getty Images
The Israeli military has said it is targeting Hamas militants and facilities and stressed it does not target civilians. The military said Palestinian militants fired over 7,000 rockets into Israel and Hamas said it targeted Tel Aviv early Sunday.
More than 1,400 people were killed in Israel – mostly civilians killed during the first Hamas attack. At least 212 people were captured and deported back to Gaza.
Two Americans were released on Friday, hours before the first delivery of humanitarian aid.
More than 4,600 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. This also includes the controversial number of victims of a hospital explosion.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Hamas was responsible for both its rampage and the deaths of civilians in Israel’s attacks. “It knew that if Israel responded as necessary, civilians would be caught in the crossfire,” he said.
He said the militants were operating among the civilian population and their tunnels were buried under hospitals and schools. “What does anyone expect from Israel?” he said. “It’s because of Hamas.”
Syrian state media, meanwhile, reported that Israeli airstrikes hit international airports in the capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo, killing one person and disabling runways.
Israel has carried out several attacks in Syria since the war began. Israel rarely acknowledges individual attacks but says it is preventing Hezbollah and other militants from importing weapons from Iran, which also supports Hamas.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah said six fighters were killed on Saturday, and the group’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, warned that Israel would pay a heavy price if it invaded Gaza. Israel attacked Hezbollah in response to the rocket fire, the military said.
Israel also announced evacuation plans for an additional 14 communities near the border with Lebanon.
An Israeli soldier enters a Merkava tank at an undisclosed location on the border with Lebanon on October 22, 2023. JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images
The U.S. State Department said Sunday evening that Americans wanting to leave Lebanon “should leave now due to the unpredictable security situation.” Commercial flights are still available but capacity is reduced. Please check flight options at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport.”
The Foreign Ministry had already issued a travel warning for Lebanon on Thursday.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 93 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops, raids on arrests and attacks on Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the Hamas attacks – including eight on Sunday. Israeli forces have closed crossings into the area and checkpoints between cities, measures they say are aimed at preventing attacks. Israel says it has arrested more than 700 Palestinians since October 7, including 480 suspected Hamas members.
The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority administers parts of the West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security, but is deeply unpopular and has been the target of violent Palestinian protests.