- LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- Israel launches an intensive bombardment of the southern Gaza Strip overnight
- Fearing an escalation of the conflict, Israel attacks Syrian army positions after rockets were fired at Israel
- Syrian media reports that eight soldiers were killed in an Israeli attack
GAZA/JERUSALEM, Oct 25 (Portal) – The Israeli military stepped up its bombardment of the southern Gaza Strip overnight after one of the deadliest days for Palestinians since the conflict began, as world leaders called for a cessation of fighting to allow aid deliveries to the to enable the besieged enclave.
Amid fears that the Israel-Hamas conflict could spread to the Middle East, the Israeli military said its jets hit Syrian army infrastructure and mortar launchers in response to rockets fired by Iranian ally Syria.
The military did not provide any further information. The Syrian army was not blamed for firing the two rockets that triggered air raid sirens in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Citing a military source, the state-run Syrian News Agency (SANA) said eight soldiers were killed and seven others wounded in the Israeli attack in an “airstrike” near the southwestern town of Deraa.
The United States and Russia are leading international calls for a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow aid to Gaza, where Palestinians live in appalling conditions.
A total of 704 Palestinians, including 305 children, were killed on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the number was the highest in a single day since the conflict began three weeks ago.
Israel launched the attacks on Gaza after Hamas militants attacked southern Israeli towns on October 7 in a rampage that killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
US President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone on Tuesday and agreed on broader diplomacy “to maintain stability across the region and prevent the conflict from spreading,” the White House said.
Deadly clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have intensified, and clashes have broken out again between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon along the Israel-Lebanese border.
Iran, which has sought regional dominance for decades, supports both Hezbollah and Hamas and has warned Israel to stop its attack on Gaza.
Israeli forces came under fire in a nighttime attack on the occupied West Bank by a group of Palestinians who the military then struck with a drone, the Israeli military said. Palestinian officials said three people were killed.
More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with the Israeli military in the West Bank since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military also said it targeted a cell of Hamas divers attempting to enter Israel by sea near Kibbutz Zikim. There was no immediate comment from Hamas on the incident.
The US has advised Israel to hold off on a planned ground attack as Washington seeks to free more of the more than 200 hostages Hamas still holds captive in Gaza.
However, when asked if he was calling on Israel to postpone its ground invasion, US President Joe Biden told reporters: “The Israelis are making their own decisions.”
[1/7]In this handout image released on October 25, 2023, members of the Palestinian Red Crescent distribute aid to people in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Palestinian Red Crescent Society/Handout via Portal acquire license rights
In a statement posted on social media, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said at least 5,791 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli bombings on the enclave since October 7, including 2,360 children.
US and Russia offer competing proposals
Late Tuesday, eight trucks carrying water, food and medicine entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt. UN agencies said more than 20 times the current supplies would be needed for the 2.3 million people in the narrow coastal strip.
At the United Nations, the United States and Russia have presented competing plans to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians. Washington has called for a pause in fighting and Russia wants a humanitarian ceasefire. A pause is generally considered less formal and shorter than a ceasefire.
“The whole world expects the Security Council to call for a quick and unconditional ceasefire,” Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia told the Security Council. Arab states strongly support calls for a humanitarian ceasefire amid widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza last week.
“While we remain opposed to a ceasefire, we believe that humanitarian pauses related to the delivery of aid that continue to allow Israel to conduct military operations in self-defense are worth considering,” a senior U.S. official said.
HOSPITALS ARE RUNNING OUT OF FUEL
Doctors in Gaza say patients arriving at hospitals are showing signs of illness caused by overcrowding and poor sanitation after more than 1.4 million people fled their homes in the enclave for emergency shelters.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than a third of Gaza’s hospitals and nearly two-thirds of primary health clinics were closed due to damage or fuel shortages.
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, warned in a post on messaging platform X that it would suspend operations in Gaza on Wednesday evening due to fuel shortages.
However, the Israeli military reiterated on Tuesday that it would prevent the import of fuel to prevent Hamas from seizing it.
Qatari mediators are calling on Hamas to speed up the pace of hostage releases to include women and children, without expecting concessions from Israel, three diplomats and a source in the region familiar with the talks said.
The Gulf state, in coordination with the USA, is holding mediation talks with Hamas and Israel about the release of the hostage.
So far, Hamas has released four hostages – a mother and daughter with dual American-Israeli citizenship on Friday and two Israeli civilian women on Monday.
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Emily Rose, Andrew Mills, Michelle Nichols, Humeyra Pamuk; writing by Grant McCool and Michael Perry; Edited by Howard Goller and Cynthia Osterman and Miral Fahmy
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