By David Averre and Tom Cotterill
Published: 08:47, October 20, 2023 | Updated: 12:07, October 20, 2023
UN refugee chief says any further military escalation would be “catastrophic” for Gaza as Israel attacks “more than 100” targets overnight
- Any escalation of military activity in the Gaza Strip will be “catastrophic” for the people there, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday.
- “(I) can tell you with certainty that any further escalation or even continuation of military activity will be disastrous for the people of Gaza,” Filippo Grandi told reporters in Japan.
- While Grandi stressed that the UNHCR refugee agency has no formal mandate in the Palestinian territories or Israel, he said he shared “the extreme concern and despair that many of my colleagues, including the UN Secretary-General, have expressed about the conflict “.
- The United Nations said the first aid delivery to the besieged Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was expected to take place “around the next day.”
- The Israeli military said it struck more than 100 targets across the Gaza Strip overnight that are linked to the Hamas rulers there, including a tunnel and weapons depots.
Biden’s comment comparing Putin to Hamas is called “unacceptable” by the Kremlin – as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine
The Kremlin said on Friday that comments by US President Joe Biden comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Palestinian militant group Hamas were “unacceptable”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the current period was a potentially dangerous moment on the international agenda and that the threat to Russian citizens would increase exponentially once Israel began the expected ground operation to try to drive Hamas out of Gaza.
Peskov would not say who would represent Russia at a peace summit on the Palestinian conflict in Cairo on Saturday, referring the question to the Foreign Ministry.
The Kremlin official’s comments come as Putin’s forces continue their murderous invasion of Ukraine. Russian shelling of the city of Vovchansk reportedly injured two men, aged 57 and 69, and damaged a children’s building and four residential buildings
The director general of the World Health Organization was “shocked, appalled and saddened” by the conflict in Israel and Gaza
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has shared his concerns about the war between Israel and Gaza.
In an emotional post on
Dr. Adhanom Ghebreyesus deplored the “attacks on healthcare in both Gaza and Israel” and called for the delivery of more “life-saving supplies” to Gaza.
The health chief called on Israel to send fuel as part of its contribution, adding: “Our trucks are loaded and ready to go.”
He continued: “Bullets and bombs are not a solution to this situation.” “War will bring nothing but destruction and terror.”
Demonstrators march to American embassies in Indonesia and Malaysia, while demonstrators burn pictures of the Israeli president in Kuala Lumpur
- About 1,000 demonstrators from several mosques in Jakarta marched to the heavily guarded US embassy in the Indonesian capital on Friday.
- They condemned strong American support for Israel and called for an end to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
- Similar protests also took place outside the UN mission, a few miles from the US Embassy, and at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry compound.
- In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, protesters set fire to pictures of Israeli President Isaac Herzog outside the US Embassy.
Hamas “appropriated” humanitarian aid funds to build an underground bunker system, a former senior Israeli government adviser claims
- Ashley Perry, a former senior adviser to the Israeli government, accuses Hamas of using aid money to build an underground tunnel network in the Gaza Strip.
- Mr Perry told Sky News Hamas bunkers were built “for them and their families”, adding that Hamas “doesn’t care about the average civilian on the ground”.
- He adds that the Israeli blockade “ensured that water, electricity and air were cut off from the bunkers” and Hamas leaders were “pushed” to the ground so the IDF could target them.
The video shows the moment the IDF bombed Gaza before the ground offensive, bombing more than 100 targets overnight
- The Israel Defense Forces released an update on
- The IDF said “tunnel shafts, ammunition depots and dozens of operational headquarters” were destroyed in the attacks.
- Israel also claimed to have “eliminated a terrorist who was part of Hamas’ naval force and was involved in murderous terrorist operations in the Gaza Strip.”
Aid trucks will arrive in Gaza “in the next day or so,” says the UN aid chief
- Trucks carrying international aid to Gaza should begin rolling “in the next day or so,” the United Nations said on Friday.
- A spokesman for U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told reporters in Geneva it was in “deep and advanced negotiations” with all sides to ensure aid was delivered “as quickly as possible.”
- “A first delivery should begin around the next day,” it said.
- Medicine, water purifiers and blankets were unloaded at El Arish airport near Gaza, an AFP reporter saw. Ahmed Ali, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent, said he was receiving “two to three relief planes a day.”
The IDF now states that Israelis living in Kiryat Shmona are not required to evacuate
- Israeli forces have changed their message regarding the evacuation of Kiryat Shmona, near the border with Lebanon.
- About 20,000 residents were ordered to leave their homes today, but the IDF now says the evacuation order is not mandatory.
More and more heads of state and government from around the world are flocking to meetings to curb violence between Israel and Palestine
- French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will attend a meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli issue in Egypt on Saturday, a French diplomatic source said on Friday.
- Colonna had already traveled to Cairo, Beirut and Israel last week as Paris seeks to reduce the risk of escalation across the region.
- Diplomatic sources said there was still a possibility that President Emmanuel Macron would attend the meeting.
- This came as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden visited the region this week.
An Orthodox church in Gaza was destroyed in a nighttime explosion amid fears it housed hundreds
- The Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius in the Gaza Strip was destroyed overnight, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
- Unconfirmed reports from Gaza health officials said there were 500 Muslims and Christians there at the time of the explosion.
- The Israeli military told AFP that its warplanes hit a command and control center that was firing rockets and mortars into Israel.
- In a statement, the IDF said that “as a result” of the attack, “a wall of a church in the area was damaged,” adding: “We are aware of reports of casualties.” The incident is currently under review.
- Footage from the scene shows rescue workers searching through large piles of rubble and rubble.
- The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressed its “strongest condemnation” of the attack.
Ahead of the expected ground attack, Israeli forces are forming up on the border with the Gaza Strip
- Columns of Israeli tanks have gathered on the Israel-Gaza border and tens of thousands of soldiers appear to be gearing up for battle today.
- The deployment of artillery and soldiers at the border comes after heavy machine gun fire was heard along the border in the early hours of the morning.
It was supposed to be a scene of joy – a mother reaching out to her crying newborn daughter and hugging her to her chest after months of feeling her little kicks.
But instead there was silence in the hospital room as the doctor carefully placed the unborn baby, no larger than his palms, on her mother’s motionless body.
A Chinese official says Beijing and Moscow are “working together” to help resolve the conflict
- China and Russia “take the same position on the Palestinian issue,” said China’s special envoy for the conflict, Zhai Jun.
- “China and Russia share the same position on the Palestine issue, and China is ready to maintain communication and coordination with the Russian Federation to calm the situation as quickly as possible,” the envoy said in comments carried by Chinese broadcaster CCTV.
- Beijing argues that the conflict broke out because “the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people were not guaranteed,” Zhai said.
A Hamas spokesman was arrested in an Israeli raid in the West Bank, officials said
- Hamas spokesman Hassan Yousef was arrested by Israeli troops during a raid in the West Bank yesterday.
- Israeli security service Shin Bet confirmed the arrest in an interview with CNN this morning.
- Yousef is a leading Palestinian politician and also serves as Hamas’ official spokesman in the West Bank.
Rishi Sunak and the Emir of Qatar say violence must not be allowed to spread across the Middle East
- Rishi Sunak and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani have agreed to work together to prevent the spread of violence in the Middle East.
- The Downing St statement said the pair “emphasized the need to avoid an escalation of violence” and “agreed that leaders have a responsibility to do everything possible to prevent this.” “.
- “They agreed on the urgent need to provide food, water and medicine to suffering civilians,” the statement said.
- “The leaders looked forward to meeting again soon to deepen bilateral relations between our countries.”
Sir Keir Starmer says Israel must not withhold humanitarian aid from Gaza
- Sir Keir Starmer said Israel had no right to withhold humanitarian aid from Gaza.
- “(Israelis) have the right to self-defense – the right they have – but not the right to withhold the humanitarian aid that is needed. It is absolutely urgent now.”
- Rishi Sunak is traveling to Egypt as part of intensive diplomatic efforts to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from escalating into a larger regional conflict.
- The prime minister has already held talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- Downing Street said it would hold further meetings with regional counterparts in Egypt.
WATCH: Moment as an Israeli military convoy heads toward the Gaza Strip
Death toll from Israeli West Bank raid rises to 13: Palestinian Ministry
- The death toll from an ambush by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank rose to 13, Palestinian health authorities said on Friday, as casualties in the area mounted as war raged in the Gaza Strip.
- According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah, at least 81 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza conflict broke out on October 7.
- A member of the Israeli security forces was also killed in the territory.
- A senior Israeli official said the government could take action if the BBC continued to “cross the line in accordance with our laws.”
- This came after Israel’s President Isaac Herzog described his policy of labeling Hamas as militants as “cruel.”
- The Israeli Ministry of Communications is currently examining the possibility of shutting down Qatari companies
Al Jazeera’s local bureau claims its reporting was favorable to Hamas.
- Heavy machine gun fire was heard on the Israel-Gaza border in the early hours of Friday after a ground invasion was given the green light.
- Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, visited troops along the Gaza border on Thursday and told them they would soon see the Palestinian enclave “from the inside.”
- An IDF infantry commander told on Thursday that they were ready to invade, adding that there was “a very high level of optimism” among his troops.
Important updates
- The director general of the World Health Organization was “shocked, appalled and saddened” by the conflict in Israel and Gaza
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- Ahead of the expected ground attack, Israeli forces are forming up on the border with the Gaza Strip
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- UN refugee chief says any further military escalation would be “catastrophic” for Gaza as Israel attacks “more than 100” targets overnight
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- A Hamas spokesman was arrested in an Israeli raid in the West Bank, officials said
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- Rishi Sunak and the Emir of Qatar say violence must not be allowed to spread across the Middle East
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- Israel is increasing its military activity on the Gaza border as a ground invasion threatens
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Israel-Palestine war news LIVE: Israel bombs Gaza with 100 airstrikes as UN warns of ‘catastrophic’ spread of war
Important updates