Israel-Hamas war updates: Here’s what happened on Oct. 20

This live coverage has now ended. Find the latest up-to-date information on the Israel-Hamas war here.

11:55 p.m. ET

Heavy Israeli bombardment in Gaza overnight: Palestinian media

Palestinian media reported heavy Israeli bombardment in Gaza overnight, including a strike on a house in Jabalia in northern Gaza that killed at least 19 people.

Israeli aircraft struck six homes in northern Gaza early on Saturday, killing at least eight Palestinians and injuring 45, Palestinian media reported.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

– Reuters

9:40 p.m. ET

Preparation for humanitarian aid for Gaza moving at agonizingly slow pace

Open this photo in gallery:

Preparations for Gaza’s first humanitarian aid since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war are moving ahead at an agonizingly slow rate, while supplies of water and medicine continue to dwindle to dangerous levels in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The opening of the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has been a contentious issue for the past 10 days, with frequent promises that it will open, usually followed by news of further delays. Egypt says that Israel has kept the border effectively closed by firing missiles near the only border gate, known as the Rafah crossing.

Water supplies in Gaza are now so severely restricted that the average person has only three litres per day for drinking, cooking and hygiene, compared with a basic minimum standard of 50 to 100 litres per day, according to United Nations agencies. Many people are so desperate that they are drinking dirty or brackish water, tainted by pesticides or sea water, the UN says.

UN and U.S. officials have been pushing for humanitarian access to Gaza since the early days of the war, which began on Oct. 7 after the Islamist militant group Hamas killed more than 1,400 people in southern Israel and abducted more than 200, according to the Israeli government’s latest count. Since then, Israel has prevented Gaza from receiving any food, water, fuel or medicine, while it has fired a daily bombardment of missiles into the territory.

In a fresh attempt to get the border open, UN Secretary-General António Guterres travelled to the Egyptian side of the crossing on Friday. The massive queue of about 100 supply trucks waiting for the gate to open could be “the difference between life and death” for Gaza’s 2.3 million people, Mr. Guterres told journalists at the border.

He said the Gazan people are “suffering enormously” without food, water, medicine or fuel. “It is impossible to be here and not to feel a broken heart,” he said.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said he had secured an agreement from the Israeli government to open the border for emergency aid.

But it quickly became apparent that the agreement was riddled with Israeli conditions and restrictions, along with other issues that further delayed the opening. Mr. Biden said Egypt had to repair potholes at the border crossing before it could open, and he predicted that only 20 trucks would cross on the first day.

By Friday, he was forecasting that it would take another 24 to 48 hours to reopen the border.

Continue reading here.

– Geoffery York, Jerusalem

9:11 p.m. ET

White House says Biden didn’t hear question about ground invasion delay

U.S. President Joe Biden did not hear a question from a reporter who asked whether Israel should delay a potential ground invasion of Gaza until more hostages can get out, when he answered, “yes”, the White House said.

“The president was far away. He didn’t hear the full question. The question sounded like ‘Would you like to see more hostages released?’ He wasn’t commenting on anything else,” White House spokesperson Ben LaBolt said.

Biden was walking up the steps to board Air Force One when a reporter shouted the question over the sound of the plane’s engines. Biden stopped for a moment and said, “yes,” and then proceeded onto the plane.

– Reuters

9:03 p.m. ET

Canadians in Lebanon encouraged to leave, but for many, it’s unfeasible

Even if Ziad Kamali wanted to heed warnings from the Canadian embassy to hop on the next available plane out of Lebanon, the country’s battered financial system, along with Canada’s high cost of living, won’t allow for it.

“You know how much rent is in Canada?” he said from Tripoli, Lebanon. “It’s terrible. If I want to leave with my family I need $25,000 to start for rent and furniture and everything. This money, we have it in the bank, but we cannot access it.”

So he, like many Canadians in Lebanon, says he plans to stay put, even as officials urge them to leave the country in the face of escalating border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.

Their predicament jogs memories of 2006, when all-out warfare between Israel and Hezbollah killed around 1,300 Lebanese people and 165 Israelis. As bombs rained down across the country, Canada spent $100-million evacuating 14,000 citizens by boat and plane.

While Canada has yet to initiate evacuation efforts this time around, the Canadian Armed Forces are working on contingency plans with allies in the event that Canadians, permanent residents and their families need to be evacuated from Lebanon.

Late Wednesday, Canada increased its travel warnings to Lebanon to the highest possible level. The government is urging people not to travel to Lebanon at all and for those already in the country to leave. Approximately 14,500 people in the country have registered with Global Affairs, one of the department’s assistant deputy ministers, Julie Sunday, said Friday.

“Our best advice to Canadians right now is to leave Lebanon while there are commercial options,” Ms. Sunday said.

That advice has proven unrealistic for many of the roughly 40,000 to 75,000 Canadians in Lebanon. The country of 6.5 million people slumped into economic meltdown four years ago, when decades of government corruption and irresponsible banking practices led to a run on the banks. Inflation hit triple digits and banks imposed strict withdrawal limits, even barring depositors access to life savings.

Continue reading here.

– Patrick White, Marieke Walsh

8:57 p.m. ET

Canadian police forces on alert for hate crimes spurred by Israel-Hamas crisis

Open this photo in gallery:

Around the country, religious groups and law enforcement agencies are on guard against a potential rise in hate crimes, as the war in Israel inflames long-standing tensions that cut across religious, ethnic and ideological lines. But the evidence so far in most major cities doesn’t point to a significant rise in hate-motivated incidents.

The Globe canvassed police forces in Vancouver, Surrey, Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, Peel, York, London, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. Only the Toronto Police Service reported a noticeable increase in hate-crime cases.

Toronto Deputy Chief Lauren Pogue said Friday that her force has recently begun investigating 14 such cases, two of them involving potential offences against Muslims, and the rest against Jewish people. The incidents included harassment, graffiti and online or in-person threats.

There were only five hate-crime cases during the same two weeks last year, Deputy Chief Pogue said. So far this year, she said, the force is investigating 45 more hate-crime cases than it was at the same time last year. She added that officers have been reaching out to Muslim and Jewish leaders across the city over the past two weeks, and have heard from them that safety is a top concern.

Arabic-speaking officers have been monitoring the many peaceful pro-Palestinian rallies that have taken place across the city, she said, and no cases involving hate speech have been opened as a result.

Police in Surrey are searching for a suspect who threw eggs at a rabbi’s house. Police in Calgary are on the hunt for someone who did the same to a Jewish community centre. In Vancouver, a man was arrested after returning to a Jewish school on the city’s west side, where had allegedly yelled antisemitic epithets earlier in the week.

You can continue reading here.

– Mike Hager

8:37 p.m. ET

Newly freed American hostages reunite with family in Israel

Two newly freed American hostages, a Chicago-area woman, Judith Tai Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, were reunited with family inside Israel on Friday as relatives celebrated back home in Illinois, nearly two weeks after Hamas gunmen abducted them and dozens of others near Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the mother and daughter, from the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, were “on their way to a meeting point at a military base in the center of the country, where their family members are waiting for them.”

– The Associated Press

8:22 p.m. ET

French military intelligence suggests Israeli strike not behind Gaza hospital blast

A blast at a Gaza hospital was not the result of an Israeli missile strike, but likely caused by a misfiring Palestinian rocket, the French military intelligence directorate (DRM) said on Friday.

“There is nothing that allows us to say that it is an Israeli strike, but the most likely (scenario) is a Palestinian rocket that had a firing incident,” the DRM said.

An unclassified U.S. intelligence report seen by Reuters on Thursday said it judged that Israel was not responsible for the blast and estimated the death toll at 100-300 people.

According to the DRM, the impact crater was too small to have been caused by an Israeli missile.

“The most likely hypothesis is a Palestinian rocket, which exploded with a charge of about 5 kilos,” the DRM told reporters, adding that Palestinian groups had small-calibre rockets with that sort of explosive charge.

The DRM does not usually release such information, but on the instruction of President Emmanuel Macron decided to make its findings public given the contrasting accounts about who is responsible.

It ruled out various possibilities, including fragments from Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system or intercepted missiles being the cause.

Part of the analysis was based on open-source material ranging from the light structural damage at the hospital, including some broken windows, few destroyed vehicles and the relatively limited presence of civilian belongings at the blast site.

The DRM could not give the exact departing point of the failed rocket and did not place blame on any specific group.

It declined to estimate the death toll, but said that it was likely to be fewer than 471 given the impact.

- Reuters

8:17 p.m. ET

Hamas attack on Israel aimed to disrupt ties between Israel, Saudi Arabia, says Biden

Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel aimed to disrupt a potential normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday.

Saudi Arabia, a Middle East powerhouse and home to Islam’s two holiest shrines, gave its blessing to Gulf neighbors United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establishing relations with Israel in 2020 under the previous U.S. administration of Donald Trump.

Riyadh has not followed suit, saying Palestinian statehood goals should be addressed first.

“One of the reasons Hamas moved on Israel ... they knew that I was about to sit down with the Saudis,” Mr. Biden said at a campaign fundraiser.

The potential normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states was a top priority for Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his June trip to Riyadh, although he acknowledged no progress should be expected imminently.

– Reuters

8:15 p.m. ET

Two aid trucks entered Egyptian side of border crossing: official

An Egypt official said two aid-packed trucks entered the Egyptian side of the border crossing early Saturday, but that they have not passed through into the Gaza Strip.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not briefed to speak with the media.

Israel announced Wednesday that aid would be allowed into Gaza from Egypt, via the Rafah crossing, but the border into the besieged territory has remained closed. Egypt says the crossing has been damaged by Israeli air strikes.

– The Associated Press

7:45 p.m. ET

‘She’s doing very good,’ says father of freed American teen hostage

The father of freed American teen hostage Natalie Raanan said Friday she’s doing well following two weeks in captivity after she and her mother were abducted in Israel by Hamas and held in Gaza.

Uri Raanan of Illinois told The Associated Press that he spoke to his daughter Friday by telephone. “She’s doing good. She’s doing very good,” said Uri, who lives in the Chicago suburbs. “I’m in tears, and I feel very, very good.”

The 71-year-old said he saw on the news earlier Friday that an American mother and daughter would be released by Hamas, and he spent the day hoping that meant his daughter and her mother, Judith.

Knowing Natalie may be able to celebrate her 18th birthday next week at home with family and friends feels “wonderful. The best news,” Uri Raanan said.

He said he believes Natalie and Judith to be in transit to Tel Aviv to reunite with relatives, and that both will be back in the U.S. early next week.

U.S. President Joe Biden was among the many celebrating the stunning news that the Raanans had been freed.

“I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear,” Mr. Biden said in Washington. The president spoke Friday with Judith and Natalie and “relayed that they will have the full support of the U.S. government as they recover from this terrible ordeal,” the White House said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which transported the freed Americans from Gaza to Israel, said their release offered “a sliver of hope” for those still being held.

– The Associated Press

7:15 p.m. ET

UN Secretary-General working with Egypt, Israel, U.S. on letting aid into Gaza

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is working with Egypt, Israel, the United States and others to ease an impasse that is preventing aid from entering Gaza.

The U.N. chief’s priority is to make sure humanitarian aid deliveries are sustained, “with a meaningful number of trucks approved each day to cross” from Egypt into Gaza at the Rafah crossing, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Friday. And the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, must have sufficient fuel to distribute humanitarian aid, Mr. Haq said.

“It’s no use dropping off aid to the other side and then leaving it there because their trucks simply don’t have enough fuel to give it to the people who need it,” he said.

The secretary-general has repeatedly called for a humanitarian ceasefire, Mr. Haq said, “but he doesn’t want the humanitarian ceasefire to be a condition for allowing the aid in.”

Mr. Guterres also wants “the role of the Egyptian Red Crescent and other Egyptian institutions to be recognized,” Mr. Haq said.

– The Associated Press

5:20 p.m. ET

American hostages handed over to Israeli military

Open this photo in gallery:

Hamas on Friday freed an American woman and her teenage daughter it had held hostage in Gaza, Israel said, the first such release from among the roughly 200 people the militant group abducted during its Oct. 7 rampage in Israel.

The two Americans, Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie, were out of the Gaza Strip and in the hands of the Israeli military, an army spokesman said. Hamas said it released them for humanitarian reasons in an agreement with the Qatari government.

The release comes amid growing expectations of an expected ground offensive that Israel says is aimed at rooting out Hamas militants who rule the Gaza Strip. Israel said Friday it does not plan to take long-term control over the tiny territory, home to some 2.3 million people.

As the Israeli military punished Gaza with air strikes, authorities inched closer to bringing aid to desperate families and hospitals. Muslims around the world protested in solidarity with Palestinians.

Judith and Natalie Ranaan had been on a trip from their home in suburban Chicago to Israel to celebrate the Jewish holidays, the family said. They were in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, near Gaza, on Oct. 7 – Simchat Torah, a festive Jewish holiday – when Hamas and other militants stormed out of the territory into southern Israeli towns, killing hundreds and abducting 203 others.

The family heard nothing from them since the attack and were later told by U.S. and Israeli officials that they were being held in Gaza, Natalie’s brother Ben said.

Relatives of other captives welcomed the release and appealed for the others to be freed.

“We call on world leaders and the international community to exert their full power in order to act for the release of all the hostages and missing,” the statement said.

Continue reading …

4:10 p.m. ET

Escalation of fighting between Israel and Lebanon risks ‘belt of fire’, leading Lebanese politician says

Open this photo in gallery:

The possible spread of war to Lebanon risks not just a conflagration across the Middle East. It also stands to spark a refugee crisis, sending waves of Syrian refugees to European shores, a Lebanese political leader is warning.

Escalation of fighting between Lebanon and Israel risks a conflict that spreads into a “belt of fire,” warns Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, one of the most powerful parties in the Lebanese parliament. A Maronite Christian who has served as Lebanon’s foreign minister and energy minister, he is the son-in-law of Michel Aoun, the country’s president until his term ended last year.

Sanctioned by the U.S. and accused of corruption and stirring anti-refugee sentiment, Mr. Bassil nonetheless remains an influential legislative power-broker in Lebanon, where his party has historically been aligned with Hezbollah, the armed Shia Muslim group.

Hezbollah’s leaders have warned that they are prepared to open a second front against Israel at any time, and border skirmishes between Lebanese militants and the Israeli army have grown increasingly heavy. There are already signs that the conflict in Israel is expanding, Mr. Bassil said.

You can continue reading here.

– Nathan VanderKlippe

3:50 p.m. ET

Trudeau says Canada remains ‘firm’ on two-state solution in the Middle East

3:25 p.m. ET

No clear strategy yet to evacuate 430 Canadians, permanent residents and families in Gaza, federal government says

There is no clear exit strategy yet for the 430 Canadians, permanent residents and their families stranded in the Gaza Strip, the federal government said Friday as it updated evacuation efforts in the region and noted demand for the air lift out of Israel is declining.

There are approximately 430 individuals who have asked the government for help getting out of Gaza, said Julie Sunday, an assistant deputy minister for emergency management at Global Affairs.

“The situation remains extremely fluid, and while there have been positive signs, the Rafah border crossing remains closed for foreign nationals seeking to leave,” Ms. Sunday said.

At a press briefing in Ottawa Friday, Ms. Sunday said there are encouraging signs that humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza at the border crossing with Egypt. She said the government’s expectation is that when the aid is allowed into Gaza, foreign nationals will be allowed to leave.

Ms. Sunday said Canada has no reports of Canadians killed in the Gaza Strip.

Regarding evacuation from the West Bank, Ms. Sunday said 33 people have already left via government-assisted bus trips and more are planned for Sunday and Monday. On Thursday, the federal government said approximately 120 people in the West Bank had asked for help to leave.

At the Friday briefing officials also said the demand for the Canadian Forces airlift of civilians out of Israel is starting to dwindle. By the end of Friday, Ms. Sunday said nearly 1,600 people will have left on the flights.

She said the government strongly recommends any Canadian left in Israel who wants to leave to register with the government.

“If you are given a seat on one of these flights, I urge you to take it,” Ms. Sunday said.

The number of daily flights was cut from two to one for Friday and Saturday. The government has not yet said when the airlift will stop but Canada will give advance notice before the air lift out of Israel ends, Emily Williams, director of communications to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, told The Globe and Mail Friday.

– Marieke Walsh

2:15 p.m. ET

Canada working on contingency plan in case Canadians, permanent residents and families need to be evacuated from Lebanon

The Canadian Armed Forces are working on contingency plans with allies in the event that Canadians, permanent residents and their families need to be evacuated from Lebanon.

The Deputy Commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, Major-General Darcy Molstad told reporters in Ottawa Friday that a Canadian Forces taskforce is working with allies to plan and coordinate a possible operation to evacuate civilians from Lebanon.

Working under Operation Lumen and at the request of Global Affairs, Major-Gen. Molstad said Canada and its allies have set up a “multinational noncombatant evacuation operations coordination center” in Cypress.

“There’s nothing that’s telling us that something is going to happen in Lebanon, right now,” he said. He added that the armed forces are watching intelligence and activities on Lebanon’s border with Israel, and in particular actions from Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is operating in Lebanon.

Fears that Hezbollah and Hamas will open a second front in Lebanon against Israel as the country prepares to send troops against Hamas in Gaza are increasing. On Thursday, Hezbollah said it fired a heavy barrage of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel. The United States has dispatched naval ships into the Mediterranean near Israel and Lebanon in an attempt to deter the militant groups from expanding their attacks on Israel.

“We are making plans and preparations, in coordination, to be prepared to react if we have to,” Major-Gen. Molstad said.

Late Wednesday, Canada increased its travel warnings to Lebanon to the highest possible level. The government is urging people not to travel to Lebanon at all and for those already in the country to leave. Approximately 14,500 people in the country have registered with Global Affairs, one of the department’s assistant deputy ministers, Julie Sunday, said Friday.

“Our best advice to Canadians right now is to leave Lebanon while there are commercial options,” Ms. Sunday said. “It’s better to leave when individuals are not under duress and where they can ensure their safety departing.”

– Marieke Walsh and Steven Chase

1:30 p.m. ET

Hamas says it has released two hostages, an American mother and daughter

The Islamist group Hamas said on Friday it had released two U.S. hostages – a mother and daughter – for what it called “humanitarian reasons” following Qatari mediation efforts.

Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida issued a statement announcing the release, the first since gunmen from the Islamist militant group burst into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and taking around 200 hostages.

Israel’s Channel 13 News said Israel had confirmed the release of two hostages but gave no further details.

– Reuters

1 p.m. ET

Opinion: What businesses can learn from how universities dealt with Israel-Hamas war

“The revolt by billionaire donors pulling funding from elite U.S. universities because they believe the institutions did not condemn the Hamas attacks on Israel strongly or swiftly enough proves one thing: Money talks, even on the moral high ground that leaders of academia have often claimed as their own.

In recent days, there’s been a display of a certain hypocrisy among these paragons of higher education, whose leaders have been quick to endorse various social causes in the past and scold corporations behind slogans such as “silence is complicity.” Now these universities have themselves remained silent or dragged their feet in publicly condemning this latest act of terrorism.” – Gus Carlson

You can continue reading here.

12:45 p.m. ET

U.S. Republican senators ask tech firms about content moderation in Israel-Hamas war

A U.S. Senate panel’s Republican lawmakers sent a letter on Friday to tech companies Meta Platforms, Google, TikTok and X, formerly called Twitter, seeking information on their content moderation policies in the Israel-Hamas war, the senators said.

The Republican lawmakers of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee said they asked the companies “to commit to fully preserving a documentary history of Hamas’s atrocities.”

The senators said they requested a number of pieces of information, including content policies relevant to the dissemination of content from the Israel-Hamas War, data on content removed systematically without human review, and an explanation of how these policies are affected by international laws.

– Reuters

12:35 p.m. ET

Trudeau acknowledges divisions in caucus, won’t repeat Canadian envoy’s call to destroy Hamas

Open this photo in gallery:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged divisions over the Israel-Hamas war within his own governing party Friday as he refused to repeat calls by one of his own ambassadors that the militant group should be destroyed.

“There are lots of different perspectives, but there are shared fears and concerns amongst all parliamentarians,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters at a news conference in Brampton.

“Our differences must and will remain a source of strength, being able to learn from each other, being able to hear each other in their moments of celebration, in their moments of pain, being able to respect each other.”

The Globe reported on a rift within the Liberal Party Thursday as nearly a dozen MPs have publicly voiced opinions that run counter to the government’s position on the war that was sparked when Hamas gunmen attacked and abducted civilians in Israel on Oct. 7, leaving more than 1,400 dead.

At least eight MPs have publicly called for a ceasefire, which some interpret as a denial of Israel’s right to defend itself. At least three others have criticized Israel’s military response to the attacks, which include a siege on Gaza and some of the most intense bombardments the tiny enclave has ever endured from Israel. The attacks on Gaza have left some 3,875 people dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

You can continue reading here.

– Marieke Walsh and Steven Chase

12:20 p.m. ET

In Lebanon, thousands are displaced from border towns by clashes, stretching state resources

Open this photo in gallery:

More than 4,200 people have been displaced from villages in south Lebanon by clashes on the border with Israel, and local officials said Friday that they are ill-prepared for the much larger exodus that would ensue if the limited conflict escalates to an all-out war.

Some 1,500 of the displaced are staying in three schools in the coastal city of Tyre, about 20 kilometres north of the border.

At one of the schools, children ran through the courtyard and women hung out clothes to dry on chairs on Friday. Mortada Mhanna, head of the disaster management unit of the municipalities in the Tyre area, said hundreds of newly displaced people are arriving each day.

Some move on to stay with relatives or rent apartments, but others have no place to go besides the makeshift shelter, while Lebanon’s cash-strapped government has few resources to offer.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and allied Palestinian groups in Lebanon have launched daily missile strikes on northern Israel since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, while Israel has responded by shelling border areas in south Lebanon. To date, the clashes have killed at least 22 people in Lebanon, four of them civilians.

– The Associated Press

11:30 a.m. ET

Biden seeks $14.3 billion in Israel support for war with Hamas

U.S. President Joe Biden wants $14.3 billion to support Israel in its war with Hamas, the White House announced on Friday. The money is part of a supplemental funding request that totals more than $105 billion, including Ukraine, border security and more.

The White House said the assistance for Israel would be geared toward air and missile defence systems.

There’s also $9.15 billion for humanitarian aid, which would be split among Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and other hot spots. Administration officials said the money can be directed to where it’s most needed.

All of the funding requires approval from Congress.

– The Associated Press

11 a.m. ET

Israel’s defence minister says country will aim to remove ‘Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip’

Open this photo in gallery:

One Israeli objective of its military campaign in the Gaza Strip is to end Israel’s responsibility over the Palestinian coastal enclave, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday.

Gaza has no access to the outside world except through Israel, which controls 90 per cent of its land and sea boundaries, and Egypt, which has a narrow land border to the south.

The Israeli defence minister, briefing parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the Gaza campaign would have three phases.

The first stage was the current military operation meant to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure, Gallant said, adding that the intermediate phase would include “operations at lower intensity” eliminating “pockets of resistance.”

“The third phase will require the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel,” the minister said, according to a statement from his office.

– Reuters

10:45 a.m. ET

Egypt says ‘Rafah crossing is open,’ suggests Israel to blame for targeted attacks and refusing aid entry

CAIRO – Egypt’s Foreign Ministry has accused Western media outlets of unfairly holding it responsible for closing the Rafah border crossing.

In a brief statement on X, formerly Twitter, the ministry’s official spokesperson instead suggested blame should be directed at Israel for carrying out attacks on Rafah and for refusing to allow aid to enter the besieged enclave.

Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid also accused Israel of suggesting that Egypt was obstructing foreign nationals from leaving Gaza.

“Rafah crossing is open and Egypt is not responsible of obstructing third-country nationals exit,” he said.

Egyptian authorities have continually said that they did not close the Rafah border, but it that is not functioning due to the damage inflicted by Israeli air strikes.

– The Associated Press

10:15 a.m. ET

Satellite images show impact of air strikes on Gaza

Open this photo in gallery:

The destruction and impact from Israeli air strikes in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants is visible in satellite imagery of blocks levelled by missiles and smoke rising over the blast zones – and also in more subtle photos.

Images by Maxar Technologies showed people sheltering in the courtyards at two schools in Gaza City and one in Deir al Balah on Thursday.

A tractor appeared to be overturning fresh soil to make way for new graves as the Marzouq Street cemetery expands in Gaza City.

An overview of Shifa Hospital showed where tents were set up in what used to be a grassy, tree-covered area next to the hospital. Some hospitals have set up tents to treat the wounded and temporarily house the dead.

Along a stretch of road near the beach, a series of round craters marked the spots where air strikes hit the dirt and didn’t flatten homes.

– The Associated Press

9:40 a.m. ET

Egypt not to blame for Rafah closure, country’s foreign ministry says

Egypt is not to blame for the closure of the Rafah crossing between it and the Gaza Strip “despite Israeli targeted attacks and the refusal of the entry of aid,” Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid wrote on the X social media platform on Friday.

“Rafah crossing is open and Egypt is not responsible of obstructing third-country nationals exit,” he added

– Reuters

9:35 a.m. ET

At Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, generators on low to power vital departments: ‘I don’t know how long it will last’

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The director of Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, says generators in the hospital are operating at the lowest setting to provide power to vital departments that cannot function without electricity, while others work in darkness.

The hospital is prioritizing intensive care, nursery, dialysis, oxygen generation, obstetrics and gynecology, heart care and the blood bank, Mohammed Abu Selmia said.

“I don’t know how long it will last. Every day we evaluate the situation,” he said.

The numbers of wounded coming to the hospital is so high it’s difficult to identify them, he said. Water is scarce, and patients with chronic diseases and cancer are suffering.

Asked what medical supplies were needed most, he said all medicines related to emergency care, intensive care and operations, obstetrics and gynecology and dialysis medications. Doctors can’t treat patients without these supplies, he said. “We cannot function without it.”

– The Associated Press

8:55 a.m. ET

At Rafah border, UN chief Guterres says aid trucks are the ‘difference between life and death to many people in Gaza’

Open this photo in gallery:

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah border crossing on Friday and said aid trucks needed to move as quickly as possible from Egypt into the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza to alleviate a humanitarian crisis.

The crossing has become a focus of attention since Israel began its bombing of Gaza in retaliation for a deadly assault by the Hamas militant group on southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Gaza is running short of fuel, food, water and medicine but the Egyptian-controlled border has remained shut while various parties wrangle over terms for allowing aid to flow in.

Guterres flew to Egypt on Friday in a push to get the trucks moving.

“These trucks are not just trucks – they are a lifeline, they are the difference between life and death to many people in Gaza,” he said, speaking on the Egyptian side of the crossing.

“To see them stuck here makes me very clear – what we need is to make them move, to make them move to the other side of this wall to make them move as quickly as possible and as many as possible.”

Guterres, dressed in a dark suit under the desert sun, also called for a swift system of verification of the aid shipments.

“We are now actively engaging with all the parties, actively engaging with Egypt, with Israel, with the U.S., in order to make sure that we are able to clarify those conditions, that we are able to limit those restrictions in order to have as soon as possible these trucks moving to where they are needed,” he said.

He was swarmed by Egyptian protesters chanting pro-Palestinian slogans as he spoke.

In Geneva, the U.N. humanitarian office said it was in advanced talks with all parties in the Israel-Hamas conflict to ensure an aid operation can soon get under way in Gaza.

Earlier, the United States had said details of a deal to send aid through the Rafah crossing were still being hammered out. Agreement had been reached for the passage of the first 20 trucks, it also said.

This would still only be a fraction of what is required. Before the outbreak of conflict, about 450 aid trucks were arriving there daily.

“Talking about 20 trucks only is a Zionist-American attempt to throw dust in the eyes, and is misleading to the public opinion about resolving the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” said Hamas in a statement.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people depend on humanitarian aid. The coastal enclave has been under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control of it in 2007.

In Geneva, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said Gaza was in dire need of water, food, fuel and medical supplies.

“We are in deep and advanced negotiations with all relevant sides to ensure that an aid operation into Gaza starts as quickly as possible and with the right conditions,” he said.

– Reuters

8:35 a.m. ET

Majority of Israelis believe Netanyahu responsible for failing to prevent devastating Hamas attack: poll

As many as 80 per cent of Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must take responsibility for the security failures exposed by the devastating Oct. 7 assault on Israeli by Hamas, a poll in the Ma’ariv newspaper showed on Friday.

The army chief of staff, the head of military intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet intelligence service have all admitted their services failed to prevent the attack, in which some 1,400 Israelis were killed on the deadliest day in Israel’s 75-year-old history.

Netanyahu’s coalition partner, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has also said the government leadership and security leadership had failed to protect the country but the premier himself has yet to make a clear statement of responsibility.

Netanyahu said this week that there are many questions regarding the Oct. 7 attack and “we will investigate everything thoroughly.”

Even among voters of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, 69 per cent said he should accept responsibility.

The survey showed Netanyahu lagging far behind former Defence Minister Benny Gantz, head of an opposition centrist party who joined a unity government last week. It said 48 per cent of respondents thought Gantz would make a better prime minister, compared with only 28 per cent for Netanyahu.

The poll indicated that 65 per cent of Israelis were in support of the expected ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli troops.

The poll was conducted on Oct. 18 and 19 among 510 respondents and had a 4.3% margin of error, Ma’ariv said.

8:05 a.m. ET

Israel says it would cease its ‘responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip’ after the country destroys the Hamas

Israel’s defence minister said Friday that after the country destroys the Hamas militant group, the military does not plan to control “life in the Gaza Strip”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s comments to lawmakers were the first time an Israeli leader discussed its long-term plans for Gaza.

Gallant said Israel expected there to be three phases to its war with Hamas. He said it first would attack the group in Gaza with air strikes and ground manoeuvres, then it would defeat pockets of resistance and finally it would cease its “responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip.”

– The Associated Press

7:52 a.m. ET

Open this photo in gallery:

UN chief Antonio Guterres arrives a Rafah crossing on Egypt-Gaza border

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip Friday and called on all international parties to work together to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in besieged Gaza.

Speaking to the media in front of the border crossing, he said the lorries packed with vital aid were a “lifeline” for Palestinians in Gaza, “the difference between life and death,” and needed to be moved into the enclave as quickly as possible.

Guterres pointed out that the deal reached between Egypt and Israel to allow aid to flow into the Gaza Strip has some conditions and restrictions.

“We are actively engaging with Egypt, Israel and the United States in order to make sure that we can clarify those conditions and limit those restrictions in order to have these trucks headed to where they are needed,” he said. He did not provide a time frame as to when the trucks of aid would enter Gaza.

The U.N chief also reiterated his call for a ceasefire between the warring parties.

– The Associated Press

7:47 a.m. ET

Some Palestinians returning to homes as Israeli strikes continue in the south of Gaza

A spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office says there are new signs that some Palestinians who initially moved south in response to the Israeli order to evacuate are returning to their homes because Israeli strikes are taking place in the south, too.

“We remain very concerned that Israeli Forces’ heavy strikes are continuing across Gaza, including in the south,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters. “The strikes, coupled with extremely difficult living conditions in the south, appear to have pushed some to return to the north, despite the continuing heavy bombing there.”

Shamdasani said the rights office had heard accounts about people wanting to migrate back north, including from one unidentified Palestinian who said “I might as well die in my own house.”

– The Associated Press

7:30 a.m. ET

Open this photo in gallery:

Convoy of aid trucks on Rafah border waiting to cross into Gaza, satellite photos show

JERUSALEM – Satellite photos analyzed Friday by The Associated Press show a massive convoy of semitruck trailers lined up at the Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian side, likely waiting for approval to cross into the besieged Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war rages.

The images, shot Thursday by Planet Labs PBC, show 55 trucks waiting in two lines, just half a kilometre (a third of a mile) away from the border. There are over 50 smaller vehicles visible in the image as well, many appearing to be with aid organizations, waiting at the crossing.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has arrived in northern Sinai as the world body works on getting aid through, said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The deal to get aid into Gaza through Rafah, the territory’s only crossing not controlled by Israel, remains fragile. Israel said the supplies could only go to civilians and that it would “thwart” any diversions by Hamas. More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid were positioned at or near Rafah.

Work began Friday to repair the road at the crossing that had been damaged in air strikes, with trucks unloading gravel and bulldozers and other road repair equipment filling in large craters.

– The Associated Press

7:10 a.m. ET

UN pushes for aid to Gaza, but process is slow

AL ARISH – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres flew to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Friday in a push to get aid flowing into Gaza, but it was unclear when delivery of relief materials stockpiled in Egypt would start.

The United States said details of a deal to send aid through the Rafah crossing between Sinai and Gaza were still being hammered out.

Earlier, the United States said agreement was reached for the passage of the first 20 trucks, but U.N. officials say that any delivery of aid needs to be done at scale and in a sustained way.

Before the current conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas about 450 aid trucks were arriving in Gaza daily.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people depend on humanitarian aid, which has been under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control of the enclave in 2007.

Israel’s siege and bombardment of Gaza, launched in retaliation for a deadly Hamas incursion into Israel, has resulted in a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.

Rafah is the only crossing with Gaza for goods and people that does not border Israel.

Efforts to get aid into Gaza have been complicated by the need to agree on a mechanism to inspect the aid, and a push to evacuate foreign passport holders from Gaza.

Roads leading into Gaza are being repaired after being hit by bombardments in the past two weeks.

A U.N. official said more than 200 trucks of aid were ready to move from Sinai to Gaza.

During previous conflicts, aid had been delivered to Gaza during humanitarian pauses through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is controlled by Israel.

But Israel has said it will allow no aid to enter from its territory until Hamas releases the hostages it took during its Oct. 7 attack.

It has said aid can enter through Egypt as long as it does not end up in the hands of Hamas.

Egypt has said it will not accept any mass displacement of

Gazans into Sinai, reflecting Arab fears that Palestinians could again flee or be forced from their homes en masse, as they were during the war surrounding Israel’s creation.

Egypt is also concerned by security in northeastern Sinai, where it faced an Islamist insurgency that escalated a decade ago, and by the risk of any spillover from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

6:50 a.m. ET

Open this photo in gallery:

Orthodox church in Gaza says it was hit by Israeli air strike

GAZA – A Greek Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip which was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians was hit overnight by an Israeli air strike, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Palestinian health officials said.

Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office said 18 Christian Palestinians were killed. There was no word from the church on any final death toll.

The Israeli military said a part of the church was damaged in a strike on a militant command centre and it was reviewing the incident.

Palestinian officials said at least 500 Muslims and Christians had taken shelter in the church from Israeli bombardments.

The Orthodox Church said in a statement: “The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expresses its strongest condemnation of the Israeli air strike that has struck its church compound in the city of Gaza.”

Video from the scene at the church compound showed a wounded boy being carried from rubble in the nighttime. A civil defence worker said two people on upper floors had survived. Those on lower floors had been killed and were still in the rubble, the worker said.

Gaza’s 2.3 million population comprises an estimated 1,000 Christians, most of whom are Greek Orthodox.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets had hit a nearby command and control centre that was used to carry out attacks against Israel.

“As a result of the IDF strike, a wall of a church in the area was damaged. We are aware of reports on casualties. The incident is under review,” it said.

6:25 a.m. ET

13 killed in clashes with Israeli forces in West Bank: Palestinian health ministry

The Palestinian health ministry said on Friday that 13 people were killed, including five children, after Israeli forces raided and carried out an air strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.

The raid was conducted on the Nur Shams refugee camp, adjacent to the city of Tulkarm near the territory’s border with Israel.

– Reuters

6:20 a.m. ET

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza includes areas in the south where Palestinians had been told to seek safety

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip – Israel bombarded Gaza early Friday, hitting areas in the south where Palestinians had been told to seek safety, and it began evacuating a sizable Israeli town in the north near the Lebanese border, the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza that could trigger regional turmoil.

Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy air strikes in Khan Younis in the south, and ambulances carrying men, women and children streamed into the town’s Nasser Hospital, Gaza’s second largest, which is already overflowing with patients and people seeking shelter. The Israeli military said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza linked to the territory’s Hamas rulers, including a tunnel and arms depots.

On Thursday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered ground troops to prepare to see Gaza “from the inside,” hinting at a ground offensive aimed at crushing Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers nearly two weeks after their bloody incursion into Israel. Officials have given no timetable for such an operation.

Over a million people have been displaced in Gaza, with many heeding Israel’s orders to evacuate the northern part of the sealed-off coastal enclave.

Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals are rationing their dwindling medical supplies and fuel for generators, as authorities worked out logistics for a desperately needed aid delivery from Egypt that has yet to enter. Doctors in darkened wards across Gaza performed surgeries by the light of mobile phones and used vinegar to treat infected wounds.

The deal to get aid into Gaza through Rafah, the territory’s only crossing not controlled by Israel, remained fragile. Israel said the supplies could only go to civilians and that it would “thwart” any diversions by Hamas. More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid were positioned at or near Rafah.

Work began Friday to repair the road at the crossing that had been damaged in air strikes, with trucks unloading gravel and bulldozers and other road repair equipment filling in large craters.

Open this photo in gallery:

Israel evacuates its town near Gaza, Lebanon

Israel has evacuated its own communities near Gaza and Lebanon, putting residents up in hotels elsewhere in the country. The Defense Ministry announced evacuation plans Friday for Kiryat Shmona, a town of more than 20,000 residents near the Lebanese border.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which has a massive arsenal of long-range rockets, has traded fire with Israel along the border on a near-daily basis and hinted it might join the war if Israel seeks to annihilate Hamas. Israel’s archfoe Iran supports both armed groups.

The violence in Gaza has also sparked protests across the region, including in Arab countries allied with the U.S. Those demonstrations could flare anew Friday following weekly Muslim prayers.

Joe Biden’s Oval Office speech pledges unwavering support for Israel’s security

In an address from the Oval Office on Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden again pledged unwavering support for Israel’s security, while saying the world “can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians” in Gaza.

Speaking hours after returning to Washington from an urgent visit to Israel, Biden linked the current war in Gaza to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin “both want to completely annihilate a neighbouring democracy.”

Biden said he was sending an “urgent budget request” to Congress on Friday, to cover emergency military aid to both Israel and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, an unclassified U.S. intelligence assessment delivered to Congress estimated casualties in an explosion at a Gaza City hospital this week on the “low end” of 100 to 300 deaths. The death toll “still reflects a staggering loss of life,” said the report, seen by The Associated Press. It said intelligence officials were still assessing the evidence and their casualty estimate may evolve.

The report echoed earlier assessments by U.S. officials that the blast at the al-Ahli hospital was not caused by an Israeli air strike, as the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza initially reported. Israel has presented video, audio and other evidence it says proves the blast was caused by a rocket misfired by Palestinian militants.

The AP has not independently verified any of the claims or evidence released by the parties.

The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for the devastating Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Even after Israel ordered a mass evacuation to the south, strikes extended across the territory, heightening fears among the territory’s 2.3 million people that nowhere was safe.

Palestinian militants have meanwhile fired daily rocket barrages into Israel from Gaza, and tensions have flared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Thirteen Palestinians, including five minors, were killed Thursday during a battle with Israeli troops in which Israel called in an air strike, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, the majority women, children and older adults. Nearly 12,500 were injured, and another 1,300 people were believed buried under rubble, authorities said.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians slain during Hamas’ deadly incursion. Roughly 200 others were abducted. The Israeli military said Thursday it had notified the families of 203 captives.

Israeli defence minister urges soldiers on the Gaza border to ‘be ready’ to move in

In a fiery speech on Thursday to Israeli infantry soldiers on the Gaza border, Gallant, the defence minister, urged them to “be ready” to move in. Israel has called up some 360,000 reserves and massed tens of thousands of troops along the Gaza border.

“Whoever sees Gaza from afar now, will see it from the inside,” he said. “It might take a week, a month, two months until we destroy them,” he added, referring to Hamas.

With supplies running low because of a complete Israeli siege, some Gaza residents are down to one meal a day and drinking dirty water.

Egypt and Israel were still negotiating the entry of fuel for hospitals. Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Hamas has stolen fuel from U.N. facilities and Israel wants assurances that won’t happen again.

The Gaza Health Ministry has pleaded with gas stations to give fuel to hospitals, and a U.N. agency also donated some of its last fuel. Gaza’s sole power plant shut down last week, forcing Palestinians to rely on generators, and no fuel has gone in since the start of the war.

The agency’s donation to Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest, would “keep us going for another few hours,” said Mohammed Abu Selmia, the hospital director.

– The Associated Press