Israel strikes Hamas terrorists inside Gaza tunnels
Israel has struck Hamas gunmen inside their vast tunnel network beneath Gaza, its military has said.
“Over the last day, combined IDF combat forces struck approximately 300 targets, including anti-tank missile and rocket launch posts below shafts, as well as military compounds inside underground tunnels belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Clearing the terrorists from the tunnels is a key objective for Israel as it expands its ground operation inside Gaza to wipe out Hamas.
Israel demolishes West Bank home of Hamas deputy leader
The Israeli army demolished the West Bank home of exiled Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri with explosives.
The Israeli military said forces entered the village of Arura, near Ramallah, and shot at people who were “hurling” rocks towards them during the demolition.
Aruri is accused by Israel of masterminding numerous attacks. He was elected deputy to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in 2017, before being officially named the group’s number two.
An AFP journalist saw the ruins of the house in Arura, where Aruri’s nephew said the move was meant to “intimidate” people.
“And to distance people as much as possible from the resistance (to Israel), but these people are steadfast,” said Qutaiba Khasib.
Doctors in Gaza face ‘moral trauma’ of who to save
Doctors in Gaza are facing a “moral trauma” of which patients to save as supplies run scarce, the head of a medical group has said.
Dr Zaher Sahloul told the BBC World Service that his team are running out of anaesthesia, pain medication, blood products, antibiotics, gauze and many other items that are needed to stop the bleeding and treat patients in trauma.
“On top of that you have the bombing and limited, or shortage of, clean water, food, diesel and fuel,” he said.
He added: “So that means you have to make a decision as a doctor which patients you need to focus on, and maybe treat and save lives, and which patient you need to let go.”
Half of Gaza population pushed south in three weeks, says UN
Half of the population of Gaza has been pushed towards the south in the past three weeks, the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has said.
Philippe Lazzarini told a UN emergency meeting that one million people were pushed from the north of the Gaza Strip towards the south, adding that “significant numbers” had been killed.
“I have said many times, and I will say it again ‘no place is safe in Gaza.’”
‘Large exchanges’ between Israel and Hamas, says IDF
There has been a “large amount of exchanges” between Israeli forces and Hamas in Gaza overnight, the Israel Defense Forces has claimed.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers fire a 155 mm howitzer at an undisclosed location near the border with the Gaza Strip
Credit: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock
Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the IDF, told BBC Breakfast that its forces were “destroying Hamas step by step, and strike by strike.”
Urgent humanitarian ceasefire a ‘matter of life and death for millions,’ says UN
An immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become “a matter of life and death for millions,” the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has warned.
Philippe Lazzarini told a UN emergency meeting that a further breakdown of civil order following the looting of the agency’s warehouses by Palestinians searching for food and other aid “will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest UN agency in Gaza to continue operating.”
He added that “the handful of convoys” allowed into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt in recent days “is nothing compared to the needs of over two million people trapped in Gaza.”
“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail,” he said, “unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs.”
Sirens sound in Eliat, southern Israel
Israel has warned of a hostile aircraft intrusion near the Red Sea City of Eliat.
Air raid sirens went of in the city in southern Israel.
Shortly after the sirens sounded, Israel Radio reported that Israeli air defences shot down a drone over the Red Sea.
More to follow
Israel-Gaza in pictures:
Israeli forces’ flares light up the night sky in northern Gaza Strip
Credit: Abed Khaled/AP
Israeli Iron Dome air defence system fires to intercept a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip
Credit: Oded Balilty/AP
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli military drone flying over the north of the Gaza Strip
Credit: JACK GUEZ/AFP
Israel’s ‘step-by-step’ push into Gaza so far and what could come next
The silver estate car was heavily laden, its rear suspension visibly stressed as it moved up one of the two main roads running the length of Gaza.
On a shabby A-road just south of Gaza City, the driver appears to see an Israeli tank hidden to his right before executing a hasty three-point turn to escape.
But it is too late. Before he can speed away, the car is hit broadsides by a tank shell at near point-blank range. The vehicle vanishes, together with its occupants and whatever it was carrying in a single terrifying blast.
Read more from The Telegraph’s Paul Nuki here
Israel frees soldier kidnapped by Hamas in ‘daring’ Gaza raid
Israeli special forces have rescued a female soldier held hostage by Hamas during a raid in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday.
The first successful rescue mission came as tanks surrounded and entered parts of Gaza City for the first time, cutting off a key escape route for civilians during the Israeli ground offensive.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said his military had “liberated” Ori Megidish, 19, a soldier who was captured on the “black morning” of Oct 7, and who is now back with her family.
Read more here