Over 8,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip as the war on Gaza enters its 24th day. Four were killed in Jenin in an Israeli army raid while Israel “continued and expanded” its ground operations in Gaza and struck targets in Syria and Lebanon.
Live Updates
Update 7: The United Nations Security Council is set to meet again on Monday, 30 October to discuss the war on Gaza, UN News reports. The emergency meeting was called for by the United Arab Emirates, the only Arab state currently sitting on the council.
Update 6: Israeli soldiers bolstered by tank support have broadened their operations inside Gaza, engaging on Monday, 30 October, in intense air and artillery strikes in the northern region.
There are several reports of Israeli armored vehicles operating near the Mediterranean coast In the northern region of the enclave. Witnesses from Gaza reported seeing Israeli tanks blocking the main north-south Salah Al Din road south of Gaza City and firing at anyone trying to use it, including taxi drivers.
There are also reports of ongoing operations on the outskirts of the Zaytoun and Shajaiya neighborhoods in Gaza City.
Analysts believe that Israeli forces are attempting to isolate and lay siege to Gaza City from the south, effectively cutting off the urban area that extends northwards to Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia.
Hamas also confirmed engaging in “heavy fighting with the invading occupation force” in the northern region of Gaza. The Israeli army (IDF) has again warned civilians to flee south.
The “second phase” of Israel’s three-week conflict with Hamas militants has been mostly concealed from the public, with Israeli forces operating in darkness and a telecommunications blackout disconnecting Palestinians.
Update 5: An additional 33 aid trucks were permitted to enter Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, as confirmed by witnesses at the Rafah crossing. This marked the largest daily intake of aid trucks since the conflict’s onset. However, humanitarian workers expressed that the provided assistance remained far from meeting the desperate needs on the ground.
Update 4: A video featuring Hamas militants, terrified Israeli families, and graphic footage, along with a threat from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, unexpectedly interrupted a child’s puzzle game on their Android phone in Brazil, Reuters reported.
At least five incidents have been reported in Europe, affecting several gamers, including children. The head of digital at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, David Saranga, confirmed that the video was indeed a government-endorsed ad but claimed to have no knowledge of how it was included in multiple games, stating that it was part of a broader advocacy initiative by the ministry.
Update 3: At least a 100 Israeli army vehicles raided the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank early morning on Monday, 30 October, killing four Palestinians and injuring five, Palestine’s Ministry of Health stated.
Palestinian state news agency WAFA reported that vehicles stormed the city of Jenin and deployed around Ibn Sina Hospital, demolishing a part of the hospital’s exterior wall. Sources also stated that drones were flying over Jenin, shooting in all directions.
The four men killed were identified as Amir Abdullah, 25; Nawras Ibrahim Bajawi, 28; Wiaam Iyad Hanoun, 27; and Mousa Khaled Jabarin, 23; according to the health ministry.
Another Palestinian, 23-year-old Fouad Ismail, was shot by Israeli forces in the south of Khalil on 30 October.
Update 2: The Israeli army “continued and expanded” its ground operations in Gaza overnight, claiming it struck a Hamas post with more than 20 people inside, in a post on X on Monday, 30 October.
The Israeli army also attacked targets in Syria and Lebanon.
“In response to launches from Syria toward Israel earlier this Sunday, an IAF aircraft struck military infrastructure in Syrian territory,” the army said on Monday.
Al-Mayadeen’s Farah Omar reported Israel firing projectiles causing several fires in southern Lebanon. This came after rockets were fired deeper into northern Israel, reports the FInancial Times.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza’s spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra claimed that Israel committed “56 massacres,” killing 302 people, in a press conference in the morning of 29 October.
Israel killed 8,005 people in Gaza, including 3,324 children, 2,062 women, and 460 of the elderly, in addition to injuring 20,242 since 7 October, al-Qudra said.
The ministry received over 1,870 reports of people missing, of which 1,020 children are still under the rubble, the spokesperson added.
In a separate statement, the ministry described a “state of panic” affecting cancer patients and medical crews as Israel damaged the only hospital which treats cancer in Gaza, the Turkish Friendship Hospital, as a result of “repeatedly targeting its surroundings.”
Update 1: Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi received a phone call from US President Joe Biden on Sunday evening, 29 October, to discuss the latest developments in the military escalation in Gaza and the need to prevent the expansion of conflict across the region.
During the call, the two presidents discussed increasing aid to Gaza. Al-Sisi emphasized the importance of reaching an immediate humanitarian truce, to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza sustainably, and in quantities that meet the people’s needs.
Al-Sisi also stressed Egypt’s firm position of rejecting Israel’s collective punishment, while reiterating that Egypt has not and will never allow the displacement of the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egyptian territories.
On her part, UN Human Rights Council-appointed expert Francesca Albanese criticized the Israeli occupation and the international community’s complicity, in an interview with UN News on 29 October.
“The occupation has been the vehicle to colonize, brutalize, arbitrarily arrest and detain and to carry out summary executions against the Palestinian people,” Albanese stated.
“Has the international community ever stopped this protracted illegality? No. This is why I keep on saying the international community has a huge, huge responsibility in the catastrophe that is now unfolding,” she added.
The Conflict So Far
After a surprise attack conducted on 7 October by Hamas on a number of southern Israeli towns which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,405 people and more than 220 being taken hostage by Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory bombing campaign against what it describes as ‘terrorist targets’ in the Gaza Strip.
At least 8,005 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip — including 3,324 children — and 20,242 others injured. Meanwhile over 114 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and around 2,000 have been injured.
The priority of the Egyptian government since the beginning of the conflict has been deescalation and the securing of a path for aid to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing. Israel bombed the crossing at least six times, and 80 aid trucks have crossed to Gaza so far, which UN officials warn is insufficient amid dire humanitarian conditions.
Most Western countries, with the United States at the forefront, have expressed unconditional support for Israel, despite the steadily rising death toll in Gaza. Meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly has issued a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
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