Israel-Hamas war HIGHLIGHTS: Blinken calls for 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza amid Israeli strikes

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says “humanitarian pauses” in the Gaza war must be considered in order to protect Palestinian civilians, The Times of Israel reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told IDF soldiers from the elite Yohalam division of the Engineering Corps that the country will soon enter the next stage of the operation against Hamas, presumably referring to a ground invasion, The Times of Israel quoted the Prime Minister’s Office.

Israel Defence Forces say that they targeted "a terrorist cell attempting to infiltrate Israeli territory" and that IDF forces are continuing searches in the area, BBC reported.

US President Joe Biden is warning that humanitarian aid is not making its way into Gaza fast enough, CNN reported.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says it will be forced to halt its operations in Gaza by Wednesday night if no fuel is delivered to Gaza, CNN reported. 

At the UN Security Council on the Israel-Gaza conflict, Eli Cohen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel says, "Saturday, October 7 is a wake up call for the entire free world. A wake up call against extremism and terror. On that day, over 1,500 terrorists of Hamas and islamic jihad infiltrated Israel from the south with viciousness...killed over 1400 babies, children, women and men and wounded over 4000. They went from house to house, slaughtering entire families and individuals in the beds, on the streets, on the way to the synagogue, raping women, burning them alive, dancing and chanting on people's bodies. You have not been there. You've not seen the aura or smell it...This massacre will go down in history as more brutal than ISIS. Hamas are new Nazis..."

Navine Abu Owdah’s apartment in Khan Younis was hit by an airstrike on Tuesday, badly injuring the heavily pregnant 30-year-old. Owdah was quickly rushed to the nearby hospital of al-Amal where thankfully doctors managed to deliver a healthy baby girl.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who earlier spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has begun a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, BBC reported.

"I will not meet with the UN Secretary-General. After the October 7th massacre, there is no place for a balanced approach. Hamas must be erased off the face of the planet!" said Cohen

At the UN Security Council on the Israel-Gaza conflict, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says "...All acts of terrorism are unlawful and unjustifiable. Whether they target people in Nairobi or Bali, in Mumbai, New York or Kibbutz Be'eri...They're unlawful and unjustifiable whether they're carried out by ISIS, by Boko Haram, by Lashkar E Taiba, or by Hamas. They're unlawful and unjustifiable whether victims are targeted for their faith, ethnicity, nationality, or any other reason. This council has a responsibility to denounce member states that arm, fund and train Hamas or any other terrorist group that carries out such horrific acts. Let's not forget that among the more than 1,400 people that Hamas killed on October 7 were citizens from more than 30 UN member states, including many of the members around this very table. The victims included at least 33 American citizens...As President Biden has made clear from the outset of this crisis, while Israel has the right, indeed the obligation, to defend itself..."

At the UN Security Council on the Israel-Gaza conflict, Riyad al-Maliki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Palestine says "By the time representatives are done delivering their speeches today, 150 Palestinians will have been killed, including 60 children. In the last two weeks, over 5,700 Palestinians have been killed, including over 2,300 children and 1,300 women...More injustice and more killing will not make Israel safer. No amount of weapons, no alliance will bring to its security. Only peace will, peace with Palestine and its people. Our freedom is the condition of shared peace and security...It must be clear that this can only be achieved by putting an immediate end to the Israeli war launched against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip...There is no amount of humanitarian aid that can address the situation if more death, destruction and devastation are imposed on our people in Gaza..."

Thirty-three Americans have died as a result of the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, CNN reported.

Five people have sustained minor injuries after a large barrage of rockets fell on central Israel, BBC quoted the emergency services as saying.

Israel Defense Forces' chief of staff said efforts will be made to provide access to fuel in Gaza where needed to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, but that it would "not allow" the fuel to reach Hamas, reports CNN.

"If your will is to live in peace and to have a better future for your children, do the humanitarian deed immediately and share verified and valuable information about hostages being held in your area. The Israeli military assures you that it will invest maximum effort in providing security for you and your home, and you will receive a financial reward.  We guarantee you complete confidentiality," said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on X.

"The United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination. The actions of Hamas terrorists don’t take that right away," said US President Joe Biden.

Prime Minister Netanyahu to French President Macron: "Hamas barbarism not only threatens the Jews, it threatens the Middle East, it threatens the region, it threatens Europe, it threatens the world. Hamas is the test case of civilization against barbarism"

An airstrike hit a bustling marketplace in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing several shoppers and wounding dozens, witnesses said.

The US has issued a new warning to ships traveling through the Red Sea after a drone and missile attack launched from Yemen during the Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 700 people in the past day, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking after meeting Israel’s prime minister on Tuesday, proposed a coalition to fight terror groups in the region “that threaten all of us.”

A prominent Lebanese Christian politician allied with Hezbollah said Tuesday that Lebanon would not initiate a war with Israel but would defend itself if attacked.

Israeli fighter jets pounded several homes overnight in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, killing at least 28 people, according to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. The ministry reported other airstrikes across the besieged territory which it said left dozens dead.

Yocheved Lifshitz, an 85-year-old woman released by Hamas, told reporters Tuesday that the militants beat her with sticks, bruising her ribs and making it hard to breathe, as they kidnapped her during their attack on towns in southern Israel on October 7.

Russia calls on Hamas to immediately release all hostages, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, reported TASS news agency.

Alongside Macron, Netanyahu referred to Gaza as an "enclave of ISIS", reported The Times of Israel. "As in the Second World War, when the French supported the anti-Nazi resistance, today the international community is uniting in support of Israel. Hamas barbarism threatens the Jews, it threatens the Middle East, it threatens Europe, it threatens the world," he said.

Amid the unprecedented war between Israel and Hamas, Qatar’s ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on Tuesday warned Tel Aviv of the "brutal atrocities against women and children in Gaza" and added that world leaders should not give "a green light for unconditional killings". While addressing the Gulf Arab state's advisory Shura council, Sheikh Tamim, said, "We say enough. Israel shouldn't be granted an unconditional green light and unrestricted authorisation to kill.
Notably, the statement from Qatar’s emir came as Gaza health authorities claimed that Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 5,000 people including women and children since the war escalated between the two nations.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said six of its workers have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, bringing the total to 35 dead since Oct. 7. In a statement late Monday, the agency, known as UNRWA, said 18 other workers were wounded.

An overnight Israeli airstrike hit a 4-story residential building in the city of Khan Younis, killing at least 32 people and wounding scores of others, according to survivors.
The fatalities included 13 from the Saqallah family in the Qarraha area, east of Khan Younis, said Ammar al-Butta, a relative who survived the airstrike. He said about 100 people, including his family and many others, had sheltered there.

Since Israel activated the Iron Dome in 2011, the cutting-edge rocket defence system has intercepted thousands of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. The system has given residents a sense of security, and Israelis can often be seen watching the projectiles flying through the skies and destroying their targets overhead. But the current war with Hamas might be its stiffest challenge yet.

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French President Macron , during his meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Herzog, said that "French people were killed just because they were Jewish and because they want to live in peace", reporterd Jerusalem Post. He also said that he seeks to express France's "solidarity today and tomorrow," and that he shares in Herzog's view "that there should be the immediate release of hostages without any distinction," adding that "I want you to be sure that you are not left alone in this war against terrorism."

In a wide-scale operation to dismantle Hamas' terrorist capabilities, the IDF struck over 400 terrorist targets in the past 24hrs:

• Hamas gunmen setting up to fire rockets toward Israel. 
• A Hamas operational tunnel shaft allowing terrorists to infiltrate Israel through the sea.
• Hamas command centers used by operatives and staging armaments in Mosques.
• The IDF will continue operating in order to ensure the safety of innocent civilians.

According to the Israeli official, Macron will hold talks separately with President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister Benny Gantz (National Union), and former prime minister (Yair Lapid) who heads the Yesh Atid Party.

 The head of the neonatal unit in Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said it will run out of fuel within 48 hours. Dr. Hatem Edhair said there are eight babies in the intensive care unit and 10 others in the neonatal department.

French President Macron landed in Israel, and is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister Isaac Herzog and families of hostages held in Gaza.

 The US has advised Israeli officials that a delay in a possible ground offensive in Gaza would allow more time for the U.S. to work with its regional partners to release more hostages, according to a U.S. official familiar with Biden administration’s thinking on the matter. The official, who requested anonymity to discuss the private discussions, said it was unclear how much the argument will “move the needle” on Israeli thinking.

The head of the neonatal unit in Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said it will run out of fuel within 48 hours. Dr. Hatem Edhair said there are eight babies in the intensive care unit and 10 others in the neonatal department. “Half of these children are on CPAP (pressurized air) machines and oxygen machines,” he said Monday. “If the hospital runs out of fuel, half of these babies will die in less than 24 hours.”

The US has advised Israeli officials that a delay in a possible ground offensive in Gaza would allow more time for the U.S. to work with its regional partners to release more hostages, according to a U.S. official familiar with Biden administration’s thinking on the matter.

 A hospital in Gaza City was overrun with patients from airstrikes Monday with people lying on a blood-covered floor and two children at a time being treated on exam tables. While a girl stared up at the ceiling from a table at Shifa Hospital, a boy who appeared to be unconscious lay at her feet with an IV drip in his arm and gauze wrapped around his head.

Mahmoud Shalabi, an aid worker with the Medical Aid for Palestinians group, said the aid shipments that Israel allowed to cross into Gaza were a “drop in the ocean of the needs” required to address the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis there. Speaking to The Associated Press Monday evening from his home in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, Shalabi said that the aid had not arrived in the northern part of the strip, which Israel wants to empty ahead of its looming ground invasion.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says Hamas militants have released two hostages it had been holding captive in the Gaza Strip. It was the second time the group has freed hostages seized in its bloody Oct. 7 cross-border incursion into Israel. The hostages were identified by Israeli media as Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper of the Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz.

The Pentagon has sent military advisers, including a Marine Corps general versed in urban warfare, to Israel to aid in its war planning and is speeding multiple sophisticated air defense systems to the Middle East days ahead of an anticipated ground assault into Gaza.

Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said the last of three Italian-Israeli citizens who had been missing in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel is also dead. “Unfortunately, also Nir Forti is deceased,’’ the minister wrote late Monday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Forti had been attending the music festival that Hamas attacked.