Israel-Hamas War Updates: Death count in Gaza Strip crosses 7300 as Israeli strikes continue

Social media messaging app Telegram has closed down several accounts for the militant Hamas group and its military wing that have been used to release messages and videos related to the Israel-Hamas war. When clicking on the account of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, which has nearly 693,000 followers, the page displays a message that reads: “Unfortunately, this channel couldn’t be displayed on your device.” The same message appears when opening the page of Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida who has 584,000 followers.

Paramedics and emergency staff are treating three individuals in Tel Aviv, Israeli emergency services Magen David Adom (MDA) said Friday, after a rocket struck a building in the south of the city, CNN reports.

The Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades claims responsibility for the second barrage to target the Tel Aviv area in under half an hour, after also claiming the first, according to the Times of Israel.

Overnight, troops of the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit carried out a raid in the southern Gaza Strip from the sea, the Times of Israel quoted the Israel Defense Forces.

Eight more aid trucks are expected to enter Gaza, according to the UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, CNN reported.

Scuffles broke out between Israeli police and Muslim worshippers wishing to pray at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City just after midday on Friday, CNN reported.

The US has issued a second round of sanctions on what it described as key Hamas-linked officials and financial networks, reported the Guardian.

The next convoy of lorries carrying water, food and medical supplies has been allowed to enter Gaza, BBC reported.

The United States has expanded its effort to cut off funding for Hamas, announcing a second round of sanctions against people and organizations linked to the group since it launched an attack on Israel that killed more than 1,400 people, reported The Times of Israel.

Friday midday prayers are about to begin in Jerusalem and the atmosphere near the al-Aqsa mosque is getting tense, CNN reported.

“Stop the bombs and save lives!” the Palestinian ambassador pleaded at an emotional UN meeting on Thursday on the war in Gaza. But Israel's envoy was adamant, declaring again, “We will not rest until Hamas is obliterated”.

Aid must be allowed into Gaza “as soon as possible” with “hundreds” of trucks needed every day, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Friday in an interview, CNN reported.

At least 233 hostages were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip on October 7, the IDF says, raising the number from 228 announced a day earlier, reported the Times of Israel.

"The IDF and the Shin Bet tonight killed Madhat Mubasher, the commander of the West Khan Yunis Battalion in the terrorist organization Hamas. Madhat took part in sniping attacks and large explosives against IDF forces and Israeli settlements," said the Israel Defence Forces on X.

Egypt now believes a drone and not a missile struck the Red Sea resort town of Taba overnight, according to Egyptian media reports, which has close ties to Egypt’s intelligence service, according to the Times of Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces says it has killed the commander of Hamas’s West Khan Younis Battalion, Madhat Mubasher, in an overnight airstrike in the Gaza Strip, reported the Times of Israel.

Hamas needs to find where all the people kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists during their attack on southern Israel on October 7 have been stashed, according to a member of a Hamas delegation visiting Russia, according to the Times of Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces confirms it killed Ayser Mohammad Al-Amer, a field commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Jenin wing, during clashes in the Jenin refugee camp overnight, reported The Times of Israel.

A small Israeli military surveillance drone crashed in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, the Times of Israel reported citing Palestinian media reports.

Egypt’s al-Qahera news outlet reports that all six people injured in a missile strike on the Red Sea border town of Taba have been released from the hospital, according to the Times of Israel.

In recent days drone and rocket strikes on military bases in Iraq and Syria have injured a total of 21 US military personnel, according to the Pentagon. They had suffered minor injuries, although a civilian contractor also died from a "cardiac incident" while sheltering from a possible attack, BBC reported.

Israel overnight sent tanks and troops into the Gaza Strip for a second limited incursion in as many nights, the Israel Defense Forces says, striking Hamas operatives and sites, as reported by the Times of Israel.

A senior US military official says precision strikes in Syria, announced earlier by Pentagon head Lloyd Austin, struck weapons and ammunition storage areas that were connected to the IRGC, the Associated Press reported.

An explosion hit the Egyptian resort town of Taba on the border with Israel, wounding five people, Egyptian state-run media outlet Al Qahera News reported early Friday.

The European Union will provide 50 million euros (around $52 million) in additional humanitarian aid for Gaza, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday, CNN reports.

The Israeli military says it only strikes militant targets and accuses Hamas of operating among civilians in densely-populated Gaza. Palestinian militants have fired rocket barrages into Israel since the war began.

The rising death tolls in Gaza are unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even greater loss of life could come if Israel launches an expected ground offensive aimed at crushing Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and survived four previous wars with Israel.

The Hamas, which has massacred 1,400 people in Israel in the October 7 attack and taken 222 people hostages, have said that 50 of these hostages were killed reportedly by Israel air strikes.

Hamas spokesperson, Abu Ubaida has in a post in the Telegram channel of the group on Thursday said, "Al Qassam Brigade estimates that the number of Zionist prisoners killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of Zionist killings and massacres reached approximately 50 people."

US military forces conducted self-defense strikes on two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups.

These precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against USpersonnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17.

As a result of these attacks, one US citizen contractor died from a cardiac incident while sheltering in place; 21 U.S. personnel suffered from minor injuries, but all have since returned to duty.

President Joe Biden met with the new House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries at the White House to discuss his request for nearly $106 billion for Israel, Ukraine and other national security needs.

Johnson, a staunch conservative allied with Donald Trump, has shown little interest in providing additional money from Congress to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Biden met with Johnson and Jeffries before a classified briefing for them and other congressional leaders on the assistance package, according to a White House official.

Visual of Israeli military tanks maneuvering at the border with Lebanon amid Israel-Hamas war.

On Thursday, United States President Joe Biden claimed that the recent announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, which unites the whole region with a network of rail, ports, and roadways, was one of the catalysts for Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel.

Israeli troops and tanks briefly raided northern Gaza overnight, the military said Thursday, engaging with Hamas fighters and targeting anti-tank weapons in order to “prepare the battlefield” before an expected ground invasion.

The third Israeli raid since the war began came after more than two weeks of devastating airstrikes that have left thousands dead, and more than 1 million displaced from their homes, in the small, densely-populated territory.

At least 900 US troops are being deployed in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war, a Pentagon official informed.