Israel-Hamas War HIGHLIGHTS: UN to inspect aid shipments into Gaza under Israel-Egypt deal

Israel’s defense minister told ground troops to be ready to enter the Gaza Strip, though he didn’t say when the invasion will start. In a meeting with Israeli infantry soldiers on the Gaza border Thursday, Yoav Gallant urged the forces to “get organized, be ready” for an order to move in.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and conveyed his condolences for the loss of civilian lives at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. “We will continue to send humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people,” Modi said in a post on X.

 A UN flag will be raised at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to protect against Israeli airstrikes under a UN-brokered deal between Israel and Egypt to allow aid into the Palestinian territory. An Egyptian official and a European diplomat said observers from the UN will also inspect trucks carrying aid before crossing into Gaza.

The Gaza Health Ministry has issued an urgent request for diesel after a fifth major hospital closed due to a lack of fuel. The Yemen al-Saeed Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip was forced to shut down after running out of fuel, the ministry today.

An Israeli airstrike hit a densely populated area in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, again on Thursday. Many wounded were being rushed to the Nasser Hospital from the strike in the al-Amal neighbourhood.

Gaza’s government press office says the commander of the Hamas-led National Security Forces, Maj. Gen. Jihad Muheisen, was killed in an Israeli strike on his home in Gaza City along with some of his relatives.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many of his relatives were killed in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City. The National Security Forces is a paramilitary organization in Gaza taken over by Hamas after its 2007 seizure of the strip.

Gaza’s second-largest hospital has switched off the lights in the majority of the facility as staff try to conserve energy amid fuel shortages. Lights are still on in Nasser Hospital’s intensive care unit, but in many other departments, doctors are using cellphones and flashlights to illuminate procedures.

The European Parliament has called for a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza to make sure aid can reach the needy and stressed that Israel’s right to defend itself can only be done within the strictures of international law.

In the nonbinding resolution adopted on Thursday in a 500-21 vote, with 24 abstentions, European lawmakers also called for the immediate release of all hostages kidnapped by Hamas.

Hamas’ spokesman for the Rafah crossing, Wael Abu Omar, said that no aid or road repairing equipment has entered Gaza from Egypt as of Thursday afternoon.
Egypt and Israel reached a deal Wednesday evening that would allow aid to enter the Palestinian territory through the Rafah crossing.

Israel’s Supreme Court is postponing a flashpoint hearing on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul because some of the government’s representatives in the case have been called up for reserve duty, according to the court postponement order.
The hearing, originally set for Sunday, has now been moved to Nov. 5.

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, India has evacuated at least 1,200 people stranded in the war-torn country. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, they were taken back on five flights under "Operation Ajay", including 18 Nepali nationals. Responding to a question by India TV, MEA Spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, while addressing a weekly press briefing on Thursday, said, "A total of 1200 people special flight carrying Indian nationals and 18 Nepalese citizens wanting to leave Israel amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict left for India on Tuesday as part of 'Operation Ajay'."

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The Israeli military has conducted an extensive raid in the West Bank, arresting more than 80 Palestinians. The latest in a series of stepped-up Israeli operations in the territory since the outbreak of war, the raid on Wednesday night provoked violent clashes and left three Palestinians dead, including two children.

The death toll in Gaza since Israel declared war has risen to 3,785 Palestinians killed, including 1,524 children, 1,000 women and 120 older people, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Syrian opposition activists say a drone attack has been conducted on an oil facility in eastern Syria housing American troops and a US base in a nearby area. There was no immediate word on casualties and the US military didn’t immediately respond to requests for confirmation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sends a cable to all American diplomatic and consular posts around the world, authorizing them to lower flags to half-staff “to observe national periods of mourning following an official proclamation by the host government with respect to the loss of innocent lives at the Al Ahli hospital blast on October 18", Times of Israel reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins his meeting with British premier Rishi Sunak in Jerusalem, Times of Israel reported. The two embrace, then walk together to begin their one-on-one meeting

Sunak is holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog before travelling to other regional capitals. After landing at Ben Gurion Airport, Sunak said the people of Israel had “suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism, and I want you to know that the United Kingdom and I stand with you.”

Egyptian soccer star Mohamed Salah, arguably the most celebrated Arab footballer, called on world leaders to “come together to prevent further slaughter of all innocent souls” and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza.

Residents and doctors in this southern Gaza town said an airstrike slammed into a home, killing seven small children.
The news spread quickly on social media, as grisly images of dead and bloodied toddlers lined up side by side on a hospital stretcher stirred outrage in Gaza and the West Bank.

Hamas fighters likely fired North Korean weapons during their October 7 assault on Israel, a militant video and weapons seized by Israel show, despite Pyongyang's denials that it arms the militant group. South Korean officials, two experts on North Korean arms and an Associated Press analysis of weapons captured on the battlefield by Israel point toward Hamas using Pyongyang's F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired weapon that fighters typically use against armored vehicles.

Australian government minister Ed Husic has accused Israel of collectively punishing Palestinians in its war on Hamas. Husic told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday: “I feel very strongly that Palestinians are being collectively punished here for Hamas’ barbarism.” He added: “I really do feel there is an obligation on governments, particularly the Israeli government, to ... follow the rules of international law and to observe in particular that innocents should be protected.”

The White House said Wednesday that a current intelligence assessment shows Israel was “not responsible” for the explosion at a Gaza hospital, but that information was still being collected.

Members of Jewish advocacy groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now, gathered at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a Wednesday news release that an estimated 3,000 tons of humanitarian assistance are awaiting entry to Gaza from Egypt.

US President Joe Biden, who defended Israel during his visit to Tel Aviv, has become a target of angry protests in support of Palestinians. Biden’s visit Wednesday came a day after a blast caused massive carnage at a Gaza hospital. Hamas said it was from an Israeli airstrike while Israel blamed a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants. Biden sided with Israel, saying the explosion appeared to be the work of the “other team.

U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the deadly destruction of a hospital has heaped further pressure on Gaza’s crumbling health system, depriving the territory of a facility that cared for 45,000 patients every year.

 After US President Joe Biden visited the war-torn nation on Wednesday, Israel was ready to allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The first crack in a punishing 10-day siege on the territory came one day after a blast at a hospital killed hundreds and put immense strain on Gaza’s struggling medical system. 

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived in war-torn Israel on Thursday following the visits of US President Joe Biden and Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the Middle East as part of a broader visit to the region, which may include stops in Jordan and Egypt.