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Over 400 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza Strip

More than 400 Palestinians have been killed during Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The agency described the night as "heaviest bombardment" that has occurred since the start of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on 7 October, with 25 strikes occurring in residential areas.

Israeli raids in Jericho lead to arrest of eight Palestinians

Eight Palestinians were arrested during early morning raids by Israeli forces in the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank.

According to Palestinian news agency WAFA, raids were conducted from Jericho's northern entrance and from the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp.

One such person who was arrested is Dr Muhammad Awadat who works at Jericho Hospital.

WAFA also reported a further 11 Palestinians were arrested during raids on the town of Bani Na'im near Hebron. 

China worried about regional spread of Gaza war

China views the situation in Gaza as "very serious" with the risk of a large-scale ground conflict rising and the spread of armed conflicts along neighbouring borders, Chinese state media said on Monday, citing the country's Middle East special envoy.

The envoy Zhai Jun, who is visiting the Middle East, said spillover effects in the region and internationally are widening, as conflict along the Israeli-Lebanese and Israeli-Syrian borders spread, "making the outlook worrisome."

Zhai called on the international community to be "highly vigilant in this regard" and to take immediate action urging parties concerned to strictly abide by international humanitarian law and avoid a serious humanitarian disaster while putting in "joint efforts to control the situation."

(Reuters)

Israeli official says 'no ceasefire' for Gaza as hostage talks continue

A senior Israeli official has said that there will be "no ceasefire" for Gaza as talks by the US and Qatar to free over 200 hostages continues. 

Speaking with US news network CNN the unnamed Israeli official stated they were "not aware" of any delays on the Israeli ground offensive sought by the US as it continues to try and secure the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip.

The official stated that Israel sought the release of hostages "as quickly as possible" but added that "humanitarian efforts cannot be allowed to impact the mission to dismantle Hamas."

He also stated that there was low public approval within Israel for the allowance of humanitarian aid into Gaza. 

Western leaders issue joint statement on Israel Hamas war

The leaders of the US, UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and France issued a joint statement regarding the current war between Israel and Hamas.

The joint statement read that the leaders "reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians."

In addition to welcoming the release of two US hostages by Hamas, there was a reiterated call to release all remaining hostages in Gaza.

The statement added that there was a necessity to "prevent the conflict from spreading, preserve stability in the Middle East, and work toward a political solution  and durable peace."

The statement followed from a collective call between the six leaders late on Sunday.

Vicinity of Al-Shifa and Al-Quds hospitals bombed by Israel

The vicinity of the Al-Shifa medical complex and Al-Quds hospital have been struck by Israeli airstrikes according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

It is the second time that the vicinity of the Al-Quds hospital has been struck by Israeli airstrikes, and comes after the Israeli military warned the hospital of a possible bombardment late on Sunday.

12,000 displaced people are currently sheltering in the hospital, and 500 people are currently at the hospital receiving care. 

Israeli air strikes on Jabalia refugee camp kill 30

Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia refugee camp have killed up to 30 people, and injured 27, according to the Palestinian civil defence, who said many of the victims were women and children. 

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin warns "escalation of attacks" against US troops

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has warned of a "prospect of significant escalation of attacks on our troops" in the the Middle East following the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. 

Speaking with ABC News, Austin issued a stern warning: "If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation that we see, our advice is: don't."

His comments come as US bases in Iraq have come under rocket and drone attacks in recent days.

Hamas leader and Iran's foreign minister discuss Gaza

Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian discussed the means of stopping the Israeli "brutal crimes" in the besieged Gaza enclave, the group said in a statement late Sunday.

(Reuters)

Israel strikes Aitaroun town in Lebanon

Israeli fighter jets launched an air strike on the southern outskirts of Aitaroun town, southern Lebanon, the Lebanese state media of NNA reported late Sunday.

(Reuters)

Israel threatens to strike al-Quds hospital

According to Palestine Red Crescent the Israeli military have threatened to bomb the al-Quds hospital in Gaza. 

Speaking with Jordanian TV channel Al-Mamlaka the director of Palestine Red Crescent, Ahmed Jibril, stated that they would not evacuate the hospital as there was nowhere to go. 

Speaking to Al Jazeera Red Crescent media spokesperson Nebal Farsakh urged "the international community to stop Israel from bombing al-Quds hospital," adding that they would be "held accountable for any strike on the hospital."

The hospital currently holds 500 people who need care, including many in a critical condition, with an additional 12,000 displaced Palestinians residing on the hospital grounds.

Emmanuel Macron and Mark Rutte to visit Israel

French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will visit Israel, according to the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel.

In a post made by the office on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, Macron and Rutte "will arrive tomorrow and Tuesday and will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu."

In an earlier post, the office stated that Netanyahu had conversations with both leaders, as well as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. 

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte confirmed on X that he had called Netanyahu about the ongoing war in Gaza, whilst also stating he had called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Macron as well.

Gaza: 42% of housing units destroyed or damaged in Israeli attacks, UN says

ِAt least 42 percent of all housing units in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged as a result of Israel's continuous strikes, the UN humanitarian office said.

"About 15,100 housing units were destroyed, and 10,656 housing units were rendered uninhabitable," the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press statement sent to The New Arab.

"Moreover, 139,000 housing units were subjected to minor to moderate damage, pointing to the destruction of entire neighborhoods, especially in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, Shujaiya, the area between Gaza and the Beach refugee camp, and Abasan Kabira in Khan Yunis," OCHA added.

President Biden and Pope Francis discuss Hamas-Israel war

US President Joe Biden spoke with Pope Francis on Sunday and discussed the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel, the White House and the Vatican said in separate statements.

They discussed "the need to prevent escalation in the region and to work toward a durable peace in the Middle East," the White House said.

The Vatican earlier said the call, which lasted about 20 minutes, "focused on conflict situations in the world and the need to identify paths to peace."

Earlier Sunday Pope Francis stated that "War is always a defeat, it is a destruction of human fraternity," following his traditional Angelus prayer in Rome's Saint Peter's Square.

(Reuters & The New Arab Staff)

Two Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank

Two Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank according to the Palestinian Health ministry.

The two, a 29-year-old and 17-year-old, were shot by Israeli forces in the village of Zawata, northwest of the city of Nablus. 

Two other Palestinians were also injured during the shooting, one of whom is in a critical condition. 

War in Gaza could last months: Israeli defence minister

Israel's defence minister said Sunday that the war against Hamas could take "months" but insisted it would be the last against the Gaza militant group.

Speaking at an air force base Yoav Gallant stated that "it will take one month, two months, three months, and at the end there will be no more Hamas."

"Before Hamas makes contact with our tanks and our infantry, they will know the shells from our air force."

"This should be the last war in Gaza, for the simple reason that there will be no more Hamas," Gallant said.

Israel has repeatedly vowed to eradicate Hamas from Gaza and has been conducting a continuous bombardment of Gaza since 7 October following a surprise assault into southern Israel by Hamas.

Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip has killed 4,651 Palestinians, including almost 2000 children. Hamas' initial assault on southern Israel killed 1,400 Israelis. 

Egyptian border guards injured in Israeli shelling

The Egyptian military has confirmed that several members of Egypt's border guards had sustained minor injuries after an Israeli tank accidentally fired at an Egyptian position near the border with the Gaza Strip.

The military added that shell fragments had caused the injuries, noting that Israel had "expressed its regret" at the incident. 

Israeli soldier killed during Gaza raid

An Israeli soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile on Sunday during a raid into the Gaza Strip, the military said.

Israeli troops have been conducting raids across the border, which the military says are meant to clear the area and gather intelligence about missing people and captives being held by militant group Hamas in the enclave.

According to the military, a "soldier was killed, one was moderately injured, and two were lightly injured as a result of an anti-tank missile launched toward an IDF tank and an engineering vehicle."

Fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas has continued along the Gaza border since October 7, with Hamas' Qassam Brigades issuing a statement earlier Sunday that it had ambushed Israeli forces near Khan Younis.

(Reuters & The New Arab Staff)

29 UN agency staff killed in Gaza

The UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said that 29 of its staff have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the agency stated that half of its staff that had been killed were teachers. 

"As an Agency, we are devastated. We are grieving with each other and with the families," the statement read. 

In addition to the staff killed the UN has also stated 12 internally displaced persons who had been sheltering at UN run schools had been killed by Israeli airstrikes since 7 October, with a further 180 injured.

The UN added that 38 of its installations in the Gaza strip had been damaged.

Catherine Russell, the Executive Director of UNICEF, offered her condolences to her colleagues at UNRWA in a post on X, stating that "the lives and safety of all humanitarian workers and the civilians they serve must be respected."

We are in shock and mourning.

It is now confirmed that 29 of our colleagues in📍#Gaza have been killed since October 7.

Half of these colleagues were @unrwa teachers.

As an Agency, we are devastated. We are grieving with each other and with the families. pic.twitter.com/TPTdUAAjg3

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 22, 2023

'Stop, stop!' Pope Francis urges over Israeli assault on Gaza

Pope Francis pleaded Sunday for an end to the Hamas-Israeli conflict amid fears it could widen, and called for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into to the Gaza Strip.

"War is always a defeat, it is a destruction of human fraternity. Brothers, stop! Stop!" Francis said after his traditional Angelus prayer in Rome's Saint Peter's Square.

"I renew my call for spaces to be opened, for humanitarian aid to continue to arrive and for hostages to be freed," the 86-year-old pontiff said.

Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, killing at least 1,400 people.

Israel's retaliatory bombing campaign has killed more than 4,600 Palestinians, mainly civilians, including almost 2000 children, according to the Palestinian health ministry, and reduced swathes of densely populated Gaza to smouldering ruins.

Alarm has grown about a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel has cut off water, food and power.

A first trickle of aid entered the besieged Strip on Saturday, followed up by some more on Sunday, but UN officials said the 37 trucks permitted to cross were not enough given the "catastrophic" humanitarian situation for 2.4 million people.

Hamas' armed wing claims it repelled Israeli ground attack on Khan Younis in Gaza

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, says it has repelled an Israeli ground attack near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, destroying an Israeli tank and two bulldozers, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, the Qassam Brigades said its “fighters engaged an armored Israeli force in a well-prepared ambush to the east of Khan Yunis, just moments after it crossed the border by a few meters”.

“The fighters bravely engaged with the infiltrating force … and they returned to their bases safely,” the statement further noted.

There were no official Israeli statements on the matter.

Palestinian PM call for 'united front' to stop Israel's attacks on Gaza

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on Sunday on the international community to create "united front" to stop Israel's attacks in the Gaza Strip.

"We place at the top of our priorities stopping the Israeli aggression (...) and bringing in medical and relief aid to prevent a major humanitarian catastrophe," Shtayyeh said during a meeting with 25 ambassadors, representatives and consuls.

(Reuters)

Joe Biden: 'We can't ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians'

US President Joe Biden has reiterated that Israel has the right to defend itself but cautioned that  Tel Aviv must "operate by the laws of war", which he said means "protecting civilians in combat as best as they [Israel] can". 

In a post on X, Biden also said that "We can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace."

Though Biden's words might appear as sympathetic to Palestinians in Gaza, the president has not called for a humanitarian ceasefire, while analysts have pointed out that has also failed to use the US' considerable clout with Israel to get them to stop killing civilians.

On Sunday it was announced by the Palestinian health ministry that the death toll in Gaza has surged past 4600, with the vast majority of those civilians and almost 2000 of them children.
 

Israel has the right to defend itself. We must make sure they have what they need to protect their people today and always.

At the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu and I have discussed how Israel must operate by the laws of war. That means protecting civilians in combat as…

— President Biden (@POTUS) October 22, 2023

Israeli tank 'accidentally fired and hit Egyptian position near border'

Earlier we reported that there was an as yet unexplained explosion at Rafah, now it being reported that an Israeli military spokesperson has confirmed that an Israeli tank accidentally fired and hit an Egyptian position near the border in the Kerem Shalom area, near Rafah. 

Blinken says Iran and its proxies could spark 'escalation' of Israel's war on Gaza

US. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday Washington saw potential for escalation in the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza due to the actions of Iran and its proxies in the region.

The United States was not looking for escalation, Blinken told NBC News in an interview. He added the United States hoped for more hostages to be released by Hamas, after mediation by Qatar saw the release of 2 American hostages by the group. 

Blast, ambulances heard near Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza

An explosion and the sound of ambulances were heard near the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Sunday afternoon, shortly after a second aid convoy had entered the crossing from the Egyptian side, witnesses said.

The cause and the exact location of the blast were not immediately clear.

Since conflict began on Oct. 7 between Hamas and Israel, bombardments on the Gaza side of the crossing have damaged roads and buildings that needed repairing before a first convoy of aid trucks passed through Rafah into Gaza on Saturday. 

Over 266 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the last 24 hours, as Tel Aviv announced it was 'stepping up' its already relentless bombardment of Gaza. 

(Reuters)

Palestinian town Huwara 'effectively under siege' by Israeli forces, settlers since October 7

Huwara, a northern occupied West Bank town near Nablus which has been the scene of settler attacks for months, is under Israeli military lockdown, as reported by Al Jazeera. 

Most shops are now shuttered in Huwara and the main road that divides the town is closed to foot and vehicle traffic, said the town’s mayor Mouin Dmeidi to Al Jazeera.

“We’re effectively under siege. We’re under constant threat from settlers. And we are being denied the most basic of rights,” Dmeidi added.

The town of some 8,000 people is currently a ghost town, Dmeidi said, adding that 500 stores have been closed since Oct. 7.

“Only Israeli settlers and soldiers are allowed to move. The army closed all the entrances to the town for Palestinians,” he said.

Israel warns north Gaza residents that they will be considered 'accomplices in a terrorist organisation' if they don't leave their homes

Israel's military has warned Gaza residents that they risk being identified as accomplices "in a terrorist organisation" if they do not move south.

More than a million people lived in the north of the Gaza Strip and hundreds of thousands have gone southwards to cram into temporary refuges despite unremitting air and artillery strikes also hitting the southern areas they have fled to.

The message to Gaza residents was delivered from Saturday in leaflets dropped by air and marked with the Israeli military logo, and in automated phone messages sent to people across the enclave.

"Whoever chooses not to leave north Gaza to the south of Wadi Gaza might be identified as an accomplice in a terrorist organisation," the leaflets said.

Although Israel has previously warned Palestinians to move south, it had not previously told them they could be identified as "terrorist" sympathisers if they did not.

The risks are great in the southern areas that people have fled to as well.

In Khan Younis, in the south, people held a funeral for seven members of one family killed in strikes overnight. Women embraced each other, sobbing, as the bodies were pushed by cart to a grave site and lowered into the ground, shrouded in white.

(Reuters)

 

Palestinian man shot dead by Israeli forces in the West Bank 

A Palestinian man has been killed by Israeli forces near the Al-Arroub camp, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

Local sources told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa that Israeli forces stationed at the entrance to Al-Arroub camp opened heavy fire at a Palestinian vehicle as it was leaving the camp. When its driver attempted to escape the vehicle, the Israeli army shot him with several bullets and allegedly prevented ambulances from reaching him. 

The man has been identified by the health ministry as 20-year-old Qatada Salama Ghneimat. 

Gaza death toll rises to 4,651, of which 1,873 are children

At least 4,651 people have been killed by Israel in Gaza since the start of its attack on October 7, the territory's health ministry said Sunday.

The number has increased from 4,385 on Saturday, when Israel announced it would step up its already relentless campaign of airstrikes, and now includes 1,873 children, the ministry said. There are 14,245 wounded, the statement added.

The ministry spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said that Israeli strikes had killed 266 Palestinians over the past 24 hours, including 117 children. 

UN Palestinian refugee agency in 'shock and mourning' as 29 of its staff have been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza

We are in shock and mourning.

It is now confirmed that 29 of our colleagues in📍#Gaza have been killed since October 7.

Half of these colleagues were @unrwa teachers.

As an Agency, we are devastated. We are grieving with each other and with the families. pic.twitter.com/TPTdUAAjg3

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 22, 2023

Israel expands evacuations as Lebanon border clashes escalate

Israel expanded planned evacuations of communities on its northern front with Lebanon on Sunday as cross-border clashes with fighters from Lebanese group Hezbollah have intensified since the war in Gaza erupted more than two weeks ago.

After enacting a plan last week to move residents out of 28 border-area villages, and the nearby town of Kiryat Shmona, with state-funded temporary accommodation, the Defence Ministry said it was adding 14 communities to the evacuation list.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire at the frontier with increasing frequency since Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel responded with relentless air strikes on Gaza, which have killed over 4300 people. 

It is the worst escalation in violence along the Israeli-Lebanese border since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

As of Saturday, Hezbollah said 19 of its fighters had been killed in the border flare-up since Oct. 7.

(Reuters)

Head of UN agency that aids Palestinian refugees says it will run out of fuel in 3 days

The head of the UNRWA, the official UN agency for Palestinian refugees, says it will run out of fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip in three days.

“Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries. Without fuel, aid will not reach those in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance," Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement. 

🆘 @UNRWA will run out of fuel in three days

Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries.

Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance.

No fuel will further strangle the children, women and people of 📍#Gazahttps://t.co/oXO5a2o6Dv pic.twitter.com/PeIf8o1LQF

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 22, 2023

Netanyahu: 'If Hezbollah enters the war, it will be making the mistake of its life'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah against opening a second war front with Israel, saying that doing so would bring Israeli counter-strikes of “unimaginable” magnitude that would be “devastating” to all of Lebanon.

In an official transcript of a briefing Netanyahu have to commandos, seen by the Israeli media, he said,“If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will long for the Second Lebanon War,” referencing Israel’s 2006 war with Lebanon.

“It will be making the mistake of its life. We will strike it with strength that it cannot even imagine and the significance to it and to the country of Lebanon will be devastating," he added. 

Netanyahu also told soldiers that Israel's war on Gaza was "the fight of our life, a fight for our home. ... That’s not an exaggeration, it’s not an overstatement, that’s this war ... It is kill or be killed, and they need to be killed.”

Qatar sends two aid planes for Gaza

Two planes carrying 87 tonnes of food and medical aid to the Gaza Strip from Qatar have headed to Egyptian city of al-Arish, Qatar’s foreign ministry has said.

“This aid is part of Qatar’s support for the Palestinian people amid the difficult humanitarian conditions due to the Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip,” it stated.

Two Qatari Armed Forces Planes Carrying Aid for Palestinians in Gaza Heads to Egypt's Al Arish#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/KJp6gBKujX

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) October 22, 2023

Second aid convoy enters Egyptian side of Rafah crossing en route to Gaza 

A second convoy of aid trucks entered the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, heading towards the Gaza Strip, according to Egyptian security and humanitarian sources at Rafah.

A total of around 17 trucks carrying medical and food supplies had been inspected by UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, the sources said.

The first convoy of badly needed supplies entered Gaza on Saturday.

Israel imposed a total blockade and launched deadly air strikes on Gaza in response to a deadly attack on Israeli soil by Hamas on Oct. 7. The Rafah crossing had been out of operation since shortly afterwards, and bombardments on the Gaza side damaged roads and buildings.

(Reuters)

Palestinian journalist reportedly killed in Gaza during Israeli bombardment

Palestinian journalist Rushdi Sarraj has been killed in his home after an Israeli bombardment, according to local journalists.

The international photojournalist Wissam Nassar wrote on Instagram: “My close friend, Rushdi Sarraj, was killed in Israeli bombardment on his home. He was a talented photojournalist and director creatively telling the stories of Gazans under war and siege. May you rest in peace.”

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Wissam Nassar وسام نصار (@wissamgaza)

Ali Jadallah, a Palestinian photojournalist working for Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, posted on Instagram the purported body bag of Sarraj with his name on it, announcing his death.

Sarraj’s death on has been reported by several other local journalists across social media.

At least 22 journalists are thought to have been killed so far during Israel's relentless assault on Gaza. 

120 incubator babies at risk after Israel cuts Gaza fuel: UN

The lives of at least 120 newborn babies on incubators in war-torn Gaza's hospitals are at risk as fuel runs out in the besieged enclave, the UN children's agency warned Sunday.

More than 1,750 children have already been killed by Israeli strikes launched against the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attacks, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry.

Hospitals face a dire lack of medicines, fuel and water not only for the thousands wounded in more than two weeks of the war between Gaza militants and Israel but also for routine patients.

"We have currently 120 neonates who are in incubators, out of which we have 70 neonates with mechanical ventilation, and of course this is where we are extremely concerned," said UNICEF spokesman Jonathan Crickx.

Power is one of the main worries for the seven specialist wards across Gaza treating premature babies to help with breathing and provide critical support, for example when their organs are not developed enough.

Israel ordered a complete blockade of the territory after the Hamas attack of October 7. 

Amid widespread electricity cuts, the World Health Organization warned on Thursday that hospitals had already run out of fuel for generators.

The WHO said that about 1,000 people needing dialysis will also be at risk if the generators stop.

Twenty aid trucks crossed from Egypt into Gaza on Saturday but there was no fuel in the consignment.

"If they (babies) are put in mechanical ventilation incubators, by definition, if you cut the electricity, we are worried about their lives," the UNICEF spokesman told AFP.

Gaza's health ministry said on Saturday that 130 premature babies were in danger of dying due to the lack of fuel.

Around 160 women give birth each day in Gaza, according to the UN Population Fund, which estimates there are 50,000 pregnant women across the territory of 2.4 million people.

Israeli settlers destroy 70 olive trees in occupied West Bank village of Yasouf

Israeli settlers have cut down 70 olive trees in the Palestinian village of Yasouf in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority's official Wafa news agency.

The head of the Yasouf Village Council, Saleh Yasin, told Wafa that dozens of Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Nahmia cut and damaged 70 olive trees, ranging in age from 50 to 70 years. These trees were owned by several residents of Yasouf, he added.

Lebanon: Israeli army says it attacked ‘squad’ that was ready to fire 

The Israeli army says it carried out a drone attack against a “terrorist squad” that was identified by its surveillance attempting to fire into the Zar’it community, close to its border with Lebanon, as reported by Al Jazeera.

It also said that the Israeli air force intercepted an unmanned aircraft that was approaching its territory from Lebanon.

Earlier, Israel said it had targeted another “squad” which had fired an anti-tank missile towards the disputed Shebaa Farms

Fire exchanges at the border have been intensifying in the past two weeks. Since October 7, at least seven Israeli soldiers and 19 Hezbollah fighters have been killed.

Israeli forces have 'killed at least 1,688 Palestinian children in Gaza and West Bank', say children's rights group

At least 1,661 Palestinian children have been killed as a result of the ongoing Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip since October 7, while  27 children in the West Bank were killed in the same period by the Israeli military, according to Defence for Children International.

That is an average of 120 children killed every day.

Defense for Children International also say that the number of dead in the Gaza Strip is not final, given there are a5ound 1,400 people missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings, which indicates that the likely number of child fatalities is higher. 

Israel says it has confirmed 212 people held hostage in Gaza

Israel has confirmed that 212 people are being held hostage in Gaza, the military spokesperson said on Sunday, adding that Israeli strikes overnight killed dozens of Palestinian fighters, including the deputy chief of Hamas rocket forces.

On the northern front, Israel has been attacking fighters trying to fire missiles in across the Lebanese border and struck a site in Lebanon from where a missile was fired at an Israeli aircraft, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a briefing.

Authorities in Gaza say 55 people were killed overnight by Israeli strikes. 

31 mosques in Gaza destroyed by Israeli attacks since October 7

The number of mosques destroyed in the Gaza Strip since October 7 has risen to 31, Gaza’s ministry of endowments said in a statement to Anadolu.

The ministry said that the number increased from 26 to 31 after recent Israeli attacks destroyed five more mosques in the territory.

Five Palestinians killed by Israeli military in West Bank

Israeli forces have killed five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank overnight, bringing the total number of deaths since October 7 to 90, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The killings took place in Jenin, Qabatiya, Tammun, and Nablus, the Wafa news agency said, adding that three of them were shot by Israeli forces and two others died as a result of an attack on a mosque.

Two workers killed in Israeli bombing of Syria's Damascus airport

At least two workers were killed on Sunday "as a result of Israeli bombardment targeting Syria's Damascus airport at dawn," Syria's general directorate of meteorology said in a statement.

The two workers who were killed were from the meteorology service and based at the airport, the agency said

At least 55  killed in overnight Israeli strikes on Gaza

Hamas says at least 55 people were killed in overnight raids on the Gaza Strip.

Its press office said more than 30 homes were destroyed in the hours after an Israeli military spokesperson said raids would be increased.

Medical sources told Reuters news agency that at least 50 Palestinians were killed in air raids overnight.