As the Israel-Hamas war escalates, India today sent humanitarian aid to Palestine. An IAF C-17 flight carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine departed for El-Arish airport in Egypt, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
"The material includes essential life-saving medicines, surgical items, tents, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, sanitary utilities, water purification tablets among other necessary items," the MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
🇮🇳 sends Humanitarian aid to the people of 🇵🇸!
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) October 22, 2023
An IAF C-17 flight carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine departs for El-Arish airport in Egypt.
The material includes essential life-saving medicines,… pic.twitter.com/28XI6992Ph
Earlier today, Israel warned it would "increase" its attacks in Gaza's north and called on Gazans to move south out of harm's way.
"For your own safety move southward. We will continue to attack in the area of Gaza City and increase attacks," Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a briefing to Israeli reporters.
Israel started its "total siege" of Gaza after an October 7 cross-border attack on its cities by Hamas members, who killed 1,400 people.
Gaza's Health Ministry has said that Israel's air and missile strikes had killed at least 4,385 Palestinians, including hundreds of children.
Here are the live updates on the Israel-Hamas war:
An Israeli soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile on Sunday during a raid into the Hamas-controlled 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.
Israel has set up hundreds of volunteer security squads in the two weeks since the Gaza war erupted and is arming them should there be knock-on Jewish-Arab unrest, authorities said on Sunday, despite what police said was "exemplary" conduct so far.
The last Gaza war in 2021 saw sometimes violent pro-Palestinian protests among the Arab citizens who make up 21% of Israel's population.
Triggered by a devastating Oct. 7 mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen, the current war - and escalations of hostilities on the Lebanese border and in the occupied West Bank - have stirred worries for Israel's already frayed internal ethnic relations.
Scores of people rushed to Deir el-Balah hospital to identify bodies on Sunday after Israel stepped up its air strikes on Gaza, as the territory's Hamas rulers said 4,651 people have now been killed since the start of the war.
Authorities said Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, had suffered most from one of the most intense nights of shelling since Israel started its bombardment in response to Hamas' cross-border attacks on October 7.
More than 260 people died in 24 hours, according to the health ministry toll, which said 1,873 of those killed in the past fortnight were children.
Israeli military said on Sunday that one of its tanks accidentally hit an Egyptian position near the border with the Gaza Strip.
"The incident is being investigated and the details are under review. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) expresses sorrow regarding the incident," it said in a statement, giving no further details.
China believes "force is not a way to resolve" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is once again calling for a ceasefire, its envoy for the Middle East pleaded in Egypt, the foreign ministry said Sunday.
Beijing's envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, met Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit on the sidelines of the summit.
The widely unpopular Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is facing growing anger on the streets of the occupied West Bank as Israel wages its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The 88-year-old leader is seen as out of touch with the increasing desperation of the Palestinian people and Israel's furious response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas has only exacerbated their discontent.
A 17-truck aid convoy entered Gaza from Egypt on Sunday as Israel intensified strikes on the Palestinian enclave facing a "catastrophic" humanitarian situation in the war sparked by Hamas's bloody attack.
A special flight carrying 143 persons, including two Nepalese citizens and four infants, wanting to leave Israel amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict, left for India on Sunday as part of 'Operation Ajay'.
The flight is carrying 143 persons, including two Nepalese citizens and four infants, informed sources told PTI.
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.
Hezbollah's escalating attacks on Israel risk "dragging Lebanon into a war", Israel's military said Sunday, after renewed cross-border exchanges of fire that have raised fears of a wider conflict.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is allied with Hamas, which touched off the latest violence with a bloody October 7 rampage in Israel that killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has retaliated with relentless strikes on the Iran-backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip that have killed more than 4,300 Palestinians, also mainly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
GAZZE'YE YARDIM İÇİN UÇAĞIMIZ HAVALANDI. Cumhurbaşkanlığımıza ait, ilaç ve tıbbı malzeme ile dolu, 20 uzman hekimin bulunduğu uçak Ankara'dan Mısır'a hareket etmiş durumda. pic.twitter.com/UDUlzBm4op
- Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) October 22, 2023
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is set to worsen as Israel gears up to intensify airstrikes to prepare the ground for an all-out ground offensive. Hamas' attack on Israel and the retaliation has claimed nearly 5,800 lives so far, UN estimates say.
Palestinians said they had received renewed warnings from Israel's military to move from north Gaza to the south of the strip, with the added warning that they could be identified as sympathisers with a "terrorist organisation" if they stayed put.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it a "false propaganda" a claim by Hamas that the group wanted to release two more hostages on humanitarian grounds but that Israel declined to receive them.
Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, said it informed Qatar of the group's intention to release the two additional people on Friday. In a later statement, Abu Ubaida said Hamas was ready to free the two people on Sunday "using the same procedures" involved in the release of two American hostages.
In a brief statement, Mr Netanyahu's office said: "We will not refer to false propaganda by Hamas."
"We will continue to act in every way to return all the kidnapped and missing people home," the statement added.
Iran, a longtime backer of Gaza's rulers Hamas, finds itself in a quandary as it tries to manage the spiralling crisis.
In powerful remarks on the ongoing war in Gaza, a Saudi Arabia prince, who was the country's former intelligence chief, has slammed both Hamas and Israel and said there are "no heroes in this conflict, only victims"
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is "catastrophic," five United Nations agencies said on Saturday, calling for more international help as conditions deteriorate in the densely populated coastal enclave.
🇮🇳 sends Humanitarian aid to the people of 🇵🇸!
- Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) October 22, 2023
An IAF C-17 flight carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine departs for El-Arish airport in Egypt.
The material includes essential life-saving medicines,... pic.twitter.com/28XI6992Ph
Inbar Haiman was kidnapped earlier this month when the Hamas group launched a three-pronged attack on Israel through land, sea and air.
The Israeli military said those targeted had already carried out "several terror attacks over the last months, and were organising an additional imminent terror attack".The IDF & ISA just conducted an aerial strike on a Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist compound in the Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin.
- Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 22, 2023
Recent IDF intel revealed that the Mosque was used as a command center to plan and execute terrorist attacks against civilians. pic.twitter.com/gQfyv6wUAV
At least 11 Palestinians were killed today after Israel attacked Gaza with air strikes.