In the ongoing war between the Palestinian group Hamas and the Israeli government, ground fighting broke out inside the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, with Israeli tanks spotted outside the region's biggest city.
Israel's intensifying land and air campaign since Hamas's October 7 attacks has heightened fears for the 2.4 million civilians trapped inside besieged Gaza.
Israeli attacks on Gaza have resulted in at least 8,306 fatalities since October 7 including 3,457 children, 2,136 women, and 480 seniors, as per Al Jazeera.
Palestinian Health Ministry reported that at least 21,048 people have been injured with 1,950 people missing, including 1,050 children.
On Monday, 93 people were killed in Khan Younis today.
Al-Quds Hospital continues to receive constant warnings from the Israeli army to evacuate.
Water scarcity has led to widespread outbreaks of waterborne diseases and skin ailments.
Dozens of Israeli tanks rolled into the fringes of Gaza City, eyewitnesses said, after a night of heavy clashes in nearby areas where the army said it had killed dozens of "terrorists" and Hamas also reported fierce fighting.
The Israeli land forces are supported by heavy fire from fighter jets, drones and artillery that the army said had struck more than 600 targets within 24 hours, up sharply from 450 a day earlier.
Concern has surged about the widening humanitarian disaster, with fears centred on Gaza hospitals inside Israeli-mandated evacuation zones where medics warn that many patients cannot be moved.
The army said troops overnight "killed dozens of terrorists who barricaded themselves in buildings and tunnels and attempted to attack" while an aircraft struck a building "with over 20 Hamas terrorist operatives inside".
Columns of Israeli tanks and armoured bulldozers were seen churning through the sand, and Israeli snipers took positions inside emptied residential buildings, in footage released by the army.
Israeli tanks were later spotted on the edges of Gaza City, usually the most densely populated urban area but now emptied of many residents following repeated Israeli evacuation orders.
A witness told AFP the Israeli tanks blocked the strip's major north-south road and had been "firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it".
AFP journalists are not inside Gaza City, following Israeli warnings that the territory's northern areas must be considered a war zone.
"Dozens" of tanks entered the Zaytun district in south of the Palestinian territory´s main city, cutting a key road from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip for more than an hour, witnesses told AFP journalists in southern Gaza by phone.
"They have cut the Salahedin road and are firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it," said one resident who did not want to be identified.
As Washington attempts to ensure the safe passage of American residents in Gaza who wish to leave and secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, the State Department said on Monday that Hamas is making a number of requests before it will allow people to leave Gaza, as per a report by Reuters.
"Hamas is making a number of demands before they'll allow people to leave Gaza ... Just as we believe they ought to release all hostages they are holding, we believe they ought to ... let leave all the American citizens and other foreign nationals who are being basically forced to remain in Gaza against their will because Hamas won't uphold its responsibility to operate its side of the Rafah crossing," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
Echoing former US President George W Bush’s “axis of evil” speech in 2002, Netanyahu asked if “the civilised world [is] ready to fight the barbarians,” in an indirect reference to Hamas, and allies who want to “usher in a world of fear and darkness”.
“It’s time for us to decide if we are willing to fight for a future of hope and promise or surrender to tyranny and terror,” Netanyahu said in a briefing to the media in Tel Aviv.
“They are part of an axis of evil that Iran has formed, an axis of terror,” he said, adding that they are “the enemies of civilisation”.
Any demands for a ceasefire or an end to hostilities with Hamas have been met with rejection by Netanyahu, Al Jazeera reported.
Israel has increased its airstrikes on Gaza City's eastern al-Shujaiya neighbourhood, according to Wael Dahdouh of Al Jazeera.
"The strikes are the most violent the neighbourhoods have witnessed since early this morning and they are consistent,” he said.
“Al-Shujaiya was nearly totally destroyed in the 2014 war but there was resistance and it was later rebuilt. Now it is being destroyed again,” Dahdouh added.
At the time, the Israeli force brutally and persistently attacked al-Shujaiya, one of Gaza's most impoverished and populous districts, killing at least 60 Palestinians in a single episode.
If the war between Israel and Hamas spreads throughout the Middle East, it may cause price shocks for basic goods like oil and agricultural products, the World Bank said in a report released on Monday.
Oil has already risen six percent since the latest round of fighting, sparked when Hamas from Gaza stormed southern Israel and killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seized nearly 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has responded with an unrelenting bombardment of Gaza, which the Hamas-run health ministry says has killed more than 8,000 people, nearly half of them children.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas comes as Russia's war in Ukraine has already put pressure on markets, with that war being "the biggest shock to commodity markets since the 1970s," warned World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill.
"That had disruptive effects on the global economy that persist to this day," Gill said in a statement.
"Policymakers will need to be vigilant. If the conflict were to escalate, the global economy would face a dual energy shock for the first time in decades" from both the war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East, he said.
Israel frees soldier from Hamas in ground operation
According to a military announcement, an Israeli soldier who was being held in Gaza has been released by the Israeli army, as reported by Reuters.
"Militants in southern Lebanon targeted 31 Israeli bases with missiles", claims Hezbollah.
26 trucks of aid goods entered Gaza from Rafah Crossing, as per US media.
Canada calls for a humanitarian pause in Gaza. 400 Canadian citizens are trapped in Gaza, as per Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly.
"Time is running out, there should be an agreement to evacuate foreigners, hostages from Gaza," said the Canadian Foreign Minister.
"There should also be an agreement to allow food, water and fuel into Gaza", he added.
According to the UN organisation, at least 672,000 people are taking refuge in 149 UNRWA facilities located throughout the Gaza Strip, and their living circumstances are getting worse.
Israel's Ministry of Intelligence released a covert ten-page paper detailing the Palestinian population's exodus from Gaza to northern Sinai, Egypt, one week following the Hamas attack:
1. Instruct Palestinian civilians to vacate north Gaza ahead of land operations;
2. Sequential land operations from north to south Gaza;
3. Routes across Rafah to be left clear;
4. Establish tent cities in northern Sinai and construct cities to resettle Palestinians in Egypt
It appears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza may be the bloodiest single incident to affect journalists in recent memory.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that in the twenty-three days after Hamas launched its initial strikes in Israel, at least 29 journalists have perished: 24 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 1 Lebanese. (An extra nine are reportedly missing or in custody at this time.)
To put that figure in perspective, 57 journalists and media professionals lost their lives globally in 2022. The amount in Gaza is more than halfway there in less than a month, on and around a single piece of land about the size of Denver, Colorado.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned a video released on Monday by Hamas that shows three of the hostages seized by the Islamist movement on Oct. 7.
He called the video as "cruel psychological propaganda".
The video shows three woman - identified by Netanyahu as Yelena Trupanob, Danielle Aloni and Rimon Kirsht - sitting side by side against a bare wall, with Aloni addressing an angry message to the prime minister.
Accusing Netanyahu of failing to protect Israeli citizens during the deadly Hamas attack and failing to get them back home, she called for an agreement to secure their release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Russian police on Monday said they had arrested 60 people suspected of storming an airport in the Muslim-majority Caucasus Republic of Dagestan, seeking to attack Jewish passengers coming from Israel.
Dozens of protesters, many of them chanting "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest), broke through doors and barriers at Makhachkala airport on Sunday, with some charging onto the runway.
Nine police officers were injured while trying to restore order and two of them were admitted to hospital, the interior ministry said.
The violence prompted Israel to call on Russia to protect its citizens, while the United States condemned the "anti-Semitic protests".
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 indicated that a Red Wings flight out of Tel Aviv had landed at Makhachkala at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Sunday.
The independent Russian media outlet Sota said it was a transiting flight that had been due to take off again for Moscow two hours later.
The governor of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, promised that those responsible would be punished, and the republic's interior ministry said later that 60 people had been arrested.
"More than 150 active participants in the unrest have been identified, 60 of them have been arrested," the ministry said in a statement early Monday.
A prominent Russian rabbi called on the Kremlin on Monday to make sure that rioters in the largely Muslim Dagestan region, who broke into an airport in an attempt to "catch" Jewish passengers travelling from Tel Aviv, were dealt with severely.
Sultanate of Oman closes its airspace to Israeli flights, as per an Israeli newspaper.
"In 24 hours, Palestinian resistance fighters destroyed 3 tanks and 3 armored vehicles of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip," said Hamas leader.
Lebanese media said that on Monday, a delegation from Hamas met with Abbas Ibrahim, the head of intelligence in Lebanon.
The intelligence chief reportedly received information regarding the Gaza Strip situation from Hamas representatives. Hamas made sure in the meeting that they were ready to repel the Israeli ground attack.
Palestinians in Gaza City claim that they have received phone threats from the Israeli army ordering them to leave since there are no safe escape routes and that bombardment is still ongoing.
On Monday, Hamas unveiled a video purporting to include three Israeli women among the minimum of 239 individuals that Israel claims were kidnapped and taken to Gaza following the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
Verifying the identities of the ladies in the 76-second video, where one of them demands that Israel reach an agreement for the release of all prisoners, was not immediately possible. The women were described as "Zionist detainees" by Hamas.
"Benjamin Netanyahu Hello, we have been in Hamas captivity for 23 days... Yesterday there was a press conference for the families of the prisoners, and we know that there was supposed to be a ceasefire, and you were supposed to release us, you should have released us," the Israeli woman said in the video.
"However, we are suffering from your political, security and military failure, because of the “failure” that you caused on the 7th of October because no soldier was in the place, no one came to us, and no one here defended us, and we are innocent and naive citizens, citizens who pay taxes to a state."
"Israel, we are now in captivity under “no conditions” conditions. You are killing us. Do you want to kill us all? You want the army to kill us. Isn’t it enough that you slaughtered everyone? Isn’t it enough for you that there were Israeli citizens killed? Release us now. Release their citizens and prisoners now (meaning the Palestinians). Release us. Release Everyone, we deserve to go back to our families, now now now (shout out loud)," she added.
The mother of Shani Louk, a German citizen believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas, says she has received information from the Israeli military that her daughter is dead, DW reported.
"Unfortunately, we received the news yesterday that my daughter is no longer alive," Ricarda Louk told German broadcaster RTL/ntv.
Her sister Adi also confirmed the death of Shani in a post on Instagram.
"It is with great sadness that we announce the death of my sister, Shani Nicole Z.L. [may her memory be a blessing], who was on October 7, 2023, at the party massacre in Re'im."
However, there has been no official confirmation from the German Foreign Ministry.
Following the October 7 attacks on southern Israel, images and videos circulated on the internet showed a young woman, believed to be Shani, face down in a pick-up truck being driven by Hamas.
While it was unclear if she was still alive in the video, her family said they had learned she had suffered serious injuries and was being treated in a Gaza Strip hospital.
Rocket alert sirens blared Monday in Jerusalem and several blasts were heard from within the city, AFP correspondents said, amid the war raging with Hamas in Gaza.
The sirens sounded at around 2:29 pm (12:29 GMT) and were followed by at least five blasts, as the war in Gaza raged for the 24th day since the October 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel.
In her most recent speech, former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton followed Barack Obama in endorsing Israel.
“People who are calling for a ceasefire now do not understand Hamas, that is not possible,” Clinton remarked at a public talk.
“It would be such a gift to Hamas because they would spend whatever time there was a ceasefire in effect rebuilding armaments, creating stronger positions to be able to fend off an eventual assault by the Israelis,” she added.
Earlier today, the head of the Hamas government office in Gaza stated that the Israeli tanks that were moving towards the boundaries of Gaza City have now withdrawn.
The Israeli tanks approaching the outskirts of Gaza City have now retreated, according to the head of the Hamas government office in Gaza.
“There’s absolutely no ground advance inside the residential neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip. What happened on Salah al-Din Street was the incursion of a few occupation army tanks and a bulldozer,” Salama Maarouf said in a statement, Al Jazeera reported.
“These vehicles targeted two civilian cars on Salah al-Din Street and bulldozed the street before the resistance forced them to retreat."
"There is currently no presence of occupation army vehicles on Salah al-Din Road, and citizen movement has returned to normal on the road.”
The main north-south highway across downtown Gaza, which the Israeli military had previously ordered Palestinians to use as an escape route from the intensifying ground offensive, was blocked by an Israeli tank and bulldozer, as seen in a social media video.
An automobile was captured on camera approaching an earth barrier across the road. The vehicle stops and goes into reverse.
As it turns away, the Israeli tank opens fire, causing an explosion that utterly destroys the vehicle. Three Palestinians were killed in the incident, according to a later announcement from the Gaza Health Ministry.
It is now more than three weeks since Hamas gunmen launched a wave of bloody cross-border raids against homes, communities, farms and security posts in Israel that shocked and infuriated the nation.
An estimated 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 239 people were taken hostage, according to the latest Israeli tallies.
Israel has vowed to free the hostages, track down those responsible and "eradicate" Hamas which has governed Gaza since 2007.
After weeks of ferocious air strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a new "stage" in a "long and difficult" war.
Israel has for weeks warned Palestinian civilians to flee the northern half of the Gaza Strip, while also cutting off normal supplies of water, food, fuel and other essentials to the long-blockaded territory.
The United Nations reported Sunday that civil order was starting to break down after "thousands of people" had ransacked its warehouses looking for tinned food, flour, oil and hygiene supplies.
According to the UN, all 10 hospitals in northern Gaza have received evacuation orders — despite sheltering thousands of patients and about 117,000 of the displaced.
Among those being treated are intensive care patients, infants and elderly people on life support systems.
The head of the World Health Organisation said calls to evacuate Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City were "deeply concerning".
"We reiterate — it's impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
Mohamed al-Talmas, who has taken shelter in Gaza's biggest hospital Al-Shifa, said "the ground shook" there with intense Israeli raids.
Israel describes Al-Shifa hospital as a de facto Hamas "command centre" and headquarters.
UN Chief Antonio Guterres has warned the situation was getting "more desperate by the hour" and warned against the "collective punishment" of Palestinians.
US President Joe Biden stressed in a call with Netanyahu that, while Israel has the right to defend itself, it must do so "in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritises the protection of civilians".
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron earlier "stressed the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support" into Gaza.
And the International Criminal Court lead prosecutor Karim Khan warned Israel on Sunday that preventing access to humanitarian aid could be a "crime".
Limited aid has entered Gaza from Egypt under a US-brokered deal, but its volume has fallen far short of the hundreds of trucks a day aid agencies say are needed.
The UN reported that 33 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies had entered Gaza on Sunday — bringing to 117 the total that have entered through the Rafah crossing since the resumption of aid on October 21.
With increasingly fierce urban war now feared in Gaza, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari again urged Palestinian civilians to go "to a safer area" in the south, where many families now live in cars, tents or in the open.
"We are gradually expanding the ground activity and the scope of our forces in the Gaza Strip," he said.
Inside Israel, where shocked residents still face daily rocket attacks, much of the focus is on the hostages abducted by Hamas.
Hamas has released four and offered to free more as part of a swap for Palestinians detained in Israel.
It has also claimed "almost 50" hostages were killed by Israeli strikes — a claim that was impossible to verify but has caused anguish to those praying for their loved ones to return.
"We demanded that no action be taken that endangers the fate of our family members," said Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mother of hostage Romi Gonen.
Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant accused Hamas of playing "psychological games" and charged that "Hamas is cynically using those who are dear to us — they understand the pain and the pressure".
Anti-Israel anger has flared across the tense region.
Washington has expressed deep concern about the war spilling over, as Israel's enemies — in particular Iran-allied "axis of resistance" groups — step up actions across the Middle East.
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi has warned Israel's "crimes have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action".
The Israeli army said Monday it had "struck military infrastructure in Syrian territory" in response to launches "toward Israeli territory".
Skirmishes have intensified on the Israeli-Lebanese border with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Israel's military said Monday that 31-year-old sergeant Yinon Fleishman, a reservist, was killed in northern Israel when his tank overturned.
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