Here is the situation on Tuesday, October 24, 2023:
Latest developments
- The death toll in Gaza has officially crossed 5,000.
- Hamas released two elderly Israeli captives who are resting at a Tel Aviv hospital while their husbands are still being held in Gaza.
- One of Gaza’s remaining medical facilities, the Indonesian Hospital, shut down and plunged into darkness overnight. Although power was restored on Tuesday morning, it is unclear how long the fuel supply will last.
- In another deadly overnight attack, Israel has bombarded the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza’s north. With many still trapped under the rubble, the death toll is unclear.
- Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israel has attacked more than 400 targets, including mosques, over the past day. Hagari claimed that Israel had attacked Hamas’s “operational headquarters” and killed at least three of the group’s deputy commanders.
Human impact and fighting
- Israeli air raids through late night on Monday and pre-dawn Tuesday have killed at least 140 people across the Gaza Strip.
- Bombing in Khan Younis also injured 80, medical sources told WAFA, while air attacks also caused an explosion at a Khan Younis fuel station, killing at least 14 people.
- Israeli air strikes on Tel al-Hawa in Gaza killed Palestinian journalist Roshdi Sarraj, making him the 23rd journalist to be killed in the Israel-Gaza war.
- Captives being held in Gaza won’t stop Israel from launching a ground invasion, said Israel’s energy minister.
- Amid fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters at the Lebanon-Israel border, about 19,000 people in Lebanon have been internally displaced since October 8, according to the United Nations migration agency.
Escalation in the occupied West Bank
- A senior Hamas leader, Omar Daraghmeh, who was arrested in the occupied West Bank has died in custody. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have claimed it was an assassination, while protests are breaking out for him in Tubas and Ramallah.
- As night raids and arrests in the West Bank continue, another senior Hamas leader, Adnan Hamarsheh, was hauled into an Israeli vehicle from his home near Jenin.
- One Israeli soldier was injured in the raids, said the Israeli military.
Diplomacy
- French President Emmanuel Macron has landed in Tel Aviv. Earlier, he laid out his agenda for the visit – showing his solidarity with Israel and making clear his commitments against terrorist groups. Macron said he would also call for the creation of a Palestinian state and an end to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
- The United Nations General Assembly will convene a special emergency session on Thursday to address the “grave situation” in Palestine.
- In a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden said the flow of aid into Gaza needs to continue.
- China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, made phone calls to his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, stressing China’s position on finding a solution towards peace and reiterating the call to abide by international humanitarian law. Wang will also be visiting the US this week.
- Former US President, Barack Obama, posted a statement to the blog Medium, where he condemned Hamas, supported Israel’s right to defend itself, and warned that Israel’s siege on Gaza could “harden Palestinian attitudes for generations” to come.
