Israel-Hamas war live: 33 aid trucks enter Gaza as strikes continue; Israeli forces hit targets in Syria and Lebanon
Israeli forces have struck targets in Syria and Lebanon, in response to launches from those areas into Israel, the country’s defence force has said. In separate tweets, the IDF said an aircraft had attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanese territory, including “infrastructures for directing terrorism and military infrastructures of the organisation”, and that a fighter jet had attacked launchers in Syrian territory.
Another 33 aid trucks were allowed to pass into Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, according to a spokesperson at the Rafah crossing. It is the largest number of aid trucks to cross in a day since the conflict began, but humanitarian workers have told the Associated Press that the assistance still falls desperately short of what’s needed
International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan said that the ICC has “active investigations ongoing” into alleged war crimes in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. The prosecutor added: “There should not be any impediment to humanitarian relief supplies going to … civilians.”
Local health authorities said about 20 people were injured, including two critically, after crowds stormed an airport in Dagestan, in search of Jewish passengers from Israel.
Jordan has asked the US to deploy Patriot air defense systems to bolder its border defense amid increased regional tensions, Reuters reports a Jordanian army spokesperson saying on Sunday. “We asked the American side to help bolster our defence system with Patriot air defence missile systems,” Brigadier General Mustafa Hiyari, Jordan’s army spokesperson, told state television.
Israel has summoned the Russian ambassador to lodge a protest at Moscow’s hosting last week of a delegation from Hamas following its 7 October attacks against Israel. Inviting Hamas “sends a message legitimising terrorism against Israelis”, Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement, quoting its senior staff as telling ambassador Anatoly Viktorov, Reuters reports.
Russian authorities closed an airport in the city of Makhachkala in the northern Caucasus region and diverted flights, including one from Israel, after media reports showed demonstrators denouncing Israeli actions in Gaza had gathered at the facility, Reuters reports. The authorities said the airport would remain closed pending “normalisation” of the situation. Russia’s Investigative Committee ordered a criminal probe into the incident, Reuters added.
Joe Biden spoke by phone with Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning, the White House said. “The president reiterated that Israel has every right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism and underscored the need to do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritizes the protection of civilians,” the White House said in a press statement.
Joe Biden also spoke with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the White House said. “President Biden and President Sisi affirmed their commitment to work together to set the conditions for a durable and sustainable peace in the Middle East to include the establishment of a Palestinian state,” it said.
Thousands of Gaza residents broke into UN warehouses on Sunday, grabbing flour and other essential items in a sign they had reached “breaking point”, said the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Reuters reports. “This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza,” UNRWA said in a statement.
“We are going to move a standalone Israeli funding bill,” the US’s new House speaker Mike Johnson said in an interview on Fox News. In a response to a question on separating Israeli aid from Ukrainian aid, Johnson said: “Our Republican colleagues in the Senate have a similar measure. We believe that that is a pressing and urgent need.”
Médecins Sans Frontières has sent 26 tons of medical supplies on a World Health Organization plane to Egypt. “The medical supplies can cover the needs for 800 surgical interventions and are destined for healthcare facilities in Gaza in collaboration with the local health authorities,” MSF said.
The number of children killed in Gaza in last three weeks surpassed annual number of children killed in war zones since 2019, Save the Children said on Sunday. “With a further 1,000 children reported missing in Gaza assumed buried under the rubble, the death toll is likely much higher,” it added.
Faculty from New York City’s Columbia University and Barnard College have signed an open letter in support of their students expressing solidarity with Palestine, noting that such expressions of solidarity and the historical contextualization of the ongoing war is not antisemitic. “One could regard the events of October 7th as just one salvo in an ongoing war between an occupying state and the people it occupies, or as an occupied people exercising a right to resist violent and illegal occupation,” the letter said.