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Israel-Hamas war: Israeli troops encircle Gaza City — IDF
Published 9 hours agoPublished 9 hours agolast updated 2 hours agolast updated 2 hours ago
The Israeli military says its troops have “completed the encirclement of Gaza City” as they move ahead with a campaign to root out Hamas militants in Gaza. DW has the latest.
https://p.dw.com/p/4YLXg
Two Israeli soldiers and a tank involved in ground operations in Gaza
Israel says it has destroyed Hamas military installations and infrastructure in northern GazaImage: Israel Defense Forces via AP/ Photo/picture alliance
Skip next section What you need to know
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Israeli forces say they have “completed” encircling Gaza City
US Secretary of State Blinken to urge humanitarian “pauses” during Israel visit
Hundreds of people have left the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing
Skip next section UN seeks $1.2 billion in aid for Gaza and West Bank
2 hours ago2 hours ago
UN seeks $1.2 billion in aid for Gaza and West Bank
The United Nations has launched an emergency aid appeal to raise $1.2 billion (€1.1 billion) in aid for some 2.7 million people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
“The cost of meeting the needs of 2.7 million people — that is the entire population of Gaza and 500,000 people in the occupied West Bank — is estimated to be $1.2 billion,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
OCHA had previously called for $294 million in aid to help 1.3 million people in an appeal on October 12, adding that “the situation has grown increasingly desperate since then.”
The organization said its new appeal “will outline the need for food, water, health care, shelter, hygiene and other urgent priorities following the massive bombardments in the Gaza Strip.
“We urge donors to promptly make resources available for the response,” it added.
“Our ability to ease the suffering of the Palestinian population will depend on adequate funding; safe and sustained access to all people in need, wherever they are; sufficient flow of humanitarian supplies; and, importantly, fuel.”
Meanwhile, the UN rights office said the situation in the West Bank was “alarming and urgent,” amid violence between Israeli settlers and the Palestinian population.
“While much attention has been on the attacks inside Israel and the escalation of hostilities in Gaza since the 7th of October, the situation in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, is alarming and urgent,” said Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Life at a standstill in Gaza’s refugee camps
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Skip next section Israel sending Palestinian workers back to Gaza — reports
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Israel sending Palestinian workers back to Gaza — reports
Palestinians legally working in Israel at the time of the October 7 Hamas terror attacks were being sent back to Gaza, the Reuters and AFP news agencies reported Friday, citing journalists and a border official.
Reuters journalists reported that some workers from Gaza returned through the Kerem Shalom crossing situated east of the Rafah border crossing. Workers from the occupied West Bank were also sent to Gaza, according to witnesses cited by the news agency.
The reports come after the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was cutting contact with the Palestinian territory.
“Israel is severing all contact with Gaza. There will be no more Palestinian workers from Gaza. Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza,” the prime minister’s office posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
The UN expressed concern over Israel sending thousands of Palestinian workers back to Gaza.
The workers may not have homes to return to and face grave dangers from ongoing military clashes in the territory, said UN human rights office spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell.
“There are worrying reports that some are being sent back into Gaza, despite the gravity of the situation there,” Throssell said. “We don’t know exactly to where; it probably isn’t clear whether they have got even a home to go to; and it’s an incredibly difficult and dangerous situation.”
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Skip next section Thailand in talks with Iran as it pushes for release of hostages
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Thailand in talks with Iran as it pushes for release of hostages
Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara spoke with his Iranian counterpart over the fate of 23 Thai nationals held hostage by Hamas.
Parnpree traveled to Qatar and Egypt this week for talks on the hostages and met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Doha.
“I pointed out to them that Thais working there are low-income people, and work in the agricultural sector to boost their income,” Parnpree told reporters in Bangkok on Friday.
“I talked to the Iranian foreign minister and told him the Thais’ work is unrelated to politics and conflict. I asked him to send a message to the Hamas group that they are just laborers,” Parnpree said.
Hamas militants took at least 242 people hostage during the terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7. Fighters for the Islamist group also killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians, during its the attacks, including at least 32 Thai nationals..
The kingdom has evacuated more than 7,000 of its citizens on repatriation flights.
Thailand’s Labor Ministry said around 30,000 Thai nationals work in Israel, mainly in the agricultural sector.
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Skip next section Ireland’s PM says Israel’s actions akin to ‘something approaching revenge’
3 hours ago3 hours ago
Ireland’s PM says Israel’s actions akin to ‘something approaching revenge’
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday said that Israel’s actions in Gaza were “something approaching revenge” in comments made to local broadcaster RTE.
“I strongly believe, like any state, Israel has the right to defend itself, has the right to go after Hamas, so that they cannot do this again,” Varadkar said in comments broadcast by RTE.
“But what I’m seeing unfolding at the moment isn’t just self defense. It resembles something more approaching revenge,” Varadkar said, adding “that’s not where we should be.”
Varadkar’s comments are some of the strongest criticism of Israel by an EU leader.
Gaza’s health ministry in Gaza on Thursday said that more than 9,000 people had been killed in the besieged enclave since the war began.
The Hamas-run minister has not commented on how many Hamas fighters were among the dead.
Israel says 1,400 people, mostly citizens, were massacred during the terror attacks Hamas launched on October 7, and vowed to “destroy” the militant group.
Since then, Israel’s military said it has been bombarding Hamas targets in Gaza. Its forces have encircled Gaza City as it seeks to root out the Islamist group.
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Skip next section Hamas battalion commander ‘eliminated’ — Israeli military
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Hamas battalion commander ‘eliminated’ — Israeli military
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday said its forces “eliminated a Hamas battalion commander during overnight operations in Gaza.
In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, the IDF said it killed Mustafa Dalul, who “directed combat against IDF forces and held key positions in Hamas’ Gaza City Brigade.”
Israeli forces have been encircling Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian territory as they look to destroy Hamas.
The militant group is listed as a terrorist organization in the US, the EU and a number of other countries.
It launched a large-scale terror attack on southern Israel on October 7, during which Israel says over 1,400 people were killed.
Israeli ground troops and tanks around Gaza City have been engaged in close combat with Hamas militants.
Foreign press ban in Gaza stifles Israel-Hamas war coverage
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Skip next section UAE warns of ‘risk of regional spillover’
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UAE warns of ‘risk of regional spillover’
The United Arab Emirates on Friday warned that the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza threatened to impact the wider Middle East and that it was working to secure a humanitarian ceasefire, according to Reuters news agency.
“The risk of regional spillover and further escalation is real, as well as the risk that extremist groups will take advantage of the situation to advance ideologies that will keep us locked in cycles of violence,” Noura al-Kaabi, a minister of state for foreign affairs, said during a policy conference in Abu Dhabi.
The UAE has previously said the Hamas attacks on southern Israel were “a serious and grave escalation.”
The UAE is a signatory of the 2020 Abraham Accords which seek to normalize ties between Israel and Arab countries.
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Skip next section Hezbollah leader to break silence on war
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Hezbollah leader to break silence on war
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah, is expected to deliver a highly anticipated speech on Friday.
It would be Nasrallah’s first address since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7 following wide-scale terror attacks by Hamas militants in Israel that left over 1,400 dead.
Israel and Hezbollah have seen an uptick in clashes along the Lebanese-Israeli border in recent weeks, stoking fears that the Israel-Hamas war could grow into a wider regional conflict .
Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group, has expressed strong support for Hamas.
It is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries. The EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.
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Skip next section Israel to send back workers from Gaza
8 hours ago8 hours ago
Israel to send back workers from Gaza
The Israeli government says it plans to cut ties with Gaza and send Gazans working in Israel back to the Palestinian territory.
“Israel is severing all contact with Gaza. There will be no more Palestinian workers from Gaza,” the Israeli security cabinet announced in a statement.
“Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza,” it added.
It was not immediately clear how many people would be affected by the move. Before the Israel-Hamas conflict started, Israel had issued work permits to around 18,500 people from Gaza, according to the Israeli body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs.
Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules Gaza, carried out an unprecedented terror attack on Israel on October 7. In response, Israel has launched airstrikes and a ground offensive in the coastal enclave.
Israel’s government said the security cabinet had also decided to deduct funds from the Palestinian Authority that were designated for the Gaza Strip.
Although Hamas seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, the PA has continued to pay tens of thousands of civil servants in the territory.
The PA is estimated to spend some 30% of its budget in Gaza, where it also provides funds for medicine and social assistance programs.
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Skip next section Israeli forces complete ‘encirclement of Gaza City,’ IDF says
9 hours ago9 hours ago
Israeli forces complete ‘encirclement of Gaza City,’ IDF says
Israel’s military says its troops have pushed further into northern Gaza and “completed the encirclement of Gaza City.”
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari added that the army had destroyed Hamas military installations and infrastructure as it advanced on Gaza City from several directions.
The city has become the focus of Israel’s campaign to stamp out the Hamas militant Islamist group, which rules Gaza.
It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of civilians remain in the north of the besieged territory. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas forces and military assets are embedded in civilian infrastructure.
Hagari stressed that Israel’s war was solely against the militants.
“I want to make something very clear,” he said. “Israel is at war with Hamas. Israel is not at war with the civilians in Gaza.”
Hamas carried out terror attacks against Israeli communities on October 7, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 230 hostages.
Israel has since carried out airstrikes and expanded its ground operations in Gaza.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said the death toll in the enclave had passed 9,000.
The UN has warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and called for a cease-fire to allow aid to reach civilians.
Israel, Germany, the EU, US and others, have designated Hamas a terrorist organization.
German Vice-Chancellor: ‘This special relationship to Israel rests on our historical responsibility’
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Skip next section Blinken to urge humanitarian ‘pauses’ during Israel talks
10 hours ago10 hours ago
Blinken to urge humanitarian ‘pauses’ during Israel talks
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says his talks with Israeli leaders on Friday will include “concrete steps that can and should be taken minimize harm” to civilians in Gaza.
“When I see a Palestinian child … pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building, that hits me in the gut as much as seeing a child in Israel or anywhere else,” Blinken said.
“This is something that we have an obligation to respond to, and we will.”
It is Blinken’s second trip to the Middle East since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7.
Israel has responded with a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which international aid organizations say is unleashing a humanitarian crisis.
The US has promised its full support to Israel, while at the same time calling for humanitarian “pauses” to let through aid and allow evacuations.
“What we’re trying to do is explore the idea of as many pauses as might be necessary to continue to get aid out and to continue to work to get people out safely, including hostages,” national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
‘Humanitarian pause’ would allow aid to get into Gaza
26:06
The calls for pauses, however, differ from that of an overall cease-fire, which the US continues to oppose, saying it would only allow Hamas time to strengthen and regroup.
On Saturday, Blinken is expected to meet with officials in Jordan. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi will “stress” to Blinken the “need to move immediately to stop the Israeli war on Gaza.”
