Alert – Israel-Hamas war LIVE: Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza City is bombed for second day in a row, terror group says – as IDF announces 13th soldier has been killed in ground assault

A British teacher was turned away at the Rafah border crossing into Egypt as her mother in the UK told of her daughter’s ‘limited’ food and water supplies.

Zaynab Wandawi, 29, of Salford, Greater Manchester, travelled to Gaza at the beginning of October with her husband, who is British Palestinian, and his relatives for a family member’s wedding before the Israel-Hamas war erupted.

On Wednesday the Foreign Office said the Rafah crossing will be open for ‘controlled and time-limited periods’ to allow specific groups of foreign nationals and the seriously injured to leave Gaza.

But Ms Wandawi’s mother, Lalah Ali-Faten, 52, from Prestwich, north Manchester, told the PA news agency when the couple arrived at the border they were told their names were not on a list of people permitted to leave.

Ms Ali-Faten, who has been communicating with Ms Wandawi’s husband for updates, said her daughter is ‘putting on a brave face’ but added that their food supply is ‘limited’, their drinking water is ‘depleted’ and they are ‘washing in sea water’.

France said Wednesday that it was ‘deeply concerned’ about Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip’s largest refugee camp, calling for a humanitarian pause to allow aid through.

Israeli strikes have targeted the Jabalia refugee camp twice in two days, killing and wounding dozens, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.

Israel said the strikes killed two Hamas commanders.

‘France is deeply concerned about the very heavy toll on the Palestinian civilian population from the Israeli strikes against the Jabalia camp, and expresses its compassion for the victims,’ the government said in a press release.

Paris reiterated a call for ‘an immediate humanitarian truce so that aid can reach those who need it in a sustainable, safe and adequate way’.

Israel has relentlessly pounded Gaza in retribution for the worst attack in the country’s history.

Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 230 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel’s retaliatory bombing campaign has killed 8,796 people, mainly women and children, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.

The IDF said Muhammad A’sar was responsible for all of Hamas’ anti-tank missile units throughout Gaza.

‘Under his command, numerous anti-tank missile attacks were carried out against civilians and IDF soldiers,’ they added.

The IDF said he was killed using a fighter jet. They released footage of the strike.

Anti-tank weapons are designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles.

A photo of a man in Northern Ireland who appeared to dress as a Hamas terrorist for Halloween has sparked outrage.

Hamas, a proscribed terror organisation in the UK since 2001, launched barbaric attacks on Israelis on October 7, killing men, women and babies.

Police Service of Northern Ireland is probing the photo, Belfast Live reports.

‘We are aware of an image posted on social media, and we are working to establish if this is genuine and, if so, when this person was pictured,’ said Chief Superintendent Nigel Goddard.

‘No officer who was on duty in the city centre this week observed this person,” he added.

‘We understand fully the offence this will cause, and how inappropriate this image is, given the events in the Middle East right now. This may also constitute a criminal offence under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act.

‘From the image we have right now, this will clearly be extremely difficult to identify the person pictured.’

‘Given the high number of civilian casualties and the scale of destruction following Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes,’ a statement from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.

Israel said the strike targeted and killed a senior Hamas leader named Ibrahim Biari – who they say was one of the commanders responsible for organising the 7 October attacks.

But the Hamas-run Gaza health authority said that more than 50 were killed and 150 more injured.

Hamas said the camp was bombed for a second day running today.

• Senior Hamas official yesterday called for the ‘annihilation’ of Israel and promised to repeat the horrific attacks of October 7 ‘again and again’.
• Hamas’s former Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad said: ‘Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country.’
• Hamad, 59, continued: ‘The occupation must come to an end… I am talking about all the Palestinian lands’
• British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly condemned the comments, tweeting: ‘How can there be peace when Hamas are committed to the eradication of Israel?’

OCTOBER 31

NOVEMBER 1

A Downing Street spokesperson, in a readout issued after the meeting between Rishi Sunak and US Vice President Kamala Harris, said: “The Prime Minister reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself against terror as well as the need to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza and to free hostages taken by Hamas.

“Both agreed that the UK and US were aligned in these efforts and would continue to work with partners in the region to ensure stability.”

• A 32-year-old man has been arrested in connection with several incidents of live rodents being thrown into McDonald’s restaurants in Birmingham.
• West Midlands Police said it still wanted to speak to a second man, Billal Hussain, 30, over the incidents which occurred in Birmingham on Monday and Tuesday, in what appear to be protests related to the conflict in Gaza.
• A video posted on social media on Monday showed customers at a McDonald’s restaurant jumping in shock as mice dyed in the colours of the Palestinian flag scurried near their feet.
• The rodents were released at McDonald’s restaurants in Regina Drive, Perry Barr, at around 1.30pm on Tuesday, and off Watson Road, Nechells, at around 5.30pm on Monday.
• A third incident which occurred just before 9pm on Tuesday in Coventry Road, Small Heath, is also being investigated but may be unconnected, West Midlands Police said.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called Wednesday’s crossing “a hugely important first step”.

“We are working with Egyptian and Israeli authorities to ensure the crossing stays open so all British nationals can get to safety in the coming days,” he tweeted.

Britain said it had officials on the ground assisting people and would be providing transport to a reception centre in Cairo where they would be offered food and water as well as access to communications to speak with their families.

Those teams will also help arrange onward travel via commercial flights, including supporting people with emergency travel documents, it added.

The Pope said that a two-state solution is needed with agreed border and special status for Jerusalem.

‘(Those are) Two peoples who have to live together. With that wise solution, two states. The Oslo accords, two well defined states and Jerusalem with a special status,’ Pope Francis said in an interview with Italy’s RAI broadcaster.

• Shocking video shows subway carriage chanting ‘F*** the Jews, long live Palestine, we are Nazis and proud’ on Paris metro
• Comes amid a surge in anti-Semtism in France following Israel-Hamas war
• The group alternate, repeating the lines ‘f*** the Jews and f*** your mother, ‘Long live Palestine, yeah yeah and ‘F*** the Jews and the grandmothers.’

The first British nationals have left Gaza via the Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt, the Foreign Office said.

Officials said the crossing will be open for “controlled and time-limited periods” to allow specific groups of foreign nationals and the seriously injured to leave Gaza.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “We will continue working with partners to ensure the crossing is opened again, allowing vital aid into Gaza and more British nationals to leave safely.

“We are regularly updating all British nationals registered us.

“The crossing will be open for controlled and time-limited periods to allow specific groups of foreign nationals and the seriously wounded to leave.

“We have agreed a list of British nationals that want to leave Gaza with Egyptian and Israeli authorities. We will be informed in advance when those on the list can use the crossing to ensure we can provide assistance.”

Counter-terrorism police are examining more than 200 pieces of ‘toxic’ material posted online amid the renewed conflict in Gaza.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told The News Agents Podcast around 250 cases were sifted from about 2,000 referrals made to police.

He said: ‘Some of the really toxic, concerning online material that is potentially breaching terrorism offences, they’re approaching 2,000 referrals which they’ve sifted and it’s around 250 that potentially cross terrorism boundaries and are requiring further investigation.

‘So you can see the caseload is building. We have to be extra tuned to the prospect that some of those extremists will be provoked into action.’

During the interview, Sir Mark also called for the public to come together regardless of differing opinions to keep tension down.

The Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police have both faced criticism after officers were seen taking down posters of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas.

But Sir Mark said that the backlash does not help officers who are trying to keep the peace.

He told the podcast: ‘Those officers that get this public attention because they’re sensibly taking a Palestinian flag from a Jewish memorial or taking some of those Jewish appeal posters off a shop which is linked to people who are pro Palestinian, those officers are going out doing practical things to try and reduce tension.

‘And the world is leaping on top of them and in anger and outrage. That is not going to help us police London successfully.

‘We need to come together in this difficult moment regardless of different opinions rather than having this determination to stoke tension.’

Britons trapped in the Gaza Strip have been unable to leave the war-torn territory despite intensive diplomatic efforts to get them across the border to Egypt.

Hundreds of foreign passport holders have been able to get through the Rafah crossing for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war erupted.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly promised that UK teams would be ready to assist British nationals who are able to make the crossing.

But Britons trying to leave have been turned back, while the UK continues intensive diplomatic efforts to ensure they can make the journey from the war-torn territory to the safety of Egypt.

The Government has provided the Israeli and Egyptian authorities with a list of British nationals and their dependants and is pressing for them to be able to leave as soon as it is practically possible.

It is hoped by officials that the departure of British nationals from Gaza will take place in stages over the coming days.

Mr Cleverly said: ‘UK teams are ready to assist British nationals as soon as they are able to leave.

‘It’s vital that lifesaving humanitarian aid can enter Gaza as quickly as possible.’

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Mr Cleverly and Middle East minister Lord Ahmad have worked with counterparts in Egypt, Israel and Qatar to try to ensure that British nationals will be among those able to leave the Gaza Strip.

The Government is understood to be pressing at the most senior levels for Britons to be allowed out as soon as possible.

Protesters, some waving Palestinian flags, shouted ‘ceasefire now’ as US Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Downing Street for a meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Mr Sunak welcomed Ms Harris on her first visit to No 10, with the Prime Minister saying they would have conversations about the ‘global situation’, including Israel and Gaza.

Ms Harris, in her reply, said: ‘I also want to thank you for the position that you and the United Kingdom have taken in terms of what is happening in Israel with Hamas.

‘As we’ve both stated, Hamas is a terrorist organisation and what happened in Israel is horrendous by any measure.’

Ms Harris said Israel has a ‘right to defend itself’, there must be ‘no conflation between the Palestinian people and Hamas’, and there ‘should not be any intentional targeting’ of civilians.

UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak greets United States Vice President, Kamala Harris as she visits 10 Downing Street for a bilateral meeting on November 1, 2023 in London, England.

Israel’s ambassador to Moscow gave new details Wednesday of the weekend riot at an airport in southern Russia when a flight from Tel Aviv landed there.

Ambassador Alexander Ben Zvi said some of the passengers had to hide in the terminal before being flown by helicopter to safety, adding that more than 30 people on the flight were Israeli citizens, and none were hurt.

When the passengers got off the plane and passed through passport control, ‘they apparently ran into some kind of unrest,’ he said.

‘In the end, most of them ended up in a VIP room, and they hid there and spent some time there’ until they could be flown by helicopter to a closed facility, he added.

After spending the night there, the passengers were flown – again by helicopter – to Mineralnye Vody, a city in the neighboring Stavropol region, and from there they traveled onward, he said.

Although no passengers were hurt, ‘I must say, that both the regional and the federal authorities should take this very seriously, because it could have led to victims. And that really would have influenced the entire situation in Russia,’ he added.

Seventy-six wounded Palestinians and 335 foreigners or dual-nationals have been allowed to cross from the war-torn Gaza Strip for Egypt today, an Egyptian official at the Rafah crossing said.

It is the first crossing of civilians allowed into Egypt from Gaza since Israel placed a ‘total siege’ on the Palestinian territory after Hamas’s deadly attack on October 7.

By 4:30 pm (1430 GMT), ambulances had transported 76 wounded Palestinians into Egypt and six buses took 335 foreign passport holders, the official told AFP news agency, who was reached by phone in Ismailia.

In the US, Cornell student Patrick Dai has confessed to making heinous threats against Jews after FBI agents traced his IP address to campus and his hometown.

Dai was booked into the Broome County Sheriff’s Department yesterday on behalf of US Marshals. He is due to appear in federal court in Syracuse this morning.

Last week, in a series of posts on the Greekrank forum, he threatened to shoot, stab and kill ‘pig Jews’, referring to himself as ‘Hamas’.

Read our full stroy by clicking the link below:

The Jerusalem Post has reported that Israel’s invasion of Gaza could take several months, with different stages of fighting.

The Israeli news outlet said the revised estimate – based on what it has learned – differs from what IDF officials have been saying to date.

Previously, officials have talked about an invasion that could last for weeks, with some other processes lasting a couple of months or more.

However, the Post said that the impression it has now is of a conflict that could last longer than the conservative estimates, and even drag on for longer.

This would likely not mean several months of intense, all-out fighting as we are beginning to see now, it said, but rather a combination of strategies, followed by months of fighting an insurgency after the initial stage of the invasion.

At least 320 foreign passport holders crossed today to Egypt from Gaza in a first batch of evacuations from the besieged enclave.

That is according to three Egyptian security sources and a Palestinian official, who spoke to Reuters news agency about the crossings.

The Palestinian official on the Gaza side of the border said the foreign passport holders departed the strip on six buses.

A first list of about 500 foreigners or dual nationals had been cleared to leave Gaza, with evacuations expected to continue in the days to come.

The Israeli army has said it estaimtes some 3,000 terrorists from Hamas’s military wing entered Israel by land, air and sea on October 7, Haaretz reports.

Gazans, who were not active members of Hamas, also infiltrated across the border fence into Israel where 1,400 people – mostly civilians – were killed.

In addition, about one thousand terrorists were killed in the fighting in the communities around the Gaza Strip, while a further 200 were captured.

The rest were ableo to return to Gaza.

Early this morning, Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinians, injuring scores more, and arresting a high-ranking Palestinian official, officials on both sides said.

The raid, which the military said was to root out militancy, included a drone strike – a once rare, but now increasingly common attack mode in the West Bank.

The military said the strike targeted and hit several militants. Soldiers and militants exchanged fire in the camp. The military said soldiers found and destroyed an underground shaft full of ammunition.

In the overnight raid, soldiers arrested Ata Abu Rmeileh, Jenin’s highest-ranking Fatah official. Fatah is the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas’ main rival.

The military said that Rmeileh, who was arrested with his son, was involved in promoting militancy in the area.

The United Nations has decried strikes on Gaza’s largest refugee camp that killed scores of people in attacks that Israel said targeted a Hamas commander.

‘This is just the latest atrocity to befall the people of Gaza where the fighting has entered an even more terrifying phase, with increasingly dreadful humanitarian consequences,’ Martin Griffiths, the UN humanitarian chief, said in a statement.

He said ‘the world seems unable, or unwilling, to act,’ adding ‘this cannot go on. We need a step change.’

A strike on the Jabalia refugee camp killed at least 47 people Tuesday – including a Hamas commander involved in the October 7 attacks, according to Israel.

The IDF has named two more Israeli soldiers killed fighting in Gaza, taking its total losses in the on-going ground offensive to 15.

Israel’s military named Staff Sgt. Itay Yehuda and Staff Sgt. Shay Arvas – both 20 – as the two casualties. Both were members of the Givati Brigade.

The pair were killed in an anti-tank guided missile attack on Tuesday that left nine other members of the same brigade dead, the IDF said.

The eleven soldiers were killed when a Namer armoured personnel carrier they were in was hit by the missile fired by Hamas.

Another four soldiers were seriously injured in the same incident.

This video shows Hamas terrorists firing an RPG at an unsuspecting police car in the city of Sderot during the 7 October attacks. The driver survives the attack, but is gunned down by the terrorists as he attempts to flee.

Watch the full video below:

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has accused Israel of committing ‘massacres’ in the Gaza war to cover its own ‘defeats’.

Haniyeh, whose terror group launched the bloody October 7 attacks on Israel that killed 1,400 people sparked the Gaza war, accused Israel of ‘committing barbaric massacres against unarmed civilians’.

‘Its villainy will not save them from resounding defeat,’ he vowed in a speech broadcast by Al Jazeera.

Haniyeh said that ahead of the October 7 attacks, Hamas had warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘and his fascist government will continue their contentious policies’.

Hamas has claimed Israel has struck the Jabalia refugee camp for a second time in two days, after an attack yesterday killed at least 50 people. Pictures from the site show dozens of Palestinians searching through the rubble for survivors…

Jordan has recalled its ambassador to Israel over the war in Gaza.

Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the move, and added that its foreign minister had instructed the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs not to send its own ambassador back to Jordan, after they left two weeks ago.

Jordan said the return of the ambassadors was conditioned on Israel stopping its on-going war on Gaza.

Air raid sirends have sounded across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media.

The Times of Israel reported that sirens sounded in the country’s largest city, as well as Bat Yam, Holon, Rishon Lezion and other areas, following a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza.

The only cancer treatment hospital in the Gaza Strip has gone out of service after it ran out of fuel, health officials have said.

Austrian police are investigating a fire that damaged a hall at the Jewish part of the Vienna cemetery, with politicians condemning anti-Semitic violence.

Cities in Europe have seen a spike in anti-Semitic attacks in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, a fire broke out at the Jewish part of the Vienna cemetery, damaging a ceremony hall, officers said.

The cemetery walls were sprayed with anti-Semitic symbols, police added, with pictures showing red swastikas painted on the walls outside.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said ‘(I) strongly condemn the attack on the Jewish cemetery in Vienna’.

‘Anti-Semitism has no place in our society… I hope the perpetrators are identified quickly,’ he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

President Alexander Van der Bellen said he was ‘deeply shocked’. ‘The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Austria has increased significantly in recent weeks.

‘That has to stop!’ he wrote on X.

Several Israeli flags have also been torn down recently, with police investigating the incidents.

A Hamas leader has dismissed the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza as a ‘necessary price in blood’ and boasted the terror group ‘demonstrated that Israel is beatable’ after the terrorists launched its deadly gun rampage three weeks ago.

Ghazi Hamad, deputy foreign minister for Hamas, insisted Israel left them ‘with no option but violence’ and boasted their slaughter of 1,400 Israelis inside their homes or as they fled a festival ‘destroyed the myth of Israel as a military superpower’.

Hamad bragged Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 is ‘changing the Middle East’ in comments made on the same day Iran-backed Huthi rebels fired missiles and drones from Yemen in a terrifying escalation of a war that could engulf the region.

For the full report, click the link below.

Some 110 dual nationals crossed into Egypt at the Rafah border crossing, reports the BBC.

Another 20 injured civilians were transported in ambulances crossed the border.

As we reported earlier, around 500 dual or foreign nationals are expected to leave Gaza for Egypt today.

Iran’s Foreign Minister has warned of ‘harsh consequences’ if Israeli attacks continue on the Gaza Strip.

Hossein Amirabdollahian’s comments are the latest in a series of warnings from the country, which backs Hamas in Gaza and other terror groups in the region.

‘If an immediate ceasefire doesn’t take place in Gaza Strip and the rapid attacks by U.S. and Zionist Regime continue then the consequences would be harsh,’ he said during a visit to Ankara, Turkey.

Thirty-four journalists have died in the war between Israel and Hamas, an international media freedom group has said.

An update from Reuters says the first foreign passport evacuees have arrived in Egypt having crossed the Rafah border crossing.

The news agency cited local media and a source at the crossing.

Today marks the first time the border has opened since October 7 under a deal brokered by Qatar.

The number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza during the last 24 hours has risen to 13, Al Jazeera reports.

The news outlet said the Israeli army had given the update and released the names of the soldiers killed.

The Hamas-run government in Gaza says Israeli airstrikes have hit apartment blocks in the Jabalia refugee camp near Gaza City for a second day in a row.

Officials said the latest strikes caused many deaths and injuries.

The toll from Wednesday’s strikes was not immediately known, but at least 50 people were killed on Tuesday, and 150 wounded.

Al-Jazeera television, which is still reporting from northern Gaza, aired videos of devastation and of several wounded people, including children, being brought to a nearby hospital.

The European Union’s chief diplomat has said he is ‘appalled’ by the number of casualties reported in the Israeli bombing on the Jabalia refugee camp.

More than 50 people are said to have been killed in the strikes on Wednesday.

He also called for fighting parties to respect the international rules of war.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Wednesday 8,796 people have been killed since the war with Israel erupted on October 7.

The death toll includes 3,648 children while 22,219 people have been wounded, a health ministry statement said.

The BBC will start an emergency radio service for the people of Gaza, the British broadcaster’s World Service arm has announced.

The programme will aim to provide the latest information plus safety advice on where to access shelter, food and water supplies, said the BBC.

‘BBC News Arabic are extremely well-placed to offer this vital service for the people of Gaza at a time of greatest need,’ BBC World Service Director Liliane Landor said in a statement, reported on by Reuters news agency.

Produced in Cairo and London, the Gaza radio service will run one programme from November 3 and begin a second daily broadcast from Nov. 10.

The BBC World Service, which represents the British broadcaster’s non-commercial international broadcasting services, has a previous track record of launching emergency broadcasts.

In the summer of 2014 it launched a service for Gaza following an escalation in hostilities there.

It also launched an emergency radio service during the conflict in Sudan in May, and ran extended TV bulletins in Ukraine following the invasion of the country last year.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has ordered his officials to find a way of supporting Palestine amid the on-going war, according to South Korea’s spy agency.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency’s director Kim Kyou-hyun told lawmakers Kim is believed to have instructed ‘a wide range of support’ for Palestine.

This could include selling weapons to the terror group in the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reports.

North Korea is known to have already sent artillery shells to Russia to boost Putin’s on-going war in Ukraine. The NIS said the supply could last two months.

Hamas fighters already likely used North Korean weapons during their October 7 assault on Israel, experts have said, after analysing video of weapons seized by Israel in the afterman of the attack.

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli troops arrested 46 people suspected of being involved in terrorist activity in the West Bank last night. He said 30 of those arrested are part of Hamas and seized their weapons.

Two Filipino doctors with medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) are among the first group of foreigners selected to leave Gaza and cross into Egypt, a Philippine foreign ministry official said on Wednesday.

‘The crossing should happen anytime now,’ undersecretary Eduardo De Vega has told Reuters news agency.

The head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said he ‘welcomed’ Egypt’s decision to accept some of the sick and injured from Gaza so that they can receive treatment.

An online gaming platform aimed at children exposes under 18s to disturbing instances of vile anti-Semitism including the burning of Israel flags and avatars named ‘Hatred of Jews’ , it can be revealed today.

Roblox, a gaming space in which users can create worlds from scratch and visit others, allows anyone to log into spaces and see images of avatars made to look like anti-Semitic caricatures dressed in clothing commonly worn by the Jewish community.

has seen evidence of Israeli flags being burned next to what appear to be Jihadist flags, avatars dripping in blood while saying ‘I won’t rest until Palestine is free’ and statements such as ‘Israel are dogs’ or the Israeli flag followed by the poo emoji.

Read the full report by clicking the link below.

In the United States last night, a 21-year-old native of New York State was arrested and charged with threatening to carry out a mass shooting and violence against Jewish students at Cornell University.

Patrick Dai, a junior engineering student at Cornell, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications, according to the US Department of Justice.

Click the link below to read our full report:

Pictured are coming through of ambulances rushing wounded Palestinians out of Gaza for urgent medical care in Egypt, with hundreds of desperate foreign passport holders also poised to flee the territory.

The evacuation of the first people to escape war-torn Gaza provided a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise desolate humanitarian crisis.

The latest Israel-Hamas war has quickly become the deadliest and most destructive of the five wars fought between the sides since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 from the Palestinian Authority.

The fighting erupted Oct. 7 when Hamas carried out a bloody attack in southern Israel. Since then, Israel has relentlessly pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes that have wrought unprecedented destruction, flattening entire neighborhoods.

Here’s a look in numbers at the toll of the war as of Nov. 1, sourced from the Gaza Health Ministry and Israeli officials as well as international observers and aid groups:

The World Health Organisation in Palestine has posted a graphic showing the damage the on-going siege of Gaza is having on healthcare there.

In the data shared in the graphic, the UN organisation says:

The post came as the first ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians from war-torn Gaza entered Egypt via the Rafah crossing, according to an Egyptian official who spoke to AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken will hold talks in Israel again on Friday then visit other regional players as Washington seeks ‘urgent mechanisms’ to reduce regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war, the State Department has said.

The White House said President Joe Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah II had spoken yesterday and ‘discussed urgent mechanisms to stem violence, calm rhetoric and reduce regional tensions’.

They also agreed it was ‘critical to ensure that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced outside of Gaza’.

Shani Louk’s heartbroken brother has revealed his ‘whole family crashed’ when they saw the abducted festivalgoer being paraded by Hamas terrorists on a truck where they were ‘spitting on her like she was nothing’.

Amit Louk, 20, said he was horrified to watch the video of his 23-year-old sister lying motionless and half-naked in the back of a truck, with one leg at an unnatural angle, while being surrounded by four terrorists shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’.

The last time he had heard from Shani was on the phone, as she frantically tried to escape the Nova electronic festival near Kibbutz Re’im in her car on October 7 as Hamas gunmen shot at anyone they saw.

Read the full report by clicking the link below.

The first group of injured evacuees from the Gaza strip entered Egypt on Wednesday via ambulances through the Rafah crossing, Egyptian local media and a source at the Egyptian border told Reuters.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslim states to cease oil and food exports to Israel, demanding an end to its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, state media reported.

‘The bombings on Gaza must stop immediately … the path of oil and food exports to the Zionist regime should be stopped,’ Khamenei said in a speech, according to Iranian state media.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Tehran-backed Hamas, which rules Gaza, in retaliation for an October 7 attack that killed 1,400 people and saw hundreds taken hostage.

Israel has launched an unprecedented bombardment of Gaza and imposed a siege of the enclave. Palestinian authorities say more than 8,000 people have been killed.

Iran’s clerical rulers have warned Israel of an escalation if it failed to end aggressions against Palestinians, with authorities indicating Tehran-backed proxies in the Middle East were ready to act.

Britons trapped in Gaza may be able to leave through the border crossing with Egypt.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said teams are ready to help British nationals able to flee the territory, which has been subjected to bombardment by Israel and shortages of food, water and fuel.

As Tel Aviv’s forces step up operations against the Hamas group, which carried out the October 7 atrocities in Israel, Mr Cleverly stressed the need for humanitarian aid to get into Gaza.

Dozens of people were seen using the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt on Wednesday, the first time foreign passport holders have been allowed to leave the besieged territory since the start of the conflict.

Mr Cleverly said: ‘UK teams are ready to assist British nationals as soon as they are able to leave. It’s vital that lifesaving humanitarian aid can enter Gaza as quickly as possible.’

Hamas’ armed wing al-Qassam Brigades has said seven civilian hostages were killed in Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camp, including three foreign passport holders.

Hamas, the terrorist Islamist group that governs Gaza, has so far released four civilians among the 240 believed to be held in the enclave.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said ‘the entire nation of Israel embraces’ the families of soldiers killed in the country’s fight against Hamas.

In a video message posted to X (formerly Twitter), he said: ‘We are in a tough war. It will be a long war. We have important achievements in it, but also painful losses.

‘We know – each of our soldiers is a whole world. The entire nation of Israel embraces you, the families, from the bottom of our hearts. We are all with you in your time of great sorrow. Our soldiers fell in an unjust war, the war for the house.

‘I promise you citizens of Israel: we will continue until we fulfill the mission – we will continue until victory.’

The message comes after Israel announced 11 IDF soldiers were killed fighting Hamas terrorists yesterday (see 07:34 update).

Israel’s air strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp, targeting a Hamas commander, are part of the ‘terrible nature’ of the conflict in the Middle East, Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said today.

Asked by Sky News whether Israel had broken international law with the strikes, he said: ‘This is the reality of the conflict with an organisation like Hamas.

‘Hamas is a terrorist organisation that has murdered in cold blood over 1,000 innocent Israeli men, women and children, and now seeks to hide amongst the civilian population. This is a very difficult conflict.

‘We continue to urge the Israeli government to abide by international law. I believe that the Israeli government is continuing to do so against an enemy that hides among civilians. It is the terrible nature of this appalling conflict.’

Hundreds of foreign passport holders and wounded trapped in Gaza have started leaving the war-torn territory through the Rafah crossing to Egypt, AFP correspondents have reported.

The crossing has opened for the first time since the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Convoys of desperately needed aid have passed between Egypt and Gaza but no people have been allowed through the Rafah crossing until today.

The ‘s Richard Pendlebury and Jamie Wiseman heard the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Palestinian man who attacked policemen in the city of Jerusalem.

They discovered a story that epitomises the seemingly endless cycle of violence that hangs over Israel….

Israel has slammed Bolivia’s decision to cut diplomatic ties over its war in Gaza after a deadly Hamas attack as a capitulation to ‘terror’.

‘The government of Bolivia’s decision to cut diplomatic ties with Israel is a surrender to terrorism and to the Ayatollah’s regime in Iran,’ foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said in a statement.

‘By taking this step, the Bolivian government is aligning itself with the Hamas terrorist organisation.’

Here’s what you need to know on the 26th day of the Israel-Hamas conflict:

The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza is ‘likely’ to open to foreign nationals on Wednesday, Britain’s Foreign Secretary says.

In a post on X (Twitter), James Cleverly said: ‘The Rafah crossing is likely to open today for a first group of foreign nationals.

‘UK teams are ready to assist British nationals as soon as they are able to leave.

‘It’s vital that lifesaving humanitarian aid can enter Gaza as quickly as possible.’

Israeli missile ships were deployed in the Red Sea on Wednesday as reinforcements, the military said in a statement, following long-range missile and drone attacks claimed by Yemen’s Houthis.

Images disseminated by the military appeared to show Saar-class corvettes patrolling near Eilat port in the Red Sea, which Israel sees as a new front as its war in Gaza draws retaliation from Iran-aligned pro-Hamas forces elsewhere in the region.

The Israeli military said 11 soldiers were killed fighting against Hamas in Gaza on Tuesday, the biggest one-day loss for the armed forces since the terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 300 soldiers and some 1,100 civilians.

Israel’s Army Radio said most of the dead were infantrymen whose vehicle was struck by an anti-armour missile.

All of the 11 soldiers who died yesterday were aged between 19 and 24.

The Gaza Strip was plunged into a communications blackout again today after internet and phone networks were cut.

‘To our good people in the beloved country, we are sorry to announce that communications and internet services have been completely cut off in Gaza,’ the Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) said on X.

Global network monitor Netblocks confirmed that Gaza ‘is in the midst of a new internet blackout with high impact to the last remaining major operator, Paltel.

‘The incident will be experienced as a total loss of telecommunications by most residents,’ it said in a post on X.

Internet and phone networks were completely cut last week but were restored at the weekend.

Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation in Gaza.