Israel Palestine war news LIVE: One million flee Gaza as IDF prepare for ground assault against Hamas

A cruise ship evacuating US nationals has left Israel for Cyprus, according to reporters on the ground working for AFP news agency.

Some 2,500 Americans are being taken out of the country, leaving from the northern Israeli port city of Haifa.

Commercial airlines have largely stopped flying into Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, making it extremely difficult to get out of the country.

With Israel now moving towards a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, the US embassy had on Sunday urged its ‘citizens and their immediate family members with a valid travel document’ to depart from Haifa today.

Russia has called for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in the Israel-Gaza conflict, the Kremlin has said in a statement.

‘The main thing now in this environment is to immediately cease fire and start the process of political settlement,’ Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Earlier, in a readout of a call between President Vladimir Putin and Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad, the paid “called for an end to the shelling of Gaza and the forced displacement of its residents.”

Forces under both Putin and Assad have been accused of committing war crimes in the last decade, in Ukraine and Syria respectively.

This is not the first time since the Israel-Gaza conflict broke out last week that Putin has called for the violence to end while making no mention of his on-going invasion of Ukraine that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night warned the nation was approaching a ‘fateful hour’ with more than 400,000 Israeli troops now gearing up for an imminent invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu’s forces have already positioned themselves along Gaza’s border with Israel and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to ‘demolish’ Hamas.

But there are fears such a ground invasion will see house-to-house fighting erupt in the streets of Gaza.

This is the moment an Israeli AH-64 Apache attack helicopter targeted Hamas fighters with bursts of gunfire and hellfire air-to-ground missiles:

Hezbollah terror group says it has started destroying surveillance cameras on several Israeli army posts along the border as tensions rise.

• Hezbollah’s military media arm released a video showing snipers shooting at and destroying surveillance cameras placed on five points along the Lebanon-Israel border including one outside the Israeli town of Metula.
• The terror group appears to want to prevent the Israeli army from monitoring movements on the Lebanese side of the border after days of fire exchange that left at least seven people dead, including four Hezbollah fighters.
• Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies that fought a monthlong war in the summer of 2006 that ended in a draw.
• Israel considers the Iran-backed Shiite militant group – which wants to see Israel destroyed – its most serious immediate threat, estimating that Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.
• There are concerns that Hezbollah could join Hamas’s war against Israel.

The below clip, released by Hezbollah on social media platforms, shows gunmen targeting suveilance cameras.

US President Joe Biden has cancelled plans for a trip to Colorado today, the White House said, fuelling speculation that he will go to Israel in a show of support.

Biden will instead stay in Washington to attend national security meetings, the White House said in a short statement, as several media outlets report he might travel to Israel this week.

Biden has been invited to Israel by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN, adding that he had no travel plans to announce for now.

A spokesman for Hamas has said Israel has not resumed water supplies for Gaza, a claim that has been disputed by Israel.

Eyad Al-Bozom, speaking on behalf of the Hamas interior ministry, said today: ‘The residents drink unhealthy water, posing a serious health crisis threatens the lives of the citizen.’

Israel has said its siege of the enclave won’t be lifted until Hamas releases all hostages, but the country’s water ministry said water had been restored at one ‘specific point’ in Gaza, at a location outside the southern town of Khan Younis.

Aid workers in Gaza said they had not yet seen evidence the water was back.

British Ministers have been pressing for Egypt to open the Rafah crossing to allow Britons to flee Gaza and to reduce the ‘almost inevitable’ impact on civilians, PA reports.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said today that an imminent Israeli military operation must focus on Hamas as he raised concerns about a ‘regional escalation’.

Defence minister James Heappey warned that combat in Gaza, as Israel is expected to launch an offensive by sea, air and land, is likely to be ‘horrendous’.

British officials are working with the Egyptian authorities in an effort to facilitate British and dual nationals, as well as their spouses and children, to leave Gaza through the border at the southern point of the enclave.

The Israeli Defence Forces claim they have killed another commander in Hamas’ elite Nukhba forces who they believe was behind the Kibbutz Nirim and Nir Oz massacres last weekend.

Gaza is ‘on the verge of the abyss’, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned today, as Israel said there was no temporary truce to allow aid in or foreigners out.

Here’s what you need to know about the situation on the ground in Gaza:

• After Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel on October 7 and killed more than 1,400 people, Israel unleashed a relentless bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip that flattened neighbourhoods and killed at least 2,750 people, mainly civilians.
• Fears are growing over the dire humanitarian situation faced by the millions of Palestinians trapped in the heavily bombarded enclave.
• The territory – home to more than two million people – is gripped with panic, anger and despair as inhabitants of northern Gaza are frantically fleeing to the south after Israel’s warning to vacate before its major offensive.
• The arrival of hundreds of thousands of people was putting further pressure on already stretched resources in the densely populated south where there is no escape valve.
• ‘No electricity, no water, no internet. I feel like I’m losing my humanity,’ Mona Abdel Hamid, 55, told AFP news agency. Hamid fled Gaza City to Rafah in the south of the enclave, where she is staying with strangers.
• Gazans are effectively trapped, with Israeli-controlled crossings closed and Egypt also having shut the Rafah border in the south.
• Any departure of Palestinians from Gaza is a sensitive issue, with Arab nations fearing that it could lead to permanent expulsion.
• Foreigners have flocked to Rafah in the hopes of being let out, after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he was confident the crossing ‘will be open’ for aid into the strip.
• Reports had suggested that Egypt was blocking the passage of Gazans with foreign passports until relief supplies are allowed in.
• But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dashed hopes of a deal, saying in a statement today that ‘there is currently no ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza in return for removing foreigners’.

Sickening footage has emerged of the moment Hamas gunmen entered an Israeli compound, injuring several female soldiers with grenades before brutally executing them at near point-blank range as they cowered behind a desk.

The European Union has called for the unconditional release of the hostages that are being held inside Gaza by Hamas terrorists.

‘Human suffering can be no bargaining chip,’ Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a statement on X.

He also said the UN must be granted access to Gaza so that humanitarian aid can be delivered to the people trapped there.

The statement followed one from António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, who made the same demands.

Germany has warned Iran not to ‘pour oil on the fire’ of the Israel-Hamas war, after the country’s foreign minister met with high-ranking Hamas officials.

‘Anyone who wants to play with fire in this situation and pour oil on the fire or ignite it in any other way should really think twice because we are facing a potentially major regional conflict,’ foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said.

The warning comes ahead of an expected visit to Israel by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is set to travel there on Tuesday.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was in Israel last week, where she expressed Berlin’s firm support for the country to defend itself against Hamas.

Here is a map detailing the latest key developments to the on-going conflict:

Iran has accused the United States of already being ‘militarily involved’ in the on-going conflict between Israel and Hamas.

‘Iran considers that the United States is already militarily involved in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians,’ Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said today during a televised press conference.

• Iran backs both Hamas and Hezbollah. The trio were described on Friday as an ‘axis of evil’ by Israel’s defence secretary.
• All three have stated their wish to see Israel cease to exist.
• The United States, which has given unequivocal backing to Israel, has sent two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean as a deterrent against other countries in the region from getting involved in the conflict.

Israel’s ambassador to the UK has defended her military’s brutal bombardment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, arguing this morning that Tel Aviv’s military at least gave Gazans warning that the attacks were coming.

Tzipi Hotovely, 44, gave an impassioned and defiant speech, pointing out that Hamas terrorists launched their attacks with no forewarning and slaughtered innocent, unarmed Israeli citizens.

Hamas are in charge of any harm that will be happening in Gaza to their own people. If we see innocent people get killed in Gaza, it’s Hamas in charge. It’s not Israel’s responsibility – we don’t have any obligation to bring Gaza water. 1,300 Israelis were targeted, slaughtered… they didn’t get 24 hours to flee or protect themselves.

In a separete interview with Sky News, Hotovely also claimed ‘there is no humanitarian crisis’ in Gaza, where millions are currently running dangerously low on food, water and power, and are evacuating their homes.

Further to our update at 08:56, China’s foreign minister has called for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza.

Speaking in Beijing alongside his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Wang Yi condemned Israel’s actions for going ‘beyond the scope of self-defence’ and called for it to ‘cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza’.

According to Reuters, he said:

The UN security council must take action, and the major powers should play an active role. It is imperative that a ceasefire be put in place, that the two sides be brought back to the negotiating table, and that an emergency humanitarian channel be established to prevent a further humanitarian disaster.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has returned to Israel for talks on the conflict following a tour of six Arab countries, an AFP correspondent travelling with him has said.

The top US diplomat, who was in Israel on Thursday on a solidarity visit, landed back in Tel Aviv and is expected to again meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

The dead Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader Qassem Soleimani planned the Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people, according to a report published by a Washington-based think tank.

• Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump in January 2020.
• It is now claimed that the assassinated leader was the man behind the mass murder plot, one previously hinted at by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
• Hamas has been accused of being a proxy for the Ayatollah regime and carrying out its wishes, an Israeli spokesman Lior Haiat told Fox News.
• There has been speculation that Iran helped plan the Hamas surprise attack – dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Flood – since the fighting first broke out.
• The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) think tank report noted a propaganda report from Khamenei.
• ‘The significance is that, last year, the Leader [Khamenei] gave “The promise of the imminent conquest,’ and this year he gave ‘the announcement of the complete conquest,’ and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is part of this imminent conquest,’ it read.
• The think tank claims the plan for mass murder was engineered by Soleimani.

The Israeli military has warned the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group that it faces a ‘deadly’ response if it continues to attack Israel.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the US has given Israel its full backing to strike back against the Iran-backed group, which has allied itself with Hamas:

Hezbollah carried out a number of attacks yesterday in order to try to divert our operational efforts [away from the Gaza Strip], under the direction and backing of Iran, while endangering the state of Lebanon and its citizens. We have increased our forces on the northern border and respond aggressively to any activity against us. If Hezbollah dares to test us, the reaction will be deadly. The United States is giving us full backing.

The IDF is evacuating civilians from 28 communities along the Lebanese border amid on-going attacks on both sides.

The Israeli military has said 199 hostages are being held in Gaza – higher than previous estimates.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a military spokesman, said the families have been notified.

He did not specify whether that number includes foreigners, or say who is holding them. Most are believed to be held by the Hamas militant group, which rules Gaza.

‘We have updated the families of 199 hostages,’ Hagari told a media briefing, revising up an earlier number of 155 captives.

Several UN-flagged trucks have been seen leaving the southern Gaza Strip in the direction of a meeting point of the Palestinian enclave’s borders with Israel and Egypt, according to a Reuters TV staffer.

The trucks initially appeared to be en route to the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border but their course later appeared to take them in the direction of Kerem Shalom, an Israeli border crossing close to the Egyptian frontier.

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi on has met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Beijing today.

The pair exchanged views on the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The urgent task is a ceasefire and building of a humanitarian aid channel, Wang said in the meeting.

He also urged China and Russia to deepen strategic mutual trust, his ministry said.

Footage has emerged of an Israeli Navy patrol boat eliminating Hamas terrorists on October 7, as the group’s brutal attack unfolfed.

You can watch the dramatic video below:

Further to our update at 08:32, a Hamas terror group official has told Reuters news agency there is no truth to reports about the opening of the Rafah border crossing.

They also denied there was a temporary ceasfire in place.

Egyptian security sources had told Reuters earlier that an agreement had been reached to open the border crossing (between Gaza and Egypt) to allow aid into the enclave from 0600 GMT.

Israel’s army is evacuating residents living along its northern border with Lebanon.

• An Israeli civilian and an army officer were killed Sunday in missile attacks from Lebanon, and the army carried out retaliatory strikes and attacked infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist group.
• The group is allied with Hamas and backed by Iran.
• The Israeli army Monday noted in a statement ‘the implementation of a plan to evacuate residents of northern Israel who live in the area up to two kilometres from the Lebanese border to state-funded guesthouses’.
• The move affects thousands of people living in 28 communities, and many have already left the area after repeated cross-border fire.
• Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country had ‘no interest in a war in the north, we don’t want to escalate the situation’:

If Hezbollah chooses the path of war, it will pay a very heavy price. But if it restrains itself, we’ll respect the situation and keep things the way they are.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has this morning denied reports of a ceasefire in Gaza that would enable aid to enter and foreigners to flee to Egypt.

‘There is currently no ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza in return for removing foreigners,’ a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

• The World Health Organisation says lifesaving assistance is awaiting entry through the Rafah crossing into Gaza, which is on the southern border with Egypt.
• The crossing was closed due to Israeli airstrikes.

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live blog covering the unfolding conflict in Israel and Palestine on October 16, 2023.

More than one million people have fled their homes in the Gaza strip ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion of the enclave to eradicate Hamas.

Israeli forces, with support from US warships, have positioned themselves along Gaza’s border, waiting for the order to move in.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his forces Israel is with them as the ‘fateful hour’ to attack Gaza Strip by land, sea and air draws near.

A week of blistering airstrikes – sparked by the terrorist group’s attack on October 7- have demolished neighbourhoods but failed to stop Hamas rocket fire into Israel.

The war has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, with more than 4,000 dead.

Here’s what you need to know this morning:

• The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded.
• More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and at least 155 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.
• Water has run out in UN shelters across Gaza and doctors across the territory are struggling to care for patients. They fear many will die when generators run out of fuel.
• Israel’s military said it would not target a specific route south for several hours, again urging Palestinians to leave the north en masse. The evacuation order was first given by the IDF on Friday, telling northern Gaza’s 1.1 million people to flee south.
• The World Health Organization has said this as a ‘death sentence’ for thousands of Gazans who are being treated in hospitals.
• The WHO says lifesaving assistance, including health supplies to serve 300,000 patients, is awaiting entry through the Rafah crossing into Gaza, which is on the southern border with Egypt. The crossing was closed due to airstrikes.
• The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency has said Gaza ‘is being strangled’ and the number of people seeking shelter at their schools and facilities in the south of the territory is overwhelming
• Meanwhile, the Israeli military has ordered people living in 28 communities near the Lebanese border to evacuate.
• The order came after an increase in cross-border fire between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah – with the terror group on Friday announcing that it was ready to get involved in the fighting on the side of Hamas.
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned Sunday that the Middle East is ‘on the verge of the abyss’.