News about the attack on Israel – USA sends second aircraft carrier

The USA is moving another aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean. The Bundeswehr is bringing back 80 Germans. All information in the news blog.

The Islamist terrorist organization Hamas has attacked Israel. This live blog informs you about the current developments:

5:55 a.m.: The first Bundeswehr plane with passengers flown out from Israel has landed in Germany. The A400M military transporter arrived at the military airfield in Wunstorf, Lower Saxony, early on Sunday morning. According to the Bundeswehr, there were 51 passengers on board. A second transport plane with 29 passengers was scheduled to land a little later. “Further flights are in preparation,” the Bundeswehr announced via the online platform X. Read more about the Bundeswehr’s repatriation campaign here.

4.45 a.m.: Given the threat of escalation in the Middle East following the Hamas attack on Israel, China wants to send a mediator to the region. Chinese envoy Zhai Jun will travel to the conflict region next week to advocate for a ceasefire between Israel and the radical Islamic group Hamas and advance possible peace talks, Chinese state television broadcaster CCTV reported in a video posted on its official online service account on Sunday.

The prospect of a “further expansion” of the conflict is “deeply worrying,” Zhai said, according to the broadcaster. According to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhai met with Arab League officials in China on Friday. He signaled Beijing’s support for the regional body’s role “in the Palestine question.”

3.35 a.m.: According to a US media report, Israel’s military has postponed its planned invasion of the Gaza Strip by a few days due to adverse weather conditions. The ground offensive was actually supposed to begin this weekend, but was postponed because of cloudy skies and the resulting difficulty in visibility for pilots and drones, the New York Times reported, citing three unnamed senior Israeli officers. The aim is to wipe out the political and military leadership of the Islamist organization Hamas, which carried out massacres in Israel a week ago that left hundreds dead.

2:43 a.m.: Israel plans to send 10,000 soldiers to take Gaza City and “destroy” Gaza’s leadership, the New York Times reports, citing Israeli military officers. The report said the offensive would be the largest since the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and that the IDF would seek to hold parts of the Gaza Strip, at least temporarily. The troops will focus particularly on the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, says spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht. “This man is being targeted,” says Hecht. “He’s a dead man walking, and we’re going to get this man.”

A Hamas official told the newspaper that its fighters would try to ambush Israeli soldiers by emerging from tunnels behind their advance to surprise the troops. Israeli officials said the army’s rules of engagement would be relaxed to make it easier for soldiers to shoot suspects.

1:31 a.m.: The Bundeswehr’s first A400M aircraft is apparently on its way back from Israel to Germany. The Bundeswehr wrote on X that there were 51 passengers on board. The second A400M plane took off three hours later with 29 passengers.