Hamas reports clashes with IDF – as it happened

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In Gaza, where communications have been all but impossible in recent days, the reporter Hazem Balousha tells Michael Safi on Today in Focus that the intensifying assault is making everywhere in Gaza unsafe. As he speaks, the boom of aerial attacks plays out behind him and at one point he is able to catch a leaflet dropped by the Israeli Defence Forces warning him and others to evacuate the area.

In Jerusalem, the Guardian’s Middle East correspondent, Bethan McKernan, reports on the latest Israeli offensive and how the latest actions are being explained to Israelis and the wider world:

AP: A watchdog group advocating for press freedom said that the strikes that hit a group of journalists in southern Lebanon earlier this month, killing one, were targeted at the area, rather than accidental, and that the journalists were clearly identified as press.

Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, published preliminary conclusions Sunday in an ongoing investigation, based on video evidence and witness testimonies, into two strikes that killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six journalists from Reuters, AFP and Al Jazeera as they were covering clashes on the southern Lebanese border on 13 October.

The head of RSF’s Middle East desk, Jonathan Dagher, said there is not enough evidence at this stage to say the group was targeted specifically because they were journalists.

However, the report noted that the journalists wore helmets and vests marked “press,” as was the vehicle, and cited the surviving journalists as saying that they had been standing in clear view for an hour and saw an Israeli Apache helicopter flying over them before the strikes.

The first strike killed Abdallah, and the second hit a vehicle belonging to an Al Jazeera team, injuring journalists standing next to it. Both came from the direction of the Israeli border, the report said, but it did not explicitly name Israel as being responsible.

“What we can prove with facts, with evidence for the moment, is that the location where the journalists were standing was explicitly targeted...and they were clearly identifiable as journalists,” Dagher told The Associated Press Monday. “It shows that the killing of Issam Abdallah was not an accident.”

Japan has imposed a fresh set of sanctions on individuals and a company connected to the Gaza-based militant group Hamas, according to a statement released by the Japanese foreign ministry on Tuesday.

The sanctions consist of freezing the assets of individuals and a company that have helped fund Hamas, and is in line with new sanctions announced by the United States government earlier this month.

It is the first set of sanctions Japan has imposed on Hamas since 7 October.

Individuals including Hamas operatives Muhammad Ahmad ‘Abd Al-Dayim Nasrallah and Ayman Nofal were newly added to the list of people and organisations deemed as terrorists by Japan.

Reuters: Hamas said its militants fired machine guns and anti-tank missiles toward Israeli forces in north and south Gaza early on Tuesday as Israel’s tanks and infantry attacked the enclave’s main city, raising concerns about the plight of Palestinian civilians.

Israel has expanded ground operations in Gaza as it seeks to punish Hamas for a deadly gun rampage three weeks ago that Israeli authorities say killed over 1,400 people.

Witnesses said Israeli forces targeted Gaza’s main north-south road on Monday and attacked Gaza City from two directions.

The al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement, said militants clashed early on Tuesday with Israeli forces “invading the southern Gaza axis, (including) with machine guns, and targeted four vehicles with al-Yassin 105 missiles,” referring to locally produced anti-tank missiles.

The militants also targeted two Israeli tanks and bulldozers in northwest Gaza with the missiles, al-Qassam said.

Neither Reuters nor the Guardian were able to confirm the reports of fighting. Israel’s military had no immediate comment.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield has urged the divided UN Security Council to come together, saying “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing more dire by the day.”

Stressing that all innocent civilians must be protected, she said the council must call “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, address the immense humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, affirm Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorism, and remind all actors that international humanitarian law must be respected.”

She reiterated President Joe Biden’s call for humanitarian pauses to get hostages out, allow aid in, and safe passage for civilians.

In a sign of increasing US concern at the escalating Palestinian death toll, Thomas-Greenfield told the council Biden reiterated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday “that while Israel has the right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism, it must do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law.”

“The fact that Hamas operates within and under the cover of civilians areas creates an added burden for Israel, but it does not lessen its responsibility to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians,” she stressed.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Monday introduced a plan to provide $14.3bn in aid to Israel by cutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service, setting up a showdown with Democrats who control the Senate.

In one of the first major policy actions under new House speaker Mike Johnson, House Republicans unveiled a standalone supplemental spending bill only for Israel, despite Joe Biden’s request for a $106bn package that would include aid for Israel, Ukraine and border security.

Johnson, who voted against aid for Ukraine before he was elected House speaker last week, had said he wanted aid to Israel and Ukraine to be handled separately. He has said he wants more accountability for money that has been sent to the Kyiv government as it fights Russian invaders.

“Israel is a separate matter,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News last week, describing his desire to “bifurcate” the Ukraine and Israel funding issues.

Johnson has said bolstering support for Israel should top the US national security agenda in the aftermath of the 7 October attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 people and saw more than 200 others taken hostage.

Democrats accused Republicans of stalling Congress’ ability to help Israel by introducing a partisan bill.

Here are some recent images out of Gaza, where nearly 3,200 children have been killed in three weeks:

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AAP: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government is working with international counterparts to provide humanitarian access to Gaza and establish a safe corridor at the Rafah crossing into Egypt to allow citizens to get to safety.

Asked whether he supported a statement from six former prime ministers who called for an end to religious hatred amid rising tensions over Israel’s response against Hamas in Gaza, Mr Albanese said his position had been clear.

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“It is important that we recognise that the attacks from Hamas on Israel are worthy of absolute condemnation in an unequivocal way,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Bundaberg on Tuesday.

“It’s also important to recognise that Israel has a right to defend itself, but how it does that matters.

“We need to make sure, as well, that every civilian life is valued, whether it be Israeli or Palestinian - every innocent loss of life is a tragedy.”

It is almost 2.30am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here is where things stand:

• Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire in Gaza, declaring “this is a time for war”. In a press conference conducted in English on Monday, the Israeli prime minister said the army’s advance through Gaza opened opportunities to free hostages, which he said Hamas would do only under pressure.

• Nearly 70% of those reported killed in Gaza are children and women, said the UNRWA chief. The head of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees has warned that the level of destruction across Gaza “is unprecedented, the human tragedy unfolding under our watch is unbearable”. Philippe Lazzarini, addressing the UN security council on Monday, said nearly 3,200 children have been killed in Gaza in three weeks, citing figures by the territory’s health ministry.

• The US does not believe a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is “the right answer” right now, the White House’s national security council spokesperson said. “We believe that a ceasefire right now benefits Hamas, and Hamas is the only one that would gain from that right now,” John Kirby said on Monday.

• Hamas has released a video of three Israeli hostages in Gaza in an apparent effort to increase the pressure on Netanyahu’s government. Netanyahu’s office named the hostages as Daniel Aloni, Rimon Kirsht and Elena Trupanov. Their families held a press conference in Tel Aviv urging the Red Cross to demand to see all of the hostages held in Gaza, and for the US president, Joe Biden, to “do any and everything in your power to bring everyone home”.

• An Israeli soldier captured by Hamas has been rescued from Gaza in an overnight operation, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. Ori Megidish, an army private, was freed on Sunday night, three weeks after she was abducted with more than 220 other hostages. After a medical check declared her healthy she was reunited with her family.

• Israeli forces appear to be advancing on Gaza City in two directions. In the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli armour was operating close to the Mediterranean coast. Witness reports described Israeli tanks cutting the main north-south Salah al-Din road south of Gaza City and operating on the outskirts of the Zaytun district and Shejaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City. The cutting of the key road, if confirmed, would suggest that Israeli forces are attempting to cut off Gaza City from the south, effectively isolating and laying siege to the urban sprawl that extends north all the way to Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia.

• A total of 26 trucks containing food supplies and medical equipment have passed through the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip, the Palestine Red Crescent said on Monday. Just 144 trucks have delivered supplies to the Palestinian humanitarian organisation since 7 October, it said.

• Hundreds of patients are trapped inside al-Quds hospital in northern Gaza amid intense constant bombardment around the hospital, ActionAid warned. More than 12,000 displaced people are taking shelter in the hospital’s corridors and courtyards in addition to hundreds of patients who would not survive the journey south, it said.

• The humanitarian crisis in Gaza continued to worsen, with insufficient water, food, medicine and fuel, aid agencies said. The international criminal court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, said impeding aid could constitute a war crime and urged Israel to allow more trucks to enter.

• The deepening IDF incursion into Gaza came amid dwindling Israeli public enthusiasm for a prolonged occupation. Support has fallen from 65% on 10 October to 46% now, according to a study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which has monitored the same sample of 1,774 people, with a 4.2% margin of error.

• Israeli forces struck targets in Syria and Lebanon, in response to launches from those areas into Israel, the military 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.

• Israel said it carried out an operation to “thwart terrorist infrastructure in the Jenin refugee camp” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which it claimed led to 51 people being arrested, of which it claimed 38 were operatives of Hamas.

• The family of Shani Louk, a 22-year-old German-Israeli woman initially believed to have been kidnapped alive during Hamas’s assault on a music festival in Re’im, have said she died.

• A Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli police officer before being shot dead in annexed East Jerusalem, close to the green line. Guardian correspondents about 200 metres from where the shooting took place heard two bursts of gunfire in quick succession and saw armed police, horses and sharp shooters on motorbikes converging on a nearby petrol station.

• The Kremlin has said a mob that stormed a Dagestan airport in search of Jewish passengers from Israel on Sunday did so due to “outside influence”. The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said “ill-wishers” had used widely seen images of suffering in Gaza to stir up feeling in the predominantly Muslim region in the north Caucasus. Local health authorities said 20 people were injured in the incident in Makhachkala.

• A British Conservative MP, Paul Bristow, has been sacked from his government job after breaking ranks to publicly urge Rishi Sunak to back a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

• A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American boy and his mother pleaded not guilty on Monday after his indictment by an Illinois grand jury. Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of his mother, Hanaan Shahin, on 14 October. Authorities said the victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith.

• Civil rights groups in the US have warned of a “wave of McCarthyite backlash” against criticism of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza after Americans expressing support for the Palestinians have been sacked, faced threats of violence and hounded by pro-Israel groups.

Here is our video report after Israel forces announced the liberation of a hostage in Gaza. Ori Megidish, an Israel Defence Forces soldier, was freed during an escalating offensive in Gaza, the IDF said on Monday night. It said she had undergone medical checks and was doing well:

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More now from Philippe Lazzarini.

“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs,” Lazzarini said, calling for the Security Council to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, 33 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies entered Gaza through Rafah on Sunday.

Prior to the war, some 500 trucks carrying aid and other goods entered Gaza every day.

In this opinion piece, addiction and trauma specialist Diane Young gives some advice for how to stay informed about this conflict while looking after your mental health.

The ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza has once again brought to the forefront the grim realities of war and its impact on innocent civilians. As we’re flooded with images and stories of destruction, suffering, and loss, it’s natural to feel a deep sense of sadness, empathy, helplessness and, of course, anger and dismay at what we are witnessing. Many are finding it increasingly challenging to balance their desire to stay informed with the emotional toll this crisis can take. Unfortunately, this can lead to secondary trauma.

Secondary trauma, also known as vicarious trauma, is a phenomenon where individuals experience symptoms of trauma as a result of witnessing or hearing about traumatic events happening to others, even if they aren’t directly involved. In the context of the Israel-Gaza crisis, secondary trauma can manifest as feelings of grief and extreme sadness, anxiety and depression, helplessness, and even physical symptoms like headaches or stomach aches.

For those trying to stay informed, the distressing images and videos can take a toll on their mental and emotional wellbeing. The line between being an informed and empathic global citizen and subjecting oneself to secondary trauma can be quite thin, and many of us find it difficult to turn away from the images flashing on our screens. We are in a state of disbelief.

So, how can you navigate this difficult terrain while staying informed without succumbing to secondary or vicarious trauma? Here are some strategies:

30 Oct 202319.27 EDT

Patrick Wintour

Lazzarini added that there is no place is safe in Gaza, and warned that a further breakdown of civil order in the territory would make it “extremely difficult if not impossible” to deliver more aid.

“Most of the people of Gaza felt abandoned. They feel the world is equating all of them to Hamas. This is dangerous – an entire population is being dehumanised. The atrocities of Hamas do not absolve the state of Israel from its obligations under international humanitarian law. Every war has rules and this one is no exception,” he said.

30 Oct 202319.16 EDT

64 UNRWA staff among the thousands of people killed in Gaza

Patrick Wintour

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general for the UN relief and works agency (UNRWA), has accused Israel of “collective punishment” of the people of Gaza, and of forcing their displacement from the north of the territory to the south – where they are still not safe.

More than 8,000 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel’s attack, who Lazzarini said included 64 UNRWA staff.

He said that a UN worker named Samir, as well Samir’s wife and eight children, were killed just hours before the meeting.

The Swiss-Italian official said:

My UNRWA colleagues are the only glimmer of hope for the entire Gaza Strip … but they are running out of fuel, water, food and medicine and will soon be unable to operate

30 Oct 202319.06 EDT

Entire population of Gaza becoming ‘dehumanised’ says UN commissioner

Patrick Wintour

The entire population of Gaza is becoming “dehumanised” the commissioner general for the main UN agency in Palestine has told the UN security council, adding that a ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general for the UN relief and works agency (UNRWA) was one of three speakers to starkly describe the scale of the damage being inflicted on Gaza, as UN agencies piled pressure on the security council to set aside its divisions and back some form of immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

The speakers detailed a breakdown in civil order, the loss of clean water and a death rate of children that matches the total number of children killed in conflict in the last four years.

The debate called by the United Arab Emirates was intended to build on the momentum created by Friday’s vote by the UN general assembly calling for a humanitarian truce, a vote seen as a way of shaming the superpowers to abandon their arguments for not backing a form of ceasefire.

Four previous draft UN security council resolutions on the crisis have been vetoed either by Russia or the US. Efforts are now being made by the 10 elected members of the security council – including Brazil, the current security council president – to frame a resolution that the five permanent members would feel forced to adopt.

Israel’s expansion of its ground operations in Gaza has complicated US efforts to secure the release of hostages being held in the Palestinian territory, according to a report.

A senior US official told CNN on Monday that they believed the prospects of getting hostages out could be described as “50/50”.

“The parameters are all there,” the official said about a potential deal, but efforts to negotiate with Hamas have been slow, they said.

A spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign affairs ministry told the outlet that Israel’s escalation on the ground is making the situation “considerably more difficult”.

Ongoing talks involving Israel, Qatar, Egypt, the US and Hamas have centered on freeing hostages in exchange for prisoners being held by Israel, according to a source.

They have also included getting Hamas to open the Rafah gates for dual nationals to get out of Gaza, they said.

Cyprus is doubling the capacity of its main migrant reception camp in preparation for a potentially large influx of people if the Israel-Gaza conflict escalates, according to authorities, Associated Press reported.

The Pournara reception camp on the outskirts of the capital, Nicosia, currently has a capacity of 1,153 people.

It will also receive an increase in staffing to adequately provide needed care to new arrivals and expedite asylum application processing, Cyprus’ interior minister Constantinos Ioannou said in a statement.