Israel-Hamas war live updates: Israel vows to step up Gaza bombardment ahead of expected

Images published Sunday by Getty Images showed black smoke billowing in the southern Gaza Strip after Israeli airstrikes overnight.

Palestinians in Gaza could be seen evacuating destroyed buildings and inspecting the damage at a time when Israel has vowed to step up its bombardment of the beseiged enclave.

Palestinians said they had received renewed warnings from Israel’s military to move from north Gaza to the south of the strip, with the added warning that they could be identified as sympathisers with a “terrorist organisation” if they stayed put.

The message was delivered in leaflets marked with the Israel Defense Forces name and logo from Saturday and sent to people via mobile phone audio messages across the Gaza Strip, a narrow territory that is just 45 km (28 miles) long.

“Urgent warning, to residents of Gaza. Your presence north of Wadi Gaza puts your life in danger. Whoever chooses not to leave north Gaza to the south of Wadi Gaza might be identified as an accomplice in a terrorist organisation,” the leaflet said.

— Reuters

Approximately 1.4 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest daily update form the Hamas-run government media office.

Half of those displaced in Gaza have sought refuge in the 217 shelter centers, while Hamas said the others are staying with relatives, friends, and others.

The daily update said 248 people in Gaza had been killed over the past 24 hours, taking the total death toll since Oct. 7 to 4,385, with 13,561 citizens injured.

Hamas said Israeli forces continued to target educational institutions, with 176 schools subjected to various damages and 30 schools out of service.

— Sam Meredith

Israel’s military targeted airstrikes against Damascus and Aleppo airports, Syria’s state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said Sunday, killing one civilian worker and injuring another.

The damage from the missiles put both airports out of service, SANA said.

CNBC could not independently verify details on the ground.

— Sam Meredith

“Hezbollah is playing a very dangerous game,” IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus warned in a social media update.

Residents in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona have already been asked to evacuate for their own safety as violence at the Israel-Lebanon border flares up.

Overnight, Israel said it struck Hezbollah military targets belonging to the Iran-backed group in Lebanon and one of its soldiers was killed by an anti-tank missile. “The IDF will not stand by as its soldiers and civilians are attacked,” the IDF said.

Hezbollah lost six of its fighters in the cross-border fighting, Reuters reported.

— Joanna Tan

The Israel Defense Forces said it has “has no intention of considering those who have yet to evacuate as a member of a terrorist group.”

There were reports Israel will consider residents in Gaza who choose not to evacuate, but to remain in the north, as associates of terrorist organizations.

“The translation from Arabic that has now spread across platforms is imprecise,” the IDF said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The IDF reiterated that “for the safety of Gazan civilians,” residents should evacuate to the south of Wadi Gaza. “All those who remain are endangering themselves due to the Hamas’ terrorist activities within civilian areas.”

— Joanna Tan

Canada’s National Department of Defence said on Saturday that Israel was not behind the Al-Ahli hospital strike in Gaza on Oct. 17.

“Analysis conducted independently by the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command indicates with a high degree of confidence that Israel did not strike the Al-Ahli hospital on 17 October 2023,” it said in a statement.

The strike was more likely caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza, the defense department said based on analysis of open source and classified reporting.

Canada’s findings are similar to conclusions by France and the U.S.

— Reuters

Israel will increase attacks on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in the next stage of the war, a spokesman for the Israeli military said.

“We will intensify the attacks on Hamas’ strongholds in the north of Gaza Strip,” Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for Israel Defense Forces told reporters, according to an NBC News translation.

“We’ll continue attacking targets that can be a threat to our ground forces in the following stages of the war,” he added.

As of Saturday, more than 700,000 residents from northern Gaza Strip have evacuated and moved to the south side of the Gaza Stream, he added.

— Joanna Tan

U.N. agencies welcomed the delivery of a 20-truck convoy carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza, but said it is “far from enough.”

The agencies called for a humanitarian cease-fire, “immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access throughout Gaza,” and for humanitarian aid to be at scale and sustained.

“We call for safe and sustained access to water, food, health – including sexual and reproductive health – and fuel, which is necessary to enable essential services,” the statement said.

Health facilities are running on small amounts of fuel secured locally, which is “expected to run out in the next day or so,” they said. “Vulnerable people are at greatest risk and children are dying at an alarming rate.”

“Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. It is now catastrophic. The world must do more,” the U.N. agencies said in a joint statement.

— Joanna Tan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “propaganda” claims by Hamas that they offered to release two more hostages.

According to media reports, the spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, claimed to have informed Qatar of the intention to release the two other hostages the same day Americans Judith and Natalie Ranaan were released.

In a later statement, Abu Ubaida claimed the militants were prepared to free two more people on Sunday “using the same procedures” involved in the release of the Ranaans, Reuters reported.

“We will not respond to false propaganda by Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “We will continue to do everything necessary to bring all the captives and missing back home.”

“Hamas has been trying to present itself as a humanitarian organization to the world, after the release of the two hostages,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Don’t fall for their trap,” the post said.

— Joanna Tan

The U.S. will be deploying additional military assets to the Middle East amid escalating tensions by Iran and its proxy forces across the region, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin announced late Saturday.

“Today I directed a series of additional steps to further strengthen the Department of Defense posture in the region,” he said in a statement.

The U.S. will deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery as well as additional Patriot air defense missile system battalions to locations throughout the Middle East. Additional forces are also on standby, ready to be deployed in case there’s a need to respond quickly, Austin said.

“These steps will bolster regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for U.S. forces in the region, and assist in the defense of Israel.”

— Joanna Tan

The delivery of aid through the Rafah crossing is “totally insufficient” warned the Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders in a statement.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” the group wrote following reports that the first 20 trucks carrying aid arrived in Gaza.

“Food, water, and medicine are still desperately needed. It is critical that fuel be allowed into Gaza, as this is essential for lifesaving hospital operations as well as the availability of clean water,” the group said, calling for sustained humanitarian deliveries to civilians in Gaza.

— Amanda Macias

A top official with Hezbollah vowed that Israel will pay a high price whenever it starts a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and said Saturday that his militant group based in Lebanon already is “in the heart of the battle.”

The comments by Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, came as Israel shelled and made drone strikes in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah fired rockets and missiles toward Israel.

For Hezbollah, heating up the Lebanon-Israel border has a clear purpose, Kassem said: “We are trying to weaken the Israeli enemy and let them know that we are ready.” Hamas officials have said that if Israel starts a ground offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah will join the fighting.

There are concerns that Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has a weapons arsenal consisting of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, as well as different types of drones, might try to open a new front in the Israel-Hamas war with a large-scale attack on northern Israel.

Kassem said his group, which is allied with Hamas, already was affecting the course of the conflict by heating up the Lebanon-Israel border and keeping three Israeli army divisions tied up in the north instead of preparing to fight in Gaza.

“Do you believe that if you try to crush the Palestinian resistance, other resistance fighters in the region will not act?” Kassem said in a speech Saturday during the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter. “We are in the heart of the battle today. We are making achievements through this battle.”

— Associated Press