Israel Hamas War News Live: Israeli fighters jets struck the Islamic University in Gaza City on Wednesday, an official with the Hamas-linked institution said. “The intense air strikes destroyed completely some buildings of the Islamic University,” Ahmed Orabi of the university management told. According to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, Israeli strikes had since Saturday destroyed more than 22,600 residential units and 10 health facilities and damaged 48 schools.
Israel said it recaptured Gaza border areas from Hamas on Tuesday, the fourth day of fierce fighting that has left over 3,000 dead on both sides since the militants launched a surprise attack. “It’s not a war or a battlefield; it’s a massacre,” said Maj. Gen. Itai Veruv, an Israeli commander on the scene. “It’s something I never saw in my life, something more like a pogrom from our grandparents’ time.” Numerous countries have offered to help mediate an end to the fighting.
The death toll in Israel has surged above 900 from the worst attack in the country’s 75-year history, while Gaza officials reported around 800 deaths. Israel’s army said bodies of around 1,500 militants have been found.The Israeli military on Tuesday also said it responded to fire from Syria with artillery and mortar shelling. It said unidentified projectiles were fired from Syria and appeared to have fallen in an open area. The flare-up comes as Israel is striking in Gaza in response to a stunning attack by Hamas and as exchanges of fire with the Lebanese Hezbollah have continued. Stay with TOI for all live updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict:
The Israeli military said one of its northern positions was attacked with anti-tank fire from Lebanon on Wednesday, but did not immediately provide details on any casualties or who might have been responsible.The attack took place near the Israeli town of Arab al-Aramshe, opposite the Lebanese village of Dhayra, the statement said.
Gaza power authority warns that electricity will run out within hours after Israeli cutoff
Gaza’s power authority says its sole power plant will fun out of fuel within hours, leaving the territory without electricity after Israel cut off supplies.Israel said it would cut off all electricity to the territory after Hamas’ bloody rampage over the weekend.
Pope Francis on Wednesday called on militant Islamist group Hamas to release all hostages captured during its weekend attack on Israel, while expressing grave concerns about the “total” Israeli siege imposed on Gaza.”I pray for those families who saw a feast day turn into a day of mourning, and I ask that the hostages be immediately released,” he said during his weekly audience.
At least 30 killed in air strike on law expert’s house: Hamas
An expert in international law was visiting family in Gaza when an Israeli air attack targeted his home in central Gaza City and killed everyone inside, authorities said.Health officials did not immediately give a number of those killed but friends of Saeed al-Dahshan, who is based in Cairo, said that his entire immediate family were killed.
Hamas official Bassem Naim estimated the death toll to be at least 30 people.“This level of death and destruction is unprecedented,” said Hamas spokesperson Ghazi Hamad, whose house was razed by airstrikes late on Tuesday along with the homes of many other members of the Hamas political bureau.
UN agency for Gaza has food and water supplies for 12 days
The UN agency for Palestine told Al Jazeera it has less than two weeks’ supply of food and water to assist the more than 180,000 people who have sought refuge in their schools in Gaza.
“We’ve got supplies for 12 days for food and water. Roads are blocked, we don’t have telephone lines, we have had networks hit by air strikes. It is really difficult for us to know what’s happening,” Jennifer Austin, Deputy Director of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in Gaza, said.
“We are relying on our staff, who are themselves refugees, who are going out to provide a service. It is really unprecedented situation we are facing.”
Israel army reports anti-tank fire from Lebanon
Daniel Hagari, Israeli military spokesperson, reports anti-tank fire from Lebanon on one of the country’s northern positions.“Anti-tank fire was detected a short time ago from Lebanese territory towards a military post near Arab al-Aramshe on the Lebanese border,” Hagari said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Latest casualty figures
Gaza
- Killed: 950
- Injured: 5,000
Occupied West Bank
- Killed: 23
- Injured: 130
Israel
- Killed: 1,200
- Injured: 3,007
The figures have been reported by the Palestinian health ministry, Palestine Red Crescent Society and Israeli Army.
Gaza power plant to shut down within hours due to lack of fuel
The Government Media Office in Gaza has just issued this statement:
“The Gaza Strip is facing an imminent humanitarian catastrophe, with the power plant shutting down completely within hours due to the depletion of fuel. This threatens to plunge the Strip into complete darkness and make it impossible to continue providing all basic life services, all of which depend on electricity, and it will not be possible to operate them partially with generators in light of the prevention of fuel supplies from Rafah Gate.
“This catastrophic situation creates a humanitarian crisis for all residents of the Gaza Strip, which is further exacerbated by the occupation’s continued aggression and destruction of entire residential neighborhoods with hundreds of tones of explosives, and the bombing of citizens’ homes over their heads, in what can be described as the dirtiest crime of collective punishment against defenseless civilians in modern history.
“[The international community] needs to move quickly to stop this crime against humanity and this multi-form mass murder, and the need to provide the Gaza Strip with all means of life, and not abandon it. Its residents are hostage to the killing tools used by the occupation.”