Meanwhile #Israel's defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said Israel will sever all ties with the #Gaza Strip once its war with #Hamas is over -- it would, as he put it, end its "responsibility" for life there.
The #Hamas authorities say #Israeli attacks have now killed more than 4100 people.
Over 1400 Israelis were killed in Hamas' unprecedented extremist attacks within Israel earlier this month
Govt of #Israel shares first picture of Judith and Natalie #Raanan - two of the #hostages kidnapped in the #Hamas attack
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67165505?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=6532e880364b3f1612ec5b0f%26First%20image%20of%20freed%20hostages%262023-10-20T20%3A53%3A50.899Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:551c3470-61de-499f-a88d-edeb187ae585&pinned_post_asset_id=6532e880364b3f1612ec5b0f&pinned_post_type=share
They were in Israel to celebrate the 85th birthday of Judith's mother, Tamar Raanan, and Natalie’s graduation from high school. They were taken from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on 7 Oct.
Another 8 family members are missing from Kibbutz Be'eri, and three were killed, incl a carer.
Blinken says US officials will meet with the released #hostages as soon as possible.
Blinken also says there's still 10 additional Americans who remain unaccounted for.
"No family anywhere should have to experience this torture," he says
"I want to thank the government of Qatar for their very important assistance," he says, but also states that he "can't speak publicly" about the details.
The #Palestinian Red Crescent says that #Israeli forces have issued an evacuation order to Al-Quds hospital in #Gaza.
The hospital is currently home to over 400 patients and 12,000 displaced civilians, according to the Red Crescent.
BREAKING NEWS
The #Rafah crossing has opened, with live footage showing trucks entering the border crossing from #Egypt into #Gaza.
It's unclear how long the crossing will remain open for. #Israel has so far agreed to allow 20 trucks into Gaza - carrying food, water and medicine - but no fuel - into Gaza through the southern crossing from Egypt.
#Egypt is holding a peace summit today to discuss the deepening conflict between Israel and the Hamas group in Gaza.
The list of attendees compiled by Reuters include #Egyptian Pres al-Sisi, #Palestinian Pres Abbas, UK Foreign Sec Cleverly, UN sec gen Guterres, and several heads of state in the Arab region, among others.
Notably, there are no #Israeli, #Hamas, US and #Iranian representatives on the list.
The Egyptian organisers say the main goal is a ceasefire.
#Hamas 'hostages : Who are the people taken from #Israel ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67053011
V #BBC Frank Gardner:
'there is the possibility that more hostages could be released by negotiation.
But Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas and has hundreds of thousands of troops poised to go into Gaza.
If and when that incursion begins it will be considerably harder for Qatar, or any other mediators, to negotiate the release of more hostages.'
V CPJ:
Since the conflict started with an unprecedented #hamas attack on #Israel two weeks ago, 22 journalists have been confirmed dead:
18 Palestinian,
3 Israeli,
1 Lebanese.
8 journalists were reported injured.
3 journalists were reported missing or detained.
https://cpj.org/2023/10/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/
The Israel-Gaza war has taken an unprecedented toll on Gazan journalists since Israel declared war on Hamas following its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. As of June 16, 2025, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 185 journalists and media workers were among the more than tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel,...
Palestinians under attack as settler violence surges in the West Bank
The #Israeli military says it's attacked "a series of military targets" of the Lebanese #Hezbollah group in the last few hours, in response to the "firing of anti-tank missiles and launches into Israeli territory last night".
The targets struck include military compounds and operational infrastructure used by the group, as well as an anti-tank launcher located at the border and aimed at Israel, the Israel Defense Forces #IDF says
V Haaretz:
#Berlin has documented 70 anti-Semitic incidents since #Hamas attacked #Israel. This is three times as many verified incidents as in the same period last year, when 25 cases were documented. The initiative has received numerous further tip-offs which have yet to be verified.
BBC reported yesterday as well the alarming rise of #antisemitic incidents in the UK
The Associated Press is publishing an updated visual analysis of the deadly Oct. 17 explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital. The AP initially assessed that the explosion was likely caused by a rocket launched from within Gaza that misfired, and that assessment has not changed. However, new images that emerged after AP’s story was published show that a key video used in the initial analysis is no longer tied to the hospital explosion. Still, three other videos show Palestinian militants launching rockets from inside Gaza on a trajectory that would have taken them in the direction of the hospital seconds before the explosion.
AFP reports that the #Israeli govt has told its citizens in #Egypt and #Jordan to leave asap.
It quotes a stmt from Israel's national security council, which says it "raises its travel warnings for Egypt (including Sinai) and Jordan to level 4 (high threat): recommendation not to travel to these countries and for those staying there to leave... as soon as possible".
Earlier this week, the warning level was similarly raised for #Turkey and Israeli citizens there were instructed to leave.
WHO says supplies approaching #Rafah crossing include:
"Trauma medicines and supplies for 1,200 people"
"Portable trauma bags for on-the-spot stabilization of up to 235 injured people"
"Chronic disease medicines and treatments for 1,500 people and basic essential medicines and health supplies for 300,000 people for three months"
This Haaretz excl. article quotes an official in the security establishment saying " #Netanyahu is on on the campaign trail." He alleges the PM "is collecting materials against the army and explaining in background conversations with reporters why he is not guilty and the intelligence didn't reach him"
Serious question: What's the legal basis for Israel giving an /order/ for something in the /Gaza strip/? Thanks
That's pretty much the essence of my question.
Israel has no territorial rights re: the Gaza strip. Therefore, they cannot /order/ anything for Palestinians in Gaza.
They can issue legal orders only for territory that is 🇮🇱 according to international law.
The Israeli government is deliberately deepening the suffering of civilians in Gaza by refusing to restore the flow of water and electricity and blocking fuel shipments. Willfully impeding relief supplies is a war crime, as is collectively punishing civilians for the actions of armed groups.
UK PM Sunak says the British government will give an additional £20m in aid to civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, doubling its previous commitment
And in a domestic development UK hate crime law to be clarified after protest row where a man shouted 'jihad' in a megaphone on a London street
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67197002
Now is not the right time for a ceasefire between #Israel and #Hamas , top White House and US State Dept officials have said.
"We don't believe that this is the time for a ceasefire," National Sec Council spox Kirby told reporters. "Israel has a right to defend themselves. They still have work to do to go after Hamas leadership."
State Dept spox Miller said: “What we will continue to do, with respect to this question, is focus on getting #humanitarian assistance in to #Gaza .”
"The nurses say she is very keen to pass on the information to families of other hostages that she was with."
"There are still over 200 people there and we must must must not kind of get caught only in our personal happiness but work towards the release of everybody."
"I guess no family has a plan for what happened if something like that happened, it’s so off the scale. We are just living one day at a time."
(Cont.)
"My father was getting more frail. He was very involved in political things in the kibbutz. He was very involved in rights for Palestinians and working towards peace with our neighbours."
he was dedicated to the belief that "we have to find a way to live together, he felt that it was very easy to find a way and was very disappointed and fought very hard against this idea of occupation, the idea of perpetual war".
#hostages #Israel #Gaza #hamas
(Cont.)
"And I hope that he's there and he's being looked after and he's got the chance to talk.
He speaks good Arabic so can communicate very well with the people there. He knows many people in Gaza. I want to think he's going to be OK.
"I know for my mum, she says they have been looked after and there was a doctor there so this brings a lot of comfort to everybody that there is some treatment."
You can listen to her full interview
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_fourfm
French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in #Israel, and will be meeting PM Netanyahu later today.
The purpose of the visit is to show France's solidarity with Israel, assist in the release of #hostages still being held by #Hamas, and to prevent any escalation of the current conflict, his advisers told Reuters.
Macron will also meet Pres Herzog, and centrist leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid from the opposition during his visit.
During any war w #Israel support for #Hamas among Palestinians grows, Khalil Shikaki, dir of the Pal. Center for Policy and Survey Research based in Ramallah, has told the #BBC.
He says support for Hamas is usually much higher in #Gaza, which is "more religious, more Islamist" than in the West Bank, which is comprised of "mostly secular nationalists" and is run by the #Palestinian Authority.
Before the latest conflict, a poll in the West Bank and Gaza Strip showed support for Hamas was at 22%
#BBC Rushdi Abualouf reports from Khan Younis:
'every night there are #airstrikes in this area.
When you talk about the #humanitarian situation, things are getting worse and worse here.
People are watching the trucks coming in but there is no aid being distributed.
Very little aid goes to the UN shelters - about 130 shelters for the more than half a million people who are displaced from their homes elsewhere in the #Gaza Strip.'
#hamas #Israel
Shari has the grim task of pulling mutilated corpses from the body bags that are lined up on stretchers at the morgue of the Shura military base near Tel Aviv before preparing them as best she can for funerals
#BBCWorldService news:
the Israeli military have released more raw footage recovered from Hamas body cameras in an attempt to remind the world of the brutality of the 7th Oct attack on Israel. Journalists in tel Aviv were shown a grahic montage of clips lasting more than 40 minutes. (CONT with graphic decriptions)
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