Israeli Army expands ground operations in Gaza; internet cut and intense bombardments in the north of Gaza: Day 21 of the Israel-Hamas war

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In an interview given to the American channel ABC News, an Israeli Army spokesperson, Peter Lerner, denied that the extensive operations today constitute the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, as announced since the beginning of the war.

The UN General Assembly has adopted a non-legally binding resolution calling for a "immediate humanitarian truce" in Gaza. It was put forward by Jordan on behalf of the Arab group.

It also condemns all acts of violence against Israelis and Palestinians. There were 120 votes in favor, 14 against and 45 abstentions.

The resolution is not legally binding, but it does carry political weight

"Hamas will pay for its crimes against humanity, and tonight we are beginning payback," said Israeli PM Adviser Regev, according to Reuters.

Egypt said investigations following today's blasts in Nuweiba and Taba showed there were two drones coming from south of the Red Sea to the north, where one was targeted outside Egypt's airspace in the Gulf of Aqaba, and the second one fell in Taba, an Egyptian military spokesperson said in a statement.

"The Air Force and Air Defense Forces are intensifying the work of securing Egyptian airspace on all strategic directions of the country," the statement added, as reported by Reuters.

Egypt said it is "intensifying efforts" to secure its airspace, according to a military spokesperson cited by Reuters.

Six people were lightly injured when an “unidentified drone fell” on an Egyptian town on the border with Israel on Friday, the Egyptian Army said in a statement.

One drone was struck outside Egyptian airspace, resulting in debris falling in an uninhabited area in Nuweiba. The second fell in Taba. The statement added that the drones came from "south of the red sea to the north."

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Lior Haiat claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that the missiles and drones were "launched by the Houthi terrorist organization with the intention of harming Israel." This has not been confirmed.

The Houthis are a Iranian backed rebel movement in Yemen, who are involved in a eight year-long civil war against Saudi-backed government forces.

"When this is over, Gaza will be very different," said Israeli PM Adviser Mark Regev, according to Reuters.

"We are increasing the pressure on Hamas, and our military operations are underway," he added.

Al Jazeera correspondent from Gaza Wael Dahdouh regained signal and said that "Gaza is currently being bombed from the sea and the rate of bombing is increasing gradually after a brief period of relative calmness. Israel is bombing the same area over and over again, the northern part of Gaza."

Vice News, the BBC, Washington post, Al Ghad TV and Al Jazeera said that they lost contact with their correspondents in Gaza.

The International Committee for the Red Cross and the Palestinian Red Crescent said that they lost touch with their teams inside.

L’Orient Today lost touch with United Nations Relief and Works Agency's (UNRWA) spokesperson in Gaza and has been unable to reach its contacts on the ground inside Gaza.

Jordan's Foreign Minister says Israel has just launched a ground war on Gaza, and the outcome will be a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions, reported Reuters.

The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that 14 more members of their staff have been killed by Israel.

53 of their staff have been killed by Israel since Oct. 7.

They said humanitarian services are being forced "to a halt" due to a lack of fuel as stocks run low.

The US supports a pause in Israeli military operations in Gaza to get humanitarian aid, fuel and electricity to civilians there, White House spokesman John Kirby said today, according to Reuters.

Kirby said that if getting hostages out of Gaza requires a localized temporary pause, then the United States is in support of that.

He added that more than one pause might be necessary in Gaza.

The US asked Israelis what the aims, strategy and potential end to the situation is, according to Kirby.

Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson for the Israeli Army, said, “We will continue attacking Gaza and its surroundings … we have called upon the people of Gaza to move [southwards].

On claims by the Israeli Army that Hamas is using Al Shifa hospital as a shield for underground tunnels and "terrorist activities" — which Hamas has denied — he said, “This is a red flag. We will not allow any attacks against Israel through the infrastructure under a hospital. This is something the state of Israel will not allow. We are talking about a psychological war [by Hamas] against the people of Israel. We will not give in to any of Hamas’ cynical manipulations”

Al Shifa is the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital where thousands of displaced people have been sheltering.

6 explosions happened now in Tel Aviv as a result of the Iron Dome intercepting missiles launched from Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.

BBC Senior International Correspondent Jeremy Bowen speaking live on BBC News from Jerusalem proposed two scenarios for why Israel decided to heavily bombard Gaza tonight.

"Sometimes when they [Israel] are leading up to a ceasefire, in the hours before a ceasefire or a break, they sometimes hammer their enemies. Or [another scenario] maybe negotiations are not going as well as we have been led to believe and perhaps Israel has decided, incrementally, to start moving in to the Gaza strip," he said.

An explosion on the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from the Israeli side, Oct. 27, 2023. (Credit: Reuters)

Hamas called on the world to “act immediately” to stop Israel's airstrikes on Gaza, reported AFP.

According to Al Jazeera's correspondent and cameraman in Gaza Wael Dahdouh, Hamas is now shooting a barrage of rockets from Gaza to Israel.

"The occupation has cut off the internet and signal, leaving Gaza in total black out so it can continue committing its genocidal strategies on the Palestinian people," said Hamas on their official telegram channel, Al Jazeera reported.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it has lost complete contact with their team inside Gaza and in the "main operation room within Gaza strip."

"Today, we have revealed to the world the underground area beneath the Al-Shifa Hospital and shown how Hamas uses the hospital for terrorist purposes. We continue to urge the residents of Gaza to head south towards the Gaza Valley," Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-speaking Israeli army spokesperson wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

BREAKING: The Israeli Army confirmed that it has expanded its ground operations this evening in Gaza.

"In the past hours, we have intensified airstrikes in Gaza. The air force is conducting a wide-scale attack on underground targets and terrorist infrastructure, notably," Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-speaking Israeli army spokesperson wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

"As a continuation of the military operations we have carried out in recent days, ground forces have expanded their ground operations this evening," he said.

"The Israel Defense Forces are working with maximum strength on all fronts to achieve the objectives of the war," he concluded.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed today for the monitoring of aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing to be "adjusted to allow many more trucks to enter Gaza without delay," according to Reuters.

"The humanitarian system in Gaza is facing a total collapse with unimaginable consequences for more than 2 million civilians," Guterres said in a statement.

"Without a fundamental change, the population of Gaza will endure an unprecedented avalanche of human suffering," he stated.

"Everyone must take their responsibilities. This is a moment of truth, and history will judge us," Antonio Guterres continued, emphasizing that "the humanitarian system in Gaza is facing a total collapse, with unimaginable consequences for over 2 million civilians."

"Given the desperate and dire situation, the United Nations will not be able to continue providing aid inside Gaza without an immediate and fundamental change in the way aid is delivered," he added.

Prior to the outbreak of the conflict, "approximately 500 trucks per day were entering Gaza," he noted. But with Gaza under siege, "in recent days, an average of 12 trucks per day have entered" through the Rafah crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, "while the needs are much greater than at any previous time," the Secretary-General stressed.

He called for an adjustment to the "verification system for the movement of goods through the Rafah crossing point" to allow the entry of more trucks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that it urgently needs an estimated $80 million to respond to humanitarian needs in the West Bank and Gaza, and to undertake contingency planning for Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan through the end of 2023.

Palestinian mobile provider Jawwal reported that there is no mobile phone service or internet in the Gaza Strip due to heavy bombardment, according to Reuters.

Hamas announced that it fired "volleys of rockets" into Israel, according to AFP.

NetBlocks, an organization specializing in cybersecurity and monitoring Internet outages, announced on its X account a total interruption of Internet services in Gaza.

BREAKING: Several journalists and humanitarian workers are reporting that they are unable to contact people in Gaza. L'Orient Today is also unable to reach its contacts in Gaza.

BREAKING: Israel is heavily bombarding Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.

Communications and the internet have been cut in the Gaza Strip, stated Hamas according to AFP.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said today that the world has reached a "perilous moment" in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to Reuters.

She said that "the United States has made clear, in both public and private conversations, that as Israel exercises its right ... to defend its people against a terrorist group, it must do so in line with the rules of war."

Hamas denied today the Israeli Army's accusation that it was using hospitals in its war with Israel, according to a statement reported by AFP.

"The allegations made by the spokesman for the enemy's army are totally unfounded," said Hamas leader Ezzat al-Risheq in a statement, denying in particular that "Hamas leaders are in the basement of al-Shifa hospital," which is the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a statement today that Hamas's main command is located beneath Gaza's central Shifa hospital.

According to Hagari, the headquarters direct Hamas members and coordinates the fire of rockets at Israel. Hamas leaders access the headquarters via an underground tunnel. The Headquarters is connected to the hospital's electrical grid, Hagari added.

Hagari said that inside the hospital is one of Hamas's control centers which is run by the organizations' security service.

"The hospital has 1,500 beds and about 4,000 staff members who form a 'human shield' for the leaders of the terrorist organization," Hagari said.

Entrance to the headquarters is made of a number of tunnels and there is also an entry from several of the hospital's units, he added.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said that the ongoing border conflict with Israel is not only a defense of Lebanon against immediate threats, but also a message to Israel regarding the use of Palestinian suffering in Gaza for political gain.

Fadlallah praised the Lebanese and Palestinian commitment to defending their future and emphasized the need for collective Arab action.

He cautioned the US administration against “miscalculations.”

Fadlallah said the “resistance's focus on preventing the enemy from achieving its objectives in Gaza, as it poses a significant threat to Lebanon and the region.”

The Israeli Army accused Hamas of "waging war from hospitals" in the Gaza Strip, as reported by AFP.

Army spokesman Daniel Hagari accused Hamas of using fuel stored in hospitals "for its terrorist infrastructure." He said that "terrorists move freely" within hospitals in the Palestinian territory. He repeated the Israeli accusation that Hamas uses the population of Gaza as a "human shield."

An Israeli shell exploded in the air above the towns Adaisseh and Rabb Thalathin in South Lebanon, National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Shells were fired from the Lebanese side around the town of Al Chahel in Shebaa Farms, state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The Israeli army responded to these shots, as reported by NNA.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati headed a meeting at the Grand Serail today to discuss the implementation of a national emergency plan in response to potential security developments, according to a press release by Mikati's office.

The goal of the meeting was to ensure alignment between the humanitarian emergency plan led by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator and the response plan of the Lebanese government.

Key points of the meeting included securing essential humanitarian necessities for displaced individuals, especially in the face of the country's challenging economic conditions, and the ability to mobilize the required material and human resources.

The meeting addressed steps to increase and manage Lebanon's stock of wheat, basic supplies, fuel and medical materials as a crucial matter in the event of any aggression or disruption in shipping and imports.

(Image credit: Michel Hallak/L'Orient Today)

Hezbollah announced in a statement that they attacked the Israeli position "Abou Dajaj" at 3:40 p.m. using "appropriate weaponry" and have "destroyed a portion of the facilities" on the site.

Hezb al-Tahrir, a pan-Islamist party, organized a demonstration in al-Nour Square in solidarity with Palestine after Friday prayers in Tripoli (North Lebanon), reported state-run National News Agency (NNA).

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Friday that "the United States is imposing sanctions on eight key individuals for supporting Hamas, as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps officials involved in financing and training Hamas."

Blinken stated that the US "is designating an entity for its ties to Specially Designated Global Terrorists operating in the region, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Iranian Bonyad Shahid, also known as the Martyrs Foundation."

Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in the streets of Ramallah in occupied West Bank on Friday in support of the citizens in the Gaza Strip. Some of the protesters chanted slogans in favor of Hamas, as reported by an AFP journalist.

A Red Cross medical team has entered the Gaza Strip for the first time since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Friday, reported AFP.

Qatar told the US that it was open to reconsidering Hamas's presence on its territory once the matter of hostages kidnapped by the Islamist militant group is resolved, a senior US official said on Friday.

This understanding was first reported by the Washington Post and reached during a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, when the top US diplomat visited Doha earlier this month, the official added.

An Israeli border guard argues with a woman as Muslim worshippers are denied entry to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Oct. 27, 2023, ahead of demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (Credit: Yuri Cortez/AFP)

Latest developments on Lebanese-Israeli borders: Hezbollah claimed in a statement responsibility for an attack that targeted the Israeli site of al-Sadh at 2:45 p.m. today "with guided missiles and appropriate weapons, destroying large parts of its facilities and equipment and causing confirmed casualties among members of its garrison."

NNA reported that Israeli site Misgav Am opposite to Lebanese town Adaisseh (Marjayoun district) was targeted and that Israel fired machine-gun bursts on the outskirts of Adaisseh and the east of Mais al-Jabal.

Al-Jazeera's correspondent reported that Israel's artillery targeted the outskirts of the town of Yaroun in the district of Bint Jbeil.

A Civil Defense spokesperson told L'Orient Today that Israeli shells fell near Civil Defense members while they were extinguishing a fire in Labouneh and Alma Shaab (Sour district). Several members were indirectly injured by the shelling.

France wants to "evacuate" French citizens in Gaza "as soon as possible," said Emmanuel Macron in remarks reported by AFP.

He also called for a "humanitarian truce" in Gaza.

The Rafah crossing, which links Gaza to Egypt and enables the delivery of humanitarian aid, has been opening episodically since last Saturday. According to several media reports, dual nationals still have not been allowed to leave Gaza via this crossing.

Head of Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri received Deputy Head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Shura Council Ibrahim Azizi, along with the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani.

Azizi condemned the "barbaric actions and genocidal operations conducted by the occupying Zionist entity against innocent civilians in Gaza." He said that Iran views it as both a humanitarian and political duty to support Palestinian people and the resistance in Gaza, and to confront ongoing Israeli terrorism.

Image: People bring teddy bears and other soft toys representing children killed in Gaza, to the gates of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London on Oct. 27, 2023, in a protest organized by Parents for Palestine calling for the UK government to withdraw its support for Israel. (Credit: Daniel Leal/AFP)

'Israel’s right to self-defense has turned into a license to kill': Bou Habib

Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib says that "Israel’s right to self-defense has turned into a license to kill."

During a meeting with United Nations Special Coordinator in Lebanon Joanna Wronecka, Bou Habib noted that the UN Secretary-General António Guterres "spoke the truth" when he pointed out that what happened on Oct. 7 between Hamas and Israel "did not come out of nowhere."

"Let the whole world know that the roots of the conflict are caused by depriving the Palestinian people of their natural rights for 75 years," Bou Habib added.

Weighing scenarios for Lebanon: With the Israel-Hamas war raging, our editor-in-chief Anthony Samrani asks what the possible scenarios for Lebanon are? He finds there are four possibilities — and only one that may yield something positive. Click here to read his analysis. 

Image: A UNIFIL tank passes near a poster representing the former head of external operations of the Revolutionary Guards, Kassem Soleimani, on Oct. 26, 2023, in Marjayoun in South Lebanon. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)

 Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on the Iraqi government and parliament to vote to close the US Embassy in Iraq for its "unfettered support of Israel." Click here for more.

CASUALTY UPDATE: The human toll continues to rise on the Palestinian side. According to AFP, the Gaza Health Ministry announced on Friday that 7,326 people, including over 3,000 children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war with Israel.

BREAKING: Hamas claims to have bombed Tel Aviv. In a message posted on Telegram, the Palestinian movement said at around 2 p.m. local time that "the al-Qassam Brigades" had just bombed the Israeli city "in response to Zionist massacres against civilians."

According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, "warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, as well as in the surrounding towns of Givatayim, Ramat Gan, Holon, Rishon LeZion, Bnei Barak and Mikveh-Israel." According to Al-Arabiya, a building in Tel Aviv was directly hit by the attack.

Image: People leave their vehicles to take cover during a rocket attack from the Palestinian Gaza Strip along a main road in Tel Aviv on Oct. 27, 2023. (Credit: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)

Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem today said "the Americans and the Israelis do not know what the days will hold if the aggression [against Gaza] continues."

Qassem's comments came as he received an Iranian parliamentary envoy. The Hezbollah No. 2 also remarked that he believes Israel is afraid of carrying out a ground offensive.

In a meeting of the 193-member General Assembly on the Middle East yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran "does not welcome the expansion of the war in the region" but that "if the genocide in Gaza continues, the [United States] will not be spared from this fire."

Image: Palestinians take part in a protest in support of the people of Gaza, as the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Oct. 27, 2023. (Credit: Mussa Qawasma/Reuters)

The Lebanese Civil Defense claimed in the early afternoon that the fire in the area of Mrouj, near the village of Alma al-Shaab in the Western section of south Lebanon (not the region of Mrouj in Mount Lebanon), had been brought under control.

Earlier in the day, residents of Alma al-Shaab called on the authorities to extinguish the fire, which had been ignited by Israeli strikes on Wednesday night. They also called for the restoration of power to the village.

Humanitarian aid update: A medical team and 10 aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip today through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, carrying water, food and medicine, a Palestinian official stationed at the border told Reuters.

"This Friday morning, a medical delegation consisting of 10 foreign doctors as well as 10 trucks carrying water, food and medicine, entered Gaza, bringing the total number of trucks [transported] since the start of the war to just 84 trucks," the official said.

A representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) said today that the agency has received estimates that a thousand unidentified bodies are still buried under the rubble in Gaza and have not yet been included in the death toll.

Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said in response to a question about the death toll in Gaza: "We are also receiving estimates that there are still more than 1,000 people under the rubble who have not yet been identified". However, he did not specify the source of this information.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has requested the "formation of a technical committee to prepare a comprehensive report ... of the damage caused by the Israeli attacks in the olive fields in the southern border areas" and the "effects of Israel's use of internationally banned phosphorus bombs" on these fields, the state-run National News Agency reports.

Mikati has also asked that the reports received be accurately documented, so that a complaint can be filed against Israel.

The United Nations human rights office says it is concerned that war crimes have been committed on both sides in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, citing forcible transfer, collective punishment and the taking of hostages.

"We are concerned that war crimes are being committed. We are concerned about the collective punishment of Gazans in response to the atrocious attacks by Hamas, which also amounted to war crimes," spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a press conference in Geneva. Click here for more.

Image: Palestinians stand on the rubble of a leveled building as smoke and fire rise from the destruction following an Israeli strike in Gaza City on Oct. 26, 2023, amid battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Credit: Omar El-Qattaa/AFP)

Hezbollah official Mohammad Yazbek said today that "the resistance will not stop destroying the enemy's positions and fortifications until the war on Gaza ends," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reports. 

During a Friday sermon he delivered at the Sayyida Khawla shrine in Baalbek, the sheikh added that "the axis of resistance [which stretches] from Sana'a to Baghdad via Tehran, and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon ... will not leave Gaza or the bloodbath no matter how heavy the sacrifices and [how much the number of martyrs increases]."

The US has issued a second round of sanctions on Hamas. Click here to learn more. 

Residents of the village of Alma al-Shaab, located in the western sector of southern Lebanon, called on the authorities to extinguish the fire in the nearby area of Mrouj (not the region of Mrouj in Mount Lebanon). Israeli strikes initiated the fire on Wednesday night. The residents also asked for the village to be supplied with electricity again.

Several pro-Palestine protests are taking place in Lebanon today.

A protest is currently happening in front of Al-Jadeed's building in Wata al-Msaytbeh in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza.

After noon prayers, Al Tahrir party will stage protests in Saadnayel (Bekaa), Tripoli and Saida.

There is also a protest organized by Hezbollah at Basta, Beirut, at around 4 p.m.

Finally, there is a march starting at around 5 pm from the Egyptian Embassy to the French Embassy in Beirut.

There are reports about protests in the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian camp after Friday's prayers and another one in Bir Hassan at 1 p.m. but L'Orient Today could not yet confirm them.

Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians during raids in the occupied West Bank today, Reuters cites the official Palestinian news agency WAFA as reporting. Two of the dead were identified by militant factions as their members.

The Israeli military said that during West Bank arrest operations its troops came under attack in the city of Jenin and fired back, killing Ayser al-Amar of the Islamic Jihad faction.

Islamic Jihad confirmed al-Amar belonged to the group. Hamas said one of its men, Jawad al-Turki, was killed during the Jenin fighting.

WAFA named the two men, another Palestinian killed in Jenin and a fourth man in the West Bank town of Qalqiya, saying their deaths took the number of Palestinians killed since the Hamas-Israel conflict broke out to 110, with more than 1,900 people injured.

The Israeli military said that in Qalqiya, troops came under fire while shutting down a store whose owner was accused of incitement to violence. They returned fire, hitting at least one person, the military's statement said.

'Soon many more will die from the consequences of [the] siege imposed on the Gaza': UNRWA chief

The Gaza Strip is in urgent need of "significant and continuous" aid, warned the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, this morning.

At a press briefing in Jerusalem, Lazzarini also said that his organization had confirmed the deaths of 57 of its employees in Palestinian territory since Oct. 7.

Lazzarini also warned that "many more will die" as a result of Israel's ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip.

"As we speak people in Gaza are dying, they are not only dying from bombs and strikes, soon many more will die from the consequences of [the] siege imposed on the Gaza Strip," Lazzarini said. "Basic services are crumbling, medicine is running out, food and water are running out, the streets of Gaza have started overflowing with sewage."

Click here for more on this story.

Image: Israeli soldiers walk at a position along the border with the Gaza Strip near Sderot in southern Israel on Oct. 27, 2023 amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Credit: Jack Guez/AFP)

Egypt's army says an unidentified drone landed this morning near a hospital building in the Red Sea town of Taba, near the Sinai Peninsula border with Israel, injuring six people, Reuters reports.

Humanitarian aid update: Another eight trucks carrying food, medicine and water are expected to cross into the Gaza Strip today, a senior United Nations official said.

"We have gotten in approximately 74 trucks. We're expecting another eight or so today," Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told reporters in Geneva, according to Reuters.

"We are aware that 1,000 patients need dialysis and that over 100 children and babies are in incubators. So we are doing our best to try to determine priorities depending on the greatest needs," she added.

BREAKING: The Israeli army now says the number of hostages held in Gaza is 229, Reuters reports.

In case you missed it: Our journalist Sally Abou AlJoud examines Hamas' history in Lebanon, from the group's origins in the Muslim Brotherhood to today's coordination with Hezbollah. Click here to read her article. 

Image: A protest on Lebanon's southern border, May 16, 2021. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)

Image: In Beirut, a man carries boxes of humanitarian aid destined for southern Lebanon, Oct. 27, 2023 (Credit: Amr Alfiky/Reuters)

Israel bombed a number of towns in the western sector of southern Lebanon last night, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency.

Dhayra, Alma al-Shaab and Naqoura (Sour district) and Ayta al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district) were targeted by Israel at around 1 a.m.

The NNA adds that Israeli aircraft continued to fly over Sour and Bint Jbeil districts until this morning.

When contacted by L'Orient Today a senior security source said he could provide no information on these strikes at this time. 

At least two people were killed during operations carried out by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank last night, according to reports by Haaretz and Al Jazeera.

The director of a hospital in Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank, announced the death of one of the two victims in the morning. Medical sources in Qalqilya, in the west, confirmed another death and two injured.

According to Al Jazeera's correspondent, the second person to die was Qasim Abdul Hafiz, a former Palestinian prisoner, who "died from gunshot wounds inflicted during an operation by Israeli occupying forces in Qalqilya."

Hamas cannot release hostages seized during its attack on Israel until a cease-fire is agreed, the Russian newspaper Kommersant quotes a member of a Hamas delegation visiting Moscow as saying, Reuters reports.

The newspaper quoted Abu Hamid as saying Hamas needed time to locate all of those who had been taken from Israel to Gaza by various Palestinian factions in a Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

"They seized dozens of people, most of them civilians, and we need time to find them in the Gaza Strip and then release them," Hamid said.

Kommersant quoted him as saying a calm environment was needed to complete this task.

Hamas said yesterday around 50 of the hostages had been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

Israel has urged Russia to expel the visiting Hamas delegation, calling their invitation to Moscow "deplorable."

Russia has ties to all the key players in the Middle East, including Israel, Iran, Syria, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

It has repeatedly blamed the current crisis on a failure of US diplomacy, and called for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and the resumption of talks aimed at finding a peace settlement.

Israeli ground forces backed by fighter jets and drones carried out a night-time targeted raid in the central Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said this morning, as preparations for a land invasion continue, AFP reports.

"During the last day, IDF [Israeli army] ground forces, accompanied by IDF fighter jets and UAVs, conducted an additional targeted raid in the central Gaza Strip," the army said in a statement.

"As part of the activity, IDF aircraft and artillery struck terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Shujaiya area and throughout the Gaza Strip."

A poll published by Israel's Maariv newspaper shows almost half of Israelis want to hold off on any invasion of Gaza, suggesting a dip in support for the planned next stage of the counteroffensive against Hamas militants holding some 200 hostages in Gaza.

Asked if the military should immediately escalate to a large-scale ground offensive, 29 percent of Israelis agreed, while 49 percent said "it would be better to wait" and 22 percent were undecided, the poll found. Read more here.

Image: A man walks between posters of hostages abducted by Palestinian militants during the Oct. 7 attack and currently held in the Gaza Strip, placed next to light bulbs and spotlights as part of an installation consisting of 224 light pillars erected by the Jerusalem municipality as a tribute for them outside Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem on Oct. 26, 2023. (Credit: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

Overnight, US airstrikes in Syria hit a weapons storage facility and an ammunition storage facility used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and militias it backs, senior US officials said, saying it was unclear if Iranian nationals were killed, Reuters reports. Click here for more.

To catch up on what happened yesterday, click here to read our Morning Brief.

Image: A picture of Yasser Arafat in the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today/File photo)

Good morning,

Thank you for joining us for the resumption of our live coverage of events in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon and across the region relating to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.