Thanks for joining us for our LIVE coverage of day 31 of the Hamas-Israel war. We will be back tomorrow with more news updates.
Rafah: A convoy of four ambulances transporting patients from Al Shifa hospital in Gaza have arrived at Rafah crossing, at the border with Egypt, a statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed.
“It is an immense relief to know that these patients are safe and will receive urgent medical care,” said William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC’s office in Gaza.
"There are thousands of critically injured people in Gaza. It is an obligation under international humanitarian law to spare them from harm," he added.
The Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen said it fired a batch of drones on sensitive targets in Israel during the last few hours, Reuters reported, citing Yemeni TV channel Al-Masirah.
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the potential for tactical pauses in strikes on Gaza during talks on Monday, according to White House spokesperson John Kirby.
He said more Americans are expected to exit Gaza on Monday as more aid enters the territory. Biden and Netanyahu also discussed the situation in the West Bank, Kirby said.
The United States acknowledged that thousands of civilians had been injured or killed in Gaza, without giving a precise figure, according to AFP.
“Regarding the civilian victims in Gaza ... we know that it is necessary to count in the thousands,” Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder told the press, when asked about the latest Hamas toll.
“This is why we have stressed to the Israelis and others in the region the importance of getting humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he added.
The catastrophe caused by the war between Israel and Hamas “makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with each passing hour,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, describing Gaza as “a cemetery for children," according to AFP.
The outskirts of southern Lebanon border village Aita al-Shaab was shelled by Israel around 7 p.m., eyewitnesses told L'Orient Today.
Israel is carrying out strikes in the surroundings of Naqoura and Labboune, according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon, Mountasser Abdallah, citing reports from Naqoura residents.
Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari confirmed on his official X (formerly Twitter) account that the Israeli army is carrying out strikes “on Hezbollah targets” in Lebanon.
Hezbollah just announced the killing of two of its fighters Hussein Lotfi Sweid, from the southern Lebanon village Markaba, and Mohamad Melhem Yousef from the village Ham in Bekaa.
Hezbollah did not specify the date and place of the killing. The total number of Hezbollah fighters who were killed in skirmishes in southern Lebanon since Oct. 9 is now 65 according to our count.
How anti-west sentiment is spreading through the Middle East:
In Bahrain, Jana and her 10-year-old brother Ali, used to eat at McDonald's nearly daily but they are among many across the Middle East now boycotting products they believe support Israel.
With the campaign spreading on social media including TikTok, children as well as their parents are shunning major Western brands.
Read more about it here: 'Did you kill a Palestinian?': Anti-West boycott sweeps Mideast (Focus)
Four Palestinian militants were killed and another seriously wounded after Israeli forces shot at their car in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday, according to Reuters.
The Israeli security forces killed four Palestinian militants who it said were part of a cell in the West Bank that was directed by Hamas and behind numerous shooting attacks, the Israeli military and police said in a statement.
A statement by the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said three of the militants, whose ages ranged between 20 and 25, were from its Tulkarm arm, while the fourth was from the Islamist Hamas' armed wing, Al Qassam Brigades.
A 14-year-old boy was seriously wounded in the shooting but his condition was stable, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Hamas will remain in Gaza and will not accept "a Vichy government" in the territory it controls, said a leader of Hamas in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, according to AFP.
"To those who think Hamas will disappear, Hamas will remain rooted in the consciousness ... of our people, and no force on earth will be able to annihilate or marginalize it," Hamdane said in a press conference.
"Our people will not allow the United States to impose its plans to create an administration that suits it and the [Israeli] occupation and our people will not accept a new Vichy government," he added, referring to the French collaborationist regime under Nazi occupation during the Second World War.
The senior adviser to Israeli prime minister, Mark Regev, told Sky News that the Israeli army is prepared for a potential attack from Hezbollah.
“If Hezbollah does initiate a wider conflict in the north, we are ready. Israel is mobilized. Israel is watching," he said.
“We are ready to respond expeditiously and decisively,” he added.
He said that Israel does not want a war on its northern frontier.
• More than 10,000 Palestinians, including 4,104 children, killed by Israel in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to Hamas.
• Hezbollah claimed attacks on three Israeli positions in the afternoon. Hamas claimed it fired "16 rockets" from South Lebanon towards Haifa.
• Violent fighting in the north of the Gaza Strip, cut in two, according to the Israeli army: “Gaza south and Gaza north."
Irani President Ebrahim Raisi will travel to Saudi Arabia next Sunday to take part in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit, Reuters reported, citing Iranian newspaper Etemaad Daily.
Hezbollah claimed in a statement attacks on three Israeli positions which they said took place at 4:20 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. The statement added that they destroyed technical equipment and hit the target.
BREAKING: The Lebanese branch of the al-Qassam Brigade, Hamas' military wing, just claimed in a statement that it attacked with 16 rockets the Israeli northern cities of Naharia and Haifa.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that it is the longest distance that rockets have been fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel so far since the start of the war on Oct. 7.
The Israeli army said 30 launches were identified from Lebanon toward northern Israel over the last hour. Writing in a statement on X (formerly Twitter), it said it is responding with artillery fire toward the origin of the launches.
The group said its attack comes in response to the "massacres from the [Israeli] occupation and its aggression on our people in Gaza."
Earlier, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on X that alerts were activated in the northern part of Israel. "The details are under investigation," he said.
Haaretz said there are currently no reports of casualties.
Palestinians check the rubble of a building in Khan Yunis on Nov. 6, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP)
The Lebanese Ministry of Information called on journalists and correspondents in southern Lebanon to "take the necessary preventive measures" which entails wearing "protective vests and helmets and taking out an insurance policy that includes all aspects of hospitalization, in addition to a comprehensive life insurance that covers the risks of working on the border."
Lebanese Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab described the Israeli attacks on Sunday, which killed four civilians and targeted an ambulance in southern Lebanon, as "an expansion of the war zone for which Israel is primarily responsible."
Bou Saab, speaking after a meeting with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri also referred to Berri's "efforts... to avoid a war in Lebanon."
"If there is a war, it is clear who the aggressor will be," he added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian claims they have received messages from the US in the past three days about bringing an end to the fighting in Gaza, according to Iran's state-run news agency, reports Reuters
"They are seeking a ceasefire... but in practice they have only supported mass killing and genocide in Gaza," he is quoted as saying.
Blinken is currently touring the region for a second time since the start of the war and in a series of press conferences has stated that the US is not pressing for ceasefire, instead reiterating support for Israel's stated goal of ending Hamas.
The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 now exceeds 10,000.
According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, quoted by Reuters, 10,022 Palestinians, including 4,104 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza.
Gaza authorities responsible for the Rafah border crossing said that foreign nationals and Egyptian passport holders who have been registered since Nov. 1 can now cross the border, Reuters reported.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has been officially invited by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to the emergency summit of Arab League leaders to be held on Nov. 11 in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
In a statement, the Grand Serail added that the summit would focus "on the Israeli aggression of the Gaza Strip and developments on the ground in the occupied Palestinian territories." Mikati has been invited to the summit by the Palestinian Authority and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). "We are convinced that your presence will be an influential sign of support for the brotherly Palestinian people," continued the Grand Serail, citing the invitation from the Saudi kingdom.
UNIFIL's Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said that UNIFIL "witnessed heavy gunfire across the Blue Line" on Sunday, according to comments published by the state-run National News Agency.
“We have heard tragic reports about the killing of four civilians, three girls and a woman, in the vicinity of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon," Tenenti added.
Once again, he said that there is a "possibility of the escalation getting out of control" and called for a cessation of the hostilities.
The situation at the borders at the moment is relatively calm.
"We remind all concerned parties that attacks against civilians constitute a violation of international law and may amount to war crimes. We urge everyone to cease fire now, to prevent more people from being harmed,” Tenenti continued.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his US counterpart Antony Blinken that a ceasefire needs to be declared urgently in Gaza, a foreign ministry source said, according to Reuters.
Following Fidan's talks with Blinken in Ankara, the source said Fidan had also told the US secretary of state that Israel had to be prevented from targeting civilians and displacing people in Gaza.
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai called the Lebanese government to "adhere to the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which orders Israel and Hezbollah to immediately stop all attacks and military operations on both sides," according to state-run National News Agency.
"We call on the officials of the Lebanese state to work to neutralize Lebanon from the scourge of this war ... and to play its political and diplomatic role in supporting the Palestinian cause," Rai added in a speech delivered in the opening session of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon.
Rai also condemned the "genocidal, destructive ... war against the Palestinian people" and expressed his support for the two-state solution.
Finally, he called on the international community to "work on stopping this war and the killing ... and displacement [of people]."
Palestinians inspect the damage in Gaza City's Shati refugee camp on Nov. 6, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Credit: Bashar Taleb/AFP)
The South African government is recalling its diplomats from Israel for consultations given the current situation in the region, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshaveni announced on Monday.
“The South African government has decided to withdraw all its diplomats from Tel Aviv for consultations,” she announced during a press briefing, without further details on the duration of this recall but emphasizing the "disappointment" from Pretoria in particular regarding "the continuation of Israeli bombings of schools and clinics" in the Gaza Strip.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held their first meeting in Ankara on Monday since the start of the war, according to an AFP journalist on site.
According to Reuters, the meeting reportedly lasted around two and a half hours during which the two discussed the ongoing situation in Gaza, expanding humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave and preventing the war from expanding.
Following the meeting, Blinken stated that "we'll see in the coming days that humanitarian assistance can expand in significant ways" and that a "critical aspect of getting humanitarian pauses" is ensuring that there is progress on getting the hostages in Gaza released.
There is no meeting scheduled between the top US diplomat and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been critical of the US's "unlimited support to Israel."
Norway is looking to restart the diplomatic channel in the hopes of reviving the frozen Palestinian-Israeli peace talks amid the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Monday in Norway's capital Oslo, according to Reuters.
"This war has reminded everyone that there is no other lasting solution to this than having a two-state solution, which one had hoped to see after the Oslo Accords 30 years ago," the foreign minister stated.
"We must already think now about what comes after. Diplomatic initiatives and solutions are necessary," Norway's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement on Sunday following a meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
From 1992-1993, Norway worked as the facilitator for peace talks between the Israeli government headed by then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat which culminated in the 1993 Oslo Accords.
The European Union will increase humanitarian aid to Gaza by 25 million euros ($26.9 million) to make a total of 100 million euros ($107.5 million) spent by the EU on humanitarian aid to Gaza, Reuters reported.
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, walk and gather at Shifa hospital where they shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza City Nov. 5, 2023. (Credit: Mohammed al-Masri/Reuters)
Alfa is experiencing network outages in southern Lebanon, according to the state-run National News Agency, citing a press release from the mobile operator.
In the text, Alfa specifies that the localities experiencing these cuts are those connected to centers "that cannot be supplied with fuel oil due to the current situation." The operator added that it is coordinating with the security forces to restore services.
The management of the Sheikh Ragheb Harb Hospital in the southern Lebanese town of Toul (Nabatiyeh) said that Hoda Abd el-Nabi Hijazi, the mother of the children killed in Sunday's Israeli strike on the border with Israel, was still in intensive care, denying media reports of her death from injuries.
The four civilians killed in the attack on Sunday evening - three children aged 14, 12 and 10 and their grandmother, who is the sister of Lebanese journalist Samir Ayoub - were in one of the vehicles targeted by the Israeli army on the road near the town of Ghadmata.
Lebanon's caretaker Minister of Environment Nasser Yassine said that Lebanon intended to "file a documented complaint against the scorched earth policy and the use of phosphorus bombs" by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.
Four flares targeted the area between Naqoura and Labouneh in southern Lebanon around an hour ago and led to the burning of herbs causing smoke, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South.
Meanwhile, the state-run National News Agency reported that "the surroundings of the towns of Naqoura and Labouneh are subjected to direct enemy bombardment."
Around 100 British nationals have left Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah crossing with another 14 UK citizens having died since the start of the war on Oct. 7, UK Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said on Monday, AFP reported.
She added that there were still another three citizens who remained unaccounted for, adding that this did not "necessarily mean that they're hostages, but at the moment we're not sure where they are."
Egypt has said that it will help to evacuate the around 7,000 foreign nationals in Gaza but despite the crossing opening Wednesday for injured Palestinians and dual nationals, only a small number have been able to leave.
The number of UK citizens in Gaza is believed to be in the low hundreds with as many as 200 British nationals and their dependents registering with authorities to leave the besieged enclave.
The number of French nationals killed in Hamas attacks on Israel has risen to 40, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced, according to Reuters.
The Israeli army claims to have destroyed "450 targets" belonging to Hamas in Gaza and killed Jamal Moussa, the "chief of the special security forces" in Gaza, according to statements by the army spokesperson relayed by Haaretz.
Fuel deliveries to Lebanon will continue normally despite the concerns expressed by certain maritime carriers at the start of the war between Hamas and Israel.
According to the president of the Association of Hydrocarbon Importing Companies in Lebanon (APIC), Maroun Chammas, whom L'Orient-Le Jour contacted, a tanker unloaded its cargo of gasoline and diesel on Sunday and the deliveries will continue as planned.
Two to three ships, each carrying 30,000 tons of gasoline or diesel, dock in Lebanon every week on average, according to APIC data.
The president of the union of gas cylinder distributors, Jean Hatem, also assured that there is “no major change” in the delivery schedule. Lebanon has fuel delivered up to six times a month with loads ranging between 2,000 and 10,000 tons.
APIC confirmed that the increase in risk premiums requested by carriers has been offset, for the moment, by the relative drop in the S&P Platte index, used by the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water to set fuel prices in Lebanon.
The Health Ministry in Gaza announced Monday that at least 200 people had been killed in the intense Israeli bombardments carried out overnight in the Gaza Strip.
“More than 200 martyrs in the night's massacres,” the ministry said in a statement to the media, specifying that this toll only covered Gaza City and the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday accused the United States of "encouraging" Israel to "kill and commit cruel acts" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, AFP reported.
Receiving Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamad Shia al-Sudani in Tehran, Raissi once again called for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza.
An Israeli soldier was seriously wounded on Monday in a knife attack outside a police station in East Jerusalem, near Damascus Gate, and the assailant was "neutralized," the Israeli police announced.
"A terrorist armed with a knife arrived at the Shalem police station and stabbed a female soldier... border police forces neutralized the terrorist by firing," the police added in a statement.
Britain's Foreign Office announces the temporary withdrawal of some staff from the British Embassy in Lebanon.
The UK had previously advised its nationals not to travel to Lebanon on Oct. 18 due to the conflict between Israel and Gaza, and encouraged any Britons still in the country to leave while commercial flights were still available.
The parachuting of medical aid into Gaza announced overnight by Jordan was done "in coordination" with the Israeli army, an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP on Monday morning.
"Last night, in coordination with [the Israeli army], a Jordanian plane dropped medical equipment and food for the Jordanian hospital in the Gaza Strip. The equipment will be used by the medical body for patients," said the spokesman.
Violent fighting continues to rage in the north of the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli army claims to have cut in two, with a plan to destroy the Hamas command center. Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus called on civilians to leave northern Gaza on Monday, saying "we'll be less restricted" in what we can do."
"We will then be able to dismantle Hamas, stronghold by stronghold, battalion by battalion, until we reach the ultimate goal, which is to rid the Gaza Strip - the whole Gaza Strip - of Hamas," he said in his morning briefing.
The ground fighting is accompanied by "significant strikes," according to the Israeli army - 2,500 since Oct. 27 - to dislodge Hamas fighters entrenched in a network of tunnels.
On the diplomatic front, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Turkey on Monday to try to appease the anger of one of Washington's most strategic but difficult allies, in the midst of the war in Gaza. Blinken's first visit to Turkey since the start of the war comes at a time when anger against Israel and the West is being heard on the streets of Turkey and in the palace of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
For his part, President Erdogan chose to visit a remote region in the north-east of the country on Monday, a seeming snub of the US diplomat. Blinken is due to meet his Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli army announced Monday the arrest of 22-year-old activist Ahed Tamimi in a raid in the occupied West Bank.
Tamimi became an icon of the Palestinian cause worldwide after a video of her went viral of her standing up to and slapping an Israeli soldier in 2017 for which she was subsequently arrested.
She was arrested in her hometown town of Nabi Saleh on suspicion of incitement to violence and terrorist activities. Tamimi has been transferred to Israeli security forces for further questioning, according to an army spokesman who spoke to AFP.
While we are at it, get caught up with what happened over the weekend and what to expect today with the latest edition of the Morning Brief.
Good morning,
We're back with our live coverage of the Hamas-Israel war, on its 30th day.
First thing first, click here to be updated on the latest 24-hour developments.
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