Live
By Usaid Siddiqui, Hamza Mohamed, Umut Uras and Arwa Ibrahim
Published On 21 Oct 2023

This live blog is now closed.

22 Oct 2023 - 23:04
 (23:04 GMT)

Thank you for joining us

Thank you for following along with all of today’s live updates from the Israel-Gaza war.

You can continue to follow our new live page here.

You can also read more about Hamas repelling a ground raid by Israel here. And the story of an Israeli tank accidentally hitting an Egyptian border position can be found here.

22 Oct 2023 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Here’s a look back at today’s events

We are going to bring our live coverage to an end soon. Here’s a summary of today’s main events:

  • Hamas says it repelled an Israeli ground incursion near Khan Younis, with Israel reporting that one soldier was killed and three others injured.
  • Israel’s military acknowledged an accidental tank strike on an Egyptian position outside the Gaza Strip, resulting in at least seven injuries.
  • A convoy of 17 trucks has successfully delivered essential humanitarian aid to Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
  • The US announced plans to increase military resources in the Middle East to bolster support for Israel and enhance the US defence presence in the region, citing “recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces”.
  • The UN said the lives of at least 120 newborn babies in incubators in Gaza’s hospitals are at risk as fuel runs out in the Palestinian enclave under a renewed Israeli blockade.
  • Israeli air raids in Gaza have killed at least 266 Palestinians in the past 24 hours.
  • At least 4,651 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since Hamas’s offensive in Israel on October 7, and more than 14,000 wounded.
  • More than 1,400 people in Israel have been reported killed.
22 Oct 2023 - 22:35
 (22:35 GMT)

Canada’s Trudeau speaks to Israel’s Herzog about Hamas attacks

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has discussed with Israeli President Isaac Herzog the captives taken by Hamas while raising concerns over the deteriorating conditions in Gaza.

“We spoke about the hostages held by Hamas, and the need for their immediate release,” Trudeau said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“I also expressed my concern for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and my support for the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security,” he added.

22 Oct 2023 - 22:13
 (22:13 GMT)

Gaza’s civil defence says 30 bodies recovered from under rubble in Jabalia

At least 30 bodies, most of them belonging to women and children, have been recovered from under bombed out buildings, following the latest Israeli strike in northern Gaza.

The Palestinian civil defence in the city of Jabalia said that Israeli forces hit two buildings in one of the refugee camps in the area.

The air raids also reportedly destroyed two mosques.

“They have destroyed it and they destroyed the district around it,” one witness was quoted as saying.

22 Oct 2023 - 22:10
 (22:10 GMT)

Israeli air raid in southern Lebanon town: State media

The Lebanese state National News Agency is reporting that Israeli jets have launched an air raid on the southern outskirts of the town of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon.

We will bring you more updates as we get them.

22 Oct 2023 - 21:58
 (21:58 GMT)

Hamas leader, Iran’s FM discuss Israel’s ‘brutal crimes’

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have discussed how to stop the Israeli military’s “brutal crimes” in Gaza, Hamas said in a statement.

22 Oct 2023 - 21:40
 (21:40 GMT)

US to increase military resources in Middle East: Defence secretary

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has announced plans to increase military resources in the Middle East to bolster support for Israel and enhance the US defence presence in the region, citing “recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces”.

“We’re concerned about potential escalation. In fact, what we’re seeing … is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region,” Austin told ABC’s This Week program.

“If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation … our advice is, don’t,” he warned.

22 Oct 2023 - 21:24
 (21:24 GMT)

Macron to visit Israel on Tuesday

French President Macron will visit Israel on Tuesday, the Elysee has announced, confirming remarks from the Israeli prime minister’s office earlier in the day.

22 Oct 2023 - 21:10
 (21:10 GMT)

Biden, Netanyahu say there will be ‘continued flow’ of aid into Gaza

Biden and Netanyahu have agreed that aid will continue into the Gaza Strip despite ongoing Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave, the White House said.

“The leaders affirmed that there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance into Gaza,” the White House said after the two leaders spoke by telephone.

22 Oct 2023 - 20:46
 (20:46 GMT)

Update to rules of engagement between Lebanon, Israel

Hezbollah has announced that 12 of its fighters have been killed over the past 24 hours. Six of them were killed today [Sunday].

This brings the total number of Hezbollah fighters that have been killed since the beginning of the confrontations in southern Lebanon to 25.

Hezbollah has also announced that it has been attacking several Israeli posts on the 120km [75-mile] border.

There is a new element that has entered the confrontations, and that is the use of air strikes by Israel killing the Hezbollah cells. This might mean that Hezbollah might also start to use a new tactic, given that this war has seen an update to the rules of engagement.

22 Oct 2023 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

Israeli soldier killed during ground raid in Gaza, Israel army says

The Israeli military has said one of its soldiers was killed by an anti-tank missile reportedly shot by the Palestinian armed group Hamas during a raid into the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Army.

Three other soldiers were injured in the raid, said the statement that came as the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced on its Telegram account that it had pushed Israeli forces back into Israel.

The Israeli military said the purpose of the raid was to locate Hamas captives in Gaza’s Khan Younis area and to “thwart terrorist infrastructure”.

Read more here.

An Israeli soldier walks next to a burnt car following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip that landed in Ashkelon, southern Israel [Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters]
22 Oct 2023 - 20:42
 (20:42 GMT)

Indonesian Hospital to stop surgeries if no fuel enters Gaza

The Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya in the Gaza Strip may be forced to halt surgeries if it does not get fuel to run the facility.

“We will face a catastrophe if we don’t get more fuel,” the hospital’s Director Atef al-Kahlout told Al Jazeera.

“Medical personnel are exhausted. They have been on duty 24 hours a day since the Israeli attack began to attend to patients who continue to arrive every minute,” al-Kahlout added.

“We are in dire need of medical supplies, medicine and fuel,” he said.

22 Oct 2023 - 20:29
 (20:29 GMT)

US warns of retaliation if its forces attacked in Middle East

The United States has warned it is prepared to retaliate if its troops are targeted in the course of the Israel-Hamas war, as the possibility of the conflict spreading across the Middle East rises.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, said he expects the war to escalate through involvement by proxies of Iran, adding that the Biden administration is prepared to respond if American personnel become the target of such hostilities.

“We are taking steps to make sure that we can effectively defend our people and respond decisively if we need to,” Blinken said, noting that additional military assets had been deployed to the Middle East, including two aircraft carrier battle groups.

You can read more on this story here.

22 Oct 2023 - 20:20
 (20:20 GMT)

Amnesty chief condemns killing of Gaza journalist

Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of rights group Amnesty International, has condemned the killing of Gaza-based journalist Rushdi Sarraj in an Israeli air raid.

“Rushdi was a talented filmmaker and a journalist – another victim of Israel bombing of Gaza,” she posted on X, adding that Sarraj had previously worked with Amnesty to produce a short film.

22 Oct 2023 - 20:19
 (20:19 GMT)

WATCH: Will Hezbollah launch offensive on Israel?

The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire across the border since Hamas’s attack on October 7.

So what could happen if Israel launches a full offensive?

22 Oct 2023 - 20:17
 (20:17 GMT)

At least 13 killed in Israeli air strike on Jabalia camp

At least 13 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on two residences in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip.

At least 27 others, most of them children, were injured and evacuated to an Indonesian hospital, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

22 Oct 2023 - 20:10
 (20:10 GMT)

Israel threatens to strike al-Quds Hospital: Red Crescent

The Palestine Red Crescent says the Israeli military has threatened to bomb al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

“I urge the international community to stop Israel from bombing al-Quds hospital,” said Red Crescent media spokesperson Nebal Farsakh.

“The international community will be held accountable for any strike on the hospital,” she told Al Jazeera.

22 Oct 2023 - 19:59
 (19:59 GMT)

‘I would rather die a thousand times’ than leave Gaza, teacher says

Gaza-based teacher Abdallah al-Naami says that while he hopes to survive the ongoing war, he and others would rather die in the besieged enclave than go through another Nakba.

Also referred to as “catastrophe”, the Nakba was a 1948 event when more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes in historic Palestine, after the declaration of the state of Israel.

“We won’t give up our land. We refuse to be part of the second Nakba, I would rather die a thousand times,” al-Naami told Al Jazeera. “At least my body will be very buried in Gaza under the rubble or a graveyard.”

22 Oct 2023 - 19:50
 (19:50 GMT)

UN says 14 trucks with aid enter Gaza, no fuel supplied

The United Nations says 14 trucks carrying vital aid, including food supplies and medicine, have entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah land crossing.

The supplies were received by the Red Crescent Society and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), a UN official said.

Israel has not allowed any fuel to enter Gaza as alarm grows over a worsening humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.

 

22 Oct 2023 - 19:25
 (19:25 GMT)

Dutch PM to meet Netanyahu, Abbas

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will travel to Israel for talks on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He will also hold talks with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Rutte’s office said.