The death toll in Gaza increased substantially on Monday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, after Israel said it had attacked hundreds of targets in the enclave in one of the largest attacks in recent days. The Israeli military also announced it had bombed Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, even as President Biden spearheaded an international diplomatic push to keep the violence from engulfing other countries in the area. According to the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health in the occupied West Bank, at least 5,087 people have been killed and 15,273 have been injured in Gaza since October 7.
Top Points
- Israel conducted limited nighttime raids on Palestinian militants in Gaza and unleashed airstrikes on fighters it said were gathering to repel a larger Israeli assault on Monday.
- According to Wael Abu Omar, the spokesperson for the crossing at the Hamas-run Gaza interior ministry, a third convoy of trucks bringing humanitarian supplies has entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. He stated the caravan had 20 vehicles after 34 trucks passed over the weekend.
- Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, met with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials today to discuss Iran’s support for them and Palestinians trapped in the crossfire in Gaza, according to Iranian state media. According to Iranian state media, Hamas’ chief political officer, Ismail Haniyeh, assured Amir-Abdollahian that the terrorist group is determined to continue fighting Israel and has the situation under control.
- The French prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, called for a “humanitarian truce” on Monday to give Gazans access to water, food, and other relief. “The distribution of aid necessitates a humanitarian truce, which may lead to a cease-fire,” Borne said during a parliamentary discussion on the situation. She claimed that openings at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt were still insufficient.
- Britain’s prime minister Rishi Sunak told Parliament on Monday that his government believes the explosion at a Gaza hospital last week was caused by a weapon thrown from within the enclave.
- On the 40th anniversary of the Beirut barracks bombings in 1983, the US ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, criticised Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas for threatening to “drag Lebanon into a new war.”
- Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island who chairs the Armed Services Committee, urged on Israel on Monday to postpone a ground invasion of Gaza to allow for prisoner negotiations, more supplies to reach Gazan residents, and for Israeli commanders to fine-tune their preparations.
- The Lebanese government does not seek a conflict with Israel, according to Acting Information Minister Ziad Makari in an interview with Russian official media RIA Novosti on Monday. “The Lebanese government does not want war. If, God forbid, this happens, we will work with it,” said Makari, as quoted by RIA.
- At least 436 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes “in the past hours,” including 182 minors, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, with the majority of deaths occurring in the territory’s south. As it prepares for a future ground assault, Israel has advised inhabitants in northern Gaza to migrate south. The Israeli military claimed Monday that it had hit around 320 sites in Gaza on the previous day.
- According to Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s top spokesperson, the Israeli military has contacted the relatives of 222 persons taken on Oct. 7 during Hamas’s raid. On Sunday, he gave the number 212. According to Hagari, the captive count has increased as the army has gathered more intelligence and identified the numerous foreign people who have been taken.