Israeli tanks enter Gaza to 'prepare battlefield' as ground invasion looms
In a television address on Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israel is still preparing a ground invasion. The decision to launch it will be decided by his war cabinet, he said, but he gave no indication about timing
The Israeli military said Israeli troops and tanks briefly entered northern Gaza overnight hitting several targets.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said his military is 'preparing for a ground operation' on Gaza but did not specify when it might occur.
Hospitals in Gaza are ceasing to function as more run out of fuel and water.
Israel is blocking fuel supplies into the Strip, but says Hamas is hoarding existing reserves as a third of hospitals have been stopped functioning.
A senior Hamas leader met with Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad officials to discuss the next steps for Gaza at this "sensitive stage."
The death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 6,500, while more than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, according to respective health officials. Israel's military raised the number of remaining hostages in Gaza to 222 people.
Israeli troops launched an overnight ground raid in Gaza, the military said, hitting several targets as a wider invasion loomed after more than two weeks of heavy air raids.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said troops and tanks briefly entered northern Gaza striking several militant targets and fighters in order to “prepare the battlefield”.
It comes after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday night his military is "preparing for a ground operation" on Gaza as the territory plunges deeper into a humanitarian crisis without crucial aid.
Mr Netanyahu did not specify "when, how, how much," but added "all Hamas members are marked to death" as he spoke of the looming ground offensive.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have bombarded the Gaza Strip with rockets since the surprise terror attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas, where over 1,400 Israelis were killed on October 7.
Hamas said more than 700 people were killed by Israeli air strikes from Tuesday to Wednesday - the deadliest day since the conflict began.
It brings the total death toll to 6,556 in Gaza, while more than 17,000 are injured, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry - figures which cannot be independently verified.
In the occupied West Bank, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed and 1,650 wounded.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday spoke out against retaliatory attacks by "extremist settlers" against Palestinians in the West Bank, which have intensified since the Hamas attack, according to Palestinian officials.
Rights groups say settlers have torched cars and attacked several small Bedouin communities, forcing them to evacuate to other areas.
The UN warned its main agency working in Gaza will be forced to halt its aid operations for its civilians due to fuel shortages. A third of hospitals across the 41-kilometre area have stopped functioning.
Around 62 vehicles carrying humanitarian assistance - including food, water and medical supplies - have been transported into the besieged territory since Saturday.
But Israel's military said it will not allow any fuel to enter Gaza because Hamas needs it for its operational infrastructure.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has claimed that fuel from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was "stolen by Hamas."
Mr Hagari was responding to a question about if Israel would consider allowing fuel into the Strip if it were in exchange for hostages.
It's at odds with earlier comments from the IDF that said efforts will be made to provide access to fuel in Gaza where needed to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, but that it would "not allow" the fuel to reach Hamas.
It comes as an ongoing spat between Israel and the UN's Secretary-General enters a second day after António Guterres said the Hamas attacks "did not happen in a vacuum" on Tuesday night.
The Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called on Mr Guterres to resign, and on Wednesday the UN boss said he is “shocked” at the “misinterpretations” of the statement, reiterating his words were "not justifying acts of terror by Hamas".
Concerns are mounting over the risk of a growing health crisis in Gaza, as more than half of Gaza's primary health care facilities, and a third of hospitals, have stopped functioning, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
Hospital staff have struggled to triage cases, as electrical blackouts surge after failures in fuel-run generators and the constant waves of wounded have been brought in.
The Hamas-led Health Ministry said many of the injured are laid on the ground without simple medical intervention and others wait for days for surgeries because there are so many critical cases.
Fuel is also essential to the local water pumps which the majority of the enclave is supplied through, but as the system has begun collapsing, fears rise that people could start dying from dehydration or waterborne diseases.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA's director of communications, explained just why fuel is so important to the people of Gaza.
Ms Touma told ITV News: "It's simple things like not being able to drive our cars so that we deliver assistance using the cars, it's not being able to get our trucks going and go to the borders and collect the very little supplies being sent to Gaza.
"It's fuel for medical facilities that we run, it's fuel for the water pumping stations and desalination plants.
'The chain is very soon likely to be cut. And with that, life will be cut for people in the Gaza Strip,' said UNRWA's director of communications Juliette Touma
"We've also been giving wheat flour to bakeries around the Gaza Strip to provide bread for people so that is also likely to stop.
"It's a chain, it's a chain about life. And that chain is very soon likely to be cut. And with that, life will be cut for people in the Gaza Strip."
She added that UNRWA remain hopeful that an urgent supply of fuel will be allowed to make its way into Gaza on Wednesday.
Ms Touma said that at least 38 colleagues of hers, working at UNRWA, have been killed in Gaza since the war began. "These are not just numbers... half of them were teachers teaching in UN schools."
Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad meet to discuss next steps
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah held talks on Wednesday with senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials.
A brief statement following the meeting said that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah agreed with Hamas’ Saleh al-Arouri and Islamic Jihad’s leader Ziad al-Nakhleh on the next steps the three - along with other Iran-backed militant groups - should take at this “sensitive stage.”
Their goal, according to the statement shared on Hezbollah-run and Lebanese state media, was to achieve “a real victory for the resistance in Gaza and Palestine” and halt Israel’s “treacherous and brutal aggression against our oppressed and steadfast people in Gaza and the West Bank."
Details of what the groups are planning have not been provided.
Israel blocks visas for UN officials following comments by Secretary-General Guterres
Israel will halt visas for UN officials following comments made by Secretary-General António Guterres about the crisis in the Middle East, Israel's ambassador to the UN said on Wednesday.
It has already rejected a visa application by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths.
“It's time we teach them a lesson," Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the Israeli Army Radio.
It comes after Mr Guterres called for Israel to stop its bombing campaign and siege during a UN meeting on Tuesday, comments he said on Wednesday that were "misinterpreted".
'Let me be clear, no party is above international law,' António Guterres said while speaking at the UN Security Council on Tuesday
He described what is happening in Gaza as "clear violations of international humanitarian law", but also called for a two-state solution to the conflict and an immediate release of all Hamas hostages “without conditions.”
Mr Guterres said the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify “the horrifying and unprecedented October 7 acts of terror” by Hamas in Israel.
But he also stressed that “those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," adding that it’s important to recognise “the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum.”
In response, Israel's ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan accused the secretary-general of having lost “all morality and impartiality” and called for his resignation.
On Wednesday, Mr Guterres reiterated his statement in response to the backlash, saying he was "shocked" by the "misrepresentation" of his words.
He said his words were "not justifying acts of terror by Hamas" and that he had condemned the "horrifying acts of terror" by Hamas in Israel.
Approximately 220 hostages are still being held in Gaza, following the release of four people by Hamas.
Qatar's foreign minister has said that negotiations with Hamas over the release of the hostages continues, and that he hopes to see some breakthroughs "soon."
UK aid headed for Egypt as Sunak supports pause in fighting
Addressing the House of Commons on Wednesday, prime minister Rishi Sunak reaffirmed his position that Israel has the right to respond militarily to Hamas, as long as it follows international law.
On Wednesday night, a RAF plane carrying 21 tons of humanitarian support landed in Egypt, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed. Supplies on board the C-17 aircraft include medical equipment and water filters.
Mr Sunak added British officials and allies at the UN had discussed “specific pauses, as distinct from a ceasefire” to allow aid into Gaza and let UK citizens and other foreign nationals leave.
Gaza bombing continues
The IDF said across the last 24 hours it has struck Hamas infrastructure, including terror tunnel shafts, military headquarters and weapons warehouses.
It added it believes to have killed the Commander of the North Khan Yunis Battalion of Hamas, Taysir Mubasher, who has held positions heading up the terror group's naval forces and in weapons manufacturing.
Mubasher's death has not been confirmed by Hamas.
Israeli airstrikes also reportedly hit a number of military sites in southern Syria on Wednesday, killing eight soldiers and wounding seven others, according to Syrian state media.
Tensions have risen in Syria since the conflict began, with reports of two Israeli airstrikes on the Damascus airport and three on Aleppo’s airport that put them out of service.
Israel has targeted airports and sea ports in parts of Syria in an apparent attempt to prevent arms shipments from Iran to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
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