Jerusalem, October 20 : Israel is bombarding Gaza and evacuating a sizable town near the Lebanese border in the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza that could trigger regional turmoil.
Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy air strikes in Khan Younis in the south, where Palestinians had been told to seek safety, and ambulances streamed into Gaza’s second-largest hospital, already overflowing with patients and people seeking shelter.
Israel’s Defence Minister has ordered troops to prepare to see Gaza “from the inside,” hinting at a ground offensive aimed at crushing Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers. Aid shipments badly needed in Gaza are positioned to enter through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt.
Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
GULF AND ASIAN NATIONS END SUMMIT WITH CALL FOR CEASE-FIRE
Riyadh: Arab Gulf and southeast Asian nations are calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The final statement of a summit hosted by Saudi Arabia on Friday also condemns “all attacks against civilians”.
The joint summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations brought together 16 member states.
Saudi Arabia, which has launched a number of diplomatic initiatives across the Middle East over the past year, has called for a halt to the fighting.
Before the outbreak of the war, the kingdom had been in talks with the United States on normalising relations with Israel in exchange for a US defence pact, help in establishing a civilian nuclear programme and unspecified concessions to the Palestinians.
UN SAYS PALESTINIANS ARE RETURNING HOME
United Nations: A spokesperson for the UN human rights office says there are new signs that some Palestinians who initially moved south in response to the Israeli order to evacuate are returning to their homes because Israeli strikes are taking place in the south, too.
“We remain very concerned that Israeli Forces’ heavy strikes are continuing across Gaza, including in the south,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.
“The strikes, coupled with extremely difficult living conditions in the south, appear to have pushed some to return to the north, despite the continuing heavy bombing there.”
Shamdasani said the rights office had heard accounts about people wanting to migrate back north, including from one unidentified Palestinian who said “I might as well die in my own house.”
SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW CONVOY OF AID TRUCKS WAITING TO CROSS INTO GAZA
Jerusalem: Satellite photos analysed on Friday by The Associated Press show a massive convoy of semitruck trailers lined up at the Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian side, likely waiting for approval to cross into the besieged Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war rages.
The images, shot on Thursday by Planet Labs PBC, show 55 trucks waiting in two lines, just half a kilometre (a third of a mile) away from the border. There are over 50 smaller vehicles visible in the image as well, many appearing to be with aid organisations, waiting at the crossing.
The Gaza Strip, home to over 2 million Palestinians, has been cut off from food, water, fuel and electricity by Israel since Hamas’ Oct 7 surprise attack. There have been days of high-level negotiations over aid getting into the besieged seaside enclave, including officials all the way up to US President Joe Biden.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has arrived in northern Sinai as the world body works on getting aid through, said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The deal to get aid into Gaza through Rafah, the territory’s only crossing not controlled by Israel, remains fragile. Israel said the supplies could only go to civilians and that it would “thwart” any diversions by Hamas. More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid were positioned at or near Rafah.
Work began Friday to repair the road at the crossing that had been damaged in air strikes, with trucks unloading gravel and bulldozers and other road repair equipment filling in large craters.