20:15 GMT – Israeli foreign minister claims Tel Aviv 'never targeted people'
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen claimed that his country is acting under international law, and never target civilians.
While reacting to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks at a UN Security Council meeting where he said "humanitarian pauses must be considered” to get civilians “out of harm's way,” Cohen responded: “We never targeted people.”
“Israel is working according to international law. We give humanitarian aid, water, food and medicine. We never targeted people,” he said on Tuesday. “We are only targeting Hamas terrorists.”
19:46 GMT – Gaza media office says over 12,000 tons of explosives dropped by Israel since Oct. 7
Israel has dropped more than 12,000 tons of explosives on Gaza since October 7, the media office in the Palestinian enclave said on Tuesday.
“The explosive force of these explosives is equivalent to the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in Japan” in 1945, the office said in a statement.
“An average of 33 tons of explosives were dropped per square kilometer on the Palestinian enclave since Israel started its aggression," it added.
19:33 GMT – Israeli army says it shelled Syria after rockets hit open areas
The Israeli army said it fired artillery shells into Syria following rocket fire towards the Golan Heights.
A military statement said air-raid sirens sounded in the Golan Heights after two rockets were launched from Syria on Tuesday.
The army said both projectiles landed in open areas, adding that it responded with artillery shelling.
The rockets were fired by Iranian militias based in Deraa, southwestern Syria, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire.
18:53 GMT – Israel rejects UN agency's demand to allow fuel into Gaza
The Israeli army rejected demands from a UN agency on Tuesday to allow fuel into the blockaded Gaza amid relentless airstrikes on the Palestinian territory.
“Fuel will not enter the Gaza Strip. Hamas needs it for its operational infrastructure,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in statements cited by Haaretz newspaper.
“Hamas can return the fuel it stole from UNRWA hospitals,” he said.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency on Tuesday warned that operations would stop in Gaza Strip if fuel shipments were not allowed into the enclave.
“Gaza operation will end tomorrow if we don’t get fuel,” UNRWA said in a statement.
18:47 GMT – Israeli hostage’s praise of Hamas' treatment of her triggers criticism in Israel
Statements by an elderly Israeli woman who was released from captivity by Hamas in which she praised the Palestinian resistance group have incited a wave of criticism in Israel.
Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, said at a news conference outside Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital on Tuesday, that she was treated well by Hamas during her two weeks in captivity. She said the Palestinian group provided her with a doctor to monitor her health and worked to secure her medicine.
Lifshitz was one of two hostages released by Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, on “humanitarian grounds.”
Eddie Rothstein, a columnist for Israel Hayom newspaper, said the news conference was a “propaganda win for Hamas,” The Times of Israel newspaper reported.
18:30 GMT – Israeli army says 'no fuel will be allowed into Gaza'
The Israeli army spokesperson has said that no fuel will be allowed into Gaza as hospitals run out of power.
The United Nations had earlier warned that its operations in the besieged enclave would be paralysed if no fuel resources are allowed into Gaza.
The UN had projected that the fuel reserves can only serve the facilities in Gaza until Wednesday night.
18:25 GMT – Biden says humanitarian aid not reaching Gaza quickly enough
US President Joe Biden says humanitarian assistance is not reaching residents in besieged Gaza rapidly enough.
When asked at a press conference if humanitarian aid is getting into Gaza at an acceptable pace, Biden said: "Not fast enough." He did not elaborate.
The UN on Monday said a fraction, 4%, of aid shipments that would have entered Gaza before the current war are now able to reach the coastal enclave, but UN staffers say the fuel supplies will soon be exhausted.
17:44 GMT – 2nd Palestinian detainee dies in Israeli prison in less than 24 hours: Prisoner groups
A second Palestinian detainee died in an Israeli prison on Tuesday in less than 24 hours, two prisoner groups said.
Arafat Yasser Hemdan, 25, died in Ofer prison in the West Bank, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a joint statement.
According to the statement, Hemdan, from the town of Bayt Sira in Ramallah, was arrested by Israeli forces in an Israeli military raid on October 22.
The statement did not provide details about the circumstances leading to the detainee’s death.
17:41 GMT – Israel arrests Arab actress for ‘incitement’ over Hamas attack
Israeli police detained Arab actress Maisa Abd Elhadi for allegedly supporting a cross-border attack by Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.
A police statement said the actress was arrested in the northern city of Nazareth on Tuesday “on suspicion of expressions of praise (for Hamas) and hate speech.”
“The police fight against incitement and support for terrorism continues all the time,” it said.
Police accused the actress of sharing an image of an elderly Israeli woman being taken hostage by Hamas with laughing emojis and another image of Hamas fighters breaching Israel’s security barrier with the caption in English: “Let’s go, Berlin style.”
17:33 GMT – France ready to find ways to fight Hamas: Presidency
France is ready to find ways to fight the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, the French presidency announced.
"It is a matter of inspiration from the experience of the international coalition against Daesh/ISIS and to see which aspects are applicable to Hamas," it said in a statement on Tuesday.
"France is ready to conceive with its partners and Israel, relevant actions against Hamas," it said, adding that Israel and the partners would then have to express their needs.
16:30 GMT – Dutch mothers hold march for children killed in Gaza
A group of mothers in the Dutch city of The Hague held a quiet march for children killed in Gaza.
The mothers, who attended the March of Monday Mothers, carried lanterns, candles, and banners that read: Stop the Genocide and Our Children Die.
The mothers were emotional while the names of the children were read aloud. "The children in Gaza never deserved this," group's spokeswoman Sophie de Reuver told Anadolu, adding the march aims to raise awareness of the situation.
15:35 GMT – Doctors save unborn baby after Israeli strike kills mother
Palestinian doctors have saved the life of an unborn baby after his mother was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
"His mother was admitted to hospital after she was killed in an Israeli strike," Asaad al-Nawajha, a doctor at the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told Anadolu on Tuesday.
Immediately, doctors delivered the baby from the dead mother. "He was still alive," al-Nawajha said.
13:25 GMT- Fatalities as Israeli warplanes strike 2 houses in Gaza
At least 25 Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday, said the Interior Ministry in the blockaded enclave.
The attacks targeted several houses in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and the northern city of Beit Lahia, the ministry said in a statement.
Witnesses said the airstrikes have caused widespread damage in the two areas.
13:21 GMT - WHO says no security guarantees for aid deliveries to hospitals in northern Gaza
While limited aid delivery began last weekend to blockaded Gaza, there are no security guarantees for getting aid to hospitals in the northern strip, t World Health Organization warned on Tuesday.
Underlining the "huge risk" for people delivering relief, Rick Brennan, WHO regional emergencies director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, told a press briefing in Geneva, "We do not have security guarantees to deliver aid to Al-Shifa Hospital” – the region’s largest hospital – or “other hospitals in the north."
Delivering aid to that part of the Gaza Strip is currently not possible, Brennan said.
13:16 GMT - UN agency for Palestinian refugees says 6 more staff members killed in Gaza conflict
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Tuesday said another six staff members were killed in Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.
"Another six UNRWA staff have been confirmed killed, bringing total to 35 staff killed since 7 October," the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees said in a statement on X.
"We mourn their loss and stand with colleagues doing all they can to assist those in need," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commented on the killing of UNRWA staff.
The UN agency added that "40 UNRWA installations across Gaza have now been damaged" in the conflict.
12:42 GMT - Gaza's healthcare system totally collapsed
Gaza's health ministry says the healthcare system in Gaza hospitals has ‘totally collapsed’.
12:29 GMT - ''They treated us well'' says freed Israeli woman
An Israeli 85-year-old freed by Hamas said she was treated well during more than two weeks held captive in Gaza.
Yocheved Lifshitz was a resident of Nir Oz kibbutz, one of the Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip which Hamas attacked on October 7.
"They treated us well," she told reporters at a Tel Aviv hospital, explaining a doctor visited her and fellow hostages every two to three days and provided medicines.
07:43 GMT - Israel escalates Gaza attack
Israel has escalated its bombardment of targets in Gaza, the military said on Tuesday, ahead of an expected ground invasion against Hamas that the U.S. fears could spark a wider conflict in the region, including attacks o n American troops.
The stepped-up attacks, and the rapidly rising death toll in Gaza, came as Hamas released two elderly Israeli women who were among the hundreds of hostages it captured during its devastating Oct. 7 attack on towns in southern Israel.
Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity in Israel since the war started, French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, meeting with the families of others held hostage in Gaza before heading to talks with top Israeli officials.
4:55 GMT - Clashes break out in West Bank
Clashes have broken out between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli army as it raids town of Jaba near Jenin in West Bank, eyewitnesses told Anadolu news agency.
4:00 GMT - US sends military advisers to Israel
The Pentagon has sent military advisers, including a Marine Corps general versed in urban warfare, to Israel to aid in its war planning and is speeding multiple sophisticated air defence systems to the Middle East days ahead of an anticipated ground invasion of Palestine's Gaza.
One of the officers leading the assistance is Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Glynn, who previously helped lead special operations forces against Daesh and served in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the most heated urban combat there, according to a US official who was not authorised to discuss Glynn’s role and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Glynn and the other military officers who are advising Israel “have experience that is appropriate to the sorts of operations that Israel is conducting,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday.
3:00 GMT - Tunisia's foreign minister calls for coordination between Arab states to counter war on Gaza
Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar said that unity and coordination between Arab countries is crucial in countering Israel’s war on Gaza.
Ammar’s statement came during a press conference at his ministry’s headquarters in the capital Tunis.
"The national security of Egypt and Jordan is important for us, and Tunisia’s position in the internati onal arena is in their favor,” he said, highlighting that his country's position is "in the interest of all Arab countries.”
2:30 GMT - US says it’s not interested in expanding Israeli-Palestinian fighting: Iran’s foreign minister
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that the US sent his country two messages saying it is not interested in expanding the scope of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Addressing reporters after a second meeting of the "3 3" Regional Platform with Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia in the capital Tehran, Amirabdollahian said the US and Western countries had sent numerous messages to the Lebanese group Hezbollah to prevent the opening of a new front against Israel.
"The US has also sent two messages to Iran. In the first one, they said 'we do not want to expand the war.' In the second one, they asked Iran to show restraint. The US claims not to want to expand or escalate the war, but on the other hand, they proved their support for the attacks on Palestinian civilians, children and women in Gaza with the weapons they sent two weeks ago,” he said.
2:00 GMT - 53 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza
At least 53 Palestinians were killed and scores of others injured early Tuesday in Israeli airstrikes on residential areas of Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza.
The death toll was initially put at 51 but was later revised higher.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that Israeli warplanes launched attacks on residences and a fuel station in Khan Younis.
For our live updates from Monday (October 23), click here.
