Israel-Hamas War LIVE: Police say 3 terrorists opened fire in attack on West Bank checkpoint, all were killed

14:05 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

US urges ‘special care’ in hospital raid

Israel’s military must take “special care" in its operations around the Al Shifa hospital, US White House said on Thursday.

John Kirby said that the facility is "an active, legitimate hospital, serving the legitimate medical needs of the people of Gaza". But Israelis have the right to call for Hamas to “surrender themselves out of that hospital," he said. “It’s a deliberate decision on their own part to put innocent people between them and the Israeli Defense Forces."

14:04 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Police say 3 terrorists opened fire in attack on West Bank checkpoint, all were killed

According to police, a cell of three gunmen arrived by car and opened fire on the West Bank checkpoint south of Jerusalem.

According to police, all three were assassinated on the spot by Israeli soldiers.

The police also added that a big team of police, Border Police, and IDF troops are conducting searches in the area, and sappers are also on the scene.

14:01 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Germany conducts large-scale raids against Hezbollah-linked Islamist group

Germany’s interior minister on Thursday announces raids in seven of the country’s regions on an Islamist association suspected of links to Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terror group.

“At a time when numerous Jews feel particularly threatened,” Germany will “tolerate neither Islamist propaganda nor antisemitic incitement hostile to Israel,” Nancy Faeser says, adding that the police raids targeted the Hamburg Islamic Center and five affiliated groups.

13:25 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

From AKs to grenades, IDF exposes Hamas weapons depot at Gaza's Al Shifa MRI unit

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) released a video on the X platform in which it claimed they have uncovered countless Hamas weapons inside Gaza’s largest hospital Al-Shifa.

Jonathan Conricus, spokesperson of the IDF, stood outside the hospital, saying, “We are going to do a one shot video, no editing, of all of the evidence we have found in this buliding of the Al-Shifa Hospital.”

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13:03 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Shooting attack in Gush Etzion foiled, terrorist neutralized

According to preliminary indications, Israeli security personnel prevented a gunshot incident on Route 60 just south of Jerusalem on Thursday morning. The attacker approached the checkpoint at the entry to Jerusalem, injuring five persons, one critically.

The terrorist was shot and killed.

12:57 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

'Strong force' may need to stay in Gaza, says Israeli President

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said a "very strong force" may need to remain in Gaza for the near future to prevent the Hamas militant group re-emerging after the war.

"If we pull back, then who will take over? We can't leave a vacuum. We have to think about what will be the mechanism; there are many ideas that are thrown in the air," Herzog said in an interview with the FT published on Thursday.

"But no one will want to turn this place, Gaza, into a terror base again", he added.

12:34 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Biden says Israel's Gaza operation will end after 'Hamas stops murdering Israelis', defends Al-Shifa raid

US President Joe Biden has backed Israel’s operation in Gaza saying that it “will end when Hamas no longer maintains the capacity to murder, abuse, and do horrific things to the Israelis.”

Biden’s comments came during a press conference following his meeting with Chinese President Joe Biden. The US President said that Israel’s military has “an obligation to use as much caution as they can in going after their targets. Hamas said they plan to attack Israelis again and this is a terrible dilemma.”

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12:17 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Israeli military strikes house of Hamas leader in Gaza

Israeli fighter planes attacked Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's home in Gaza on Thursday, the Israeli military reported.

Haniyeh's house was "used as terrorist infrastructure and often served as a meeting point for Hamas' senior leaders to direct terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers," the military said.

11:37 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Israeli President Isaac Herzog says can't leave a vacuum in Gaza

According to the Financial Times, Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated that Israel cannot leave a vacuum in Gaza and will need to retain a strong force there for the foreseeable future to prevent Hamas from re-emerging.

"If we pull back, then who will take over? We can't leave a vacuum. We have to think about what will be the mechanism; there are many ideas that are thrown in the air," Herzog said in an interview with the FT.

"But no one will want to turn this place, Gaza, into a terror base again", he added.

11:23 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

26 patients leave Gaza for treatment in Turkey

According to Turkey's health minister, 26 patients from Gaza and 13 persons accompanying them crossed the Rafah border crossing into Egypt on Wednesday.

Turkey has traditionally provided cancer sufferers treatment in the country. Koca referred to the patients evacuated on Wednesday as "Gazans," but did not say whether any of them were Turkish citizens.

11:09 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

'Carnage in Gaza cannot be allowed to continue,' UN humanitarian chief says

The atrocities of the war have worsened, according to UN humanitarian director Martin Griffiths, and the 'carnage' must cease.

"As the carnage in Gaza reaches new levels of horror every day, the world continues to watch in shock as hospitals come under fire, premature babies die, and an entire population is deprived of the basic means of survival," says the UN relief chief.

The carnage in #Gaza cannot be allowed to continue. We keep on seeing new levels of horror every single day.

The warring parties must agree to a humanitarian ceasefire and stop the fighting.

Our comprehensive plan to act before it is too late: https://t.co/sxdWZZOENd— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) November 15, 2023

11:07 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Biden says Israel entered Al Shifa with limited troops

US President Joe Biden said that Hamas was committing war crimes by having its military headquarters under the hospital. He said Israel had gone into Al Shifa with a limited number of troops with guns.

"They were told...we discussed the need for them to be incredibly careful," Biden told reporters.

10:35 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Israeli military targets north, central Gaza Strip

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces attacked two residential buildings in Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday morning.

According to the report, the bombing also occurred near Gaza's Central Petrol Station.

Israeli aircraft also conducted heavy raids in Beit Lahiya and the surroundings of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

10:18 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Israeli troops deepen search at main Gaza hospital for evidence of Hamas

Israel claimed its forces were operating in and around Gaza's main hospital, a key goal in its campaign to eliminate Palestinian Hamas militants who, according to the army, kept weapons and maintained a command centre in tunnels beneath the structures.

According to the IDF, Israeli troops stormed Al Shifa hospital in the early hours of Wednesday and spent the day expanding their search. According to an army video, automatic weapons, grenades, ammunition and flak jackets were discovered from an unknown facility within the compound.

10:15 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

IDF says 2 soldiers killed in northern Gaza fighting, raising ground op toll to 50

The Israel Defence Forces announced on Wednesday that two troops were killed fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, raising the total number of deaths in the ground battle against Hamas to 50.

Captain Asaf Master, 22, is a platoon commander in the 401st Brigade's 601 Battalion (part of the Combat Engineering Corps), and Cpt. Kfir Itzhak Franco, 22, is a platoon commander in the 401st Brigade's 52nd Infantry Battalion.

09:53 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Police make arrests after protest outside Democratic HQ calling for cease-fire

Last night, police in the nation's capital responded to a protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters demanding for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

According to US Capitol Police, some 150 people were "illegally and violently protesting" near the DNC headquarters building in Washington's Capitol Hill district. As the protest began, members of Congress were evacuated from the building.

09:38 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

IDF renews operation at Gaza hospital

On Thursday, Israel resumed its operation at Gaza's main hospital. According to Gaza's health ministry, which is run by Hamas, Israeli bulldozers "destroyed parts of the southern entrance" of the hospital on Thursday.

Both Israel and the United States claim that Hamas has a command centre beneath the Al-Shifa facility. The Palestinian terrorist group and the hospital's executives have both disputed the claim.

09:30 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Biden accuses Hamas of committing 'war crime'

US President Joe Biden accused Hamas of committing a “war crime".

Biden added, “You have a circumstance where the first war crime is being committed by Hamas by having their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital. And that's a fact. That's what's happened".

09:28 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

3/4 of Gaza's hospitals aren't working

According to the World Health Organisation, only a quarter of Gaza's hospitals are still operational, with about 26 out of 36 facilities now closed – either due to damage or because they ran out of fuel.

The UN health agency has lost contact with Shifa Hospital's health professionals. Yesterday, the Israeli troops raided the hospital. According to the Israeli army, Hamas militants utilise hospitals as cover for their fighters and have established their main command centre in and beneath the hospital.

Shifa's bodies were interred in a mass grave on Wednesday, with another 80 dead left unburied.

08:57 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Israel searches for traces of Hamas in raid of key Gaza hospital packed with patients

On Wednesday, Israeli troops entered Gaza's largest hospital, hunting for remnants of Hamas within and beneath the facility, where newborns and hundreds of other patients had been without electricity and other basic requirements for days as combat raged outside.

Details from the daylong raid remained sketchy, but officials from Israel and Gaza presented different accounts of what was happening at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City: The Israeli army released video showing soldiers carrying boxes labeled as “baby food” and “medical supplies,” while health officials talked of terrified staff and patients as troops moved through the buildings.

After encircling Shifa for days, Israel was under pressure to prove that Hamas had turned the hospital into a command centre, using patients, staff, and civilians sheltering there as cover for its militants. The charge is part of Israel's broader claim that Hamas employs Palestinians as human shields. Israel released footage late Wednesday showing weaponry it claimed to have discovered in one facility, but its search has so far turned up no evidence of tunnels or a sophisticated command centre.

08:57 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Biden says he made it clear to Israel it would be a mistake to occupy Gaza

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Israel-Palestinian problem could only be resolved through a two-state solution, and he warned against invading Gaza as a mistake.

Biden told reporters that he was actively working to obtain the release of hostages held by the Hamas militant group in Gaza, but that such efforts would not include the deployment of US military forces.

08:29 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

'Didn't know about Israel raid on Shifa,' says US

According to US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, the US did not approve Israel's raid on Shifa hospital.

In response to queries regarding the timing of the operation and his comment that the US knows Hamas fighters hide in hospitals, Kirby said the US does not expect early notification from Israel before military actions.

“We did not give an OK to their military operations around the hospital," Kirby said, speaking to reporters from San Francisco, where President Joe Biden was preparing to meet with China’s leader on Wednesday. “We don’t expect the Israelis to inform us."

08:18 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Israel releases video of weapons it says were found in Shifa hospital

The Israeli military revealed guns and military equipment it claims were discovered in Gaza's Shifa Hospital.

However, so far, it has found no evidence of tunnels or a sophisticated command centre, which it claims Hamas keeps on the hospital premises. Shifa is not a militant stronghold, according to Hamas and Gaza health officials.

The army assaulted Gaza's largest hospital early Wednesday. After a day of searching, the army published a video of multiple AK-47 automatic guns, ammunition, grenades, protection vests, and other Hamas equipment. Many of the things were claimed to be in duffel bags in the hospital's MRI section.

08:16 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Biden says 'mildly hopeful' on deal to free Hamas-held hostages

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he was "mildly hopeful" that an agreement to free Hamas detainees in Gaza would be reached, and that he had encouraged Israel to be "incredibly careful" in its military operations around hospitals in the territory.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself here because I don't know what's happened in the last four hours, but we have gotten great cooperation from the Qataris," he said when asked about progress on freeing hostages taken on October 7.

Biden noted the "pause the Israelis have agreed to" before cutting off his thought and saying "I'm going to stop. But I am mildly hopeful."

08:11 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

Over 600 people left Gaza at Rafah border crossing, Hamas says

According to Wael Abou Omar, the Hamas spokesperson for the Rafah border crossing, 644 Palestinians crossed from Gaza into Egypt on Wednesday.

There were 587 dual nationals, 37 people who were injured or sick, and 20 companions. There was no other information available at the time.

Earlier, dozens of evacuees waited patiently at the Rafah border, their documents ready for inspection. Toqa al-Zaian, a Palestinian of Norwegian nationality, was among them, struggling to say farewell.

07:50 (IST)

Israel Hamas War LIVE

UN Security Council adopts resolution calling for humanitarian pauses in Gaza

After four failed attempts to respond to the Israel-Hamas war, the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution Wednesday calling for "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors" in Gaza.

The result was 12-0, with the US, the UK, and Russia all voting no.

The final draught changed the wording from "demand" to "call" for humanitarian pauses. It also softened its call for "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups." Furthermore, the resolution makes no mention of a cease-fire or Hamas' surprise attacks on Israel on October 7.