Israeli fighter jets struck 450 Hamas targets in Gaza and troops seized a militant compound in the past 24 hours, the Israel Defence Forces said on Monday, while the Palestinian enclave’s Health Ministry said the airstrikes killed dozens of people.
A Reuters journalist in the Gaza Strip described the overnight bombardment from the air, ground and sea as one of the most intense since Israel launched its offensive in response to a surprise attack by Hamas on southern Israel on Oct. 7. The attack killed about 1,400 people, including several Canadians.
Israel, which says its forces have encircled Gaza City, faces mounting pressure to avoid civilian casualties, after refusing to countenance a ceasefire until the hostages are released, and a U.S. diplomatic blitz in the region is intended to reduce risks of the conflict escalating.
The war has inflamed tensions elsewhere.
Israel’s military said on Monday it was striking targets belonging to the Shia militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that details would follow.
The military’s statement came after a barrage of rockets from Lebanon at cities in northern Israel, not far from the Lebanese border.
In East Jerusalem, Israeli police said a 16-year-old Palestinian stabbed and wounded two officers before being shot dead. In the occupied West Bank, another territory where Palestinians seek statehood, medics said a Palestinian was killed and three others wounded by Israeli army fire. A military spokesperson had no immediate comment on that incident.
Calls for humanitarian ceasefire
The heads of several major United Nations bodies on Monday made a united call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
The 18 signatories include Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization; and Martin Griffiths, UN aid chief.
“An entire population is besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials for survival, bombed in their homes, shelters, hospitals and places of worship. This is unacceptable,” they said in a joint statement.
“We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now.”
Featured VideoCalls for Israel to halt its attacks on Gaza have been growing louder since the start of the war, but there are different demands for what to call it. CBC’s Thomas Daigle breaks down the difference between a ceasefire and a humanitarian pause and why what it’s called matters.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, at a briefing with reporters, called for a ceasefire as well, adding that clear violations of international humanitarian law were being committed.
“Ground operations by the Israel Defence Forces and continued bombardment are hitting civilians, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches and UN facilities including shelters. No one is safe,” Guterres told reporters.
“At the same time, Hamas and other militants use civilians as human shields and continue to launch rockets indiscriminately toward Israel,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire until the return of over 200 hostages captured by Hamas, the group founded in 1987 and designated a terrorist group by Israel, the U.S., Canada and the European Union.
Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday discussed the potential for tactical pauses in strikes on Gaza for humanitarian reasons and possible hostage releases, according to a spokesperson.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. and Israeli governments would continue to be in touch on such temporary pauses and that Biden and Netanyahu agreed to continue talks in the coming days.
Those conversations came as more Americans are expected to exit Gaza on Monday and as more aid enters the territory, Kirby said.
Military ‘closing in’: spokesperson
At least 10,022 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,104 children, in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Monday. Some Western intelligence agencies have disputed the figures being given by the Health Ministry, though its reporting in previous conflicts have been viewed as generally accurate.
The Health Ministry said dozens of people were killed by the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and further south in Gaza neighbourhoods such as Zawaida and Deir Al-Balah. Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV quoted medical sources as saying at least 75 Palestinians were killed and 106 hurt in the attacks.
Featured VideoWarning: Video contains graphic footage | Despite international calls for some kind of pause in Israel’s offensive, including from the U.S. secretary of state, the attacks on Gaza continue, with dozens reported dead after the bombing of two refugee camps.
Palestinian health officials said eight people were killed in an airstrike overnight on the Rantissi cancer hospital in Gaza City. Israel’s military said it was looking into the report.
Israel has called on civilians in north Gaza — the heart of Hamas’s forces — to evacuate to the south for their own safety before Nov. 5. However, UN monitoring showed that relatively few have, citing fear, heavy damage to roads and lack of information due to limited communications, a UN humanitarian briefing said.
The Israeli military said its forces had taken a militant compound and were poised to attack Hamas fighters hiding in underground tunnels and bunkers in the northern Gaza Strip, having isolated the area with troops and tanks. It released video of tanks moving through bombed-out streets and groups of troops moving on foot.
“Now we are going to start closing in on them,” Lt.-Col. Richard Hecht told reporters.
Israel said 31 soldiers have been killed since it began expanded ground operations in Gaza on Oct. 27.
Jordan sends in aid to Gaza
UN Palestinian refugee agency shelters in the south are overcrowded and unable to take new arrivals, and many displaced people are sleeping in the streets, near the shelters, the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said.
Jordan’s air force air-dropped urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza early on Monday, according to a post on X from Jordan’s king and reports in state media.
Featured VideoU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took questions Monday about the Hamas hostages, and the U.S. effort to secure a humanitarian pause in the war between Israel and Hamas.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, after meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara on Monday, said he expects humanitarian assistance to expand “in significant ways” in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Gaza border officials said the Rafah crossing into Egypt has resumed operation. Foreign nationals including from Canada continue to mass at Gaza’s border with Egypt in hopes of leaving the territory.
“We’re very happy to see the border reopen today,” Louis Dumas, Canada’s ambassador to Egypt, told Power and Politics host David Cochrane on Monday. “As you know, it was closed for a few days but in the next few days, at the very least, we hope to see a full load of foreign nationals coming from Gaza into Egypt.
“Canada is still in the mix to receive its nationals within the next few days.”