2nd aid convoy heads to Gaza from Egypt as Syria, Lebanon report Israeli airstrikes
Palestinians say leaflets warn them to move south or risk being seen as 'terrorist' sympathizers
The latest:
- Second humanitarian aid convoy heading to Gaza. Canadian officials say it's a "small fraction" of what's needed.
- Israeli military drops leaflets on Gaza, renewing warning to Palestinians to move south.
- Israel says Hamas deputy chief killed in Gaza Strip; overnight strikes hit targets in West Bank, airports in Syria, Sunday air strikes hit the outskirts of a town in Lebanon.
- Israel Defence Forces confirms 212 hostages held in Gaza as ground offensive looms.
- U.S. defence secretary orders more defence systems to Middle East.
A second convoy of aid trucks entered the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, heading toward the Gaza Strip, according to Egyptian security and humanitarian sources at Rafah.
More than a dozen aid trucks carrying medical and food supplies had been inspected by UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, the sources said.
The convoy is the second humanitarian aid shipment allowed to cross into the territory since Israel cut supplies to Gaza as part of its response to the deadly rampage and kidnappings carried out by Hamas militants in southern Israel on Oct. 7. On Saturday, 20 trucks entered Gaza.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen welcomed the news in a joint statement Sunday afternoon, but said this aid is "a small fraction of what is needed."
"We urge all parties to continue allowing the rapid, sustained and unimpeded access of essential life-saving humanitarian assistance, while simultaneously allowing for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families to leave," reads the statement.
In a separate development in the two-week-old conflict, Palestinians said they had received renewed warnings from Israel's military to move from north Gaza to the south of the strip, with the added warning that they could be identified as sympathizers with a "terrorist organization" if they stayed put.
The message was delivered in leaflets marked with the Israel Defence Forces name and logo from Saturday and sent to people via mobile phone audio messages across the narrow 45-kilometre-long territory.
"Urgent warning, to residents of Gaza. Your presence north of Wadi Gaza puts your life in danger. Whoever chooses not to leave north Gaza to the south of Wadi Gaza might be identified as an accomplice in a terrorist organization," the leaflet said.
Israel has pounded Gaza with airstrikes since Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the territory, launched its Oct. 7 attacks. Israel has massed troops and armour on the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive.
On Sunday, the leaders of Canada, the U.S., France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. released a joint statement reiterating their support for Israel's "right to defend itself against terrorism." Additionally, they called for the adherence to humanitarian law and the protection of civilians, without naming any specific party involved in the fighting.
Israel has previously warned Palestinians to move south, although Palestinians said they had not previously been told they could be considered "terrorist" sympathizers if they did not. Palestinians also say making the journey south remains highly risky amid airstrikes and say areas of the south have also been hit.
Israel says an estimated 700,000 people living in Gaza have already fled, but hundreds of thousands remain in the north. The Palestinians say they are are rationing food and water, while Doctors Without Borders says the territory's health-care system is "facing collapse" and that "there is no safe place in Gaza."
Ibrahim Alagha, his wife and their children are from Ireland and were visiting Gaza when the war began. They were forced to take shelter at Ibrahim's parent's house in Khan Younis, along with dozens of others.
"We have a very critical level of water left. We barely manage to get a single meal a day. On top of that, we have a lot of children who get terrified whenever there is an explosion or a bomb coming down," he told CBC News on Sunday.
"The situation is getting worse and worse every day."
Israel confirmed on Sunday morning that 212 people, captured in the Hamas militant attack 15 days ago, are being held hostage in Gaza. Two American hostages were released by Hamas on Friday — the first hostages released since the kidnappings on Oct. 7.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday that the death toll in the enclave has reached 4,385, while 13,561 people have been wounded. This death toll includes 29 UN employees, according to a UNRWA update on Sunday.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly in the initial attack, according to the Israeli government.
Strikes hit targets in West Bank, Syria
Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza overnight and into Sunday, as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants, as the war with Hamas threatened to spiral into a broader conflict.
Israeli forces killed at least five people early Sunday in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Two were killed in an airstrike on a mosque in the town of Jenin occupied by Palestinian refugees, which has seen heavy gun battles between Palestinian militants and Israeli troops over the past year.
The Israeli military said the mosque compound belonged to Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had carried out several attacks in recent months and were planning another one.
Sunday's fatalities brought the death toll in the West Bank to 90 Palestinians since the war broke out, according to the Health Ministry.
Syrian state media meanwhile reported that Israeli airstrikes have targeted the international airports in the capital, Damascus, and the northern city of Aleppo.
It said the strikes killed one person and damaged the runways, putting them out of service. Israel has carried out several strikes in Syria, including on the airports, since the war began.
Israel rarely acknowledges individual strikes, but says it acts to prevent Hezbollah and other militant groups from bringing in arms from their patron, Iran, which also supports Hamas.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah said six of its fighters were killed Saturday, and the group's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, warned that Israel would pay a high price if it starts a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Israel struck Hezbollah targets early Sunday in response to rocket fire, the military said. Lebanese state media NNA reported that Israeli fighter jets launched an air strike on the southern outskirts of Aitaroun town late Sunday.
Israel also announced evacuation plans for another 14 communities near the border with Lebanon. Kiryat Shmona, with a population of more than 20,000 people, was told to evacuate last week.
U.S. orders defence systems to Middle East
For days, Israel has been on the verge of launching a ground offensive in Gaza following Hamas's brutal Oct. 7 rampage through a series of Israeli communities. Tanks and troops have been massed at the Gaza border, waiting for the command to cross.
Israel's military spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the country had increased airstrikes across Gaza to hit targets that would reduce the risk to troops in the next stage of the war.
U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced late Saturday he was sending additional air defence systems to the Middle East as well as putting more troops on prepare-to-deploy orders.
Austin said the U.S. would be delivering a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, or THAAD, battery along with additional Patriot missile defence system batteries "to locations throughout the region to increase force protection for U.S. troops."
Austin said he had also placed additional forces on prepare-to-deploy orders, "part of prudent contingency planning" as the U.S. and others brace for the potential of a wider regional conflict and as Israel prepares to launch a ground offensive into Gaza.
Bases in Iraq and Syria have been repeatedly targeted by drones in the days since a deadly hospital blast in Gaza City, and the destroyer USS Carney intercepted land attack cruise missiles in the Red Sea shot from Yemen on Thursday.
The Oct. 17 explosion at al-Ahli hospital has been among the most hotly disputed events of the Gaza war. The Gaza Health Ministry has put the hospital death toll at 471. An Israeli official said it appeared to be "several dozen." A U.S. intelligence report estimated the number of those killed to be "probably at the low end of the 100 to 300 spectrum."
Hamas accused Israel of carrying out an airstrike on the hospital. Israel denied that, saying the blast was caused by a Palestinian rocket falling short after being launched at Israel.
Canada and its allies, U.S. and France, said their investigations conclude the blast was caused by a misfired rocket from within Gaza, corroborating Israel's account. Independent U.K. research group Forensic Architecture and the British Channel 4 News have said their analyses cast doubt on these claims.
With files from The Associated Press and CBC News