Israel-Hamas war Day 4 highlights: ‘Never seen since Holocaust', Netanyahu tells Biden on call on conflict

Palestinian militant group Hamas on Tuesday called US President Joe Biden's comments "inflammatory" after he condemned the group's unprecedented attack on Israel as "sheer evil".

"These remarks are an attempt to cover up the crimes and terror of the Zionist government," Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said in a statement on its website.

Israel's military said on Tuesday that a number of shells had been launched from Syrian territory toward Israel, and that some landed in open areas in Israeli territory.

The military did not provide details. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel this week, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday, in a show of US diplomatic support after the assault by Hamas that killed more than 1,000 Israelis and sparked a new war in the Middle East.

The high-level visit is a relatively fast trip by the top US diplomat after the outbreak of a conflict, and comes just days after Israel declared war following the attack on Saturday, which Israel President Isaac Herzog called the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

The Palestinian Hamas group has claimed a rocket attack and the Lebanese group Hezbollah exchanged fire with Israel in a third day of violence at the border that has opened up a new front for Israel as it battles Hamas militants in Gaza.

Lebanon's Hezbollah fired a guided missile at an Israeli tank on Tuesday, the group said in a statement, and Israel said it responded by striking an observation post belonging to the Iran-backed group.

The violence, triggered by the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, marks the most serious escalation along the Lebanese-Israeli frontier since the 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

The Israeli army said no injuries were reported in Tuesday's attack by Hezbollah, three of whose fighters were killed on Monday in Israeli shelling into Lebanon.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday denounced Hamas and stressed U.S. support for Israel as it mourns the killing of more than 1,000 people, including at least 14 Americans, from a surprise attack launched by the Palestinian militant group.

The president also voiced concern for Americans being held hostage by Hamas, an Iranian-backed Islamist group.

"There are moments in this life and I mean this literally when the pure unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend," Biden said. ​ "This is an act of sheer evil," he said.

Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Tuesday with the fiercest air strikes in its 75-year-old conflict with the Palestinians, razing whole districts despite a threat from Hamas militants to execute a captive for each home hit without warning.

Biden spoke after his third phone call in four days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He outlined in his remarks the U.S. military assistance being sent to help Israel in its fight.

During his address to the nation on the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas, US President Joe Biden said at least 14 Americans has been killed in the conflict.

EU commissioner Thierry Breton warned Elon Musk on Tuesday that his platform "X", formerly Twitter, is spreading "illegal content and disinformation", in a letter seen by AFP.

The letter said concerns had heightened after the Hamas attack against Israel, and demanded Musk respond to the complaint and contact "relevant law enforcement authorities" within 24 hours.

The Hamas militant group said Tuesday two of its senior figures were killed in strikes by the Israeli military on the Gaza Strip, confirming an announcement by the army.

Both members of Hamas's politburo, Zakaria Muammar led its economics section, while Jawad Abu Shamala coordinated ties with other Palestinian factions, as head of the national relations department, the militant group said.

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held a top-level meeting with senior officials to receive a situation update on the terrorist attack in Israel and to direct next steps.

“We connected with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss coordination to support Israel, deter hostile actors, and protect innocent people,” POTUS shared in a post.

The Indian defence forces are studying in detail the deadly Hamas attack on Israel two days back in which scores of Israeli and foreign nationals were abducted, raped and killed by the terror group.

"We are studying these attacks in detail as the way these attacks were carried out and how the terrorists managed to keep their activities hidden from the agencies tasked to track them," defence officials told ANI.

As the situation pans out the Israeli response to the large-scale attacks is also being observed, they said.

The issue is also likely to come up for detailed discussion during the Army commanders' conference planned in the third week of this month from October 18.

The forces are also likely to study the possible intelligence gaps that the terror outfit could have exploited to carry out their mission at a large scale, they said.

As per reports, the terrorists first fired missiles at the Israeli cities and then destroyed fences along the borders and entered Israeli cities firing indiscriminately at citizens there.

US President Joe Biden just wrapped up his call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and will address the nation shortly about the Gaza war, the White House says.

Readouts from the call are expected to be issued in the coming hours.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai called for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Israel-Hamas war on Tuesday, as thousands have already been killed on both sides, and many have been displaced.

"I join the call for an immediate ceasefire. As I have processed the tragic news of the past days, I think of the Palestinian and Israeli children caught in the middle.

I was only 11 years old when I witnessed violence and terrorism. We woke up to the sounds of mortar shells, saw our schools and mosques destroyed by bombs. Peace became something we could only dream about.

War never spares children — not those kidnapped from their homes in Israel, not those hiding from airstrikes or without food and water in Gaza.

Today, I am grieving for all the children and people longing for peace and justice in the Holy Land," she wrote in a post on X.

“In response to the rockets launched from Lebanon at Israel a short while ago, IDF tanks struck two observation posts belonging to Hezbollah. The IDF is prepared for all scenarios in all arenas, and will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians,” tweeted Israel Defense Forces

Israel has frozen cryptocurrency accounts used to solicit donations for the Palestinian militant group Hamas on social media, police said on Tuesday.

Hamas launched devastating attacks from Gaza into Israel on Saturday, in one of the most serious escalations in the Israel-Palestinian conflict in years.

"According to suspicions, with the outbreak of the war, Hamas' terrorist organisation initiated a fundraising campaign on social networks, urging the public to deposit cryptocurrencies into their accounts," a police statement said.

"The Police Cyber Unit and Ministry of Defense immediately took action to locate and freeze these accounts, with the assistance of the Binance crypto exchange, in order to divert the funds to the state treasury."

The statement did not give further details of how many accounts were frozen, nor the value of crypto seized.

Israel is carrying out air strikes on the Gaza port, CNN reported citing the Israel Defense Forces. “IDF is currently striking terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization on the coast of the Gaza Strip. Details to follow,” it said in a statement Tuesday. A fishing boat was pictured ablaze at the port.

On Tuesday, Israel launched the most intense air raids in its 75-year-long conflict with the Palestinians, causing extensive destruction in entire districts. This occurred in spite of a warning from Hamas militants to retaliate with the execution of a captive for every struck home.

On the other side of the barrier wall enclosing the coastal enclave, Israeli soldiers were in the process of recovering the remaining casualties, following an attack by Islamist Hamas gunmen four days ago, which became the deadliest in Israel's history.

Following a prior warning, the terrorist group Hamas initiated a rocket assault on the southern coastal city of Ashkelon in Israel on Tuesday, as reported by The Times of Israel.

As the city and nearby towns experienced a barrage of rocket attacks, warning sirens blared in response. The militant organization had previously announced its intent to strike Ashkelon citing it as retaliation for Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas's Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, had earlier issued a threat, indicating that a significant rocket barrage targeting Israel's coastal city of Ashkelon would take place in the hours ahead, according to The Times of Israel.

Amid conflict in the West Asian region between Israel and the Hamas militant organisation, the Iron Dome anti-missile system on Tuesday intercepted rockets launched from the Gaza Strip targeting Israeli towns. Reuters reported that this interception was witnessed from Ashkelon in southern Israel.

The ongoing attacks on Israel by the Hamas militant group, initiated on Saturday, have resulted in the deaths of over 900 Israelis, with a majority being civilians. Additionally, at least 600 Palestinians have lost their lives. In a televised speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a retaliatory response, emphasizing that their actions have just begun, and the consequences for the enemy will have a lasting impact for generations to come.

Israel's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Tuesday that nothing would stop Israel from crushing Hamas amid the ongoing conflict that began after Palestanian militant group stormed Israeli towns on Saturday that killed 1000 so far.

"We'll do everything needed in order to make sure that those people will not threaten and will not hurt our citizens again," Reuters quoted Ambassador Amir Hayek as saying the embassy in Abu Dhabi.

"We need to make sure that everyone will understand that if anyone will ever think about doing such things and putting Israeli citizens at risk, he will pay the full price and will not be able to do it again."

Israel has placed Gaza, home to some 2.3 million Palestinians, under total seige and pounded the enclave with air strikes since the attack. Gaza's health ministry said at least 770 Palestinians had been killed in the strikes.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to engage in discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, focusing on US support for Israelafter receiving an update on the situation following Hamas' deadly attacks, White House said.

According to the Israeli military, the death toll in Israel has exceeded 900 people. In Gaza and the West Bank, authorities there have reported 704 casualties, with Israel contending that among them are hundreds of Hamas fighters. On both sides, thousands have sustained injuries.

The Israeli military reported discovering the bodies of around 1,500 Hamas militants on Israeli territory, although it remains unclear if these figures coincide with earlier Palestinian authority-reported deaths.

In Gaza, the United Nations disclosed that more than 187,000 individuals have fled their homes, marking the largest displacement since Israel's 2014 air and ground offensive, which displaced around 400,000 people. The majority of those affected are taking refuge in UNRWA-operated schools. Additionally, three water and sanitation facilities have been damaged, causing service disruptions for 400,000 people, according to the U.N.

(With inputs from agencies)

Actor Nushrratt Bharuccha on Tuesday recalled the “36 hours” she spent stranded in Israel, following a surprise attack by Hamas militants, deeming them the "most unforgettable and daunting" period of her life.

In a video shared on her Instagram account, she expressed, "The past week will always be deeply imprinted in my memory... a rollercoaster of emotions, with the last 36 hours being the most unforgettable and challenging of my life."

She had reportedly journeyed to Israel to participate in the Haifa International Film Festival. However, she found herself unable to leave due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The 38-year-old actor landed at the Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport around 2.30 pm on Sunday.

European Union foreign ministers are set to convene on Tuesday to address divisions among the 27-member bloc regarding the continuation of aid payments to Palestinians, Reuters reported. This meeting comes a day after the European Commission reversed its decision to suspend all such aid, following opposition from member states like Spain and France.

The reversal occurred when Neighbourhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi announced the suspension on Monday without consulting his fellow commissioners, including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Commission clarified on Monday evening that there would be a review of aid but no suspension of payments.

According to a post on X by the bloc's top diplomat, Josep Borrell EU ministers will conduct an emergency meeting in Muscat, Oman, coinciding with a gathering of EU and Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers.

While the White House confirmed that the initial aid for Israel, affected by the ongoing conflict, is on its way, a NATO envoy reassured that this decision won't hinder the United States' capability to continue arming Ukraine.

US ambassador Julianne Smith addressed this issue, stating, "On the question of whether or not US support for Israel could possibly come at the expense of US support for Ukraine - we don't anticipate any major challenges in that regard."

In a display of solidarity, President Joe Biden directed US ships and warplanes to move closer to Israel on Sunday, along with dispatching additional military assistance.

(With AFP inputs)

The Israeli embassy in the United States disclosed that the death toll resulting from Hamas attacks on Israeli territories has risen to 1000, Reuters reported.

Regarding the situation, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that the US' commitment to preventing harm to innocent civilians, whether in Gaza or Israel. “What we're focused on is making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and to take action against Hamas as the first tranche of military assistance is on its way to Israel as we speak,” Reuters quoted Kirby as saying during an interview with CNN.

When asked if the US had conveyed any warnings to Israel concerning civilian casualties, Kirby responded, "We don't want to see any innocent civilians killed anywhere in the world, and that certainly includes in Gaza and in Israel."

He further noted that there have already been far too many innocent civilian casualties resulting from Hamas' attacks since its assault on southern Israel began on Saturday.

The Israel military took to X to alert citizens about the possibility of incoming rockets in Tel Aviv and stated, "Sirens sounding" amid the ongoing war with the Hamas militant group based in Palestine.

"Sirens sounding in Tel Aviv and across Israel," wrote the Israel Defense Forces on X.

-Israel has expanded its call-up of military reservists to 360,000, as reported by the country's media. The military has reported striking hundreds of Hamas targets in Gaza during overnight operations. Tens of thousands of residents have evacuated their homes as continuous airstrikes have levelled buildings, including those in Gaza City's residential and commercial Rimal district.

-The United Nations humanitarian office disclosed on Tuesday that nearly 200,000 individuals, which is almost a tenth of the population, have been displaced from their homes in Gaza since the commencement of hostilities. The region is also facing imminent shortages of water and electricity due to a blockade.

-US is supplying Israel with urgently needed munitions and military equipment, with the Pentagon reviewing available inventories to determine what else can be swiftly sent to support its ally in the conflict with Hamas.

-Major airlines have suspended their flights to and from Israel. Numerous incoming and outgoing flights at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport have been cancelled or delayed, according to the airport's online flight board. The majority of these flights are operated by Israel's national airline, El Al, and include some from regional carriers like Turkey's Pegasus Airlines and Greece's Blue Bird Airways.

(With inputs from agencies)