Israel-Hamas war highlights: Israeli threat of ground invasion 'doesn't scare us', says Hamas

IDF Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israeli forces had not specifically targeted that location and that “it may have been an incident of fire around it, reports NBC.

“We’re in a war zone, and when in war, lots of things happen at the same time,” Conricus said, quoting another official saying, “clearly we have not targeted any convoy, any civilians on that road, specifically on that road and nowhere else in general, but specifically to that location. Clearly no purposeful targeting.”

Rockets were fired at Tel Aviv and southern Israel overnight, and the Israel Defense Forces attacked targets in and around the northern part of Gaza. Exchange of fire grew more intense on Israel’s border with Lebanon, with Israeli army jets striking Hezbollah military infrastructure in response to rocket attacks. The army estimated that more than 600,000 people have left Gaza City and its surroundings for southern Gaza.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday warned of the risk of a wider regional conflict in the Middle East as Israel pounds Gaza with airstrikes in response to Hamas' unprecedented surprise attacks. The Pentagon has ordered a second carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea and is sending Air Force fighter jets to the region as Israel prepares to expand its Gaza operations, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement Saturday.

The US warships are not intended to join the fighting in Gaza or take part in Israel’s operations, but the presence of two of the Navy’s most powerful vessels is designed to send a message of deterrence to Iran and Iranian proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Rarely do rabbis spend the Sabbath counting bodies. But on Saturday, a week after Hamas militants blew easily past Israel’s fortified security fence and gunned down hundreds of Israelis — at music festivals, in their homes, in cars while trying to flee — Israel’s military rabbinate made an exception.

At Shura military base in central Israel, bodies have been coming in faster than the rabbis can identify them. Hundreds of soldiers, women, and children in body bags line shelves of refrigerated trucks, awaiting examination. Identification teams gather on plastic stools opposite the trucks to take smoke breaks between shifts. They wear heavy gas masks — the smell of death is overwhelming.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres has called on Hamas to "immediately" release the hostages without keeping any sort of conditions.

In a post on social media platform X, Guterres made two humanitarian appeals amid the present situation in the Middle East.

"As we are on the verge of the abyss in the Middle East, I have two humanitarian appeals: To Hamas, the hostages must be immediately released without conditions," he posted.

"To Israel, rapid & unimpeded access for humanitarian aid must be granted for the sake of the civilians in Gaza," he added.

The military said Sunday that it would not target a specific route south for several hours, again urging Palestinians to leave the north en masse. The military offered two corridors and a longer window the day before. It says hundreds of thousands have already fled south. No decision on a ground offensive has been announced, although Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have struck the Hezbollah "military infrastructure" in Lebanon as a retaliatory move to Sunday's fire, The Times of Israel reported.

The attacks were in reaction to Sunday's fire from Lebanon that was directed against Israel.

Notably, on Sunday morning, six anti-tank guided missiles were fired towards an Israeli town and military outposts near the Lebanon border, killing at least one civilian, according to The Times of Israel.

Nine further rockets were also fired at Nahariya, a city in the north, and adjacent towns, however, there were no reports of any casualties.

A 71-year-old Illinois man accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old boy and seriously wounding a 32-year-old woman was charged with a hate crime Sunday. Police allege he singled out the victims because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

In recent days, police in U.S. cities and federal authorities have been on high alert for violence driven by antisemitic or Islamophobic sentiments. Jewish and Muslim groups have reported an increase of hateful and threatening rhetoric on social media. In the Chicago case, officers found the woman and boy late Saturday morning at a home in an unincorporated area of Plainfield Township, southwest of the city, the Will County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on social media.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, addressed the dire situation in the Gaza Strip Sunday, highlighting the critical humanitarian crisis. Lazzarini emphasized Gaza is rapidly running out of water and electricity, and the population faces severe shortages of food and medicine.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in his first clear and stark denouncement of Hamas' attacks on Israel, said the militant group's actions “do not represent the Palestinian people.”

“The policies and actions of Hamas do not represent the Palestinian people, and it is the policies, programs, and decisions of the Palestine Liberation Organization that represent the Palestinian people as their legitimate and sole representative,” Abbas said during a phone call with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Sunday, the official Palestinian press agency WAFA reported.

Abbas called for an end to civilian casualties, the release of prisoners and a rejection of violence, according to WAFA.

US President Joe Biden Sunday maintained there’s “no clear evidence” of Iran being behind the terror attacks in Israel carried out by Hamas earlier this month.

“I don't want to get into classified information. But to be very blunt with you, there is no clear evidence of that,” Biden said in an interview with "60 Minutes."

Fuel reserves in hospitals across Gaza are only expected to last another 24 hours, the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) has warned in its latest update. It says, “Fuel reserves at all hospitals across Gaza are expected to last for about additional 24 hours. The shutdown of backup generators would place the lives of thousands of patients at risk.”

Asked whether it was time for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Biden said there was “a fundamental difference” between the Israelis killed in Hamas’ attack and the Palestinians killed in the Israeli counterattack. He said, “Israel is going after a group of people who have engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust. And so I think Israel has to respond. They have to go after Hamas. Hamas is a bunch of cowards. They’re hiding behind the civilians. They put their headquarters where civilians are and buildings and the like. But to the extent they can separate out and avoi – I’m conf – the Israelis are gonna do everything in their power to avoid the killing of innocent civilians.”

An Israeli occupation of Gaza would be a big mistake, Biden said in his 60 Minutes interview. Asked whether he would support such a move, he said, “I think it’d be a big mistake. Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people. And I think that ... It would be a mistake to ... for Israel to occupy ... Gaza again. We ... but going in but taking out the extremists the Hezbollah is up north but Hamas down south. Is a necessary requirement.”

Gaza is experiencing a dire humanitarian crisis with clean water, food, fuel and medical supplies running out as hundreds of thousands of people flee to the border crossing with Egypt. Electricity has been unavailable for days.

Scores of foreigners were killed, wounded or taken hostage after Hamas attacked Israel last week, leaving more than 1,400 dead in Israel.

Gaza Strip health authorities have reported that more than 2,600 people have been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes.

According to an AFP count, more than 160 foreigners have been confirmed dead by their national authorities, many of whom also held Israeli nationality.

President Joe Biden is considering a trip to Israel in the coming days but nothing has been finalized, a senior administration official said Sunday.

The news comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been traveling around the Mideast this past week trying to prevent the war with Hamas from igniting a broader regional conflict. Biden has staunchly proclaimed his support for Israel and a trip there would be a firm sign of U.S. support following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. The official could not publicly discuss internal deliberations about the potential presidential travel and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Yet in an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes that aired Sunday, the president warned Israel not to reoccupy Gaza, in his strongest public effort to hold Israel back after the attack that killed more than 1,300 people, including at least 30 U.S. citizens.

President Joe Biden said he is "confident" Israel will act under the rules of war in its conflict with Palestine, and added deploying U.S. troops is not necessary.

In an interview with "60 Minutes," Biden said that while he believes Hamas must be eliminated entirely, there must be a path for a Palestinian state. And he cautioned that the threat of terrorism in the United States had increased due to unrest in the Middle East.