Israel-Hamas: IDF enters Gaza City, targets Hamas tunnels

The Israeli military says around 50,000 civilians fled northern Gaza for the south of the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, amid ongoing fighting between Hamas militants and Israeli troops.

"We saw today how 50,000 Gazans moved from northern Gaza to southern Gaza," said army spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. "They're leaving because they understand that Hamas lost control in the north, and in the south it's safer."

"Hamas has lost control and is continuing to lose control in the north," Hagari said.

He added that there would be no cease-fire with Hamas militants, but that Israel has been allowing for humanitarian pauses at specific times to allow for residents to relocate south.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they have destroyed 130 tunnel shafts belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the conflict with the Islamist militants began a month ago. 

"Combat engineers fighting in Gaza are destroying the enemy's weapons and are locating, exposing and detonating tunnel shafts," the IDF said in a statement.

Israel says Hamas has a vast network of underground tunnels in Gaza.

The military released videos showing heavy equipment digging up tunnel entrances and lifting a concrete slab. Water and air supplies in the tunnels were evidence of planned longer stays, the military's statement said. Some of the tunnels have electricity.

On average, they are 2 meters (6.5 feet) high and 1 meter wide, but some are large enough for vehicles and are built dozens of meters underground to withstand Israeli airstrikes, according to the military.

Italy is sending a hospital ship to waters off the coast of Gaza to help treat victims of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said.

The ship is leaving on Wednesday from the western Italian port of Civitavecchia, near Rome, with 170 staff, including 30 people trained for medical emergencies, the minister said.

He added that Italy was also working to send a field hospital to Gaza. 

The ship will stop at Cyprus before continuing to the area closest to the Gaza Strip. Injured people will be brought on board for treatment and then returned to Gaza.

"We are the first to carry out such a humanitarian operation in this area and we hope that other countries will follow us," Crosetto said.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands said it would also send a military ship towards Cyprus to assist in humanitarian aid operations for the Gaza Strip. The navy ship could also potentially be used for evacuations, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said.

The naval vessel is scheduled to depart in mid-November and arrive in Cyprus around 10 days later. One Dutch naval unit is already stationed in Cyprus, including two transport aircraft. According to the minister, the aircraft could be used to bring medical supplies to the Gaza Strip. 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has told the Reuters news agency that the number of civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip shows that there is something "clearly wrong" with Israel's military operation against Hamas.

"There are violations by Hamas when they have human shields," Guterres told Reuters. "But when one looks at the number of civilians that were killed with the military operations, there is something that is clearly wrong."

The UN chief also noted that the number of children killed in Gaza is particularly high.

"It is also important to make Israel understand that it is against the interests of Israel to see every day the terrible image of the dramatic humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people," Guterres said. "That doesn't help Israel in relation to the global public opinion."

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, since the Islamist militant group killed 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostages in a terrorist attack on October 7.

Israel has struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground offensive. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 10,500 Palestinians have been killed. That number cannot be independently verified.

Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Germany and several other countries.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for decisive action to combat antisemitism in Germany.

"The democratic majority of our state must remain vigilant," she warned in a statement marking the 85th anniversary of the Nazis' November Pogroms.

"The fight against all forms of hostility towards Jews — from the right, from the left and motivated by Islamism — is our state and civic duty," Merkel emphasized. "Jews must be able to feel safe in Germany."

The former chancellor added that it is legitimate to wish for a Palestinian state and to criticize the political actions of the German government or the state of Israel. However, no one should use this criticism as a cover "to act out their hatred of the state of Israel and of Jews," she said.

Merkel also said that the memory and knowledge of the Holocaust must be passed on from generation to generation.

"We owe this to the victims, their descendants and all of us if we care about the well-being of our country. We must resolutely oppose the attacks on our open and pluralistic society," she added.

The November Pogroms of 1938 were previously known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass, a reference to the shattered glass of the many Jewish-owned shops destroyed by the German authorities. Today, that term is considered trivializing.

The German government has approved a massive increase in German arms exports to Israel, particularly air defense and military communications equipment.

As of November 2, German authorities have issued export licenses for nearly €303 million ($323 million) worth of weapons to Israel, according to data provided to news agencies by a government source. That's nearly 10 times as many exports to Israel as Germany approved in all of 2022, when arms manufacturers sold about €32 million worth of weapons to Israel.

Nearly 85% of the 218 individual export licenses granted so far this year have been issued since the October 7 terror attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which Germany considers a terrorist organization.

"Following the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, the German government is prioritizing and deciding on applications for the export of military equipment to Israel due to the current situation," the German Economy Ministry said.

Germany and Israel have longstanding ties in the defense industry.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called on people of Arab origin in Germany to clearly distance themselves from antisemitism and the Hamas militant group that runs the Gaza Strip.

The president expressed concern that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could adversely affect the state of peaceful coexistence in Germany, adding that he was "appalled by the condoning of terror and antisemitic incitement on our streets."

"Our country, our society, has been under more pressure than it has been for a long time," he said. "I'm delighted by the great solidarity with Israel, but I'm concerned about the extent to which the violence in the Middle East is also endangering social peace in Germany."

Addressing Germany's Jewish community, Steinmeier said violence against Jews in Israel had "shaken you to the core." He called it "intolerable" that Jews felt unsafe in Germany and were afraid to send their children to school.

"We will not tolerate antisemitism in our country: neither old nor new, neither Christian nor Muslim, neither left-wing nor right-wing," he said.

Steinmeier, whose position as president is largely ceremonial and intended to serve as a moral compass for the country, also addressed German residents of Palestinian and Arab origin.

"You should all have space to share your pain and despairat the civilian casualties in Gaza," he said, adding that the right to do so in a peaceful manner is "guaranteed by our constitution, the constitution of Germany, and this right is inalienable."

Germany's president said that "terrorism, incitement to hatred and calls for the destruction of the state of Israel are not part of this guarantee."

"I expect us to stand firm together against this," he said. "Hamas does not speak for the Palestinians. Quite on the contrary: they themselves are becoming victims of Hamas terror."

He urged people in Germany with "Palestinian and Arab roots" to not allow themselves to be "instrumentalized" by Hamas and its supporters. "Speak for yourselves and make a clear stand against terror," he said.

He added that there must be no "anti-Muslim racism" or "general suspicion towards Muslims" in Germany.

The president said the "Germany of today is a cosmopolitan, diverse country," with people of different backgrounds and religious beliefs living together. He said that "social peace" was a "prerequisite" and that "freedom of speech" was enshrined by the constitution.

"But freedom has its limits where it turns into violence and hatred," he said.

"Antisemitic incitement, attacks on synagogues and the burning of Israeli flags are not an expression of freedom," he stressed, adding that such actions will be "strictly prosecuted and punished," Steinmeier added. "Anyone who lives and wants to live in this country must respect the rules for peaceful coexistence."

"Anyone who lives in Germany must know about Auschwitz and must rise to the responsibility that results from it:protecting Jewish life in Germany is a duty of the state and a civic responsibility," he declared, adding that this applies to "everyone" living in the country.

Speaking on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Tokyo, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said everyone wants the conflict in Gaza to end as soon as possible and for the civilian suffering to be minimized.

"But, as I discussed with my G7 colleagues, those calling for an immediate cease-fire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring about: Hamas left in place with more than 200 hostages, with a capacity and stated intent to repeat October 7th again and again and again," he said.

The top US diplomat also listed some elements that must be achieved after the war. He said they included:

• No forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza
• No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks
• No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict
• No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza
• No reduction in the territory of Gaza
• No terrorist threats emanating from the West Bank

The G7 group of major industrial countries have backed a US call for "humanitarian pauses" in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, foreign ministers said on Wednesday.

"We stress the need for urgent action to address the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza... we support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement, and the release of hostages," ministers said in a joint statement following talks in Japan.

The group also said it recognized Israel's right to defend itself "in accordance with international law."

The G7 ministers called on Iran to "refrain from supporting" the Islamist militant group Hamas, which launched attacks on Israel on October 7, killing over 1,400 people. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by several G7 countries, as well as by Israel and a number of other states.

Following the talks, officials stressed the bloc's "unity" in the face of geopolitical challenges.

"This is a very important moment as well for the G7 to come together in the face of this crisis and to speak, as we do, with one clear voice," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said: "The unity of G7 is needed more than ever with the situation in Israel and Palestine, the situation in Ukraine, and the challenges in the Indo-Pacific region."

Israel's military and security forces have killed a "senior Hamas weapons developer," according to a statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The IDF said a strike from a fighter jet killed Mohsen Abu Zina. The IDF said he "served as one of Hamas' leading weapons developers and was an expert in developing strategic weapons and rockets."

The statement cited joint intelligence from the IDF and the Shin Bet internal security service. The report of Abu Zina's death could not be independently verified.

The statement did not say where Abu Zina was killed.

Israel has said it intends to destroy Hamas' military capabilities in its strikes on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military campaign has left over 10,000 dead in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-led Health Ministry. 

Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, Germany, the United States and several other countries. It launched terror attacks on southern Israel on October 7, which Israeli authorities say killed over 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

The pace of Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza has increased, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).

The agency said up to 15,000 people in the Gaza Strip fled southwards on Tuesday, three times the number estimated to have fled on Monday.

Most of those fleeing were children, the elderly and people with disabilities, the UN agency said. 

UNOCHA said 1.5 million people in the territory were internally displaced. It said that 725,000 were staying at UN facilities, adding that "overcrowding remains a major concern" at shelter sites.

Israel has repeatedly called on people in Gaza to move out of the enclave's northern region and has provided hourslong windows of time for them safely to do so. Northern Gaza, particularly Gaza City, has been the focus of the Israeli military's campaign to defeat the Hamas militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years. 

The Israeli military campaign, which, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry in Gaza, has killed over 10,000 people, began after Hamas conducted terror attacks in southern Israel that killed over 1,400 people. 

While the death tolls cannot be independently verified, the United Nations and other international organizations said that the figures from the Gaza ministry have proven generally reliable in past conflicts.

Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the European Union as well as Germany, the United States and several other nations. 

The US House of Representatives voted 234-188 to censure Rashida Tlaib for her comments about Israel's war in the Gaza Strip against the militant Islamist group Hamas.

Twenty-two Democrats joined with most Republicans in the chamber to rebuke Tlaib for her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war.

Tlaib is the only Palestinian-American member of Congress and one of two Muslim women in the House of Representatives. 

She has repeatedly condemned Hamas's terror attack on Israel, in which militants killed 1,400 people in southern Israel and took over 240 people hostage. She has also criticized US support for the Israeli military as it retaliates with bombardments that, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, have killed over 10,000 people in Gaza and created a humanitarian crisis.

The censure cited a video Tlaib published on social media containing a pro-Palestinian rallying cry widely seen as antisemitic and calling for Israel's eradication.

Tlaib denied this on Tuesday and said her criticism of Israel was directed at its government and not the Jewish people.

"I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words," Tlaib said.

"It is important to separate people and government," she added. "The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent. And it's been used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation."

Censuring is a punishment one step below expulsion from the House but has no immediate consequences. 

It has traditionally been used as a last resort against behavior considered egregious, but censure motions are becoming more common in the chamber.

Israel said on Tuesday that its ground forces were battling Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City, marking a major shift in the monthlong conflict.

Army spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli military troops were "located right now in a ground operation in the depths of Gaza City and putting great pressure on Hamas."

He said Israel's combat engineering corps were using explosives to destroy the vast tunnel network built by Hamas beneath Gaza.

Hamas spokesperson Ghazi Hamad denied the IDF's claims that it had advanced deep into the Gaza Strip, adding that "Palestinians fight and fight and fight against Israel."

"They never give the people the truth," added Hamad, who left Gaza days before Hamas militants' terror attacks on Israel.

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  claimed that "Hamas realizes that we are reaching places they thought we would never reach."

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant previously vowed to find Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by the US, the EU, Germany and others.

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy, industrialized nations have discussed ways to revitalize the peace process in the Middle East at a two-day summit in Tokyo.

Meeting host Japan said the topic was broached at a working dinner on Tuesday night and that talks would continue on Wednesday.

The foreign ministers are due to issue a joint communique at the end of the meeting.

The statement will present the G7's "united stance" on the conflict between Israel and militant group Hamas, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Wednesday.

zc/sms (AP, AFP, DPA, Reuters)