Israel-Hamas war updates: Intense bombardments strike in southern Gaza

Aid convoy trucks are seen at the Rafah border with Gaza on in North Sinai, Egypt.Mahmoud Khaled/Getty Images 1 of 20
Palestinians search through the rubble of a building after an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images 2 of 20
Palestinian children sit amongst the rubble of a building in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip.MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images 3 of 20
Volunteers of the humanitarian aid convoy for the Gaza Strip wave Egyptian and Palestinian flags at Rafah crossing port, Egypt.Omar Aziz/The Associated Press 4 of 20
A baker prepares bread at the Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip.MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images 5 of 20
An Israeli soldier mans a checkpoint near the northern Kibbutz Sasa close to the border with Lebanon.JALAA MAREY/AFP/Getty Images 6 of 20
Garbage piles up in the street in the Rafah refugee camp, Gaza Strip.MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images 7 of 20
Graffiti reading "Destroy Hamas" is seen on a wall in Tel Aviv, Israel.Leon Neal/Getty Images 8 of 20
Palestinian children search for a place to refill on water in the Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip.MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images 9 of 20
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to Amman, Jordan after seven hours of negotiations Israeli officials in Tel Aviv.Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press 10 of 20
Israeli soldiers man a checkpoint near the northern Kibbutz Sasa close to the border with Lebanon.JALAA MAREY/AFP/Getty Images 11 of 20
Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike at the Rafah refugee camp, Gaza Strip.MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images 12 of 20
An Israeli, wounded in the cross-border shelling between Lebanon and Israel, arrives at Ziv Hospital in the city of Safel, Israel.JALAA MAREY/AFP/Getty Images 13 of 20
Qatari Amiri Air Force crew load food and medical aid to their cargo plane headed to Egypt for Gaza, at Al Udeid Air Base, Doha, Qatar.QATAR NEWS AGENCY/Reuters 14 of 20
A Palestinian man fills a bucket with water in the Gaza Strip.MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images 15 of 20
Humanitarian aid convoy for the Gaza Strip is parked at the Rafah crossing port, Egypt.Omar Aziz/The Associated Press 16 of 20
A man stands amidst the rubble of a building after an Israeli airstrike on the Rafah refugee camp, Gaza Strip.MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images 17 of 20
A bakery prepares rations of bread to pass out to internally displaced Palestinians in the Rafah refugee camp, Gaza Strip.MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images 18 of 20
An Emirates cargo plane is loaded with aid for the Palestinian Gaza Strip at the airport in Dubai.KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images 19 of 20
A Palestinian man carries a wounded girl at the Rafah refugee camp, Gaza Strip.MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images 20 of 20
Israel-Hamas war day 11 The brutal conflict in the Middle East has entered its 11th day. Palestinians described intense bombardments early Tuesday near two towns in southern Gaza, where Israel had ordered civilians to seek refuge. Thousands of people trying to escape Gaza are gathered in Rafah, which has the territory’s only border crossing to Egypt. Mediators are pressing for an agreement to let aid in and refugees with foreign passports out. The U.S. hoped to break a deadlock with President Joe Biden set to head to Israel and Jordan on Wednesday. Meanwhile, aid workers warned that life in Gaza was near complete collapse. The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,778 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and at least 199 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel. Desperately needed aid for Gaza stuck on Egyptian border as leaders call for corridor to open
Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza
Clashes erupt as anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon into Israel Follow our live coverage below
7:11 a.m. ET
Israel-Hamas war could push oil prices higher, International Energy Agency says
FRANKFURT, Germany — The Israel-Hamas war is affecting oil markets already stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia and expected stronger demand from China, the head of the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.
“As we see the tensions in the Middle East, the market becomes much more jittery, and it is definitely not good news coming out of this crisis,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based IEA, told The Associated Press.
“We may very well see much more volatile prices, and it can push prices higher, which is definitely bad news for inflation,” he added.
Developing countries that import energy would be the most affected by higher prices, Birol said.
International benchmark Brent crude traded close to $90 per barrel on Tuesday, up from $85 on Oct. 6, the day before Hamas attacked Israel. Fluctuations last week pushed prices as high as $96.
– The Associated Press
6:59 a.m. ET
World Food Programme warns food is running out in Gaza
Open this photo in gallery: Volunteers load food and supplies onto trucks in an aid convoy for Gaza on October 16, 2023 in North Sinai, Egypt.Mahmoud Khaled/Getty Images
CAIRO — In addition to dire water shortages, Gaza is running out of food stocks with only a few days worth of supplies remaining in shops, the World Food Program says.
Shops only have four or five days’ worth of essential food stocks available, said spokeswoman Abeer Etefa. There is enough food in warehouses to last about two weeks, but these are difficult to access because they are located in Gaza City, where Israel has ordered residents to evacuate.
Out of five mills in Gaza, only one is operating due to security concerns and the unavailability of fuel and electricity. Etefa said the primary challenge for WFP is being able to get food to shops amid the constant bombardment. Long lines have formed outside the few bakeries that are still able to operate.
– The Associated Press
6:36 a.m. ET
Israel’s Gaza evacuation order could breach international law: UN
GENEVA — The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday that Israel’s siege of Gaza and its evacuation order for the north of the enclave could amount to a forcible transfer of civilians and be in breach of international law.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, said Israel seemed to have made no effort to ensure the civilians temporarily evacuated in Gaza were provided with proper accommodation, as well as satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition.
“We are concerned that this order, combined with the imposition of a complete siege of Gaza, may not be considered as lawful temporary evacuation and would therefore amount to a forcible transfer of civilians in breach of international law,” she said.
“Those who managed to comply with the Israeli authorities’ order to evacuate are now trapped in the south of the Gaza Strip, with scant shelter, fast-depleting food supplies, little or no access to clean water, sanitation, medicine and other basic needs.”
The term “forcible transfer” describes the forced relocation of civilian populations and it is a crime against humanity punishable by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
– Reuters
6 a.m. ET
Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza
Open this photo in gallery: Palestinians search through the rubble of a building after an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023.MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinians in Gaza are taking stock of the latest deadly airstrikes from Israel.
A strike in Deir al Balah, south of Gaza City, reduced a house to rubble, killing nine members of the family living there, mostly women and children. Three members of another family that had evacuated from Gaza City were killed in a neighboring home. Witnesses said there was no warning before the strike.
In Khan Younis, in a neighborhood just a few hundred meters away from Nasser Hospital, Samiha Zoarab looked around at the destruction in shock as children rummaged through the piles of debris and detritus around a leveled home, which lies within a dense cluster of buildings. At least four people from the same family were killed in the attack, locals said. “There are only two survivors,” Zoarab said.
– The Associated Press
5:37 A.M. ET
Clashes erupt as anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon into Israel
Open this photo in gallery: Israeli artillery shelling smoke covers Dahaira, a Lebanese border village with Israel, south Lebanon on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023.Hussein Malla/The Associated Press
BEIRUT — Clashes erupted again Tuesday on the border between Lebanon and Israel, where Israeli forces and armed groups in Lebanon have engaged in a series of low-level skirmishes since the outbreak of the latest war in Gaza.
An anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon landed in the town of Metula in northern Israel Tuesday morning, injuring three people, according to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed.
No group in Lebanon has immediately claimed responsibility. It was not clear if the injured were civilians or soldiers, but Israel has ordered civilians to evacuate the area near the border with Lebanon.
Israel responded by striking several areas along the border in southern Lebanon with artillery fire and white phosphorus, the state-run National News Agency in Lebanon reported. The Israeli military said its tanks fired back into Lebanon after an anti-tank missile was launched across the border.
– The Associated Press
4:42 A.M. ET
Trucks carrying aid for Gaza Strip move closer to Rafah crossing
Open this photo in gallery: A convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Egyptian NGOs for Palestinians waits for a decision for the Rafah crossing to open on October 17, 2023.STRINGER/Reuters
Egyptian aid trucks moved closer on Tuesday to the only entry to Gaza not controlled by Israel, local and security sources said, but it was unclear when they might pass through the crossing, shut for days on the Palestinian side due to Israeli strikes.
At least 49 people were killed in overnight Israeli bombardment of Rafah, where the crossing is located, and the nearby town of Khan Younis, Gaza’s interior ministry said.
People with dual citizenship who have gathered in recent days awaiting the opening of the Rafah crossing began approaching the border on Tuesday, but some said they were staying away due to the air strikes.
Egypt says the Rafah crossing, a vital artery before the fighting and now a key route for desperately needed supplies into the Israeli-besieged Palestinian enclave, has not been officially closed but has become inoperable due to the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side.
Early on Tuesday some 160 trucks left al-Arish in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, where hundreds of tonnes of aid have been awaiting an agreement on aid delivery, an eyewitness told Reuters.
– Reuters
OCT 16 9:55 P.M. ET
Open this photo in gallery: Aid supplies are seen on Oct. 16, in North Sinai, Egypt. The aid convoy, organized by a group of Egyptian NGOs, set off today from Cairo for the Gaza-Egypt border crossing at Rafah.Mahmoud Khaled/Getty Images
With Gaza increasingly desperate for water and medicine, dozens of aid trucks are stuck on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border, unable to enter the Palestinian territory because of Israeli restrictions and continued missile strikes near the border.
Relief agencies have been sending emergency supplies to an Egyptian airport near the Gaza Strip for several days, but the border has remained closed, even as Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been searching frantically for drinking water.
Gazans have practically run out of water, the United Nations children’s agency Unicef said in a social-media post on Monday, warning that the use of dirty water from wells was raising the risks of waterborne diseases.
Israel has fired thousands of missiles at Gaza and kept the territory under a strict blockade since Oct. 7, when hundreds of people in southern Israel were killed or abducted by militants from Hamas, the radical group that controls Gaza. By official count on each side, more than 1,400 people were killed by Hamas in southern Israel and more than 2,778 have been killed in Gaza in the past 10 days.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is among those calling for a humanitarian corridor to be established to bring aid into Gaza, including food, fuel and water. “It is imperative that this happen,” Mr. Trudeau told the House of Commons on Monday
– Geoffrey York and Mark MacKinnon
OCT 16 8:30 P.M. ET
Biden to visit Israel on Wednesday
Open this photo in gallery: U.S. President Joe Biden holding a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th U.N. General Assembly in New York City on September 20, 2023.KEVIN LAMARQUE/Reuters
TEL AVIV, Israel — President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday to show support for the U.S. ally amid concerns the Israel-Hamas war could become a larger regional conflict, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Biden will then go to Jordan to meet with Arab leaders, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Blinken’s announcement followed hours of talks with Israeli officials, as well as an invitation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip grows more dire, Blinken also said the U.S. and Israel had agreed to develop a plan to enable humanitarian aid from donor nations to reach civilians in Gaza, “including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm’s way.”
“We share Israel’s concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid entering Gaza or otherwise prevent it from reaching the people who need it,” Blinken said.
– The Associated Press

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