Israel-Hamas war LIVE: Israel targets Hamas tunnels in Gaza City as more Palestinians flee south

Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad denied that Israeli forces had advanced deep into Gaza City. He claimed that numerous Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday.

Israel's combat engineering corps on Wednesday are using explosive devices to destroy the extensive tunnel network used by Hamas militants, which extends for hundreds of kilometres beneath the enclave inside Gaza's largest city. It claimed it caused significant damage to the tunnels in overnight strikes.

Its military has said that they have been battling the Palestinian militants deep inside Gaza for over a week, cutting the territory in half and encircling Gaza City. This signals a major new stage in the month-old conflict.

But Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad, speaking on Tuesday from Beirut, had denied that Israeli forces had advanced deep into Gaza City. He claimed that numerous Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday and “many tanks were destroyed.”

On Tuesday, Israel unleashed another wave of strikes across the Gaza Strip as hundreds more Palestinians fled Gaza City to the south.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday had told ABC News that Israel would control Gaza’s security for “an indefinite period”.

READ IN DETAIL:

Canadian poet Rupi Kaur rejects White House's Diwali party invite, says US supports Gaza violence

In a statement posted on X on November 6, she said that she refuses to accept any invitation from, "an institution that supports the collective punishment of a trapped civilian population, 50% of whom are children."

READ FULL STORY HERE

Canadian poet Rupi Kaur. (Photo | X)

Gaza journalist, 42 family members killed in Israeli airstrikes

Palestinian reporter Mohammad Abu Hasira was recently killed alongside 42 of his family members, including his sons, after Israel bombed their house in Gaza City, Palestine news agency WAFA reported

Israeli forces have told news agencies that they cannot guarantee the safety of journalists working in Gaza, as they have begun their ground offensive deep into the city. READ STORY HERE

Palestinian reporter Mohammad Abu Hasira. (Photo posted by WAFA news agency)

Here are stories of some of the 242 hostages still being held by Hamas

Oded Lifshitz has spent his life fighting for Arab rights, but that didn’t prevent him from being abducted by Hamas militants who raided Israel on Oct. 7

Throughout a long career in journalism, he campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews

In retirement, the 83-year-old drove to the Erez border crossing on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip once a week to ferry Palestinians to medical appointments in Israel as part of a group called On the Way to Recovery

Oded and his wife, Yocheved, were among the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, from which they were abducted when Hamas militants raided the community and killed dozens of residents

Yocheved Lifshitz and another elderly woman, Nurit Cooper, were freed last week. Oded Lifshitz remains in captivity

READ THE STORIES HERE

Sharone Lifschitz and her father Oded Lifshitz are pictured in this undated photo in London. (AP)

Israel aiming to strike Hamas tunnels in Gaza city

As reported by Reuters, Israel has initiated an operation targeting the Hamas tunnels within Gaza City and claimed that it caused significant damage to them in overnight strikes

The Israeli military has stated that many of Hamas' tunnels, command centers, and rocket launchers are situated in close proximity to schools, hospitals, and humanitarian institutions in northern Gaza.

Chief military spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said that Israeli ground forces “are located right now in a ground operation in the depths of Gaza City and putting great pressure on Hamas.”

Israeli ground troops have battled Palestinian militants inside Gaza for over a week, cutting the territory in half and encircling Gaza City

Thousands of Gaza's pregnant women and new mothers in dire conditions: UN

50,000 pregnant women in Gaza are unable to access routine maternal health care, 180 women are giving birth there every day, and 5,500 babies have been born since the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel

Dr Natalia Kanem, head of the U.N. agency that promotes reproductive and sexual health, on Tuesday issued an urgent appeal for fuel for hospitals and incubators, clean water and food for pregnant and lactating women, and for a humanitarian cease-fire

White House says it does not support Israel re-occupying Israel Gaza after war

The White House on Tuesday reiterated that President Joe Biden does not support an Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip once the war ends

Asked about Netanyahu’s comments, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he would leave it to Netanyahu to clarify what he means by having “indefinite” control of Gaza's security

Hamas denies Israel is making big military gains in Gaza City

Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad, speaking on Tuesday from Beirut, denied that Israeli forces were making any significant military gains or that they had advanced deep into Gaza City

“They never give the people the truth,” Hamad said. He added that numerous Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday and “many tanks were destroyed.” (AP)

DAY 33 of the war: Summary of latest developments

Israel has initiated an operation targeting the Hamas tunnels within Gaza City

But Hamas denies Israel is making big military gains in Gaza City

White House reiterated that Biden doesn't support Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip post the war

50,000 pregnant women in Gaza are unable to access routine maternal health care, 180 women are giving birth there every day, and 5,500 babies have been born since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel: United Nations

Photos from the ground

Palestinians evacuate a wounded youth following an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP)

Groups of people evacuating south from Gaza City, as part of the humanitarian corridor that was opened briefly on November 7, 2023, to enable civilians an opportunity to flee the fighting. (AP)

Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP)

A woman holds-up a white T-shirt trying to prevent being shot, as Palestinians flee Gaza City to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din street in Bureij, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP)

G7 seeks common line on Gaza, signal to Russia

G7 foreign ministers sought on Wednesday to hammer out a common line on the Israel-Hamas war and signal to Russia that there would be no let-up in their support for Ukraine

The ministers were expected to call in a joint statement for "humanitarian pauses" in Gaza, while stopping short of urging a ceasefire

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, arriving in Japan for the talks from his latest whirlwind Middle East tour, called Tuesday for the G7 to speak "in one clear voice" on the conflict (AFP)

The war's toll

Israelis on Tuesday commemorated the 30th day — a milestone in Jewish mourning — since the Hamas incursion on October 7, which killed 1,400 people

About 240 people Hamas abducted during the attack remain in Gaza, and more than 250,000 Israelis have evacuated homes near the borders of Gaza and Lebanon amid continuous rockets fired into Israel

A month of relentless bombardment in Gaza has killed more than 10,300 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run territory. More than 2,300 are believed buried from strikes that reduced entire city blocks to rubble

Around 70% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and many of them are crowded into U.N. schools-turned-shelters

Civilians in Gaza are relying on a trickle of aid and their own daily foraging for food and water from supplies that have dwindled after weeks of siege (AP)

What is life like for Palestinians one month into the Israel-Hamas war? Listen to the stories of those who fled northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/eoCsxrENsb

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 7, 2023