Israel-Hamas War News Live Updates: Turkey air strikes hit 15 Kurdish militant targets in Iraq

Turkey's military conducted air strikes in northern Iraq on Saturday evening and destroyed 15 Kurdish militant targets, the Turkish Defence Ministry said, adding many militants had been "neutralised" in the attack. In a statement on social messaging platform X, the ministry said the targets hit in the strikes included caves, shelters, and storage facilities where militants were believed to be. It said the strikes targeted the Hakurk region of northern Iraq.

(AFP photo)

The United States and Arab partners disagreed Saturday on the need for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip as Israeli military strikes killed multiple civilians at a UN shelter and a hospital in a growing assault on the besieged enclave’s Hamas rulers.

In London, television footage showed large crowds holding sit down protests blocking Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, before marching to and gathering in Trafalgar Square. Protesters held "Freedom for Palestine" placards and chanted "ceasefire now" and "in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians." (AFP photo)

Ella Emhoff, a 24-year-old artist and fashion model, has promoted the fundraising drive on her personal Instagram account, reaching her 315,000 followers. The campaign has already raised over $7.8 million and is managed by the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund, a nonprofit organization based in Kent, Ohio. In 2021, this organization reportedly raised over $21 million, according to ProPublica. It remains unclear how much, if anything, Ella Emhoff herself has contributed to this cause.

The US military is using unarmed MQ-9 Reaper drones to assist in locating hostages taken by Hamas in Gaza. At least six drones have been deployed, flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet for about three hours at a time. The drones are providing planning and intelligence support to the Israeli military. MQ-9 Reaper drones have the ability to loiter at altitudes of 50,000 feet for over 27 hours, gathering intelligence with advanced cameras, sensors, and radars. They are cost-effective and do not require a pilot to operate.Read Less

The participants, many of whom wore the keffiyeh, the scarf worn by Palestinian activists, gathered on the famous Alexanderplatz in central Berlin, shouting 'Free Palestine'. Many held Palestinian flags. (AFP photo)

Israel battled into the fifth week Saturday of its war to crush Hamas, showing no signs of letting up even as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced a rising tide of anger in meetings with Arab foreign ministers. Blinken reaffirmed US support for 'humanitarian pauses' in the fighting in Gaza to ensure desperate civilians get help a day after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the idea short shrift.

In Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza, residents searched the rubble for survivors after an air strike on Saturday. Afterwards bodies lay in white shrouds on stretchers by a stairwell at the hospital in Khan Younis, two men sitting nearby and a girl silently watching, weeping, through the railings.

Israel has blockaded and pounded Gaza for three weeks as it launches a military operation in the enclave of 2.3 million people that it says is aimed at smashing Hamas, after it killed 1,400 Israelis and abducted 240 others in an Oct. 7 attack. Health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave say Israeli air and artillery strikes have killed 9,488 Palestinians including around 3,900 children and 150 medical staff.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday both Washington and Arab states believe the status quo of a Hamas-controlled Gaza cannot continue and that he has discussed with his Arab counterparts how to chart a better path forward towards a two-state solution. Speaking at a news conference in Amman, alongside his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts, the top US diplomat also said Washington was worried about violence by extremist settlers in the West Bank.

The diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates on Saturday said the United States needs to push for a quick end to the Israel-Hamas war and that a new process must be found for the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian issue or the United States would be seen as ineffective. Anwar Gargash also said that Israel's policy of containment that has been the "hallmark" of the Palestinian issue for the past two decades had failed and called for a new approach that addresses refugees, borders and East Jerusalem.

Israeli military strikes killed multiple civilians Saturday at a UN shelter and hospital in the main combat zone in the Gaza Strip as the assault intensified on the besieged enclave’s Hamas rulers, amid growing international uproar over the soaring death toll and deepening humanitarian crisis.

Ankara announced the decisions on the eve of what promises to be a difficult visit to Turkey by US secretary of state Antony Blinken.

Hours later it announced a new attack on the Al-Abbad Israeli position without specifying what kind of weapon was used. The Lebanon-Israel border has seen regular cross-border shelling over the past month, with firing between the Israeli military on one side and the powerful Hezbollah and its allies on the other.

"In response to two terrorist cells attempting to fire from Lebanon toward Israeli territory, the IDF (military) struck the cells and a Hezbollah observation post," a military statement said. It said it had also responded to mortar fire from Lebanon into northern Israel, where no casualties were reported.

The latest skirmishes came a day after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned that the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip could turn into a regional conflict if Israel pushed on with its offensive in the Palestinian territory.

Hamas has prepared for a long, drawn-out war in the Gaza Strip and believes it can hold up Israel's advance long enough to force its arch enemy to agree to a ceasefire, two sources close to the organization's leadership said.

Thousands of Iranians gathered on the streets on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US embassyin Tehran, chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" while condemning Washington's support of Israel as it strikes the Gaza Strip as part of its war against Hamas. The rally - which was called for by the state - came as the Israel-Hamas war entered its fourth week. (Reuters photo)

US Secretary of State's talks in Jordan's capital with the officials, angry and deeply suspicious of Israel as it intensifies military operations, came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu snubbed Antony Blinken's blunt warning that Israel risks losing any hope of an eventual peace deal with the Palestinians unless it eases the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The statement read as, “A number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike. We have information which demonstrates that Hamas’ method of operation is to transfer terror operatives and weapons in ambulances.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that they targeted the ambulance because it was allegedly being used by a Hamas terrorist cell near their position in the battle zone.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit to Turkey for two days from Sunday as part of a Middle East tour amid the Hamas-Israel war, the State Department said. The top US diplomat was meeting with Arab counterparts in the Jordanian capital Amman on Saturday after visiting Israel the day before.

"The massacre at the Al-Fakhura school committed by the occupation (Israel) this morning left 15 martyrs and 70 wounded," ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said at a press conference. The ministry had earlier said that 12 people had been killed and 54 wounded.

In a social media post in Arabic, the military said the Salah a-Din road could be used between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. (1100 GMT and 1400). "If you care about yourself and your loved ones, heed our instruction to head south," it added.

The ministry said at least 3,900 children were among those killed since Israel began striking the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas militants in southern Israel.

The ministry reported in a statement "12 martyrs and upwards of 54 wounded so far as a result of targeting Al-Fakhura school, which is sheltering thousands of displaced people in Jabalia (refugee) camp in the northern Gaza Strip". There was no immediate comment from Israel.

The family home of Hamas' exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh, in the Shati refugee camp on the northern edge of Gaza City, was hit Saturday morning by an airstrike, according to the Hamas-run media office in Gaza. It had no immediate details on damage or casualties and there was no immediate comment.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday he was breaking off contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to Israel's actions in Gaza. "Netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to. We have written him off," Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying.

The Israeli military said it would enable Palestinians to travel on a main Gaza Israel-Hamas war news: Strip highway on Saturday as part of its three-wee-old efforts to encourage civilians to evacuate southward away from areas that are the focus of its war with Hamas. In a social media post in Arabic, the military said the Salah a-Din road could be used between 1 pm and 4 pm (1100 GMT and 1400). "If you care about yourself and your loved ones, heed our instruction to head south," it added.

Large numbers of foreigners were killed, taken hostage or listed as missing after the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas launched a major attack on Israel on October 7.More than 1,400 people, mainly civilians, were killed by Hamas militants during the attack launched from Gaza, many shot dead, burned alive or mutilated, Israeli authorities say. The army said on Thursday that 332 soldiers had been killed since then.

Volker Turk strongly deplored the surge in cases of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other hate-speech, both online and offline. "The impact of this crisis... has sent shockwaves across every region, dehumanising both Palestinians and Jews," Turk said in a statement.

The group has made it clear to the US and Israel at indirect, Qatar-mediated hostage negotiations that it wants to force such a prisoner release in exchange for hostages, according to four Hamas officials, a regional official and a person familiar with the White House's thinking. Longer term, Hamas has said it wants to end Israel's 17-year blockade of Gaza, as well as to halt Israeli settlement expansion and what Palestinians see as heavy-handed actions by Israeli security forces at the al-Aqsa mosque, the most sacred Muslim shrine in Jerusalem.

Hamas has prepared for a long, drawn-out war in the Gaza Strip and believes it can hold up Israel's advance long enough to force its arch enemy to agree to a ceasefire, two sources close to the organization's leadership said.

Hamas, which rules Gaza, has stockpiled weapons, missiles, food and medical supplies, according to the people, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation. The group is confident its thousands of fighters can survive for months in a city of tunnels carved deep beneath the Palestinian enclave and frustrate Israeli forces with urban guerrilla tactics, the people told Reuters.

Ultimately, Hamas believes international pressure for Israel to end the siege, as civilian casualties mount, could force a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement that would see the militant group emerge with a tangible concession such as the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, the sources said.

In the wake of rising antisemitic incidents across the globe amid the ongoing war in Gaza, the Israeli government has urged citizens to reconsider plans to travel abroad.

In a joint statement on Friday, the National Security Council (NSC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had observed a “significant rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel incitement alongside life-threatening violent attacks on Israelis and Jews around the world”, including in countries that do not have “terrorism-related travel warnings”,reports CNN.

"Jewish communities, religious and community establishments (synagogues, Chabad centers, kosher restaurants and Israeli businesses), Israeli delegations, and airports with flights to and from Israel are key targets for protests and attacks by antisemitic groups,” the statement said.

Calls for a humanitarian pause increased with the United Nation’s agency for Palestinian refugees reporting the average Palestinian in Gaza is surviving on two pieces of bread a day, and only one of three water supply lines from Israel is operational.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday, “We are going full steam ahead” unless the hostages held by Hamas are released. Israeli troops have further closed in on Gaza City, launching targeted attacks on militant cells there.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,227, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.

Following talks with the US, Israel "significantly refined" its original military plan for its war against Hamas, reported The Times of Israel.

On whether Washington is holding discussions with Israel about the growing numbers of civilian casualties, a senior Biden administration official said that the US is "asking hard questions and constantly asking and ensuring there's clarity about the objectives (they're) seeking."

"They have significantly refined what originally was their plan," the official added.

The senior US official further emphasized that calling for a ceasefire after the October 7 massacre by the Hamas terror group would not be the right policy for the US to take, The Times of Israel reported.

The US is discussing a framework agreement that would see a significant pause in hostilities between Israel and Hamas if the Palestinian group decided to release an estimated 200 hostages taken during the October 7 attack, a senior US official said Friday night.The temporary ceasefire when two American women were freed by Hamas last month was a template for a longer one, the official said, while cautioning that there was no current timeline for a mass hostage release and significant impediments to negotiations.Blinken also raised the prospect of pauses to allow additional humanitarian assistance to flow into Gaza during his conversations with Netanyahu earlier Friday, but the Israeli leader has rejected any brief cessation of hostilities unless hostages are freed.(Bloomberg)