As the conflict between Israel and Gaza enters its 16th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Sunday, October 22, 2023:
Latest developments
- Israel launched a rare air raid on a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, killing at least two Palestinians. Three other people were killed when overnight strikes hit Qabatiya, Tammun, and Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
- The Israeli army on Sunday arrested at least 52 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including workers from the besieged Gaza Strip.
- Bombardments in Gaza continue to intensify. At least 11 Palestinians have been killed and dozens injured in an Israeli attack on a cafe in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip. The Hamas group has said at least 55 people were killed in overnight raids on the Strip.
- Israeli authorities say they have ordered the evacuation of 14 more communities on the country’s northern border with Lebanon as fire exchanges between the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah continue.
- Hezbollah said six of its fighters were killed in one day, bringing the total of its members’ death toll in the current escalation to 19.
- Israeli air raids killed two workers at the Damascus airport in Syria.
- The Red Crescent and the UN have warned that the limited aid shipment that arrived in Gaza on Saturday through the Rafah crossing was nowhere near enough to meet the urgent needs for water and food as well as the needs of health facilities.
Human impact
- At least 4,385 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, according to Palestinian officials. Israeli forces have killed 90 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in the past two weeks.
- More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel and about 200 others have been held captive since the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7.
Diplomacy
- The United States is deploying additional air defence systems to the Middle East in response to escalations in the region, according to reports from the Pentagon.
- Canada has joined the US and France in saying Israel was not behind the explosion at al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s strongest ally, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, calls for an intervention into the Gaza Strip if Israel’s attacks on Palestine do not stop within 24 hours.
- India has sent 38.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Egypt’s Sinai region for Palestinian civilians in the embattled Gaza Strip, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
- Thousands of protesters around the world, including some 100,000 people in the United Kingdom, have taken to the streets to express solidarity with Palestinians, calling for an end to Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza.