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Israel steps up offensive with 'significant' strikes, cuts Gaza Strip in two

Fire and smoke rises from buildings following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, Sunday, November 5, 2023. © Abed Khaled, AP

The Israeli army said Sunday its land assault on the Gaza Strip had split the Palestinian territory in two, with "significant" strikes continuing in its war against Hamas. Israeli airstrikes hit two refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 45 people, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said. The strikes came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued his Middle-eastern tour with an unannounced visit to Iraq, as Washington tries to prevent a regional spillover. Tensions increased with neighbouring Lebanon as an Israeli strike in the south of the country killed three children and their grandmother, Lebanese authorities said. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

This live blog is no longer being updated. For the latest on the Israel-Hamas war, please click here.

Today's key events

  • An Israeli strike on a refugee camp Sunday in central Gaza killed at least 45 people and injured dozens, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. An Israeli military spokesperson said they were looking into whether its troops were operating in the area at the time.

  • The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has reached 9,770 people, including 4,008 children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.

  • The Israeli army said Sunday its land assault on the Gaza Strip had split the Palestinian territory in two, with "significant" strikes continuing in its war against Hamas. Israeli forces "have encircled Gaza City... Now there exists a south Gaza and a north Gaza," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

  • Gaza's Hamas government reported "intense bombings" on Sunday evening around several hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip, shortly after telecommunications were cut for a third time.

  • US Secretary of state Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Sunday following a trip to the occupied West Bank earlier in the day. Washington wants to prevent a wider regional conflict and has stepped up diplomacy with regional countries whose populations have been angered by Israel's assault on Gaza. He is then expected in Turkey in the next stop of his second diplomatic shuttle in the region following the October 7 Hamas attack.

  • While in the West Bank, Blinken told Palestinian President Mahmoud that Palestinians in Gaza "must not be forcibly displaced".

  • An Israeli strike on a car in south Lebanon killed three children and their grandmother on Sunday, Lebanese authorities said. All four were relatives of a journalist who was also wounded, the official Lebanese news agency said. The strikes came as the Israeli army said an attack from Lebanon killed an Israeli citizen in northern Israel.

  • Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said Beirut will submit a complaint to the United Nations over the airstrikes in South lebanon, while the Iran-backed Hezbollah group promised Israel "will pay the price" for an attack it qualified as "a dangerous development". In retaliation, the Lebanese militant faction said it fired multiple grad rockets at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on Sunday, a statement said.

Read the day's events as they unfolded:

01:08: Israel says it stopped firing for many hours in northern Gaza to help civilians leave

Israel stopped firing in northern Gaza for several hours two days in a row to create safe passage for civilians to move to the south, a military spokesperson told CNN on Sunday, amid pressure for a humanitarian pause.

"Yesterday and today, for many hours with prior notice and warning, we facilitated, we stopped firing in certain areas of northern Gaza, which is the main combat area, and we called on Palestinians to move south," Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said.

00:53am: King of Jordan confirms 'urgent medical aid' air-drop for Gaza

Jordan's air force air-dropped vital medical supplies to a field hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip, King Abdullah II said early Monday.

 "Our fearless air force personnel air-dropped at midnight urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza," he said on X, formerly Twitter.

9:25pm: Israeli army announces intensification of 'significant' strikes, says Gaza Strip cut in two

The Israeli army said its land assault on the Gaza Strip had on Sunday split the Palestinian territory in two, with "significant" strikes continuing in its war against Hamas.

Israeli forces "have encircled Gaza City... Now there exists a south Gaza and a north Gaza," said army spokesman Daniel Hagari.

9:05pm: France reports 'explosion' of anti-Semitic acts, with 1,040 since October 7

France has recorded more than a thousand anti-Semitic acts since the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas gunman on Israel, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Sunday. "The number of anti-Semitic acts has exploded," he told France 2 television, adding that 486 people have been arrested for such offences, including 102 of foreigners.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said Sunday that there had been 257 anti-Semitic in the Paris region alone, and 90 arrests. There was no typical profile for those arrested, he added. They ranged from "young kids who say very serious things" to people involved in the pro-Palestinian cause who had gone too far.

Paris prosecutors are already investigating the daubing of dozens of Stars of David on buildings around the city and its suburbs last week, seen as threatening Jews. In the city of Lyon, prosecutors said this weekend they suspected that anti-Semitism may have been behind an attack on a young Jewish woman, who was stabbed in her home. Police are treating the attack as attempted murder, they said, adding that the woman's life was not in danger and no arrest had been made.

France's Jewish population, estimated at over 500,000, is the largest in Europe and the third-biggest in the world, after Israel and the United States.

8:25pm: Lebanon's Hezbollah fires rocket barrage at Israeli town in retaliation for airstrike, militant group says

The Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon said it fired a barrage of grad rockets at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on Sunday in retaliation for an Israeli strike in South Lebanon that it said had killed a woman and three children.

In a statement, the Lebanese militant faction said its attack came in response to Israel's "heinous and brutal crime".

It marks the first time the group has announced using that particular weapon during four weeks of clashes at the border with Israeli forces, underlining the risks of escalation. In a statement, Hezbollah said it would never tolerate attacks on civilians and its response would be "firm and strong". "The enemy will pay the price for its crimes against civilians," Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters.

8:05pm: Israel claims attacks in Lebanon based on 'intelligence information'

Israel's army spokesperson gave no details on Sunday of a reported deadly attack in Lebanon, but said the military operates based on intelligence information and examines every event in Lebanon thoroughly.

Asked about the report during a news briefing, Israel's chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: "Regarding Lebanon, we attack on the basis of intelligence information and we will continue to attack. That is our mission. Anyone who threatens us we will attack them."

"And every event of course that occurs in Lebanon we examine it and learn about it to understand the details. That's what I can say at this point," he said.

8:05pm: Lebanon will complain to UN over killing of civilians in Israeli strike, FM says

Lebanon will submit a complaint to the United Nations over the killing of civilians, including children, in an Israeli strike in South Lebanon, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Sunday.

Bou Habib told Reuters that Lebanon was collecting information and pictures and will likely submit its complaint on Monday.

Asked about reports from security sources in Lebanon that an Israeli strike had killed three people in a car, an Israeli army spokesperson said the army would be a releasing a statement later on Sunday about a strike in Lebanon.

7:15pm: US Blinken on surprise visit to Iraq in bid to prevent Gaza spillover

US Secretary of state Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Sunday following a trip to the occupied West Bank earlier in the day. Washington wants to prevent a wider regional conflict and has stepped up diplomacy with regional countries whose populations have been angered by Israel's assault on Gaza.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani met Blinken, the premier's office said, with the two expected to discuss the risks of escalation in Israel's war with Hamas.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, a series of rocket and drone attacks have targeted military bases hosting US forces in Iraq. Blinken condemned attacks on American troops in Iraq his surprise visit to Baghdad: "I made very clear that attacks or threats coming from militias that are aligned with Iran are totally unacceptable. And we will take every necessary step to protect our people," Blinken said.

6:55pm: Israel carrying out 'intense bombings' around several Gaza hospitals, Hamas says

Gaza's Hamas government said the Israeli army was carrying out "intense bombings" on Sunday evening around several hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip, shortly after telecommunications were cut.

"For more than an hour, intense bombings have been taking place around hospitals," said Salama Marouf, the head of the Hamas government's media office.

6:45pm: Israel exposed network of Hamas tunnels beneath and next to Gaza’s hospitals, Israel says

The Israeli military on Sunday said it has exposed a network of Hamas tunnels, command centres and rocket launchers beneath and adjacent to hospitals in northern Gaza.

"Hamas systematically exploits hospitals as part of its war machine," Israel's chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters.

The Islamist group Hamas denies doing so and has accused Israel of spreading lies.

6:25pm: One Israeli killed in Hezbollah attack on Lebanon-Israel border, Israel military says

An Israeli was killed on Sunday in an attack by the Lebanese group Hezbollah over the border, Israel's military said, as tensions have escalated between Israel and the militant group amid the war in Gaza.

6:10pm: Israeli strike in Southern Lebanon kills journalist’s four relatives, including 3 children, state media says

Further information is coming over the deadly Israeli strike near the Lebanese border. Four relatives of a journalist were killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, the official Lebanese agency NNA said, confirming security sources and a Hezbollah MP information, adding that the journalist was also wounded.

The agency said the four victims are the sister of radio correspondent Samir Ayoub and her three grandchildren. They were following the journalist's car in their own vehicle when they were killed, as they drove between the villages of Aynata and Aitaroun near the Israeli border. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the mother of the three children was also wounded in the attack.

5:55pm: Internet, phone lines cut again in Gaza, Palestinian telecoms firm says

Israel cut internet and phone lines in the Gaza Strip Sunday night, for the third time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, Palestinian telecoms firm Paltel said.

"We regret to announce the complete shutdown of communications and internet services in Gaza after the Israeli side disconnected the servers," Paltel said in a statement. "The main routes that were previously reconnected (were) cut off again from the Israeli side," it said.

5:45pm: Israeli strike kills at least 3 people in Lebanon, security sources say

An Israeli strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed three people on Sunday, four security sources in Lebanon said. Lebanon's state-owned National News Agency said the Israeli strike hit the car between the villages of Ayanata and Aitaroun near the border with Israel.

Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire across the border since the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel went to war on October 7.

A Hezbollah lawmaker from the area called the attack "a dangerous development" that would have repercussions. He said the victims were children aged between 8 and 14, and their grandmother. "The enemy will pay the price for its crimes against civilians," lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters. Their mother had been wounded in the attack on the car as it was moving between the villages of Aynata and Aitaroun, he added.

Asked about earlier reports from security sources in Lebanon that an Israeli strike had killed three people in a car near Aynata, an Israeli army spokesperson said the army would be a releasing a statement later on Sunday about a strike in Lebanon.

4:55pm: Pro-Palestinian crowds try to storm air base housing US troops in Turkey

Turkish police used tear gas and water cannon as hundreds of people at a pro-Palestinian rally on Sunday tried to storm an air base that houses US troops, hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due in Ankara for talks on Gaza.

Since the Israel-Hamas war started, protests have erupted across Turkey, which has stepped up its criticism of Israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened.

The Incirlik air base in the Adana province in southern Turkey, which has been used to support the international coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, also houses US troops.

The IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, an Islamist Turkish aid agency, organised protests calling for Incirlik to be closed. Footage from the protests showed police firing tear gas and using water cannons to disperse crowds waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and chanting slogans. Protesters toppled barricades and clashed with police in riot gear.

Turkish police use tear gas to disperse Pro-Palestinian demonstrators during a protest against the U.S. and Israel near the Incirlik Air Base, which is housing U.S. troops, in Adana, southern Turkey November 5, 2023. © Dilara Senkaya, Reuters

4:45pm: Iran’s Khamenei meets Hamas’ Haniyeh in Tehran, says Iranian state media

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has met with the leader of Tehran-backed Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, Iranian state media reported on Sunday, a day after a Hamas official said they held a meeting in recent days.

Iranian state media said Haniyeh, who has resided between Qatar and Turkey since 2019, "briefed Khamenei on the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza, as well as the developments in the West Bank".

The Islamic Republic says it supports Hamas but did not play any role in the militants' surprise attack on Israel last month.

Without elaborating when the meeting took place, Iran's Tasnim news agency said the country's top authority Khamenei "emphasized Tehran's consistent policy of supporting the Palestinian resistance forces against the Zionist occupiers".

4:35pm: 'European Jews today are again living in fear', European Commission says

The European Commission on Sunday condemned the rise in anti-Semitism across the EU since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East. "European Jews today are again living in fear," it added.

"The spike of antisemitic incidents across Europe has reached extraordinary levels in the last few days, reminiscent of some of the darkest times in history," the commission said in a statement. "We condemn these despicable acts in the strongest possible terms. They go against everything that Europe stands for," it said.

Citing anti-Semitic incidents in Austria, France, Germany and Spain, as well as "demonstrators chanting hate slogans against Jews", the commission, which is the European Union's executive arm, said it was essential to push back against both anti-Semitism "as well as the rise in anti-Muslim hatred that we have been witnessing over the past weeks - which has no place in Europe".

4:05pm: Turkey agrees to take Gaza cancer patients for treatment from Egypt

Turkey and Egypt have agreed for some 1,000 cancer patients and other injured civilians needing urgent care in Gaza to be sent to Turkey for treatment, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Sunday, after a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart on Saturday, adding work was underway to plan the move.

Koca said on Thursday that Ankara was prepared to bring in cancer patients from the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital in Gaza, the enclave's only cancer treatment hospital, which went out of service after running out of fuel this week.

"Our efforts continue for almost 1,000 patients, especially cancer patients who were being treated at the Turkey-Palestine Friendship hospital in Gaza that had to stop its operations, and wounded persons we were previously notified about and who are in need of urgent care, to be brought to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing," Koca said on social media platform X.

"After that, it is being planned for the cancer patients and those in emergency conditions to be transferred to our country via ambulance planes and hospital ships," he said.

3:35pm: Over 300 Americans, US residents evacuated from Gaza, White House says

More than 300 Americans, US residents and their families have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip as Israel's fight against Hamas rages, the White House said on Sunday.

"Over the last several days, through pretty intensive negotiations with all sides relevant to this conflict, we have been able to get out more than 300 Americans, lawful permanent residents and their family members," Jonathan Finer, White House deputy national security advisor, told CBS News.

He said Washington believes there are still "a number" of Americans remaining in the besieged Palestinian territory.

3:05pm: Four wounded in Israel strike on Lebanon ambulances, rescuers say

Four rescue workers were injured Sunday in an Israeli bombing in southern Lebanon that hit two ambulances, according to the association that owned the vehicles and state media. The border area between the two countries has been host to multiple exchanges of fire between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Islamic Al-Risala Scout Association, which operates rescue teams, said "a drone from the Israeli occupation forces deliberately targeted... the two vehicles, causing moderate injuries to four paramedics." According to the association affiliated with the Shiite Amal movement, a Hezbollah ally, the attack took place at dawn, when the two ambulances were called to evacuate the wounded in the village of Tayr Harfa, near the Israeli border.

The Israeli army said it had used a drone to target a "terrorist cell that attempted to fire from Lebanon toward the area of Rosh Hanikra in northern Israel". It said troops had observed "two suspicious vehicles" that arrived in the area, but said "the strike was directed at the terrorist cell and not at the vehicles."

Lebanon's health ministry condemned "a cowardly and barbaric attack".

2:35pm: PA should play 'central' role in Gaza's future, says Blinken; only if 'solution' is found to conflict, Abbas replies

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) should play a central role in what comes next in the Gaza Strip, a senior State Department official said. The official added that the "future of Gaza was not the focus of the meeting but the Palestinian Authority seemed willing to play a role."

The Palestinian Authority is run by Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, which controls the West Bank. Hamas took over the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, after being blocked from exercising real power despite winning a parliamentary election the previous year. No Palestinian elections have been held since 2006 as the two rival parties have failed to reach a compromise.

Abbas said Sunday that the Palestinian Authority could return to power in Gaza only if a "comprehensive political solution" is found for the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Israel's assault on Hamas has raised the question of who would run the Palestinian territory after the war.

"We will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip," Abbas told visiting Blinken, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

12:56pm: Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll hits 9,770

At least 9,770 Palestinians, including 4,008 children, have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since October 7, said a spokesman for the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

12:04pm: Blinken tells Abbas Gazans must not be 'forcibly displaced'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday that Palestinians in Gaza "must not be forcibly displaced", a State Department spokesman said.

Blinken met with Abbas in Ramallah as he made a surprise high-security visit to the West Bank as violence surges in the occupied territory in tandem with the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the pair also discussed "the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians" in the West Bank.

11:58am: Abbas tells Blinken 'immediate' Gaza ceasefire needed

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ramallah on Sunday that there must be an "immediate ceasefire" and humanitarian aid allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, his spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said

11:53am: US to test Turkish waters over Israel-Hamas war as Blinken heads to Ankara 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Turkey later Sunday and is set to meet Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday, according to the State Department.

Blinken is likely to seize the opportunity to probe Turkey’s reaction to US solutions aiming to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, said FRANCE 24’s Jasper Mortimer, reporting from Turkey. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is "regarded as a leader of the Muslim world", explained Mortimer, and “Fidan knows Erdogan’s thinking exactly”.

Please click on the video player below to watch the report.

11:22am: Qatari PM highlights complexities in hostage negotiations

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Sunday that there had been "false" reports on negotiations to release Israeli hostages held in Gaza, without elaborating.

Al-Thani said during a news conference in Doha with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna that there were complexities in the field due to "Israeli military practices" in Gaza.

11:18am: France's Colonna calls for 'immediate humanitarian truce'

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has called for  an "immediate" humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war as casualties climb in the besieged Gaza Strip.

"An immediate, durable and observed humanitarian truce is absolutely necessary and must be able to lead to a ceasefire," Colonna told reporters during a visit to Qatar.

During a joint press conference with Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Colonna said too many civilians have died in Israeli strikes on Gaza. 

Schools, hospitals, humanitarian workers and journalists in the besieged enclave must be protected, she added.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas and that the Islamist Palestinian group is using residents as human shields.

Colonna added that an international humanitarian conference, to be hosted by France on November 9, will cover respecting international law, basic needs such as health, water, energy and food, and will call for concrete action for civilians in Gaza.

11:10am: Blinken meets Abbas in surprise West Bank visit

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a high-security surprise visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank Sunday, meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to photographs released by the Palestinian Authority.

The top US diplomat met with Abbas in Ramallah as global concern grows over rising violence in the occupied territory in tandem with the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza since October 7.

Blinken has visited Israel since the start of the war, but this was his first trip to the West Bank. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, in the West Bank on November, 5, 2023. © AFP (Handout picture provided by the Palestinian Authority's press office.)

10:44am: Israel forces kill three in West Bank, Palestinian health ministry says

Three Palestinians were killed Sunday by Israeli forces in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, as violence flares in the occupied territory since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Two men, aged 22 and 20, were killed "in an attack by Israeli occupation forces on Abu Dis", a suburb of annexed east Jerusalem separated by the Israeli wall encircling the West Bank, the Ramallah-based ministry said.

One of the two was fatally hit by a "bullet in chest" and "six others were wounded, three seriously", according to a statement.

Further south, a 22-year-old Palestinian was "killed by Israeli occupation bullets in Nuba, northwest of Hebron," the ministry said.

10:40am: Israel minister reprimanded over Gaza nuclear 'option' comment

An Israeli minister was suspended from government meetings "until further notice" on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, after suggesting in an interview dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza.

Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, an ultranationalist politician part of Netnayahu's ruling coalition, told Israel's Kol Barama radio he was not entirely satisfied with the scale of Israel's retaliation to the October 7 Hamas attack.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Eliyahu, suggested that Israel could drop an atomic bomb on Gaza. He later walked back the remarks, saying they were “metaphorical.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office quickly responded to the minister's remarks, issuing a statement in which it described them as "disconnected from reality," adding that Israel was trying to spare "non-combatants" in Gaza. 

Following the outcry over his remarks Eliyahu later said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that his statement about the atomic bomb was "metaphorical".

Israel never officially admits nor denies having nuclear weapons.

10:19am: Israeli strike kills 21 from one family, says Gaza health ministry

Twenty-one Palestinians from one family were killed in Israeli strikes targeting Gaza overnight, said the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday.

"The victims belong to the family of Abu Hasira when the Israeli shelling targeted their house, full of women and children," the ministry said in a post on its Facebook page.

9:12am: Israel says struck 2,500 targets in ground operation

The Israeli army said Sunday its forces had "struck over 2,500 terror targets" since ground troops entered the Palestinian territory late last month.

"IDF (army) troops are continuing to eliminate terrorists in close-quarters combat" and to direct aircraft to hit Hamas targets, the army said, including a "military compound" hit overnight.

"During the combined activities of ground, air and naval forces in the Gaza Strip, over 2,500 terror targets have been struck."

8:36am: Thousands still in northern Gaza as residents say 'nowhere remains safe'

Thousands of Palestinians are still in northern Gaza, where fighting between Israel and Hamas is intensifying. The Israeli army said that its troops have encircled Gaza City and are engaged in "close-quarters combat".

While Israeli forces claimed to have opened a three-hour window on Saturday for Gazans to evacuate to the south, “many people are too afraid to take that road,” explained FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris Trent, reporting from Tel Aviv.

Residents say Israeli strikes have been hitting the south of the Gaza Strip and that "nowhere remains safe", Norris Trent said.

Please click on the video player below to watch the report.

6:27am: Israeli strike kills at least 33, wounding dozens in refugee camp

Israeli warplanes struck the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza late Saturday, killing at least 33 people and wounding dozens, health officials said.

An Israeli military spokesperson said they were looking into whether its troops had been operating in the area at the time.

Hamas said in a statement that Israel had "directly" bombed citizens' homes, adding that most of the dead were women and children.

2:48am: Israeli army chief visits troops in Gaza

Israeli chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi visited troops inside the Gaza Strip Saturday, a military spokesman said, in the first such visit since the war began four weeks ago.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli forces were fighting "hard" inside Gaza, and that troops had "completed the encircling" of Gaza City.

Israeli soldiers had "entered populated areas", he said.

Key developments from Saturday , November 4:

Between 350,000 to 400,000 people remain in northern Gaza, US special envoy David Satterfield said Saturday. Another 800,000 to a million Gazans have moved from the north to the south of the enclave heeding Israel’s call for an evacuation of northern Gaza as the war against Hamas intensifies.

At least 12 people were killed in an Israeli strike on Saturday on a UN school in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has reached 9,488 people, including 3,900 children, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Jordan with parties disagreeing on the need for an immediate ceasefire.

The death toll of French citizens killed as a result of Hamas' attacks in Israel rose to 39, according to the French foreign ministry. The October 7 Hamas attack killed more than 1,400 people and more than 200 people were taken hostage.

Thousands of Israelis protested outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in central Jerusalem, calling on the Israeli leader to resign in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Meanwhile tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday in Milan, Paris and Washington to call for a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

Gaza's Hamas government suspended the evacuation of foreign passport holders to Egypt Saturday after Israel refused to allow some wounded Palestinians to be evacuated to Egyptian hospitals, a border official said. An Egyptian security source confirmed to AFP that "no wounded person or holder of a foreign passport arrived at the Egyptian terminal" of Rafah on Saturday.

A French woman of Jewish faith was stabbed at her home in Lyon, the public prosecutor's office said on Saturday, adding that "the motive for the attack could have been anti-Semitic". Police were hunting the suspect and a spokesman said he could not confirm whether police were treating the attack as an anti-Semitic hate crime.

Read our blog to see how yesterday's events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

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