Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip as it prepares for a ground invasion it says is aimed at annihilating the Palestinian militant group Hamas while Russia warns the conflict could spread beyond the Middle East.
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Humanitarian supplies In besieged Gaza were critically low as world powers failed to agree on a lull to the fighting to deliver aid and residents buried the dead in mass graves while the civilian toll mounted.
In an indication Israel was widening assaults into Gaza that began at the weekend, the military said ground forces attacked multiple targets in the Hamas-ruled enclave on Thursday before withdrawing, in what Army Radio described as the biggest incursion of the current war.
In preparation for the next stages of combat, the IDF operated in northern Gaza. — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) IDF tanks & infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts. The soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory. pic.twitter.com/oMdSDR84rUOctober 26, 2023
United States President Joe Biden said on Wednesday the future should include Israeli and Palestinian states side by side.
"Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve to live side by side in safety, dignity and in peace," Biden said at a joint press conference in Washington with visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Biden said he believed one reason Iranian-backed Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing at least 1400 people and taking scores of hostages, was to prevent normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the conflict could spread beyond the Middle East and said it was wrong that innocent women, children and old people in Gaza were being punished for other people's crimes.
"Our task today, our main task, is to stop the bloodshed and violence," said Putin in a meeting with Russian religious leaders of different faiths, according to a Kremlin transcript.
"Otherwise, further escalation of the crisis is fraught with grave and extremely dangerous and destructive consequences - and not only for the Middle East region.
"It could spill over far beyond the borders of the Middle East."
Joe Biden believes Hamas wants to prevent normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had agreed to delay invading Gaza until US air defence systems could be placed in the region, as early as this week, to protect American forces.
Asked about the report, US officials told Reuters Washington has raised its concerns with Israel that Iran and Iranian-backed Islamist groups could escalate the conflict by attacking US troops in the Middle East.
An Israeli incursion into Gaza could be a trigger for Iranian proxies, they said.
Gaza's war has already sparked conflict beyond the Palestinian territories.
Israeli warplanes struck Syrian army infrastructure on Wednesday in response to rockets fired from Syria, an ally of Iran.
Israel has also targeted Syria's Aleppo airport and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Palestinians are burying the unidentified dead in mass graves as the death toll mounts in Gaza.
Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, has sought regional ascendancy for decades and backs armed groups in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere as well as Hamas.
It has warned Israel to stop its onslaught on Gaza.
At the United Nations, Russia and China vetoed a US-drafted Security Council resolution calling for pauses in hostilities to allow food, water and medicine to be delivered to Palestinian civilians.
The United Arab Emirates also voted no, while 10 members voted in favour and two abstained.
Russia made a rival proposal that advocated a wider ceasefire but failed to win the minimum number of votes.
As the death toll mounts in Gaza, Palestinians are burying the unidentified dead in mass graves, with a number instead of a name, residents say.
Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza, but he won't say when.
Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed more than 6500 people, the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip said on Wednesday.
Reuters has been unable to independently verify the casualty figures of either side.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement that Israel was "preparing for a ground invasion".
"I will not elaborate on when, how or how many," he said.
Israeli tanks and troops are massed on the border with Gaza awaiting orders and Israel has called up 360,000 reservists.
International pressure is growing to delay any invasion of Gaza, not least because of hostages.
More than half the estimated 220 hostages held by Hamas have foreign passports from 25 different countries, the Israeli government said.