RT News - October 27th 2023 LATE

Numbers update: The death toll from Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza has reached 7,028 people, including 2,913 children; more than 18,000 have been wounded, since October 7th. Day 21

Short take: Dozens of casualties, including women and children, are rushed to hospitals amid devastating Israeli air strikes on Gaza, while medical officials warn there's just no more space to treat them. At least three people are reportedly wounded this Friday in an alleged Hamas rocket strike on a residential building in Tel Aviv. The IDF confirms the killing of a Hamas intelligence leader it says was responsible for organizing the October 7th mass attack, as relatives of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants demand their government take immediate action.

27 October 2023 as the day has unfolded :

15:32 GMT
UNESCO, the United Nations’ educational division, has demanded protection for schools, teachers, and students in Gaza amid Israel’s bombardment of the territory. It said in a press release on Friday that about 40% of the schools in Gaza – 200 buildings – had been damaged since the latest round of hostilities began on October 7. Some 40 of those schools have been damaged very seriously, according to UNESCO. Many of these were operated by the UN’s Palestinian refugee organization, UNRWA, which has already lost 38 civilian employees in the bombing.

15:15 GMT
Hamas rejects Israeli accusation of hospitals as ‘operation centres’
Hamas has rejected the Israeli military’s accusation of turning hospitals into “operation centres” to carry out its attacks on Israel.
A senior member of the Hamas political bureau, Izzat al-Rishq, said, “There’s no basis in truth in what the spokesman of the enemy army stated.” Israel is making the claims to “pave the way for a new massacre to be committed against our people”, al-Rishq added.

15:08 GMT
‘Catastrophic’: Qatar calls for full ceasefire and prisoner release
Qatar has called for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all prisoners in the Gaza war.
“The Israeli attacks against innocent civilians have become catastrophic and could spiral in a manner that threatens the region and the world. We express deep regret of the UN Security Council’s failure to take responsibility under its charter,” said Sheikha Alya Ahmed Saif Al Thani, Qatar’s ambassador to the UN.
“We renew our calls for de-escalation, a full ceasefire, and the release of all prisoners – particularly civilians. We reaffirm our condemnation of all forms of targeting civilians, particularly women and children.”

15:07 GMT
The IDF claims to have proof that Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest hospital in the enclave, is being used for “terror purposes,” alleging that hidden beneath the civilian complex was a network of “Hamas underground complexes,” “terror tunnels,” and even a “command and control centre” used by the Palestinian militant group. At a press conference on Friday, an IDF spokesman stressed that hospitals lose their protection as civilian targets under international law when they are used for “terror purposes.”

14:50 GMT
Medics from the International Committee of the Red Cross have entered Gaza for the first time since the war began on October 7, the organization said on Friday. Six members of the group’s medical staff, along with four other Red Cross specialists and six aid trucks, entered the blockaded territory via the Rafah crossing in Egypt. The crossing – the only way into and out of Gaza for many years – had been shut for over a week due to constant aerial bombardment by the Israel Defence Forces.

14:39 GMT
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) claimed they have killed the commander of Hamas’ Western Khan Yunis Battalion in an airstrike, according to a post by the military account on X (formerly Twitter). The IDF also took responsibility for strikes on over 250 “Hamas targets,” including an alleged tunnel network.

14:00 GMT
Nearly half (49%) of Israelis polled by the Panel4All Institute on Tuesday and Wednesday opposed an “immediate military ground invasion of Gaza,” according to the Israeli news outlet Maariv, which cited the poll results on Friday. Only 29% of poll respondents said the invasion should begin “immediately.” A similar poll last week found 65% supported a ground invasion, but did not specify when it would take place.

13:55 GMT
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has insisted that the death toll provided by the health ministry in Gaza has always been reliable after US President Joe Biden claimed that he had “no confidence” in the numbers coming in from Palestinians. “In the past, the five, six cycles of conflict in the Gaza Strip, these figures were considered as credible and no-one ever really challenged these figures,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Jerusalem. According to the latest data from the Gaza health ministry, 7,028 people, including 2,913 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian enclave since October 7.

12:12 GMT
Prominent Iraqi Shia cleric and militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has demanded that the government and parliament hold a vote to close the US Embassy in Baghdad over what he called Washington’s “unfettered support of Israel” amid the conflict with Hamas.

In a statement published on X (formerly Twitter), al-Sadr warned that if the authorities “do not abide by this demand, we will go for further actions which we will later announce.” Last week, hundreds of members of an Iraqi paramilitary group gathered on the border with Jordan to show support for the Palestinians and demand an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza.

11:04 GMT
The United Nations is “concerned that war crimes are being committed” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“We are concerned about the collective punishment of Gazans in response to the atrocious attacks by Hamas, which also amounted to war crimes,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani has said at a press-conference.

Shamdasani stressed it was for an independent court of law to determine whether war crimes have taken place.

10:54 GMT
The Israeli military has raised the number of Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas to 233 people, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has said. The previous figure announced on Thursday was 228.

The number does not include the four captives that were released by the Palestinian militants over the past week. The information is not final as the IDF continues its investigation, Hagari stressed.

08:13 GMT
The Israeli government is set to allow police to use live fire against Israeli citizens who block roads or entrances to towns during a “multi-front war” being waged by the country, public broadcaster Kan has reported. Police will only need permission from a senior officer before shooting to kill, it added. According to Kan, Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has already agreed to fast-track the legislation.

The measure had been proposed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir before the Hamas attack on October 7. Kan previously reported that police were concerned that Israeli Arab citizens could block army convoys in case of a military escalation. Ben Gvir said in early October that he believes it is “very important to change the instructions so that our policemen and soldiers can fill their role without risking their lives.”

05:43 GMT
The Israeli military has confirmed media reports that it conducted another raid inside Gaza. The IDF said that it sent ground forces into the central part of the Palestinian enclave, striking numerous Hamas targets, including anti-tank missile launch sites and command centres. The incursion was accompanied by airstrikes and artillery bombardment, it added. The troops safely exited the area after concluding the operation. There were no deaths or injuries among the servicemen, according to the IDF.

04:59 GMT
The IDF has launched yet another small-scale ground raid, sending infantry, tanks and engineering troops of the 36th Division into Gaza Strip “for several hours” on Thursday night, according to local media reports.

02:19 GMT
An unidentified missile has landed in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Taba, just across the border with Israel, damaging a hospital and injuring at least six people, according to local media reports.

The Israel Defence Forces is “aware of a security incident on the other side of the border with Egypt,” according to the Times of Israel, but it is not clear if it was related to the ongoing Gaza war.