Israel-Hamas War: UN Warns Of ‘Civil Order’ Collapse in Gaza; Hamas Leader Says Ready For Prisoner Swap With Tel Aviv | Updates – News18

Fighting in Gaza raged for a 23rd day Sunday after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Since the October 7 attack, the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip says more than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s relentless retaliatory bombardments, half of them children.

Here are five key developments from the past 24 hours:

Hamas reports ‘heavy fighting’

Hamas’s armed wing said Sunday its fighters were engaged in “heavy fighting” with Israeli forces in Gaza after Israeli military deployed more ground forces across the Palestinian territory.

“Our fighters are currently engaged in heavy fighting with machine-guns and anti-tank weapons with the invading occupation (Israeli) forces in northwest Gaza,” the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.

The Israeli army said it had increased its troops inside Gaza overnight and hit “over 450 terror targets during the past day” after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the war would be “long and difficult”.

UN warns of ‘civil order’ collapse

The UN warned Sunday that “civil order” in the Gaza Strip was starting to collapse after thousands of people ransacked several of its warehouses and distribution centres, taking wheat, flour and other basic items.

Since the war began, only 84 aid trucks have entered Gaza, compared with a pre-war average of 500 trucks a day, UN figures show.

“The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meagre and inconsistent,” said Thomas White, the Gaza head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Prisoner swap for hostages

Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar said Saturday the Palestinian militant group was ready for an “immediate” prisoner swap with Israel for the hostages it took during the October 7 attack.

“We are ready to conduct an immediate prisoner exchange deal that includes the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails,” he said in a statement.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, there are some 5,200 Palestinians currently held in Israel jails, of which 559 are serving life sentences.

Gaza connectivity ‘being restored’

Early on Sunday, there were signs that “internet connectivity is being restored” across Gaza, global network monitor Netblocks said on X, formerly Twitter, some 36 hours after networks and phone access were cut as Israel intensified its bombardment.

Shortly after 4:00 am (0200 GMT), an AFP employee in Gaza had managed to contact people in southern Gaza by phone.

International pressure

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday that Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza “may force everyone” to act in the latest warning that the conflict could spread across the region.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday spoke by telephone and expressed “their shared concern at the risk of escalation in the wider region”, said a Downing Street spokesperson.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Israel must distinguish between Hamas militants and civilians in its operations in Gaza.

“We do believe that thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in this bombardment,” Sullivan said on CNN.

Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store called the situation in Gaza “catastrophic”.

Speaking on NRK public radio, Store said Israel “has the right to defend against attacks” but its response has been disproportionate and “clearly violates what we call the rules of war or humanitarian law”.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)