Israel Palestine war news LIVE: One million flee Gaza as IDF prepare for ground assault against Hamas

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has returned to Israel for talks on the conflict following a tour of six Arab countries, an AFP correspondent travelling with him has said.

The top US diplomat, who was in Israel on Thursday on a solidarity visit, landed back in Tel Aviv and was expected to again meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

The dead Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader Qassem Soleimani planned the Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people, according to a report published by a Washington-based think tank.

• Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump in January 2020.
• It is now claimed that the assassinated leader was the man behind the mass murder plot, one previously hinted at by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
• Hamas has been accused of being a proxy for the Ayatollah regime and carrying out its wishes, an Israeli spokesman Lior Haiat told Fox News.
• There has been speculation that Iran helped plan the Hamas surprise attack – dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Flood – since the fighting first broke out.
• The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) think tank report noted a propaganda report from Khamenei.
• ‘The significance is that, last year, the Leader [Khamenei] gave “The promise of the imminent conquest,’ and this year he gave ‘the announcement of the complete conquest,’ and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is part of this imminent conquest,’ it read.
• The think tank claims the plan for mass murder was engineered by Soleimani.

The Israeli military has warned the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group that it faces a ‘deadly’ response if it continues to attack Israel.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the US has given Israel its full backing to strike back against the Iran-backed group, which has allied itself with Hamas:

Hezbollah carried out a number of attacks yesterday in order to try to divert our operational efforts [away from the Gaza Strip], under the direction and backing of Iran, while endangering the state of Lebanon and its citizens. We have increased our forces on the northern border and respond aggressively to any activity against us. If Hezbollah dares to test us, the reaction will be deadly. The United States is giving us full backing.

The IDF is evacuating civilians from 28 communities along the Lebanese border amid on-going attacks on both sides.

The Israeli military has said 199 hostages are being held in Gaza – higher than previous estimates.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a military spokesman, said the families have been notified.

He did not specify whether that number includes foreigners, or say who is holding them. Most are believed to be held by the Hamas militant group, which rules Gaza.

‘We have updated the families of 199 hostages,’ Hagari told a media briefing, revising up an earlier number of 155 captives.

Several UN-flagged trucks have been seen leaving the southern Gaza Strip in the direction of a meeting point of the Palestinian enclave’s borders with Israel and Egypt, according to a Reuters TV staffer.

The trucks initially appeared to be en route to the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border but their course later appeared to take them in the direction of Kerem Shalom, an Israeli border crossing close to the Egyptian frontier.

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi on has met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Beijing today.

The pair exchanged views on the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The urgent task is a ceasefire and building of a humanitarian aid channel, Wang said in the meeting.

He also urged China and Russia to deepen strategic mutual trust, his ministry said.

Footage has emerged of an Israeli Navy patrol boat eliminating Hamas terrorists on October 7, as the group’s brutal attack unfolfed.

You can watch the dramatic video below:

Further to our update at 08:32, a Hamas terror group official has told Reuters news agency there is no truth to reports about the opening of the Rafah border crossing.

They also denied there was a temporary ceasfire in place.

Egyptian security sources had told Reuters earlier that an agreement had been reached to open the border crossing (between Gaza and Egypt) to allow aid into the enclave from 0600 GMT.

Israel’s army is evacuating residents living along its northern border with Lebanon.

• An Israeli civilian and an army officer were killed Sunday in missile attacks from Lebanon, and the army carried out retaliatory strikes and attacked infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist group.
• The group is allied with Hamas and backed by Iran.
• The Israeli army Monday noted in a statement ‘the implementation of a plan to evacuate residents of northern Israel who live in the area up to two kilometres from the Lebanese border to state-funded guesthouses’.
• The move affects thousands of people living in 28 communities, and many have already left the area after repeated cross-border fire.
• Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country had ‘no interest in a war in the north, we don’t want to escalate the situation’:

If Hezbollah chooses the path of war, it will pay a very heavy price. But if it restrains itself, we’ll respect the situation and keep things the way they are.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has this morning denied reports of a ceasefire in Gaza that would enable aid to enter and foreigners to flee to Egypt.

‘There is currently no ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza in return for removing foreigners,’ a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

• The World Health Organisation says lifesaving assistance is awaiting entry through the Rafah crossing into Gaza, which is on the southern border with Egypt.
• The crossing was closed due to Israeli airstrikes.

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live blog covering the unfolding conflict in Israel and Palestine on October 16, 2023.

More than one million people have fled their homes in the Gaza strip ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion of the enclave to eradicate Hamas.

Israeli forces, with support from US warships, have positioned themselves along Gaza’s border, waiting for the order to move in.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his forces Israel is with them as the ‘fateful hour’ to attack Gaza Strip by land, sea and air draws near.

A week of blistering airstrikes – sparked by the terrorist group’s attack on October 7- have demolished neighbourhoods but failed to stop Hamas rocket fire into Israel.

The war has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, with more than 4,000 dead.

Here’s what you need to know this morning:

• The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded.
• More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and at least 155 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.
• Water has run out in UN shelters across Gaza and doctors across the territory are struggling to care for patients. They fear many will die when generators run out of fuel.
• Israel’s military said it would not target a specific route south for several hours, again urging Palestinians to leave the north en masse. The evacuation order was first given by the IDF on Friday, telling northern Gaza’s 1.1 million people to flee south.
• The World Health Organization has said this as a ‘death sentence’ for thousands of Gazans who are being treated in hospitals.
• The WHO says lifesaving assistance, including health supplies to serve 300,000 patients, is awaiting entry through the Rafah crossing into Gaza, which is on the southern border with Egypt. The crossing was closed due to airstrikes.
• The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency has said Gaza ‘is being strangled’ and the number of people seeking shelter at their schools and facilities in the south of the territory is overwhelming
• Meanwhile, the Israeli military has ordered people living in 28 communities near the Lebanese border to evacuate.
• The order came after an increase in cross-border fire between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah – with the terror group on Friday announcing that it was ready to get involved in the fighting on the side of Hamas.
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned Sunday that the Middle East is ‘on the verge of the abyss’.