19 September 2024,   05:10
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Israel and Hamas at war - what we know on day 21

Israeli infantry backed by tanks and armoured bulldozers have attacked Hamas targets in an hours-long overnight ground raid into the northern Gaza Strip, writes The Guardian. The military said the operation was “preparation for the next stages of combat” and that “the soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory”. A report by local radio described the raid as a “relatively large” ground incursion, suggesting it was the biggest foray since Israel started massing forces outside the territory in advance of a planned full-scale invasion.

Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, has said “almost 50” hostages held in the Gaza Strip have been killed due to Israeli strikes.

The Gaza health ministry has issued a 212-page document with lists of names and identification numbers for 7,028 Palestinians that the Hamas authorities, which control Gaza, say have been killed by Israel’s bombardments there since 7 October.

Aid is “barely trickling” into Gaza, says UN humanitarian chief. The UN’s humanitarian chief said aid is “barely trickling” into Gaza despite the agency’s “best efforts”. In a statement posted to social media, Martin Griffiths said bombardments on Gaza “are getting worse, even in areas supposed to be safer”.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has killed the deputy head of Hamas’s intelligence directorate, Shadi Barud, in a strike in the Gaza Strip.

Leaders of the 27 EU member states have unanimously called for “humanitarian corridors and pauses” of the shelling in Gaza to allow food, water and medical supplies to reach Palestinians. In a compromise text, agreed after hours of discussions, heads of state and government from the EU’s 27 members declared that the EU “reiterates the importance of ensuring the protection of all civilians at all times in line with international humanitarian law” and “deplores all loss of civilian life”.

Hamas delegation travels to Moscow for talks on foreign hostages in Gaza. A senior Hamas delegation has travelled to Moscow to meet Russian foreign ministry officials in the organisation’s first high-profile international visit since it launched a raid in southern Israel on 7 October. The delegation was led by Mousa Abu Marzook, a founder and political leader of Hamas, who met the Russian deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov.

The confirmed number of people held hostage in the Gaza Strip since the 7 October cross-border raids by Hamas has risen by two to 224, according to the Israeli military. So far, four hostages have been released.

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