Israel-Hamas war: Hezbollah leader to give major speech on Friday

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said late on Thursday it had “completed the encirclement” of Gaza City, “the centre of the Hamas terror organisation”, following days of expanding ground operations in the besieged territory.

Hamas’ military wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said in response that Gaza would be a “curse” for Israel and that its invading soldiers would go home “in black bags”.

Thursday marked the 27th day of the conflict sparked by the October 7 attacks when Hamas terrorists stormed the border, killing 1400 people and kidnapping more than 240, Israeli officials say.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims more than 9000 people have been killed in Israel’s subsequent attacks, including 3760 children. Those figures have not been independently verified.

Read on for the latest updates.

White House grilled on Qatar role

A senior White House official has bristled during a tense grilling over what is possibly the biggest elephant in the room of the conflict — the role of Qatar in continuing to give shelter to Hamas.

Speaking about getting Americans out of Gaza, US President Joe Biden recently said he wanted to “thank our partners in the region and particularly Qatar”.

“The leader of Hamas lives in Qatar, so why is President Biden thanking them for anything?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby at Thursday’s briefing.

“Oh geez, Peter — take a step back here and look at this,” Mr Kirby said. He insisted Qatar had “been helpful” in getting American hostages, Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie, released last month.

“I’m sure you would agree with me and everybody at your network would agree that getting the hostages out is a good thing, and Qatar was key player in that regard,” he said.

“Qatar has lines of communication [with Hamas] that not everybody else has and it would be irresponsible … if we weren’t doing everything we could and having every possible conversation we can have to get Americans that are held hostage back home with their families.”

Doocy asked, “If Qatar is so helpful, why aren’t we asking them to hand over the leader of this terrorist group?”

“We are working with Qatar to get our people out and to help get aid in,” Mr Kirby said. “That’s a priority right now and, obviously, we’re also helping Israel go after Hamas.”

Writing in The Wall Street Journal this week, former National Security Council official Richard Goldberg said the US must issue an ultimatum for Qatar to “stop sheltering Hamas”.

“More than three weeks after the October 7 atrocities, Qatar still plays host to Hamas’ ‘political’ leaders, allowing the terror group to co-ordinate with Iran and pump its propaganda throughout the world,” Mr Goldberg said.

“Doha says its relationship with Hamas benefits the US and Israel, providing a channel to negotiate the release of hostages held in Gaza. Rather than indulge this charade, the White House and Congress should issue an ultimatum to Qatar — shut down all support for Hamas and deliver the hostages, or suffer the consequences.”

Claims razor blades placed on posters

Unverified video circulating on social media purports to show a woman whose fingers were cut by razor blades after attempting to tear down posters of kidnapped Israelis.

The posters featuring images of some of the more than 200 Israelis being held by Hamas have been put up in cities around the world, but have emerged as a major flashpoint as Palestinian supporters tear them down, often sparking heated confrontations.

“Guys, these people are putting razors in these papers because people are snatching them out, and this is what’s going on right now,” an unidentified woman says in the video.

She shows her fingers with what appears to be blood on them and holds up torn scraps of posters with razor blades stuck to the back.

“Tell me who the f**k the real terrorist is,” she says.

“Who does this? Who puts razors on f**king papers? People are snatching them out because we know where the terrorism is coming from. Six thousand dead kids, OK? Now let’s sue the s**t out of them.”

The original source of the video wasn’t immediately clear.

It was shared by the Instagram account @miamiproblemss and reposted by influencer Ian Miles Cheong to X, where it has been viewed more than 8 million times.

“That’s one way of dealing with people who rip down posters,” he wrote.

One person commented, “I agree that no one should take down the posters, but there should not be any razors on these posters either.”

“Public booby traps are highly illegal,” another said.

But some questioned whether the footage was real.

“Looks fake to me,” one said.

Hezbollah leader to give major speech

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is set to give his first public speech on Friday since the war began, sparking fears the conflict is about widen.

Footage posted to social media showed a massive, elaborate stage being prepared in Beirut for Nasrallah’s speech, with hundreds of chairs for audience members.

The speech is reportedly scheduled for 3pm local time on Friday (midnight AEDT).

Hezbollah has released a series of short, cryptic videos featuring Nasrallah in recent days, hinting the Hamas ally is preparing to join the fight against Israel.

“This is Nasrallah’s moment,” Mohannad Hage Ali, an expert on Lebanon with the Carnegie Middle East Center, told Al Jazeera.

“Millions of Arabs will be watching his speech across the world. They will listen to the only leader in the region that is capable of speaking to their anger and despair by telling them that he will act and support Palestinians in Gaza, who face an existential threat of expulsion.”

Mr Hage Ali said Hezbollah “views this conflict as an existential one”.

“They think that if Israel manages to meet its objectives in eradicating Hamas in the Gaza Strip, then they will turn around and deal with what they see as the Hezbollah threat,” he said.

It comes as the Israeli military said it had targeted Lebanon’s Hezbollah with a “broad assault” on Thursday in which “warplanes and helicopters” attacked Hezbollah targets “in response to fire from Lebanese territory earlier today, together with attacks with artillery and tank fire”.

The Iran-backed militant group said four of its fighters died in the strikes, after announcing it had attacked 19 Israeli positions simultaneously.

The Israel-Lebanon border has seen escalating tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday as he departed for another Middle East diplomatic tour that the United States was “determined to deter any escalation”.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the US hadn’t “seen any indication” that Hezbollah was ready to fully join the war against Israel and was still “concerned about continued attacks on Israeli forces in the north” by the group.

Mr Kirby added the US would be following the highly anticipated speech.

Intense images of night-time bombardment

Apocalyptic live images of Gaza on Thursday night showed Israel intensifying its aerial bombardment of the territory.

Flares and explosions illuminated the skies of northern Gaza, footage aired by CNN showed.

Watching from Sderot, Israel, CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson said he saw flares raining down for more than half an hour in some of the most intense volume since October 7.

Robertson said the focus of the attack appeared to be in the area of Beit Hanoun, near Gaza City, which has traditionally experienced the first military moves by the IDF in past operations, according to the network.

He said it appeared two rockets were fired out of Gaza during this time and artillery fire was also heard nearby. There also appeared to be a smoke screen covering the ground, suggesting possible troop movement.

Senior Israeli government adviser Mark Regev told the broadcaster he could not provide details as the operation was ongoing, but said the military was keeping up pressure on Hamas.

“We are hitting its military machine,” he said. “Our goal is to destroy Hamas’ military machine and to dismantle its political control over Gaza.”

Israel weighing brief ceasefire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering US requests for a short humanitarian ceasefire of several hours, Hebrew-language outlet Kan News reports.

It comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due in Israel on Friday to discuss a possible ceasefire and other measures to protect civilians.

The US on Thursday called for humanitarian pauses in the conflict that would involve “temporary, localised” cessation of hostilities — well short of a general ceasefire.

At a campaign event on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden was urged by a member of the audience to call for a ceasefire in the war.

“I think we need a pause,” Mr Biden replied.

Talking to reporters on Thursday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby clarified what such a pause would entail.

“A humanitarian pause … is temporary, localised and focused, focused on a particular objective or objectives, humanitarian aid in, people out,” Mr Kirby said.

Mr Blinken said he would be seeking “concrete measures” from Israel to protect Gaza civilians as he headed on his second crisis trip to the Middle East since the war broke out.

But the US opposes calls from across the Arab world and some European allies for a ceasefire, saying Hamas has no intention of stopping attacks and would only use a truce to regroup.

“When I see a Palestinian child — a boy, a girl — pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building, that hits me in the gut as much as seeing a child in Israel or anywhere else,” Mr Blinken said.

“So this is something that we have an obligation to respond to, and we will.”

Hamas sending texts to hostage families

Families of civilian hostages held in Gaza have been receiving text messages in Hebrew purporting to be from Hamas, Israeli media are reporting.

The messages reportedly ask the recipients to click a link to receive information on the hostages, Hebrew-language outlet Kan News reports, via The Times of Israel.

“This is a message from Al-Qassam,” reads the message, referring to Hamas’ military wing.

“We have offered your government a prisoner swap, but it was not accepted. This is our message: the release of all Zionist prisoners in exchange for the release of all Palestinian prisoners.”

The Israeli army is seeking to free around 240 hostages, both civilians and troops, captured by Hamas during the October 7 attacks.

The Palestinian terror group’s brutal incursion into southern Israel claimed 1400 lives and was the worst attack in the country’s 75-year history.

IDF has ‘completed encirclement’ of Gaza City

Israel’s military said on Thursday its forces have surrounded the Hamas stronghold of Gaza City after a day that saw the Palestinian territory pounded by deadly fire.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, warned Israel its invading soldiers would go home “in black bags”.

“Gaza will be the curse of history for Israel,” spokesman Abu Obeida said.

The Hamas warning came after Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops had completely surrounded Gaza City after days of expanding ground operations.

“Israeli soldiers have completed the encirclement of the city of Gaza, the centre of the Hamas terror organisation,” Mr Hagari told journalists.

“The concept of a ceasefire is not currently on the table at all.”

In northern Gaza, ground fighting flared again overnight as Israeli troops battled Hamas.

Israeli army chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said troops were inside Gaza, besieging Gaza City and “deepening infiltration” of Hamas-held areas.

“Israeli soldiers are fighting face-to-face with a brutal enemy,” he told reporters.

The Israeli army is also seeking to free around 240 hostages, both civilians and troops, captured by Hamas during the attacks.

Some 332 soldiers have already died in the October 7 attacks and in the Israeli offensive the Hamas assault triggered.

Now gruelling urban warfare lies ahead deeper inside Gaza, where Hamas is fighting from a tunnel network spanning hundreds of kilometres.

Amid growing fears of the conflict spreading, Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon exchanged fire after a salvo of rockets slammed into a northern Israel town.

As he left on a new Middle East visit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would work to avoid escalation of the Israel-Hamas war.

“We’ve been very clear in some of the actions we’re taking that we are determined to deter any escalation,” Mr Blinken said.

President Joe Biden says the US supports a humanitarian “pause” in the conflict to relieve pressure on civilians but opposes calls for a ceasefire, saying Hamas has no intention of holding fire and Israel has a right to defend itself.

Hezbollah said it attacked 19 Israeli positions along the border simultaneously on Thursday, ahead of a speech by its leader Hassan Nasrallah on the Israel-Hamas war.

The Israeli military said “warplanes and helicopters attacked in recent hours targets of the Hezbollah terror organisation in response to fire from Lebanese territory earlier today, together with attacks with artillery and tank fire”.

Australian grapples with impossible choice

Among the foreign nationals currently stuck in Gaza is 77-year-old Abdallah Dahalaan, an Australian citizen. He and his wife, not a citizen but an Australian visa holder, made it to the Rafah crossing — the only way across the Strip’s border with Egypt.

Mr Dahalaan was told he could pass through the crossing. His wife could not.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that he faced an agonising, near impossible choice — whether to return home to his children, or remain in Gaza with his wife.

“I want my kids to understand that I couldn’t leave my wife behind,” Mr Dahalaan said.

“Their father had to do the right thing.”

He does not intend to make the “dangerous” trip to the Rafah crossing again unless he knows for certain that his wife will be allowed passage as well.

Hamas stockpiles fuel as civilians suffer

For days we’ve been reporting on the severe fuel shortage in Gaza, which has left residents without power and caused hospitals to shut down.

Meanwhile, as NBC now reports, Hamas has been keeping a stockpile of more than 200,000 gallons (about 750,000 litres) of fuel for itself, to power the rockets it is firing into Israel and the generators that keep its network of underground tunnels functioning.

That figure is only an estimate — but the amount of fuel being stockpiled is certainly immense.

“Hamas has its own supply stockpile of fuel,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his country’s Senate on Tuesday.

“If it cared a whit about the people of Gaza, it would make sure itself that it used that fuel to have the hospitals be able to operate the incubators, stay turned on. But of course, it doesn’t.”

An Israeli academic with expertise in energy, Elai Rettig, told NBC “we don’t know much they have”.

“We definitely don’t know how much they need, because no one is sure to what extent this underground city goes,” Professor Rettig said.

“If it’s just for ventilation and basic communication, it will last for months.”

Israel reportedly strikes another refugee camp

The Associated Press and Al Jazeera report that Israel has struck the Bureij refugee camp, which is located in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

Bureij, home to about 46,000 registered refugees, is smaller than the Jabalia camp, which has been hit by multiple air strikes targeting Hamas figures and infrastructure this week.

The death toll from the Bureij strike is reportedly 15, though that may grow, with dozens more people trapped under the rubble of damaged buildings.

“My family and I were sitting, and all of a sudden we heard a huge explosive. Everything was flying around us. We couldn’t see anything but dust and smoke,” a survivor told Al Jazeera.

“It was massive. The whole area is turned upside down.

“That was my home. Now it is totally in ruins. I do not know what to say. We are helpless.”

Medical teams are reportedly struggling to access the site, leaving residents to try to move the rubble themselves.

“My two sisters, along with all their children,” another survivor, who was trying to shift rubble, said.

“We are helpless. We cannot remove this heavy concrete. It is too late, even if we find them. They must be dead by now.”

Biden thinks Netanyahu’s days ‘numbered’

According to American news site Politico, US President Joe Biden believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s time in office will end soon, and has discussed the matter with his staff – including in the period since he visited Israel and met with the PM.

The President has reportedly told Mr Netanyahu directly that she should start to think about the lessons he will share with whoever succeeds him.

Mr Netanyahu is his country’s longest serving prime minister and has survived multiple scandals in the past, including corruption allegations. But the Israeli public has largely turned on him since Hamas’s attack on October 7.

“There’s going to have to be a reckoning within Israeli society about what happened,” a current US official told Politico, having been granted anonymity to discuss their private conversations.

“Ultimately, the buck stops on the Prime Minister’s desk.”

Polling has shown up to 80 per cent of Israelis hold Mr Netanyahu responsible for the security failures that enabled Hamas’s attack.

He has also been accused of trying to dodge responsibility by pinning the blame for Hamas’s assault on Israel’s national security apparatus.

During his visit to Israel last month, Mr Biden publicly expressed support for the nation’s right to defend itself. However, in private, he reportedly urged Mr Netanyahu to act with caution, and to prioritise a peaceful two-state solution in the long term.

We should note that, after Politico’s story was published, a spokesman for the Biden administration’s National Security Council denied that Mr Netanyahu’s future had been discussed. The publication’s sources stand by their information.

‘Pay attention’ to Hamas’ words

The United States has responded to the disturbing remarks from Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, in which he reaffirmed the terrorist group’s commitment to “annihilating” Israel and promised more attacks like the one on October 7.

“That is what’s at stake for the Israeli people. That is what’s at stake for the people of Gaza,” National Security Council official John Kirby said of Hamad’s interview.

“Hamas is willing to continue this fight, and will continue to try to slaughter innocent Israelis.

“Those are chilling comments. We ought to pay attention to them.”

Speaking to LBC International, Hamad said Hamas “must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again”.

“The Al-Aqsa Flood (Hamas’s name for the attack on October 7) is just the first time. And there will be a second, a third, a fourth. Because we have the determination, the resolve, the capabilities to fight.

“Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it.

“The existence of Israel is what causes all that pain, blood and tears. It is Israel, not us. We are the victims of the occupation. Period. Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do … everything we do is justified.”

‘Appalling’ conditions in UN shelters

The UNRWA, which is the United Nations agency responsible for helping Palestinian refugees, has again warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “desperate”.

“Some 690,000 internally displaced people are sheltering in 149 UNRWA installations,” the organisation said.

“Our shelters are at almost four times their intended capacity, and overcrowded conditions continue to create severe health and protection concerns.”

The agency says 70 of its workers have been killed so far, which is “the highest number of UN aid workers killed in a conflict in such a short time”.

Its Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, finally managed to enter Gaza himself yesterday, where he visited one of the UN shelters.

“He was in one of our shelters. There were thousands of people. This is a UN shelter that was indirectly hit during the war,” Juliette Touma, the UNRWA’s director of communications, told CNN afterwards.

“The sanitary conditions are appalling, according to him. People live on the very, very basic — little bread and whatever is left of some water.

“Our staff are dedicated, they keep going, but they are also finding it extremely challenging to operate, giving out the little humanitarian supplies that have been coming into Gaza.”

— with AFP