Airstrikes have continued to ravage swaths of Gaza after Israeli troops and tanks briefly enter

Israeli military video appears to show tanks in Gaza.

Reports say residents are running out of food, water and other supplies as more airstrikes have ravaged swaths of the Gaza Strip. The bombardment continued as the Israeli military said its troops and tanks briefly entered northern Gaza to prepare for a full-scale incursion, the Israeli raid since the war began more than two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the Pentagon.

A senior Hamas official told The Associated Press that the Palestinian militant group needs greater intervention from its allies, including Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, in its war with Israel.

The war, now in its 20th day, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday that more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed so far — more than three times the number killed in the six-week-long Gaza war in 2014. In the occupied West Bank, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids following Hamas’ surprise rampage on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

Israeli troops briefly raid northern Gaza to ‘prepare’ for an expected full-scale incursion

Economic crises are rippling through the countries bordering Israel. That raises the possibility of a chain reaction from the war against Hamas that further worsens the financial health and political stability of Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon and creates problems well beyond.

The Israel-Hamas war could threaten already fragile economies in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan

President Joe Biden and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023.

Biden condemned retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank

The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the death tolls cited by Hamas, which says it tallies figures from hospital directors.

The fighting has killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, according to Israeli officials, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas attack. Israel’s military has raised the number of remaining hostages in Gaza to 222 people, including foreigners believed captured by Hamas during the incursion. Four hostages have been released so far.

Currently:

1. U.S. strikes Iran-linked sites in Syria in retaliation for attacks on U.S. troops

2. U.S. President Joe Biden meets with new House Speaker Mike Johnson to discuss aid for Israel and Ukraine.

3. Parts of Gaza look like a wasteland from space. Look for the misshapen buildings and swaths of gray

4. Palestinians plead “stop the bombs” at U.N. meeting, but Israel insists Hamas must be “obliterated.”

The U.S. military launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pentagon said.

The strikes come in retaliation for drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region that began early last week.

The U.S. wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the U.S. to deter future aggression, possibly fuelled by Israel’s war against Hamas, while also working to avoid inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict.

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS