Jerusalem, Oct 24 (AP) Israel is escalating its bombardment of targets in the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground invasion against Hamas militants. The war is rapidly raising the death toll in Gaza, and the US fears the fighting could spark a wider conflict in the region.

Gaza's 2.3 million people have been running out of food, water and medicine since Israel sealed off the territory following the Hamas attack on Israeli towns on October 7.

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The aid convoys allowed into Gaza so far have carried a fraction of what's needed, and the UN said distribution will have to stop if there's no fuel for the trucks.

The war, in its 18th day on Tuesday, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said at least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed and 16,297 wounded. In the occupied West Bank, 96 Palestinians have been killed and 1,650 wounded in violence and Israeli raids since October 7.

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More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas rampage. In addition, 222 people including foreigners were believed captured by Hamas during the incursion and taken into Gaza, Israel's military has said. Four of those have been released.

Currently:

1. The US Department of Defence is assisting Israel in its war planning by sending military advisers

2. 40 years after bombing that killed Americans in Beirut, US troops again deploy east of Mediterranean

3. The war is giving Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system its toughest challenge yet

4. Release of more hostages gives some hope to families of others abducted in the attack on Israel

Here's what's happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:

MILITANT GROUP CRITICIZES ISRAEL OVER ONGOING BOMBARDMENT OF GAZA

The spokesman of the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group says Israel is acting in a way that shows it does not care about the lives of hostages held by militants in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Hamza said in a statement released by the group on Tuesday that the ongoing bombardment of Gaza indicates the Israeli government “does not want the prisoners (hostages) to see sunlight”.

His comments came a day after the militant Hamas group released two Israeli women who were held hostage. Last week, Hamas released an American woman and her teenage daughter as part of a mediation by Qatar.

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are holding abut 220 hostages that were captured on October 7, when militants stormed southern Israeli towns.

The October 7, attack left more than 1,400 Israelis dead and since then Israel launched a bombing campaign against the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 5,700 Palestinians.

ERDOGAN CRITICIZES UN, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR SITUATION IN GAZA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday criticised the United Nations and the international community for failing to stop what he described as “massacres reaching the level of genocide” in Gaza.

In a message released to mark the UN's 78th anniversary, Erdogan said the international community had scored poorly in the face of “Israel's unlawful and boundless attacks” toward civilians.

He also criticised the UN Security Council saying it had rendered other UN agencies operating in the Palestinian territories “dysfunctional”.

The council's monthly Mideast meeting on Tuesday was turned into a high-level event with more than a dozen foreign ministers flying to New York.

UN CHIEF SAYS SITUATION IN MIDDLE EAST IS GROWING MORE DIRE,' CALLS AGAIN FOR CEASE-FIRE

The United Nations chief is warning that “the situation in the Middle East is growing more dire by the hour,” with the risk of the latest Israel-Hamas war spiralling through the region as tensions threaten to boil over.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and appealed “to all to pull back from the brink before the violence claims even more lives and spreads even farther”.

He told the UN Security Council's monthly Middle East meeting — which has been turned into a high-level event with more than a dozen foreign ministers flying to New York — that the rules of war must be obeyed.

Guterres said the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify “the horrifying and unprecedented October 7 acts of terror” by Hamas in Israel, and he demanded the immediate release of all hostages.

He also stressed that “those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”.

He called Israel's constant bombardment of Gaza and the level of civilian casualties “alarming,” stressing that their protection in conflict is paramount.

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES KILLED 704 IN THE PAST DAY, HAMAS-RUN HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS

Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 704 people in the past day, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday.

That represented a massive increase in the death toll amid widening Israeli bombing attacks in the territory.

Israel has been bombing Gaza since Hamas militants attacked southern Israeli towns on October 7.

That has brought the death toll from the war to 5,791, including 2,360 children, ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement. At least 16,297 others were wounded, he said.

He said they have received 1,550 reports of missing people, including 870 children, suggesting that those missing could still be under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The World Health Organisation said 12 hospitals out of a total of 35 in Gaza were not functioning as of Monday. It said 46 out of 72 health care facilities across Gaza, or 64 per cent, were not operating, mostly in Gaza city and northern Gaza.

Al-Qidra said the health facilities went out of service because of the attacks or because of a lack of fuel to keep them operating. “The Health Ministry announces a total collapse of hospitals in Gaza Strip,” he said.

A Health Ministry report issued Tuesday said 61 Palestinian medical workers and professionals have been killed since October 7.

Al-Qidra called for the Egyptian government to open the Rafah crossing point and ensure the delivery of medical supplies and fuel to Gaza and allow the wounded to be treated in Egypt. Egypt says it didn't close the crossing, but Israeli airstrikes on its Palestinian side forced its closure.

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE HITS REFUGEE CAMP, KILLING SEVERAL AND WOUNDING DOZENS

An airstrike hit a bustling marketplace in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing several shoppers and wounding dozens, witnesses said.

Men used sledgehammers to break up concrete and dug with their bare hands through the jagged wreckage to save anyone they could -– or recover the dead who had been buying meat and vegetables when the explosion hit.

A man buried up to his chest in rubble looked up at his rescuers with wide eyes, his face coated in dust from the blast.

An oxygen mask was placed on his face as rescuers worked to free him. About 15 minutes, he was unearthed and placed on a stretcher.

A roar rose from the dozens of men watching, several with their arms raised in triumph as they cheered the rescue.

On Tuesday, Israel said it had launched 400 airstrikes over the past day, killing Hamas commanders, hitting militants as they were preparing to launch rockets into Israel and striking command centres and a Hamas tunnel shaft.

The previous day, Israel reported 320 strikes. The Palestinian official news agency, WAFA, said many of the airstrikes hit residential buildings, some of them in southern Gaza where Israel had told civilians to take shelter.

Hamas's military arm, Qassam Brigades, said it fired a salvo of rockets on southern Israeli on Tuesday afternoon, including Beersheba, Israel's largest city in the area. There was no immediate word on any damage or casualties.

FRANCE'S MACRON SAYS FIGHT MUST BE WITHOUT MERCY, BUT NOT WITHOUT RULES'

French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking after meeting Israel's prime minister on Tuesday, proposed a coalition to fight terror groups in the region “that threaten all of us”.

He compared the proposal to the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. He was referring to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran itself and the Houthis in Yemen, among others, saying they must not take the risk of opening a new front.

Macron, on a two-day visit to the region, met with families of hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip by Hamas, and said “we will neglect nothing” to obtain freedom for French citizens. Nine French citizens are being held or have disappeared.

Macron will head to Jordan on Wednesday to meet with King Abdullah II and possibly some other regional leaders, his office said. He also planned a stop later Tuesday in Ramallah, West Bank, to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Standing at the side of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Macron stressed Israel's right to defend itself in its war with Hamas.

“The fight must be without mercy, but not without rules” because democracies “respect the rules of war”, Macron said, adding that for example democracies don't target civilians. His statement appeared to be a message to Israel, which has been criticised by some for attacks that have killed Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

He called for access to aid for Gaza and for electricity to be supplied to Gaza hospitals — not for making war.

Netanyahu said it is Hamas that is responsible for civilian casualties, but that “we will do every effort to avoid them”. He added, “It could be a long war.”

“Hamas must be destroyed,” Netanyahu said, calling it a condition for ending the war.

Macron said any peace “cannot be durable” without restarting a “decisive” political process with Palestinians. But he said, “Hamas does not (represent) the Palestinian cause.”

US ISSUES WARNING TO SHIPS IN THE RED SEA

The US is issuing a new warning to ships travelling through the Red Sea after a drone and missile attack launched from Yemen during the Israel-Hamas war.

The US Maritime Administration warning on Tuesday urged vessels to “exercise caution when transiting this region”.

The US Navy says it shot down missiles and drones believed to have been launched by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in recent days amid wider tensions across the Middle East over the war.

HEZBOLLAH-ALLIED POLITICIAN SAYS LEBANON WON'T INITIATE A WAR WITH ISRAEL

A prominent Lebanese Christian politician allied with Hezbollah said on Tuesday that Lebanon would not initiate a war with Israel but would defend itself if attacked.

The comments by Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement of former President Michel Aoun, came as sporadic clashes continue on the Lebanese border with Israel between Hezbollah and armed Palestinian groups in Lebanon on one side and Israeli forces on the other.

“No one can drag us into war unless the Israeli enemy attacks us, and then we will be forced to defend ourselves,” Bassil said after a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, another Hezbollah ally. Bassil also spoke by phone to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday. “All the Lebanese agree that they do not want war, but that does not mean that we should allow ourselves to be attacked without a response.”

There has been widespread speculation as to whether and under what circumstances Hezbollah and its arsenal of an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles would fully enter the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The ongoing clashes on the border and anxieties about a wider conflict have internally displaced 19,646 people in Lebanon, according to the International Organisation for Migration. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)