Death count crosses 2,800 as Israel-Hamas war accelerates. Top updates

The Israeli military prepared for a possible ground invasion in Gaza on Thursday as it pounded the tiny coastal strip in retaliation for the unprecedented weekend attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas.

In a deliberate show of support for Israel, a U.S. official confirmed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin plans to visit on Friday, a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Suffering in Gaza, meanwhile, rose dramatically with Palestinians desperate for food, fuel and medicine and the territory’s only power plant shut down for lack of fuel. Israel said Thursday that a complete siege would remain in place until Hamas freed 150 hostages taken during its incursion.

An Israeli strike Thursday afternoon in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza collapsed a residential building on families sheltering inside, killing at least 45 people, Gaza’s Interior Ministry said.

Egypt has engaged in intensive talks with Israel and the United States to allow the delivery of aid and fuel through its Rafah crossing point, which remained closed on both sides Thursday.

The war has claimed at least 2,800 lives on both sides.

PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT ABBAS CALLS FOR END OF VIOLENCE TOWARDS CIVILIANS ON GAZA STRIP

In a meeting with the King of Jordan Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gave tempered remarks calling for the end of aggression toward Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian state media reported, as Israeli airstrikes pummeled the besieged strip.

“We reject the practices of killing civilians or abusing them on both sides,” said Abbas, who is the head of Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

In 2007, Hamas violently seized Gaza from the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority.

HUNDREDS GATHER IN ROMANIA'S CAPITAL IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL

Several hundred people gathered for a rally in Romania's capital on Thursday to pledge their support for Israel in what its embassy called the country's “fight against terrorism.”

Held at a central Bucharest park, many attendees waved Israeli flags and some brandished signs that read: “We stand with Israel.”

Israel's ambassador to Romania, Reuven Azar, told reporters there that “we are going to tackle this evil, because without tackling this evil, we are all in danger.”

“We are now in a very difficult moment in our history. We've been attacked by one of the most ferocious, barbaric, savage forces in the world that is killing innocent civilians, families, babies, children, taking hostages, (and) burning people alive," he said. “It's a kind of savagery that we haven't seen before.”

US DEFENCE SECRETARY SAYS ISRAEL CAN USE AMERICAN-PROVIDED MUNITIONS AS IT SEES FIT

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that the US is placing no specific conditions on how Israel uses the American-provided munitions. Israel has a professional military and “we would hope and expect that they would do the right things,” he told reporters at the close of the NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels.

He was asked if the US would put conditions on the weapon, specifically that they would not be used against civilians. Austin said he would leave it to the Israelis to define their operations.

Austin also said that the US is working to provide Israel whatever it needs, even as America continues to support Ukraine. “The United States can walk and chew gum at the same time.”

AID CHIEF CALLS FOR ESTABLISHING DEMILITARISED ZONES IN GAZA

Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland has called for establishing demilitarised zones in Gaza amid unrelenting bombardment by Israel following last weekend's unprecedented attack by Hamas.

Writing Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter, Egeland said urgent life-saving support is needed for civilians trapped in Gaza.

“The siege must be lifted,” he wrote. “Defined, safe, and demilitarised zones within Gaza itself must be established & respected by all parties.”

Egeland also called for the international community to facilitate a deal to release all civilians held by both sides, “with immediate release of children, mothers with infants, the wounded & sick.”

ISRAEL'S MILITARY CHIEF ADMITS FAILURE TO PROTECT CITIZENS AROUND THE GAZA STRIP

The chief of staff for Israel's military, Herzi Halevi, admitted Thursday that the military had failed to protect civilians around the Gaza Strip from Hamas's unprecedented attack on the country.

“The IDF is responsible for the security of the country and its citizens, and on Saturday morning in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, we did not,” Halevi said. “We will learn, we will investigate, but now is the time for war.”

BLINKEN TO VISIT QATAR ON FRIDAY

After visiting Israel and Jordan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel on Friday to Doha where he will have talks with senior Qatari officials.

Qatar has ties with Hamas and has in the past served as facilitator in discussions to calm tensions in and around Gaza.

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