Israel-Hamas updates: US set to deploy ‘additional assets’ to Middle East

Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf has told Al Jazeera that he “completely understands” why Israel wants to “protect itself from terror”, but imposing collective punishment on more than two million Palestinians in Gaza must not be the consequence of it.

“What we need leaders to do is to treat an Israeli life and a Palestinian life as equal. Just as I am anxious about my in-laws, there will be people in Scotland’s Jewish community who are worried about their family in Israel,” he said.

“The collective punishment of men, women and children simply cannot be justified. The overwhelming majority have nothing to do with Hamas.”

An aircraft with “advanced” ammunition from the US has landed at the Nevatim airbase in southern Israel, the Times of Israel reported, citing the Israeli army.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden said his administration was rushing additional military assistance to Israel, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome defence system.

He told reporters the US had enhanced its “military force posture in the region to strengthen our deterrence”, including by moving an aircraft carrier strike group and fighter aircraft.

That’s it from our Live team today.

You can catch up with today’s events by reading our news stories here, here and here.

Thank you for joining us.

We’re going to bring our live coverage to an end shortly. Here’s a summary of today’s main events:

• US President Biden has pledged unwavering support for Israel as its military bombards Gaza.
• Israeli air strikes since Saturday have resulted in 900 deaths in Gaza, including 260 children and 230 women, with an additional 4,500 people wounded. An estimated 1,000 people were killed in Israel.
• The Israeli military says the first plane carrying “advanced” US ammunition has landed in Israel after the US said it would send new supplies.
• The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the eastern Mediterranean.

Canada is planning to evacuate Canadians from Israel in the coming days with the help of aircraft from the Canadian Armed Forces, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has said.

“We are planning to begin the assisted departure of Canadians from Tel Aviv in the coming days… We are also working on additional options for those who cannot reach the airport in Tel Aviv,” Joly said on X.

My message to Canadians in Israel, West Bank and Gaza: pic.twitter.com/lbUxpVr66i

— Mélanie Joly (@melaniejoly) October 10, 2023

Al Jazeera presenter Emily Angwin has asked Kirby where Gazans are meant to go amid the Israeli attacks.

That comes after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu warned civilians to move away from Hamas targets, promising to turn their hideouts to rubble.

Palestinians living in Gaza, the most densely populated region on Earth, do not enjoy freedom of movement. To make matters worse, rights groups say two Israeli air attacks hit the Rafah border on Tuesday – the only land crossing out of Gaza not controlled by Israel.

That means that there is simply nowhere for Gaza residents to escape the bombing.

“We are working and communicating with our allies and partners in the region about routes, but again, I can’t speak for Israeli operations, or what the Israelis will be doing around that border,” Kirby said.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Kirby defended the distinction Biden made between killings perpetrated by Hamas fighters and the ongoing bombardment of Gaza by Israel, which observers say has so far killed 260 children. The US president said Washington and Israel “uphold the laws of war”.

“Nobody wants to see any more innocent life taken or hurt as a result of the events over the past weekend and I think it’s important to remember that Hamas deliberately struck out at innocent civilians, slaughtering them and I mean up close and visceral with knives, torture, rape, gunshots –  that’s pretty visible,” Kirby said.

“And that’s why it was important, I think, for the president to talk about setting up the difference, making clear the difference between Hamas – whose actual goal is to take human life, to take innocent human life – and the Israelis who are doing everything they can to preserve their way of life and to defend themselves,” he said.

Kirby spoke live on Al Jazeera shortly after Biden’s national address condemning Hamas and pledging unequivocal support for Israel. Critics have said that the rhetoric from Washington has given a “green light” to Israel for its bombardment and siege of Gaza.

But Kirby has been careful to avoid any criticism of Israel, sidestepping several questions.

“We take seriously all our obligations to humanitarian systems around the world and respect for life, and obviously nothing’s going to change about that when it comes to the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Kirby said.

Residents across the Gaza Strip have sought shelter in UN-run schools. But schools, too, have been targeted by Israel.

Read more here.

The Israeli military says the first plane carrying “advanced” US ammunition has landed in Israel after the US said it would send new supplies of air defences, munitions and other security assistance to its ally to battle Hamas.

The military hardware will “enable significant strikes and preparations for additional scenarios”, it said.

“We are grateful for the American support and assistance to the IDF [Israeli military] in particular, and to the State of Israel in general, during this challenging period,” the military said.

The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier has arrived in the eastern Mediterranean, according to US Central Command.

“The arrival of these highly capable forces to the region is a strong signal of deterrence should any actor hostile to Israel consider trying to take advantage of this situation,” General Michael Kurilla, commander of US Central Command, said in a statement.

The carrier includes eight squadrons of attack and support aircraft. It is accompanied by the cruiser USS Normandy as well as the USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney and USS Roosevelt destroyers.

#USSGeraldRFordCarrierStrikeGroup Sailors stand watch in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. @USNavyEurope @US_EUCOM pic.twitter.com/vos5tYHOZ5

— USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) (@Warship_78) October 10, 2023

The United States has no evidence of direct Iranian involvement in the Hamas attack on Israel, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said, noting however that Tehran has backed the group for years.

“But in this particular instance, we don’t have any evidence that there was direct involvement in the planning or the execution of this attack,” Austin told journalists.

That assessment was echoed by the US State Department, which emphasised that it could change.

“Our experience in these matters tells us that it’s premature to draw any final conclusions about this issue,” spokesman Matthew Miller said.

“We’ll be looking at additional intelligence in the coming weeks and days to inform our thinking on this issue, including whether at least there were some in the Iranian system who either had a clearer sense of what was coming or even contributed to aspects of the planning.”

Hamas has called Biden’s comments “inflammatory” after the US president condemned the group’s attack on Israel as “sheer evil”.

“These remarks are an attempt to cover up the crimes and terror of the Zionist government,” Hamas said in a statement on its website.

The Israeli army has said that three Palestinian armed men were killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers in Ashkelon, a major city near the Gaza Strip.

The fighting reportedly took place in an industrial area of the port city.

A major barrage of rockets was fired from Gaza towards Ashkelon earlier on Tuesday, with Hamas sending out a warning to civilians to evacuate before the attack.

Two Palestinians have been killed in a confrontation with the Israeli police in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, according to Israeli police and Palestinian state television.

The Palestinians were fatally shot after they set off fireworks and threw stones towards officers in East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood, Israeli authorities claimed.

The BBC says it won’t bow to pressure from the UK government to describe Hamas as a “terrorist” group.

“We always take our use of language very seriously. Anyone watching or listening to our coverage will hear the word ‘terrorist’ used many times – we attribute it to those who are using it, for example, the UK government. This is an approach that has been used for decades, and is in line with that of other broadcasters,” a BBC spokesperson said.

“The BBC is an editorially independent broadcaster whose job is to explain precisely what is happening ‘on the ground’ so our audiences can make their own judgement.”

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer had asked Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, if the corporation should review its guidelines.

US President Biden has pledged unwavering support for Israel as its military bombards Gaza in the wake of an unprecedented attack from the Palestinian group Hamas over the weekend.

In a White House speech on Tuesday, Biden said Washington will provide additional military assistance to Israel, which has declared war on Hamas.

Read our story here.

By Tareq Abu Azzoum in Gaza

The shelling of the Gaza Strip continues, specifically now in the north of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli occupation forces have struck the Al Karama neighborhood with tons of bombs.

Medical teams cannot at this moment access this place to know the number of casualties or to evacuate victims. This kind of attack is similar to the attacks carried out against Remal neighbourhood inside the central Gaza Strip.

This coastal place, the Al Karama neighborhood, is also a densely populated area which contains hundreds and thousands of Palestinian families who are now under heavy bombardment.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of supporting Hamas in its conflict with Israel.

“We are certain that Russia is supporting, in one way or another, Hamas operations”, Zelenskyy said in an interview with the France 2 television channel. “Russia is really trying to carry out destabilising actions all over the world.”

Zelenskyy added violence engulfing Israel and Gaza threatened to distract the focus from the war in his own country. “There is a risk that international attention will turn away from Ukraine, and that will have consequences.”

The tragedies affecting Ukraine and Israel “are different but both are immense”, he said.

Israeli air strikes since Saturday have resulted in 900 deaths in Gaza, including 260 children and 230 women, with an additional 4,500 individuals wounded, the health ministry said.

The raids have six health workers and eight journalists. The attacks on residential neighbourhoods have displaced about 140,000 citizens to UN shelters and hospitals. 

Gaza:

• 900 killed
• 4,500 injured

West Bank:

• 21 killed
• 130 injured