Eight killed as Israel strikes Syrian military positions on day 19

This page is now closed. Please find our live coverage of the third week of the Israel-Gaza war here.

Eight Syrian military personnel were killed in an Israeli air strike on positions in Deraa, a Syrian news agency reported.

“At approximately 1.45am today, the Israeli army carried out an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a number of our military points in the countryside around Deraa,” Sana reported, quoting a military source.

Sana said eight soldiers were killed in the attack and seven others were wounded.

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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that Hamas's attacks "did not happen in vacuum", adding that Palestinians have been subjected to 56 years of "suffocating occupation".

Palestinian grievances cannot justify appalling Hamas attacks, and those attacks cannot justify collective Palestinian punishment, he told the UN Security Council.

“At a crucial moment like this, it is vital to be clear on principles, starting with the fundamental principle of respecting and protecting civilians,” Mr Guterres said.

“They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished.

"Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing."

He said the assistance entering Gaza is "a drop of aid in an ocean of need", and must be delivered without restrictions.

“I reiterate my appeal for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza," Mr Guterres said.

He said he was “deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza".

He demanded that all parties uphold and respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and for military operations to spare civilians.

The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing war has exceeded 14,989, of which 75 per cent are children, women and elderly, the health ministry said.

More than 7000 Palestinians of which 4,700 children, are still under the rubble of destroyed buildings, the ministry said in a statement issued on Sunday. The number of injured people has exceeded 36,432.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyadh Al Maliki told Saudi news channel Al Ekhbariyah, on the side of the Arab ministerial delegation meeting in Beijing, that Arab and Muslim ministers "agreed to attend the Security Council meeting on the ministerial level on November 29th, which China is holding as the president of the Security Council."

The delegation which met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi also agreed to "provide a draft resolution to the Security Council, which asserts the need to lift the siege and ways to obligate Israel to allow the unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza."

The United Arab Emirates has condemned and expressed its denunciation in the strongest terms of the Israeli bombing of Al Fakhoura School, run by UNRWA and Tal Al-Zaatar School, and the inhumane attacks launched by Israel on schools and hospitals in the Gaza Strip. The UAE said it categorically rejects targeting of organisations and civilian facilities in the Strip, WAM reported.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said the immediate priority is to preserve the lives of civilians and provide full protection of organisations and civilian facilities, and "ensure the immediate, safe, sustainable, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian, relief and medical aid to the Palestinians."

The Ministry also stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of life, reiterating the importance of protecting civilians and civilian institutions, according to international law.

Dozens of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, under protection from Israeli police, WAFA agency reported quoting local sources.

Witnesses said scores of settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque in separate groups, where they conducted tours through the courtyards of the mosque, said the report.

This latest incident adds to the ongoing tensions surrounding Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third most revered site in Islam. The entry of settlers into the compound, backed by Israeli security forces, is often met with condemnation from Palestinian officials and religious authorities.

Time has stopped in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, as its inhabitants wait for a war that has yet to begin.

Following Hamas's attack in Israel on October 7 that kicked off a massive escalation of violence in Gaza, the southern border of Lebanon has been the site of tit-for-tat clashes between Iran-backed Hezbollah and an ally of the Palestinian militant group on one side, and Israel on the other.

Beirut residents told The National they are fearful of what could come next, as some governments, including Canada and the US, have advised their citizens to leave.

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"This time, we will have the element of surprise. We will come with a concentrated force, with all of the advanced capabilities and high standard of the Brigade – and we will be victorious," Haaretz quoted Lt Col Tomer Greenbaum as saying. 

Anjana Sankar reports:

The bullet holes in the door bear witness to what happened at this house on October 7.

For about 12 hours, two Indian nurses cowered in a safe room with their elderly charges as Hamas militants went on a killing spree in the south of Israel.

Sabitha Baby and Meera Mohanan, both 34, have been described as "superwomen" for putting their lives at risk to protect their bed-ridden patient and her husband, who has Alzheimer’s.

They held fast to the metal door, in a desperate attempt to keep the militants out.

“We could hear them walking around in the house,” Ms Baby told The National.

"We were dead silent. A cough or a loud gasp, and all of us would have got killed."

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The war between Israel and Hamas could damage economies in the entire Middle East region, including oil producers, if not contained, the World Bank has said. 

“It used to be that everyone talked about the West and China de-coupling,” Ajay Banga said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Tuesday. “Right now, the much bigger issue is the Middle East and what is happening there.” 

-Bloomberg

Ismaeel Naar reports:

The US mission in New York has called on the Brazilian presidency of the UN Security Council to schedule a vote on its draft resolution on Gaza on Wednesday, according to a diplomatic source.

Russia has also put forward its draft and is expected to follow the US request in asking for a vote this evening, the source added.

Both resolutions are expected to fail as Washington and Moscow will probably use their veto powers when the drafts are put to a final vote.

The US draft resolution has called for pauses, while Russia wants a humanitarian ceasefire. A pause is generally considered less formal and shorter than a ceasefire.

Russia has so far said it would not support a US-drafted Security Council resolution on the Israel-Gaza war because it does not directly call for a ceasefire.

The US mission at the UN has been working to negotiate its draft resolution to ensure none of the permanent members use its veto power during the vote.

An initial version of the US draft mentioned Iran, but has been withdrawn following Russian requests.

She said the military operations against Gaza, as well as calls for a ceasefire to allow aid to reach civilians there, have been met by “silence in the world”.

“The people all around the Middle East, including in Jordan, we are just shocked and disappointed by the world's reaction to this catastrophe that is unfolding,” Queen Rania told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

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Two dozen American soldiers were wounded last week in a series of drone attacks at American bases in Iraq and Syria, US Central Command told NBC News on Tuesday.

The injuries were minor, according to NBC News.

Twenty US personnel suffered minor injuries on October 18 when at least two one-way attack drones were sent to hit Al Tanf military base in southern Syria, Centcom said. 

One of the drones was shot down. All of the wounded personnel were returned to duty, Centcom said, and there was no damage to any military installations.

On that same day, another four American personnel suffered minor injuries during two separate drone attacks against US and coalition forces stationed at Al Asad base in western Iraq, Centcom said.

-Reuters

A Palestinian in the UAE has told of her grief after dozens of relatives were killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.

Fidaa Alloh, 39, said at least 40 relatives have been killed in the Israeli-Gaza conflict.

Her cousin and three of her children including an infant, were killed by an air strike.

“Another child survived but lost a leg, while my cousin’s husband sustained severe injuries and hearing loss,” said Ms Alloh, who lives in Sharjah.

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The army has increased deadly air attacks in the West Bank as the war in Gaza continues, using fighter jets for the first time since the Second Intifada.

One hundred Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank since October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has vowed to keep arming Israelis as he toured the south on Tuesday.

Mr Ben-Gvir, an extreme far-right cabinet member, has already loosened restrictions to acquire guns following the October 7 Hamas attack, and has been heavily criticised for establishing a "national guard" critics have described as a private militia.

“We have established more than 500 standby units and have so far distributed approximately 5,000 assault rifles to police volunteers,” he said on X. 

“We continue to arm the people of Israel!”

Mr Ben-Gvir has encouraged Israelis to sign up for civil "security units" following the attack, and has ordered his ministry to distribute 10,000 assault rifles across the country.

Meanwhile in Gaza, the health ministry has said its hospitals are in “complete collapse” at least 16 are forced out of service amid air strikes and critical shortages.

More overnight developments:

• 50 Palestinians killed in one hour, says Gaza Health Ministry
• UN pleads for fuel deliveries
• Three killed in Jenin drone strike

Israel's air strikes on the Gaza Strip are visible from space, according to imagery shared by experts.

Photos shared by Ollie Ballinger, a geocomputation lecturer and fellow at Bellingcat, show plumes of smoke rising over the enclave.

Almost 5,800 people have been killed so far in Israeli air strikes across Gaza, according to its health ministry.

Israeli forces on an overnight raid in the occupied West Bank came under fire from a group of Palestinians whom the military targeted with a drone strike, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

Medics said two Palestinians were killed.

The military said armed Palestinians "fired and hurled explosive devices" at its forces in Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank. The military responded with a drone, and "hits were identified", it added.

The Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said two Palestinians were killed, with others injured.

The strike was at least the third use of Israeli air power in the West Bank since violence in the territory surged after Hamas' October 7 gun rampage in southern Israel.

Jenin refugee camp, a Palestinian militant stronghold, was the focus of a major Israeli military operation earlier this year.

-Reuters