Live updates | Israeli airstrikes hit refugee camp for a second day

Jerusalem, Nov 1 (AP) Israeli airstrikes hit apartment buildings in a refugee camp near Gaza City for a second day in a row, causing many deaths and injuries, the Hamas-run government said. The toll from Wednesday's strikes was not immediately known.
     Meanwhile, dozens of people with foreign passports entered the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt. It appeared to be the first time that foreign passport holders have been allowed to leave the besieged territory since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than three weeks ago.
     Communications and internet services were gradually being restored after the second major cut in five days, according to Paltel, the main telecommunications provider. Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation in Gaza.
     The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached more than 8,700, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, 130 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.
     More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them civilians slain in the initial October 7 Hamas rampage that started the fighting. In addition, around 240 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group. One of the captives, a female Israeli soldier, was rescued in a special forces operation.
     Here's what is happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
    
     JEWISH HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATION CRITICIZES BOLIVIA FOR SEVERING DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH ISRAEL
     BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - A Jewish human rights organisation has criticised Chile and Colombia for recalling their ambassadors to Israel, as well as Bolivia for breaking its diplomatic relations with Israel in protest of the continuing military operation in the Gaza Strip.
     The Simon Wiesenthal Center noted Wednesday that Bolivia never mentioned the October 7 Hamas attack against Israel in its decision to sever diplomatic ties with Israel and said the Andean country's decision on Tuesday has to do with Bolivia's partnership with Iran.
    “Bolivia's alliance with Iran is becoming clearer every day considering that the breakup is not due to the real interests of the Bolivian people,” Ariel Gelblung, the centre's director for Latin America, said.
    The centre characterised the decision by the governments of Colombia and Chile to recall their ambassadors on Tuesday evening “a clearly coordinated action.”
    “Both leaders have always been hostile toward Israel and both have a history of diplomatic disagreements with representatives of the Jewish State,” the organisation said.
    Colombian President Gustavo Petro has devoted much of his account on X, formerly Twitter, to posting and retweeting criticism of Israel.
    “The head of state who carries out this genocide is a criminal against humanity,” Petro wrote late Tuesday.
    Bolivia, Chile and Colombia are all led by leftist governments.

     CYPRIOT SHIPS LOADED WITH HUMANITARIAN AID TO HEAD TO GAZA
     NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus' government spokesman says a Cypriot initiative for the continuous flow of humanitarian assistance from Cyprus to Gaza will see ships sailing directly to the enclave where the United Nations personnel will receive it for distribution.
     Spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis said Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “saw the initiative in a positive light” during a long telephone call with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides Tuesday evening.
     Cyprus is working with other European Union member states and Arab countries to work out the logistics of delivering aid to Gaza as soon as conditions on the ground permit it.
     Ships loaded with medical supplies, food and clothing will depart from Cyprus' main port of Limassol after being vetted to ensure that nothing being transported can be weaponised against Israel.
    
     HEAD OF UN AGENCY FOR PALESTINIAN REFUGEES CROSSES INTO GAZA, MEETS WITH STAFF AND OTHERS
     CAIRO — Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, crossed into Gaza Wednesday, where he met with Palestinian communities and other UNRWA colleagues working in the territory.
     He said he was shocked by the scale of humanitarian needs Gaza and called for scaling up assistance delivered to the strip's 2.3 million population.
     “I was shocked by the fact that everyone there was asking for food, was asking for water ... I never, ever have seen something similar in Gaza,” he said in comments to journalists.
     Lazzarini is the most senior UN official to enter the besieged enclave since the conflict erupted on October 7.
    
     4 ITALIAN CITIZENS LEAVE GAZA STRIP VIA RAFAH CROSSING
     ROME — Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says a handful of Italian citizens have crossed out of the Gaza Strip.
     “I just spoke with the first four Italians who departed from the Gaza Strip,” Tajani wrote on the social media platform X. “They are tired but in good condition, assisted by the Italian consul in Cairo. We will continue to work so all the others can get out.”
     Tajani last week said there were 14 Italians in the Gaza Strip — seven with Italian citizenship and seven with dual Italian citizenship.
    
     PALESTINIAN MAN SHOT AND KILLED IN THE WEST BANK, HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP SAYS
     JERUSALEM — A 65-year-old Palestinian father with mental disabilities was killed in the occupied West Bank with a single shot to the head Wednesday as Israeli forces operated nearby, according to an Israeli rights group with footage of the shooting.
     The video, which came from a CCTV camera in the flashpoint city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, shows a Palestinian man — identified as Majdi Awad by human rights group B'Tselem — walking down an alley in the early morning, before suddenly being shot and collapsing to the ground.
     B'Tselem spokesperson Roy Yellin said it was not yet clear whether the man was shot by Israeli forces, but that the incident occurred just 100 metres from an area where Israeli forces stood. Awad was pronounced dead upon arrival at a nearby hospital and identified by his family members, Yellin said, adding that B'Tselem's preliminary investigation showed that Awad was likely shot by a sniper.
     Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, 130 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank either by Israeli forces or by Jewish settlers. UN monitors say the period is the deadliest on record in the territory.
     The military did not immediately respond to request for comment on the video or confirmation that soldiers had operated in Tulkarem Wednesday morning.
    
     KEY US ALLY JORDAN RECALLS ITS AMBASSADOR FROM ISRAEL
     AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan, a key US ally, said Wednesday it has recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel's ambassador to remain out of the country in protest over the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
     Jordan's deputy prime minister, Ayman al-Safadi, who is also the foreign minister, said the return of the ambassadors is linked to Israel “stopping its war on Gaza … and the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing.”
     Jordan signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994, the second Arab country after Egypt to do so.
    
     ISRAELI FORCES RAID REFUGEE CAMP IN THE WEST BANK, KILL 3 PALESTINIANS
     Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early Wednesday, killing three Palestinians, injuring scores more, and arresting a high-ranking Palestinian official, Palestinian health and Israeli military officials said.
     The raid, which the military said was to root out militancy, included a drone strike — a once rare, but now increasingly common attack mode in the West Bank. The military said the strike targeted and hit several militants. Soldiers and militants exchanged fire in the camp. The military said soldiers found and destroyed an underground shaft full of ammunition.
     In the overnight raid, soldiers arrested Ata Abu Rmeileh, Jenin's highest-ranking Fatah official. Fatah is the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas' main rival. The military said that Rmeileh, who was arrested with his son, was involved in promoting militancy in the area. Israel's military arrested 70 Palestinians overnight, bringing the total number of Palestinians arrested since the war began to 1,830, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.
     Videos circulating on social media showed lines of Israeli military vehicles streaming into the city, Israeli bulldozers traversing the camp's narrow streets and a puddle of blood on the floor of a major hospital.
     Violence has surged in the West Bank since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7. Since then, Israeli forces and settlers killed 125 Palestinians there, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. (AP)
    
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)