Israel-Hamas war LIVE: IDF says it has now ‘split Gaza into two’ as UN agencies issue rare joint statement calling for a ceasefire

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday, as he tours the Middle East attempting to tamp down tensions.

After an earlier visit to the West Bank, Blinken landed in Baghdad on Sunday evening for his first visit to the country as the US top diplomat and held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani.

Blinken said he had a good, candid conversation with the Iraq government.

Washington wants to prevent a wider regional conflict from spilling over and has stepped up diplomacy with regional countries whose populations have been angered by Israel’s assault on Gaza.

But Iran-backed group Kataib Hezbollah issued a warning on Saturday night that the expected Blinken visit would be met with ‘an unprecedented escalation.’

Actor Jon Voight has ripped anti-Israel posts by his famous daughter Angelina Jolie – branding them ‘lies’ and saying ‘the Israeli army must protect thy soil.’

Jolie has strongly condemned the IDF’s response to the October 7 Hamas terror attacks that killed 1,400 people, the majority of whom were civilians.

But in a video posted online, Voight, 84, did not hold back in his criticism of his daughter Jolie, saying: ‘I am very disappointed that my daughter, like so many, has no understanding of God’s honor, God’s truths.’

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Intense Israeli strikes killed more than 200 people overnight in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run health ministry in the besieged Palestinian territory has said.

‘More than 200 martyrs were reported in the overnight massacres,’ the ministry said in a statement, adding the death toll only covered Gaza City and the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and not the southern region.

Jordan’s air force air-dropped vital medical supplies to a field hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip, King Abdullah II said early Monday.

‘Our fearless air force personnel air-dropped at midnight urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza,’ he said on X, formerly Twitter.

‘This is our duty to aid our brothers and sisters injured in the war on Gaza,’ he said, adding: ‘We will always be there for our Palestinian brethren.’

Israel later said it coordinated with Jordan on the air drop, a vital injection of supplies as the territory runs low on food, water, fuel and medicines.
The air drop was announced as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken carried out a regional diplomatic tour, holding talks in Amman on Saturday with his counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
A slow trickle of aid has been passing through the southern Rafah crossing. The number of trucks has increased in recent days, with Blinken saying on Saturday that 100 trucks were now entering Gaza each day.
He said that was still not nearly enough for the population of 2.3 million.

Gaza lost communications in its third total outage of the Israel-Hamas war, while Israel’s military said it encircled Gaza City.

The IDF says it has divided the besieged coastal strip into two.

‘Today there is north Gaza and south Gaza,’ Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters, calling it a ‘significant stage’ in Israel’s war against the Hamas militant group ruling the enclave.

Israeli media reported troops were expected to enter Gaza City within 48 hours, and strong explosions were seen in northern Gaza after nightfall.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari has said freeing the hostages inside Gaza remains the Israeli military’s top priority.

‘We are going to defeat Hamas. We are going to free our hostages,’ he said during a press briefing, shown below.

Is it believed around 240 hostages are currently in Gaza. Hamas officials in the territory claims a number have been killed in IDF airstrikes.

IDF soldiers were marching through Gaza when they were attacked by terrorists who sprang out of a nearby underground hatch.

Video shows the Israeli troops pushed the enemy back through the opening but rather than follow them inside, they called in an airstrike.

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An eight-year-old girl who was believed to have been slaughtered in Israel by Hamas terrorists is now thought to be alive and among those held hostage in Gaza .

Emily Hand, a young Irish-Israeli girl, was reported to have been one of the at least 130 people killed in the deadly massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where she spent the night of October 6 to October 7 at a sleepover at her friend’s house.

In the aftermath of the attack, in an interview that went around the world, her Irish-born father Thomas Hand said that he was glad to hear that she was dead as he was terrified of how she would have been treated by Hamas terrorists.

But after a month of mourning thinking she had been killed, her family today revealed Israeli authorities had told them the schoolgirl is a hostage of Hamas, and is likely being held somewhere in in the besieged Gaza Strip.

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Britain’s Foreign Office has said some staff and family members have been temporarily withdrawn from the British embassy in Lebanon due to the ‘security situation’ in the region.

Guidance on the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) website said: ‘FCDO advises against all travel to Lebanon due to risks associated with the conflict between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

‘There are ongoing mortar and artillery exchanges and air strikes in South Lebanon, on the boundary with Israel. Tensions are high and events could escalate with little warning, which could affect or limit exit routes out of Lebanon.

‘There is also a risk of civil unrest. There have been large protests outside embassies, including outside the US and French embassies on October 17. Further protests are expected. British nationals should exercise caution and avoid areas where demonstrations may be held.

‘Due to the security situation, some staff at the British embassy and all family members of staff have been temporarily withdrawn. The embassy continues with essential work including services to British nationals.’

Israel has clashed with Lebanese terror group Hezbollah since the October 7 attack, raising fears the war in Gaza could spread to the wider region.

Israel continued its massive bombing campaign after the Palestinian militants staged the worst attack in the country’s history a month ago.

In their October 7 attack, Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 others hostage.

The health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, says more than 9,770 people, many of them women and children, have been killed in Israeli strikes and the intensifying ground campaign since the war began.

Israel now says it has split Gaza in two, encricling Gaza City in the north. The IDF says it plans to see the whole of the north free of civilians, who it has repeatedly urged to flee to the south of the territory.

As the bombardment continues, UN aid agencies have released a rare joint statement calling for a ceasefire to the conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained firm on his position, vowing that ‘there won’t be a ceasefire until the hostages are returned’.

Meanwhile, Britain’s foreign office has said it is withdrawing some embassy staff from Lebanon amid fears the conflict could broaden.

Here’s what else you need to know of day 31 of the conflict:

Israel on Monday pounded Gaza with ‘significant’ strikes, while IDF troops and Hamas fighters engaged in house-to-house combat in the north.
Israeli officials have continued to ignore ceasefire calls by UN aid agencies who condemned surging civilian deaths in the month-long conflict.
Since Israel sent ground forces into the north of Gaza late last month, ‘over 2,500 terror targets have been struck’ by ‘ground, air and naval forces’, IDF says
‘We will take the fight to Hamas wherever they are, underground, above ground’, Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said at a briefing Monday.
He repeated calls for civilians to leave the urban war zone in the north of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to the south.
The war has sent 1.5 million people fleeing to other parts of the territory in a desperate search for cover.
Conricus again accused Hamas of building tunnels underneath hospitals, schools and places of worship in Gaza to hide fighters, plan attacks and store ammunition – a charge the militant group has repeatedly denied .
Israel has resisted calls for a halt in the fighting, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken touring the region calling for ‘pauses’ while rejecting Arab countries’ demands for a ceasefire.
Israeli troops now encircle Gaza City, effectively splitting the territory in two, with ‘significant’ strikes carried out, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said late Sunday.
On Sunday, the health ministry said 45 people were killed in Israeli strikes on a refugee camp in central Gaza, leaving people searching through the rubble.
The sole border crossing into Egypt was closed Sunday for a second day in a row, with Hamas suspending the evacuation of foreign passport holders after Israel refused to allow some injured Palestinians to be evacuated.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed the closure, saying more than 1,100 people had been allowed out so far.