Israel-Gaza updates: IDF preparing for 'wide range of offensive plans'

Fighting is ongoing after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: October 15, 2023, 5:15 PM EDT

At least 1,400 people have died and 3,400 others have been injured in Israel after the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented incursion from air, land and sea on Oct. 7, Israeli authorities said.

In Gaza, 3,000 people have been killed and another 12,500 were injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Tensions are high with the prospect of ground war and evacuation orders for Gaza after the Israel Defense Forces called for "all residents of Gaza City to evacuate their homes" and "move south for their protection" early Friday, saying residents should move "and settle in the area south of the Gaza River." The announcement was made, according to the IDF, because it plans to "operate significantly in Gaza City in the coming days" and wanted "to avoid harming civilians."

Click here for the latest updates.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 16, 2023, 2:47 PM EDT

Timeline: The Hamas attack and response

On the morning of Oct. 7, sirens echoed across Israel as Hamas terrorists began a full-fledged surprise attack from the air, sea and ground. Hundreds of armed Hamas fighters stormed into Israel from Gaza, charging into cities and gunning down citizens.

Friends and family mourn Dor Reder, who was killed following a deadly infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, at his funeral in Beit Kama, southern Israel, Oct. 16, 2023.
Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters

Israeli forces responded by sending wave after wave of bombs into Gaza, killing thousands, trapping civilians and raising fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Click here for the full timeline

Oct 15, 2023, 5:15 PM EDT

Gaza running out of body bags, says UNRWA chief

With deaths mounting from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, the head of the U.N. Relief and Work Agency said Sunday that Gaza is running out of body bags.

Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner-general, called a news conference Sunday to "raise the alarm" that as of Sunday he and his colleague are "no longer able to provide humanitarian assistance" in Gaza.

"In fact, Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity," Lazarrini said.

He said Gaza has no electricity and is running out of water fast.

He added that an "unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding under our eyes" in Gaza.

"Thousands of people have been killed, including children and women.  Gaza is now even running out of body bags," said Lazarrini.

The government media office in Gaza said is now considering digging mass graves, according to Reuters.

Lazarrini said 14 staff members of his agency are among the dead.

"They were teachers, engineers, guards and psychologists, an engineer and a gynecologist," Lazzarini said. "Most of our 13,000 UNRWA staff in the Gaza Strip are now displaced or out of their homes."

Oct 15, 2023, 4:40 PM EDT

Number of hostages held by Hamas rises

The number of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza is now believed to be 155, Israel Defense Forces said Sunday.

The number of hostages rose from 126 earlier Sunday, the IDF said. An undetermined number of Americans are believed to be among the hostages, according to U.S. officials.

Oct 15, 2023, 3:38 PM EDT

Schumer says Senate will not wait for House to act on aid package for Israel

The Senate will start working on a compressive aid package for Israel despite dysfunction in the House of Representatives, which remains without a speaker, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday.

"We’re not waiting for the House. We believe if the Senate acts in a strong bipartisan way, it may indeed improve the chances that the House, even with its current dysfunction, will act," Schumer told reporters in Tel Aviv.

A picture taken from the southern Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip, Oct. 15, 2023, shows smoke billowing after Israeli bombardment of an area in the Palestinian enclave.
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

Schumer led a bipartisan delegation of senators to Israel to meet with high-ranking government officials following the Oct. 7 deadly terror attacks by Hamas. On Sunday, Schumer and other members of the delegation were rushed into a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv to wait out a rocket attack, according to a social media post from the New York senator.

-ABC News' Davone Morales

Oct 15, 2023, 3:33 PM EDT

Israel to 'launch a massive attack on Hamas' in 'next few days,' Naftali Bennett says

ABC foreign correspondent James Longman spoke with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who said Israel has taken "a big hit, there's no way around that."

"But we're at war right now," he said. "We're between the first phase where we took the huge hit and the second phase where we're hitting back."

"Over the next few days, we're going to launch a massive attack on Hamas. It's going to be tough, it's going to be long," Bennett continued, later adding: "Israel is ready to fight."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday during an during an emergency cabinet meeting, "Hamas thought we would be demolished. It is we who will demolish Hamas," Reuters reported.

Watch Bennett's interview here:

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calls Hamas a "Nazi regime" and says Israel plans to eradicate the terrorist group.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calls Hamas a "Nazi regime" and says Israel plans to eradicate the terrorist group.

Related Topics