Fears that the Israel-Hamas conflict might escalate into a larger Middle East battle grew on Sunday, with Washington warning of a substantial risk to US interests in the area as ally Israel hammered Gaza and tensions on its border with Lebanon worsened, news agency Reuters reported. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, 266 Palestinians, including 117 children, have been killed by Israeli air strikes in the previous 24 hours in the enclave, which Israel has declared a "total siege" after a fatal mass incursion into Israel by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7.


Top Points:



  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Hezbollah that if it enters the conflict, it will be crippled "with a force it cannot even imagine." “And the meaning for (Hezbollah) and for the state of Lebanon will be devastating, but we are prepared for any scenario,” Netanyahu said.

  • According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza on Sunday, Gaza's biggest medical facility, Al-Shifa Hospital, is limiting the time of dialysis treatments for hundreds of renal patients as electricity and fuel supplies diminish owing to the Israeli siege, CNN reported. 

  • Israeli missiles targeted Damascus and Aleppo international airports early Sunday, shutting them down and killing two personnel, according to Syrian official television.

  • Along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, the Iran-backed Hezbollah group has clashed with Israeli soldiers supporting Hamas in the bloodiest escalation of border warfare since the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

  • Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh urged the international world to form a "unified front" to stop Israel's bombardment on Gaza and enable vitally needed relief to enter, which has just recently began to arrive.

  • According to Egyptian security and humanitarian sources, a second convoy of relief trucks reached the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, going towards the Gaza Strip.

  • Witnesses stated a bomb was heard nearby shortly after the convoy reached the bridge, and ambulances could be heard deploying from the Egyptian side. According to a witness and a medical source, seven individuals were injured and brought to the hospital.

  • The US government has encouraged Israel to postpone the impending attack of Gaza in order to allow more Hamas hostages and supplies enter Gaza, according to two people informed on the discussions, CNN reported.

  • A top UN official has warned that the UN's gasoline supply in Gaza would run out in three days, repeating that supplies must be let into the beleaguered region. 

  • According to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, overnight airstrikes in central Gaza's Deir Al Balah killed at least 143 individuals. According to the hospital that received the corpses and the injured, a total of 262 persons were injured in those hits.