Israel-Hamas war LIVE updates

Palestinians subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation, says UN chief

Israel-Hamas war LIVE updates: The war between Israel and Palestine's Hamas militant group entered its 18th day on Tuesday. Over 6,000 people have died on both sides.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.(AP)

The Hamas-led Health Ministry said at least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed and 15,270 wounded in the airstrikes carried out by Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza since October 7. In the occupied West Bank, 96 Palestinians have been killed and 1,650 wounded in violence and Israeli raids.

More than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel after Hamas attacked Israeli towns from the Gaza border on October 7. In addition to that, at least 222 people including foreigners were believed captured by Hamas during the incursion and taken into Gaza. Four of them have been released since then.

Several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, are now emphasising the importance of a two-state solution to the long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Meanwhile, China for the first time, has acknowledged Israel's right to self-defence.

Here's what all has happened lately in the war between Israel and Hamas:

• Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant has said that his country will be launching a ‘lethal attack’ on Gaza as Israeli troops are expected to launch a ground offensive. “We are preparing thoroughly. It will be a lethal attack. It will be a combined attack from land, sea, and air,” he said, according to Times of Israel.
• The White House said that Biden has underscored the need to sustain "a continuous flow" of humanitarian assistance into Gaza in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
• The US president has also welcomed the release of two additional hostages from Gaza on Monday night and reaffirmed his commitment to ongoing efforts to secure the release of all the remaining hostages.
• The two hostages – Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz – were released by Hamas days after the Islamist group released an American mother-daughter duo. Both Cooper and Lifshitz were ferried in a helicopter to a hospital in Tel Aviv, where they were declared healthy.
• The US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy, in a joint statement, reiterated their strong support for Israel and upheld the country's right to self-defence.