Israel at war Friday Oct 20

Day 13 of war refresh page for updates

4:00pm

Blinken calls for the immediate release of all hostages without conditions 

2 Freed hostages are back in Israel

The IDF says it is carrying out new airstrikes against Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to today’s rocket and missile attacks on northern Israel.

2:00 pm 

-Heavy  fire exchange o nn northern border with hezbolla reports of casualties R"L on Israeli side 6 soldiers injured 1 killed rl

- Bloomberg reports: US Pressing Israel to Delay Gaza Invasion to Win Hostage Release

US and European governments have been putting pressure on Israel to delay its ground invasion of Gaza to buy time for secret talks underway via Qatar to win the release of hostages held by Hamas.

- Biden says aid  trucks to enter Gaza from Egypt within 24 to 48 hours.

1:00pm

- Hamas frees 2 hostages, American citizens a mother and daughter. Unconfirmed reports say they are from Chicago Natalie and Judith Raanan mother is 59 and daughter is 18. They are to be handed over to the red cross and transfered to Egypt

Hamas claimed it did so in response to Quatari efforts for humantarian reasons and to prove to the American people that claims made by Biden are false and baseless

12:30 pm

- Israel appeared to be readying its expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip early Friday, with a large border town evacuated and fleets of tanks lining up on the border where hundreds of thousands of soldiers are already camped out.(NYP)

- Ynet reports thousands of charedim have asked to sign up with the army and join the war effort  120 will be drafted on Monday they will be placed in areas of their expertise such as medical and first responders

- 100,000 Israeli civilians have applied for firearm licenses since the beginning of hostilities, the Ministry of National Security says.

- Since the start of the war, EL AL has carried more than 200,000 passengers on approximately 1,400 flights, with over 100,000 passengers arriving in Israel and also operated numerous reinforcement flights and transported vital combat equipment from around the world.

- BBC News Admits Mistake in Coverage of Gaza Hospital Blast; BBC will no longer use the term Militants about Hamas and will now refer to them as “a proscribed terrorist organization by the UK government and others” or simply as “Hamas”

- Elon musk  removed New York Times' verification badge, following a flood of false information it published on the Israel-Gaza war

- Biden asks Congress for an additional $61 billion to support Ukraine and $14 billion to boost Israel's military.

- Turkey's Erdogan criticises Israel, accusing it of provoking regional  countries instead of rectifying its actions in Gaza. Region Needs to Be Saved from 'frenzy of Madness' Supported by Western States, Media.

- Rocket from Gaza lands in an open area of the Jerusalem hills another one shot down

-Rabbonim issue halachick guidelines for bnei brak residents regarding carrying a phone leaving radio on and other matters of pikuach  nefesh see below

-IDF struck more than 100 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, killing tens of hamas terrorists

- Hezbollah fires mortars and rockets at the Har Dov area, Kiryat Simona residents begin to evacuate

- Analysts say IDF will continue to crush Gaza from the air and not rush into a ground invasion while letting the siege take a toll on Hamas, at the same time fortifying the home front providing guns and weapons to the citizens across the country.

- Israel to shut down AL Jazeera TV in the country after the network showed troop locations

- The Kremlin denounces an address by US President Joe Biden in which he compared Russia to the Hamas terror group and called Vladimir Putin a “tyrant.”“We do not accept such a tone in relation to the Russian Federation, in relation to our president,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters.

- Hamas terrorists who carried out a surprise attack on October 7 were found to be under the influence of Captagon, a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant that has been used by ISIS to carry out heinous crimes under calmness.

- Nusach מי שברך that is said in Vizhnitz affiliated  shuls

Halachos for sshabbos during the war