Oct 13 (Reuters) - Countries urged Israel to hold off on plans for an all-out assault on the Gaza Strip. More than a million Palestinian civilians largely defied the Israeli military's order to evacuate ahead of its expected offensive. The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency described Israel's call as "horrendous" and said the enclave was rapidly becoming a "hell hole".
CONFLICT * Israeli security forces killed nine Palestinians and wounded dozens in confrontations across the West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said. The Israeli military has said it is prepared for an escalation in the West Bank and is on high alert. * U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed establishing safe areas in Gaza where civilians could relocate. The U.S. is engaging with the ICRC and U.N. relief agencies, a State Department official said. * Egypt said it was directing international humanitarian aid flights for Gaza to Al Arish airport in Sinai, near the Rafah border crossing. But it rejects any move to set up safe corridors for fleeing refugees, Egyptian security sources said.
"Egypt was keen to open the Rafah crossing to provide humanitarian aid, food and medicine, but instability and the expansion of the conflict leads to more hardship and more refugees to safe areas, including Europe," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said. * Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon. The Israeli military denied it.
* "The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. * Israel is waging all-out war on Hamas militants to safeguard its future, its defence minister Yoav Gallant said - "This is a war for the existence of Israel as a prosperous state, as a democratic state, as homeland of the Jewish people." * Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he "rejects the forced displacement" of Palestinians in Gaza. * Blinken said the Israeli government showed him photographs and videos of Hamas atrocities. He said they showed a baby "riddled with bullets", soldiers beheaded and young people burned in their cars. "It's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way," he said.
* The Hamas attack on Saturday killed more than 1,300 Israelis. More than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory attacks.
HUMAN IMPACT * Israeli air strikes have made major cemeteries in Gaza dangerous to reach so mourning families are burying their dead in informal graveyards dug in empty lots. * An Israeli family fears for an ailing grandmother driven off by Hamas gunmen. * When Israel called up its reservists and declared war this week, the response was swift and overwhelming.
INTERNATIONAL * Saudi Arabia is putting U.S.-backed plans to normalise ties with Israel on ice, sources said, signalling a rapid rethinking of its foreign policy priorities.
The Saudi rethink highlights challenges facing Washington's efforts to deepen Israel’s integration in a region where the Palestinian cause remains a major Arab concern. * Israel's call for more than 1 million to move within 24 hours is going to be a "tall order," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said - "That is a lot of people to move in a very short period of time." * In Baghdad tens of thousands of Iraqis rallied in central Tahrir Square, waving Palestinian flags and burning the Israeli flag while chanting anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans. Other rallies were organized in Palestinian camps as well as Lebanese cities where Hezbollah has a strong presence. * Jewish communities in France, Poland and elsewhere were also holding rallies in solidarity with Israel * Police in New York and Los Angeles said they would step up patrols, especially around synagogues and Jewish community centers, though authorities insisted they were unaware of any specific threats. * Russian President Vladimir Putin said Israel was replyingto an attack of unprecedented cruelty by using cruel methods of its own. * U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the Pentagon was ready to deploy more military aid to Israel. * The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over potential war crimes carried out by Hamas in Israel and Israelis in the Gaza Strip, even though Israel is not a member state, the ICC's top prosecutor told Reuters.
"One doesn't need to be the prosecutor of the ICC. Any human being's heart must be chilled and frozen and heartbroken at seeing the pictures that are coming out of Israel and Palestine these last few days," ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said. * Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said the group would not be swayed by calls for it to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, saying the party was "fully ready" to contribute to the fighting. * Jordanian riot police forcibly dispersed hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters trying to reach a border zone with the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Jordan fears repercussions for itself as many of its population are Palestinians. * The Vatican offered to mediate between Israel and Palestinian militants. * Republican infighting in the U.S. House of Representatives has left the chamber unable to act to support Israel's war and pass government spending bills before funding runs out.
INSIGHTS * An Israeli invasion of Gaza will face an enemy that has built a formidable armoury and dug a vast tunnel network to evade attackers. * U.S. President Joe Biden is facing little pressure at home to rein in Israel. He appears to have given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a free hand. But a ground offensive and higher civilian death toll - could force the president to rethink that approach. * A factbox on the Gaza Strip, devastated by conflict and economic blockade. * The war falls under a complex international system of justice that has emerged since World War Two. * The conflict hinges on statehood, land, Jerusalem and refugees, pitting Israeli demands for security against Palestinian aspirations for a state of their own. * "He is elusive. He is the man in the shadows." The secretive Hamas mastermind behind the assault: Mohammed Deif. * The Israel-Hamas war upends Biden's two-pronged Mideast strategy: brokering Israeli-Saudi detente and containing Iran's nuclear ambitions.
MARKETS AND BUSINESS * The G20 chair, India, said the Middle East conflict raises fuel price concerns. * United Arab Emirates stock markets tumbled on Friday, tracking global equities as a widening conflict between Hamas militants and Israel made investors nervous. * Israel's Economy Ministry said dozens of imported products would be exempt from inspection and other approvals to facilitate their entry into Israel and help to prevent shortages during the war * Airlines wrestled with the safety risk of evacuation operations. * What are global firms with a presence in Israel doing after the Hamas attack? (Compiled by Stephen Farrell, Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast)
