US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit to Israel on Friday, US State Department said on Tuesday. This will be Blinken’s second visit to Israel since war began.

“Secretary Blinken will travel to Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the Israeli government, and then will make other stops in the region,” US State Department spokesman said in his statement.

The visit comes as Israel intensifies its ground offensive in Gaza amid deepening humanitarian crisis.

Earlier On Tuesday, Isareli military carried out air strikes on densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing dozens of people.

Israel also claimed that the top commander of Hamas, who was involved in October 7 attack, was also killed in air strike on Gaza.

Hamas, however, dismissed Israel’s claim and said that no one of its leaders was present in the camp during the attack.

According to Gaza health ministry, more than 8,000 people have been killed, mostly children and women, in Israeli bombardments since war began on October 7.

Here are the live updates on the Israel-Hamas war:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel would not agree to a ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At a media briefing on Monday, Mr Netanyahu said a ceasefire would amount to surrendering to Hamas.

“Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7th,” he said.

“Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen,” he added.

The UN Humanitarian Office (OCHA) today said that 8,309 Palestinians, of whom 70 per cent are said to be children and women, have so far been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“Since 7 October, 8,309 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 3,747 children and at least 2,062 women,” the OCHA wrote on its website.

Israeli ground forces have been fighting inside the Gaza Strip and air strikes pounded the Palestinian territory in response to the October 7 attacks, when Hamas operatives killed 1,400 people and took more than 230 hostages.

Here are the Highlights on the Israel-Hamas war:

Two men from Bihar have been arrested in Bengaluru for exploiting the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) to steal money from bank accounts. Unlike typical cyberfrauds, victims of AePS fraud only realize they have lost money after receiving text messages from their banks. At least 116 AePS fraud cases have been registered in Bengaluru alone. The fraudsters stole biometric details from the government’s Kaveri 2.0 portal and used the information to steal money through the micro ATM system. The police have informed the stamps and registration department to block the Aadhaar numbers and biometric details of those using their services.