Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has told troops gathered at the Gaza border that they will soon see the Palestinian territory “from the inside”. Gallant urged the forces on Thursday to “get organised, be ready” for an order to move in, suggesting an Israeli ground invasion could be nearing.
Israel is likely to launch a bloody ground assault on the Gaza Strip in the coming days, the former prime minister Ehud Barak said in an interview on Thursday. The Israeli military has a “green light” to move into Gaza whenever it’s ready, Israel’s economy minister, Nir Barkat, said in a separate interview.
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has met Israel’s president and prime minister on a visit to the country. Sunak stressed the importance of allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza and said the UK stood in solidarity with Israel.
Sunak said the UK supported Israel’s right to defend itself “in line with international law”, to go after Hamas and to bring back the hostages.
Israel is counting on the UK’s “continuous support” in what will be a “long war” with Hamas, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told Sunak as the two leaders met in Tel Aviv.
Sunak then flew to Saudi Arabia later on Thursday in efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and prevent a wider regional conflict. Sunak and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “agreed to coordinate action” to avoid any further escalation in the region, Downing Street said after a meeting.
A charity has warned that the lack of access to water in Gaza is “a health crisis on the brink of explosion”.
Gaza health officials say Israel’s bombing has so far killed 3,785 people and wounded more than 12,000.
Eight Palestinians were killed in an ongoing Israeli military operation in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, according to the Palestinian health ministry on Thursday. Israel’s police said an officer was also killed during clashes.
Machinery to repair roads has been sent through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip in preparation for the delivery of some aid tomorrow.
The bodies of two of those missing from the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel have been found.
Israel says at least 203 people are being held hostage in Gaza – four more than its previous estimate of 199.
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II have condemned the “collective punishment” of Palestinians in Gaza as they met in Cairo for talks on the Israel-Hamas war. Sisi and King Abdullah also warned of the dangers of a regional spillover.
The US intelligence community assesses that there likely were between 100 and 300 people killed in the blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, according to unclassified intelligence. The US National Security Council said on Wednesday that the US government assessed that Israel “was not responsible” for the Gaza hospital blast.
The US government released an assessment saying Israel was not responsible for the explosion at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday that the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said killed hundreds of civilians. In a statement, White House national security council spokesperson Adrienne Watson pointed to intelligence indicating that “some Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip believed that the explosion was likely caused by an errant rocket or missile launch carried out by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The militants were still investigating what had happened.”
The statement, shared by CNN, adds: “The US government assesses that Israel was not responsible for an explosion that killed hundreds of civilians yesterday at the al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital in the Gaza Strip. Our assessment is based on available reporting, including intelligence, missile activity, and open source video and images of the incident.”
There was scepticism in the Middle East about the Israeli and US assessments of the hospital blast, according to Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi. “Nobody is buying that narrative in this part of the world,” Safadi told NBC News. “The only way that people would entertain a different narrative is if there is an independent international inquiry into the tragedy that has happened with impeccable evidence that it was not Israel.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday its trucks were “loaded and ready to go” as soon as the Rafah crossing was opened – “hopefully tomorrow”. The WHO director, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the agency was “gravely concerned about the health and wellbeing of civilians in Gaza, who are suffering from bombardment and siege” and about the attacks on health care in both Gaza and Israel.
The US state department has issued a worldwide caution alert advising American citizens overseas “to exercise increased caution”. The US state department cited “increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against US citizens and interests”.
The US and British embassies in Beirut have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon while flights “remain available” as border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah intensify over the Israel-Hamas war. Both countries had already warned citizens against travel to Lebanon.
