Closing summary
The US president, Joe Biden, said that a “final” deal for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza was “very close” but that he did not think the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was doing enough to secure such an agreement. Netanyahu, in a press conference, said he did not believe that Biden made those comments.
Netanyahu, in a news conference, insisted that Israeli forces must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, which has emerged as a primary sticking point in Gaza ceasefire talks.
Protests against the Israeli leader’s government suffered a blow when a court ordered an early end to a general strike. Israel’s biggest trade union, Histadrut, said hundreds of thousands of people joined its strike. Israel’s labour court ruled that the strike, which affected many businesses, schools and transport routes, had to end at 14:30 local time (12:30 BST). It was due to finish at 18:00 local time (16:00 BST).
The demonstrations were prompted by the discovery of the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, and brought tens of thousands of Israelis out on to the streets to protest against the government’s handling of the war in Gaza and efforts to release dozens of hostages who remain in captivity.
Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv saw some flights delayed, and none at all for two hours leading up to 10am. Tel Aviv and the northern coastal city of Haifa heeded the strike calls, but not all municipalities slowed down or ceased their activities.
Further protests took place outside Netanyahu’s residences in Jerusalem and Caesarea.
At least 40,786 Palestinian people have been killed and 94,224 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. The toll included 48 deaths in the previous 24 hours.
The UK moved to immediately suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel after a review by the new Labour government found a “clear risk” that UK arms may be used in serious violation of humanitarian law relating to the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza.
Gaza health officials said an Israeli airstrike targeting a group of police officers in a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least 11 people on Sunday.
We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Benjamin Netanyahu is asked whether he accepts “personal responsibility” for the deaths of the six hostages whose bodies were recovered in Gaza at the weekend.
“I feel profound sorrow, I truly regret the fact that we didn’t bring them [back],” the Israeli prime minister said. He added:
He denied that the hostages were killed because of Israel’s insistence on keeping control over the strategic corridor.
It happened because Hamas doesn’t want a deal.
Benjamin Netanyahu, asked to respond to Joe Biden’s comments that he is not doing enough to secure a ceasefire deal, said he did not really believe that the US president said that.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “must have control” over the Philadelphi Corridor, the strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The Israeli prime minister, standing in front of a large screen showing a map of Gaza’s land border and holding a pointer, claimed that Hamas will arm itself if Israel does not control the Philadelphi Corridor.
Israel has claimed that keeping hold of the Philadelphi corridor is a strategic necessity and essential to prevent arms smuggling to Hamas from Egypt.
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu asks families of hostages for forgiveness, saying 'we were close but we didn't achieve' rescuing them alive
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is holding a press conference in Jerusalem as protests across the country pile pressure on him to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel “must stand united as one” as it faces a “vicious and brutal enemy that wishes to eradicate and kill all of us,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader said he had spoken with the family members of the six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza over the weekend. “The heart of the entire nation was shattered to pieces,” he said.
He said he asked the families for their forgiveness that the hostages were not rescued alive. “We were close, but we didn’t achieve it,” he said. “Hamas will pay a very heavy price for this.”
Israel “will not stand silently, doing nothing”, Netanyahu added.
Updated
Thousands of people are protesting outside the home of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem.
Israeli police have blocked the end of the street and have deployed large forces, including mounted police, to the area of the demonstration, according to Haaretz.
Protesters carried coffins wrapped in the Israeli flag, as a sign of solidarity with the six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Israeli forces in Gaza over the weekend, the outlet reported.
Hundreds of protesters have also gathered in Caesarea, near Netanyahu’s private residence, according to the Times of Israel.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said he was “deeply disheartened” about the UK government’s decision to immediately suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel.
Deeply disheartened to learn of the sanctions placed by the U.K. Government on export licenses to Israel’s defense establishment. This comes at a time when we fight a war on 7 different fronts - a war that was launched by a savage terrorist organization, unprovoked. At a time…
— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) September 2, 2024
US president Joe Biden has shared a photo on X of him and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, meeting with the US hostage deal negotiation team.
As we reported earlier, Biden “expressed his devastation and outrage” after the bodies of six hostages, including an Israeli-American citizen, were recovered by Israel, according to the White House.
Today, @VP and I met in the Situation Room with the U.S. hostage deal negotiation team following the murder of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages by Hamas.
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 2, 2024
We are devastated and outraged. Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes.
We also discussed next… pic.twitter.com/5aLADss2CS
Israel 'disappointed' by UK decision to suspend some arms export licences
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said his country was “disappointed by a series of decisions” made by the UK government after the announcement that it was suspending 30 arms export licences to Israel.
Katz said the move “sends a very problematic message” to Hamas and its patrons in Iran, Reuters reported.
Updated
Aid groups say UK arms export suspension to Israel 'woefully inadequate'
ActionAid UK has called on the UK government to suspend all arms licenses to Israel, warning that it is “at risk of being complicit in the atrocities taking place in Gaza daily.”
A statement from Hannah Bond, co-CEO of ActionAid UK, reads:
Now is not the time for half measures: if the UK government believes the Israeli military may be breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza, then it should go much further and halt all new and existing arms licenses to the Israeli government immediately.
Care International'’s head of advocacy and policy, Israel Dorothy Sang, said in a statement that the UK government’s announcement to suspend 30 out of 350 arms licenses to Israel was a “welcome improvement” but “woefully inadequate”.
It is unconscionable that British-made weapons could be used in breach of international law in Gaza. The Government must now publish the legal advice it has used to reach this decision, in its entirety. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and there remains no safe place in Gaza. We urge the Government to go further, and suspend all arms export licenses to Israel in their entirety.
Updated
The US president, Joe Biden, and vice-president Kamala Harris met with the US hostage deal negotiation team on Monday after the bodies of six hostages were recovered by Israel.
Biden “expressed his devastation and outrage at the murder, and reaffirmed the importance of holding Hamas’s leaders accountable,” a statement from the White House said.
The bodies of six people kidnapped alive by Hamas and found in a tunnel in Rafah included Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American citizen.
The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said not enough aid lorries are getting into Gaza and that he had raised his concerns directly with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lammy told the Commons:
Successive foreign secretaries have now raised it with the Israelis, and I raised it directly with prime minister Netanyahu, but not enough trucks are getting in, and it is still the case today after 11 months of conflict that not enough trucks are getting in.
The development non governmental organisation Global Justice Now has called the UK’s decision to suspend 30 of its 350 arms export licences with Israel a “half-baked ban” which “risks maintaining UK complicity in war crimes”.
A statement from Tim Bierley, a campaigner at Global Justice Now, reads:
Under huge pressure the government is waking up to the fact that it must stop arming Israel. But this is a half-baked ban which risks maintaining UK complicity in war crimes. You wouldn’t deal with a dangerous arsonist by simply reducing their petrol supply.
This announcement doesn’t go nearly far enough. Britain is still providing military goods to a government accused of genocide. That position is morally reprehensible, and has very little support from the British public. We must push on for a full and complete arms embargo.
The UK government is also facing a growing range of domestic court challenges, including proceedings due to start on Tuesday.
UK officials were reluctant to link the 30 suspended arms export licences to Israel to specific breaches of international humanitarian law but pointed out that the government had been in so far fruitless negotiation with the Israeli government to gain access to Palestinian detainees either through British judicial figures or the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Ministers were eager to emphasise that the suspension did not represent a step away from the UK’s commitment to Israel’s security and pointed out that such suspensions had occurred in previous Israeli conflicts.
Suspension decisions were endorsed by Margaret Thatcher in 1982, Gordon Brown in 2009 and under the coalition government in 2014. Arms export licences were also suspended to Egypt in 2013 and Russia in 2014.
The UK foreign secretary David Lammy, speaking to the Commons, said the decision to immediately suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel was “not a blanket ban, this is not an arms embargo”.
The decision would not have a “material impact on Israel’s security”, Lammy said.
This suspension only covers items which might be used in the current conflict.
“We do not take this decision lightly,” he added.
UK says Israel 'could do more to ensure life-saving food and medical supplies reach civilians in Gaza'
Britain’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, said Israel could be doing more to ensure “life-saving food and medical supplies” reach civilians in Gaza.
Israel’s actions in Gaza “continue to lead to immense loss of civilian life, widespread destruction to civilian infrastructure, and immense suffering,” Lammy told the Commons.
It is the assessment of His Majesty’s Government that Israel could recently do more to ensure life-saving food and medical supplies reach civilians in Gaza, in light of the appalling humanitarian situation.
He added that the UK is also “deeply concerned by credible claims of mistreatment of detainees”, which he said the International Committee of the Red Cross had not been able to investigate “after being denied access to places of detention.” Lammy added:
Both my predecessor and all our major allies have repeatedly and forcefully raised these concerns with the Israeli government. Regrettably, they have not been addressed satisfactorily.
Updated
The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel that were immediately suspended include equipment “that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza.
The arms export suspension is “not a determination of innocence or guilt”, Lammy told the Commons.
He said he had been a “friend of Israel" throughout his life, but that he believes also that “Israel will only exist in safety and security if there is a two-state solution that guarantees the rights of all Israeli citizens and their Palestinian neighbours.” Lammy added:
We have not and could not arbitrate on whether or not Israel has breached international humanitarian law. This is a forward looking evaluation, not a determination of innocence or guilt, and it does not prejudge any future determinations by the competent courts.
The UK’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, announced the decision to suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel in a statement to the House of Commons.
“It is this government’s legal duty to review export licenses,” Lammy told the Commons.
It is with regret that I inform the House today the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain [that] UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
BREAKING: Foreign secretary David Lammy has announced the UK will halt some arms sales to Israel.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 2, 2024
➡️ https://t.co/5yJERprJZK
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/IQU0FWYTzs
The UK suspension of 30 arms export licences to Israel represent one-tenth of the 350 extant licences and do not include parts for the F-35 Joint Fighter Strike programme unless the UK-supplied part is specific to a jet plane for use exclusively by Israel.
The move, which was coordinated between the Foreign Office, the business department and the attorney general, is likely to help the foreign secretary, David Lammy, overcome what may a highly charged revolt at the Labour party annual conference.
But it will lead to strains with Joe Biden’s administration in the US, which has repeatedly said it sees no basis in international humanitarian law to suspend arms exports.
Updated
UK suspends 30 arms export licences to Israel after review
The UK has moved to immediately suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel after a review by the new Labour government found a “clear risk” that UK arms may be used in serious violation of humanitarian law relating to the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza.
The suspension will cover components for military aircraft including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones.
The Foreign Office said the two-month review had raised concerns about the way Israel had conducted itself in the conflict in Gaza.
No definitive conclusion has been reached about whether UK arms export licences have contributed to the destruction in the territory. But the scale of the destruction and the number of civilian deaths caused great concern, the Foreign Office said.
Mourners gathered in Jerusalem on Monday for the funeral of Israeli American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the six people whose bodies were recovered by Israel over the weekend.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, his mother, delivered a eulogy where she said she hoped his killing “will be a turning point in this horrible situation in which we are all entangled”. She said:
Amidst the inexplicable terror, anguish, desperation and fear, we became absolutely certain that you were coming home to us alive. But it was not to be. Amidst the inexplicable terror, anguish, desperation and fear, we became absolutely certain that you were coming home to us alive. But it was not to be
\
A senior Hamas official also responded to comments by the US president, Joe Biden, that the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough for a Gaza ceasefire.
Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Biden’s comments were an acknowledgment by the US that Netanyahu was undermining efforts.
Zuhri added that any proposal for a permanent ceasefire and complete Israeli withdrawal will be received positively.
Netanyahu to hold press conference
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will hold a press conference in Jerusalem at 8.15pm local time (6.15pm UK time), his office has announced.
A senior Israeli official responded to comments by the US president, Joe Biden, that Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal.
The Times of Israel cites the Israeli official as saying:
It is puzzling that President Biden is pressing Prime Minister Netanyahu, who agreed to the US (hostage deal) proposal as early as May 31 and to the US bridging proposal on August 16, and not Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who continues to vehemently refuse any deal.
Biden’s admission “is especially dangerous when it is made just days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, including an American citizen,” the official added.
Joe Biden says 'hope springs eternal' when asked about progress on ceasefire deal
Further to our earlier update about Joe Biden speaking on Benjamin Netanyahu, AFP has some further details.
Asked if Netanyahu was doing enough, Biden responded, “No.” Biden was arriving at the White House for a Situation Room meeting with advisers involved in negotiating a hostage deal and ceasefire. The president insisted that negotiators remain “very close” to a deal, adding that “hope springs eternal”.
Updated
An Israeli strike on Monday in southern Lebanon killed two people in a car, including a contract worker for the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission near the border.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the two people were killed in an Israeli strike on a car in the southern coastal town of Naqoura, but did not give further details. The UN peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, said one of the victims was an employee at a cleaning company contracted with the agency.
“The contractor’s employee and another individual in the car, who we understand was visiting from abroad, were killed,” UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said, adding that, “attacks on civilians are violations of international humanitarian law.”
Photos and videos circulated on social media showed a charred vehicle on the side of a road.
It was not clear why the car was targeted. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which normally announces when one of its members is killed, did not claim either of the men killed in Naqoura as a member.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident.
Biden says Netanyahu not doing enough to secure hostage deal – report
The US president, Joe Biden, has said that a final deal for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza was very close but that he did not think the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was doing enough to secure such an agreement, Reuters reported.
It comes after the Washington Post reported that the US could walk away from leading the Gaza ceasefire negotiations if the two sides fail to accept a final “take it or leave it” deal that it plans to present to Israel and Hamas in the coming weeks.
A major impasse in the negotiations has been the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt and the Netzarim east-west corridor across the territory. Netanyahu has insisted that Israel retain control of the corridors to prevent smuggling and catch militant fighters. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, however, is demanding the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Updated
Tom Bennett, a reporter from BBC News, has spoken to Gili Roman, who had two of his family members taken hostage by Hamas in the 7 October attacks, in which about 1,200 people were killed.
Roman’s sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, was released in November’s hostage and prisoner swap deal, but Yarden’s sister-in-law, Carmel Gat, was one of the six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza by the Israeli military over the weekend.
“We are devastated and heartbroken,” Bennett said, adding “and I’m angry, because I anticipated something like this could happen”.
He said: “I don’t see the remorse, I don’t see the responsibility, I don’t see the accountability of this government.”
Protests planned outside Netanyahu's residences
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an organisation representing many relatives of the abductees, have announced several protests scheduled to take place at 19:00 (17:00 BST), including at the residences of Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s prime minister.
At 7pm (5pm UK), the Hostages Families Forum is calling on people to gather outside the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem and his private home in Caesarea.
Updated
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, has welcomed the labour court’s decision to end the general strike.
“I am thankful for the decision of the Labour Court to stop the Histadrut’s political strike,” he said in a statement.
Israeli police have arrested some protesters in Tel Aviv as thousands of people took to the streets to demand the government agree a hostage release deal.
Updated
Malaysia’s prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, and his New Zealand counterpart, Chris Luxon, have reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza during a joint press conference in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
“We both are very united in calling for an immediate ceasefire, getting the parties around the negotiating table and finding a two-state solution,” Luxon twas quoted by Al Jazeera as having told reporters.
Anwar said that a ceasefire is unlikely to take place as things stand. He said the US could wield greater influence to stop the conflict.
“The only hope is to engage the United States to take a stronger stance,” the Malaysian leader said.
Arnon Bar-David, the chair of Histadrut Labour Federation, Israel’s main trade union which launched the strike, said he respects the decision by the labour court to end the strike at 14:30 (local time) 12.30 BST, according to the Times of Israel.
It reports him saying in a statement:
It is important to emphasise that the solidarity strike was a significant measure and I stand behind it. Despite the attempts to paint solidarity as political, hundreds of thousands of citizens voted with their feet.
I thank every one of you – you proved that the fate of the hostages is not right-wing or left-wing, there is only life or death, and we won’t allow life to be abandoned.
Meanwhile, the newspaper reports that the Hostages and Missing Families Forum encourages the public to continue the demonstrations despite the ruling. “This is not about a strike, this is about rescuing the 101 hostages that were abandoned by [prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu with the cabinet decision last Thursday,” the forum says, referring to the vote by ministers backing the IDF’s continued presence on the Philadelphi Corridor.
Updated
The labour court’s ruling that today’s strike must end was welcomed by Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.
In a post on X, Smotrich praised the decision to end what he called a “political and illegal strike.”
The Times of Israel reports he said in his statement that Israelis went to work today “in droves,” proving they are no longer slaves to “political needs.”
He added: “We won’t allow harm to the Israeli economy and thereby serve the interests of [Yahya] Sinwar and Hamas.”
Two people were killed on Monday in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon, according to the health ministry, with a Lebanese security source saying the car belonged to a UN-contracted company, AFP reports.
Hamas ally Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army since the Palestinian group attacked Israel on October 7, triggering war in Gaza.
“The Israeli enemy’s strike targeting a car in Naqura left two dead,” the health ministry said, without specifying whether they were civilians.
A security source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the car “belonged to a cleaning company under contract with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)“, deployed along the border with Israel.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel reported that the two dead in Naqura were civilians, while Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported a drone strike on the Naqura road, without giving further details.
Israel's labour court orders general strike to end earlier than organisers had planned
Israel’s labour court has ruled that the general strike must end at 14:30 local time (12:30 BST), according to court documents seen by Reuters. The strike – launched by Histadrut, Israel’s main trade union – was due to end at 18:00 local time (16:00 BST).
Updated
We reported earlier that the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in an advisory note on Monday that a merchant vessel had been hit by two unknown projectiles 70 nautical miles northwest of Yemen’s Saleef.
British maritime agencies have now reported that two ships, a Panama-flagged oil tanker and a merchant vessel, came under attack in the Red Sea off Yemen on Monday. No casualties were reported in either incident.
Military authorities confirmed the tanker was attacked with missiles, security firm Ambrey said. Maritime sources told Reuters the tanker was the Blue Lagoon I.
Ambrey “assessed that the vessel was targeted due to company affiliation with a vessel calling Israeli ports”, it said.
In a second incident, a drone hit a merchant vessel about 50 nautical miles off Yemen’s Hodeidah, a Red Sea port just south of Saleef, Ambrey and UKMTO reported. The vessel is proceeding to its next port of call, UKMTO said.
Updated
'Strike was not as powerful as people expected' - dispatch from Tel Aviv
Julian Borger is the Guardian’s world affairs editor
Tel Aviv this morning did not feel like a society about to bring its government down.
The debris had been removed from last night’s demonstration on the Ayalon Highway, the motorway which passes through the city centre, and traffic was moving normally.
Protesters stopped traffic at a couple of junctions around the city but for the most part, the traffic flowed. The national rail line was working, though some buses and light railway lines stopped.
Private companies gave their staff the day off, but it was more in the spirit of some sombre holiday rather than the start of an existential struggle with the government.
Ben Gurion airport only closed for a few hours, and it was announced that the whole general strike would end at 6pm. It is not government-ending stuff.
The mood can best be described as bitterly realistic on Hostages Square, the name given to the plaza between the national library and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where hostage families and their supporters gather every day.
“I’m not sure the strike was as powerful as people expected,” said Debbie Mason, a social worker for the Eshkol regional council, the area of southern Israel abutting Gaza.
She made a distinction between what she hoped would happen and what she believed would happen, the latter being that nothing would change for the hostages.
“Unfortunately, there are too many things that are going to obstruct a deal, whether it’s on our side, whether it’s on Hamas’ side, it just doesn’t seem to be in anyone’s interest, that something should happen,” Mason said.
Rayah Karmin, who comes from Mabu’im, a village near Netivot, near the Gaza border, agreed that a one-day strike would change little.
“Only a longer strike will make the people in government understand that the economy of Israel is going to go down,” Karmin, a vitamin supplement salesperson, said.
She pointed out that all the demonstrations and strikes were up against an immovable political fact. If a ceasefire is agreed, the far-right members of the coalition, notably Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, will walk out and the government will fall.
“Smotrich and Ben-Gvir will leave Netanyahu, and then he will be without a coalition, and he will have to go home,” Karmin said. “And he knows that next time he won’t be elected, so he wants to stay as long as he can.”
“Bibi is a magician, a really big fucking magician,” Aaron, a 28-year-old legal adviser in a pharmaceutical corporation, said. He had been out on the streets for Sunday’s mass protests, but he had no illusions about who they were up against.
“If there’s a hostage deal, the government will fall, so they are not interested in a deal,” Aaron said. “What Ben-Gvir wants and what Smotrich wants, they get, because Bibi doesn’t want to go to jail. He doesn’t want to lose power, because Bibi will be voted out in the first election if the government falls.”
Here are some of the latest images from Israel coming out from the newswires:
Key event
Civil defence rescuers said an Israeli strike on Sunday killed 11 people at a school where Israel’s military claimed a Hamas command centre was based, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
An AFP correspondent reported some airstrikes overnight, with the civil defence agency saying artillery shelling hit Gaza City, where two people were killed when a missile hit a residential block.
Death toll in Gaza reaches 40,786, says health ministry
At least 40,786 Palestinian people have been killed and 94,224 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday. The toll includes 48 deaths in the previous 24 hours.
The health ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.
Updated
Anat Elbaz, a human resource manager at the Sartorius Company in Beit Ha’emek, has organised a one-hour protest at Beit Ha’emek Junction on Route 70 in northern Israel.
Elbaz told the Times of Israel that they held the protest in solidarity with the relatives of the Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza. There are about 100 people waving Israel flags and posters of hostages.
“All Israeli citizens are to be valued and we don’t want the government to abandon its citizens,” Elbaz said.
Another company employee, Osnat Kalati, disagrees with those who “argue for total victory” for Israel in its war in Gaza as it lessen the likelihood of a ceasefire (Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel must bring “absolute victory”, which means eliminating Hamas, a complete dismantling of all their battalions, and destroying the entire underground tunnel network).
“But if there is no ceasefire, it is obvious that no hostages will be released,” Kalati said.
Updated
This update on today’s protest was posted by Haaretz, an Israeli media outlet, about 20 minutes ago:
Hundreds of protesters calling for a hostage deal are marching along Tel Aviv’s Namir Road, heading toward the national defence headquarters.
Approximately 200 protesters are intermittently blocking traffic at a major intersection in Be’er Sheva in southern Israel, in a demonstration coordinated with the police.
In northern Israel, a protest is taking place near the town of Yokneam and in Haifa.
General strike in Israel to end at 6pm tonight, union chair confirms
Arnon Bar-David, the chair of Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union, has said that the general strike will end at 6pm local time today (4pm BST), according to reports in Israeli media. The general strike started around 8am local time. Initially, the strike action was due to run into tomorrow morning.
Updated
Hamas' armed wing claims responsibility for West Bank attacks
Hamas’ armed wing al-Qassasm brigades claimed responsibility for two attacks against Israelis in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the group has said in a statement.
Three Israelis were injured in two separate attacks in the occupied West Bank that occurred in the Karmei Tzur settlement and the Gush Etzion Junction near Hebron.
Updated
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, has said his country will “respond with full force” after the discovery of the bodies of six hostages at the weekend who were taken in the 7 October attack by Hamas.
Katz wrote in a post on X:
The Hamas terror organization brutally executed six hostages to instil fear and attempt to fracture Israeli society. Israel will respond with full force to this heinous crime. Hamas is responsible and will pay the full price.
The Hamas terror organization brutally executed six hostages to instill fear and attempt to fracture Israeli society. Israel will respond with full force to this heinous crime. Hamas is responsible and will pay the full price.
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) September 2, 2024
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the cause of death had not been officially confirmed, but the Israeli press reported yesterday that the autopsy found all six hostages had been shot in the head.
An unnamed Hamas official was quoted by Agence France-Presse on Sunday as saying the hostages had been “killed by the [Israeli] occupation’s fire and bombing”, a claim denied by the IDF.
Updated
Workers at Israel’s main commercial port Haifa have also been on strike, while hospitals have only been partially operating and many banks are not working.
As well as the disruption at Ben Gurion Airport this morning, bus and light rail services in many areas across the country have been cancelled or only partially functioning.
Updated
Some services at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, were suspended because of the strike, although incoming flights were still landing.
Departures resumed from the airport at roughly 10am local time, about two hours after they were stopped due to the general strike.
Updated
Dozens of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite systems have arrived in Israel, government says
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, has said dozens of Starlink satellite communications systems have arrived in Israel and will be installed in local authority offices, hospitals, and emergency centres this week.
“And this is just the beginning. We will continue to connect Israel routinely and in emergencies,” he added in a post on X this morning.
עשרות עמדות סטארלינק נחתו בישראל.
— 🇮🇱שלמה קרעי - Shlomo Karhi (@shlomo_karhi) September 2, 2024
רשויות, בתי חולים ומרכזי חירום בצפון יקבלו בימים הקרובים עמדה כזו לחמ״ל המרכזי. העמדה תספק WIFI לווייני לכל המתחם ותאפשר רציפות תקשורתית במקרי עלטה ובתרחישי יחוס למיניהם.
וזוהי רק ההתחלה.
נמשיך לחבר את ישראל בשגרה ובחירום.
תודה לרח״ל,… pic.twitter.com/LU14FoOBhZ
Starlink – the satellite network of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and the world’s largest satellite operator – provides internet services via a huge network of satellites.
It is aimed at people who live in remote areas who otherwise would not be able to get fast-speed internet connections. Musk has previously said he hoped the technology would help both Israelis and Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
The Israeli government said in February that it had approved the use of Starlink satellite services in a field hospital in the Gaza Strip, and in Israel for the first time.
A statement from the communications ministry issued at the time read:
The Israeli security authorities approved the provision of Starlink services at the UAE’s field hospital operating in Rafah.
Starlink low-latency, high-speed connections will enable video conferencing with other hospitals and real-time remote diagnostics.
Updated
On Sunday, Israeli media reported the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, had instructed prosecutors to seek an injunction against the general strike.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, wrote to the attorney general seeking an injunction, arguing that it would harm the economy and had no legal basis as its main aim was to influence government policy on state security.
The Regional Labour Court will hear a request for injunctions at 10:30 local time (08:30 BST) submitted by the Gevurah Forum, which represents some bereaved families of soldiers killed during the war with Hamas and oppose the hostage deal.
According to BBC News, Gevurah Forum’s request states “this is clearly a political strike, blatantly illegal, carried out in a bullying manner”.
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Here is some more on the general strike protests in Israel today. Over 1,000 people have now gathered at the Ra’anana Junction, north of Tel Aviv, according to Times of Israel reporters.
Hundreds of protesters are blocking Namir Road in Tel Aviv, while dozens of protesters have reportedly gathered at Karkur Junction in northern Israel.
Demonstrators, some of whom are waving hostage solidarity flags and chanting anti-government statements, are out in force today to heap pressure on the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to reach a ceasefire deal to bring the remaining hostages home.
In an earlier post, we reported a suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeting a ship in the Red Sea earlier today. We have some more detail on this now.
Two projectiles hit the vessel, and a third explosion occurred near the ship, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre has said.
“Damage control is underway,” the UKMTO said. “There are no casualties onboard and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call.”
UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 118-ATTACK-UPDATE 001https://t.co/QHNhIlpJpl#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/BpWeSJKyKV
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) September 2, 2024
The timing of the attack and coordinates offered by the UKMTO corresponded to the reported path of the Panama-flagged oil tanker Blue Lagoon I, now travelling south through the Red Sea to an unlisted destination, according to the Associated Press.
The Blue Lagoon I was coming from Russia’s port of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea and had been broadcasting that it had Russian-origin cargo on board.
The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack. They have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since Israel’s war in Gaza started in October, claiming they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.
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The UN agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) has said 87,000 children in Gaza have received the first dose of a polio vaccine.
“Efforts are ongoing to provide children with this key vaccine, but what they need most is a ceasefire now,” the agency wrote in a post on X as the vaccination campaign continues for a second day.
Unrwa, the main channel for humanitarian support for Palestinians, said the polio vaccine is “key” to children’s health, but stressed that what they need most is an immediate ceasefire.
Today, the #polio vaccination campaign in #Gaza middle areas enters its second day
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) September 2, 2024
On 1st day only, @UNRWA teams & partners reached around 87,000 children according to @WHO
Efforts are ongoing to provide children with this key vaccine, but what they need most is a #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/2psQSbLcAd
The vaccinations are meant to be accompanied by three-day pauses in the fighting in several areas of the territory to allow the inoculation of more than 640,000 children. But despite this pledge, there were numerous reports of Israeli airstrikes killing Palestinian people in Gaza on Sunday.
The World Health Organization believes that 90% of children under 10 in Gaza must be immunised for the campaign to be effective.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a hostage family organisation, announced more than a dozen protest locations around the country, where demonstrators are expected to block traffic and demand that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, agrees a hostage release deal. The locations are mostly major roads and intersections around Tel Aviv and the north.
אלפי מפגינים בעשרות מוקדי מחאה ברחבי הארץ בדרישה לשים סוף להפקרה!
— מטה המשפחות להחזרת החטופים והנעדרים (@BringThemHome23) September 2, 2024
רשימת מוקדי המחאה המתעדכנת באתר המטה: https://t.co/NyS4HssC8a pic.twitter.com/xmnau9tlUK
Of the 250 Israeli hostages seized on 7 October, eight have been rescued and more than 100 were released in an earlier temporary ceasefire deal in November. The discovery of the six bodies of the hostages at the weekend leaves 101 hostages still unaccounted for in Gaza. The IDF has confirmed 35 of them are known to have died during the more than 10 months of captivity.
Police are holding 25 protesters arrested yesterday evening in Tel Aviv, with some of them still being questioned, the Israel daily Haaretz reported.
Several demonstrators were injured by the police, including one who was allegedly beaten by officers in the chest and head and a man who was struck in the back by a stun grenade, Haaretz reported a doctors’ protest group as having said.
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Protestors block roads in Israel as general strike begins
Dozens of protesters have blocked Ibn Gvirol Street in Tel Aviv, demanding the government agree a deal to release the remaining hostages held by Hamas amid widespread public anger at the government’s handling of the war in Gaza.
Protesters also gathered at Shilat Junction near Modi’in and blocked a road in the northern city of Rosh Pina, the Times of Israel reported.
Live update: Activists block roads around country as general strike gets underway https://t.co/zZe63jDHcz
— ToI ALERTS (@TOIAlerts) September 2, 2024
Histadrut – one of the country’s most powerful unions – announced the one-day strike, which started at 6am (local time) this morning. It is unclear how many people will join in.
Government and municipal offices are due to close, as well as schools and many private businesses. Israel’s international airport, Ben Gurion, is due to shut down at 8am local time (0600 BST) for an unknown period.
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Senior Israeli officials say Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is biding his time and will wait to see how big the protests become before deciding on a course of action, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
Netanyahu is widely accused of adding so many conditions to ceasefire negotiations as to make a deal impossible, due to opposition from far-right cabinet members in his government. They have said they will leave his coalition should he agree to a ceasefire, meaning Netanyahu may have to face long-standing corruption allegations.
“It’s unpleasant to admit, but Netanyahu will push for a deal only when the streets are burning,” one minister from his own party told Haaretz. “Right now, he fears [far-right ministers Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotrich more than he fears the families of the hostages.”
Another official close to Netanyahu said “he fears a repeat of ‘Gallant night,’” referring to protests last year sparked by his firing of defence minister Yoav Gallant after he objected to Netanyahu’s judicial reforms.
Another source close to the prime minister said he would monitor public sentiment in the coming days and “bide his time as long as he can,” Haaretz reported.
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Video from the Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City:
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) appears to have doubled down in a brewing legal battle with the concert pianist Jayson Gillham, whose performance was cancelled after a dedication on stage to Palestinian journalists who had died in the Gaza conflict.
The MSO was given a 5pm deadline last Thursday to respond to a letter by Marque Lawyers outlining Gillham’s concerns over the orchestra’s handling of his Melbourne performance, which was reinstated after widespread outcry.
That letter, which outlined how the MSO could resolve the issue without further legal recourse, appears to have prompted the MSO to double down on its initial decision that Gillham’s public political statement was improper and an abuse of his position.
The law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler, representing MSO, responded to Gillham’s letter late on Friday, stating the pianist had “abused his position by using an MSO concert to air his political opinions”.
In a statement issued on Monday, Gillham said he was deeply disappointed by the MSO’s legal response.
“The actions taken by the MSO constitute direct discrimination because of political belief or activity, which are protected under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (VIC) and also violate protections under the Fair Work Act 2009,” he said.
“These actions infringe my right to freedom of expression and my workplace rights.”
The MSO denied this.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in an advisory note on Monday that a merchant vessel has been hit by two unknown projectiles 70 nautical miles northwest of Yemen’s Saleef.
The agency said damage control was underway and that a third explosion occurred in close proximity to the vessel, but that there were no casualties on board, according to Reuters.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.
In one recent attack they set a Greek-registered oil tanker, carrying one million barrels of crude oil, on fire in the Red Sea. A salvage operation was set to begin last week but if a spill occurs it could be among the largest in recorded history and in an area that is particularly difficult to access.
11 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on school housing displaced people, official says
Gaza health officials said an Israeli air strike targeting a group of policemen in a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least 11 people on Sunday.
“Eleven people, including a woman and girl, were killed when an Israeli air strike struck the Safad school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people,” civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding several people were also wounded.
The Israeli military claimed its air force had struck a Hamas command centre in the Safad school.
“The IAF struck Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the area that previously served as the Safad school in Gaza City,” the military said in a statement.
Who is on strike in Israel?
The general strike is now underway in part of Israel, though not all areas and businesses are observing it.
Municipalities including Tel Aviv, Givatayim, Herzliya, Raanana, Kfar Saba and Hod Hasharon are taking part in the strike while others including Netanya and Sderot will hold solidarity strikes of several hours, local media reported. The municipality of Jerusalem has said it will not take part in the strike and nor will any municipality in the occupied West Bank.
All major banks are reportedly taking part while hospitals are running at weekend capacity. Pre-schools are striking while some schools will close in the late morning. Smaller food shops and supermarkets are expected to remain open though big shopping malls are closing.
Israel’s three major TV news channels – 11, 12 and 13 – announced changes to regular scheduling, replacing entertainment programmes with news and coverage of the hostages funerals.
Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport is closing between 8am and 10am, the Jerusalem Post reported, though this will not affect incoming flights. In Tel Aviv the light rail will come to a halt as will Haifa’s underground Carmelit railway. Major bus companies Egged, Dan and Metropolin are taking part.
Many private businesses including cinemas and restaurants are expected to close their doors.
The US could walk away from leading the Gaza ceasefire negotiations if the two sides fail to accept a final “take it or leave it” deal that it plans to present to Israel and Hamas in the coming weeks, the Washington Post has reported citing a senior Biden administration official.
“You can’t keep negotiating this. This process has to be called at some point,” the official said according to the Post. The Guardian could not independently verify the report.
The US paper said Washington had been discussing the deal with fellow mediators Qatar and Egypt since before the six dead Israeli hostages were discovered in a tunnel underneath Rafah on Saturday.
Biden officials said it was not immediately clear what effect their deaths would have on the negotiations.
The senior official quoted by the post said it should add urgency to the talks. “Does it derail the deal? No. If anything, it should add additional urgency in this closing phase, which we were already in,” they were quoted as saying.
On Sunday night, demonstrators cut off the Ayalon highway, the motorway running through the heart of Tel Aviv. They filled the road and lit a bonfire in the middle lane near Hashalom, drumming and singing. A few dozen police officers tried to contain the protest but were unable to push it back.
“Officer, officer, who are you protecting?” the crowd chanted, and then: “Bibi [Netanyahu], you’re killing the hostages.” Here are some pictures from last night’s protests:
Israel to hold nationwide general strike amid anger over failed hostage talks
Israel is braced for its first nationwide general strike since the Hamas attacks of 7 October, amid widespread public anger at the government’s handling of the war in Gaza after the discovery of the bodies of six hostages at the weekend.
Israel’s largest trade union, Histadrut, ordered a nationwide general strike from 6am on Monday that is expected to bring large parts of the economy to a halt. Government and municipal offices were due to close, as well as schools and many private businesses. Israel’s international airport, Ben Gurion, is due to shut down at 8am local time (0600 BST) for an unknown period.
Histadrut chair Arnon Bar-David said in a statement: “I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken.
“A deal is not progressing due to political considerations and this is unacceptable.”
The mayors of Tel Aviv and nearby Givatayim announced that the municipalities would be striking on Monday to demand the return of the hostages, and more are expected to follow suit.
The action comes after tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday night, cutting off the Ayalon highway, the motorway running through the heart of Tel Aviv and lighting fires in the streets. A few dozen police officers tried to contain the protest but were unable to push it back.
The union called the strike after campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum backed the idea in order to force the government to reach a deal for the return of the remaining hostages taken during Hamas’ attacks on 7 October. Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, also supported the move.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Gaza and the wider Middle East crisis.
Israel is set to hold a nationwide general strike on Monday as part of efforts to pressure the government to strike a hostage deal with Hamas, two days after the bodies of six Israeli hostages were discovered in a tunnel underneath Gaza.
Crowds estimated by Israeli media to number up to 500,000 demonstrated in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities, demanding that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu do more to bring home the remaining 101 hostages, about of a third of whom Israeli officials estimate have died.
Scores were released during a one-week truce in November, but relatives believe not enough is being done to free those still held.
Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said a negotiated “deal for the return of the hostages” was urgently needed. “Were it not for the delays, sabotage and excuses” in months of mediation efforts, the six hostages “would likely still be alive”, a statement said.
The families called for a nationwide general strike to force the government to reach a deal.
Shortly afterwards, the head of Israel’s powerful Histadrut trade union ordered a “complete strike” beginning at 6am (0300 GMT) on Monday in support of the hostages. Government and municipal offices were due to close, as well as schools and many private businesses. Israel’s international airport, Ben Gurion, is due to shut down at 8am local time (0600 BST) for an unknown period.
At least 40,738 Palestinians have been killed and 94,154 injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, its health ministry said on Sunday. The count, which doesn’t include the thousands thought to be buried under the rubble, includes thousands of Palestinian children.
In other developments:
Israeli forces continued their deadly offensive on the city of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, and its refugee camp for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday. The total number of Palestinians killed since Israeli forces began large-scale raids in the northern West Bank on Wednesday is now 24, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Israeli forces and settlers have killed almost 680 Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 October, including about 150 children.
Three Israeli police officers were killed after their vehicle was shot at near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military later confirmed it had killed the suspected attacker.
Gaza health officials said an Israeli airstrike targeting a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least 11 people on Sunday. “Eleven people, including a woman and girl, were killed when an Israeli airstrike struck the Safad school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people,” civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding several people were also wounded. The Israeli military claimed it had struck a Hamas command centre.
Palestinian health authorities and UN agencies have begun a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip. More than 150,000 Palestinians in Gaza are estimated to be affected by infectious conditions such as dysentery, pneumonia and severe skin diseases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel and its destruction of health facilities as part of its campaign against Hamas.
The head of the Christian political party Lebanese Forces on Sunday accused Hezbollah of dragging the country into a war with Israel without consulting the people. In a speech attacking the Shiite Muslim group, Samir Geagea, who heads the main Christian bloc in parliament, accused Hezbollah of “confiscating the Lebanese people’s decision on war and peace, as if there were no state”.
