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Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza on Wednesday, the Israel Defence Forces said, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of “worrying trends” in the risk of disease in the territory after weeks of Israeli airstrikes.
The accelerating exodus came as Israeli forces closed in on the centre of Gaza City, launching intense bombardments, and claimed that Hamas had lost control of the north of the territory.
Those fleeing Israel’s expanding ground assault included children, older people and people with disabilities, and most walked with minimal belongings, the UN said. Many carried makeshift white flags amid fears they could be targeted. The Israeli military said 50,000 people had fled the north on Wednesday, up from 15,000 on Tuesday.
The Israeli military has escorted journalists from some outlets through parts of Gaza. Here is some of the first-person report by AFP:
Gaza City’s suburbs began to appear after about 30 minutes of navigating broken roads. We were approaching the focal point of the fight between Israel and Hamas in the territory.
On Wednesday, AFP was embedded with Israeli soldiers, and witnessed the devastation of a month of war at first hand. Our still and video images were submitted to the Israeli military censor for approval.
Security was at a maximum for the incursion which lasted a few hours, and was organised for several representatives of the foreign media covering the Israel-Hamas war.
We drove the few kilometres (miles) from the southern border of Israel into northern Gaza City in an Israeli armoured vehicle which jolted over bumps in the road.
The outside landscape could be seen on screens inside the vehicle: broken palm trees, distorted road signs and twisted lampposts along the ruins of what was once north Gaza’s main arterial route.
Israeli flags now fly over buildings at beach resorts in northern Gaza. There is little sign of any human presence amid the destruction.
After a month of fighting, the Israeli military says it has cut the Gaza Strip in two in an offensive becoming more intense by the day.
Here is our full report on the US Republican debate:
19 killed in Israeli airstrike on house in Jabalia refugee camp – report
At least 19 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house near a hospital in north Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp on Wednesday, the Gaza’s interior ministry said.
There was no immediate Israeli comment or details on the reported attack, which if confirmed would be the third on Gaza’s largest refugee camp in a week.
The Guardian has not verified this independently.
Israeli air strikes devastated parts of Jabalia on 31 October and 1 November, killing at least 195 civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Updated
At least 1,000 members at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have now signed a letter calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports. The letter began circulating last week.
Part of the letter reads:
“While we appreciate and acknowledge efforts by USAID to call for an urgent humanitarian response in Gaza and understand that the Agency is working tirelessly to make this happen, we must remember that humanitarian assistance efforts and life-saving aid are largely rendered moot in situations of escalating and indiscriminate bombing and violence”.
Reuters has this update on what Republican candidates had to say in the US Republican debate: Donald Trump’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination pledged unconditional support for Israel during the third debate. They also attacked Democratic President Joe Biden’s handling of the crisis.
Asked what message they would send to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said, “I will be telling Bibi, ‘Finish the job once and for all with these butchers Hamas, they’re terrorists,’” using Netanyahu’s nickname.
Nikki Haley, a former UN ambassador who has staked much of her candidacy on her foreign policy credentials, faulted Biden for pressing Israel to consider humanitarian pauses.
“The last thing we need to do is to tell Israel what to do,” she said. “The only thing we should be doing is supporting them and eliminating Hamas.”
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott said Biden should carry out direct strikes against Iran, a sponsor of Hamas, in retaliation for attacks on US military personnel by Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq. He spoke shortly after the US carried out strikes against a weapon storage facility in Syria that the Pentagon said was used by Iranian forces.
“If you want to make a difference, you cannot just continue to have strikes in Syria on warehouses,” he said. “You actually have to cut off the head of the snake, and the head of the snake is Iran and not simply the proxies.”
The discourse on the Israel-Hamas conflict followed the debate’s opening segment, in which the candidates were asked to make the case for being the Republican standard-bearer over Trump, the race’s clear frontrunner in national opinion polls.
For the third time, the former president did not show up for his party’s debate, instead holding a rival event close by, where he again suggested the Republican Party should cancel future debates.
“It’s time for the Republican establishment to stop wasting time and resources,” Trump said, adding that the debate was “not watchable.”
Here is the full story on the US strike in Syria:
Negotiations are underway for the release of a dozen hostages held by Hamas, including six Americans, in return for a three-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a source close to Hamas told AFP Wednesday.
Another source said Qatar was mediating negotiations in coordination with the US to free “10-15 hostages in exchange for a one- to two-day ceasefire”.
Qatar, like Egypt, has been playing a key role in attempts to bring more aid into the Gaza Strip.
Macron spoke to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Tuesday, his office said.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron will on Thursday host a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza although Israel.
All governments nevertheless have “an interest in the humanitarian situation improving in Gaza, including Israel”, a Macron aide told reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the gathering.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there will be no fuel delivered to Gaza and no ceasefire with Hamas unless the hostages are freed.
Macron spoke to Netanyahu on Tuesday and the pair will talk again once Thursday’s aid conference is over, the Elysee Palace said.
Earlier on Wednesday, a US MQ-9 drone was shot down near Yemen by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement over the Red Sea, Reuters reports.
Officials said the drone was believed to be in international waters when it was shot down.
The United States has sent warships and fighter aircraft to the region since 7 October, including two aircraft carriers, to try to deter Iran and Iran-backed groups. The number of troops added to the region is in the thousands.
Reuters has reported that the US military was taking new measures to protect its Middle East forces during the ramp-up in attacks by suspected Iran-backed groups, and was leaving open the possibility of evacuating military families if needed.
The measures include increasing US military patrols, restricting access to base facilities and boosting intelligence collection, including through drone and other surveillance operations, officials say.
Returning now to the US strike on Syria. A senior US military official, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the military had watched the location in Deir al Zor province for some time and was confident there were no civilian casualties.
The official said the military had tracked a “couple” of people near the facility overnight, though they were not believed to be civilians and an analysis was ongoing to see if anyone was killed.
Australia sees largest anti-war rallies since Iraq war
Assala Sayara’s voice rings out over Hyde Park in Sydney, Australia, clear as a bell.
“This is my favourite chant,” she says into the mic. “Follow along. Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry, Palestine will never die!”
For five weekends running, Sayara has been leading the chants at the pro-Palestine rallies in Sydney, thundering through a popular set list that has become a defining part of the protests.
The rallies have become central to the pro-Palestinian movement in Australia, growing week to week across capital cities.
They began as a response to Israel’s declaration of war on Gaza, after the ruling faction of the coastal strip, Hamas, attacked Israel and killed 1,400 people on 7 October.
The rallies have grown as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continues, with the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reporting over 10,300 deaths (including over 4,200 children) as of Wednesday.
Organisers reported 100,000 people turned up to the rally in Melbourne, up to 50,000 in Sydney despite rain and more than 6,000 in Brisbane. Collectively, they amount to the largest and most consistent anti-war rallies in Australia since the Iraq war.
Gaza death toll is 'too high', says US senator
A US senator said Wednesday that it is “vital” for Israel to carry out a more targeted offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to limit civilian casualties.
Chris Murphy, a Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stressed that Israel has every right to defend itself from aggression, and that he opposes a ceasefire as it would give Hamas, the Islamist group responsible for the attacks against Israel, time to “regroup.”
But “I am concerned that if Israel’s strategy and end goal is to defeat Hamas, then this pace of civilian casualties, which certainly comes with a moral cost, also comes with a strategic cost,” he told AFP in an interview.
“I think that the civilian death toll has been too high, and a more surgical approach would be important and vital,” Murphy said, adding Israel “should be directing the strikes perhaps more so with ground forces than with airstrikes.”
British foreign minister to meet with foreign ministers in middle east
British foreign minister James Cleverly has left Japan to travel to Saudi Arabia after the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Tokyo, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement on Thursday.
Cleverly will meet with foreign ministers from the Middle East, who are gathering in Saudi Arabia ahead of a League of Arab States emergency meeting about Gaza on Saturday.
Plan for Gaza must include 'Palestinian-led governance' says Blinken
Palestinians should govern Gaza once Israel ends its war against Hamas, the United States said on Wednesday, Reuters reports, pushing back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s idea that Israel would be responsible for security indefinitely.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday outlined in the most comprehensive comments on on Washington’s red lines and expectations for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza,” Blinken said at a press conference in Tokyo.
Blinken said there may be a need for “some transition period” at the end of the conflict, but that post-crisis governance in Gaza must include Palestinian voices.
“It must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.”
China – which this month became chair of the UN security council – was one of 120 nations to vote for a general assembly ceasefire resolution, and sent a Middle East special envoy, Zhai Jun, to the region.
“Rhetorical support for the Palestinians alongside most of the Arab and Muslim world is relatively cost-free to offer (and frankly, a fair slice of the western world too is very concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and supports a two-state solution),” says Rorry Daniels, the managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute. “But anything more creates a tricky set of consequences that I would assume China seeks to avoid.”
The conflict comes at a time when Beijing is seeking to grow its influence in the Middle East – a region where it has historically not had significant clout – by building on its involvement in brokering a deal earlier this year to normalise relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy in east Asia at King’s College London, who attended a recent security forum in Beijing, says there are signs Beijing was leaning on Iran to prevent further escalation of the conflict as a step towards ceasefire.
“They’re trying to use their acquired influence in the region to see if they can target a fragile and fast evolving situation in a way that allows them to claim – if a victory comes around – that they were part of the solution not the problem.”
China was an early proponent of a ceasefire in Gaza and has called for wider talks on resolving the Palestinian question. But analysts say the situation is complicated, and it’s not clear what Beijing expects to achieve, and how it can get there.
Beijing has been a supporter of the Palestinians since the Mao era and long called for a two-state solution, but it is increasingly close to Israel, and is presenting itself as a neutral party that holds steadfast to a noninterference principle.
Beijing is also trying to build on its minimal but growing influence in the Middle East, where it has major economic interests, and also presenting itself as a leader of the global south, and furthering its anti-US agenda.
A week on from the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, called for a global peace conference and accused Israel of going “beyond the scope of self defence” in its bombing of Gaza. On 16 October, Xi Jinping called for a ceasefire “as soon as possible, to avoid the conflict from expanding or even spiralling out of control and causing a serious humanitarian crisis”.
The Pentagon has faced repeated questions about whether deterrence against Iran and its proxies is working because the attacks have only increased.
At the same time, the department has moved a number of air defense systems and other forces into the region to beef up protection for U.S. forces. And on multiple occasions, the systems have intercepted incoming strikes. According to a US official, the number of ships in the Middle East has more than doubled, the number of Patriot air defense missile systems has about tripled, a few more fighter jet squadrons have been added and hundreds of additional troops have been deployed to the region. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss force numbers not yet made public.
Back to the US strikes on Syria now.
Similar US airstrikes on 27 October also targeted facilities in Syria, AP reports, and officials at the time said the two sites were affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. When asked why those locations in Syria were chosen, since many of the attacks have happened in Iraq, officials said the US went after storage sites for munitions that could be linked to the strikes on US personnel.
While officials have said the strikes are meant to deter further attacks, they have not had that effect. Rocket and drone attacks have occurred almost daily, although in nearly all cases they have resulted in little damage and few injuries.
According to the Pentagon, a total of 45 personnel have been injured and all of those were in attacks on 17 and 19 October. Of those, 32 were at al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria, with a mix of minor injuries and traumatic brain injuries, and 13 were at al-Asad air base in western Iraq, with four cases of traumatic brain injury and nine of minor injury. One person was injured at Irbil air base in Iraq.
WHO warns of ‘worrying trends’ in disease in Gaza
The Gaza Strip faces an increased risk of disease spreading due to Israeli air bombardments that have disrupted the health system, access to clean water and caused people to crowd in shelters, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.
“As deaths and injuries in Gaza continue to rise due to intensified hostilities, intense overcrowding and disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems pose an added danger: the rapid spread of infectious diseases,” WHO said.
“Some worrying trends are already emerging.”
It said that the lack of fuel in the densely populated enclave had caused desalination plants to shut down, which increased the risk of bacterial infections like diarrhoea spreading.
WHO said that more than 33,551 cases of diarrhoea had been reported since mid-October, the bulk of which among children under five.
It said the number of children affected marked a significant increase compared to an average of 2,000 cases monthly in that age group throughout 2021 and 2022.
The lack of fuel has also disrupted the collection of solid waste, which WHO said created an “environment conducive to the rapid and widespread proliferation of insects, rodents that can carry and transit diseases.”
It said that it was “almost impossible” for health facilities to maintain basic infection prevention measures, increasing the risk of infection caused by trauma, surgery and childbirth.
“Disrupted routine vaccination activities, as well as lack of medicines for treating communicable diseases, further increase the risk of accelerated disease spread,” it warned.
AP: This is the second time in less than two weeks that the US has bombed facilities used by the militant groups, many operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which US officials say have carried out at least 40 such attacks since 17 October.
That was the day a powerful explosion rocked a Gaza hospital, killing hundreds and triggering protests in a number of Muslim nations. The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for the devastating Hamas rampage in southern Israel on 7 October.
Israel denied responsibility for the al-Ahli hospital blast, and the US has said its intelligence assessment found that Tel Aviv was not to blame. But the Israeli military has continued a ferocious assault on Gaza, with ground troops now deep inside Gaza City in a war that has a death toll of more than 10,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run territory.
The latest US strike was designed to take out supplies, weapons and ammunition in an effort to erode the abilities of the Iranian-backed militants to attack Americans based in Iraq and Syria. And it reflects the Biden administration’s determination to maintain a delicate balance. The US wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the US as strongly as possible to deter future aggression, possibly fueled by Israel’s war against Hamas, while also working to avoid further inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict.
Here is the full statement from the Pentagon on the US strike on Syria:
Today, at President Biden’s direction, US military forces conducted a self-defense strike on a facility in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups. This strike was conducted by two US F-15s against a weapons storage facility. This precision self-defense strike is a response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-Quds Force affiliates. The President has no higher priority than the safety of US personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.
The United States is fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities. We urge against any escalation. US personnel will continue to conduct counter-ISIS missions in Iraq and Syria.
US carries out strike in eastern Syria
The US launched an airstrike on a facility in eastern Syria linked to Iranian-backed militias, in retaliation for what has been a growing number of attacks on bases housing US troops in the region for the past several weeks, the Pentagon said.
The strike by two US F-15 fighter jets was on a weapons storage facility linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
This is the second time in less than two weeks that the US has bombed facilities used by the militant groups, many operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which US officials say have carried out at least 40 such attacks since 17 October.
Late on Wednesday Syrian media reported what appear to be separate strikes in southern Syria, which it said were carried out by Israel. Citing a military source, state-controlled Sana news agency reported:
At approximately 22:50 pm today, the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the direction of Baalbek in Lebanon, targeting some military points in the southern region, causing some material losses.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip has said the number of people killed in Gaza by Israeli military actions since the start of the war on 7 October has risen to 10,569. It says 4,324 of these were children, and that a further 26,457 Palestinians have been injured.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson has said Hamas has “lost control” of northern Gaza as thousands of Palestinian civilians fled south. “We saw 50,000 Gazans move from the northern Gaza Strip to the south. They are moving because they understand that Hamas has lost control in the north,” Daniel Hagari said in a Wednesday evening briefing.
Under white flags and carrying a few possessions, thousands of Palestinian civilians attempted to make the perilous journey to the south of Gaza under the watch of Israeli tanks as the sounds of war rang out in the near distance. On Wednesday the scale of the movement prompted the IDF to extend the period of the “safe corridor” by an extra hour “in reaction to [Palestinians] sizeable response” to Israel’s call for them to use the corridor to flee.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has again rejected the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, amid reports of negotiations for a temporary truce with Hamas in exchange for 10-15 hostages. A source close to Hamas told AFP that talks were ongoing for the release of a dozen hostages, including six Americans, in return for a three-day ceasefire in Gaza. Netanyahu on Wednesday said he wanted to “put to the side all sorts of idle rumours that we are hearing from all sorts of directions, and repeat one clear thing: there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages.”
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed dozens of Hamas commanders as troops advance deeper into the battered territory, with some fighting in “the heart of Gaza City”, IDF officials and analysts have said. However, there were doubts over the importance of the dead commanders within Hamas, and analysts said there was no obvious sign that the organisation had yet been significantly weakened.
Israel has claimed to have destroyed 130 Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip since it began its ground operations. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday: “As part of the ground forces’ activity in the Gaza Strip, an effort is under way to uncover and destroy the tunnels of the terrorist organization Hamas, and since the beginning of the fighting, 130 tunnels have been destroyed.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that a WHO-UNRWA medical supply convoy reached al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday. UNRWA said it was only the second delivery of lifesaving supplies to the hospital since the total siege of Gaza began. Meanwhile, the Palestine Red Crescent Society has said all roads heading to al-Quds hospital were closed on Wednesday and that “medical teams are unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured persons”.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, has said both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes. Speaking during a visit to the Rafah crossing and El Arish hospital in Egypt on Wednesday, Türk described the border crossing into Gaza as an “unjustly, outrageously thin” lifeline and as “the gates to a living nightmare” where Palestinian civilians are “suffocating”.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said there is something “clearly wrong” with Israel’s military operations because of the number of civilians killed in the Gaza Strip. Guterres, speaking on Wednesday, said it is “absolutely essential” to have a flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza to meet the “dramatic” needs of the population in the Palestinian territory.
The UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, has described the situation in the occupied West Bank as “increasingly dire”. Griffiths, posting to social media, said 158 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since 7 October – including 45 children. “Enough is enough,” he wrote on Wednesday.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was closed on Wednesday and no wounded Palestinians or dual nationals were able to be evacuated from Gaza, according to a Palestinian official. A Hamas official told AFP that the crossing point remained closed due to Israel’s refusal to approve the list of wounded who were to be evacuated. A US state department spokesperson said the crossing was closed due to an unspecified “security circumstance”.
All bakeries in northern Gaza have been forced to close due to shortages of vital supplies, a United Nations agency has warned. In an update on Wednesday, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said “no bakeries were active in the north, due to the lack of fuel, water and wheat flour, as well as the damage sustained by many.” In southern Gaza, 11 bakeries have been destroyed since 7 October, it said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has again rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel. Blinken, speaking in a briefing on Wednesday, said: “Those calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring about. Hamas left in place, with more than 200 hostages, with the capacity and stated intent to repeat 7 October, again, and again and again.”
Blinken also said that Israel must not reoccupy Gaza, but added, however, that Israel might control the territory for a transition period. His comments echoed White House remarks on Tuesday suggesting opposition to a long-term occupation of Gaza.
Foreign ministers from the G7 have called for a “humanitarian pause” in the war between Israel and Hamas to allow essential supplies to be delivered to desperate civilians in Gaza. In a joint statement on Wednesday, the G7 urged Israel to comply with humanitarian law, but did not say whether Israel was currently doing so.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has called for a significant humanitarian pause in Gaza to allow for the release of all hostages and the delivery of aid to the Palestinian territory. Canada had previously called for a series of halts in the fighting but had steered clear of advocating a longer pause.
Rishi Sunak has conceded that a major pro-Palestine march will go ahead on Armistice Day, after he held an emergency meeting with the head of the Metropolitan police. The UK prime minister has been accused of “silly puffed-up posturing” by senior Tories as he continued to describe the plans as “disrespectful” but conceded that those who wished to take to the streets had a “right to peacefully protest”.
Israeli officials appeared to dismiss reports of ongoing negotiations for the release of between 10 and 15 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a temporary truce.
Amichai Stein of Kann news cited Israeli officials as saying that they might agree to a three-day ceasefire “only for a substantial number of hostages release”.
Israeli officials add that if Hamas gets 72 hours of a ceasefire for every 10-15 hostages he will do it again and again: "He is playing with us", said the officials https://t.co/LzOHauJfoi
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) November 8, 2023
Israel carried out an aerial attack targeting military sites in southern Syria on Wednesday, causing some material damage, according to Syrian state media.
Citing a military source, state-controlled Sana news agency reported:
At approximately 22:50 pm today, the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the direction of Baalbek in Lebanon, targeting some military points in the southern region, causing some material losses.
The strikes are believed to have targeted a Syrian army air defence base and a radar station in Tel Qulaib and Tel Maseeh in the Sweida province in southwestern Syria, Reuters reported.
Israel’s military declined to comment on reports of an Israeli strike in Syria. Israel has struck Syria several times in the past month, putting the country’s two main airports in Damascus and Aleppo out of service several times in two weeks.
No Gaza evacuations into Egypt today, says Hamas official
The Rafah border crossing was closed on Wednesday and no wounded Palestinians or dual nationals were able to be evacuated from Gaza, according to a Palestinian official.
A Hamas official told AFP that the crossing point remained closed due to Israel’s refusal to approve the list of wounded who were to be evacuated.
The Rafah crossing, which is controlled by Egypt and does not border Israel, is the only point of aid delivery into Gaza.
An AFP journalist at the Rafah crossing saw a large crowd of people hoping to cross into Egypt during the day.
As we reported earlier, a US state department spokesperson said the border crossing was closed, citing an unspecified “security circumstance”.
UN humanitarian chief warns situation in West Bank 'increasingly dire'
The UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, has described the situation in the occupied West Bank as “increasingly dire”, adding that “enough is enough”.
Griffiths, posting to social media, said 158 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since 7 October – including 45 children.
More than 2,400 people have been injured and more than 1,000 people have been displaced in the occupied West Bank, he said.
The situation is getting increasingly dire in the West Bank.
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) November 8, 2023
Since October 7:
158 Palestinians were killed, including 45 children.
Over 2,400 were injured. At least 250 of them children
And over 1,000 were displaced - including 424 children.
Again, enough is enough.
The Israeli military has reported a sharp increase in operations against militants in the West Bank since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October.
Last week, the UN rights office warned of “alarming” conditions in the territory, saying that Israeli forces were increasingly using military tactics and weapons in law enforcement operations while settler violence against Palestinian inhabitants, which was already at record levels, had “escalated dramatically”.
Netanyahu dismisses 'idle rumours' of ceasefire for hostages deal
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has again rejected the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, amid reports of negotiations for a temporary truce with Hamas.
As we posted about earlier today, talks are reportedly under way for the release of between 10 and 15 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a humanitarian pause in fighting.
A source close to Hamas told AFP that talks were ongoing for the release of a dozen hostages, including six Americans, in return for a three-day ceasefire in Gaza.
The source said the pause in fighting was being brokered “to enable Egypt an extended (period of time) to deliver humanitarian aid” and let Hamas release the 12 hostages.
The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu said today:
I want to put to the side all sorts of idle rumours that we are hearing from all sorts of directions, and repeat one clear thing: there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said shortly afterward that any discussion of a “ceasefire” is not on the table, but that humanitarian pauses may be part of talks.
Updated
Keir Starmer is battling to reassert his authority within the Labour party over the conflict in Gaza, with four shadow ministers prepared to quit in the coming days and up to 10 others on “resignation watch”.
The Labour leader is facing a rebellion by as many as a dozen shadow ministers, who sources say are ready to resign rather than vote against calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East, which Starmer has refused to back.
Several Labour MPs say they are under huge pressure from party members and constituents to take a firmer stance against the Israeli invasion of Gaza, as tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in pro-Palestinian protests in London this weekend.
A Labour official said party leaders were closely watching as many as 15 shadow ministers who have high numbers of Muslim constituents for signs they are about to quit, after the resignation of Imran Hussain on Tuesday night. None are understood to be in the shadow cabinet.
One Labour frontbencher told the Guardian:
My position has always been [that] the only way forward is a ceasefire. The pause [as advocated by Starmer] will not solve the problem. Someone needs to say enough is enough.
Another said:
I have over 600 emails on this which is more than any other subject ever, including Brexit and Covid … I don’t know a Labour MP who isn’t under pressure at the moment.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has put out a statement with some more details about the delivery of a World Health Organization (WHO) medical supply convoy to the embattled al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which was just reported.
The statement says: “UNRWA has facilitated the delivery of WHO’s much needed emergency medical supplies and medicines to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, north of the Gaza Strip, despite huge risks to our staff and health partners due to relentless bombardments.
“This is only the second delivery of lifesaving supplies to the hospital since the escalation of hostilities and the total siege of Gaza began. On 24 October, WHO delivered medical supplies to the hospital amid high insecurity.
“While welcome, the quantities we delivered are far from sufficient to respond to the immense needs in the Gaza Strip. The medical conditions at Al-Shifa - the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip and one of the oldest Palestinian health institutions - are disastrous.
“There are currently almost two patients for every bed available. The emergency department and wards are overflowing requiring doctors and medical workers to treat wounded and sick patients in the corridors, on the floor, and outdoors. The number of wounded increases by the hour while patients are undergoing immense and unnecessary pain as medicines and anesthetics are running out. In addition, tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter in the hospital’s parking lots and yards …
“Medical facilities are running out of supplies and fuel. So far, no fuel has been allowed into the Gaza Strip, including to Al-Shifa hospital for over one month now.”
The agency warned that without fuel deliveries “more people will die.”
Updated
WHO says aid convoy has reached stricken Gaza hospital
The World Health Organization says that a WHO-UNRWA medical supply convoy has reached al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Reuters reports.
It is the largest medical complex in the Palestinian territory and the situation there for patients and medics has been described as “disastrous” by senior staff.
Now news is coming through that a convoy sent by the WHO in tandem with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has managed to navigate its way to the hospital with supplies urgently needed, with the institution in dire straits.
The Guardian reported on Monday that Dr Marwan Abusada, the hospital’s head of surgery, said the situation was disastrous.
“We have zero capacity. We have 153 patients at the ER. All the beds are occupied. We have no space for patients to go after they undergo surgery. We have a type of worms [in] the wounds after the surgery. Most injuries and surgeries have no follow-ups as the medical teams cannot cope with the influx of injuries every hour,” Abusada said in a statement transmitted to the Guardian by the NGO Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Updated
The Netherlands said on Wednesday it was sending a navy ship to take humanitarian goods to Gaza “when possible”, as the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, held talks with his Israeli counterpart, Agence France-Presse reports.
The coastal patrol vessel MS Holland will leave in mid-November and be near Cyprus by the end of the month, a Dutch navy official said.
It’s actually to pre-position the ship in case humanitarian aid or evacuation is necessary,” Alex Kranenburg told AFP.
Kranenburg stressed no decisions had been taken on the ship’s role, saying an international level” decision would determine whether aid would enter Gaza by land or sea.
Cyprus has been seeking support for a maritime corridor to deliver aid Gaza from the eastern Mediterranean island.
President Nikos Christodoulides has said Cyprus - the nearest EU member state to the Gaza Strip - was “ready to play a substantial role”.
The Dutch prime minister was traveling to Israel for a second meeting with counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in weeks.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s nearly 10pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a look at the latest developments:
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip has said the number of people killed in Gaza by Israeli military actions since the start of the war on 7 October has risen to 10,569. It says 4,324 of these were children, and that a further 26,457 Palestinians have been injured.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson has said Hamas has “lost control” of northern Gaza as thousands of Palestinian civilians fled south. “We saw 50,000 Gazans move from the northern Gaza Strip to the south. They are moving because they understand that Hamas has lost control in the north,” Daniel Hagari said in a Wednesday evening briefing.
Under white flags and carrying a few possessions, thousands of Palestinian civilians attempted to make the perilous journey to the south of Gaza under the watch of Israeli tanks as the sounds of war rang out in the near distance. On Wednesday the scale of the movement prompted the IDF to extend the period of the “safe corridor” by an extra hour “in reaction to [Palestinians] sizeable response” to Israel’s call for them to use the corridor to flee.
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed dozens of Hamas commanders as troops advance deeper into the battered territory, with some fighting in “the heart of Gaza City”, IDF officials and analysts have said. However, there were doubts over the importance of the dead commanders within Hamas, and analysts said there was no obvious sign that the organisation had yet been significantly weakened.
Israel has claimed to have destroyed 130 Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip since it began its ground operations. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday: “As part of the ground forces’ activity in the Gaza Strip, an effort is under way to uncover and destroy the tunnels of the terrorist organization Hamas, and since the beginning of the fighting, 130 tunnels have been destroyed.”
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said all roads heading to al-Quds hospital were closed and that “medical teams are unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured persons”. It added that an “Israeli bombardment has been ongoing since last night in the vicinity of al-Quds hospital from the western side”.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, has said both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes. Speaking during a visit to the Rafah crossing and El Arish hospital in Egypt on Wednesday, Türk described the border crossing into Gaza as an “unjustly, outrageously thin” lifeline and as “the gates to a living nightmare” where Palestinian civilians are “suffocating”.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said there is something “clearly wrong” with Israel’s military operations because of the number of civilians killed in the Gaza Strip. Guterres, speaking on Wednesday, said it is “absolutely essential” to have a flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza to meet the “dramatic” needs of the population in the Palestinian territory.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) were encircling Gaza City and operating inside it. In a televised statement on Tuesday, Netanyahu said there would be no ceasefire before hostages were released and urged people in Gaza to move south “because Israel will not stop”. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, also said the IDF was operating in the heart of Gaza City and “tightening the chokehold” around it.
Negotiations are ongoing for the potential release of 10 to 15 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a humanitarian pause in fighting, according to reports. Qatar has, in coordination with the US, led mediation talks with Hamas and Israeli officials over the release of hostages.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was closed on Wednesday due to an unspecified “security circumstance”, a US state department spokesperson said, without providing additional details. The US expects the crossing will be reopened at “regular intervals” so that aid can enter the Gaza Strip and foreign nationals can continue to depart, Vedant Patel said.
All bakeries in northern Gaza have been forced to close due to shortages of vital supplies, a United Nations agency has warned. In an update on Wednesday, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said “no bakeries were active in the north, due to the lack of fuel, water and wheat flour, as well as the damage sustained by many.” In southern Gaza, 11 bakeries have been destroyed since 7 October, it said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has again rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel. Blinken, speaking in a briefing on Wednesday, said: “Those calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring about. Hamas left in place, with more than 200 hostages, with the capacity and stated intent to repeat 7 October, again, and again and again.”
Blinken also said that Israel must not reoccupy Gaza, but added, however, that Israel might control the territory for a transition period. His comments echoed White House remarks on Tuesday suggesting opposition to a long-term occupation of Gaza.
Foreign ministers from the G7 have called for a “humanitarian pause” in the war between Israel and Hamas to allow essential supplies to be delivered to desperate civilians in Gaza. In a joint statement on Wednesday, the G7 urged Israel to comply with humanitarian law, but did not say whether Israel was currently doing so.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has called for a significant humanitarian pause in Gaza to allow for the release of all hostages and the delivery of aid to the Palestinian territory. Canada had previously called for a series of halts in the fighting but had steered clear of advocating a longer pause.
Italy will send a hospital ship near the coast of Gaza to help treat victims of the conflict, Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said on Wednesday.
Rishi Sunak has conceded that a major pro-Palestine march will go ahead on Armistice Day, after he held an emergency meeting with the head of the Metropolitan police. The UK prime minister has been accused of “silly puffed-up posturing” by senior Tories as he continued to describe the plans as “disrespectful” but conceded that those who wished to take to the streets had a “right to peacefully protest”.
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The White House’s national security spokesperson, John Kirby, has reiterated that the notion of Israel occupying Gaza is “not a long-term solution to post-conflict governance”.
During a briefing, Kirby said there were still between 500 and 600 Americans that the US is trying to get out of Gaza.
Asked what Hamas is demanding to release the more than 200 hostages held in Gaza, Kirby would not give details. The hostages include Americans. He said:
We have a way to communicate with Hamas, we are using that way. We are doing everything we can to get those folks back with their families.
He added that it could take “more than one pause” in the fighting in Gaza to get all hostages out of the territory.
Asked how long is a humanitarian pause and how it compares to a ceasefire, Kirby said a humanitarian pause was “as long as it needed to be”, eg to get aid in to Gaza or people out of the Palestinian territory, and was something different from “a general ceasefire” that stands as a “cessation of hostilities” between both sides as they seek to negotiate towards an end game in a war.
“We do not support that at this time,” Kirby said. He said the White House regarded a ceasefire as currently being to the benefit of Hamas, as opposed to Israel, in military and propaganda terms.
A humanitarian pause, in contrast, is something “temporary, localized and for specific purposes,” Kirby said.
For more updates from the White House, do follow our US live politics blog here.
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The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, issued an urgent appeal for a ceasefire as he visited the Rafah crossing in Egypt today.
Türk described the border crossing as a “lifeline” for the 2.3 million people in Gaza, but described it as an “unjustly, outrageously thin” lifeline.
The humanitarian aid that has been getting into Gaza is a “trickle” and with “severely limited” geographical reach, he said.
People remain “deeply vulnerable” in all parts of Gaza, he said, noting an “urgent humanitarian imperative” to reach those increasingly populated, including in the northern and middle parts of the Gaza Strip. He said:
Just in the last few days my colleagues have been receiving reports about an orphanage in the northern governorate that has 300 children in need of urgent help. With communications down and access roads impassable and unsafe, we cannot get to them.
Hamas has 'lost control' of northern Gaza as Israeli forces 'deepening attack' into Gaza City, says IDF
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said Hamas has “lost control” of northern Gaza as thousands of Palestinian civilians fled south.
In an evening briefing, Hagari said:
We saw 50,000 Gazans move from the northern Gaza Strip to the south. They are moving because they understand that Hamas has lost control in the north.
Hamas has lost control and is continuing to lose control in the north.
Hagari said there is no ceasefire currently on the table, but that Israel has been allowing for humanitarian pauses at specific times to allow residents to relocate south.
Israeli forces “continue to deepen the attack” into Gaza City and have caused significant damage to Hamas’ aerial and naval forces, he added.
UN rights chief says both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, has reiterated the call for an urgent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, saying that both sides had been responsible for war crimes.
Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, was speaking during a visit to the Rafah crossing and El Arish hospital in Egypt on Wednesday.
He described the border crossing into Gaza as “the gates to a living nightmare” where Palestinian civilians “have been suffocating, under persistent bombardment, mourning their families, struggling for water, for food, for electricity and fuel”.
In #Rafah I was at the gates to what is a living nightmare in #Gaza. I feel, at my core, the pain and immense suffering of every person whose loved one has been killed. We must all feel this shared pain and end this nightmare.https://t.co/g7Te1sWfZT pic.twitter.com/ifFsXmerxo
— Volker Türk (@volker_turk) November 8, 2023
Türk is the latest senior UN official to travel to the region since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October that killed 1,400 people and took more than 200 others hostage.
The rights chief said the atrocities perpetrated by Palestinian armed groups, and the continued holding of hostages, were heinous and constitute war crimes. He added:
The collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians is also a war crime, as is unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians.
He warned that “we have fallen off a precipice” and that “even in the context of a 56-year occupation, the situation is the most dangerous we have faced for people in Gaza, in Israel, in the West Bank but also regionally”.
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Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed dozens of Hamas commanders as troops advance deeper into the battered territory, with some fighting in “the heart of Gaza City”, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) officials and analysts have said.
However, there were doubts over the importance of the dead commanders within Hamas, and analysts said there was no obvious sign that the organisation had yet been significantly weakened.
Analysts said the mission of the Israeli armed forces is to kill all the senior leaders of Hamas to destroy its capacity to pose any future threat. Dr Michael Milstein, a Hamas expert at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, said:
Right now the IDF is trying to translate the terms ‘erasing’ or ‘crushing’ Hamas into concrete results, so that means destroying all military infrastructure and killing leaders, not just the heads of brigade, field commanders and so on but also the members of the political bureau too.
Hamas spokesmen have denied Israeli forces had made major advances. Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera television:
I challenge [Israel] if it has been able, to this moment, to record any military achievement on the ground other than killing civilians.
Supporters of Rashida Tlaib are donating to and speaking out in defense of the progressive Democratic congresswoman following her censure from Congress.
Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in the US Congress, was censured on Tuesday over her criticism of Israel’s attacks in Gaza.
In a 234 to 188 vote, 22 Democrats joined Republicans to pass a resolution punishing Tlaib for allegedly “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel” and “promoting false narratives” about the 7 October attack on Israel.
Tlaib has long criticized Joe Biden’s support of Israel, but received intense backlash after her defense of the slogan “from the river to the sea”.
In a social media post on Friday, Tlaib defended the phrase as “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate”.
Rafah crossing closed due to 'security circumstance'
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been closed due to an unspecified “security circumstance”, a US state department spokesperson said, without providing additional details.
The US expects the crossing will be reopened at “regular intervals” so that aid can enter the Gaza Strip and foreign nationals can continue to depart, Vedant Patel told reporters.
Rishi Sunak has conceded that a major pro-Palestine march will go ahead on Armistice Day, after he held an emergency meeting with the head of the Metropolitan police.
While describing the plans for Saturday as “disrespectful”, the prime minister said those who wished to take to the streets had a “right to peacefully protest”.
Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, had announced on Tuesday that he could not lawfully justify banning the planned march, in defiance of growing political pressure.
In a statement released on Wednesday evening after his meeting with the police chief, Sunak signalled that he had accepted that the protest would go ahead, despite calls for him to overrule the Met. He said:
This weekend people around the UK will come together in quiet reflection to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. It is not hyperbole to say that we are the beneficiaries of an inheritance born of their sacrifice.
It is because that sacrifice is so immense that Saturday’s planned protest is not just disrespectful but offends our heartfelt gratitude to the memory of those who gave so much so that we may live in freedom and peace today.
But part of that freedom is the right to peacefully protest. And the test of that freedom is whether our commitment to it can survive the discomfort and frustration of those who seek to use it, even if we disagree with them. We will meet that test and remain true to our principles.
All bakeries in northern Gaza forced to close due to shortage of supplies, says UN agency
All bakeries in northern Gaza have been forced to close due to shortages of vital supplies, a United Nations agency has warned.
In a daily update, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said “no bakeries were active in the north, due to the lack of fuel, water and wheat flour, as well as the damage sustained by many.”
Wheat flour is reportedly no longer available in northern Gaza, the agency said.
During the day, many people desperately looking for food broke into the last three bakeries with remaining stocks of wheat flour and took about 38 metric tonnes.
In southern Gaza, 11 bakeries have been destroyed since 7 October and the “the only operative mill in Gaza” is at a standstill due to a lack of electricity and fuel, the agency said.
When bread is available, people queue for long hours where they are exposed to potential Israeli airstrikes, it said.
Mothers in Gaza facing an “unbearable” situation as they struggle to produce sufficient milk to feed their babies in “horrendous” conditions, a humanitarian agency has warned.
In a statement, Care International said there are about 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and about 5,500 women were due to give birth in the past month. Trauma can affect a mother’s ability to produce milk, it said.
Nedaa Abu Rsas, mother to four-month old Yazan, moved south to Rafah after living near the Jabalia refugee camp. She told the organisation that she has not been producing enough milk for her son.
She is staying in a flat with 13 other people, who have been living on canned food and have struggled to find bread. Nedaa said:
I am scared for my children’s future. I am crying a lot, I am not sleeping.
Care’s West Bank and Gaza country director, Hiba Tibi, said:
Essential food items, including rice, are expected to run out by midweek. There is a critical shortage of clean drinking water with hundreds of thousands of people lacking enough water for their daily needs.
We urgently need a ceasefire so that humanitarian aid can reach those in greatest need, including children, and pregnant and lactating women.
Here are some of the latest images we have received over the newswires from Gaza.
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Justin Trudeau calls for significant humanitarian pause in Gaza
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has called for a significant humanitarian pause in Gaza to allow for the release of all hostages and the delivery of aid to the Palestinian territory.
Canada had previously called for a series of halts in the fighting but had steered clear of advocating a longer pause.
Trudeau, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said:
I don’t need to describe the horrors. This is why we are calling for a significant humanitarian pause that will allow us to release all the Jewish hostages and … continue to evacuate foreign citizens from Gaza.
The pause “must allow the delivery of real and substantial aid” to relieve “this abominable humanitarian crisis” for the people of Gaza, he said.
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UN secretary general says flow of humanitarian aid 'absolutely essential' to meet 'dramatic' need
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said it is “absolutely essential” to have a flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza to meet the “dramatic” needs of the population in the Palestinian territory.
Guterres, speaking to Reuters, described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” and said that only 630 trucks had been able to enter in the past 18 days – compared with 500 trucks daily before the war.
He said the UN was in “intense” negotiations with the US and Egypt to make sure effective humanitarian aid was getting to Gaza, adding:
Until now it has been too little, too late.
Updated
On Salah al-Din, the broad main highway that runs along the Gaza Strip, the trickle of people fleeing on foot from Israel’s war against Hamas has become a torrent, with about 15,000 attempting to make the perilous journey on Wednesday.
Under white flags, and carrying a few possessions mainly in carrier bags, exhausted parents led their children or carried them under the watch of Israeli tanks as the sounds of war rang out in the near distance.
On Sunday, 2,000 people took the opportunity to flee south during a daily four-hour window announced by the Israel Defence Forces. On Monday it was 5,000.
By Tuesday the daily column trudging south had swelled to 15,000, according to the United Nations, moving towards an area offering a haven of only marginally more safety as Israeli strikes continued to hit locations in the south of Gaza.
On Wednesday the scale of the movement prompted the IDF to extend the period of the “safe corridor” by an extra hour “in reaction to [Palestinians’] sizeable response” to Israel’s call for them to use the corridor to flee.
Those fleeing include children, older people and people with disabilities, and most took minimal belongings, the UN agency said.
Many of those on the road had started their journey earlier in the day in areas such as Gaza City’s al-Rimal, gathering in family groups or with neighbours to begin their walk, with some saying they had to cross Israeli checkpoints, where they saw people being arrested.
Clutching one of her toddlers, Amira al-Sakani told AFP she had fled Gaza City after coming across the airdropped Israeli flyers.
“Our life is tragic,” she said.
We don’t want war. We want peace.
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The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said 92 staff have been killed in Gaza since 7 October.
The deaths of scores of aid workers in airstrikes on Gaza over the past month has made the conflict the deadliest ever for UN workers.
Philippe Lazzarini, posting to social media earlier today, repeated his call for a ceasefire “for the sake of a humanity”.
It has now been 1 month since the abhorrent attack in #Israel and brutal war + tight siege in #Gaza
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) November 8, 2023
It pains me greatly that 92 @UNRWA colleagues were killed in #Gaza. We are never going to be the same without them.
Once again I call for a #ceasefire for the sake of humanity.
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Ziad, a 35-year-old Palestinian, recounts another day in Gaza as news arrives of the death of a good friend and his family in Gaza City, in her diary for the Guardian:
Tuesday 7 November
My sister hears the news from someone in her social circle. I immediately call a mutual friend, who calms me down and tells me that it was not him: “It cannot be him, I have spoken to him recently,” she says. I try to call his mobile, but cannot reach him.
Fifteen minutes later, I receive a call from her, crying: “It might be him.”
An hour later, it is confirmed. My friend, his wife and his two daughters are no longer alive.
I do not cry; not one tear falls. I call our mutual friend again and I tell her that great people like him will live in our memories. We will always talk about what a wonderful person and father he was.
After we end the call, I go to the balcony and I try to call him again. Maybe it was a rumour, hopefully it was a bad joke. Please, be alive. Please, be alive.
I don’t know how I feel.
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Negotiations ongoing over release of 10-15 hostages in exchange for Gaza humanitarian pause – reports
Negotiations mediated by Qatar in coordination with the US are ongoing for the potential release of 10 to 15 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a humanitarian pause in fighting, according to reports.
A source told AFP:
Negotiations mediated by the Qataris in coordination with the US are ongoing to secure the release of 10-15 hostages in exchange for a one- to two-day ceasefire.
This was also reported by Reuters, also citing a source briefed on the negotiations.
Qatar has, in coordination with the US, led mediation talks with Hamas and Israeli officials over the release of hostages since the militant group’s attack on 7 October, in which 1,400 people were killed and more than 200 taken captive.
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The organiser of the sole Armistice Day event at the Cenotaph in central London has said he hopes the pro-Palestine march in central London on Saturday will go ahead.
Richard Hughes, from the Western Front Association, the charity that holds a commemoration of the fallen of the first world war on 11 November, said his organisation believed in “freedom of speech”.
“I think a lot of people are trying to whip this up,” said Hughes, the association’s legal trustee, who is also responsible for organising the annual commemoration.
The police are not going to let anyone near the Cenotaph. We are a democratic organisation that commemorates those who fought for democracy, so free speech is important.
![‘The police are not going to let anyone [disruptive] near the Cenotaph,’ said Richard Hughes, from the Western Front Association.](https://media.guim.co.uk/4deda8697e79c9f5ec82d84544fc47446240f370/0_107_3500_2100/1000.jpg)
A chorus of government ministers, including the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and the justice minister, Alex Chalk, have said they do not believe Saturday’s march should proceed due to the risk of remembrance events being disturbed. A spokesperson for the prime minister has described the planned pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day as “provocative” and “disrespectful”.
Hughes acknowledged that the pro-Palestine march would be an additional drain on police resources and that views would vary among the membership of the Western Front Association, but he said:
I would hope that the two events could coexist without touching … If I was on one of those demonstrations I might say: ‘They can do their stuff and we will do our stuff.’
Some of the older members might think that it is not appropriate [to protest on Armistice Day] but it is very hard to be blind to what is going on in the Middle East.
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The UN’s António Guterres, speaking in New York today, compared the number of children being killed in Gaza with the number in conflicts around the world.
Every year, the highest number of killings of children by any of the actors in all the conflicts that we witness is the maximum in the hundreds.
We have in a few days in Gaza thousands and thousands of children killed, which means there is also something clearly wrong in the way military operations are being done.
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UN chief says 'something clearly wrong' with Israel's military operations
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the number of civilians killed in the Gaza Strip shows that there is something “clearly wrong” with Israel’s military operations.
Guterres, speaking to Reuters Next on Wednesday, said:
There are violations by Hamas when they have human shields. But when one looks at the number of civilians that were killed with the military operations, there is something that is clearly wrong.
He added:
It is also important to make Israel understand that it is against the interests of Israel to see every day the terrible image of the dramatic humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people. That doesn’t help Israel in relation to the global public opinion.
Updated
Ukraine has evacuated the first group of 43 Ukrainian nationals from Gaza, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
The group are now safe in Egypt and being provided with the necessary assistance, the Ukrainian leader posted to social media.
He said Ukraine had also helped to evacuate 36 Moldova citizens from Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, adding: “The evacuation continues.”
Ukraine has successfully evacuated its first group of 43 Ukrainian nationals from Gaza.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 8, 2023
They are now safe in Egypt, where Ukrainian diplomats are providing them with the necessary assistance.
We have also helped evacuate 36 citizens of Moldova, and we are glad to help our…
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong in Washington taking over the live blog. You can reach me at leonie.chao-fong@theguardian.com.
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It is one month on from Hamas’s attack on Israel in which at least 1,400 people were killed and 240 taken hostage, and the start of the Israeli attacks on Gaza that have led to thousands being killed and hundreds of thousands internally displaced.
Our community team would like to hear from people in Israel and people in Gaza. What is the situation like where you are? How have you and your loved ones been affected? How is the conflict affecting your daily life?
You can use the links below to contact them directly:
Summary of the day so far …
It is 5pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
Israel has claimed to have destroyed 130 Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip since it began its ground operations. In videos posted to social media by the IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari, it showed what it said was evidence of the destruction. Hagari said: “As part of the ground forces’ activity in the Gaza Strip, an effort is under way to uncover and destroy the tunnels of the terrorist organization Hamas, and since the beginning of the fighting, 130 tunnels have been destroyed.”
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) were encircling Gaza City and operating inside it. In a televised statement on Tuesday, Netanyahu said there would be no ceasefire before hostages were released and urged people in Gaza to move south “because Israel will not stop”.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, also said the IDF was operating in the heart of Gaza City and “tightening the chokehold” around it. In a televised statement on Tuesday, Gallant rejected any humanitarian pauses without the return of hostages.
Jonathan Conricus, who is acting as a spokesperson for the Israeli military during the conflict, has described the Hamas leadership inside and outside of Gaza as “dead men walking”. He said: “The directive is definitely to kill or capture … all the leaders of Hamas. Those who planned, facilitated, and executed the murderous 7 October massacre in Israel. We’ve said so clearly. All of them are dead men walking. And it’s only a matter of time inside Gaza and outside of Gaza, until these Hamas leaders will either be captured or killed by Israel.”
Israel has claimed to kill the senior weapon maker of Hamas, Mohsen Abu Zina. The IDF described him as “an expert in developing strategic weapons and rockets used by Hamas terrorists”.
Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesperson, told Sky News in the UK on Wednesday that only 100,000 civilians remained in northern Gaza out of the population of 1.1 million.
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip has said the number of people killed in Gaza by Israeli military actions since the start of the war on 7 October has risen to 10,569. It says 4,324 of these were children, and that a further 26,457 Palestinians have been injured.
Foreign ministers from the G7 called on Wednesday for a “humanitarian pause” in the war between Israel and Hamas to allow essential supplies to be delivered to desperate civilians in Gaza. Speaking to reporters after a meeting in Tokyo, Japan’s foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, said the G7 had confirmed the need for “urgent action to address the humanitarian crisis” in Gaza. The foreign ministers repeated their condemnation of Hamas’s 7 October on Israel and their support for Israel’s right to self-defence. But they also emphasised the need to comply with international law during the ongoing conflict, Kamikawa added.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, again rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel on Wednesday. He told the media in a press briefing in Tokyo: “Those calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring about. Hamas left in place, with more than 200 hostages, with the capacity and stated intent to repeat 7 October, again, and again and again.”
Blinken also set out the US position on what he described as “a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in states of their own”. He said the only way to “durable peace and security” was “no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza … no use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism … No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besieged Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza.” He later added: “Gaza cannot be continued to be run by Hamas. It is also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza. Now, the reality is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict.”
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said all roads heading to al-Quds hospital were closed and that “medical teams are unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured persons”.
Italy will send a hospital ship near the coast of Gaza to help treat victims of the conflict, Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said on Wednesday.
Spain’s foreign ministry has confirmed the death of Iván Illarramendi, a 46-year-old Spanish citizen who had been missing from the kibbutz where he lived since the terror attacks on 7 October.
South Africa is in the process of issuing a “demarche” to the Israeli ambassador Eliav Belotsercovsky, the director general of South Africa’s department of international relations and cooperation, Zane Dangor, has said. On Monday, South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, addressing the rising number of casualties in the Gaza Strip, said: “We believe the nature of response by Israel has become one of collective punishment.”
Germany’s defence export approvals to Israel so far this year have risen nearly tenfold from last year, with Berlin treating permit requests as a priority since Hamas attacked Israel last month, a German government source has told Reuters.
Far-right groups in the UK, from football hooligans to so-called “migrant hunters”, are seeking to mobilise supporters to turn up in central London on Armistice Day to oppose a scheduled pro-Palestine march. The pro-Palestine march is scheduled to start at 12.45pm from Marble Arch and end at the US embassy in south-west London, about two miles from the Cenotaph, where formal remembrance events will be held the next day. The British government has described the plan for the march as “provocative and disrespectful”.
More than 150 British nationals have left Gaza via the Rafah crossing as of Tuesday night, a Foreign Office minister has said in parliament in London.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, in London. Léonie Chao-Fong will be here from the US shortly to take you through the next few hours of our live coverage.
Updated
The Guardian’s graphics team have prepared this map which shows the extent of the damage to built-up areas in the Gaza Strip as far as it was known, based on data that was available up to 5 November.
Updated
Far-right groups in the UK, from football hooligans to so-called “migrant hunters”, are seeking to mobilise supporters to turn up in central London on Armistice Day to oppose a scheduled pro-Palestine march.
Evidence from social media and closed chat forums suggests there has been a push from a range of extremist organisations to get their supporters out.
The most high-profile message has been from the founder of the English Defence League (EDL), Tommy Robinson.
Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – published a video on his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling for people to gather at the Cenotaph “to show that British people aren’t happy”, although he insisted that the purpose was to show support for the armed forces.
On the same social media platform, Turning Point UK, an offshoot of a US organisation that seeks to promote rightwing political views in educational settings, made a similar call.
The pro-Palestine march is scheduled to start at 12.45pm from Marble Arch and end at the US embassy in south-west London, about two miles from the Cenotaph, where formal remembrance events will be held the next day. The British government has described the plan as “provocative and disrespectful”.
Read more of Daniel Boffey’s report here: Far-right groups call on supporters to oppose pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day
Updated
Israel claims to have destroyed 130 Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip
Israel has claimed to have destroyed 130 Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip since it began its ground operations.
In videos posted to social media by the IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari, it showed what it said was evidence of the destruction. Hagari wrote:
The activity of the engineering warriors within the combat teams fighting in Gaza includes destroying the enemy’s weapons, locating, exposing and detonating tunnel shafts. With the expansion of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, the fighters are thwarting the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas.
As part of the ground forces’ activity in the Gaza Strip, an effort is under way to uncover and destroy the tunnels of the terrorist organization Hamas, and since the beginning of the fighting, 130 tunnels have been destroyed.
פעילות לוחמי ההנדסה בתוך צוותי הקרב הלוחמים בעזה, כוללת השמדת אמצעי לחימה של האויב, איתור, חשיפה ופיצוץ פירי מנהרות. עם הרחבת הפעולה הקרקעית ברצועת עזה, מסכלים הלוחמים את תשתיות הטרור של החמאס >> pic.twitter.com/2C8mAAAVOD
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 8, 2023
Hagari said connections to water and oxygen supplies suggested Hamas had prepared to stay in the tunnels for lengthy periods of time.
The Guardian has not independently verified the timing or location of the videos.
Israel began its campaign in Gaza after the 7 October massacre that Hamas mounted in Israel, in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed at least 240 people were seized as hostages.
Updated
South Africa is in the process of issuing a “demarche” to the Israeli ambassador Eliav Belotsercovsky, the director-general of South Africa’s department of international relations and cooperation, Zane Dangor, has told Reuters.
“The demarche will be asked for hopefully by today. Not sure when he will come in,” Dangor told the news agency in a text message, without giving further details.
Earlier this week, South Africa recalled its diplomats from Israel, it said, to assess its relationship.
On Monday, South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, addressing the rising number of casualties within the Gaza Strip, said: “We believe the nature of response by Israel has become one of collective punishment.”
A demarche is a mechanism for a formal diplomatic representation of a government’s official position on a given subject to another government.
Updated
Patrick Wintour is the Guardian’s diplomatic editor:
A British consultant cardiologist based in Swansea has said he is being “handed a death sentence” after being forced to return to Gaza over the border from Egypt at the Rafah crossing on Wednesday.
Dr Ahmed Sabra said: “I am making a desperate appeal to the public that hold British values to help us. We are being handed a death sentence. Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world. The staff from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office that are supposed to help us at the Rafah crossing have vanished.”
Sending a series of emotional voice notes as he was being forced back over the border in a bus, he said he and a small group of British nationals were being forced back over the border even though they had been allowed to cross by Palestinians in Gaza along with the rest of his family. He had been visiting Gaza with his wife and three children.
Palestinian officials in Gaza had permitted him to cross with his family even though, unlike his family, he was not the approved list, and after three days on the Egyptian side waiting for the process to be completed, he was ordered back.
The approved list is drawn up by Egypt and Israel, and it is not clear why he and other British nationals had been excluded from travelling with the rest of their families.
Read more of Patrick Wintour’s report here: ‘Handed a death sentence’: UK doctor forced to return to Gaza from Egypt
Updated
More than 150 British nationals have left Gaza via the Rafah crossing as of Tuesday night, a Foreign Office minister has said in parliament in London.
PA Media reports that Andrew Mitchell told the Commons:
Immediately after Hamas’s brutal assault, the government brought home almost 1,000 British nationals safely on charter and military flights, but the safety of all British nationals is our utmost priority and so we are in regular contact with those in Gaza registered with us since the conflict began.
Working with partners, we have been engaging intensively with Israel and Egypt to allow foreign nationals to leave Gaza via the Rafah border crossing.
This has proved possible on five of the last seven days and I can confirm … that as of late last night over 150 British nationals have made it through to Egypt.
A forward deployed team of consular officials is … close to Rafah to meet them and provide the medical consular and administrative support they need.
Updated
The Shehab news agency, which is affiliated with Hamas, has posted images that are said to show damage to Khaled bin al-Walid mosque, which is to the west of Khan Younis. It says it was destroyed by “occupation aircraft” and that the strike came “minutes after the destruction of al-Sahwa mosque”.
المسجد الثاني خلال دقائق .. طيران الاحتلال يدمر مسجد خالد بن الوليد في منطقة المعسكر غرب خان يونس بعد دقائق من تدمير مسجد الصحوة في السطر الغربي للمدينة pic.twitter.com/g2B093DcCV
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) November 8, 2023
Hani Mahmoud, reporting for Al Jazeera from Khan Younis, reports that “the largest mosque in the area was completely destroyed in an airstrike”.
He said: “It’s in the middle of a busy road – a main road … also a busy market with so many people out there shopping for daily essentials. There’s also a bakery next to the mosque where a queue of hundreds of people at least were waiting for bread. So far, what has been brought to the hospital [is] tens of seriously injured people. We don’t know exactly how many people have been killed.”
Khan Younis is in the south of the Gaza Strip, and one of the areas that Israel has been directing Palestinians to evacuate to.
The claims have not been independently verified by the Guardian.
Updated
Italy will send a hospital ship near the coast of Gaza to help treat victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports that the minister said the ship was leaving on Wednesday with 170 staff, including 30 people trained for medical emergencies. He said Italy was also working to send a field hospital to Gaza.
Updated
Sam Jones is the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent:
Spain’s foreign ministry has confirmed the death of Iván Illarramendi, a 46-year-old Spanish citizen who had been missing from the kibbutz where he lived since the terror attacks on 7 October.
The ministry offered no details beyond confirming his death. Illarramendi, who was born in Zarautz, in the Basque country, had been reported missing from the Kissufim kibbutz along with his wife, Loren Garcovich, 47, who is reported to be a Chilean citizen with Israeli roots.
Illarramendi is the second confirmed Spanish victim of the Hamas assault. On 11 October, the foreign ministry said Maya Villalobo Sinvany, a 19-year-old Spanish-Israeli woman who was undertaking military service in Israel, had been killed in the attacks.
Updated
Al Jazeera’s Hisham Zaqout has reported from Deir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip that ambulances and rescue teams are unable to reach people buried under the rubble due to debris and damaged roads, and families cannot find places to bury loved ones because graveyards are full. He told the network that remaining standing houses contained multiple families, as so many people had been displaced or had their homes destroyed.
Updated
The British government has said again that it believes holding a pro-Palestinian demonstration in London this weekend is “provocative and disrespectful”.
Demonstrators have been marching every week in solidarity with Palestinians since the 7 October Hamas attack. This weekend’s march would take place after the 11am commemoration of Armistice Day. The march is due to start two hours later and the route has been kept away from the Cenotaph.
A government spokesperson denied that the government was “picking a culture war” over the march.
Rishi Sunak earlier vowed to hold London’s Metropolitan police commissioner, Mark Rowley, accountable for his defiance of demands for a ban on the march.
A spokesperson for the prime minister’s office, who traditionally speaks on the record but remains anonymous, told the media that the police’s current position on the march was “not the end point” and could be kept under review “as the intelligence picture evolves throughout the week”.
The spokesperson said the operation to “keep people safe” must be “robust” and the prime minister “continues to urge organisers to reconsider” the march.
Updated
Germany’s defence export approvals to Israel so far this year have risen nearly tenfold from last year, with Berlin treating permit requests as a priority since Hamas attacked Israel last month, a German government source has told Reuters.
As of 2 November, the German government has approved the export of close to €303m ($323m/£264m) worth of military equipment to Israel.
Updated
Israel extends operation of 'evacuation corridor' in Gaza by one hour
Israel’s military has said it is extending the hours today that it will allow people in the north of the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south.
In a message posted to social media in the Arabic language by an IDF spokesperson, it said:
O residents of Gaza, in response to your great response since the morning hours, we have decided to extend the operation of the safe corridor on the Salah al-Din Road for the movement of residents to the south of Wadi Gaza by an additional hour! For your safety, join the large thousands who headed to the southern Wadi Gaza area since the morning hours, so seize the opportunity until three o’clock in the afternoon to protect yourselves and members of your families.
The corridor was due to be closed at 2pm, local time, but will now be open until 3pm.
Earlier, the Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari posted a video which the IDF claims shows Palestinians moving en masse from the north to the south.
החל מהשעה 10:00 אלפי תושבים מצפון הרצועה נענו לקריאות צה״ל ועושים בשעה זו את דרכם לדרום הרצועה, מדרום לנחל עזה, דרך כביש צלאח אלדין. pic.twitter.com/JZeq3HyUaL
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 8, 2023
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs has said that about 15,000 people fled on Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday, suggesting the number of people attempting to evacuate has been increasing as northern Gaza continues to be bombarded and Israeli troops carry out ground operations there.
Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesperson, told Sky News in the UK on Wednesday that only 100,000 civilians remained in northern Gaza out of the population of 1.1 million.
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip has said that the number of people killed in Gaza by Israeli military actions since the start of the war on 7 October has risen to 10,569. Israel has continued to strike at southern cities including Rafah and Khan Younis despite ordering Gaza’s residents to evacuate there.
Updated
Wafa Aludaini, reporting for the Guardian from Gaza, has interviewed three Palestinians who have been left as the last members of their family:
Eighteen-year-old Dima al-Lamdani dreamed of being a successful businesswoman while growing up in the Shati refugee camp. When Israel’s military warned on 13 October that everyone in the north of Gaza should evacuate south, Lamdani’s father called his brother, and all of them, several generations of an extended family, decided to flee the camp. They took temporary refuge in the home of a family friend.
Two days later at dawn, Lamdani sat with her aunt drinking coffee, unable to sleep. The next thing she remembers, she was covered in rubble with the sounds of people shouting all around her. Nearly 50 people were in the residential building, including 17 members of Lamdani’s family. Lamdani, her brother, and her two younger cousins, who were pulled from the rubble of the house, were the only survivors. “The time I spent waiting to be found were some of the most horrifying moments. I was about to lose my mind. I screamed and cried when they found me,” Lamdani said.
Lamdani was then brought to a mortuary where she had to identify the bodies of her loved ones. “I could hardly recognise them, as their facial features changed. I bawled and begged: ‘Please don’t leave me alone. I can’t live without you!’” she said. Lamdani’s two cousins are now in her care, and she wonders how she will go on.
Read more of Wafa Aludaini’s report here: ‘Why didn’t we die together?’: the last survivors of three Gaza families speak
Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 10,569, including 4,324 children
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip has said that the number of people killed in Gaza by Israeli military actions since the start of the war on 7 October has risen to 10,569.
It says 4,324 of these are children, and that a further 26,457 Palestinians have been injured.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
AP is reporting that the pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has increased as Israel’s air and ground campaign there intensifies.
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said on Wednesday that about 15,000 people fled on Tuesday, compared with 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday.
Updated
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has posted to social media to say all roads are closed heading to al-Quds hospital, and that “medical teams are unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured persons”.
It writes that an “Israeli bombardment has been ongoing since last night in the vicinity of al-Quds hospital from the western side”.
❌Israeli bombardment has been ongoing since last night in the vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital from the western side.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 8, 2023
🚑All roads to the hospital are closed. Medical teams are unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured persons.#Gaza #GazaUnderAttack #NotATarget pic.twitter.com/RvG1SMMvSZ
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 12.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
Jonathan Conricus, who is acting as a spokesperson for the Israeli military during the conflict, has described the Hamas leadership inside and outside of Gaza as “dead men walking”. He said “The directive is definitely to kill or capture … all the leaders of Hamas. Those who planned, facilitated, and executed the murderous 7 October massacre in Israel. We’ve said so clearly. All of them are dead men walking. And it’s only a matter of time inside Gaza and outside of Gaza, until these Hamas leaders will either be captured or killed by Israel.”
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are encircling Gaza City and operating inside it. In a televised statement on Tuesday, Netanyahu said there would be no ceasefire before hostages were released and urged people in Gaza to move south “because Israel will not stop”.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, also said the IDF were operating in the heart of Gaza City and “tightening the chokehold” around it. In a televised statement on Tuesday, Gallant rejected any humanitarian pauses without the return of hostages.
Foreign ministers from the G7 called Wednesday for a “humanitarian pause” in the war between Israel and Hamas to allow essential supplies to be delivered to desperate civilians in Gaza. Speaking to reporters after a meeting in Tokyo, Japan’s foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, said the G7 had confirmed the need for “urgent action to address the humanitarian crisis” in Gaza. The foreign ministers repeated their condemnation of Hamas’s 7 October on Israel and their support for Israel’s right to self-defence. But they also emphasised the need to comply with international law during the ongoing conflict, Kamikawa added.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, again rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel on Wednesday. He told the media in a press briefing in Tokyo “those calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring about. Hamas left in place, with more than 200 hostages, with the capacity and stated intent to repeat 7 October, again, and again and again.”
Blinken also set out the US position on what he described as “a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side in states of their own”. He said the only way to “durable peace and security” was “no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza … no use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism … No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besieged Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza”. He later added that “Gaza cannot be continued to be run by Hamas. It is also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza. Now, the reality is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict.”
Israel has claimed to kill the senior weapon maker of Hamas, Mohsen Abu Zina. The IDF described him as “an expert in developing strategic weapons and rockets used by Hamas terrorists”.
Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesperson, told Sky News in the UK on Wednesday that only 100,000 civilians remained in northern Gaza out of the population of 1.1 million.
The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said “a move towards a peace-loving Palestinian leadership is the most desired outcome” of the current Israel-Hamas conflict.
Updated
Al Jazeera is carrying some quotes from Alyona Synenko, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Speaking in East Jerusalem, she told the network that the accounts she was hearing from colleagues inside Gaza were “heartbreaking”, adding:
They were on the way to distribute medical supplies, they saw thousands of people on the road … people in wheelchairs, elderly, children. These people are desperate. They kept asking, ‘Are we safe? Is there shelter for us? Where can we find food? Where can we find water?’ … we didn’t have answers to these questions and this is devastating to be there and witnessing these massive needs and not having enough of a response to help these people.
Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, defended her criticism of Israel before a House of Representatives vote to censure her over her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war. The House ultimately voted 234-188 to censure Tlaib. The Michigan Democrat said: “I will not be silenced and I will not let you distort my words,” Tlaib said, adding: “I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable.”
The censure measure was forwarded by the Republican Rich McCormick in response to what he said were “falsehoods” about “our greatest ally, Israel, and the attack on 7 October”.
Here is the video clip:
Updated
The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said “a move towards a peace-loving Palestinian leadership is the most desired outcome” of the current Israel-Hamas conflict.
Speaking after the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Tokyo, Reuters quotes Cleverly saying:
In the short term, it is inevitable that Israel, because they have the troops in Gaza, will need to have a security responsibility. But our view is as soon as practicable, a move towards a peace-loving Palestinian leadership is the most desired outcome.
Updated
Reuters is carrying an additional quote from Antony Blinken, in which the US secretary state has modified earlier comments that “durable peace and security” in the region means “no reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends” and “no attempt to blockade or besieged Gaza”, by suggesting that Israel might run the Gaza Strip for a “transition period”.
Blinken said:
Gaza cannot be continued to be run by Hamas. That simply invites repetition of 7 October. It is also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza. Now, the reality is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict. We don’t see a reoccupation and what I’ve heard from Israeli leaders, is that they have no intent to reoccupy Gaza.
Updated
Foreign ministers from the G7 have called for a “humanitarian pause” in the war between Israel and Hamas to allow essential supplies to be delivered to desperate civilians in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting in Tokyo, Japan’s foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, said the G7 had confirmed the need for “urgent action to address the humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
The foreign ministers repeated their condemnation of Hamas’s 7 October on Israel and their support for Israel’s right to self-defence. But they also emphasised the need to comply with international law during the ongoing conflict, Kamikawa added.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, along with foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy said they supported a pause in the fighting “to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and the release of hostages” held by Hamas.
They said “the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians” was “unacceptable, undermines security in the West Bank, and threatens prospects for a lasting peace”.
Speaking in Tokyo, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, again rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.
He told the media in a press briefing:
All of us want to end this conflict as soon as possible. And meanwhile, to minimise civilian suffering. But as I discussed with my G7 colleagues, those calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring about. Hamas left in place, with more than 200 hostages, with the capacity and stated intent to repeat 7 October, again, and again and again.
Updated
In a media briefing after the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Tokyo, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, set out Washington’s position of what it believes a “day after” scenario should look like in Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war concludes.
He told the press that these were the conditions needed for “durable peace and security”, saying:
The US believes key elements should include no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. Not now. Not after the war. No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks. No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besieged Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza. We must also ensure no terrorist threats can emanate from the West Bank.
Blinken went on to say the US was seeking a future settlement that “must include the Palestinian people’s voices and aspirations at the centre of post-crisis governance in Gaza. It must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, and it must include a sustained mechanism for reconstruction in Gaza”.
He said the US sought “a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side in states of their own, with equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity and dignity”.
Updated
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is to hold a news conference in Tokyo, after attending the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting there. We will bring you any key lines that emerge.
More details soon …
Updated
Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesperson, has been appearing on television in the UK. He said on Sky News that according to Israeli figures, only 100,000 civilians remain out of 1.1 million people who live in northern Gaza, following repeated instructions by Israel that they should move south.
Updated
In the UK, the opposition Labour party has said it will continue to resist calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
PA Media reports it said in a statement:
Labour fully understands calls for a ceasefire. Everybody wants to see an end to the shocking images we are seeing in Gaza. We need to see all hostages released and aid getting to those most in need.
But a ceasefire now will only freeze this conflict and would leave hostages in Gaza and Hamas with the infrastructure and capability to carry out the sort of attack we saw on 7 October.
International law must be followed at all times and innocent civilians must be protected. Labour is calling for humanitarian pauses in the fighting. This is the best and most realistic way to address the humanitarian emergency in Gaza and is a position shared by our major allies.
Al Jazeera is reporting two unconfirmed developments within Gaza. Witnesses have told the news network that “Israeli soldiers are moving further into Gaza City centre and are only about 700 metres from al-Shifa hospital”. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas has a command centre based at the hospital.
The network also reports of serious injuries after “a public school full of people displaced was targeted by Israeli gunboats” in Gaza’s west.
More details soon …
Updated
Hamas leadership 'dead men walking … inside and outside Gaza,' says Israeli military spokesman
Jonathan Conricus, the acting spokesperson for the Israeli military, has described the Hamas leadership inside and outside of Gaza as “dead men walking” in an interview with Sky News in Australia.
Posting a clip to social media, in which he described the channel as asking “refreshing questions actually pertaining to the fighting and situation on the ground”, he told viewers:
The mission [inside Gaza] is to engage with Hamas and simply to dismantle each and every Hamas stronghold that is buried underground in bunkers. We are doing that in slow and meticulous order according to plan. Our advances are good, solid.
It is a very challenging battlespace to be in. Hamas has prepared the battlefield, unfortunately, very well.
And it is totally enmeshed with tunnels. Many of them short tactical tunnels that are just basically fighting positions, that allow Hamas to move from one ally to another. To emerge and then submerge. And some are longer and deeper and wider. But we are slowly getting to all of them and there are gains achieved each day of the fight.
The directive is definitely to kill or capture … all the leaders of Hamas. Those who planned, facilitated, and executed the murderous 7 October massacre in Israel. We’ve said so clearly. All of them are dead men walking. And it’s only a matter of time inside Gaza and outside of Gaza, until these Hamas leaders will either be captured or killed by Israel.
Refreshing questions actually pertaining to the fighting and situation on the ground. We're making solid progress according to plan, and we intend to keep at it until we dismantle Hamas and return the hostages. With @ljayes on @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/Zdg8yW2wiT
— Jonathan Conricus (@jconricus) November 8, 2023
Updated
Our First Edition newsletter today has as its subject the controversy in the UK over plans for a pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday, and the calls for it to be banned. Archie Bland writes:
Every Saturday since the 7 October attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 Israelis, pro-Palestinian protesters have demonstrated in London and around the UK to voice their opposition to the devastating impact of Israel’s response on Palestinian civilians, thousands of whom have died. At the biggest of these rallies, organisers estimated that half a million people attended; police put the figure at 70,000.
Many media reports on the protests have accused marchers of condoning Hamas’s horrific attack, and pointed to incidents of racism or violence. And in the context of a huge spike in reported antisemitic incidents since 7 October, some British Jews have said that they find the marches intimidating.
But that is not a monolithic view, and leftwing Jewish groups such as Na’amod are among those marching. More generally, those who have joined the marches say they have been peaceful, with a clear focus on the demand for protection for ordinary Palestinians.
All of this is likely to come to a head on Saturday, when the weekly march coincides with Armistice Day.
As any witness to the annual British poppy paroxysm knows, Armistice Day – 11 November – is a deeply sensitive moment in the UK. Critics of the marchers claim that a pro-Palestine protest that coincides with the commemoration of the end of the first world war is a deliberately provocative act, presumably seeing a peace rally as disrespectful of the military: Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has suggested the timing will “give offence to millions of decent British people”.
Organisers counter that the timing is coincidental, that a march calling for a ceasefire can hardly be said to run against the spirit of remembrance events, and that the march is due to start two hours after the 11am two-minute silence, with remembrance commemorations largely happening the following day. They note that the planned route for the march does not run past the Cenotaph.
You can read more here: Should a pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day be banned?
Updated
Israel’s military has claimed to kill the head of weapons development for Hamas in Gaza.
In its latest operational update on the Telegram messaging service, it wrote:
Based on ISA and IDF intelligence, an IDF fighter jet killed Mohsen Abu Zina, Hamas’ head of weapons and industries in its manufacturing department.
As part of his role, Mohsen Abu Zina served as one of Hamas’ leading weapons developers and was an expert in developing strategic weapons and rockets used by Hamas terrorists.
The update included claims that “IDF troops also identified a terrorist cell that planned to fire anti-tank missiles at the forces” and “IDF troops directed an aircraft to a strike on a terrorist cell responsible for launching rockets toward Israel” and that these targets were destroyed. The claims have not been independently verified.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel began its military operation after the 7 October Hamas attack in Israel. It has not been possible for international journalists to independently verify the casualty numbers inside Gaza.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Updated
AFP: In Jerusalem on Tuesday night, sobs pierced memorial ceremonies and crowds lit candles while mourning the 1,400 killed in Hamas’s attack in Israel on 7 October.
“There’s not one person not impacted by these horrible attacks,” said 52-year-old Sharon Balaban, one of thousands of Israelis attending the vigils.
“Everyone knows somebody who was hurt, killed, murdered or impacted.”
In Gaza, where more than 1.5 million people have fled their homes in a desperate search for safety, entire city blocks have been levelled and bodies in white shrouds are piling up outside hospitals, where surgeons operate on bloodied floors by the light of phones.
The World Health Organization said an average of 160 children are killed every day in Gaza by the war.
“The level of death and suffering is hard to fathom,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said.
Hamas’s media office said on Telegram that several cemeteries in Gaza had “no more space for burials”, while the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said most of the territory’s sewage pumping stations were shut.
Updated
The WHO is pushing for the most vulnerable among the chronically ill to be allowed out of Gaza for treatment, Reuters reports. Other countries have offered to take in patients, including Egypt, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
Before the war, about 20,000 patients a year sought permits from Israel to leave the Gaza Strip for healthcare, many of them requiring repeat trips across the border. Almost a third are children. Israel approved about 63% of these medical exit applications in 2022, according to the WHO. Gaza’s own healthcare facilities have been stretched under a 16-year Israeli-led blockade and repeated rounds of fighting.
“In previous wars, the crossing would close for a day or two, but then the patients were able to return. This is the first time there is such a comprehensive ban on movement and Gaza patients can’t make it out,” said Osama Qadoumi, the supervisor at Makassed hospital.
“The longer we wait, the worse some patients will get. Many people will die merely because they have no access to treatment.”
Updated
Reuters has this report on what life is like for the chronically ill in Gaza:
Tahreer Azzam, a nurse at Makassed Hospital in east Jerusalem, has been caring for young, desperately-ill Palestinian patients for 16 years.
Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last month, she now struggles to find them.
Usually, around 100 patients from Gaza receive care each day for complex health needs such as treatment for rare cancers and open heart surgery, at hospitals like Azzam’s, as well as in the occupied West Bank, Israel and other countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Azzam and her colleagues have been trying to reach their patients ever since Israel’s unprecedented bombardment of Gaza started, including checking Facebook to see whether they are still alive.
“We saw a post announcing that one of our child patients had been killed in the strikes. He had been at the department only a week before. He was six years old,” she told Reuters in an interview. “I can’t forget his image.”
The UN Children’s Fund (Unicef); the UN Population Fund (UNFPA); the World Health Organization and other agencies said at the weekend that with 14 of the 35 hospitals and 46 of 72 health centres destroyed or no longer functioning, 180 women a day were giving birth without adequate care, including undergoing caesareans without painkillers, and being discharged, still bleeding, within hours of the delivery.
Noor Hammad, 24, is seven months pregnant with her first chid. She is now homeless and sleeping on her sister’s floor with 25 relatives.
In a joint statement, they warned: “Some women are having to give birth in shelters, in their homes, in the streets amid rubble, or in overwhelmed healthcare facilities, where sanitation is worsening, and the risk of infection and medical complications is on the rise.”
Those medical facilities that remain open are overwhelmed with people wounded in airstrikes. “Maternal deaths are expected to increase, given the lack of access to adequate care,” the agencies said.
“The psychological toll of the hostilities also has direct – and sometimes deadly – consequences on reproductive health, including a rise in stress-induced miscarriages, still births and premature births,” they said.
Dr Zaher Sahloul, president of the aid group MedGlobal, says: “As hospitals turn off the last of their equipment due to lack of fuel, neonatal wards are falling dark, and newborns and mothers are suffering. These are among the saddest, yet easily preventable, tragedies.”
Hammad has witnessed the daily chaos facing healthcare workers while volunteering at Gaza’s Nasser hospital. “Injuries are being treated in the hospital courtyards and corridors,” she says.
On 6 October, Noor Hammad went to work as usual at a clinic in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, where she was employed as a nutritionist. In the evening she made dinner for herself and her husband. They were planning for the birth of their first child in January and had been decorating a bedroom in readiness for her arrival.
The bedroom no longer exists. Their house was destroyed in airstrikes just days after the couple fled to the south of Gaza on 9 October.
Hammad is now living in her sister’s two-bedroom home in Khan Younis, where she sleeps on the floor with 25 other members of her family.
Excited anticipation over the arrival of her baby has been replaced with anxiety about her safety, the health of the unborn child and how she will give birth in a war zone.
“I have no idea where I will give birth to my daughter and how I will receive her without shelter or clothes,” she says. “I don’t have anything.”
Hammad, 24, is one of an estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza facing an uncertain birth.
Remains of seven Thai nationals expected to arrive in Bangkok Thursday
The remains of seven Thai nationals killed in Israel are expected to arrive in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon, Thailand’s foreign ministry has said.
About 30,000 Thais were working in Israel before the Hamas attacks, and the Israeli government has said they make up the biggest group of foreign people killed or missing.
In total, 34 Thai people were killed in the violence, while four are being treated in hospital. A further 24 were abducted.
Thai officials have met with Hamas, as well as Qatar and Egypt in order to secure the hostages’ release. They have also received support from neighbouring Malaysia, a vocal supporter of Palestine.
About 8,000 Thais have now been repatriated.
Imran Hussain: Labour frontbencher resigns in support of Gaza ceasefire
In case you missed this earlier: in the UK, the shadow minister Imran Hussain has resigned from Keir Starmer’s Labour frontbench in order to “be able to strongly advocate for a ceasefire” in Gaza.
“Over recent weeks, it has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position you have adopted,” Hussain said in a resignation letter to Starmer published on social media.
“A ceasefire is essential to ending the bloodshed, to ensuring that enough aid can pass into Gaza and reach those most in need, and to help ensure the safe return of the Israeli hostages.”
He said he had been “proud” to work alongside Sir Keir and his deputy Angela Rayner in developing a plan for employment rights, but could not “in all good conscience” push for a cessation of hostilities while remaining part of the frontbench.
The Bradford East MP, who was a shadow minister for work, said he had been “deeply troubled” by Starmer’s comments during an LBC interview on 11 October where said his party leader appeared to endorse Israel cutting off water and power to the Gaza Strip; and while Starmer had since clarified his remarks, “I believe the party needs to go further and call for a ceasefire”.
More now on the US House voting to censure Rashida Tlaib.
Tlaib provoked criticism last week by defending the controversial slogan “from the river to the sea”.
In remarks on the House floor, Tlaib defended her criticism of the country and urged lawmakers to join in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“I will not be silenced and I will not let you distort my words,” Tlaib said. “No government is beyond criticism. The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s been used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation.”
She also said she had condemned the Hamas attacks on Israeli citizens several times.
Tlaib, who was first elected in 2018 and is a prominent member of “the Squad” of progressive female lawmakers, grew emotional as she said: “I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable.”
Indian authorities have barred any protests in solidarity with Palestinians in Muslim-majority Kashmir and asked Muslim preachers not to mention the conflict in their sermons, residents and religious leaders told The Associated Press.
The restrictions are part of India’s efforts to curb any form of protest that could turn into demands for ending New Delhi’s rule in the disputed region. They also reflect a shift in India’s foreign policy under populist Prime Minister Narendra Modi away from its long-held support for the Palestinians, analysts say.
“From the Muslim perspective, Palestine is very dear to us, and we essentially have to raise our voice against the oppression there. But we are forced to be silent,” said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key resistance leader and a Muslim cleric.
He said he has been put under house arrest each Friday since the start of the war to keep him from from leading Friday prayers at the region’s main mosque.
House votes to censure Rashida Tlaib over her criticism of Israel
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted late on Tuesday to censure the Democratic representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – the only Palestinian American in Congress – in an extraordinary rebuke of her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war.
The 234-188 tally came after enough Democrats joined with Republicans to censure Tlaib, a punishment one step below expulsion from the House. The three-term congresswoman has long been a target of criticism for her views on the decades-long conflict in the Middle East.
The debate on the censure resolution on Tuesday afternoon was emotional and intense. The Republican representative Rich McCormick of Georgia pushed the censure measure in response to what he called Tlaib’s promotion of antisemitic rhetoric. He said she had “levied unbelievable falsehoods about our greatest ally, Israel, and the attack on 7 October”.
G7 foreign ministers set to issue joint statement today
G7 foreign ministers are set to issue a joint statement on the Israel-Hamas war today and are expected to call for temporary pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
It would mark the second joint statement from the group of wealthy nations on the crisis since 7 October.
The communique, to be issued near the end of a two-day meeting in Tokyo, is also likely to reiterate that G7 support for Ukraine in its war with Russia remains undimmed despite the spiralling conflict in the Middle East.
“We hope to be able to present a united G7 position on the situation in the Middle East in the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Statement, which we understand is currently being coordinated,” said Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno.
AP: In his comments about the future of governance in Gaza, Netanyahu did not make clear what shape his proposition of indefinite security control would take.
White House Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, “We do think that there needs to be a healthy set of conversations about what post-conflict Gaza looks like and what governance looks like,” adding that he would leave it to Netanyahu to clarify what he means by “indefinite.”
Israeli officials say the offensive against Hamas will last for some time and acknowledge that they have not yet formulated a concrete plan for what comes after the war. The defense minister has said Israel does not seek a long-term reoccupation of Gaza but predicted a lengthy phase of low-intensity fighting against “pockets of resistance.” Other officials have spoken about establishing a buffer zone between Gaza and the Israeli border.
“There are a number of options being discussed for The Day After Hamas,” said Ophir Falk, a senior adviser to Netanyahu. “The common denominator of all the plans is that 1) there is no Hamas 2) that Gaza is demilitarized 3) Gaza is deradicalized.”
Israel withdrew troops and settlers in 2005 but kept control over Gaza’s airspace, coastline, population registry and border crossings, excepting one into Egypt. Hamas seized power from forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, confining his Palestinian Authority to parts of the occupied West Bank. Since then, Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza to varying degrees.
In his ABC interview, Netanyahu also expressed openness for the first time to what he called “little pauses” in the fighting to facilitate delivery of aid to Gaza or the release of hostages. But he ruled out any general cease-fire without the release of all the hostages.
Biden opposes reoccupation of Gaza, says White House, after Netanyahu suggests indefinite ‘security responsibility’
The United States would oppose a reoccupation of Gaza by Israel’s military in post-conflict Gaza, the White House said on Tuesday.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, who was responding to comments by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu earlier.
“Reoccupation by Israeli forces of gaza is not the right thing to do,” Kirby said. He aded that, “Israel and the United states are Friends and we do not have to agree on every single word,” and that, “Netanyahu and Biden are not always exactly in the same place on every issue.”
Netanyahu told ABC News that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas,” without elaborating.
“I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” Netanyahu said.
Kirby told reporters that Israel and the United States do not have to agree on every single issue.
Updated
Opening summary
This is the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war with me, Helen Sullivan.
The top developments this morning: the United States would oppose a reoccupation of Gaza by Israel’s military in post-conflict Gaza, the White House said on Tuesday.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, who was responding to comments by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu earlier.
Netanyahu told ABC News that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas,” without elaborating.
“I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” Netanyahu said.
Kirby told reporters that Israel and the United States do not have to agree on every single issue.
Other recent developments include:
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are encircling Gaza City and operating inside it. In a televised statement on Tuesday, Netanyahu said there would be no ceasefire before hostages were released and urged people in Gaza to move south “because Israel will not stop”.
Netanyahu said Israel may consider “tactical little pauses” in fighting to allow the entry of aid or the exit of hostages from the Gaza Strip and said it may govern the territory indefinitely. The Israeli prime minister told ABC news in an interview broadcast on Monday night: “Israel will for an indefinite period … have the overall security responsibility [in Gaza] because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t.”
The US does not believe Israel should reoccupy Gaza, the White House said following Netanyahu’s comments. National security spokesperson John Kirby added on Tuesday that “Hamas cannot be part of the equation” about who will administer Gaza.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, also said the IDF were operating in the heart of Gaza City and “tightening the chokehold” around it. In a televised statement on Tuesday, Gallant rejected any humanitarian pauses without the return of hostages.
A drone attack on Tuesday targeted a military base at Arbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan that hosts troops from the US-led anti-jihadist coalition, officials said. “At two different points, three drones attacked the international coalition” on Tuesday morning, the autonomous Kurdish region’s anti-terrorism service said in a statement. American and allied forces were also targeted in Syria on Tuesday, where rockets were fired at Mission Support Site Euphrates without causing casualties or damage, the Pentagon said.
Joe Biden urged Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a three-day pause in fighting to allow progress in releasing some of the hostages held by Hamas, according to a Axios report, citing two US and Israeli officials. The US president and Israeli prime minister spoke in a call on Monday. In a readout of the call, the White House said the two leaders “discussed the possibility of tactical pauses”.
Waving white flags and holding their hands above their heads, Palestinian families fled past tanks waiting to storm Gaza City. Israel’s military gave civilians inside the encircled city a four-hour window to leave on Tuesday, as its forces prepared to retake the biggest city in the strip. The IDF said they would allow residents to leave from 10am until 2pm local time, and published a video of dozens of people along a main road. Hundreds of thousands of people are feared to still be trapped.
Israel’s military claims to have captured a Hamas military stronghold and detonated a Hamas weapons depot “in a civilian area” adjacent to Al-Quds hospital. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas is using hospital buildings to carry out military operations. Israeli forces on Monday said they had severed northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory.
The Israel Defence Forces military spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said that on Tuesday Israel again fired into Lebanon in response to an attack. The IDF also claimed it intercepted “a suspicious aerial target” near the blue line which marks the UN-drawn boundary between Israel and Lebanon.
At least 10,328 Palestinians – including 4,237 children – have been killed within the Gaza Strip by Israeli military actions since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday. The number of people wounded has risen to 25,965, according to the health ministry spokesperson Dr Ashraf al-Qudra. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued in Gaza. The bodies of many Palestinians are also thought to remain under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
A moment’s silence was held on Tuesday to mark 30 days since the Hamas attack on Israel in which 1,400 people were killed. Vigils were held around the world. Outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, a crowd gathered for a vigil to remember the dead and the estimated 240 hostages still held by Hamas.
A Palestinian journalist has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza and another was wounded, the official Palestinian news agency reported. Mohammad Abu Hasira was killed along with 42 members of his family “in an Israeli bombing that targeted his house located near the fishermens’ port west of Gaza City”, the Wafa news agency reported.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said one of its staff members in Gaza was killed along with his family in northern Gaza. Mohammed Al Ahel had been a laboratory technician for the organisation for two years and was at his home in the Al-Shati refugee camp when the area was bombed and his building collapsed on Monday, MSF said.
At least 89 people who worked for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, have been killed since 7 October. A World Health Organization spokesperson said on Tuesday that more than 160 healthcare workers had died while on duty in Gaza. It makes the conflict the deadliest ever for UN workers.
The level of death and suffering in the Israel-Palestine crisis is “hard to fathom”, a World Health Organization spokesperson (WHO) has said. “Every day, you think it is the worst day and then the next day is worse,” Christian Lindmeier told journalists on Tuesday. “Nothing justifies the horror being endured by civilians in Gaza.” The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urged all parties involved to agree to a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and “work toward a lasting peace”. “History will judge us all by what we do to end this tragedy,” he said.
Civilians are Gaza are “drinking water from a swimming pool” and children are “crying for lack of bread”, the international humanitarian organisation Care said as it urged an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory. More than half a million people in northern Gaza face death by starvation as food supplies run “perilously” low, ActionAid Palestine warned. UNRWA has described the situation in Gaza as a “tragedy of colossal proportions”.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, began a five-day visit to the Middle East on Tuesday to engage with government officials and civil society groups on human rights violations taking place amid Israel’s escalation in Gaza. “It has been one full month of carnage, of incessant suffering, bloodshed, destruction, outrage and despair,” Türk said in a statement.
At least 500 people, most of them foreigners or dual nationals and their dependents, were evacuated from Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday. A dozen Palestinian children who have cancer were allowed to leave Gaza on Tuesday for treatment in Egypt. In total, more than 400 US citizens, lawful permanent residents and other eligible people have been evacuated from Gaza, and more than 100 French nationals and their dependents have crossed the Rafah border.
The British army is “posturing” itself for the prospect of a “non-combatant evacuation operation” in the Middle East in the event the Israel-Hamas conflict expands, the UK’s chief of the general staff told parliament’s defence select committee on Tuesday.
The German government has decided to release €91m (£79m) for UNRWA after a review launched in response to the Hamas attacks on Israel.
The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has defied calls for a ban on a pro-Palestinian march through London on Armistice Day. Scotland Yard does not believe it has grounds to support a ban on the planned pro-Palestine demonstration, the Guardian has learned.
Updated
