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The Reuters news agency is reporting that Israel’s military says an organisation in Syria launched a drone that hit a school in the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Thursday, and that it struck the group in response.
The military did not say what organisation in Syria had launched the drone toward Eilat, on the Red Sea.
But it said in a statement it holds Syria’s government fully responsible “for any terror activity emanating from its territory.” There were no reports of injuries from the drone strike, which caused light damage, according to Reuters.
The drone incident adds to a spate of attacks directed from the region since the 7 October outbreak of Israeli fighting with Gaza’s Hamas militants.
5am Summary
It is now 5am in Gaza and Tel Aviv.
Here is a summary of the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas conflict:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of his government: “we don’t seek to conquer Gaza, we don’t seek to occupy Gaza, and we don’t seek to govern Gaza”. But he said “a credible force” would be needed to end Hamas rule of the territory. “What we have to see is Gaza demilitarised, deradicalised and rebuilt,” he told Fox News in the US. “We have to destroy Hamas, not only for our sake, but for the sake of everyone.”
Gaza officials said Israel launched air strikes on or near at least three hospitals on Friday, further stressing the Palestinian territory’s precarious health system as it struggles to cope with thousands of people wounded or displaced in Israel’s war against Hamas militants.
At least 10,812 Palestinians, including 4,412 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza has said in its latest update.
18 Palestinians have been killed and at least 20 others injured by the Israel Defence Forces during a raid on Thursday on Jenin city and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. According to Palestinian health ministry figures, at least 178 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the 7 October attack on Israel.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said one of their paramedics was shot in the back and wounded by Israeli forces targeting an ambulance during the raid in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.
Officials and diplomats are negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, the Guardian understands. The discussions include the possibility of a one- to three-day ceasefire, although nothing has been agreed, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have said.
The White House announced that Israel would begin to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in parts of northern Gaza to allow people to leave. The US national security spokesperson, John Kirby, described it as “a significant first step”. The US state department later said on Thursday that there will be two humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave hostile areas of northern Gaza.
The Israeli military has said it has not agreed to a ceasefire but that it will continue to allow “tactical, local pauses” to let in humanitarian aid into Gaza. A senior Israeli official told the Times of Israel the new four-hour pauses will take place in a different northern Gaza neighbourhood each day, with residents notified three hours ahead of time. There were no immediate reports of a lull in fighting raging among the ruined buildings in the north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said it was undertaking “localised and pinpoint measures” for civilians to leave but “these things do not detract from the war fighting”.
Any plans for short-term pauses in the fighting in Gaza must be carried out in coordination with the UN and following agreement by all sides to be “truly effective”, a UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric has said.
Thousands of Palestinians continued to flee south from northern Gaza. Israel said it had allowed movement along the Salah al-Din road – the main highway that runs along the Gaza Strip – for the fifth consecutive day. Images of the mass exodus showed many people evacuating on foot with their belongings tied to their backs, with some pushing wheelchairs and prams.
Yemen’s Houthi forces have said they launched “a barrage of ballistic missiles” targeting “various sensitive targets” in southern Israel. A Houthi military spokesperson said some of those missiles were heading for the Red Sea city of Eilat. Israel’s military said a drone hit a building in the southern Israeli city, and that no physical injuries were reported.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt reopened on Thursday for limited evacuations. Nearly 700 foreign passport holders and dependents were reportedly able to leave Gaza through the crossing on Thursday as well as 12 medical evacuees and 10 companions, after the crossing was suspended for a day.
AFP on worsening conflict in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank…
Around four tyre fires belching black smoke, Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers in Jenin on Thursday in the deadliest army raid the occupied West Bank has seen since 2005.
The Palestinian city, a militant stronghold and the site of frequent army raids, was rocked by dozens of explosions as Israeli armoured vehicles tore through the streets, fighting running battles with Palestinian gunmen using assault rifles and pipe bombs.
AFP reporters saw one masked militant lying bloody on the pavement, as another took his rifle to fire towards Israeli positions.
Another three were seen to be wounded, while AFP counted five bodies in a nearby hospital morgue, where weeping relatives kept vigil over the deceased.
The Palestinian health ministry said 14 were killed in the raid, with the violence continuing until Thursday evening, making it the deadliest single incursion in the West Bank since 2005, according to United Nations records.
Four more were killed elsewhere in the West Bank on Thursday, the health ministry said, putting the toll of Palestinians killed in the West Bank by Israeli fire on in settler attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7 at more than 180 people. Three Israelis were killed in violence in the West Bank over that period, according to officials.
“This is every day,” said a 39-year-old Palestinian computer engineer, who asked to remain anonymous.
“This is our life,” he said before fresh gunfire sent panic through a crowd of onlookers who ran down the street.
PIC
The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel in an unprecedented attack that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and has retaliated with an aerial bombing and ground offensive that the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip says has killed more than 10,800 people, mostly civilians.
The West Bank - a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war - has also been roiled by violence amid increasing raids targeting militants.
The Israeli military said 20 people were detained in Thursday’s Jenin raid, including two members of the Islamic Jihad militant group.
From a hilltop vantage point, the crackle of gunfire echoed off high-rise buildings, amid smoke and sirens.
Fresh explosions occurred every five minutes at the peak of the fighting mid-afternoon, as an Israeli drone circled over the city.
A local told AFP leaflets were airdropped in the morning over Jenin refugee camp - home to some 23,000 people, according to the UN - warning them to avoid militant factions.
In the afternoon, more pamphlets were scattered from above, as locals said fighting had left children trapped in their schools.
“We feel even more bad than what you would assume,” said a 42-year-old dentist, after gesturing in the direction of Israeli troops and drawing a finger across his throat.
“They say in Gaza the problem is Hamas. The problem is not Hamas, the problem is the occupation.”
On the streets, Israeli troops faced off with militants hiding behind cover.
Dozens of spectators milled in side streets, surging forward to help the wounded and direct ambulances.
Two men in balaclavas stalked through the crowd, one carrying a gun with the emblem of Palestinian militants Islamic Jihad.
The Iran-backed group, which is also active in Gaza, is blacklisted as a “terrorist organisation” by the European Union and the United States.
Nearby, a pickup truck waited to carry away the dead and wounded.
“They shoot indiscriminately, in a barbaric way,” said 35-year-old paramedic Muhammad al-Ahmad. “Every hour we have a body.”
At a local morgue, the pale faces of young men were stained with blood. The dead body of 45-year-old Muhammad Aqel’s nephew lay in an adjacent prayer room.
“What keeps us strong is our steadfastness and God. This land is our land,” said Aqel.
International flight bookings around the world have fallen since the onset of the Israel-Hamas conflict especially in the Americas as people cancel trips to the Middle East and around the world.
Global travel demand has weakened since the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas killed 1,400 people in southern Israel on 7 October, and Israel responded with air and ground strikes on Gaza that Palestinian authorities say have killed over 10,000 people.
“This war is a catastrophic, heartbreaking, human tragedy that we are all seeing daily on our TV screens,” Olivier Ponti, vice president of travel analysis firm ForwardKeys, said in a statement.
“That is bound to put people off (from) traveling to the region, but it has also dented consumer confidence in traveling elsewhere too.”
International flight bookings from the Americas dropped 10% in the three weeks after the 7 October attack, when compared to the number of tickets issued three weeks before the attack, according to flight ticketing data.
Reuters has filed on reports of Israeli air-strikes on or near hospitals in Gaza...
Gaza officials said Israel launched air strikes on or near at least three hospitals on Friday, further stressing the Palestinian territory’s precarious health system as it struggles to cope with thousands of people wounded or displaced in Israel’s war against Hamas militants.
“The Israeli occupation launched simultaneous strikes on a number of hospitals during the past hours”, Gaza ministry of health spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told Al Jazeera television.
The medical facilities included Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al Shifa, where Israel said Hamas has hidden command centres and tunnels, allegations Hamas denies. Qidra said Israel targeted the Gaza City medical complex’s courtyard and there were casualties, but he did not provide details.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment on Qidra’s statement, which Reuters could not independently verify.
Gaza’s hospitals have struggled to care for victims of Israel’s month-long military campaign, aimed at obliterating Palestinian militant group Hamas, as medical supplies, clean water and fuel to power generators run out.
Gaza’s health ministry has said 18 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals and 40 other health centres were out of service either due to damage from bombardment or lack of fuel.
Palestinian media published video footage on Friday of Al Shifa, which Reuters was not immediately able to authenticate, that it said showed the aftermath of an Israeli attack on a parking lot where displaced Palestinians were sheltered and journalists were observing.
A pool of blood could be seen next to the body of a man being placed on a stretcher.
“With ongoing strikes and fighting nearby (Al Shifa), we are gravely concerned about the well-being of thousands of civilians there, many children among them, seeking medical care and shelter,” Human Rights Watch said on social media site X.
Qidra said Al-Rantisi Pediatric Hospital and Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital “have been witnessing a series of direct attacks and bombardments” on Friday. He said strikes on the hospital grounds at Al-Rantisi set vehicles on fire but they had been partly extinguished.
Isabel Debre reports for Associated Press from Jerusalem
Fistfights break out in bread lines. Residents wait hours for a gallon of brackish water that makes them sick. Scabies, diarrhea and respiratory infections rip through overcrowded shelters. And some families have to choose who eats.
“My kids are crying because they are hungry and tired and can’t use the bathroom,” said Suzan Wahidi, an aid worker and mother of five at a UN shelter in the central town of Deir al-Balah, where hundreds of people share a single toilet. “I have nothing for them.”
With the Israel-Hamas war in its second month and more than 10,000 people killed in Gaza, trapped civilians are struggling to survive without electricity or running water. Palestinians who managed to flee Israel’s ground invasion in northern Gaza now encounter scarcity of food and medicine in the south, and there is no end in sight to the war sparked by Hamas’s deadly 7 October attack.
Over half a million displaced people have crammed into hospitals and UN schools-turned-shelters in the south. The schools — overcrowded, strewn with trash, swarmed by flies — have become a breeding ground for infectious diseases.
Since the start of the war, several hundred trucks of aid have entered Gaza through the southern Rafah crossing, but aid organisations say that’s a drop in the ocean of need. For most people, each day has become a drudging cycle of searching for bread and water and waiting in lines.
The sense of desperation has strained Gaza’s close-knit society, which has endured decades of conflict, four wars with Israel and a 16-year blockade since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces.
Some Palestinians have even vented their anger against Hamas, shouting insults at officials or beating up policemen in scenes unimaginable just a month ago, witnesses say.
“Everywhere you go, you see tension in the eyes of people,” said Yousef Hammash, an aid worker with the Norwegian Refugee Council in the southern town of Khan Younis. “You can tell they are at a breaking point.”
Supermarket shelves are nearly empty. Bakeries have shut down because of lack of flour and fuel for the ovens. Gaza’s farmland is mostly inaccessible, and there’s little in produce markets beyond onions and oranges. Families cook lentils over small fires in the streets.
“You hear children crying in the night for sweets and hot food,” said Ahmad Kanj, 28, a photographer at a shelter in the southern town of Rafah. “I can’t sleep.”
Many people say they’ve gone weeks without meat, eggs or milk and now live on one meal a day.
“There is a real threat of malnutrition and people starving,” said Alia Zaki, spokesperson for the UN’s World Food Program. What aid workers call “food insecurity” is the new baseline for Gaza’s 2.3 million people, she said.
Famed Gazan dishes like jazar ahmar — juicy red carrots stuffed with ground lamb and rice — are a distant memory, replaced by dates and packaged biscuits. Even those are hard to find.
Each day families send their most assertive relative off before dawn to one of the few bakeries still functioning. Some take knives and sticks — they say they must prepare to defend themselves if attacked, with riots sporadically breaking out in bread and water lines.
“I send my sons to the bakeries and eight hours later, they’ve come back with bruises and sometimes not even bread,” said 59-year-old Etaf Jamala, who fled Gaza City for the southern town of Deir al-Balah, where she sleeps in the packed halls of a hospital with 15 family members.
One woman told The Associated Press that her nephew, a 27-year-old father of five in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, was stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife after being accused of cutting the line for water. He needed dozens of stitches, she said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The violence has jarred the tiny territory, where family names are linked to community status and even small indiscretions can be magnified in the public eye.
“The social fabric for which Gaza was known is fraying due to the anxiety and uncertainty and loss,” said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Israel cut off water to Gaza shortly after the Hamas attack, saying its complete siege would be lifted only after the militants released the roughly 240 hostages they captured. Israel has since turned on pipelines to the center and south, but there’s no fuel to pump or process the water. The taps run dry.
Those who can’t find or afford bottled water rely on salty, unfiltered well water, which doctors say causes diarrhea and serious gastrointestinal infections.
“I cannot recognise my own son,” said Fadi Ihjazi. The three-year-old has lost five kilograms (11 pounds) in just two weeks, she said, and has been diagnosed with a chronic intestinal infection.
“Before the war he had the sweetest baby face,” Ihjazi said, but now his lips are chapped, his face yellowish, his eyes sunken.
Sadeia Abu Harbeid, 44, said she missed a chemotherapy treatment for her breast cancer during the second week of the war and can’t find painkillers. Without regular treatments, she says, her chances of survival are slim.
She hardly eats, choosing to give most of the little food she has to her two-year-old. “This existence is a humiliation,” she said.
Across Gaza, rare scenes of dissent are playing out. Some Palestinians are openly challenging the authority of Hamas, which long has ruled the enclave with an iron fist. Four Palestinians across Gaza spoke to AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals about what they’ve seen.
A man who was told off by a Hamas officer for cutting the bread line took a chair and smashed it over his head, according to an aid worker in line. In another area, angry crowds hurled stones at Hamas police who cut in front of a water line and beat them with their fists until they scattered, according to a journalist there.
Over the past few night in Gaza City, Hamas rockets streaming overhead toward Israel have prompted outbursts of rage from a UN shelter. In the middle of the night, hundreds of people have shouted insults against Hamas and cried out that they wanted the war to end, according to a 28-year-old sleeping in a tent there with his family.
And during a televised press conference Tuesday, a young man with a dazed expression and bandaged wrist pushed his way through the crowd, disrupting a speech by Iyad Bozum, spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
“May God hold you to account, Hamas!” the man yelled, shaking his wounded hand.
Gaza’s future remains uncertain as Israeli tanks rumble down the ghostly streets of Gaza City with the goal of toppling Hamas. Palestinians say it will never be the same.
“The Gaza I know is just a memory now,” said 16-year-old Jehad Ghandour, who fled to Rafah. “There are no places or anything I know left.”
And the Israeli prime minister reiterated his government had not agreed to a cease fire.
Well, one thing we haven’t agreed to is a cease fire. A cease fire with Hamas means surrender to Hamas, surrender to terror and the victory of Iran’s axis of terror. So there won’t be a cease fire without the release of Israeli hostages
The fighting continues against the Hamas enemy, the Hamas terrorists, but in specific locations for a given period, a few hours here, a few hours there, we want to facilitate a safe passage of civilians away from the zone of fighting. And we’re doing that.
More from that interview with Netanyahu on Fox News in the US. He said Hamas must be “gone” from Gaza.
I think It’s clear what Gaza’s future has to look like. Hamas will be gone, we have to destroy Hamas, not only for our sake, but for the sake of everyone. For the sake of civilization, for the sake of Palestians and Israelis alike.
"We don't seek to conquer... occupy... govern Gaza": Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday his country does not seek to conquer, occupy or govern Gaza after its war against Hamas but a “credible force” would be needed to enter the Palestinian territory if necessary to prevent the emergence of militant threats.
Netanyahu’s comments this week suggesting that Israel would be responsible for Gaza security indefinitely drew pushback from the United States, Israel’s main ally.
Washington has said it would oppose Israeli post-war occupation of Gaza, where Israel has waged a bombing campaign to destroy the enclave’s Hamas rulers after militants rampaged through southern Israeli communities on 7 October in an attack that Israel says killed 1,400 people.
Speaking to US television’s Fox News on Thursday, Netanyahu said: “We don’t seek to conquer Gaza, we don’t seek to occupy Gaza, and we don’t seek to govern Gaza”.
Netanyahu said a civilian government would need to take shape in Gaza but that Israel would make sure an attack like 7 October does not happen again.
“So, we have to have credible force that, if necessary, will enter Gaza and kill the killers. Because that’s what will prevent the reemergence of a Hamas-like entity,” Netanyahu said.
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 10,800 Palestinians, according to health officials there. A humanitarian catastrophe has unfolded as basic supplies run out and wounded people overwhelm a fragile medical system.
US officials say the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, should return to govern Gaza after the war. Hamas seized control of Gaza from the PA forces of President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.
Top Palestinian officials, including Abbas, say a PA return to Gaza must be accompanied by a political solution that ends Israel’s occupation of territory it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Netanyahu said that after the war, “what we have to see is Gaza demilitarised, deradicalised and rebuilt.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told PBS this week the PA would not return to Gaza “on the back of an Israeli tank”.
Updated
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has posted an update on ‘Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel’.
The OCHA said on Thursday, more than 50,000 people fled from areas north of Wadi Gaza (the north of Gaza) southwards, through a ‘corridor’ opened by the Israeli military.
But hundreds of thousands of people still in the north “are struggling to secure the minimum amounts of water and food to survive”.
The OCHA also said:
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, stressed that “the UN cannot be part of a unilateral proposal to push hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians in Gaza into so-called safe zones.”
All municipal water wells shut down again due to the lack of fuel, halting the supply of water for domestic non-drinking uses.
UNRWA opened two additional shelters and is now hosting 582,000 IDPs in 92 facilities south of Wadi Gaza in increasingly overcrowded conditions: on average, every toilet is shared by 160 people, and every shower unit by 700 people.
Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital in Gaza city was hit during an airstrike, reportedly killing three people and injuring dozens more. The vicinity of Shifa hospital was also reportedly hit and Gaza’s only psychiatric hospital stopped functioning.
With only 65 trucks entering from Egypt on 9 November, the volume of aid entering from Egypt is “wholly inadequate,” Griffiths said, stressing that hundreds of trucks are needed every day, including fuel, and that more than one entry point should be opened.
In the West Bank, 18 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in less than 24 hours, since the afternoon of 8 November, bringing the Palestinian fatality toll since 7 October to 175, including 46 children.
Read our Flash Update #34 about the humanitarian crisis amid hostilities in the #GazaStrip and #Israel.
— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) November 10, 2023
🔗https://t.co/kBwbNwxwn5 pic.twitter.com/qBTSLai5Fd
Médecins Sans Frontières has insisted “hospitals are not targets and must remain safe spaces”, saying there had been a “surge in violence” in the West Bank.
Since 7 October we have seen a dramatic increase in violence from Israeli forces in Jenin. Since then, our team has treated over 30 patients with gunshot and blast wounds.
Today, there has been a surge in violence, with widespread bombing and shooting – this morning leaflets were dropped on Jenin refugee camp, telling residents to evacuate, many of whom have no safe place to go.
This morning around 10:30am our team treated a paramedic who was shot while inside an ambulance. Since 11am this morning, Israeli military vehicles have blocked ambulances from entering the hospitals, forcing them to refer patients to hospitals further away.
Last night, a soldier fired at the emergency unit of the hospital, hitting the wall in full view of our colleagues who were standing outside. Today, our team witnessed Israeli forces fire at the entrance of the hospital, with bullets hitting the wall directly above the door.
Hospitals are not targets and must remain safe spaces. Medical care must not be impeded.
On the main street of the Palestinian West Bank town of Huwara, where Road 60 heads north towards Nablus, the shops are all shuttered.
Petrol stations, bakeries, banks, the business selling cut stone from the local quarries, the sweetshops and mobile phone boutiques are closed at the order of the Israeli military. At the main crossing points between the west and east of the now divided town, wary Israeli soldiers with machine guns guard a closed yellow metal gate.
On the road itself, the only cars that are moving belong to residents of the nearby hardline Jewish settlements that dot the surrounding hills, whose ultra-orthodox nationalist residents have a reputation for promoting and carrying out violence against Palestinians.
The denial of Road 60 to Huwara’s Palestinian residents is being enforced despite the fact that a new bypass for the use of the settlers is now passable by car: but many choose to drive through the centre of Huwara, to emphasise their hold on the land.
More details are emerging about strikes in southern Israel, for which Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are claiming responsibility.
AFP reports…
A drone on Thursday hit a school in the southern Israeli resort of Eilat and Israeli air defences later intercepted a missile over the Red Sea, the military said.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they had launched “a barrage of ballistic missiles” at southern Israel, but did not mention drones in their statement.
No one was physically hurt in the explosion at the Eilat elementary school caused by the unidentified drone, but paramedics were treating seven people for shock, said an army spokeswoman at the scene.
Emergency services confirmed the details separately.
Local residents clustered around the school complex, which was cordoned off by dozens of soldiers and police officers, an AFP reporter saw.
Later Thursday, the Israeli army said it intercepted a missile over the Red Sea without confirming its origin.
The Houthis have claimed repeated missile and drone attacks at Israel as they step up a campaign of disruptive strikes also targeting US forces in the region during Israel’s war with Hamas since October 7.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement: “Our armed forces... launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at various sensitive targets of the Israeli entity... including military targets in the area of Umm al-Rashrash”, the Arabic name of the town that stood where Eilat now is.
He said the operation was “successful” and claimed “direct hits”.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters the army was monitoring threats in the region, including against Eilat on the Red Sea coast.
“It can come from several places,” Hagari told reporters.
Updated
Justin Trudeau has condemned recent violence in Canada after shots were fired at two Jewish schools in Montreal and clashes broke out between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students at a university in the city.
Police on Thursday said they were investigating overnight shootings at two Jewish schools in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood after staff reported finding bullet holes in the front doors of the schools.
The Israel-Gaza war has sharply divided Canada, with a growing number of residents calling for a ceasefire in the conflict that has claimed more than 11,000 lives.
“I know emotions are high, and people are scared. But attacking each other is not who we are as Canadians,” the prime minister said on Thursday.
“If anywhere in the world is going to start building the kinds of understandings that we’re going to need to see peaceful resolution in the Middle East ... it starts in a place like Canada,” he said.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 10,812 Palestinians, including 4,412 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza has said in its latest update on Thursday.
18 Palestinians have been killed and at least 20 others injured by the Israel Defence Forces during a raid on Thursday on Jenin city and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. According to Palestinian health ministry figures, at least 178 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the 7 October attack on Israel.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said one of their paramedics was shot in the back and wounded by Israeli forces targeting an ambulance during the raid in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.
Officials and diplomats are negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, the Guardian understands. The discussions include the possibility of a one- to three-day ceasefire, although nothing has been agreed, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have said.
The White House announced that Israel would begin to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in parts of northern Gaza to allow people to leave. The US national security spokesperson, John Kirby, described it as “a significant first step”. The US state department later said on Thursday that there will be two humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave hostile areas of northern Gaza.
The Israeli military has said it has not agreed to a ceasefire but that it will continue to allow “tactical, local pauses” to let in humanitarian aid into Gaza. A senior Israeli official told the Times of Israel the new four-hour pauses will take place in a different northern Gaza neighbourhood each day, with residents notified three hours ahead of time. There were no immediate reports of a lull in fighting raging among the ruined buildings in the north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said it was undertaking “localised and pinpoint measures” for civilians to leave but “these things do not detract from the war fighting”.
Any plans for short-term pauses in the fighting in Gaza must be carried out in coordination with the UN and following agreement by all sides to be “truly effective”, a UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric has said.
Thousands of Palestinians continued to flee south from northern Gaza. Israel said it had allowed movement along the Salah al-Din road – the main highway that runs along the Gaza Strip – for the fifth consecutive day. Images of the mass exodus showed many people evacuating on foot with their belongings tied to their backs, with some pushing wheelchairs and prams.
Yemen’s Houthi forces have said they launched “a barrage of ballistic missiles” targeting “various sensitive targets” in southern Israel. A Houthi military spokesperson said some of those missiles were heading for the Red Sea city of Eilat. Israel’s military said a drone hit a building in the southern Israeli city, and that no physical injuries were reported.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt reopened on Thursday for limited evacuations. Nearly 700 foreign passport holders and dependents were reportedly able to leave Gaza through the crossing on Thursday as well as 12 medical evacuees and 10 companions, after the crossing was suspended for a day. About 100 trucks carrying food medicines and water reportedly crossed into Gaza on Thursday.
The International Red Cross temporarily paused its patient escorts after its convoy of trucks came under fire in Gaza. William Schomburg, the head of the organization’s Gaza office, called the incident “deeply alarming” and “unacceptable”. The organisation has since resumed bringing patients to the Egypt border crossing.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has told the Biden administration that it is open to a governance role in Gaza after the war ends, if the US commits to a full-fledged two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a New York Times report.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has rejected Israeli plans to push civilians into safe zones in the south of Gaza and said the world must pursue a humanitarian ceasefire as the only way to save lives in the territory. Macron described the proposal for safe zones in the south of Gaza as a very bad idea that would not guarantee safety because no political agreement existed for them.
Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Petra De Sutter, has called on the Belgian government to adopt sanctions against Israel and investigate the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps in Gaza. “It is clear that Israel does not care about the international demands for a ceasefire,” she said, calling on the EU to immediately suspend its association agreement with Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in return for the release of some of the hostages held in the territory early in the war, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
More than half of the British nationals seeking to escape Gaza for Egypt have managed to do so, but there are still distressing cases of families being split up, the Foreign Office has confirmed. Meanwhile in the UK, home secretary Suella Braverman faced fierce criticism after she published an article accusing Metropolitan police officers of “playing favourites” in their handling of pro-Palestinian protesters.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said it is seeking nearly half a billion dollars to address the most critical humanitarian needs of people in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.
Updated
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said one of their paramedics was shot in the back and wounded by Israeli forces targeting an ambulance during a raid in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
Sabreen Obeidi was “injured with live bullets” when a PRCS ambulance was targeted during the hours-long daytime raid on Jenin city and its refugee camp on Thursday, the organisation said.
⭕️ PRCS: Paramedic Sabreen Obeidi was injured with live bullets in the back. 🚑 This happened when a PRCS ambulance was targeted during a raid by occupation forces in #Jenin Refugee Camp.#NotATarget ❌#Palestine pic.twitter.com/pgvx1ZaNFg
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 9, 2023
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 9, 2023
Médecins Sans Frontières said its team members treated a paramedic who was shot inside an ambulance.
This morning around 10:30AM, our teams treated a paramedic who was shot while inside an ambulance. Since 11AM this morning, Israeli military vehicles have blocked ambulances from entering the hospitals, forcing them to refer patients to hospitals further away.
— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) November 9, 2023
At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and at least 20 others injured by the Israel Defence Forces during Thursday’s raid in the occupied West Bank.
Nearly half of Democrats disapprove of how Joe Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to an Associated Press-NORC center for public relations research poll.
The poll found 50% of Democrats approve of how the US president has navigated the conflict compared to 46% who disapprove.
Of those who disapprove of Biden’s management of the conflict, 65% said the US is too supportive of Israel. In comparison, nearly 7 in 10 Democrats who approve think the US provides the right amount of support to Israel currently.
Updated
Pauses in fighting in Gaza must be carried out in coordination with UN, says spokesperson
Any plans for short-term pauses in the fighting in Gaza must be carried out in coordination with the UN and following agreement by all sides to be “truly effective”, a UN spokesperson has said.
Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary general, was asked on Thursday about the White House’s earlier announcement that Israel has agreed to four-hour pauses in northern Gaza. He replied:
How any such halt in the fighting, and how it would work for humanitarian purposes, will need to be coordinated with the United Nations, especially on the issue of timings and location.
And obviously in order for this to be done safely for humanitarian purposes, it would have to be agreed with all parties to the conflict to be truly effective.
Speaking during his regular press briefing from New York, Dujarric also said that 106 trucks primarily carrying food, medicine, health supplies, bottled water and hygiene, arrived in Gaza on Wednesday.
A total of 756 trucks have been able to get into Gaza since aid delivery began on 21 October, an amount he described as “only a fraction of what is needed and still no fuel going in.”
Yemen Houthi rebels say they launched 'a barrage of ballistic missiles' at southern Israel
Yemen’s Houthi forces have said they launched “a barrage of ballistic missiles” targeting “various sensitive targets” in southern Israel on Thursday.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sare’e said some of those missiles were heading for the Red Sea city of Eilat. He described the operation as “successful” and claimed “direct hits”.
As we reported earlier today, Israel’s military said a drone hit a building in Eilat. It later said the drone crashed into a school and that no physical injuries were reported.
The Israeli army also said it intercepted a missile over the Red Sea without confirming its origin.
An Israeli government spokesperson shared footage from a Lebanese short film which he tried to pass off as evidence of Palestinians faking injuries in Gaza.
Ofir Gendelman, a spokesperson for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, posted a video to social media on Thursday which showed a young girl with fake blood as part of a wider film set that also included emergency workers.
Gendelman wrote alongside the video: “See for yourselves how [the Palestinians in Gaza] fake injuries and evacuating ‘injured’ civilians, all in front of thr [sic] cameras.”
But Shayan Sardarizadeh, a journalist at BBC Verify, debunked the video and said it was a behind-the-scenes clip from a short film that was shot in Lebanon last month.
Sardarizadeh went on to report that both the director and the child actor “posted rebuttals to the false claims being made about them and the short film on Instagram.” He added:
To sum up, the viral claim by Mr Gendelman and others that this video is evidence of Palestinians faking inuries is totally false. The video is behind-the-scenes footage from a short film recently made in Lebanon that claims to be a tribute to Palestinian victims.
The Israeli PM's spokesperson to the Arab world falsely claims this video shows Palestinian civilians "fake injuries", using the term "Pallywood".
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) November 9, 2023
It's behind-the-scenes footage of a Lebanese short film about Palestinians called "The Reality", as stated by the film's director. pic.twitter.com/gkkjcOPzBG
Both the director, Mahmoud Ramzi, and the child actor, Rami Jardali, posted rebuttals to the false claims being made about them and the short film on Instagram.
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) November 9, 2023
Images of the set are also easily found on the Instagram accounts of the film's actors. pic.twitter.com/5U7inYHCuP
To sum up, the viral claim by Mr Gendelman and others that this video is evidence of Palestinians faking inuries is totally false.
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) November 9, 2023
The video is behind-the-scenes footage from a short film recently made in Lebanon that claims to be a tribute to Palestinian victims. pic.twitter.com/gsdEPlw9Hr
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has told the Biden administration that it is open to a governance role in Gaza after the war ends, if the US commits to a full-fledged two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a New York Times report.
Hussein al-Sheikh, the secretary general of the PA’s parent Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), told the paper that he had spoken to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, last week.
He said the PA was seeking “a commitment from the US administration, with a comprehensive political decision that would include the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
Palestinian leaders were looking for “a serious American initiative that would force Israel to abide by it, to commit to it,” he said, adding: “This current US administration is capable of doing that.”
Nearly 700 foreign passport holders and dependents were able to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing sources.
The limited evacuations through the Rafah border crossing resumed earlier today for some injured Palestinians requiring hospital treatment and foreign passport holders after it was closed on Wednesday.
On Thursday, 12 medical evacuees and 10 companions entered Egypt, the security and medical sources said.
In addition, about 100 trucks carrying food medicines and water crossed into Gaza, the sources said.
The White House’s announcement that Israel will implement daily “humanitarian pauses” in parts of north Gaza has raised hopes of a respite in more than a month of fighting that has killed thousands.
But there were no immediate reports of a lull in fighting raging among the ruined buildings in the north of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.
Israel has also not directly confirmed this, only speaking more generally of measures that appeared to correspond to arrangements already in place.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Thursday:
We are undertaking localised and pinpoint measures to enable the exit of Palestinian civilians from Gaza City southward, so that we do not harm them. These things do not detract from the war fighting.
A senior Israeli official told the Times of Israel that the “tactical, localised” pauses would be an expansion of the humanitarian corridors that it began operating on Sunday to allow movement from northern to southern Gaza.
The new four-hour pauses will take place in a different northern Gaza neighbourhood each day, with residents notified three hours ahead of time, the official said.
There would be no full ceasefire for now, Gallant told reporters on Thursday.
We will not stop fighting as long as our hostages are in Gaza and as long as we have not completed our mission, which is toppling the Hamas regime and eliminating its military and governance capabilities.
Summary of the day so far
It’s nearly 11pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 10,812 Palestinians, including 4,412 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza has said in its latest update on Thursday.
18 Palestinians have been killed and at least 20 others injured by the Israel Defence Forces during a raid on Thursday on Jenin city and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. According to Palestinian health ministry figures, at least 178 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the 7 October attack on Israel.
Officials and diplomats are negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, the Guardian understands. The discussions include the possibility of a one- to three-day ceasefire, although nothing has been agreed, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have said.
The White House announced that Israel would begin to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in parts of northern Gaza to allow people to leave. The US national security spokesperson, John Kirby, described it as “a significant first step”. The US state department later said on Thursday that there will be two humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave hostile areas of northern Gaza.
The Israeli military has said it has not agreed to a ceasefire but that it will continue to allow “tactical, local pauses” to let in humanitarian aid into Gaza. “There’s no ceasefire, I repeat there’s no ceasefire. What we are doing, that four-hour window, these are tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid,” an army spokesperson said.
Thousands of Palestinians continued to flee south from northern Gaza. Israel said it had allowed movement along the Salah al-Din road – the main highway that runs along the Gaza Strip – for the fifth consecutive day. Images of the mass exodus showed many people evacuating on foot with their belongings tied to their backs, with some pushing wheelchairs and prams.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt reopened on Thursday for limited evacuations. Several dozen foreign passport holders and dependents, along with 12 medical evacuees, were reportedly able to cross the border on Thursday after the crossing was suspended for a day.
The International Red Cross temporarily paused its patient escorts after its convoy of trucks came under fire in Gaza. William Schomburg, the head of the organization’s Gaza office, called the incident “deeply alarming” and “unacceptable”. The organisation has since resumed bringing patients to the Egypt border crossing.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has rejected Israeli plans to push civilians into safe zones in the south of Gaza and said the world must pursue a humanitarian ceasefire as the only way to save lives in the territory. Macron described the proposal for safe zones in the south of Gaza as a very bad idea that would not guarantee safety because no political agreement existed for them.
Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Petra De Sutter, has called on the Belgian government to adopt sanctions against Israel and investigate the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps in Gaza. “It is clear that Israel does not care about the international demands for a ceasefire,” she said, calling on the EU to immediately suspend its association agreement with Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in return for the release of some of the hostages held in the territory early in the war, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
More than half of the British nationals seeking to escape Gaza for Egypt have managed to do so, but there are still distressing cases of families being split up, the Foreign Office has confirmed. Meanwhile in the UK, home secretary Suella Braverman faced fierce criticism after she published an article accusing Metropolitan police officers of “playing favourites” in their handling of pro-Palestinian protesters.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said it is seeking nearly half a billion dollars to address the most critical humanitarian needs of people in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.
US forces were targeted in three attacks in Iraq on Thursday but suffered no casualties, security sources have said, Reuters reported.
Spokespeople for the US embassy in Baghdad and US-led international forces stationed in Iraq did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The attacks mark the most geographically widespread series of strikes on US assets in a single day since the Israel-Hamas conflict started.
A joint patrol of US forces and the Iraqi counter-terrorism service was targeted by an explosive device near the northern city of Mosul, causing damage to a vehicle but no casualties, two security sources said.
Armed drones also targeted the al-Harir airbase in Erbil and the Ain al-Asad airbase west of Baghdad, both of which house US and international forces. The drones were downed by air defences and caused no casualties, security sources said.
US-led troops have been attacked at least 40 times in Iraq and Syria since early October over Israel’s devastating attack on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas militants’ 7 October attack on Israel.
18 Palestinians killed during Israeli raid in West Bank
Eighteen Palestinians have been killed and others were injured by the Israel Defence Forces during an hours-long daytime raid on the city of Jenin and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
Four more Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in separate incidents across the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, after earlier saying that 15 Palestinians were killed after a raid by Israeli forces on Jenin city and refugee camp and in other Palestinian towns.
The International Red Cross temporarily paused its patient escorts after its convoy of trucks came under fire in Gaza, Reuters reported.
William Schomburg, the head of the organization’s Gaza office, called the incident “deeply alarming” in comments made to Reuters.
“The [International Committee of the Red Cross] (ICRC) was targeted the day before yesterday, and that is unacceptable,” Schomburg said.
Schomburg confirmed to Reuters that the organization paused its patient escorts on Wednesday, but has since resumed bringing patients to the Egypt border crossing.
When asked if ICRC has had any casualties amid fighting in Gaza, Schomburg told Reuters that an ICRC colleague has been missing for weeks, but did not elaborate further.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian the Iranian foreign minister said escalation of the conflict is now inevitable in the wake of the killings on Thursday on the West Bank that left at least 14 Palestinians dead.
The remark was apparently made to the Qatari foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. The Iranians have been warning about a regional escalation for weeks, but it is the first time Tehran has been reported as saying such an escalation was inevitable.
Iran could become involved directly but it is more likely he regards a full scale uprising on the West Bank inevitable and that this will lead to a further uptick in fighting on the South lebanon border between iranian backed Hezbollah forces and israel
It is part of a flurry of phone calls amongst Middle east leaders ahead of two summits to be held in the next few days in which Arab leaders will feel under pressure to do more than repeat calls for a humanitarian ceasefire.
Updated
The US state department confirmed on Thursday that there will be two humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave hostile areas of northern Gaza, Reuters reports.
In the announcement to reporters, state department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said that it is critical that humanitarian supplies and aid be directed to areas where people are moving to.
Patel added that the Rafah crossing was opened on Thursday for humanitarian aid trucks to enter Gaza and for foreign nationals to depart.
Updated
The heads of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel’s Mossad spy agency met with the Qatari prime minister on Thursday to discuss the release of hostages held by Hamas, a source has told Reuters.
David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, CIA director William Burns and Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met after Qatari mediators met officials from the Hamas political office on Wednesday night and discussed potential parameters of a deal.
A US official told the news agency that “a meeting took place” between Burns, Barnea and the Qatar prime minister but declined to provide further details.
The talks also included a discussion about allowing humanitarian imports of fuel into Gaza, the source said.
Over half of UK nationals seeking to flee Gaza have left, says Foreign Office
More than half of the British nationals seeking to escape Gaza for Egypt have managed to do so, but there are still distressing cases of families being split up, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
It said more than 150 British nationals and families had crossed into Egypt, and that the total number that came forward seeking help to escape was in the low hundreds, a figure that had not changed in recent days.
Government officials refused to discuss individual cases, but that of Ahmed Sabra, a Swansea NHS heart consultant, has led to claims that the Foreign Office is not doing enough to negotiate with Israeli and Egyptians officials in order to prevent families being divided.
With the permission of the Palestinian authorities, Sabra crossed the border into Egypt with his wife and children even though he was not on the official list permitted to leave, unlike the rest of his family.
He was allowed to stay on the Egyptian side of the border for three days before being forced to return to Gaza on a bus on Wednesday, a decision he described as a death sentence.
In a tearful voice message, Sabra begged to be reunited with his family and thanked his former patients and fellow NHS staff for supporting him, adding he was devastated by the loss of life in Gaza.
UK officials do not believe there is any ulterior motive behind the refusal to let him remain with his family, but believe Israel is giving priority to women and children in drawing up its lists.
Updated
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said it is seeking nearly half a billion dollars to address the most critical humanitarian needs of people in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.
The agency has launched an appeal requesting $481m (£392m) in response to the “unprecedented devastation” in Gaza and “increasing needs” in the West Bank.
In a statement, UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said:
One month into a tight siege and a brutal war, the humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip are colossal. They grow by the hour.
He said the agency’s abilities are “stretched to the limits”, and that it was mourning 99 UNRWA staff killed in Gaza since 7 October.
Nearly half of Gaza’s houses have reportedly been destroyed or damaged due to relentless Israeli bombardments, subjecting the entire population to collective punishment, UNRWA said.
Even with the increased numbers of aid trucks getting into Gaza in the last few days, “only a trickle” of food, water and basic survival items are allowed in, it said. The agency said:
Around 70 per cent of people were forced to flee their homes. Of those, more than 720,000 are in 150 UNRWA shelters across the Gaza Strip. The conditions in the shelters are appalling; hundreds are sharing one toilet and a shower.
Lazzarini, who visited the Gaza Strip earlier this month, has reiterated his calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and an increased flow of humanitarian assistance.
'There's no ceasefire': Israeli army says it will open 'tactical, local pauses' in Gaza
The Israeli military has said it has not agreed to a ceasefire but that it will continue to allow “tactical, local pauses” to let in humanitarian aid into Gaza.
It comes after the White House earlier said Israel would begin daily four-hour pauses in the northern Gaza Strip to enable Palestinians to flee.
A statement from Israeli army spokesperson Richard Hecht said:
There’s no ceasefire, I repeat there’s no ceasefire. What we are doing, that four-hour window, these are tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid.
Schools across England are struggling with the emotional turmoil set off by the terrorist attacks on Israel last month and the impact on students, parents and teachers.
Specialist organisations such as the Community Security Trust and Tell Mama say they are seeing a big increase in reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia involving schools and pupils since the 7 October attacks and Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
In one case, police were called to Woodford County high school for girls, a grammar school in the London borough of Redbridge, after Islamophobic graffiti was found in a toilet on Friday. According to images posted on social media, the graffiti said: “Death to Gaza, death to Arabs, death to Muslims.”
Zara Mohammed, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said:
The ongoing war on Gaza, Palestine, is gravely impacting communities here in Britain. Divisive political rhetoric is fuelling Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism and resulting in the targeting of British Muslims and the undermining of the Palestinian cause.
It’s worrying to think a young person is filled with such hate. Schools and colleges should be inclusive, safe places for all our young people.
Updated
Rafah border crossing reopens for limited evacuation
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has opened today to allow the evacuation of injured Palestinians requiring hospital treatment and foreign passport holders after being suspended for a day.
Several dozen foreign passport holders and dependents, along with 12 medical evacuees, were able to cross the border on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing Egyptian security and medical sources.
The limited evacuations through the crossing resumed after it was closed on Wednesday due to what the US state department referred to as unspecified “security circumstance”.
On 1 November, the Rafah crossing opened for an estimated 7,000 foreign passport holders, dual nationals and their dependents, as well as a limited number of people needing urgent medical treatment, according to Reuters.
Rafah is also the entry point for humanitarian aid going into Gaza. On Wednesday, 106 trucks carrying food, medicines and water crossed into Gaza, bringing a total of 756 aid trucks that have entered since 21 October, according to UN figures.
That is compared to an average of 500 trucks a day that crossed into Gaza before the conflict began.
Updated
Except for the flickering police vans idling around Columbia University on a recent evening, the campus was almost the picture of an Ivy League idyll, with students striding past classical architecture in their autumnal best, clasping coffee cups.
Yet the conspicuously beefed-up security presence was one sign that all is not well at Columbia. Since the Israel-Hamas war began last month, fierce debates about the conflict and the US’s response have riven the university, with students clashing in dueling statements, rallies, and occasional physical confrontations. Hundreds of faculty members have also gotten involved.
The situation is acrimonious and shows no signs of abating: a rightwing, pro-Israel group has deployed a truck near campus with an electronic billboard exposing the identities of students that the group deems “Columbia’s Leading Antisemites”; a 19-year-old was charged with a hate crime after allegedly beating with a stick a student putting up a poster of an Israeli hostage held by Hamas; a swastika was found drawn in a bathroom; students wearing keffiyehs or hijabs have reportedly been harassed; and an unnamed Columbia administrative officer told a campus radio reporter, during a rally, that he hoped pro-Palestinian protesters would “die”.
Students at 15 UK universities, including Oxford and the London School of Economics (LSE), staged a coordinated walkout on Thursday calling for a ceasefire and to protest the “increased securitisation and monitoring of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students”.
The action was organised by a collective of 30 Palestine societies from universities across the UK. They released a joint statement, which claims: “The hostile environment that is being encouraged by university administrators has effectively banned Palestinians from their right to publicly grieve the catastrophe befalling their people in Gaza.”
They added that:
Palestinians are being forced to hide their identities on campuses, with administrators banning their national flag and blocking events to even grieve their dead. In supposed bastions of free speech and intellectual exchange, Palestinians and pro-Palestinian voices are experiencing chilling restrictions on speech.
Students walked out of their classes, seminars and lectures, calling on their institutions to demand an immediate ceasefire.
At LSE, more than 100 students staged a walk out to join the action. Another 13 universities are set to stage walkouts on Friday.
The London School of Economics (LSE) university students joined other academic institutions in a nationwide "Walk Out" earlier today to denounce their institution's involvement in Israel's occupation of Palestine. pic.twitter.com/0ERHPCk5o4
— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) November 9, 2023
Updated
Italy is sending a hospital ship to the Middle East to help treat Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Italian defence ministry.
The navy ship Vulcano, carrying 30 medical staff and equipped with operating rooms, is heading initially to Cyprus, AFP reported.
The ship is expected to arrive “in a couple of days, weather permitting”, the news agency reported, citing an Italian defence ministry spokesperson, who did not confirm how close the ship would get to Gaza.
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, told reporters that the ship would “be outside Gaza waters as quickly as possible, ready to admit and take care of injured civilians”.
On Wednesday, Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said the hospital ship was leaving from the western Italian port of Civitavecchia with 170 staff, including 30 people trained for medical emergencies.
Italy was also working to send a field hospital to Gaza, he added.
Updated
Suella Braverman’s future as UK home secretary appears to be in doubt over an incendiary article in which she accused the Metropolitan police of bias without full Downing Street approval.
In an article for the Times, Braverman accused police officers of “playing favourites” in their handling of pro-Palestinian protesters, ahead of a pro-Palestine march planned for Armistice Day.
Downing Street said the matter was being investigated and that the piece had not been agreed, in what would appear to be a breach of the ministerial code. It is understood the article was sent to Downing Street and that major changes were sought and not made.
Braverman has been accused of “encouraging extremists” and undermining thousands of serving police officers after claiming far-right protesters were treated more harshly than pro-Palestinian supporters.
Nickie Aiken, the Tory deputy chair and MP for the central London constituency that includes the Cenotaph, said Braverman’s comments were dangerous. Neil Basu, formerly Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, who retired as an assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan police last year, said Braverman had given licence to the far right and should be sacked.
Labour, the Scottish National party and the Lib Dems also called for the home secretary to be sacked. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, claimed that Braverman was “out of control” and stoking division.
For more updates from the UK, please do follow my colleague Andrew Sparrow’s UK politics liveblog.
Updated
The White House’s announcement that Israel will begin implementing four-hour pauses in fighting each day in the northern Gaza Strip offers “precious little” to the people in Gaza who have been “displaced, injured and traumatised” by a month of relentless bombardment, an international charity has said.
In a statement, Riham Jafari, the advocacy and communication coordinator for ActionAid Palestine, said:
What use is a four-hour pause each day to hand communities bread in the morning before they are bombed in the afternoon?
What use is a brief cessation in hostilities when hospital wards lie in ruins and when roads used to deliver medical supplies and food are destroyed?
ActionAid has called for a permanent ceasefire to help those whose lives are “hanging on by a thread”. The statement continued:
While a humanitarian pause might offer a brief respite for a few days, it is nowhere near enough time to repair the damage to Gazan communities and their homes and lives.
Updated
Palestinian Islamic Jihad says it is prepared to release two Israeli hostages
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, has said it is prepared to release two hostages held in Gaza if conditions on the ground permit.
A spokesperson for the al-Quds Brigades said it was ready to release two Israeli hostages – a woman and a boy – for humanitarian and medical reasons.
He said the initiative would take place once measures were met.
Updated
15 Palestinians killed during Israeli raid in West Bank, says Palestinian health ministry
The Palestinian health ministry has updated the death toll after raids by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
It says 15 Palestinians were killed and at least 20 others were injured after a raid by Israeli forces on Jenin city and refugee camp and in other Palestinian towns.
The Israeli military said it was conducting counter-terrorism raids in Jenin and gave no further details.
At least 178 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since 7 October, according to Palestinian health ministry figures.
Updated
Joe Biden says Netanyahu 'taking a little longer than I hoped' when asked about Israel's response to US requests
Joe Biden has told reporters he has asked Israel for a three-day pause in Gaza, and a pause much longer than that to get hostages being held by Hamas out, Reuters reported.
The US president was asked by a reporter if he was “frustrated” with Benjamin Netanyahu. Here’s how he responded:
Reporter: “Mr. President, are you frustrated with Prime Minister Netanyahu that he has not listened more to some of the things you have asked him to do?”
— The Recount (@therecount) November 9, 2023
President Biden: “It’s taking a little longer than I hoped.” pic.twitter.com/alFSJqLXA3
Updated
White House says daily pauses are 'significant first steps'; US 'does not stand for' ceasefire
Here’s more on the White House’s announcement that Israel will begin four-hour pauses in fighting in northern Gaza.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the pauses will begin today to allow people to flee hostilities and for deliveries of humanitarian aid, Reuters reported.
The pauses resulted from discussions between US and Israel officials in recent days, including between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, he said. He said:
We’ve been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pause, and that this process is starting today.
We understand that Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza with an announcement to come three hours in advance.
He described the news as “significant first steps” and that the US would “want to see them continued for as long as they are needed”.
Kirby went on to say that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants is not in order because it would help Hamas and “legitimise what they did on 7 October and we simply are not going to stand for that at this time.”
Israel has not received a substantial offer from Hamas on a deal to free the hostages being held in Gaza, its president, Isaac Herzog, has said, rejecting reports of an impending deal.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Herzog said there was no deal on the table to secure the freedom of the hostages taken on 7 October. He said:
There is no real proposal that is viable from Hamas’ side on this issue. Whilst there are many, many people who are third parties who are sending optimistic messages to the news reels, I’m saying outright: according to my knowledge, up to now, there is no real substantial information that is showing any real offer of any process on the table.
His comments came amid reports that Israel is considering a proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar for a humanitarian pause in exchange for the release of hostages.
A source told AFP on Wednesday that Qatar is mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the potential release of 10-15 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a humanitarian pause in fighting. A separate source said talks are under way for the release of a dozen hostages, including six Americans, in return for a three-day ceasefire.
Herzog, in the NBC interview, said Israel had “thousands” of officials working on the hostage issue and that it was “working both on the military fronts and on all other fronts to bring them back home.”
In an @NBCNews exclusive, Israel President Isaac Herzog sits down with @rafsanchez and opens up about negotiations to free hostages held by Hamas. pic.twitter.com/KRQAEaR0hL
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 9, 2023
Updated
Israel to begin daily four-hour pauses in fighting in northern Gaza – White House
Israel will begin implementing four-hour pauses in fighting each day in the northern Gaza Strip, the White House has said.
White House national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said an announcement would be made three hours beforehand. He added:
We’ve been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pause and that this process is starting today.
Updated
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, says a spike in hate crimes “is not who we are” as Jewish and Muslim communities both face a rise in violence and threats.
“Molotov cocktails thrown at synagogues, horrific threats of violence, targeting Jewish businesses, targeting Jewish daycares with hate,” Trudeau said on Wednesday.
This needs to stop. This is something that is not acceptable in Canada, period.
He also lamented the “unacceptable” rise of Islamophobia including “against Palestinians, against anyone waving a Palestinian flag”.
The Israel-Hamas war has sharply divided Canada, with a growing number of residents calling for a ceasefire in the conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.
Earlier this week, the remains of two molotov cocktails were found outside a synagogue and Jewish community centre. Montreal police said they had seen a rise in antisemitic hate crimes, as well as crimes against Muslims in the city.
In Toronto, which has the largest Jewish population and Muslim populations in Canada, the city’s police chief warned of a “very significant rise” in hate crimes. For most of October, reports were more than double compared with the same period last year.
In the British Columbia city of Surrey, a man threw eggs at a rabbi’s house and drew a swastika on the building. In Ottawa, faeces were smeared on the doors of a mosque.
“Canadians are scared in our own streets right now. We need to make sure that Canadians are doing what we do best, which is listening to our neighbours, understanding and acknowledging our neighbors’ pain, even though it may be diametrically opposed in its cause, to the same pain that we are feeling,” said Trudeau.
Forget about leading on the world stage – here at home, we need to model how we get through this. That’s the responsibility of every single Canadian, to see how we are recognising each other’s pain and fear and move forward.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 5.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a look at latest developments:
Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in return for the release of some of the hostages held in the territory, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Officials and diplomats are still negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, although no agreement has been reached.
French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting an international humanitarian conference on Gaza today in Paris. Macron said: “we must work towards a ceasefire”.
At the same conference, UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said the world body must not help push Palestinians out of their homes, after Israel called for civilians to evacuate northern Gaza.
Belgium’s deputy prime minister has called for sanctions against Israel and to investigate the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps in Gaza. The Belgium government is a coalition and has not imposed sanctions.
The World Health Organization has warned about the rapid spread of infectious diseases. WHO said that more than 33,551 cases of diarrhoea had been reported since mid-October, the bulk of which were among children under five. The pre-war recent average in that age group is 2,000 in Gaza.
Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians and wounded 13 others during a raid on Jenin city and refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Late on Wednesday, Syrian media reported strikes in southern Syria, which it said were carried out by Israel.
The 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.
Netanyahu rejected deal for ceasefire in return for some hostages, say sources
Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in return for the release of some of the hostages held in the territory, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The sources said the Israeli prime minister rejected the deal outright in early negotiations after militants from Hamas staged an unprecedented incursion into Israeli territory on 7 October, killing an estimated 1,400 people.
Negotiations have continued after the launch of the Israeli ground offensive on 27 October, but the same sources said Netanyahu had continued to take a tough line on subsequent proposals involving ceasefires of different durations in exchange for a varying number of hostages.
Others indicated that negotiations which took place prior to the ground invasion involved a far larger number of hostages, with Hamas proposing the release of dozens of foreign nationals captive in Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister’s office was asked to comment on the hostage negotiations but had not given a response by Thursday evening.
An estimated 240 people were taken hostage after fighters from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other groups based in Gaza, as well as civilians, crossed the reinforced border fence separating the territory from Israeli towns and kibbutzim.
An unidentified drone has hit a building in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, the military has said.
Israel usually announces if attacks come from Gaza, suggesting the drone may have come from elsewhere.
The Israeli military said earlier this month it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea as reinforcements, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and vowed to carry out more.
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The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said calls for a ceasefire in Gaza are understandable. The UK has backed Israel’s war and not called for a ceasefire itself despite intense international pressure.
“Well, what we have said, is that calling for a ceasefire is understandable,” Cleverly said during a visit to Riyadh, where he met Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
“But what we also recognise is that Israel is taking action to secure its own stability and its own security. Of course, we want to see this terrible situation resolved as quickly as possible,” he added. “The immediate challenge is the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza.”
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Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 10,812, including 4,412 children
At least 10,812 Palestinians, including 4,412 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza has said in its latest update.
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The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, will visit the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a Middle East trip starting on Friday, her ministry has said.
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Reuters is reporting that a trilateral meeting was held in Qatar on Thursday between CIA and Mossad chiefs and the Qatari prime minister to discuss the parameters of a deal for hostage releases and a pause in the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Citing a source said to be briefed on the meeting, Reuters said the talks also included a discussion over allowing humanitarian imports of fuel into Gaza.
Nato allies support humanitarian pauses in the war to allow aid to reach Gaza, the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said.
International law must be respected and civilians be protected in the conflict, he told reporters in Berlin as he addressed the media before a meeting with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, Reuters reported.
“The war in Gaza must not turn into a major regional conflict. Iran and Hezbollah must stay out of this fight,” Stoltenberg added.
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The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, has called for “the immediate and unconditional” release of the estimated 240 hostages taken by Hamas, which include 21 Argentine citizens – the youngest of whom is reportedly just nine months old.
In a full-page advertisement published in many of Israel’s major newspapers on Thursday, Fernández wrote: “Argentina demands the immediate and unconditional release of the people who were abducted by the group Hamas, and in particular our fellow citizens.”
The Argentinian baby is reportedly the youngest of all the hostages taken by Hamas when the militant group launched its attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October.
Fernández said he was working with other countries in the region to secure the freedom of the hostages and “to bring an end to the terrible consequences the conflict is having on Palestinian and Israel women, children and civilians”.
As well as the kidnapped Argentinians, at least nine Argentine citizens were reportedly killed during the Hamas assault. Citizens of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay were also killed. Argentina is home to Latin America’s largest Jewish community with about 180,000 Jews.
Fernández’s advert – which appeared in newspapers including Haaretz, Israel Hayom and the Jerusalem Post – will reportedly be published in other countries, including the US, on Friday.
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The defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said Israel is in a “prolonged war”.
“We need to resolve things quickly, even if not perfectly,” Gallant said during a meeting with directors general of government ministries and local officials, according to the Times of Israel news outlet.
He said the military’s plan was to stop Hamas rocket fire so that Israeli public life near Gaza could continue.
“We are in a prolonged war, and the issue of the [Israeli] civilian economy is a main factor in the management of the war,” he was quoted as saying.
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Speaking at the aid conference in Paris, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has criticised Israel’s war on Gaza.
Here is the tweet, quoting Philippe Lazzarini:
LIVE | @UNLazzarini: Thousands of children killed cannot be collateral damage.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 9, 2023
Pushing a million people from their homes and concentrating them in areas without adequate infrastructure is forced displacement.
Severely limiting food, water and medicine is collective punishment. pic.twitter.com/e5rJUhXsH3
Two former international prosecutors have called on the international criminal court to issue arrest warrants for political and military leaders of Israel and Hamas.
Carla Del Ponte served as chief prosecutor of the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Graham Blewitt was deputy prosecutor of the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
They write in Politico:
Thousands of lives have already been lost, and many more have been destroyed. Respect for international law is in short supply, with attacks on civilians, hostage taking, and the indiscriminate bombing of urban areas. Such acts can constitute international crimes.
We have prosecuted such war crimes before, as well as crimes against humanity and genocide. It is never an easy task, but it is a vital one.
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Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians and wounded 13 others during a raid on Jenin city and refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry has said.
Israel’s military said it was conducting raids in Jenin, but gave no further details.
Here are more photos from today:
UN cannot be part of pushing Palestinians to south Gaza, aid chief says
Speaking at the start of the humanitarian conference on Gaza in Paris, UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said the world body must not help push Palestinians out of their homes.
Israel has told Palestinians in the heavily populated north of Gaza to move to the south, as its ground forces move in.
“The United Nations cannot be part of unilateral proposal to push Palestinians into so-called safe zones,” Griffiths said.
Speaking at the same conference, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) chief, Isabelle Defourny, called southern Gaza safe zones “fake zones”, and said about 30% of those killed in Gaza were in the south.
The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, on Wednesday called out Israel for what he said was the “unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians”.
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French president Emmanuel Macron says 'we must work towards a ceasefire'
Emmanuel Macron said that there must be a “humanitarian pause” very quickly in Gaza and that there must be a push towards a ceasefire.
“In the immediate term, we need to work on protecting civilians. To do that, we need a humanitarian pause very quickly and we must work towards a ceasefire,” Macron said in a speech in Paris.
“Civilians must be protected, that’s indispensable and non-negotiable and is an immediate necessity,” he added.
Israel’s allies have avoided calls for a ceasefire but instead called for “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid in. Macron’s comments appear to go further.
France is hosting an international humanitarian conference on Gaza today, with the aim of helping the civilian population, although expectations are low of breakthrough.
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Time for sanctions against Israel for Gaza bombings - Belgian deputy PM
Belgium’s deputy prime minister has called on the Belgian government to adopt sanctions against Israel and investigate the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps in Gaza.
“It is time for sanctions against Israel. The rain of bombs is inhumane,” Petra De Sutter said. “It is clear that Israel does not care about the international demands for a ceasefire.”
In Belgium on Wednesday, there was no decision in favour of sanctions at a government meeting.
De Sutter said the European Union should immediately suspend its association agreement with Israel, which aims at better economic and political cooperation.
She said an import ban on products from occupied Palestinian territories should be implemented and violent settlers, politicians and soldiers responsible for war crimes should be banned from entering the EU.
At the same time, she said, Belgium should increase funding for the international criminal court in The Hague to investigate the bombings while cutting money flows to Hamas.
“This is a terrorist organisation. Terror costs money and there must be sanctions on the companies and people who provide Hamas with money,” De Sutter said.
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Diplomats pushing for days-long ceasefire in Gaza to release hostages – sources
Officials and diplomats are negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, the Guardian understands.
The discussions include the possibility of a one- to three-day ceasefire, although nothing has been agreed, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have said.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly said there will be no ceasefire in Gaza until hostages – of which there are believed to be more than 240 – are released. Hamas says hostages will not be released until a ceasefire is agreed.
Netanyahu said on Wednesday night: “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.”
Qatar has been mediating between Israel and Hamas.
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The Israeli military says the road out of Gaza City is open again today for people in the north to flee to the south. It is open until 4pm local time (2pm GMT).
Israel has continued to bomb residential areas in northern and southern Gaza. However, its troops have encircled Gaza City, in the north, and are preparing to enter. Aid workers have said many people – including the sick and wounded, as well as premature babies – cannot leave Gaza City.
“The northern Gaza Strip area is considered a fierce combat zone and time is running out to evacuate it,” the IDF said in an Arabic-language post.
#عاجل يا سكان غزة،
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 9, 2023
🔴أخبركم ان اليوم مثل الأيام الماضية يسمح جيش الدفاع من جديد التنقل عن طريق صلاح الدين بين الساعة العاشرة (10:00) صباحًا والساعة الرابعة (16:00) مساء.
🔴لقد شاهدنا استجابة كبيرة للمطالبات والنداءات حيث توجه أمس نحو 50 ألف من سكان منطقة شمال القطاع الى جنوب… pic.twitter.com/w6y57D6kRA
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Rocket sirens have been heard in the Israeli coastal city of Ashdod, north of Gaza.
Palestinian militants have reduced the number of rocket attacks against Israel since the first days of the war, although they continue to fire them at civilian areas. Many are intercepted by air defence systems.
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A report by my colleague, Kaamil Ahmed, on a swimming teacher in Gaza and the fate of the thousands he taught to swim:
The 11,000 children who learned to swim in the pools Amjed Tantesh built on Gaza’s beaches remain on his mind, and occasionally, to his dismay, make it on to his Facebook timeline.
Displaced from his home in northern Gaza, Tantesh only occasionally has access to the internet. But when he does, he inevitably hears of the deaths of friends, neighbours and former students, and posts tributes to them.
His swimming school has survived previous wars, driven by his ambition to ensure Gaza’s children can safely swim in its seas, but now he dreads the news that another of those children has been killed or injured.
Tantesh has coached in Gaza since 1999 when he won a local swimming championship. While he initially dreamed of producing an Olympic competitor – a dream he has not yet been able to fulfil – his concern for the safety of the territory’s children was a key driver. In 2014, several children who lived nearby drowned in the Mediterranean, spurring him to step up the coaching.
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Rocket sirens have sounded in Israeli communities on the Gaza frontier.
The communities have been largely evacuated since the war began and the Israeli army has set up a closed military zone.
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Here are some of the latest photographs from inside Gaza:
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Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said on Thursday he would convey to President Joe Biden in their meeting on Monday that the Middle East conflict should be stopped.
Jokowi, as the Indonesian leader is popularly known, is to fly to Riyadh for an international summit about the war on Friday.
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Two Israelis were shot overnight into Thursday and moderately wounded while driving in the northern West Bank, the Associated Press reports, citing Israeli media. A baby in the back seat of the car was unharmed, the reports said.
It was the second shooting attack on Israeli drivers in the West Bank in a week. On 2 November, an Israeli man was killed after his car was shot at, then crashed and overturned.
More than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the war began, mainly during protests and gun battles with Israeli forces during arrest raids, AP reports.
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Negotiations underway for three-day humanitarian ceasefire – reports
AP: Negotiations are under way to reach a three-day humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about a dozen hostages held by Hamas. That’s according to two officials from Egypt, one from the United Nations and a western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic efforts.
The deal would enable more aid, including limited amounts of fuel, to enter the besieged territory to alleviate worsening conditions for the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped there. It is being brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, according to the officials and the diplomat.
One of the Egyptian officials says details of the deal were discussed this week in Cairo with the visiting CIA chief and an Israeli delegation. The official said mediators are finalising a draft deal.
A senior US official said the Biden administration has not put forward any specific time frame for a pause in Israel’s military operations but has suggested that Israel consider tying the length of a pause to the release of a certain number of hostages.
If an agreement on the duration of the pause and the number of hostages to be freed can be reached and the deal successfully implemented, the same formula could be revisited for additional pauses and releases, according to the official.
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Six killed in southern Gaza
Six people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Al Jazeera reports, citing Palestine’s Wafa news agency.
“Civil defence and ambulance crews have recovered the bodies of six people killed following an Israeli attack on a residential building in the town of Bani Suhaila, east of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza,” Al Jazeera writes.
Israel has continued to launch airstrikes on buildings in southern Gaza, despite ordering Palestinians to flee the north for the south.
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Cleverly to meet with foreign ministers in Saudi Arabia
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.
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AP: Officials from western and Arab nations, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations are gathering today in Paris for a conference on how to provide aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s war with Hamas, including proposals for a humanitarian maritime corridor and floating field hospitals.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has called for a “humanitarian pause” in the war, wants the conference to address Gaza’s growing needs including food, water, health supplies, electricity and fuel.
More than 50 nations are expected to attend including several European countries, the United States and regional powers such as Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf countries, the French presidency said. Also attending is the Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh.
Israeli authorities won’t participate in Thursday’s conference, the Elysée said.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the UN’s top aid official and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross are expected to provide details about urgent needs in the Gaza Strip.
More than 1.5 million people – or about 70% of Gaza’s population – have fled their homes, and an estimated $1.2bn is needed to respond to the crisis in Palestinian areas.
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“We’re here as mothers, not as politicians,” the three women say. They are not just any mothers – all three had children kidnapped from their kibbutz a month ago and taken hostage in Gaza. They look drained. Renana Jacob, Hadas Kalderon and B’atSheva Yahalomi are briefly in Britain, fighting for their children’s lives – and the lives of all children caught up in the Israel-Hamas war. They are meeting diplomats (they have just met Qatar’s ambassador to the UK, who is trying to negotiate their release) and telling their story to whomever will listen. It doesn’t get any easier with each retelling. If anything, it seems to get tougher.
The three women live on the Nir Oz kibbutz in the south of Israel. Jacob and Kalderon grew up there together. Like many kibbutzniks from earlier generations, they were idealists. They believed in collective living and shared values. Perhaps most importantly, they believed in the possibility of peace with their Palestinian neighbours in Gaza.
All three left the kibbutz as young adults and later returned to settle down. “We came back to raise our children there because we thought it was heaven on Earth,” Jacob says. “We were raised together and we wanted to raise our children together.” Sure enough, their children grew up to be friends and enjoy the communal life. They show me photographs and videos of the kids – at birthday parties, on holiday, dancing, joking and grinning. The most poignant photograph shows Jacob’s son Yagel smiling and making the peace sign with his fingers.
Their lives were ruptured on 7 October, the day of the Hamas massacre. “We’re three mothers from the same little village – a communal community that lived a peaceful life and believed in good neighbouring. Out of nowhere, we got this horror terror attack and our little village has gone. There is nothing left. And all we want is our children to be home. And this is why we’re here.”
The mothers’ mission is simple – they want their children brought home and Palestinian children to be provided with a safe place away from the carnage of Gaza. They say that no child should be a bargaining chip in a war.
On the main street of the Palestinian West Bank town of Huwara, where Road 60 heads north towards Nablus, the shops are all shuttered. Petrol stations, bakeries, banks, the business selling cut stone from the local quarries, the sweetshops and mobile phone boutiques are closed at the order of the Israeli military. At the main crossing points between the west and east of the now divided town, wary Israeli soldiers with machine guns guard a closed yellow metal gate.
On the road itself, the only cars that are moving belong to residents of the nearby hardline Jewish settlements that dot the surrounding hills, whose ultra-orthodox nationalist residents have a reputation for promoting and carrying out violence against Palestinians.
The denial of Road 60 to Huwara’s Palestinian residents is being enforced despite the fact that a new bypass for the use of the settlers is now passable by car: but many choose to drive through the centre of Huwara, to emphasise their hold on the land.
The splitting of the flashpoint town, east from west, began on 7 October – the day the Islamist militant group Hamas massacred 1,400 people in the southern Israeli communities close to the Gaza border – and represents one of the most extreme responses by the Israel Defence Forces in the occupied West Bank. It has come, however, as far-right figures – including Israel’s hardline nationalist finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich – have used the crisis to demand the imposition of new “security zones” to be set up around Jewish settlements to create new areas closed to Palestinians:
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 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.
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.
Opening summary
This is the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war with me, Helen Sullivan.
The top developments today: Palestinians in Gaza face 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.
The 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.
And 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.
Elsewhere:
An Israel Defence 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.
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.
Palestinians should govern Gaza once Israel ends its war against Hamas, the United States said on Wednesday, 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.
Late on Wednesday Syrian media reported strikes in southern Syria, which it said were carried out by Israel. Citing a military source, state-controlled Sana news agency reported an air attack from the direction of Baalbek in Lebanon, targeting some military points in the southern region, causing some “material losses”.
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.
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.
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”.
The US secretary of state, Antony 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” 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.
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