Summary of the day so far
Here is a summary of the day’s key events. For more updates on the conflict, our U.S. blog has the latest.
An Israeli spokesperson has suggested to the BBC that findings of the investigation into the killing of seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza may come in “the next few days”. Shimon Friedman, a spokesperson for Cogat, an Israeli defence ministry body, said. “We want this investigation to be as thorough as possible.” Officials had signalled earlier in the day that the investigation could take weeks. The international food charity World Central Kitchen has called for an “independent, third-party investigation” into the Israeli strikes and asked Australia, Canada, Poland, the US and the UK, whose citizens were killed, to join them in demanding the inquiry.
WCK asked the Israeli government to retain all the necessary evidence, including communications, video and audio recordings of the fatal strikes on their convoy. The bodies of six foreign staff of WCK were repatriated from Gaza via Egypt on Wednesday, while the Palestinian employee was buried in Gaza.
A Hamas official has said there has been no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks despite the movement showing flexibility. Reuters reports that Hamas official Osama Hamdan said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was placing obstacles hindering both parties from reaching an agreement, and that he is “not interested” in releasing Israeli hostages. “The occupation government is still evading, and negotiations are stuck in a vicious circle,” Hamdan said. Netanyahu has been accused domestically of prolonging the war for his own political reasons, and protesters in Tel Aviv today were carrying pictures of him as they appealed for the Israeli government to do more to get the release of the captives.
Diplomatic tensions rose between Poland and Israel over the death of Polish aid worker, Yacov Livne, in Gaza. Earlier this week, Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, said on social media that “anti-Semites will always remain anti-Semites, and Israel will remain a democratic Jewish state that fights for its right to exist. Also for the good of the entire Western world.” Polish President Andrzej Duda called the comment “outrageous” and described the ambassador as “the biggest problem for the state of Israel in relations with Poland.” The Foreign Ministry in Warsaw also said that it was summoning the ambassador for a meeting. Earlier this week, Polish prosecutors opened a homicide investigation into Soból’s death.
Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese said it was not good enough for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say that “this is just a product of war”. Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk called for an apology, compensation and investigation from Israel.
Aid organisations working in Gaza have said they are demanding the Israeli military improve and adhere to security procedures intended to keep their workers safe, following the Israeli airstrikes that killed all seven members of a convoy of humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK). Several aid groups have suspended operations.
Israel’s actions in Gaza have “bordered on the reckless”, a former head of MI6 has said, amid pressure on the UK government to stop arms sales. Alex Younger, who led the Secret Intelligence Service between 2014 and 2020, said it was “hard not to conclude that insufficient care is being paid to the collateral risks of these operations, one way or another”.
Israel’s military has said it has again attacked what it described as “terrorist infrastructure” inside Lebanon. The IDF release said, “Earlier today, a number of launches were identified crossing from Lebanon toward the areas of Betzet and Shlomi in northern Israel. The IDF struck the sources of fire. A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Yaroun, Aynata, and Maroun El Ras.”
At least 33,037 Palestinians have been killed and 75,668 have been injured in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The Hamas-led ministry said about 62 Palestinians were killed and 91 injured in the past 24 hours. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
In its daily operational briefing Israel’s military claims to have killed “a number of terrorists” and to have “located weapons over the past day”. It also claims it has “struck terrorist infrastructures and eliminated terrorists using tank fire”. None of the information supplied by the Israeli military has been independently verified, and Israel has limited the access of journalists into the Gaza Strip.
The charity Oxfam has calculated that people in northern Gaza are being forced to survive on 245 calories a day, which is less than 12% of the average intake needed by people. It says it amounts to less than the calorific value of a can of fava beans.
More than 600 prominent lawyers in the UK have signed a letter that calls for end to UK arms exports to Israel, as a “measure to prevent” genocide. Signatory Michael Mansfield KC said on Thursday “You can see that it’s very obvious every time a picture comes back there’s nothing left. And you’ve got people starving to death. And I say, and I think some of the others on the letter would say, effectively, we’ve reached genocide already.”
In the UK, senior Conservative peer Sir Nicholas Soames has joined calls for the UK to stop arming Israel after an airstrike killed seven aid workers in Gaza. Asked whether the UK should ban arms exports to Israel, Soames said: “It’s probably time that that happened now, yes, I think if we’re determined to show that we are not prepared to countenance these ongoing disasters.”
A spokesperson for the UK’s main opposition Labour party has said that the UK government should publish legal advice given to it about whether Israel is breaking international law, to ensure that the UK government is not breaking the law itself by continuing to allow arms sales to Israel. A majority of voters in Britain back a ban on arms sales to Israel, according to a YouGov poll.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv again blocked a highway calling for the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other groups inside Gaza. They called on Israel’s government to do more to strike a deal for a pause to fighting to facilitate their release.
A political row has developed in Israel over plans to allow members of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, the Haredim, to be conscripted, ending a longstanding religious exemption from military service. Supporters of both sides of the argument are threatening to walk out of Benjamin Netanyahu’s wartime national coalition if they do not get their way.
Israel has halted leave for its combat units. A statement said “In accordance with the situational assessment, it has been decided that leave will be temporarily paused for all IDF combat units. The IDF is at war and the deployment of forces is under continuous assessment according to requirements.”
Israeli media reports a step up in GPS jamming inside the country, believed to be a preparation for a potential attack from Iran, which has vowed revenge after an airstrike on its consulate in Damascus killed several senior military commanders. Iran has blamed Israel, which has neither confirmed or denied it carried out the strike.
Israel respond to Iran revenge threat
Reuters reported on Thursday that the Israeli military halted leave for all combat units amid concerns over an escalation of violence.
“In accordance with the situational assessment, it has been decided that leave will be temporarily paused for all IDF (Israel Defence Forces) combat units,” the military said in a statement. It added, “The IDF is at war and the deployment of forces is under continuous assessment according to requirements.”
Earlier this week, Iran vowed to take revenge on Israel for an airstrike that killed two of its generals and five military advisers at its embassy compound in Damascus. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied their involvement in the attack.
But IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari posted on X, saying, “The directives of the Home Front Command remained unchanged. There is no need to buy generators, store food and withdraw money from ATMs. As we have done until today, we will immediately update any change if it is in an official and orderly manner.”
The U.S. treasury department also announced on Thursday a fresh wave of Iran-related counterterrorism sanctions against Oceanlink Maritime DMCC and its vessels.
In Israel, public broadcaster Kan is reporting that IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari is considering whether to give a public broadcast tonight concerning preparations for an increased threat from Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet is also expected to meet tonight.
There is a little more detail on the statement from Hamas official Osama Hamdan that there is no progress on ceasefire talks.
During a press briefing in Beirut, Reuters reports he said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was placing obstacles hindering both parties from reaching an agreement, and that he is “not interested” in releasing Israeli hostages.
“The occupation government is still evading, and negotiations are stuck in a vicious circle”, Hamdan said.
Netanyahu has been accused domestically of prolonging the war for his own political reasons, and protesters in Tel Aviv today were carrying pictures of him as they appealed for the Israeli government to do more to get the release of the captives.
Hamas official: no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks
Reuters reports that Hamas official Osama Hamdan said on Thursday there has been no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks despite the movement showing flexibility.
Israel had said on Tuesday its delegation had returned from Cairo having formulated a new proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release which was to be presented to Hamas by moderators.
As its military offensive on Gaza has continued, a political row has developed in Israel over plans to allow members of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, the Haredim, to be conscripted, ending a longstanding religious exemption from military service.
Supporters of both sides of the argument are threatening to walk out of Benjamin Netanyahu’s wartime national coalition if they do not get their way.
In Jurasalem, Lorenzo Tondo and Quique Kierszenbaum have spoken to members of the community for the Guardian, and you can read that here: ‘I will never join the army’: ultra-Orthodox Jews to defy Israeli court orders
Maj Gen Aharon Haliva, the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Directorate chief has warned that Israel faces “complex days” ahead and “it is not certain that the worst is behind us”.
Haliva was speaking after it was announced that senior intelligence officer Brig Gen Amit Saar was standing down due to a diagnosis of cancer. Saar has been criticised in Israeli media for security lapses that allowed the 7 October Hamas attack to break through Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.
In the UK senior Conservative peer Sir Nicholas Soames has joined calls for the UK to stop arming Israel after an airstrike killed seven aid workers in Gaza.
Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, said the UK should send a “message” about Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Asked whether the UK should ban arms exports to Israel, Soames said: “It’s probably time that that happened now, yes, I think if we’re determined to show that we are not prepared to countenance these ongoing disasters.”
He added that: “Israel have every right to go after Hamas, there’s no shadow of doubt about that.”
The UK’s contribution to Israel’s arsenal “would be tiny and it’s probably parts more than anything else”, Soames said, but stopping the exports would send a message.
“I say this with real sadness because, I mean, first of all, what happened was an absolute tragedy, and secondly, it was absolutely inexcusable,” Soames said of the strike that killed the aid workers, including three Britons, on Monday.
“This is not a fog of war issue with these [aid workers]. They were quite clearly – the whole thing had been deconflicted, organised, everything, and something has gone very, very wrong, and the Israelis need to really get a grip of all this.
“And secondly, these people were doing the most wonderful work to provide aid to starving Palestinians … I think it is the message that matters.”
Read more of Eleni Courea’s report here: Grandson of Winston Churchill joins calls for UK to stop arming Israel
Speaking to the BBC, Cogat spokesperson Shimon Friedman has suggested a faster timetable for Israel’s report into the killing of seven humanitarian aid workers than had earlier been suggested by officials.
He told the BBC:
We want this investigation to be as thorough as possible in order for us to learn whatever needs to be learned so that we can prevent these things from happening again in the future. We hope for the next few days. And as we’re learning things, we’re trying to implement them already.
Cogat is an Israeli defence ministry body which administers the process of getting humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, where there is limited access due to Israel having closed border crossings, and insisting on inspecting any aid delivered via the Rafah border crossing which Egpyt administers.
In a statement Israel’s military has said it has again attacked what it described as “terrorist infrastructure” inside Lebanon.
The IDF release said:
Earlier today, a number of launches were identified crossing from Lebanon toward the areas of Betzet and Shlomi in northern Israel. The IDF struck the sources of fire. A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Yaroun, Aynata, and Maroun El Ras.
Israeli military strikes inside Lebanon have killed about 270 Hezbollah fighters and about 50 civilians since 7 October. The two sides have frequently exchanged fire over the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon, and tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the line have been displaced.
Israeli government expect investigation findings to take weeks
The Israeli government has signalled that its military investigation of an air strike that killed aid workers supplying food in the Gaza Strip could take weeks.
“In the coming weeks, as the findings become clear, we will be transparent and share the results with the public,” Israeli government spokesperson Raquela Karamson said in a briefing on Thursday.
Earlier, the World Central Kitchen (WCK) called for “an independent, third-party investigation” into the circumstances on Monday’s attack which killed seven of their aid workers, including three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian.
Israel has described the lethal strike as an operational incident.
Updated
Diplomatic crisis erupts between Poland and Israel over death of Polish aid worker in Gaza
The Polish president on Thursday denounced a comment by the Israeli ambassador as “outrageous” and the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw said it was summoning him for a meeting.
Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, pushed back at what he said were attempts by the “extreme right and left in Poland” to accuse Israel of “intentional murder in the attack.”
He said on social media on Tuesday that “anti-Semites will always remain anti-Semites, and Israel will remain a democratic Jewish state that fights for its right to exist. Also for the good of the entire Western world.”
Polish President Andrzej Duda called the comment “outrageous” and described the ambassador as “the biggest problem for the state of Israel in relations with Poland.”
Duda also said that authorities in Israel have spoken about the tragedy “in a very subdued way,” but added, “Unfortunately, their ambassador to Poland is not able to maintain such delicacy and sensitivity, which is unacceptable.”
36-year-old Damian Soból was among seven people who were killed while delivering food to Palestinians with the charity World Central Kitchen. Soból had been on an aid mission to Gaza for the past six months following work in Ukraine, Morocco and Turkey and had been documenting the charity’s missions on social media in the days before he was killed.
Earlier this week, Polish prosecutors opened a homicide investigation into Soból’s death.
Summary of the day so far …
The international food charity World Central Kitchen has called for an independent investigation into the Israeli strikes that killed seven of its aid workers in Gaza on Monday. WCK asked Australia, Canada, Poland, the US and the UK, whose citizens were killed, to join them in demanding “an independent, third-party’’ inquiry into the strikes.
WCK asked the Israeli government to retain all the necessary evidence, including communications, video and audio recordings of the fatal strikes on their convoy. The bodies of six foreign staff of WCK were repatriated from Gaza via Egypt on Wednesday, while the Palestinian employee was buried in Gaza.
Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese said it was not good enough for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say that “this is just a product of war”. Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk called for an apology, compensation and investigation from Israel.
Aid organisations working in Gaza have said they are demanding the Israeli military improve and adhere to security procedures intended to keep their workers safe, following the Israeli airstrikes that killed all seven members of a convoy of humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK). Several aid groups have suspended operations.
Israel’s actions in Gaza have “bordered on the reckless”, a former head of MI6 has said, amid pressure on the UK government to stop arms sales. Alex Younger, who led the Secret Intelligence Service between 2014 and 2020, said it was “hard not to conclude that insufficient care is being paid to the collateral risks of these operations, one way or another”.
At least 33,037 Palestinians have been killed and 75,668 have been injured in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The Hamas-led ministry said about 62 Palestinians were killed and 91 injured in the past 24 hours. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
In its daily operational briefing Israel’s military claims to have killed “a number of terrorists” and to have “located weapons over the past day”. It also claims it has “struck terrorist infrastructures and eliminated terrorists using tank fire”. None of the information supplied by the Israeli military has been independently verified, and Israel has limited the access of journalists into the Gaza Strip.
The charity Oxfam has calculated that people in northern Gaza are being forced to survive on 245 calories a day, which is less than 12% of the average intake needed by people. It says it amounts to less than the calorific value of a can of fava beans.
More than 600 prominent lawyers in the UK have signed a letter that calls for end to UK arms exports to Israel, as a “measure to prevent” genocide. Signatory Michael Mansfield KC said on Thursday “You can see that it’s very obvious every time a picture comes back there’s nothing left. And you’ve got people starving to death. And I say, and I think some of the others on the letter would say, effectively, we’ve reached genocide already.”
A spokesperson for the UK’s main opposition Labour party has said that the UK government should publish legal advice given to it about whether Israel is breaking international law, to ensure that the UK government is not breaking the law itself by continuing to allow arms sales to Israel. A majority of voters in Britain back a ban on arms sales to Israel, according to a YouGov poll.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv again blocked a highway calling for the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other groups inside Gaza. They called on Israel’s government to do more to strike a deal for a pause to fighting to facilitate their release.
Israel has halted leave for its combat units. A statement said “In accordance with the situational assessment, it has been decided that leave will be temporarily paused for all IDF combat units. The IDF is at war and the deployment of forces is under continuous assessment according to requirements.”
Israeli media reports a step up in GPS jamming inside the country, believed to be a preparation for a potential attack from Iran, which has vowed revenge after an airstrike on its consulate in Damascus killed several senior military commanders. Iran has blamed Israel, which has neither confirmed or denied it carried out the strike.
In an update to the press, World Central Kitchen (WCK) has said that all of its ships are back in Cyprus, and that “A determination has not yet been made about when to resume operations in Gaza”.
Earlier it called for “an independent, third-party investigation” investigation into the circumstances on Monday when a series of three strikes on an aid convoy killed seven of its humanitarian aid workers. It asked the governments of Australia, Canada, the US, Poland, and the UK to join the call.
Reuters reports that Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli intelligence chief, has said this Friday is the most likely timing of any revenge attack by Iran for the suspected Israeli strike that killed Iranian military commanders at its consulate in Syria’s capital Damascus earlier this week.
The news agency quotes Yadlin saying “I will not be surprised if Iran will act tomorrow. Don’t panic. Don’t run to the shelters. Be tuned for tomorrow and then, depending on the consequences of the attack, it may escalate.”
Tomorrow is the final Friday in Ramadan, which is celebrated as Quds Day in Iran and beyond as a pro-Palestinian day named after the Arabic name for Jerusalem, al-Quds.
Israeli media has reported that Israel has stepped up the jamming of GPS signals inside the country in an effort to reduce the effectiveness of guided missiles or drones.
Iran has blamed Israel for the strike on Damascus, and vowed revenge.
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has echoed an earlier call by the country’s prime minister Donald Tusk for an apology, compensation and investigation from Israel into the death of Damian Soból, 35, the Polish national who was killed when Israel attacked a World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid convoy inside the Gaza Strip on Monday.
Tusk had said “We will expect … an immediate explanation of the circumstances and compensation for the victims’ relatives.”
Reuters reports Duda had critical words for Israel’s ambassador to Poland during a televised speech on Nato’s anniversary, saying:
The authorities in Israel speak in a very subdued and sensitive manner. Unfortunately, their ambassador in Poland is unable to maintain such delicacy and this is unacceptable. Today the ambassador is making these relations very difficult. This is my assessment.
Poland has summoned Israel’s ambassador after comments he made earlier in the week. In a post on social media on Tuesday, Yacov Livne wrote:
The extreme right and left in Poland accuse Israel of intentional murder in yesterday’s attack, which resulted in the death of members of a humanitarian organization, including a Polish citizen.
Deputy speaker of the Sejm and leader of the Confederation, Krzysztof Bosak, claims that Israel is committing “war crimes” and terrorizing humanitarian organizations to starve the Palestinians.
This is the same Bosak who to this day has refused to condemn the massacre committed by Hamas on 7 October and whose party colleague, a right-wing extremist, used a fire extinguisher to extinguish the Hanukkah menorah that we lit in the parliament in Warsaw.
Conclusion: anti-Semites will always remain anti-Semites, and Israel will remain a democratic Jewish state that fights for its right to exist and also for the good of the entire western world.
Diplomatic relations between Israel and Poland have been tense in recent years as Poland moved to pass a law criminalising accusing Poles of collective complicity in Nazi war crimes carried out on German-occupied Polish territory, and also attempting to pass a statue of limitations on property restitution, which would prevent reclamation of property seized during the second world war.
Karyn Beattie, a team leader for Save the Children’s response in Gaza, has spoken to the Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood about the situation after the deadly Israeli airstrike on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy on Monday that killed seven humanitarian aid workers. She writes:
Every time we travel [within Gaza], we tell the Israeli military. Our information goes to the UN in Jerusalem and they send it to Cogat and the Gaza CLA [two Israeli government bodies] who coordinate with the Israeli military. We do this for every single movement, and we don’t set off until we have confirmation that all the information has been logged.
Our vehicles are clearly marked with Save the Children logos on the roof, sides and bonnet, and sometimes we have little flags attached to the vehicles too.
We don’t wear flak jackets and helmets because the Israelis don’t allow us to bring body armour into Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Very few aid agency staff have body protection.
World Central Kitchen (WCK) has a different way of coordinating its movements with the Israeli military. They’ve developed a good system of direct contact. They’re very well known to the Israelis. They constantly update their movements.
That’s why we’re all absolutely shocked at the airstrikes – the fact that it was WCK. It has shaken confidence in the system. I feel quite nervous now, I’ll be honest.
We all expect an increase in international staff who ask to leave. If people want out, that’s their right. If they want to go, it’s my job to get them out.
The day of the airstrikes on the WCK convoy, I sent messages to my family to tell them they were going to hear about aid workers being killed but I was okay. All of us are constantly aware that our families are worried. You think, is it okay for me to put them through this?
Read more of what Karyn Beattie told Harriet Sherwood here: ‘I feel quite nervous now’: Gaza aid worker on safety concerns after Israeli attack
Oxfam: people in northern Gaza having to survive on just 245 calories a day
The charity Oxfam has calculated that people in Gaza are being forced to survive on 245 calories a day, which is less than 12% of the average intake needed by people. It says it amounts to less than the calorific value of a can of fava beans.
Stating that over 300,000 people are believed to still be trapped in northern Gaza, unable to leave, and after Israel’s decision to prevent Unrwa delivering aid to the north, Oxfam says its analysis is based on the latest available data used in the recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis for the Gaza Strip.
A coalition of aid agencies has previously warned of imminent famine in northern Gaza.
Oxfam said that the total food deliveries allowed into Gaza for the entire 2.2 million population – since last October - amounted to an average of just 41 per cent of the daily calories needed per person. It claimed that less than half the number of food trucks needed to reach the daily 2,100 calories intake for everyone are currently entering Gaza.
In a statement, Oxfam quoted one mother trapped in northern Gaza saying:
Before the war, we were in good health and had strong bodies. Now, looking at my children and myself, we have lost so much weight since we do not eat any proper food, we are trying to eat whatever we find – edible wild plants or herbs daily just to survive.
Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International Executive Director said:
Israel is making deliberate choices to starve civilians. Imagine what it is like, not only to be trying to survive on 245 calories day in, day out, but also having to watch your children or elderly relatives do the same. All while displaced, with little to no access to clean water or a toilet, knowing most medical support has gone and under the constant threat of drones and bombs.
Oxfam says it has repeatedly called for a permanent ceasefire, the return of all hostages from Gaza, the release of unlawfully detained Palestinian prisoners, for countries to immediately stop supplying arms to Israel and for full humanitarian aid access.
Updated
A spokesperson for the UK’s main opposition party has said that the government should publish legal advice given to it about whether Israel is breaking international law, to ensure that it is not breaking the law by continuing to allow arms sales to Israel.
Appearing on the GB News television channel, Labour’s shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:
Specifically in the case of British arms exports to Israel, the law of the UK is very, very clear. If there is any possibility of anything exported from the UK being involved in a serious violation of a humanitarian law, it cannot be exported from the UK.
The Government will have had legal advice on that specific to the conflict in Gaza. We’ve asked them to publish that legal advice.
At the weekend it was reported by the Observer that government lawyers had written advice that said Israel is breaking humanitarian law, and that the government had not yet acted on that advice.
Overnight the Guardian reported that in the UK more than 600 prominent lawyers have signed a letter that calls for end to UK arms exports to Israel, as a “measure to prevent” genocide.
Speaking about the 17-page letter, which also amounts to a legal opinion, human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield KC told listeners to Times Radio that “effectively, we’ve reached genocide already”.
PA Media quotes him saying:
You can see that it’s very obvious every time a picture comes back there’s nothing left. And you’ve got people starving to death. And I say, and I think some of the others on the letter would say, effectively, we’ve reached genocide already.
Demonstrators in Israel have again blocked a highway in Tel Aviv calling for the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other groups inside Gaza. They are calling on Israel’s government to do more to strike a deal for a pause to fighting to facilitate their release.
About 240 people were abducted as hostages by Hamas during the 7 October attack inside souther Israel. About 100 have subsequently been released, and some, including Shani Louk and three men killed by IDF forces while escaping, are known to be dead. Not all the remaining hostages are believed to be alive
Tusk: Israel should apologise and pay compensation to family of killed Polish aid worker
Reuters reports that Poland’s prime minister has said Israel should apologise and pay compensation to the family of a Polish aid worker killed by an Israeli airstrike on an aid convoy in Gaza on Monday.
Donald Tusk, speaking in a news conference, said “We will expect … an immediate explanation of the circumstances and compensation for the victims’ relatives.”
Yesterday, in a social media statement, Tusk said “the vast majority of Poles showed full solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack. Today you are putting this solidarity to a really hard test. The tragic attack on volunteers and your reaction arouse understandable anger.”
Damian Soból, 35, was killed in the World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy on Monday. Marta Wilczyńska, of the Free Place Foundation, which cooperates with World Central Kitchen, said of him “He was a really extraordinary guy. Always smiling, always so helpful, he loved this job.”
A little more here on reports of Israel extending GPS jamming in the country. For Haaretz, Avi Scharf writes:
Until now, the GPS disruptions were mainly felt in the north of the country, from the Haifa area to the Lebanese border, and the GPS map services showed users that they were in Beirut. A similar phenomenon was felt in the south of the country, according to which the GPS devices showed users in Cairo. In the last week, the phenomenon increased, and the devices in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv also show that the user is in Cairo or in Beirut, respectively.
GPS disruption is intended to thwart guided drone and missile attacks.
Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting for Al Jazeera from Rafah, has said there has been “no let-up in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip”.
He writes:
Last night, there was a surge of attacks in Rafah where two homes full of displaced people were targeted, killing at least seven Palestinians and injuring three others. This is what Gaza’s supposed “safe zone” witnesses every night. Israel’s surveillance drones and fighter jets rarely leave the skies.
On Monday, Israeli legislators approved a bill paving the way for a ban on Al Jazeera and other international news outlets perceived as posing a threat to security. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on social media after it passed that “I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activity.”
Overnight Barak Ravid has reported for Axios in the US that the expected phone call today between US president Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to be tense.
His piece quotes a US official saying “Biden is pissed. The temperature regarding Bibi is very high”. Another US official is quoted as saying that Biden’s phone call to World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés was “a personally difficult moment for the president”.
World Central Kitchen lost seven workers in the attack. Andrés has said “This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place. This was over 1.5km, 1.8km, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colourful logo that we are obviously very proud of. It’s very clear who we are and what we do.”
Netanyahu has said of the attack, which included Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom among the seven victims, that it was “a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” adding “this happens in wartime”.
Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, described this response as “not good enough”.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that one Palestinian has been killed by Israeli security forces in Ya’bad, south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.
A former UK home secretary, which is the equivalent to an interior minister, has said Israel is “absolutely not” in breach of international humanitarian law.
Suella Braverman, speaking to the BBC during a visit to Israel, said:
The suggestion itself is absurd and, frankly, an insult to Israel who have been going above and beyond the necessary requirements to ensure that civilian casualties are limited, to ensure that aid is received onto the Gaza Strip and distributed.
I have seen evidence myself, in terms of very up-to-date photographic evidence, of plentiful food packages and trucks of food, water and medicines getting to the people of Gaza.
Since the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy on Monday many aid agencies have paused operations inside the Gaza Strip, and a coalition of aid agencies has previously warned that famine is imminent in the territory.
Braveman’s comments come amid reports that UK government lawyers have given the government advice that Israel is breaking international law, which the government has not acted upon. A majority of voters in Britain back a ban on arms sales to Israel according to recent polling.
Yesterday Braverman posted a picture of herself visiting Israel to social media, saying she had “met with senior military and political figures”.
Today I met with senior military & political figures in Israel to discuss the war in Gaza & the tragic strike on the aid convoy.
— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) April 3, 2024
My thoughts & prayers go out to the family & friends of those killed. This was a terrible mistake for which Israel has rightly apologised. pic.twitter.com/MF8tWG9y4B
It is not clear in what capacity the backbench MP, who has not been in government since being sacked in November 2023 by prime minister Rishi Sunak, was making the visit.
Sunak dismissed her after she wrote an incendiary article in the Times newspaper that accused London’s police force of a bias in the way it dealt with pro-Palestinian protests in the UK’s capital, a statement that had not been agreed in advance with the prime minister’s office. Braverman had previously been dismissed from the same role 13 months earlier for sending an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP, in a serious breach of ministerial rules.
Reuters is carrying a line that Tel Aviv residents have reported on Thursday that GPS services had been disrupted. This is sometimes interpreted as a measure meant to ward off guided missiles.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out an airstrike on Damascus on Monday, but Iran has vowed revenge for the attack, which struck its consulate in the Syrian capital that killed three top commanders in Iran’s al-Quds force and four other officers.
Israel halts all leave for IDF combat units amid threat of revenge from Iran for Damascus strike
Israel has halted leave for its combat units. In a statement this morning the IDF said:
In accordance with the situational assessment, it has been decided that leave will be temporarily paused for all IDF combat units. The IDF is at war and the deployment of forces is under continuous assessment according to requirements.
The move comes after the killing of Iranian commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi in a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus in Syria has ratcheted up regional tension further.
On Tuesday, Iran’s supreme national security council said it had decided on a “required” response to the Damascus strike. Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi, who chaired the meeting to discuss the response, said Iran would retaliate at the time of its own choosing, while supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “We will make them regretful about the crime and similar acts.”
Poland's foreign minister: Israel appears to have been 'willing to sacrifice seven innocent people'
In an interview with the BBC in the UK, Poland’s foreign minister has said that the targeting of the World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid convoy on Monday showed that Israeli forces “seem to have been willing to sacrifice seven innocent people” in order to target what they considered was one Hamas operative.
Radosław Sikorski told listeners to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme:
The Israeli chief of staff says this was a case of mistaken identity and that they thought there was a terrorist among them.
But even if there was, they seem to have been willing to sacrifice seven innocent people for someone who was not an immediate danger.
These are moral hazards that I do not think are acceptable.
In the UK, a former head of MI6, the country’s foreign intelligence service, has said that the way Israel’s military has been acting in Gaza has “bordered on the reckless”.
Speaking on a BBC podcast, and referring to the multiple strikes that killed seven humanitarian aid workers on Monday, PA Media reports Alex Younger said:
My view is that what happened is essentially systematic of an approach to targeting that has, on occasion, bordered on the reckless.
[It] fundamentally undermines therefore what must be Israel’s political objectives, which is to sustain some moral high ground and some moral purpose.
It’s hard not to conclude that insufficient care is being paid to these collateral risks of these operations, one way or another.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza from Israeli military offensive rises above 33,000 people
At least 33,037 Palestinians have been killed and 75,668 have been injured in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Reuters reports the Hamas-led ministry said about 62 Palestinians were killed and 91 injured in the past 24 hours.
In additions to the deaths in Gaza, over the same time period over 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces or Israeli settlers inside the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel began its military campaign after the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel which killed about 1,140 people, and during which about 240 people were seized and abducted as hostages. About 134 hostages are still believed held captive by Hamas and other anti-Israeli groups inside Gaza. Not all of the hostages are thought to still be alive.
Since it began ground operations inside Gaza on 27 October, Israel says it has lost 256 soldiers in battle, with about 1,500 wounded.
During the conflict it has been reported that about 200 humanitarian aid workers and about 100 journalists have been killed, making it one of the deadliest conflicts on record for these groups.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Reuters has spoken with Israelis who have been displaced from their communities in the far north of the country, close to the UN-drawn blue line that has separated Israel from Lebanon since 2000.
Israel evacuated a number of communities, totalling about 60,000 people, almost immediately after the 7 October attack in southern Israel. There has been an almost constant exchange of fire between Israel’s military and Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces inside Lebanon.
Shay Hanegbi said they had only expected the evacuation to last a few weeks, but “It has ended up going on and on. You don’t see the end. We feel adrift.”
Natalie Levy, 29, has been displaced with her husband and two young children from Liman, 2 miles from Lebanon. She said that after the 7 October Hamas attack, “I felt like we were next.”
Israel has long feared an attack from the north, and a security official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, told the news agency:
What we saw in the south on 7 October was basically Hamas “stealing the thunder” from Hezbollah. If anything, Hezbollah is more of a border threat than Hamas was.
There were appeals for peace among the displaced. Sarit Oved, displaced from kibbutz Matsuva, said “I don’t want any more loss of life, on either side.”
Levy said “The people of Gaza that are not involved in terror are going through a very hard time. And my heart is with them. But my heart is also with the people of Israel who are also going through a hard time.”
Reuters notes that about 90,000 people have also been displaced in Lebanon, being forced to move north away from the blue line. Israeli military strikes inside Lebanon have killed about 270 Hezbollah fighters and about 50 civilians.
Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, and partially occupied parts of the country from 1985 to 2000.
Overnight the Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing the foreign ministry of Oman, reported that “a number of wounded Palestinians affected by the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have arrived in the Sultanate to receive treatment.”
It said that Oman’s foreign ministry thanked Egypt for facilitating the transportation of the wounded.
Israel’s military has issued its daily operational briefing in which it claims to have killed “a number of terrorists” and to have “located weapons over the past day”. It also claims it has “struck terrorist infrastructures and eliminated terrorists using tank fire.”
In the update, Israel’s military says it is operating in central Gaza and in the area of Al Amal in Khan Younis.
It said that on Wednesday “numerous launches were identified crossing from the Gaza Strip into Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip”, and that Israeli forces struck at the sources of the launches.
None of the information supplied by the Israeli military has been independently verified.
There is limited access to Gaza for journalists. In February a coalition of broadcasters wrote an open letter appealing for the Israeli government to allow more access for foreign journalists, without success. Casualty counts being issued during the conflict also cannot be independently verified.
Authorities in Gaza state that over 32,000 people have been killed as a result of the continuous Israeli aerial bombardment and ground offensive inside Gaza since 7 October. Israel has previously claimed that it has killed over 9,000 fighters from Hamas and other anti-Israeli groups in the territory.
World Central Kitchen (WCK), whose aid workers were killed by Israel’s military in Gaza on Monday, have demanded that Israel retain all the relevant documents, communications, video and audio recordings of the fatal strikes on their convoy to facilitate an independent investigation.
PA Media reports that in a statement the charity said:
This was a military attack that involved multiple strikes and targeted three WCK vehicles. All three vehicles were carrying civilians; they were marked as WCK vehicles; and their movements were in full compliance with Israeli authorities, who were aware of their itinerary, route, and humanitarian mission.
An independent investigation is the only way to determine the truth of what happened, ensure transparency and accountability for those responsible, and prevent future attacks on humanitarian aid workers.
The charity said it had asked the Israeli government to retain all the necessary evidence.
Previously WCK founder José Andrés said:
This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place. This was over 1.5km, 1.8km, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colourful logo that we are obviously very proud of. It’s very clear who we are and what we do.
Aid groups demand Israel improve measures to keep their workers safe
Aid organisations working in Gaza have said they are demanding the Israeli military improve and adhere to security procedures intended to keep their workers safe, following Israeli airstrikes that killed all seven members of a convoy of humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK).
“What happened is above all else a tragedy, but I would be surprised if coordination [with Israeli forces] continues in the same way it did in the past,” said one aid worker from a leading humanitarian organisation, who asked not to be named.
They said their organisation was constantly pushing for improvements to the deconfliction system, including improved lines of communication and “command and control” within the Israeli military.
A second senior aid official at a different organisation said they felt attacks on aid workers were due to “a loophole in the chain of command within the Israeli army”.
“We do this everywhere in the world: every time we move into a dangerous area we coordinate to deconflict with the army in charge. We are doing our job. What the Israeli army needs to do is theirs – which means respect the laws of war,” they said.
Read more of Ruth Michaelson’s report here: Aid groups demand Israel improve measures to keep their workers safe
Here is a video clip of Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese speaking about the killing of aid worker Zomi Frankcom. He said it was not good enough for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say that “this is just a product of war”.
A snap protest has been held outside the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) offices in Sydney, Australia, after the Israeli killing of seven aid workers in Gaza on Monday, including Australian Zomi Frankcom.
The rally, attended by union members and grassroots community group Families for Palestine, called for an end to the deaths of innocent civilians and aid workers in Gaza.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese yesterday said he used a phone call with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to express Australia’s anger and outrage over the killing of Frankcom.
In the broader region, state media in Iran has reported that at least five Iranian security officers have been killed and ten wounded in two separate attacks on Iranian military installations in the south-east of the country.
Reuters reports that militants from the Balochistan separatist group Jaish al-Adl attacked Iranian bases in Rask and Chabahar.
Biden and Netanyahu expected to speak
US president Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to have their first call since the Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza, according to a US official.
“I can confirm president Biden and prime minister Netanyahu will speak tomorrow,” a US official with knowledge of the matter told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.
The call comes after Biden expressed outrage over the deaths of the employees of the US-based World Central Kitchen group and said Israel must do more to protect aid workers and civilians.
Netanyahu has said the Israeli military “unintentionally” killed the aid workers in the attack in Gaza on Monday. The victims included a US-Canadian national along with three Britons, a Pole, an Australian and a Palestinian.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has urged Israel to take concrete steps to protect aid workers and Palestinian civilians in Gaza, in a call with Israeli minister of defense Yoav Gallant.
“Secretary Austin expressed his outrage at the Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid convoy that killed seven aid workers, including an American citizen,” a statement of the call between the two defense leaders said.
Austin also urged Gallant to conduct “a swift and transparent” investigation, to share the conclusions publicly, and to hold those responsible to account, the Pentagon said.
I spoke to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant today about our shared commitment to defeating Hamas and releasing hostages. I expressed my outrage at the Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid convoy that killed seven brave aid workers, including an…
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) April 4, 2024
Welcome and opening summary
Welcome to our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I am Martin Belam and I will be with you for the next while.
US President Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak on Thursday in their first call since an Israeli strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza, according to a US official.
That comes after the US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin urged Israel to take concrete steps to protect aid works and Palestinian civilians in a call with the Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday. He said in a post on social media: “I expressed my outrage at the Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid convoy”. The US appears to have made no move, though, to limit the arms supply to Israel.
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:
Israel is facing mounting international pressure to justify its conduct in the war in Gaza as the bodies of six foreign aid workers killed in a drone attack were repatriated to their families. Seven members of World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed when a drone repeatedly hit their convoy of three cars, which were clearly identified as belonging to the charity, after it left an aid warehouse in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Monday night.
Early on Wednesday, the IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi put the strike down to “misidentification”, adding that the “the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers,” and that it was a mistake that should not have happened.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that Israel’s explanation for the deaths was “not good enough”. The dead included citizens of Australia, Britain and Poland as well as Palestinians and a dual citizen of the US and Canada.
Aid organisations working in Gaza have said they are demanding the Israeli military improve and adhere to security procedures intended to keep their workers safe, following Israeli airstrikes that killed all seven members of a convoy of humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK).
The Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza used a previously undisclosed AI-powered database that at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets based on their apparent links to Hamas, according to intelligence sources involved in the war. In addition to talking about their use of the AI system, called Lavender, the intelligence sources claim that Israeli military officials permitted large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed, particularly during the early weeks and months of the conflict.
Three former supreme court justices, including the court’s former president Lady Hale, are among more than 600 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges warning that the UK government is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
A majority of voters in Britain back a ban on arms sales to Israel, according to a YouGov poll. One of the first up-to-date assessments of whether Israel is losing public support in key allied states, the research also suggests most people believe the Israeli government is violating human rights in Gaza.
The UN Human Rights Council will consider a draft resolution on Friday calling for an arms embargo on Israel, citing the “plausible risk of genocide in Gaza”. If the draft resolution is adopted, it would mark the first time that the UN’s top rights body has taken a position on the war in Gaza.
Israeli minister Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet and main rival of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has called for snap parliamentary elections in September, as pressure builds over the war in Gaza.
