Summary
We’re going to pause our live reporting of the Middle East crisis for now – it’s 3.40am in Tel Aviv, Beirut and Gaza City. You can read our latest full report here on Israel’s ban of the UN relief agency Unrwa, as well as see all our Middle East coverage. Here’s a recap of the latest developments – thanks for reading.
Israel’s parliament voted on Monday to ban the UN relief and works agency (Unrwa) from the country within 90 days, in defiance of US and other international pressure to maintain the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the country’s Palestinians. The Knesset banned the agency from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, including the areas of annexed East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. A second vote declared Unrwa a terror group, effectively banning any direct interaction between the UN agency and the Israeli state.
The Israeli legislation is expected to lead to the closure of Unrwa’s East Jerusalem headquarters and would effectively block the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza via Rafah in the south. The severing of diplomatic relations would preclude Israel from issuing entry and work permits to foreign Unrwa staff and prevent coordination with the Israeli military to permit aid shipments. The legislation will not come into effect immediately.
Unrwa head Philippe Lazzarini called the Israeli decision “unprecedented” and said it was “nothing less than collective punishment” for Palestinians. The bills “will only deepen the suffering Palestinians, especially in Gaza, where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell”. An Unrwa spokesperson said the law would be a “disaster” and have a serious impact on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.
The US state department said it was “deeply concerned” by Israel’s move to ban Unrwa, with spokesperson Matthew Miller saying the agency plays a “critical, important role in delivering humanitarian assistance to civilians that need it in Gaza”. The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said Britain was “gravely concerned” the bill had passed, while its foreign secretary, David Lammy, earlier on Monday suggested sanctions could be taken against Israeli politicians if Unrwa was “brought to its knees” by the Knesset’s decision. The governments of Spain, Slovenia, Ireland and Norway jointly condemned Israel’s ban on Unrwa and said it set a “very serious” precedent for the work of the UN and all organisations of the multilateral system. Belgium said it “deeply regrets” the Knesset’s vote. Germany’s commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian assistance said the move would be “jeopardising vital humanitarian aid for millions of people”.
At least 60 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley on Monday, according to reports. The country’s health ministry said the tolls covered several areas in the Baalbek region as its governor, Bachir Khodr, decried what he called the “most violent” raids on the area since the Israel-Hezbollah war erupted late last month. The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Monday for large swathes of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, including areas already ordered to evacuate and other new ones. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported “a series of strikes” on the ancient coastal city, beginning with a raid on a residential apartment that was reported to have killed at least seven people.
Benjamin Netanyahu has denied reports that Israel has received a proposal that would include the release of four hostages in return for a 48-hour ceasefire in Gaza. The statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office came a day after Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said his country has proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza which would entail an exchange of four Israeli hostages for some Palestinian prisoners. “If such a proposal were made, the prime minister would accept it on the spot,” Netanyahu’s office said.
About 100,000 Palestinians are trapped in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas without medical or food supplies, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service warned. It said its operations had ground to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into the northern part of the Strip, which the Israeli military said was being conducted to stop Hamas fighters from regrouping there. Meanwhile, north Gaza’s three hospitals, where officials refused Israeli army orders to evacuate, said they were hardly operating. On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said only one of roughly 70 medical staff – a paediatrician – was left at Kamal Adwan hospital after Israel “detained and expelled” the others.
Israel’s defence ministry said it had signed a 2bn shekel ($536m) deal with local contractors to expand production of a new laser-based “Iron Beam” missile defence system that could be operational in the next year. Eyal Zamir, the director general of Israel’s defence ministry, said the deal “heralds the beginning of a new era in warfare”.
At the United Nations in New York, Israel and Iran have accused each of endangering Middle East peace in a heated exchange at a UN meeting called after Israel’s Saturday attack on Iranian military targets.
At least 43,020 Palestinian people have been killed and 101,110 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday. Thousands of other dead people are likely lost in the rubble of the territory, the Hamas-run ministry has previously noted.
Netanyahu said Iran led an “axis of evil” and Israel was the only obstacle preventing this evil from spreading and threatening peace around the world. Speaking at the opening of Israel’s Knesset on Monday, the prime minister also referred to the war in Gaza and Lebanon, declaring that the “day after” the conflict, “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza and Hezbollah will not sit on our northern border. Total victory is an orderly and consistent work plan that we fulfil step by step.”
Palestinian prisoner rights organisations have accused Israeli prison authorities of “brutally assaulting” Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody. Prison staff assaulted Barghouti in his solitary confinement cell at Megiddo prison in northern Israel on 9 September, the rights groups said. The assault “resulted in several injuries to Barghouti’s body, to his ribs … as well as bleeding of the right ear and a wound to his right arm, along with severe back pain”, they said.
Iran has executed a 69-year-old German-Iranian political scientist after years in captivity, sparking outrage in Germany and beyond. Berlin warned of “serious consequences” for Iran’s “inhumane regime” after Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent and a US resident, was put to death on Monday. A Norway-based human rights group called the execution the “extrajudicial killing of a hostage”.
Sally Rooney, Arundhati Roy and Rachel Kushner are among more than 1,000 writers and publishing professionals who have signed a letter pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that “are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians”.
Updated
In Gaza, rescuers reported fresh strikes on Monday, while the Israeli military said it hit Jabalia refugee camp in the north, killing dozens of militants.
An Israeli military official said the goal was to clear Jabalia of militants, which “will take us at least [several] weeks” to achieve, Agence France-Presse reports.
The official – briefing reporters on condition of anonymity – said Israel was not forcing residents to leave, claiming that “the safer zone in the Gaza Strip is in the south, but it’s up to them” to decide whether to go.
But the process had left 100,000 people trapped in a “siege”, the Gaza civil defence agency’s spokesperson, Mahmud Bassal, said late on Sunday.
For 22 days, not a drop of water or bread has entered the northern Gaza Strip.
Since 6 October, the Israeli military has been carrying out a fresh air and ground assault in northern Gaza to destroy operational capabilities it says Hamas is trying to rebuild there.
The director of the CIA has floated a deal for a 28-day Gaza ceasefire, the freeing of about eight hostages by Hamas and the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, according to Axios.
The US news outlet is reporting that Bill Burns discussed the idea during a meeting on Sunday with his Israeli and Qatari counterparts, Reuters says.
The United States says it is “deeply concerned” by Israel’s move to ban the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (Unrwa) from the country.
We just launched a video of US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller saying the agency plays a “critical, important role in delivering humanitarian assistance to civilians that need it in Gaza”.
There’s nobody that can replace them right now in the middle of the crisis.
See the footage here:
Updated
More here on the new Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Monday that have killed at least 60 people and wounded dozens, according to Lebanese state media.
The highest death toll was in the town of Sahl Allak in the Baalbeck province, where 16 people were killed, said the National News Agency (NNA), which listed deaths in 12 different locations in the Bekaa.
In Ramm, also in Baalbeck, an Israeli airstrike killed nine people, including a mother and her four children, and left one other person wounded, the Associated Press cited NNA as saying.
Baalbeck’s mayor, Bachir Khodr, described the strikes as “the most violent day in Baalbeck since the beginning of the aggression”, in a post on X. People remained trapped under the rubble, he said.
The Israeli bombardment of the Bekaa Valley as well as southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs has intensified over the past several weeks as part of an offensive against the Hezbollah militant group that has also killed hundreds of civilians.
Updated
Israel says $500m deal for ‘Iron Beam’ laser system is ‘beginning of new era in warfare’
Israel’s defence ministry says it has signed a 2bn shekel ($536m) deal with local contractors to expand production of a new laser-based missile defence system that could be operational in the next year.
Reuters reports the deal signed with state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Elbit Systems is for a high-power laser called Iron Beam that is designed to counter aerial threats, including rockets, mortar bombs, drones and cruise missiles.
It will supplement the Iron Dome system, which shoots down rockets and missiles fired at Israel, using radar-guided missiles to blow up short-range threats.
Eyal Zamir, the director general of Israel’s defence ministry, said on Monday the Iron Beam deal “heralds the beginning of a new era in warfare”.
Iron Beam is seen by experts as a much cheaper alternative for neutralising enemy rockets and drones than the interceptor missiles Israel currently uses.
Updated
Hamas has condemned Israel’s bill banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) from the country as “Zionist aggression” towards Palestinians.
“We consider this part of the Zionist war and aggression against our people,” the Palestinian militant group said in a statement, Agence France-Press reported.
Hamas ally Islamic Jihad described the ban as “an escalation in the genocide” against Palestinians, according to a separate statement.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has previously said Unrwa is “perforated by Hamas”.
At the United Nations in New York, Israel and Iran have accused each of endangering Middle East peace in a heated exchange at a UN meeting called after Israel’s attack on Iranian military targets.
Israel carried out airstrikes on military sites in Iran on Saturday in response to Tehran’s retaliatory missile barrage against Israel on 1 October.
Agence France-Presse reports that at a meeting of the UN security council on Monday that was requested by Iran, each country asserted its right to self-defence.
“Israeli aggression against Iran is obvious and does not occur in isolation,” Iran’s ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the council.
This aggressive attack is part of a broader, sustained pattern of aggression and unchecked impunity with which Israel continues to destabilise the entire region.
He added that Israel’s “persistent and systematic violation of international law” and military engagements in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen should spark “unequivocal condemnation” by the council.
The Israeli ambassador, Danny Danon, said his country had defended itself after Iran’s 1 October 1 attacks.
“We promised that their actions would not go unanswered,” he said.
Iran has seeded violence, chaos and destruction throughout the Middle East. But this violence is not limited to Israel’s borders. It threatens regional stability, global security and economic stability.
“Today, it is us – it is Israel in their crossroads,” the ambassador also said. “But tomorrow, it could be any of the nations represented here. Don’t be mistaken,” he said, calling for strong sanctions against Iran, especially to keep it from developing nuclear weapons.
Updated
What exactly is Unrwa, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees that Israel has barred from operating in the country and the Palestinian territories? Why has the Israeli parliament voted to ban it, cutting all ties between the agency and the Israeli government? And what does the new law mean for aid distribution in Gaza? Peter Beaumont explains here:
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Tel Aviv, Beirut and Gaza. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Israel’s parliament voted on Monday to ban the UN relief and works agency (Unrwa) from the country within 90 days, in defiance of US and other international pressure to maintain the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the country’s Palestinian population. The Knesset banned the agency from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, including the areas of annexed East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. A second vote declared Unrwa a terror group, effectively banning any direct interaction between the UN agency and the Israeli state.
The Israeli legislation is expected to lead to the closure of Unrwa’s East Jerusalem headquarters and would effectively block the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza via Rafah. The severing of diplomatic relations would preclude Israel from issuing entry and work permits to foreign Unrwa staff and prevent coordination with the Israeli military to permit aid shipments. The legislation will not come into effect immediately.
Unrwa head Philippe Lazzarini called the Israeli decision “unprecedented” and said it was “nothing less than collective punishment” for Palestinians. The bills “will only deepen the suffering Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell.” An Unrwa spokesperson said the law would be a “disaster” and would have a serious impact on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said Britain was “gravely concerned” that the bill had passed. The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, earlier on Monday suggested sanctions could be taken against Israeli politicians if Unrwa is “brought to its knees” by the Knesset’s decision. The governments of Spain, Slovenia, Ireland and Norway released a joint statement condemning Israel’s ban on Unrwa and warned that it set a very serious” precedent for the work of the UN and all organisations of the multilateral system. Belgium said it “deeply regrets” the Knesset’s vote. Germany’s commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian assistance warned the move would “effectively make Unrwa’s work in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem impossible ... jeopardising vital humanitarian aid for millions of people”.
At least 60 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley on Monday, according to reports. The country’s health ministry said the tolls covered several areas in the Baalbek region as its governor, Bachir Khodr, decried what he called the “most violent” raids on the area since the Israel-Hezbollah war erupted late last month.
Benjamin Netanyahu has denied reports that Israel has received a proposal that would include the release of four hostages in return for a 48-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office came a day after Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said his country has proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza which would entail an exchange of four Israeli hostages for some Palestinian prisoners. “If such a proposal were made, the prime minister would accept it on the spot,” Netanyahu’s office insisted.
About 100,000 Palestinians are trapped in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas without medical or food supplies, Palestinian Civil Emergency Service warned. The emergency service said its operations had ground to a halt because of the three-week-long Israeli assault back into the northern part of the Strip, which the Israeli military claims is being conducted to stop Hamas fighters from regrouping there. Meanwhile, north Gaza’s three hospitals, where officials refused orders by the Israeli army to evacuate, said they were hardly operating. On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said there was only one of roughly 70 medical staff – a paediatrician – was left at Kamal Adwan hospital after Israel “detained and expelled” the others.
At least 43,020 Palestinian people have been killed and 101,110 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday. Thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory, the health ministry has previously noted.
Netanyahu said Iran leads an “axis of evil” and Israel is the only obstacle preventing this evil from spreading and threatening peace around the world. Speaking at the opening of Israel’s Knesset on Monday, the Israeli leader referred also to the war in Gaza and Lebanon, declaring that the “day after” the conflict, “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza and Hezbollah will not sit on our northern border. Total victory is an orderly and consistent work plan that we fulfil step by step”.
The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Monday for large swathes of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, including areas already ordered to evacuate and other new ones. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported “a series of strikes” on the ancient coastal city, beginning with a raid on a residential apartment that was reported to have killed at least seven people.
Palestinian prisoner rights organisations have accused Israeli prison authorities of “brutally assaulting” Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody. Prison staff assaulted Barghouti in his solitary confinement cell at Megiddo prison in northern Israel on 9 September, the rights groups said. The assault “resulted in several injuries to Barghouti’s body, to his ribs … as well as bleeding of the right ear and a wound to his right arm, along with severe back pain”, the groups said.
Iran has executed a 69-year-old German-Iranian political scientist after years in captivity, sparking outrage in Germany and beyond. Berlin warned of “serious consequences” for Iran’s “inhumane regime” after Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent and a US resident, was put to death on Monday, while a Norway-based human rights group labelled the execution the “extrajudicial killing of a hostage”.
Sally Rooney, Arundhati Roy and Rachel Kushner are among more than 1,000 writers and publishing professionals who have signed a letter pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that “are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians”.
Updated
The US has warned Iran of “severe consequences” if it launches any new attacks against Israel or US personnel in the Middle East.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, addressing the UN’s security council on Monday, said:
We will not hesitate to act in self defense. Let there be no confusion. The United States does not want to see further escalation. We believe this should be the end of the direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran.
She was speaking at a meeting of the security council convened after Israel struck Iranian military targets on Saturday, in retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel.
Amir Saied Iravani, Iran’s UN ambassador, in turn accused Washington of being “complicit” through military support for its ally, Israel.
He said that Iran has “consistently championed diplomacy,” but that:
As a sovereign state, the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its inherent right to respond at a time of its choosing to this act of aggression.
Netanyahu denies Israel received Gaza ceasefire proposal to release four hostages
Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel did not receive a proposal that would include the release of four hostages in return for a 48-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office came a day after Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said his country has proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza which would entail an exchange of four Israeli hostages for some Palestinian prisoners.
But Netanyahu’s office on Monday stated it had not received a proposal, adding:
If such a proposal were made, the prime minister would accept it on the spot.
Prime Minister's Office:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 28, 2024
Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Likud Knesset faction today that Israel has not received a proposal for the release of 4 hostages in return for a 48-hour ceasefire in Gaza. If such a proposal had been raised, the PM would have accepted it immediately.
Netanyahu’s office said earlier on Monday that the Mossad’s intelligence chief, David Barnea, had met US and Qatari officials in Doha. The Israeli PM’s office said:
During the meeting, the parties discussed a new unified framework that combines previous proposals and also takes into account key issues and recent developments in the region.
It added that discussions will continue to “assess the feasibility of talks and to further efforts to promote a deal”.
Here’s more international reaction to the Israeli parliament’s decision on Monday to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) from working in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem.
Germany’s commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian assistance, Luise Amtsberg, warned the move would “effectively make Unrwa’s work in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem impossible ... jeopardising vital humanitarian aid for millions of people”.
According to AFP, Amtsberg said the implementation of the law as it currently stands “would be a fateful step” and that “our efforts to bring peace to the Middle East would be hindered”. She added:
The Israeli action against a UN-mandated organization that has been doing vital work since 1950 is a dangerous signal of disrespect for the United Nations and for international cooperation.
Ireland’s tánaiste Micheál Martin also “strongly” condemned the decision, urging the international community to “stand against this”.
Belgium says decision sets 'disastrous precedent'
Belgium has also issued a statement warning that Israel’s decision to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) sets a “disastrous precedent” that “deeply undermines” the multilateral system and the UN itself.
Belgium “deeply regrets” the Knesset’s vote on Monday, a statement shared by the country’s foreign ministry on X said.
We deplore that once again the strong appeals of the international community have been ignored. The Knesset has deliberately chosen to reject the mandate granted to Unrwa by the UN general assembly. These laws are in direct breach of Israel’s obligations under international law.
Belgium deeply regrets the anti-@UNRWA laws adopted today by the Israeli parliament. Read more below. pic.twitter.com/RChpTmuPNY
— 🇧🇪 Belgium MFA (@BelgiumMFA) October 28, 2024
Updated
Spain, Slovenia, Ireland and Norway condemn Israel's vote to ban Unrwa
The governments of Spain, Slovenia, Ireland and Norway have also released a joint statement condemning Israel’s ban on Unrwa from operating in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The UN agency’s work is “essential and irreplaceable” for millions of Palestinian refugees in the region, the joint statement on Monday reads.
It warned the legislation approved the Israel’s parliament sets a “very serious” precedent for the work of the UN and all organisations of the multilateral system, adding:
Spain, Slovenia, Ireland and Norway will continue to work with donor and host countries to ensure the viability of Unrwa’s work and its humanitarian role.
Updated
UK 'gravely concerned' by Israeli ban on Unrwa, says Starmer
Britain is “gravely concerned” about Israel’s parliament vote banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), the UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said.
In a statement on Monday, Starmer said:
This legislation risks making Unrwa’s essential work for Palestinians impossible, jeopardising the entire international humanitarian response in Gaza and delivery of essential health and education services in the West Bank.
The UK leader described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “simply unacceptable”, and urged an immediate ceasefire, the release of the hostages and a significant increase in aid to the Palestinian territory.
“Under its international obligations, Israel must ensure sufficient aid reaches civilians in Gaza,” Starmer continued.
Only Unrwa can deliver humanitarian aid at the scale and pace needed. We pay tribute to the 222 Unrwa staff who have lost their lives in the conflict. Unrwa has a UN mandate to support Palestinian refugees. We urge Israeli lawmakers to ensure that Unrwa can continue to deliver its essential work.
The AFP wire has now upped the death toll in Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon today to 48.
Reuters has reported at least 60 killed in the Bekaa valley area, where Hezbollah dominates.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) had reported 23, but that number has now more than doubled.
We await more detail from Reuters and other media and will bring it to you as it emerges.
Updated
At least 60 people reportedly killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon
At least 60 people have been killed and dozens wounded in new Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon, according to a report moments ago.
The airstrikes are hitting the Bekaa valley, Reuters says, citing three sources, initially without naming them and now citing two security sources and the mayor of Baalbek, a city east of the Litani River, around 40 miles northeast of Beirut.
There are few details yet. Agence France-Presse (AFP) has a report that Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 23 people were killed today in Israeli raids on several areas in Baalbek in the eastern valley, area.
Militant group Hezbollah holds sway in this region. The health ministry said the tolls covered five areas in the Baalbek region as its governor Bachir Khodr decried what he called the “most violent” raids on the area since the Israel-Hezbollah war erupted late last month.
We await further information to see how and when details from these two reports match up.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 11pm in Gaza, Tel Aviv, and Beirut. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Israeli lawmakers voted on Monday to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) from conducting operating inside Israel. In a second vote, Israeli lawmakers voted to sever diplomatic ties with Unrwa and designate it a terror organisation. Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement following the Knesset vote declaring that Unrwa workers “involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable”.
Unrwa head Philippe Lazzarini called the Israeli decision “unprecedented” and said it was “nothing less than collective punishment” for Palestinians. The bills “will only deepen the suffering Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell.” An Unrwa spokesperson said the law would be a “disaster” and would have a serious impact on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Iran leads an “axis of evil” and Israel is the only obstacle preventing this evil from spreading and threatening peace around the world. Speaking at the opening of Israel’s Knesset on Monday, Netanyahu referred also to the war in Gaza and Lebanon, declaring that the “day after” the conflict, “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza and Hezbollah will not sit on our northern border. Total victory is an orderly and consistent work plan that we fulfil step by step”.
The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Monday for large swathes of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, including areas already ordered to evacuate and other new ones. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported “a series of strikes” on the ancient coastal city, beginning with a raid on a residential apartment that was reported to have killed at least seven people.
About 100,000 Palestinians are trapped in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas without medical or food supplies, Palestinian Civil Emergency Service warned. The emergency service said its operations had ground to a halt because of the three-week-long Israeli assault back into the northern part of the Strip, which the Israeli military claims is being conducted to stop Hamas fighters from regrouping there. Meanwhile, north Gaza’s three hospitals, where officials refused orders by the Israeli army to evacuate, said they were hardly operating. On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said there was only one of roughly 70 medical staff – a paediatrician – was left at Kamal Adwan hospital after Israel “detained and expelled” the others.
At least 43,020 Palestinian people have been killed and 101,110 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday. Thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory, the health ministry has previously noted.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, welcomed his Lebanese counterpart, Najib Mikati, to Downing Street for a bilateral meeting on Monday evening. Starmer offered Mikati his “condolences for the very many losses in your country”. In response, Mikati thanked Starmer for calling for a ceasefire in the region and for Britain’s support on humanitarian matters.
The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy warned that Israel’s restrictions on aid entering Gaza risked “violating international humanitarian law”. Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Lammy also suggested the UK could introduce sanctions against Israeli politicians if Unrwa is “brought to its knees” by the Knesset’s decision.
Sally Rooney, Arundhati Roy and Rachel Kushner are among more than 1,000 writers and publishing professionals who have signed a letter pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that “are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians”.
Foreign ministers from seven countries express 'grave concern' at Unrwa laws
A statement by foreign ministers from seven western countries released on Sunday slammed the Israeli legislation targeting Unrwa.
The statement by the foreign ministers of Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea and the UK expressed “grave concern” over the legislation.
The UN agency provides “essential and life-saving” humanitarian aid and basic services to Palestinians in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and throughout the region, they said.
Without its work, such assistance and services would be “severely hampered if not impossible” in Gaza and the West Bank, with “devastating consequences on an already critical and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation”, especially in northern Gaza.
We urge the Israeli government to abide by its international obligations, keep the reserve privileges and immunities of Unrwa untouched and live up to its responsibility to facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms as well as the provision of sorely needed basic services to the civilian population.
Updated
Unrwa communications director Juliette Touma, responding to the agency chief Philippe Lazzarini’s statement, said she had “no words”.
Posting to X after Israel’s parliament voted to severely restrict the UN agency responsible for distributing aid in Gaza, Touma wrote that she was “sorry” to the world “for where we got”.
…..
— Juliette Touma (@JulietteTouma) October 28, 2024
No words
No words
I’m sorry for you, world……
I’m so sorry for where we got….. https://t.co/zhOb7f0iPN
Unrwa chief says Israeli ban 'nothing less than collective punishment' of Palestinians
The commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has condemned Israel’s decision to sever ties with the agency and to ban it from operating inside the country.
Philippe Lazzarini, in a statement posted to X, described the Knesset vote as “unprecedented” and warned that it set a “dangerous precedent”.
The decision opposes the UN Charter and violate Israel’s obligations under international law, he said.
He noted that the move will deprive more than 650,000 Palestinian children from education, “putting at risk an entire generation of children.” Lazzarini said:
These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell … These bills increase the suffering of the Palestinians and are nothing less than collective punishment.
The vote by the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) against @UNRWA this evening is unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent. It opposes the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) October 28, 2024
This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit…
Israel passes second bill to designate Unrwa a terror organisation
Israel’s Knesset has voted to pass legislation severing diplomatic ties to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), shortly after banning it from any activity inside the country.
As we reported earlier, Israeli lawmakers voted 92-10 on Monday on a bill that states that Unrwa will no longer “operate any institution, provide any service, or conduct any activity, whether directly or indirectly,” in Israel.
The second bill, passed 87-9 just minutes ago, cuts ties with Unrwa and designates the group a terror organisation. It prohibits ties between Israeli officials and the agency, and strips its staff of their legal immunities, AP reports.
From Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov:
The second bill passed with 87 in favor 9 opposed.
— Lahav Harkov 🎗️ (@LahavHarkov) October 28, 2024
Raam-Taal tried to challenge opposition Zionist parties by turning it into a no-confidence bill against the government, which supports the bill. Basically the vote was for the government and against UNRWA, or vice-versa, at the…
ActionAid has condemned the ban on Unrwa activities in Israel, describing the decision as a “reckless attack” on humanitarian aid that will “cost the lives of countless Palestinians.”
The charity “strongly” condemns the Knesset legislation and stands in solidarity with the UN agency, “whose essential role in supporting millions of Palestinian refugees cannot be overstated,” a statement by Jamil Sawalmeh, ActionAid in Palestine’s country director, said.
This outrageous move by the Israeli government will dismantle the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza, cutting off a vital lifeline for millions of Palestinians for whom life has become a living hell.
The vote in the Israeli parliament on Monday was passed amid the ongoing bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, “who continue to attack populated areas, resulting in mass killing of Palestinians, the obliteration of Gaza’s last remaining hospitals and the forced displacement of hundreds,” the statement said.
Instead of pressuring Israel to end its genocide in Gaza, world leaders have instead stood by silently and allowed Israel to criminalise humanitarian aid. We demand that world leaders stand against Israel’s illegal actions and use all means available to prevent this shameful legislation from being enforced.
Unrwa condemns 'outrageous' Israeli ban
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has condemned the Israeli parliament’s approval of a bill banning its activities in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, calling the move “outrageous”.
Unrwa spokesperson Juliette Touma told AFP:
It’s outrageous that a member state of the United Nations is working to dismantle a UN agency which also happens to be the largest responder in the humanitarian operation in Gaza.
Separately, a Unrwa media adviser described the Israeli decision as an “unprecedented” escalation.
Israel’s decision to ban Unrwa will mean the collapse of the humanitarian process as a whole, Adnan Abu Hasna told Qatar’s Al Jazeera Mubasher TV.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has released a statement following the Knesset’s vote passing legislation that bans the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) from activity inside Israel.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said Unrwa workers “involves in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable”.
UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable. Since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza now and in the future.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 28, 2024
In the 90 days before this legislation takes effect – and after – we stand ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 28, 2024
Israel has accused the UN agency of close ties with Hamas militants, and accused a dozen of Unrwa’s Gaza employees of involvement in the deadly 7 October Hamas attacks on southern Israel.
Unrwa’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, has previously said his agency had responded promptly and seriously to the initial Israeli allegations that 12 staff members had taken part in the Hamas attack. He said 10 staff had been sacked immediately and two investigations completed, including one by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna.
The EU, in a statement released before Israeli lawmakers voted to pass a bill restricting Unrwa activities inside the country, expressed “grave concern” over the legislation.
As we reported earlier, the Knesset is expected to vote later today on a second bill severing diplomatic ties with the UN agency.
If adopted, these two bills will have “far-reaching” consequences, “de facto rendering Unrwa’s vital operations in Gaza impossible”, the EU’s high representative warned.
This legislation stands in stark contradiction to international law and the fundamental humanitarian principle of humanity, and will only exacerbate an already severe humanitarian crisis, potentially halting essential services such as food, shelter, education and healthcare for millions of Palestinian refugees in these territories.
The EU reiterates that the agency is the sole provider of these critical services and is “essential”, it said. “Millions of lives are potentially at stake,” it said.
We urge Israeli authorities to reconsider, in order to prevent disruptions to Unrwa’s life-saving services and ensure continued and unhindered humanitarian access for Unrwa to the Palestine refugees that it was set up to serve.
The legislation to ban Unrwa from operating inside Israel, passed by the Knesset just minutes ago, deals a huge blow to the UN agency, which has provided essential aid and assistance across Palestinian territories and to Palestinian refugees elsewhere for more than seven decades.
The legislation does not take effect immediately. The bill will go into effect 60 to 90 days after Israel’s foreign ministry notified the UN, according to a spokesperson of one of the bill’s co-sponsors.
As the Times of Israel’s Tal Schneider reports, Israel has three months to determine the means and personnel who will assume responsibilities currently managed by Unrwa, including in East Jerusalem and Gaza.
The law to shut down UNRWA in Israel and prohibit contact with its personnel has now passed with a bipartisan vote. Under this legislation, Israel has 3 months to determine the means and personnel who will assume the responsibilities currently managed by UNRWA across various… pic.twitter.com/GobfmsLoBF
— Tal Schneider טל שניידר تال شنايدر (@talschneider) October 28, 2024
Israel passes law banning Unrwa from operating inside the country
Israel’s parliament has passed a bill that outlaws the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel.
The vote passed 92-10.
A vote on a second bill severing diplomatic ties with Unrwa is also expected later on Monday.
We reported earlier that the UK leader, Keir Starmer, welcomed Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, to Downing Street for a bilateral meeting on Monday evening.
In comments reported by Press Association, Starmer offered Mikati his “condolences for the very many losses in your country”.
Referring to the “long, shared and good history” between the UK and Lebanon, Starmer said it was important to discuss how to bring about a “cessation of hostilities” and “ensure that the UN resolution is not just words”.
In response, Mikati thanked his UK counterpart for alling for a ceasefire in the region and for Britain’s support on humanitarian matters.
Updated
US 'deeply concerned' about Israeli bill banning Unrwa
The US has made it clear to Israel it is “deeply concerned” by legislation under consideration aimed at banning the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, a US state department spokesperson said.
Matthew Miller, at a briefing with reporters on Monday, said:
We have made quite clear to the government of Israel that we are deeply concerned by this, this proposed legislation.
The state department spokesperson added that humanitarian assistance was not getting to the people in Jabalia in northern Gaza, and that Washington would not accept that.
UK foreign secretary David Lammy, on the Israeli strikes on Iran this past weekend, said Tehran “should not respond” to the attacks.
Addressing the Commons on Monday, Lammy said the Israeli airstrikes on Saturday were “in response to Iran’s escalatory ballistic missile attacks on Israel.” He said:
These attacks were the latest in a long history of malign Iranian activity …. Let me be clear, the government unequivocally condemns Iranian attacks on Israel.
Britain’s priority is “immediate de-escalation”, he said. “Iran should not respond,” he said, adding:
All sides must exercise restraint. We do not wish to see the cycle of violence intensified, dragging the whole region into a war with severe consequences.
Israeli restrictions on Gaza aid risk violating international humanitarian law, warns UK
David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, also warned that Israel’s restrictions on aid entering Gaza “fly in the face of Israel’s public commitments” and that they risked “violating international humanitarian law”.
Addressing the Commons on Monday, Lammy said the restrictions are a “rebuke to every friend of Israel” who has “demanded action to address the catastrophic conditions facing Palestinian civilians.”
The UK government “condemns these retractions in the strongest terms,” Lammy said, adding:
There is no excuse for Israel’s government’s ongoing restrictions on humanitarian assistance. They must let more aid in now. Aid is backed up at Gaza’s borders, in many cases, funded by the UK and our partners but now stuck out of reach of those who need it so desperately.
In response to a question by Conservative MP Nick Timothy of whether the description of Israel’s actions in Gaza as “annihilation, extermination and genocide” was inappropriate, Lammy said the use of the word “genocide” in relation to the war in Gaza risks undermining genocides such as the Holocaust.
Updated
Here’s more from the UK, where foreign secretary David Lammy has warned Israel against severing ties with the UN’s agency for Palestinians (Unrwa), which is the only aid organisation still operating in Gaza.
As we reported earlier, the Israeli parliament is expected to vote on a pair of bills that would strip Unrwa of legal immunities and limiting its ability to support Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
During a statement on the Middle East on Monday, Lammy said it is a “matter of profound regret” that the Knesset is considering shutting down Unrwa’s operations. Lammy said:
All over the world in every warzone, every refugee camp, the United Nations is a beacon of hope and so it’s a matter of profound regret that the Israeli parliament is considering shutting down Unrwa’s operations. The allegations against Unrwa’s staff earlier this week were fully investigated and offer no jurisdiction for cutting off ties with Unrwa.
He said it “cannot be” in Israel’s interest to implement blocks on Unrwa, adding that “we must hold out that the Israeli government does not implement this legislation.”
Asked if he would introduce “serious sanctions” against Israeli politicians if the Knesset voted to sever ties with the UN agency, Lammy said:
Yes, the truth is if Unrwa is brought to its knees, that would be a very very serious event indeed.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has been pictured welcoming Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, to Downing Street this evening.
The meeting comes as the death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks has risen to 2,710, including 38 deaths on Sunday, according to the latest update from the country’s health ministry.
Sally Rooney, Arundhati Roy and Rachel Kushner are among more than 1,000 writers and publishing professionals who have signed a letter pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that “are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians”.
Signatories to the pledge say they will not work with Israeli publishers, festivals, literary agencies and publications that are “complicit in violating Palestinian rights”, including operating “discriminatory policies and practices” or “whitewashing and justifying Israel’s occupation, apartheid or genocide”.
Institutions that have never publicly recognised the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law” will also be boycotted.
The campaign was organised by the Palestine festival of literature (also known as PalFest), which runs an annual festival with free public events in cities across Palestine.
“We, as writers, publishers, literary festival workers, and other book workers, publish this letter as we face the most profound moral, political and cultural crisis of the 21st century,” begins the statement, which goes on to say that Israel has killed “at the very least 43,362” Palestinians in Gaza since last October, and that this follows “75 years of displacement, ethnic cleansing and apartheid”.
Culture “has played an integral role in normalising these injustices”, it says. Israeli cultural institutions, “often working directly with the state, have been crucial in obfuscating, disguising and art-washing the dispossession and oppression of millions of Palestinians for decades”.
Criticism of the Israeli government and calls for tolerance and a commitment to a two-state solution were the major themes of an event in London on Sunday organised by the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The conference, titled Israel After October 7th: Allied or Alone?, featured speakers from across Israeli and UK politics, academia and media. It served in part to show the extent to which some members of the Jewish diaspora have been traumatised not just by the horrors of 7 October but also the response of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Haaretz’s publisher, Amos Schocken, opened the event by saying the Israeli government was so disastrous and had so distorted Zionism that the only recourse lay in the international community applying sanctions, just as it had done to change apartheid South Africa…
Thousands of protesters gather outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, before a key vote on banning legal immunity for United Nations aid agency Unrwa.
Thousands of Israelis take to the streets to protest against Netanyahu government outside the Knesset as the winter session of parliament opens. Shadia Edward Dashti is there pic.twitter.com/faK46drY2k
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) October 28, 2024
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Israeli attacks kill 2,710 people in Lebanon, says health ministry
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed 2,710 people and injured 12,592 others since October 2023, Lebanon’s health ministry says.
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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran leads an 'axis of evil' at opening of parliament
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Iran leads an “axis of evil” and Israel is the only obstacle preventing this evil from spreading and threatening peace around the world.
“Iran is working for a stockpile of nuclear bombs and will be able to threaten the entire world whenever it wants. If Israel falls, the entire Middle East will fall into its hands, but we will not fall. We will win, and the whole world will be a better place,” said the prime minister.
Netanyahu says that Israel hit key Iranian sites hard during Saturday’s airstrikes during a speech at the opening of the Knesset winter legislative session.
“We severely damaged Iran’s defence systems and its ability to export missiles,” said Netanyahu. “These were not lathes we were attacking. These are industrial factories of death, and we struck them hard.”
Netanyahu said that the United States played no role in convincing Israel to tone down its response to Iran’s bombardment on 1 October. “We make decisions ourselves according to our interests and considerations,” said Netanyahu.
In regards to the war in Gaza and Lebanon, Netanyahu says that the “day after” the conflict, “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza and Hezbollah will not sit on our northern border. Total victory is an orderly and consistent work plan that we fulfil step by step”.
A protester yelling from the gallery during Netanyahu’s speech was removed by parliamentary security.
Updated
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the latest talks in Doha regarding a ceasefire and hostage release deal are focused on a new outline.
“A new unified proposal that combines previous proposals and also takes into account the main issues and recent developments in the region,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
“In the coming days, discussions will continue between the mediators and Hamas to examine the feasibility of talks and a continued attempt to advance a deal.”
No details or specifics about the new outline were provided.
Updated
Israel's parliament will vote on blocking UN agency from distributing aid in Gaza on Monday evening
Israel will vote on a pair of bills that would significantly restrict the United Nations agency responsible for distributing aid in Gaza by stripping it of legal immunities and limiting its ability to support Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The vote will take place on Monday evening when the Israeli parliament’s winter session begins.
Israel accuses the UN Relief and Works Agency, or Unrwa, of allowing Hamas militants to infiltrate its staff, an allegation the agency denies.
More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes, and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
The bills will not propose alternative agencies to provide essential provisions to people suffering in the region. Unrwa provides education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“If it passes and if it’s implemented, it’s a disaster,” said Juliette Touma, communications director for the agency. “Unrwa is the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza … Who can do its job?”
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu says he hopes to have peace with more Arab nations after fighting has stopped.
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he wants to make more peace deals once armed conflict with Iran and the Iranian proxies of Hamas and Hezbollah is complete.
“I aspire to continue the process I led a few years ago of the signing of the historic Abraham Accords, and achieve peace with additional Arab countries,” Netanyahu said to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
“These countries, and other countries, see clearly the blows we are landing on those who attack us, the Iranian axis of evil,” he said. “They aspire, like us, for a stable, secure and flourishing Middle East.”
Updated
Israel will spend around £400m on a new air defence system known as Iron Beam, the Israeli ministry of defence announced on Monday.
In a statement, military research chief Daniel Gold said: “The combination between laser interception and missile interception will further tighten the defence envelope against rockets, missiles, drones, cruise missiles and other threats.”
Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, an Israeli defence technology company, is the main developer of the Iron Beam system, and Elbit, another Israel-based defence contractor, supplies the laser cannon for it.
The cost of a Tamir missile, which is currently used by Israel’s Iron Dome to intercept missiles, costs £76,000 a time, whereas using a laser shield costs as much as the electricity used to power it.
However, the laser system is not as adept at coping with large-scale rocket barrages as the Iron Dome system and can be impeded by rain, clouds and sandstorms.
Updated
Summary of the day so far...
The Israeli military issued an evacuation order for large swathes of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, including areas already ordered to evacuate and other new ones. The National News Agency reported “a series of strikes” on the ancient coastal city, beginning with a raid on a residential apartment that was reported to have killed at least seven people.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said about 100,000 people are trapped in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas without medical or food supplies. The emergency service said its operations had ground to a halt because of the three-week-long Israeli assault back into the northern part of the Strip.
At least 43,020 Palestinian people have been killed and 101,110 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the territory’s health ministry said in its latest update.
Iraq condemned Israel’s use of its airspace to attack neighbouring Iran in a protest letter sent to UN secretary general, António Guterres, and the UN security council.
The UN security council is expected to meet today to discuss Israel’s attack on Iran, which targeted military sites in several regions of the country early on Saturday and killed at least four soldiers.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Iran leads an “axis of evil” and Israel is the only obstacle preventing this evil from spreading and threatening peace around the world. “Iran is working for a stockpile of nuclear bombs and will be able to threaten the entire world whenever it wants. If Israel falls, the entire Middle East will fall into its hands, but we will not fall. We will win, and the whole world will be a better place,” said the prime minister.
Thousands of protesters gather outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, before a key vote on banning legal immunity for United Nations aid agency Unrwa. If passed, the bill will make it impossible for Unrwa to operate in Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel will spend around £400m on a new air defence system known as Iron Beam, the Israeli ministry of defence announced on Monday. In a statement, military research chief Daniel Gold said: “The combination between laser interception and missile interception will further tighten the defence envelope against rockets, missiles, drones, cruise missiles and other threats.”
Updated
Hezbollah says its fighters 'ambushed' Israeli troops near Lebanon border village
Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, said it has ambushed Israeli troops near a Lebanon border village.
Hezbollah said it “ambushed … the Israeli enemy’s vehicles and soldiers as they advanced towards” the outskirts of the border village of Kfar Kila ahead of deadly clashes. We will give you more details on this developing news as we get it.
Updated
Israel’s parliament is expected to vote on a pair of bills today that could effectively bar the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, from operating in Israel, and severely limit its activities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank (see post at 09.39 for more details).
ActionAid UK is urging the UK government – and calling for international action – to stop the proposed bills. In a statement, Hannah Bond, co-CEO at ActionAid UK, said:
World leaders must act now to defend Unrwa from the unprecedented threats by the Israeli government. Passing these bills would turbo-charge an already dire humanitarian disaster, with millions of Palestinian refugees cut off from essential services they rely on every day.
This isn’t just about one agency—dismantling Unrwa would unravel the international protections for Palestinian refugees and set a dangerous precedent for global humanitarian efforts.
The people of Gaza and beyond cannot wait. We call on the global community to act decisively, protect Unrwa, and uphold international law.
Updated
We have been reporting on the deadly Israeli airstrikes on the Lebanese city of Tyre in today’s blog. My colleague William Christou has written a profile on Tyre, the second most populated city in south Lebanon, from which tens of thousands of residents had already fled due to intensifying Israeli bombings over the last month.
Here is some of the story, which you can read in full here:
Over the last year, Tyre had been a refuge for thousands of people displaced by Israel-Hezbollah fighting along the border.
During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, it played a similar role, hosting internally displaced people, humanitarians and journalists who relied on it as a safe zone.
Now, Tyre was no longer safe. The day after Israel issued its evacuation order, the city was almost entirely empty.
Burnt-out cars, flipped upside down by the force of a blast, lined the main thoroughfare of the city. Distant thuds announced Israeli airstrikes, and the occasional volley of a dozen outgoing Katyushas, the rockets popping and flaring up before accelerating and disappearing into the sky, was Hezbollah’s reply.
Where beachgoers would usually lounge were journalists and a row of cameras pointed at Lebanon’s snaking coastline, with plumes of smoke where Israeli bombs dropped visible under Tyre’s clear blue sky.
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Israel’s president Isaac Herzog has called for the “urgent and immediate” return” of the hostages in Gaza, calling it a “binding order of the state toward its citizens”.
“We listen to the families and we do not forget Maimonides’ command that there is no greater mitzvah than the mitzvah of redeeming captives,” he said.
Updated
Five rockets were launched from Lebanon at the Haifa area in Israel a short while ago, according to the Israel Defence Force.
“Some of them were intercepted by the airforce, crashes in the area were detected,” it said on X.
Updated
EU foreign policy chief renews calls for 'immediate ceasefire' in Lebanon
Spanish politician Josep Borrell, who serves as the EU’s high representative of the union for foreign affairs, has called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Lebanon and condemned Israel’s “unacceptable attacks” on UN peacekeepers in the region.
Borrell told a forum in Barcelona that the bloc calls “for an immediate ceasefire across the blue lines”.
He added: “More than ever we need to reclaim the humanity lost in Gaza, while the world seems unable, or unwilling, to stop the man-made catastrophe unfolding before our eyes.”
Updated
The Palestinian Red Crescent has said three people have been killed in an Israeli drone attack on Gaza City.
100,000 residents 'trapped in northern Gaza' – Palestinian emergency service
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service has said about 100,000 people are trapped in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas without medical or food supplies.
The emergency service said its operations had ground to a halt because of the three-week-long Israeli assault back into the northern part of the Strip, which the IDF claims is being conducted to stop Hamas fighters from regrouping there.
Residents, however, say Israeli troops have besieged shelters and levelled civilian infrastructure, while killing many civilians in deadly airstrikes. Residents in the north, under sweeping evacuation orders, say they feel trapped as there is nowhere safe for them to flee to due to the relentless Israeli attacks there.
Meanwhile, north Gaza’s three hospitals, where officials refused orders by the Israeli army to evacuate, said they were hardly operating. At least two had been damaged by Israeli attacks during the assault and run out of medical, food and fuel stocks.
On Monday, the Gaza health ministry said there was only one of roughly 70 medical staff – a paediatrician – was left at Kamal Adwan hospital after Israel “detained and expelled” the others (see post at 10.25 for more details).
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Death toll in Gaza reaches 43,020, says health ministry
At least 43,020 Palestinian people have been killed and 101,110 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The ministry has said in the past that thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory.
Hezbollah said its fighters have targeted “an Israeli enemy troop gathering” near Wazzani village in southern Lebanon “with a rocket salvo”. The Lebanese militant group earlier claimed four attacks with rockets and artillery on Israeli troops at Fatima’s gate, a shuttered border crossing at the nearby Lebanese village of Kfar Kila.
Updated
Lebanon’s foreign ministry has complained to the UN security council over an Israeli airstrike last week that killed three journalists in Hasbaya, in the country’s south.
Wissam Qassem, a camera operator with TV station Al-Manar, and news channel Al Mayadeen’s Ghassan Najjar, a correspondent, and Mohammad Reda, a technician, were killed in the strike.
As my colleague William Christou explains in this story, the airstrikes hit a group of small chalets that 18 journalists from at least seven different media outlets – including Al Jazeera, Sky News Arabia and TRT – were staying in while covering Israel’s war on Lebanon.
Lebanon has now submitted “a complaint to the security council regarding the latest Israeli attacks that targeted journalists and media facilities in Hasbaya in south Lebanon, and the Ouzai area” in Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to a statement from the foreign ministry.
“The repeated Israeli targeting of media crews is a war crime” and Israel must be “held to account and punished”, the statement added.
Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati said the attack was deliberate and both he and Information Minister Ziad Makary labelled it a war crime. The Israeli army said on Friday that the airstrike was “under review”, claiming it targeted Hezbollah militants. Israel has killed at least 12 journalists in Lebanon – six of whom were on duty – since 8 October 2023.
Updated
Death toll from Israeli attack on Tyre rises to 7, Lebanon's health ministry says
Lebanon’s health ministry has increased the death toll from the Israeli attack on the southern city of Tyre from five to seven, and revised the number of people injured from 10 to 17 (see earlier post at 07.51 for more details).
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X suspends new Hebrew-language account for Iran's supreme leader
The social media platform X – owned by Elon Musk – has suspended a new account on behalf of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85, that posted messages in Hebrew.
The account was suspended early on Monday with a brief note appended to it saying: “X suspends accounts which violate the X Rules.” It wasn’t immediately clear what the violation was.
Khamenei said in a speech on Sunday that Israel’s airstrikes on Iran early on Saturday “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed,” while stopping short of calling for retaliation.
The X account opened on Sunday with a message in Hebrew reading: “In the name of God, the most merciful,” a standard Islamic greeting.
🔰 Zionists are making a miscalculation with respect to Iran. They don't know Iran. They still haven't been able to correctly understand the power, initiative, and determination of the #Iranian people. We need to make them understand these things.
— Khamenei Media (@Khamenei_m) October 27, 2024
Imam Khamenei
Oct. 27, 2024 pic.twitter.com/4h2K5sZV8G
A second message corresponded to a speech Khamenei gave on Sunday and was sent on his English account as: “Zionists are making a miscalculation with respect to Iran. They don’t know Iran. They still haven’t been able to correctly understand the power, initiative, and determination of the Iranian people.”
Khamenei – the ultimate authority in Iran - has reportedly previously had his Facebook and Instagram accounts removed by Meta over his support of Hamas after the militant group’s 7 October attack on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.
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Israel army urges immediate evacuation for residents in Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre
The Israeli army told residents in parts of Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre to leave immediately, warning that it would attack Hezbollah targets there.
“Hezbollah’s activities force the (Israeli army) to act against it forcefully,” military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in a post on X that included a map of targeted areas in the coastal city.
He wrote:
Hezbollah’s activities force the IDF to act against it forcefully, as we do not intend to harm you.
You must immediately move out of the area marked in red and head north of the Awali River.
Anyone who is near the elements of Hezbollah, its facilities and combat equipment, is putting his life in danger.
#عاجل 🔴 بيان عاجل لسكان منطقة صور في لبنان وتحديدًا إلى المتواجدين في المباني بين الشوارع: دكتور علي الخليل، حيرام، محمد الزيات، نبيه بري
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 28, 2024
⭕️أنشطة حزب الله تجبر جيش الدفاع على العمل ضده وبقوة حيث لا ننوي المساس بكم
⭕️عليكم الابتعاد فوراً الى خارج المنطقة المحددة بالأحمر والتوجه… pic.twitter.com/6rc2GpVtQQ
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has repeatedly issued evacuation orders during its assault on Lebanon over the last month. Lebanon’s health ministry said earlier today that an Israeli airstrike in the centre of the city killed at least five people and injured 10 others.
Updated
Israeli soldiers arrested around 100 suspected Hamas militants during a raid in Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, the military has claimed.
The Israeli military said:
The soldiers apprehended approximately 100 terrorists from the compound, including terrorists who attempted to escape during the evacuation of civilians.
Inside the hospital, they found weapons, terror funds, and intelligence documents and in the surrounding area.
Israeli troops withdrew from the Kamal Adwan hospital on Saturday, after storming the medical facility and detaining dozens of its staff.
Kamal Adwan, along with the nearby Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals, have reported dire shortages of fuel and other supplies amid relentless Israeli attacks in the area over recent weeks.
Hussam Abu Safia, director of the hospital, told Al Jazeera on Friday that most of the surgeons had been arrested by Israeli troops, meaning urgent surgeries could not be performed.
The hospital is located in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historical refugee camps, which has become the centrepiece of a renewed assault on northern Gaza by the Israeli military, who claim they are trying to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping.
Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped in Jabalia, where conditions are rapidly deteriorating. The entirety of the northern part of the Strip is under evacuation orders but some residents have not left as they say there is nowhere safe to flee to.
Over the last month, there have been frequent reports of Palestinian civilians in Jabalia being killed in Israeli airstrikes, which have caused widespread destruction, levelling civilian infrastructure. Israel’s 24-day assault on northern Gaza has killed more than 1,000 people, mostly women and children, according to reports.
Updated
Israeli forces have detained at least 12 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank over the last day, according to a joint statement by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
The detentions were reported by Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, as having occurred across various areas, including Hebron, Nablus and Bethlehem.
Israeli occupation forces raided the al-Masri family's home in Askar refugee camp, east of Nablus, early this morning, causing significant damage to their belongings. pic.twitter.com/HxaJ48ia9U
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 28, 2024
It is estimated that over 11,500 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since last October.
Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the West Bank.
They have described alleged abusive and humiliating treatment, including holding blindfolded and handcuffed detainees in cramped cages as well as beatings, intimidation and harassment.
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Israel’s parliament is expected to vote on a pair of bills today that could effectively bar the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, from operating in Israel, and severely limit its activities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, filed this story yesterday about a UK minister warning that Israel’s reputation would be severely damaged if the legislation passed. Here is some of what he wrote:
Israel’s reputation as a democracy would be “deeply harmed” if the Knesset pressed ahead with bills this week that would end all Israeli government cooperation with the Palestinian relief agency Unrwa, the UK’s Middle East minister has said.
Hamish Falconer said such a move at a time when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was catastrophic and worsening would “neither be in Israel’s interest or realistic”.
His remarks are the strongest criticism yet by a western government minister of the legislation, which could be voted on as early as this week unless the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, intervenes.
He was speaking as a joint statement was released from seven European foreign ministries, including the UK’s, urging Israel to drop the proposed bill, saying: “It is crucial that Unrwa and other UN organisations be fully able to deliver humanitarian aid and their assistance to those who need it most, fulfilling their mandates effectively.”
Falconer said: “We are deeply concerned by legislation currently under consideration by the Israeli Knesset which would critically undermine Unrwa. It is neither in Israel’s interest nor realistic.
“Given the agency’s vital role in delivering aid and essential services at a time when more aid should be getting into Gaza, it is deeply harmful to Israel’s international reputation as a democratic country that its lawmakers are taking steps that would make the delivering of food, water, medicines and healthcare more difficult.”
In the #GazaStrip, @UNRWA teams continue to support children through play and learning activities wherever possible.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 27, 2024
All children, no matter where they are, deserve to go to school, learn, and thrive.
We need a #CeasefireNow, for the sake of all children in #Gaza and the region pic.twitter.com/G7CwHrl4YT
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Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, is reporting that a child was killed after being shot by an Israeli drone in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, and that two people were killed in Israeli bombing of the al-Bureij camp, also in the central Gaza Strip. The Guardian has not yet independently verified this reporting.
Iraq complains to UN over Israel's use of its airspace for its attack on Iran
As we mentioned in the opening summary, Iraq has condemned Israel’s use of its airspace to attack neighbouring Iran in a protest letter sent to UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, and the UN security council. Here is a little more information on the letter.
A statement from government spokesperson Bassim Alawadi said the letter condemns “the Zionist entity’s blatant violation of Iraq’s airspace and sovereignty by using Iraqi airspace to carry out an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran on 26 October”.
Alawadi said the Iraqi foreign ministry would raise “this violation” in talks with the US, Israel’s biggest arms supplier and most powerful diplomatic ally.
The Iranian military said that some Israeli aircraft had fired a “small number of long-range missiles... from a distance”, inside the US-patrolled airspace of Iraq, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Baghdad has close ties with Tehran but also a strategic partnership with Washington, which has troops in Iraq as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
While the Iraqi government has sought to avoid being dragged into the escalating regional conflict, some pro-Iran factions have launched attacks on US forces in the region and claimed responsibility for drones sent to Israel.
The UN security council is expected to meet today to discuss Israel’s attack on Iran, which targeted military sites in several regions of the country and killed at least four soldiers. The Swiss UN mission said the meeting had been requested by Iran with the support of Algeria, China and Russia.
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Tehran will “use all available tools” to respond to Israel’s attack on military targets in Iran over the weekend, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has said.
Speaking at a weekly televised news conference, Baghaei, who didn’t specify what the nature of Iran’s response would be, said:
(Iran) will use all available tools to deliver a definite and effective response to the Zionist regime (Israel).
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei said yesterday that the attack should not be “exaggerated or downplayed” but did not vow immediate retaliation, while the country’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, also adopted a cautious tone, saying Tehran would “give an appropriate response” to the attack.
The Israeli air force struck about 20 military bases across Iran, including missile and drone manufacturing sites and air defence systems, in the early hours of Saturday. The attack, which killed at least four soldiers, was in retaliation to a missile barrage launched by Iran on 1 October in which about 180 ballistic missiles fired towards Tel Aviv and military bases. Most of these missiles were intercepted by Israel, with the help of western allies.
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An Israeli attack in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City has killed at least three people, Al Jazeera reported. We will bring you more information on this as we get it.
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Death toll from Israeli attack on Tyre rises to at least 5, Lebanese health ministry says
In the opening summary, we mentioned that an Israeli attack on the historic Lebanese port city of Tyre had killed at least three people.
Lebanon’s health ministry is now saying the Israeli airstrike in the centre of the city on Monday killed at least five people and injured 10 others. The ministry said emergency workers are removing the rubble from the building struck this morning.
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Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the Middle East crisis amid Israel’s ongoing wars on Lebanon and Gaza.
The top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned Israel it would face “bitter consequences” after its attack on Iranian military sites early on Saturday, according to local media reports.
The Israeli airstrikes killed four Iranian soldiers, Iran’s army said. As my colleague Patrick Wintour writes in this story, a debate has been set off inside Iran on whether the attack, more limited than some had predicted, warrants a military response and if the country will be seen as weak if it does nothing.
The Israel’s airstrikes were in retaliation for the 1 October attack by Iran, which fired about 200 missiles at Israel, though most were intercepted by the country’s air defences.
IRGC chief Maj Gen Hossein Salami was quoted on Monday as having said that Israel had “failed to achieve its ominous goals” with its air attack on Saturday, calling it a sign of “miscalculation and helplessness”. He warned that “its bitter consequences will be unimaginable” for Israel.
The IRGC is a major military, political and economic force in Iran. It holds significant power within the country, with its own ground forces, navy and air force.
Here is a summary of the day’s other main events:
Israel’s parliament – the Knesset – is expected to vote on Monday on a pair of bills that, if passed, will make it impossible for the UN relief and works agency for Palestinians (Unrwa) to operate in Gaza and the West Bank. One of the bills seeks to ban Unrwa from operating within Israel’s sovereign territory, stating that the agency “shall not establish any representation, provide any services or conduct any activities within the territory of Israel”. This would lead to closure of the Unrwa headquarters in East Jerusalem and end visas for Unrwa staff. The measures look to have a cross-party majority of about 100 of the 120 members, despite widespread opposition from other countries, including most of Israel’s allies.
At least three people were killed and two others injured by Israeli attacks on the Raml neighbourhood in the Lebanese city of Tyre, according to the country’s national news agency.
The Lebanese National Agency reports that three people have been killed and two injured following an Israeli airstrike on a home in the Raml neighborhood of Tyre, South Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/thQs3SJOjW
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 28, 2024
Approximately 70 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the past day, health officials in Gaza said, as Israel’s renewed assault on the north of the strip shows no sign of slowing. Information about the situation in northern Gaza has become increasingly sporadic and difficult to verify as Israel’s new ground and aerial assault focusing on Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun enters its fourth week. Internet and phone services were down for hours at a time, and civil defence workers were unable to reach the sites of recent strikes due to Israeli forces’ ever-tightening siege and attacks on their crews.
The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, expressed his shock at the appalling conditions the remaining residents stuck in northern Gaza are in. His spokesperson released a statement, with the UN chief calling the dire situation there “unbearable” as citizens remain trapped in extreme danger and deprivation, under siege by the Israeli military. Guterres was “shocked by the harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction in the north”.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that his government has proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza, after which talks should resume within 10 days in efforts to reach a permanent one. During the two days he suggested a swap of four hostages held in Gaza by Hamas for four Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Iran’s leadership has said it is weighing a response to this weekend’s Israeli airstrikes, as the country called on the UN security council to meet on Monday. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said Tehran was not looking for a war but would respond “appropriately” to Israel’s strikes. “We do not seek war but we will defend the rights of our nation and country,” Pezeshkian told a cabinet meeting on Sunday. He added: “We will give an appropriate response to the aggression of the Zionist regime.”
Iraq has submitted a complaint to the UN over Israel’s use of its airspace to strike Iran on Saturday, an Iraqi government spokesperson said on Monday.
One person was killed when a truck rammed into a bus stop in Ramat Hasharon, north of Tel Aviv, on Sunday, in what Israeli police are treating as a suspected terrorist attack. About 40 people were injured to varying degrees, some seriously, and were taken to nearby hospitals, police said. The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the suspected attack but did not claim it. The driver of the truck was a Palestinian citizen of Israel, police said, and was “neutralised” by passersby carrying firearms.
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