Summary
Thousands of people have taken to the streets to call for Benjamin Netanyahu to urgently agree a deal with Hamas to release any remaining hostages the terrorist group took during the 7 October attack.
Here’s a round-up of this evening’s events.
Demonstrations have begun in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem after Israel confirmed six hostages taken in the 7 October attack by Hamas had been killed.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino have been returned to Israel. They were killed by “close-range” gun shots, an Israeli government spokesperson said.
Funerals for Lobanov, Sarusi, Danino, and Yerushalmi began taking place on Sunday.
The head of Israel’s Histadrut labour union called for a general strike beginning at 6am (0300 GMT) on Monday to pressure the government into reaching a deal to return Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Arnon Bar-David, whose union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, called on all civilian workers to join the strike and said Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, would be closed from 8am (0500 GMT). The Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Givatayim municipalities have all reportedly said they will join a nationwide strike in support of hostage families tomorrow.
“The entire country will stand still tomorrow,” he told a rally in Tel Aviv.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not rest until it caught those responsible. “Whoever murders hostages – does not want a deal,” he said. The Israeli prime minister told Hamas leaders that “we will hunt you down, we will catch you and we will settle the score”.
Senior Hamas officials said that Israel, in its refusal to sign a ceasefire agreement, was to blame for the deaths. An unnamed Hamas official was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying the hostages had been “killed by the [Israeli] occupation’s fire and bombing”, a claim denied by the IDF.
Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has accused the Histadrut union of acting in the interests of Hamas by calling a general strike. Smotrich said the strike was fulfilling the dream of Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for a ceasefire while paying tribute to the six hostages murdered by Hamas.
US president Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris has spoken to the family of Goldberg-Polin.
At least 40,738 Palestinian people have been killed and 94,154 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Israeli forces continued their offensive on the city of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, and its refugee camp for the fifth consecutive day. The total number of Palestinians killed since Israeli forces began large-scale raids in the northern West Bank on Wednesday is now 24, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Three Israeli police officers were killed after their vehicle was shot at near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military later confirmed it had killed the suspected attacker.
Palestinian health authorities and UN agencies have began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory.
Updated
The head of Histadrut, Arnon Bar-David, has spoken at the demonstration on Tel Aviv, where he called on the private sector to join in the strike.
He said: “The entire country will stand still tomorrow,” including the bus lines, ports and municipalities.
Bar-David said he had promised hostage families to use his power to shut down the economy “when the time comes.”
“That time is now,” he said.
His speech was met with cheers, and some boos. “Where were you until now?” one person shouted, reported the Times of Israel.
US vice-president Kamala Harris has spoken to Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the parents of Hersh who was one of the hostages whose body was recovered overnight.
Doug and I just spoke to Jon and Rachel, Hersh Goldberg-Polin's parents, to express our condolences following the brutal murder of their son by Hamas terrorists. My heart breaks for their pain and anguish.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 1, 2024
I told them: As they mourn this terrible loss, they are not alone. Our…
The general strike set to take place in Israel on Monday is not being universally supported across the country, according to the Times of Israel.
Several cities and municipalities, including Jerusalem, Ashdod and Bnei Brak are not taking part.
Israel Gantz, the head of the West Bank’s Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, said this employees will “not take part in an illegal strike that weakens the country”.
Israeli protesters urge deal to bring hostages home 'now'
Grieving and angry Israelis chanted “Now” as they demanded prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the remaining captives home.
Tens of thousands of Israelis protested in one of the largest demonstrations since the war began nearly 11 months ago. Ceasefire negotiations have dragged on for months, and many blame Netanyahu for failing to reach a deal. Israel’s army has acknowledged the difficulty of rescuing dozens of remaining hostages and said only a deal can bring a large-scale return, Associated Press reports.
Thousands of people, some of them weeping, gathered outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem. In Tel Aviv, hostages’ relatives marched with coffins to symbolise the toll.
“We really think that the government is making these decisions for its own conservation and not for the lives of the hostages, and we need to tell them, ‘Stop!’” said Shlomit Hacohen, a Tel Aviv resident.
Three of the six hostages found dead – including an Israeli-American – were reportedly scheduled to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July, and this only added to the sense of fury and frustration among the protesters.
“Nothing is worse than knowing that they could have been saved,” said Dana Loutaly. “Sometimes it takes something so awful to shake people up and get them out into the streets.”
Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.
Several US Democrats have renewed calls for an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire on Sunday in reaction to the killing of six hostages in a tunnel under Gaza, while Republicans criticised President Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris for not giving stronger support to Israel.
Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in Gaza where they were apparently killed shortly before its troops reached them, triggering Israeli protests on Sunday and planned strikes over the failure to save them.
Biden spoke with Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, who appeared at the Democratic National Convention last month, to offer condolences, a White House official said.
Democrat senator Dick Durbin said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was “heartbroken and devastated” by the news of Goldberg-Polin’s death, echoing sentiments of other U.S. officials and lawmakers.
“A ceasefire must be reached immediately that allows all remaining hostages to be released, humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, and an elusive and neglected long-term vision for peace and stability to become a reality,” said Durbin.
Republican lawmakers on Sunday did not urge a stronger push for ceasefire negotiations, with some blaming the Biden-Harris administration for not supporting Israel strongly enough.
“They continue to encourage and embolden Hamas,” with calls for a ceasefire, said Republican senator Tom Cotton.
Israeli finance minister says union is 'representing interests of Hamas'
Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has accused the Histadrut union of acting in the interests of Hamas by calling a general strike from Monday.
Smotrich said the strike was fulfilling the dream of Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Smotrich, a far-right figure in Israel’s government said that anyone who goes on strike will not be paid.
He previously called for the West Bank to be annexed to Israel.
He said: “I regret that instead of the chairman of the Histadrut choosing to get under the stretcher of the State of Israel in the difficult moments and lend a hand to strengthen the Israeli economy and support businesses and reservists, he is actually fulfilling Sinwar’s dream, and instead of representing the Israeli workers, he chooses to represent the interests of Hamas.
“I gave instructions to the salary department at the Ministry of Finance that anyone who will sit down tomorrow will not be paid, and I am happy to see that there are local authorities who do not align with this decision of the Histadrut chairman.
“I call on the workers to come to work tomorrow and not give a hand to the shutdown that harms the State of Israel during wartime and in such challenging and complex days,” he said.
Here’s some analysis from the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Bethan McKernan, on how the recovery of the bodies of six hostages has increased the pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu.
Overnight, the rumours spread: the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had found bodies in Gaza. Everyone in Israel knew the corpses were likely to be hostages seized on 7 October. The grim details – how many, their identities, and how and when they died – slowly emerged during the early hours of Sunday, to mounting sorrow and fury across the country.
The bodies of six people kidnapped alive by Hamas – Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt Ori Danino – were found in a Rafah tunnel 20 metres underground, a kilometre away from where another hostage, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, was found in relatively decent health last week. Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American citizen, appeared in a Hamas video in April. It was clear from the footage that his left hand had been amputated.
Initial autopsies indicated that all six had died from shots to the head and had otherwise been in frail but stable condition, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The IDF said it believed the hostages were killed on Friday or Saturday, shortly before troops arrived at the location, to prevent their rescue.
It is too early to tell yet, but anger at their deaths could be the spark that reinvigorates the protest movement in Israel calling for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, as well as calls for new elections aimed at toppling the rightwing government of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The longtime Israeli leader has been repeatedly accused of stalling on a ceasefire deal for his own political gain.
Read more:
Israeli universities will close tomorrow and join tomorrow’s strike, according to the Times of Israel.
A statement by the Association of University Heads said that they will “join the economic shutdown” in an effort to promote a deal to release the hostages held in Gaza.
“The university heads repeat their call to the government of Israel to make freeing the hostages the top national mission,” the notice said.
Protests have begun in Israel as demonstrators demand that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu signs a hostage deal.
Here are some photos that are emerging from the demonstrations.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for a ceasefire while paying tribute to the six hostages murdered by Hamas.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: “It is once again clear that a ceasefire that paves the way for the release of all Hamas hostages must now have top priority.”
The news of six hostages found dead in the Gaza Strip fills us with sadness and anger. Hamas terrorists are responsible for the deaths of these women and men, with one of them having a connection to Germany.
— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) September 1, 2024
Funerals are taking place for four of the six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza overnight.
Thousands are in Ashkelon for the funeral of 32-year-old Alex Lobanov, according to the Times of Israel.
Lobanov was head barman at the Supernova music festival when he was kidnapped during the 7 October attacks
Services are also taking place for Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino, and Eden Yerushalmi.
At Sarusi’s funeral, his mother said: “You were sacrificed on the altar of defeating Hamas, of Rafah, of the Philadelphi Corridor. Enough, no more. Only a deal!”
His sister Shaked says: “My Almog. You held on for 11 months … I wanted so much for you to come back, raise a family, but it didn’t happen. Now you’re with Shahar, your love.”
Shahar Gindi, 25, was murdered at the Supernova festival.
Yerushalmi’s mother said at her funeral: “This isn’t how I imagined you’d end up. I wanted to get you alive… Sorry we couldn’t save you.”
At Danino’s funeral, his brother Aharon says: “Your smile was the best thing that happened to me, and now it’s my nightmare. I see it everywhere and can’t stop crying.”
Israel has said that “close-range gunshots” killed six hostages whose deaths were announced on Sunday.
A health ministry spokesperson said they were shot at close range shortly before their bodies were recovered from the Gaza Strip.
“The six hostages were murdered by Hamas terrorists with several close-range gunshots,” spokesperson Shira Solomon said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse.
“According to the forensic examination, the hostages’ deaths are estimated to have occurred approximately 48-72 hours before their examination (between Thursday and early Friday morning).”
An American official has said that US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will hold a virtual meeting later today with families of American hostages held by Hamas. We will give you the latest on this as we get it.
Afternoon summary
Israel has confirmed the deaths of six hostages taken in the 7 October attack by Hamas.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino have been returned to Israel, military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said. “According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” he said.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not rest until it caught those responsible. “Whoever murders hostages - does not want a deal,” he said. The Israeli prime minister told Hamas leaders that “we will hunt you down, we will catch you and we will settle the score”.
Senior Hamas officials said that Israel, in its refusal to sign a ceasefire agreement, was to blame for the deaths. An unnamed Hamas official was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying the hostages had been “killed by the [Israeli] occupation’s fire and bombing”, a claim denied by the IDF.
The head of Israel’s Histadrut labour union called for a general strike beginning at 6am (0300 GMT) on Monday to pressure the government into reaching a deal to return Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. Arnon Bar-David, whose union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, called on all civilian workers to join the strike and said Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, would be closed from 8am (0500 GMT). The Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Givatayim municipalities have all reportedly said they will join a nationwide strike in support of hostage families tomorrow.
At least 40,738 Palestinian people have been killed and 94,154 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Israeli forces continued their offensive on the city of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, and its refugee camp for the fifth consecutive day. The total number of Palestinians killed since Israeli forces began large-scale raids in the northern West Bank on Wednesday is now 24, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Three Israeli police officers were killed after their vehicle was shot at near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military later confirmed it had killed the suspected attacker.
Palestinian health authorities and UN agencies have began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory. Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said nearly 2,000 children were vaccinated against polio on Sunday. Israel has agreed to limited pauses in fighting to facilitate the campaign, according to the World Health Organization. But despite this pledge, there are reports of Israel continuing to launch airstrikes on Gaza.
Updated
The helicopter crash in which Iran’s late President Ebrahim Raisi was killed was primarily caused by weather conditions that included thick fog, Iran’s state TV said on Sunday, citing the final investigation report on the incident.
Raisi died when his helicopter crashed in May in a mountainous region near the Azerbaijan border.
“The main reason of the helicopter crash was complicated weather conditions in the region,” the final report concluded, according to Iran’s state TV.
The report added that “the sudden emergence of a thick mass of dense and rising fog” caused the helicopter’s collision into the mountain.
In May, Iran’s army similarly said it had found no evidence of criminal activity in the crash that also killed Raisi’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
Updated
Head of Israeli labour union calls for a general strike on Monday
The head of Israel’s Histadrut labour union, which represents hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, called for a general strike beginning at 6am (03:00 GMT) on Monday to pressure the government into reaching a deal to return Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, Reuters reported.
Arnon Bar-David called on all civilian workers to join the strike and said Ben Gurion airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, would be closed from 8am (0500 GMT).
“Jews are being murdered in the tunnels of Gaza. It is impossible to grasp and has to stop,” he was quoted by the Times of Israel as having said at a press conference after a meeting with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Tel Aviv following the confirmation of the deaths of six more hostages taken in the 7 October attack by Hamas.
Bar-David said:
We are getting body bags instead of a deal. I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention might move those who need to be moved.
I call on the people of Israel to go out to the streets tonight and tomorrow and for everyone to take part in the strike.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a hostage family organisation, earlier today called on the public “to join a massive demonstration, demanding a complete shutdown of the country”.
Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association said it supported a strike and criticised the government for failing to bring hostages back alive, which it called a “moral duty”.
The Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Givatayim municipalities have all said they will join a nationwide strike in support of hostage families tomorrow, according to the Times of Israel.
Updated
The Palestinian health ministry announced that two more Palestinians were killed in an ongoing Israeli military assault on the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank.
“The bodies of two people killed in the occupation’s (Israel) aggression in Kafar Dan were transported to Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin,” the ministry said in a statement, bringing the total number of Palestinian people killed since Israeli forces began large-scale raids in the northern West Bank on Wednesday to 24.
The Israeli military said it had killed the suspected attacker who carried out a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank on Sunday that left three police officers dead (see post at 09.12 for more details).
Israeli forces encircled a house where the alleged attacker was hiding in the city of Hebron, the military said in a statement, adding that he “was eliminated at the scene”.
Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has said nearly 2,000 children were vaccinated against polio on Sunday.
But she added: “If the bombing continues after 2:00 pm this is of course going to impact the vaccination campaign... The only way to do this is a ceasefire.”
Wateridge later reported a strike in the Nuseirat area in central Gaza.
The civil defence agency said an Israeli airstrike killed two people in Gaza City further north, where an AFP correspondent also reported shelling this morning.
The vaccinations are meant to be accompanied by three-day pauses in the fighting in several areas of the territory to allow the inoculation of more than 640,000 children.
The World Health Organization believes that 90% of children under 10 in Gaza must be immunised for the campaign to be effective.
Israeli forces have prevented Red Crescent crews from reaching people injured by live bullets in the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, is reporting.
The Red Crescent reportedly said Israeli soldiers prevented its crews from transferring people injured after a Palestinian vehicle was shot at at the entrance of Kafr Dan.
“The bodies of two people killed in the occupation’s (Israel) aggression in Kafar Dan were transported to Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin,” the Palestinian ministry said in a statement, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since Israeli forces began large-scale raids in the northern West Bank on Wednesday to 24.
Updated
Tel Aviv municipality services to hold half-day strike in solidarity with hostages
Tel Aviv municipality services will participate in a half-day strike on Monday in solidarity with hostages and their families.
The strike will be in tandem with several municipalities across Israel after the bodies of six Israeli hostages were brought back to Israel from Gaza.
Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai confirmed that his municipality will join the nationwide strike in support of hostage families.
In a post on X, he wrote:
As a sign of solidarity with the abductees and their families, the municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa joins the strike. Tomorrow, starting in the morning until noon, there will be no public reception and we will allow all female and male employees to go out and support the families’ struggle. Take to the streets.
עדן, כרמל, הרש, אורי, אלמוג ואלכס היו צריכים להיות עכשיו בבית. בחיים.
— רון חולדאי (@Ron_Huldai) September 1, 2024
ממשלת ישראל הפקירה אותם, אבל מדינת ישראל היא אנחנו.
לאות הזדהות עם החטופים ומשפחותיהם, עיריית תל אביב-יפו מצטרפת לשביתה.
מחר, החל משעות הבוקר ועד לצהריים לא תהיה קבלת קהל ונאפשר לכל העובדות והעובדים לצאת ולתמוך…
Keir Starmer shocked at 'horrific and senseless' killings of hostages
Keir Starmer has said he was shocked at the “horrific and senseless” killings of the hostages. The British PM calls for the release of all hostages by Hamas and a ceasefire “agreed by all sides immediately to end the suffering”.
I am completely shocked at the horrific and senseless killing of six hostages in Gaza by Hamas. My thoughts are with their loved ones at this awful time.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 1, 2024
Hamas must release all the hostages now, and a ceasefire deal must be agreed by all sides immediately to end the suffering.
Updated
Carmel Gat’s cousin has issued a heartfelt statement about the dead hostage in which he condemns Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on an Israeli presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, a key sticking point in negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire.
Gat, a 40-year-old occupational therapist, had been staying with her parents in kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October. She was kidnapped and her mother was killed in the attack.
“Please let it be that you saw and heard us,” said Gat’s cousin Gil Dickmann on Sunday, the Jerusalem Post reported. “Even though you saw the terrible murder of your mother Kinneret, please let it be that you found out that your father Eshel and Brothers Alon and Or, your sister-in-law Yarden, and niece Geffen survived.
“Please let it be that you saw your friends fighting to bring you back alive.
“Please let it be that you didn’t hear the prime minister say that the Philadelphi Corridor is more important than your life and the lives of the other hostages. I can only imagine how much rage that filled you with.”
The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell has said he was “horrified at the murder of 6 Israeli hostages of Hamas”.
“These young innocent men women should have long been brought to safety and to their loved ones,” Borrell said on X, calling for a ceasefire and return of the remaining hostages.
The EU foreign policy chief has been at odds with the Israeli leadership and recently said he had begun consultations with the 27 member states on whether they consider it “appropriate including in our list of sanctions some Israeli ministers [who] have been launching unacceptable hate messages against the Palestinians”.
Unions have reacted to calls by Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, for a strike to shut down the country’s economy in order to pressure the government to reach a deal to release the remaining hostages.
Reuters reports that the powerful Histadrut labour federation, which represents hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, is considering a strike and would make a decision later in the day after meeting with families of hostages.
Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association said it supported a strike and criticised the government for failing to bring hostages back alive, which it called a “moral duty”. Its head, Ron Tomer, said:
Without the return of the hostages we will not be able to end the war, we will not be able to rehabilitate ourselves as a society and we will not be able to begin to rehabilitate the Israeli economy. We are torn and divided and this is the place to act to unite Israeli society.
The government must ensure that it does everything, for the return of the hostages as soon as possible, even under the limitations of a limited ceasefire, and I call on all businesses in Israel to act to make it happen.”
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has called on the government to reverse a decision to keep Israeli forces along the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt, a key sticking point in negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire.
“The cabinet must gather immediately and reverse the decision made on Thursday,” Gallant was quoted as having said in a statement.
“We must bring back the hostages that are still being held by Hamas.”
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has insisted that any peace agreement must allow an Israeli presence along the Philadelphi corridor, and on a road bisecting the Gaza Strip, the Netzarim corridor.
As my colleague Julian Borger explains in this report, Hamas has rejected any such presence, saying it contravenes a three-stage peace plan announced by Joe Biden at the end of May, and later endorsed by the UN security council, which ultimately envisages a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for an “unconditional release” of hostages held in Gaza and an end to the “nightmare of war in Gaza”.
“I will never forget my meeting last October with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other hostage families. Today’s tragic news is a devastating reminder of the need for the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza,” he wrote on X.
I will never forget my meeting last October with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other hostage families. Today's tragic news is a devastating reminder of the need for the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 1, 2024
Israel’s far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has shared his condolences with the families of the six hostages found dead by Israeli forces in southern Gaza, and the three police officers killed near the Tarqumiya checkpoint near the city of Hebron this morning. He denied claims that the hostages were killed “by the Israeli government” (A Hamas official reportedly said earlier that the six hostages were killed by Israeli “fire and bombing”).
In a statement on X, Ben-Gvir wrote:
We send our condolences to the families of the abductees who were murdered in Gaza, and to the families of those murdered in the Tarkumiya attack. Personally, these are heroic policemen, some of whom I knew - my holy brothers.
Unfortunately, I see the disturbing statements from the left, which accuse the Israeli government of murdering the abductees. To be clear: the terrorist organization Hamas, it and only it, murdered the abductees. Those who place the blame on the Israeli government echo Hamas propaganda.
יום קשה עם בשורות מרות. עם ישראל כולו כואב. ליבנו שותת דם. אנו משגרים תנחומים למשפחות החטופים שנרצחו בעזה, ולמשפחות הנרצחים בפיגוע בתרקומיא. באופן אישי אלה שוטרים גיבורים שאת חלקם היכרתי - אחיי הקדושים .
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) September 1, 2024
לצערי, אני רואה את האמירות המופרעות משמאל, שמאשימות את ממשלת ישראל ברצח…
Updated
Hamas official says the six hostages were killed by Israeli 'fire and bombing'
A senior Hamas official said that some of the six hostages who were killed had been “approved” for release in the event of a truce deal, which has yet to be finalised despite months of mediation efforts, according to reports.
“Some of the names of the captives announced as found by the (Israeli) occupier... were part of the list of hostages to be released that Hamas had approved” in a proposed exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, the official told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Hamas official said the six hostages were “killed by the occupation’s fire and bombing”, an accusation denied by the Israeli military.
Reports in the Israeli press quoted officials as saying that three of the hostages whose bodies were found on Saturday – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi and Carmel Gat— would have been released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal under negotiation.
Updated
Israeli forces have detained at least 36 Palestinian people from the occupied West Bank over the past day, including a journalist, four female students from Hebron, and several former prisoners, the Palestinian Prisoners Society and the Authority of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said. The majority of the detentions were reported to have taken place in Hebron.
The occupied West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state along with Gaza, has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war last year, and a major crackdown by Israeli security forces, which have made thousands of arrests.
Updated
Death toll in Gaza reaches 40,738, says health ministry
At least 40,738 Palestinian people have been killed and 94,154 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.
Summary of the day so far...
Israel has confirmed the deaths of six hostages taken in the 7 October attack by Hamas.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino have been returned to Israel, military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in a briefing. “According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” he said.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not rest until it caught those responsible. “Whoever murders hostages - does not want a deal,” he said. The Israeli prime minister told Hamas leaders that “we will hunt you down, we will catch you and we will settle the score”.
Senior Hamas officials said that Israel, in its refusal to sign a ceasefire agreement, was to blame for the deaths.
The news of the discovery of the bodies brought calls for a mass protest from a hostage family organisation, which blamed Netanyahu for failing to agree a hostage-for-peace deal with Hamas. The forum of hostage families called for a massive protest on Sunday, demanding a “complete halt of the country” to push for the implementation of a hostage release deal.
Israeli forces are continuing their offensive on the city of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, and its refugee camp for the fifth consecutive day, according to reports. Since the beginning of the offensive last Wednesday, 14 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign, with dozens more injured or detained, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported.
Three Israeli police officers were killed after their vehicle was shot at near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities.
Palestinian health authorities and UN agencies have began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory. Israel has agreed to limited pauses in fighting to facilitate the campaign, according to the World Health Organization. But despite this pledge, there are reports of Israel continuing to launch airstrikes on Gaza.
Updated
The Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Simon Harris has issued a statement on the deaths of six hostages taken in the 7 October attack by Hamas. He described the news as “heartbreaking” and said it was an “outrage” that was the latest atrocity “in a year of bloody inhumanity”. Harris, from the centre-right Fine Gael, reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire.
His full statement reads:
The news from Israel on the deaths of six hostages is heartbreaking and an outrage.
These innocent people were abducted and held by Hamas for nearly 11 months. Reports they were murdered in recent days are sickening.
This is the latest outrage and atrocity in a year of bloody inhumanity. This violence and death cannot continue and every life that can be saved, must be saved.
We need an immediate and lasting ceasefire. Ireland calls on Hamas and the Netanyahu government to make this a reality.
All remaining hostages should be returned to their families and aid needs to flow freely to Gaza before the humanitarian catastrophe deepens.
Ireland’s solidarity and sympathy are today with the families and the communities of the six innocent hostages confirmed dead. May their memories be a blessing.
Here are some images of the massive polio vaccination campaign under way for children in Gaza:
Netanyahu vows 'to settle the score' with Hamas after hostage deaths
We have some more comments from Benjamin Netanyahu’s most recent statement. In it, he vowed to “settle the score” with Hamas after the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages from a Gaza tunnel yesterday.
The Israeli prime minister told Hamas leaders that “we will hunt you down, we will catch you and we will settle the score”.
Netanyahu also accused Hamas of carrying out a shooting attack earlier on Sunday near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
“We are fighting on all fronts against a cruel enemy who wants to murder us all. Just this morning, he murdered three policemen in Hebron,” he said, referring to Hamas.
“The fact that Hamas continues to commit atrocities such as those it committed on October 7 obliges us to do everything we can to ensure that it can no longer do so.”
Hamas has not claimed the attack in the West Bank, but in a statement called it a “heroic operation by the resistance”.
Three police officers, two men and a woman, were killed early Sunday in a shooting attack near the Tarqumiya checkpoint near the city of Hebron, police said. The Israeli military said the attackers fired at a vehicle at the checkpoint.
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Israel's opposition leader calls for labour strike after hostages' bodies recovered
Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, has called for a strike to shut down the country’s economy in order to pressure the government to reach a deal to release the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Lapid, who is also a former prime minister, called on every Israeli “whose heart was broken this morning” to join a major protest in Tel Aviv later in the day. He also called on Israel’s main labour union, businesses and municipalities to go on strike.
In a statement, the Yesh Atid party chief calls on “the Histadrut and the employers and the local authorities to shut down the economy,” arguing that “the country is collapsing” and “cannot go on like this.”
“I call on every citizen whose heart is broken this morning to come at seven [in the evening] to Begin [Road in Tel Aviv] to demonstrate with us,” the Yesh Atid party said.
His comments came after Israel recovered the bodies of six more hostages from captivity in Gaza. The discovery of the six bodies in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area leaves about 100 hostages still unaccounted for in Gaza. The IDF has confirmed 35 of them are known to have died since October.
As we reported in an earlier post, Palestinian health authorities and UN agencies have began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory.
Authorities plan to vaccinate children in central Gaza until Wednesday before moving on to the more devastated northern and southern parts of the strip. The campaign began with a small number of vaccinations on Saturday and aims to reach about 640,000 children.
Israel has agreed to limited pauses in fighting to facilitate the campaign, according to the World Health Organization. But despite this pledge, there are reports of Israel continuing to launch airstrikes on Gaza. Four Palestinians, including a young girl, were killed and several others were injured this morning in a series of Israeli airstrikes across Gaza City and the Bureij refugee camp, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported.
Benjamin Netanyahu has said the series of three-day “humanitarian pauses” in northern, southern and central areas Israel has agreed to were not amounting to any kind of ceasefire in the war generally.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of Unwra, said: “For this to work, parties to the conflict must respect the temporary area pauses. For the sake of children across the region a lasting ceasefire is overdue.”
“I am relieved” says a mother in #Gaza after her baby girl receives the two drops of vaccines in @UNRWA clinic.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) September 1, 2024
1st phase of the #polio campaign kicks off in the middle areas.
This is a race against time to reach just over 600,000 children across the Gaza Strip in the coming… pic.twitter.com/72YM8p8LH8
The vaccination campaign officially began on Sunday in three health centres in central Gaza, a day after an unspecified number of children were vaccinated in the southern area of the Gaza Strip.
Children aged from one-day-old to 10 years arrived at the centres to receive the dose as drones flew overhead, Yasser Shaabane, medical director of Al-Awda hospital in central Gaza, said, according to AFP.
The vaccination campaign comes after a case was discovered last month for the first time in 25 years after doctors concluded a 10-month-old had been partially paralysed by a mutated strain of the polio virus after not being vaccinated due to the war.
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Netanyahu: 'Whoever murders hostages does not want a deal'
Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel would not rest until it catches those responsible for the killing of six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the Israeli prime minister said that Israel was committed to achieving a deal to release remaining hostages and ensure Israel’s security.
“Whoever murders hostages - does not want a deal,” Netanyahu said.
A major impasse in the negotiations has been the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt and the Netzarim east-west corridor across the territory. Netanyahu has insisted that Israel retain control of the corridors to prevent smuggling and catch militant fighters. Hamas is demanding the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
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Israeli authorities say three Israeli police killed in occupied West Bank
Israeli police said the three people killed in Sunday’s shooting attack in the occupied West Bank were members of their police force (see earlier post at 07.38).
“Three members of the police force were killed this morning in a shooting attack,” Ouzi Levy, chief of the Israeli police in the West Bank, told reporters at the scene of the attack near the Tarqumiya checkpoint near the city of Hebron.
Two of the officers were declared dead at the scene, while the third officer was taken to hospital by helicopter but later died, BBC News reports.
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Israeli forces continue assault on city of Jenin for fifth consecutive day - report
Israeli forces are continuing their offensive on the city of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, and its refugee camp for the fifth consecutive day, according to reports.
This report is from Wafa, the Palestinian news agency. The claims in it have not yet been independently verified by the Guardian:
On the fifth day of the ongoing military attack, Israeli troops embarked on destroying streets and commercial shops in the downtown area of Jenin for the first time.
Wafa correspondent reported that Israeli bulldozers began demolishing shops in the al-Barid Street and the Cinema Square in the Jenin city center.
Since the beginning of the offensive last Wednesday, the aggressive Israeli military campaign has resulted in the murder of 14 Palestinians, with dozens more injured or detained.
The ongoing assault has caused extensive damage to civilian properties, public and private facilities, and critical infrastructure, including water and electricity networks.
The city and its refugee camp remain under a stringent blockade imposed by Israeli forces, who have reinforced their military presence in the area.
The military campaign across the West Bank, according to Israeli leaders, is designed to pre-empt attacks on Israelis after a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv last month.
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Hamas has said that Israel, in its refusal to sign a ceasefire deal, was responsible for the deaths of the six people held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“Netanyahu is responsible for the killing of Israeli prisoners,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. “The Israelis should choose between Netanyahu and the deal.”
Key sticking points in the negotiation talks include an Israeli presence in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5-km-long (9-mile-long) stretch of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Sources have also told Reuters that Israel has expressed reservations on several of the Palestinian detainees Hamas is demanding the release of.
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The Hostages Families Forum, a group representing the families of those held hostage in Gaza, said that all six held captive were “murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture, and starvation in Hamas captivity”.
“The delay in signing the deal has led to their deaths and those of many other hostages,” they said, as they demanded that Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, address the nation “and take responsibility for abandoning the hostages”.
The news of the discovery of the bodies brought calls for a mass protest. “Starting tomorrow, the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. The country will grind to a halt. The abandonment is over,” the forum was quoted as saying in a statement issued yesterday. Netanyahu has been blamed for failing to agree a hostage-for-peace deal with Hamas that has been under negotiation for several months. You can read more on this story here.
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Who were the six hostages whose bodies were recovered by the IDF?
The Associated Press has put together a profile of the six hostages whose bodies were discovered by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Here’s a look at their lives:
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23
The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of his left arm to a grenade blast in the 7 October attack. In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him with his left hand missing, sparking new protests in Israel urging the government to do more to secure his and others’ freedom.
His parents, US-born immigrants to Israel, became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage. They met with US president Joe Biden, Pope Francis and others and addressed the UN urging the release of all hostages.
On 21 August, his parents addressed a hushed hall at the Democratic national convention after sustained applause and chants of “bring him home.”
Eden Yerushalmi, 24
The Tel Aviv-born Yerushalmi loved spending summer days at the beach and was studying to become a Pilates instructor, according to the Hostage Families Forum, which has been leading advocacy efforts for the captives’ release.
She was working as a bartender at the open-air Tribe of Nova music festival. When Hamas’ initial rocket attack set off air raid sirens she sent a video to her family, saying she was leaving the party. During the attack, she called the police and was in contact with her sisters over the next four hours, the forum said.
“They’ve caught me,” were her last words to them.
Carmel Gat, 40
The occupational therapist from Tel Aviv was “full of compassion and love,” and enjoyed solo travel, rock concerts and the band Radiohead, according to the forum.
She was staying with her parents in Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities, when militants broke into their home and kidnapped her on the morning of 7 October. Her parents were killed in the attack.
Hostages who were released during a cease-fire in November said she taught them meditation and yoga exercises to help them survive in captivity.
Alexander Lobanov, 33
Lobanov was a married father of a two-year-old and a five-month-old baby born while he was in captivity. He was also kidnapped from the music festival, where he had worked as a bar manager.
The forum, citing witnesses, said he helped evacuate people from the festival and ran with others before being abducted. It said the others managed to escape.
Almog Sarusi, 27
The forum described Sarusi as a “vibrant, positive person who loved traveling around Israel in his white jeep with his guitar.” He was at the music festival with his girlfriend of five years, who was killed in the attack.
The forum said Sarusi stayed with her after she was wounded, and was then abducted.
Ori Danino, 25
The Jerusalem-born Danino was the eldest of five siblings and planned to study electrical engineering. “Ori was known for his ambition, love for people, and was beloved by all. He loved nature and was very handy,” the forum said.
It said he was kidnapped from the Nova festival while driving back and trying to help others to escape.
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Gaza health ministry begins multi-day polio vaccination campaign
The campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus has begun, the health ministry said Saturday, as Palestinians in the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel’s military offensives, the Associated Press reports.
A small number of children in Gaza received vaccine doses a day before the large-scale rollout and limited pauses in the fighting agreed to by Israel and the UN World Health Organization. Associated Press journalists saw about 10 children receiving doses at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
“There must be a ceasefire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign,” said Dr Yousef Abu Al-Rish, Gaza’s deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps. Polio is spread through fecal matter.
But Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in statement “Israel will allow a humanitarian corridor only” and “areas will be established that will be safe for administering the vaccines for a few hours”.
Israel said the vaccination program would continue through 9 September and last eight hours a day. It will allow health workers to administer vaccines with the aim of reaching some 640,000 Palestinian children.
The vaccination campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month.
For more on this story:
Israeli media reports two Israelis killed near West Bank city of Hebron
At least two Israelis were killed when their vehicle was fired on near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli officials on Sunday, Reuters reports.
The military confirmed the attack, saying three people had been wounded and that security forces were searching for the assailants.
Israel’s ambulance service later said two people had been killed and a third critically wounded.
Israeli president says ‘entire nation is shattered’
President Isaac Herzog said: “The heart of an entire nation is shattered to pieces. I embrace their families with all my heart, and apologise for failing to bring them home safely.”
There was no immediate comment from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure at home and abroad to reach a ceasefire deal that includes the release of remaining hostages.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the accusations.
Israeli defence minister says hostages were ‘murdered in cold blood’
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said the six hostages whose remains had been retrieved were alive when taken captive, AFP reports.
“They were held hostage by Hamas and murdered in cold blood,” Gallant said in a statement.
The Israeli military said Sunday that it had found the bodies of six hostages in a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, including a US-Israeli and a Russian-Israeli.
Their remains were recovered Saturday “from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area” and returned to Israel where they were formally identified, the military said.
It said the dead hostages were Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino, who were all seized by Palestinian militants during Hamas’s 7 October.
They were among 251 people taken hostage during the October 7 attack, 97 of whom remain captive in Gaza including 33 the Israeli army says are dead.
Hostage families group calls for nationwide protest against Netanyahu
The news of the discovery of the bodies brought calls for a mass protest from a hostage family organisation which blamed the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for failing to agree a hostage-for-peace deal with Hamas that has been under negotiation for several months. The country would “tremble” the organisation warned.
There was no immediate statement from Netanyahu on Sunday morning but Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, said that nation would continue the fight Hamas while putting a priority on rescuing the remaining hostages.
“The blood of our brothers cries out to us,” Herzog said. “Our sisters and brothers are still there enduring Hell. The supreme covenant between the state and its citizens is to ensure their safety. We have the sacred and urgent mission to bring them home.”
The discovery of the bodies leaves 101 hostages still unaccounted for in Gaza. Many of those are thought to have died however in over 10 months of war in Gaza, since the October attack by Hamas on Israel.
The Israeli military (IDF) first reported on Saturday night that bodies had been found “during combat” but said work was still underway in extracting the remains and then identifying them.
“The IDF and ISA send their heartfelt condolences to the families. The IDF and Israeli security forces are operating with all means to bring home all the hostages as fast as possible.”
An organisation representing many relatives of the abductees, the Hostage Families Forum, called for a nationwide protest against the Netanyahu government, which it has long accused of dragging its feet over a hostage deal with Hamas that the US and its regional allies have been trying to broker since the end of May.
“Netanyahu abandoned the abductees. This is now a fact,” the forum said in a statement issued on Saturday night when the first reports emerged of bodies having been found. “Starting tomorrow the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare to bring the country to a standstill.”
“These six individuals were taken alive, endured the horrors of captivity, and were then coldly murdered,” the organisation said in a later statement on Sunday. “A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for over two months. Were it not for the delays, sabotage, and excuses those whose deaths we learned about this morning would likely still be alive.”
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Biden vows ‘Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes’
US president Joe Biden vowed that “Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages”.
Vice-president Kamala Harris said in a statement: “I strongly condemn Hamas’ continued brutality, and so must the entire world.”
Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, said she and Biden would never waver in their commitment to free the Americans and all those held hostage in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters earlier in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Biden said he was “still optimistic” about a ceasefire deal to stop the conflict.
“I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement,” he said. “It’s time this war ended.” Biden added that “people are continuing to meet.”
“We think we can close the deal, they’ve all said they agree on the principles.”
Family of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin issues statement on his death
The family of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin issued a statement on his death after his body was discovered by Israeli military in Gaza along with the bodies of five other hostages.
“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” it said. “The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time.”
US president Joe Biden, who had met with Goldberg-Polin’s parents, said they “have been courageous, wise and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable”.
“They have been relentless and irrepressible champions of their son and of all the hostages held in unconscionable conditions. I admire them and grieve with them more deeply than words can express,” Biden said.
Goldberg-Polin was one of the best-known hostages as his parents had met with world leaders and pressed relentlessly for their help. Last month, they addressed the Democratic national convention, where the crowd chanted “bring them home”.
IDF says bodies of six hostages recovered in Gaza
The Israeli military has confirmed the bodies of six hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October have been recovered from a tunnel in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino were brought to Israel, the IDF said in a statement.
“According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in a briefing.
Hamas and its armed wing did not immediately comment on the accusations.
US president Joe Biden issued a statement confirming the news.
“Earlier today, in a tunnel under the city of Rafah, Israeli forces recovered six bodies of hostages held by Hamas,” Biden said. “I am devastated and outraged.”
The family of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin also issued a statement early on Sunday saying he had been killed in the Gaza Strip.
“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” it said. “The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time.”
Read our full report here:
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Opening summary
Welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider crisis in the Middle East.
Israeli military says the bodies of six hostages abducted by Hamas during the 7 October attack have been recovered in a tunnel in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino were brought to Israel, it said in a statement.
The family of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin confirmed early Sunday that he had been killed in the Gaza Strip.
More details on those stories shortly, in other key developments:
Gaza’s heath ministry has begun a multi-day campaign to vaccinate children against polio and prevent the spread of the virus. Inoculations started a day before the large-scale rollout on Sunday and coincides with a humanitarian pause agreed by Israel and Hamas.
Israeli strikes on Saturday killed at least 48 people in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health authorities said, as clashes took place in central and southern areas of the territory. On Saturday, as more than 2,000 medical and community workers prepared for the start of the vaccination campaign, medics in Nuseirat, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, said separate Israeli strikes killed at least 19 people, including nine members of the same family. More than 30 other people were killed in a series of strikes in other areas of Gaza, medics said.
Israel’s military said its forces killed two people in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, after one infiltrated an Israeli settlement and another shot at soldiers after his car exploded, Reuters reports.
At least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a regular update on Saturday.
The World Health Organization has said it has already delivered 1.2m doses of polio vaccine to Gaza, with 400,000 more to follow, as part of an emergency campaign after the first case of the childhood disease in the war-hit coastal strip in quarter of a century. The WHO said that Israel’s military and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for the first round of vaccinations of 640,000 children against polio.
The director-general of the WHO has called for a ceasefire ahead of plans to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza against polio. “Humanitarian pauses are welcome, but ultimately, the only solution to safeguard the health of the children of Gaza is a ceasefire,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
The UK is “deeply concerned” by Israel’s military operation in West Bank and “deeply worried by the methods Israel has employed”, a statement from the Foreign Office said.
Israeli border police killed a senior Hamas commander in the West Bank and two Hamas gunmen on Friday, the Israeli military said. The Israeli military said its troops identified and killed Hamas leader, Wassem Hazem, while he was driving. When two others in the car - whom the military also identified as militants – attempted to flee, troops killed both in an airstrike.
The Israeli military said on Friday it had wrapped up a month-long operation in southern and central Gaza that it said killed more than 250 Palestinian fighters. “The troops of the 98th Division have completed their divisional operation in the Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah area, after about a month of simultaneous above and underground operational activity,” a military statement said.
A broader regional war in the Middle East where conflict already rages between Hamas and Israel remains a “significant risk”, the head of the UN peacekeeping force warned on Friday. United Nations undersecretary-general for peace operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said: “There is still a very significant risk of escalation at the regional level. We are still very much in a very, very dangerous type of situation.”
The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has launched a process that could lead to sanctions on Israeli ministers he said were responsible for “unacceptable hate messages” against Palestinians. Borrell said he had begun consultations with the EU’s 27 member states on whether they consider it “appropriate including in our list of sanctions some Israeli ministers [who] have been launching unacceptable hate messages against the Palestinians” and made proposals that “go clearly against international law” and incite war crimes.
