Closing summary
It has gone 4pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Israel-Gaza war coverage here and on the Middle East here. You can also read our latest report below:
Here is a recap of the latest developments:
Turkish officials held a brief ceremony on Friday at Istanbul International airport where the body of a Turkish-American activist killed by Israeli gunfire arrived ahead of her funeral and burial in a town on the Aegean coast. The Israeli military said on Tuesday that Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces. Turkey announced it will conduct its own investigation into her death.
Israeli security forces mischaracterised the events that led up to the fatal shooting of Eygi, according to an investigation by the Washington Post. The Israel Defense Forces claimed that their soldiers were targeting the leader of a violent protest when they shot Eygi, a 26-year-old member of the International Solidarity Movement who had come from her native Washington state to Israel to protest against settlements in the West Bank.
The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has hailed the success of the first phase of a giant polio vaccination campaign in Gaza after more than 560,000 children received a first dose. “This is a massive success amidst a tragic daily reality of life across the Gaza Strip,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a post on X. A fresh campaign to provide a needed second dose is due to begin in about four weeks in Gaza.
The families of Palestinians killed in an airstrike in the occupied West Bank city of Tubas held funerals on Friday after Israeli forces withdrew after their latest raid in the territory. The four men buried in Tubas on Friday were killed in an airstrike at dawn on Wednesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said. A fifth fatality from the same strike was buried on Friday in Tamoun, also in the northern West Bank.
Relatives of hostages in Gaza and their supporters blocked a main road in Tel Aviv, demanding a deal to release captives held by Hamas, the Times of Israel reported on Friday. Demonstrators painted yellow ribbons along Namir Road in Tel Aviv, chanted “why are they still in Gaza?” and vowed not to abandon hostages held by Hamas, according to a report by the Israeli online newspaper.
Relief groups have said more than 1 million people in Gaza will not have enough food this month, while trucks loaded with fresh vegetables or meat spoil waiting to cross Israeli checkpoints, and thousands of aid packages of food, medical supplies and even toothbrushes and shampoo remain stuck in a backlog of lorries unable to enter from Egypt.
Israel has bombed a UN school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza, killing at least 18 people, including the shelter manager and five other Unrwa staff. The al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat is home to about 12,000 displaced people, mostly women and children, the UN said. It has been hit five times since the start of the war in Gaza.
The commander of Israel’s military surveillance agency, Unit 8200, has announced his resignation, publicly accepting responsibility for failings that contributed to the deadly 7 October attacks. Yossi Sariel said on Tuesday that he had informed his superiors of his intention to step down after the completion of an initial investigation into Unit 8200’s role in failures surrounding the Hamas-led assault last year.
US president Joe Biden and UK prime minister Keir Starmer will meet on Friday to discuss the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Starmer’s government last week announced restrictions on some weapons to Israel, voicing concern that they could be used to violate international humanitarian law. The White House has declined to criticise the UK’s decision, but Politico reported that Washington had asked London what it would take to change its decision – with the answer being a ceasefire in Gaza.
A pro-Israel rally in a Boston suburb turned violent on Thursday evening when a passerby was shot during a scuffle after confronting a group of demonstrators, authorities said. Police were called at 6.40pm, local time, to the scene of what they described as a small rally in Newton. Words were exchanged before a passerby rapidly crossed the street and tackled one of the demonstrators, Middlesex county district attorney Marian Ryan said.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar thanked Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah for his support in the ongoing war with Israel in a letter released on Friday by Hezbollah’s media office. In the letter, dated Monday, Sinwar thanks Nasrallah for the “blessed acts” of Iran-backed groups in their support for Hamas since 7 October, when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted another 250. Sinwar called the war “one of the most honorable battles for the Palestinian people”.
An opinion poll on Friday showed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party would form the largest single party in parliament if an election were held now, underlining a gradual recovery since the 7 October attacks last year. The poll, published in the left wing Ma’ariv daily, showed Likud winning 24 seats, against 32 at present, its highest score in the Ma’ariv poll since 7 October.
WHO director general hails 'massive success' of first phase of polio vaccination campaign in Gaza
The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has hailed the success of the first phase of a giant polio vaccination campaign in Gaza after more than 560,000 children received a first dose.
“This is a massive success amidst a tragic daily reality of life across the Gaza Strip,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a post on X.
Over 560,000 children aged below ten years of age were vaccinated against #polio during the first round of an emergency vaccination campaign in #Gaza, which was completed yesterday.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) September 13, 2024
We admire all the health teams, who conducted this complex operation.
We are deeply grateful to… pic.twitter.com/QyYjSJg2Gp
Disease has spread with Gaza lying in ruins and the majority of its 2.4 million residents forced to flee their homes due to Israel’s military assault – often taking refuge in cramped and unsanitary conditions.
After the first confirmed polio case in 25 years, a massive vaccination effort began on 1 September targeting at least 90% of children under 10, aided by localised “humanitarian pauses” in fighting.
The first phase of the campaign, which first brought vaccines to children in central Gaza, then the south, and finally to the hardest-to reach north of the territory, wrapped up on Thursday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). A fresh campaign to provide a needed second dose is due to begin in about four weeks in Gaza.
“We admire all the health teams, who conducted this complex operation,” Tedros said, also voicing gratitude to the families for turning out in droves to get their children vaccinated against polio.
Poliovirus, most often spread through sewage and contaminated water, is highly infectious. It can cause deformities and paralysis, and is potentially fatal. It mainly affects children under the age of five.
WHO has hailed that area-specific humanitarian pauses were respected, allowing the campaign to go ahead, and has urged a broader halt in fighting to help establish humanitarian corridors and the delivery of desperately needed throughout the war-torn territory.
“Imagine what could be achieved with a ceasefire!” Tedros wrote.
