Closing summary
It has just gone 5pm 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.
Here is a recap of the latest developments:
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has said that one of its employees was killed during an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, where raids have escalated since last month. Unrwa identified the employee as Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, who worked as a sanitation labourer. It said he was “shot and killed on the roof of his home by a sniper” in Faraa refugee camp. The Israeli military called the UN worker a “terrorist” who posed a threat to troops.
Mourners gathered in the Aegean town of Didim, south-west Turkey, on Saturday for the funeral of a US-Turkish activist, who was shot dead while protesting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The killing last week of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has sparked international condemnation and angered Turkey, further escalating tensions over the war in Gaza. A large crowd gathered during the prayers including Eygi’s family, members of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Islamic-rooted AKP party, and activists advocating the Palestinian cause. Erdoğan has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished”. The Israeli military has said it was likely Eygi was hit “unintentionally” by forces while they were responding to a “violent riot”, and said it is looking into the case.
Initial findings from an autopsy in Izmir, Turkey, revealed a bullet hit Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the head state-run TRT television reported. The cause of Eygi’s death was defined as “skull fracture, brain haemorrhage and brain tissue damage”. The report overlapped with an initial autopsy carried out by three Palestinian doctors, which concluded that a bullet passed directly through the victim’s skull. Her mother, Rabia Birden, on Friday urged Turkish officials to pursue justice. “The only thing I ask of our state is to seek justice for my daughter,” she was quoted as saying by Anadolu news agency.
A campaign is under way to drive Unrwa out of existence, its commissioner general has said, days after 18 people were killed when Israeli jets bombed an Unrwa school in Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza overnight into Saturday, killing at least 14 people, Gaza’s civil defence agency said.“We have recovered the bodies of 11 martyrs, including four children and three women, after an Israeli airstrike hit the house of the Bustan family in eastern Gaza City,” agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP). The strike took place near the Shujaiya school in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, he said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strike.
Bassal said Israeli forces carried out similar strikes in some other parts of the territory overnight, killing at least 10 people. Five people were killed in northwestern Gaza City when an airstrike hit a group of people near Dar Al-Arqam school, he said. Three others were killed in a strike in the al-Mawasi area of the southern Khan Younis governorate, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge, Bassal added.
At least 41,182 Palestinians have been killed and 95,280 others injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday. The toll includes 64 deaths in the previous 48 hours, according to the ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) disaster risk management teams, in cooperation with the Palestine Ministry of Social Development, distributed food parcels to 11,000 families in Gaza and North Gaza governates, the humanitarian organisation shared on X.
Iran launched a satellite into space on Saturday with a rocket built by the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), according to state-run media. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch’s success, nor did Iranian authorities immediately provide footage or other details.
Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative in Gaza and the West Bank, said in a statement on Saturday that he is “hopeful these pauses will hold” as the UN agency prepare for the next round of polio vaccinations in Gaza in four week’s time. About 559,000 children under the age of 10 have recovered from their first dose, the WHO said, as part of a campaign to inoculate children in Gaza. The second doses are expected to begin later this month as part of an effort in which the WHO said parties had already agreed to.
A new attempt has begun to try to salvage an oil tanker burning in the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, an EU naval mission said on Saturday. The EU’s Operation Aspides published images dated Saturday of its vessels escorting ships heading to the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion.
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad issued a decree naming former communications minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali to form a new cabinet, state media said on Saturday. The new cabinet will replace an outgoing administration which has been serving in a caretaker role since parliamentary elections in mid-July.
A man was shot and sustained life-threatening injuries on Thursday in Newton, Massachusetts, after he tackled a pro-Israel demonstrator. During a news conference on Thursday evening, Marian Ryan, the Middlesex district attorney, said that the incident took place at about 6.40pm on Thursday evening. The individual sustained life-threatening injuries, and is being treated at a local hospital, she said.
Updated
Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative in Gaza and the West Bank, said in a statement on Saturday that he is “hopeful these pauses will hold” as the UN agency prepare for the next round of polio vaccinations in Gaza in four week’s time.
About 559,000 children under the age of 10 have recovered from their first dose, the WHO said, as part of a campaign to inoculate children in Gaza. According to the Associated Press (AP), the second doses are expected to begin later this month as part of an effort in which the WHO said parties had already agreed to.
“As we prepare for the next round in four weeks, we’re hopeful these pauses will hold, because this campaign has clearly shown the world what’s possible when peace is given a chance,” Peeperkorn said.
Updated
Initial findings from an autopsy in Izmir, Turkey, revealed a bullet hit Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the head, reports Agence France-Presse, citing state-run TRT television. The cause of Eygi’s death was defined as “skull fracture, brain haemorrhage and brain tissue damage,” TRT television reported.
According to AFP, the report overlapped with an initial autopsy carried out by three Palestinian doctors, which concluded that a bullet passed directly through the victim’s skull.
Her mother, Rabia Birden, on Friday urged Turkish officials to pursue justice. “The only thing I ask of our state is to seek justice for my daughter,” she was quoted as saying by Anadolu news agency.
Her father, Mehmet Suat Eygi, paid tribute to his daughter in Didim, telling AFP that she was a “very special person”. “She was sensitive to human rights, to nature, to everything,” he said.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for Israel to provide “full accountability” for Eygi’s death.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished”.
Mourners gather in Turkey for the funeral of US-Turkish activist killed by Israeli forces in West Bank
Mourners gathered in south-west Turkey on Saturday for the funeral of a US-Turkish activist, who was shot dead while protesting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The killing last week of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has sparked international condemnation and angered Turkey, further escalating tensions over the war in Gaza.
Eygi’s body, wrapped in the Turkish flag and carried by uniformed officers, arrived at its final resting place in the Aegean town of Didim. A picture of Eygi was placed near the coffin during the funeral at the local mosque.
A large crowd gathered during the prayers including Eygi’s family, members of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Islamic-rooted AKP party, and activists advocating the Palestinian cause.
Protesters chanted slogans near the mosque showing their support for Palestinians.
Eygi was shot while taking part in a demonstration on 6 September in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, near Nablus.
She was a human rights activist and volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement, which calls for resisting the oppression of Palestinians using non-violent methods.
Her family wanted Eygi to be buried in Didim, where her grandfather lives and her grandmother has been laid to rest. She was a frequent visitor to the seaside resort.
Ankara said this week it was probing her death and pressed the UN for an independent inquiry.
Turkey said it was also planning to issue international arrest warrants for those responsible for Eygi’s death, depending on the findings of its investigation.
The Israeli military has said it was likely Eygi was hit “unintentionally” by forces while they were responding to a “violent riot”, and said it is looking into the case.
President Erdoğan himself did not show up in Didim but he sent his vice-president, foreign, interior and justice ministers. Opposition CHP party chief Ozgur Ozel attended the funeral.
Updated
The day so far
It’s approaching 3pm in Gaza. Here are the day’s main developments:
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has said that one of its employees was killed during an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, where raids have escalated since last month. The Israeli military called the UN worker a “terrorist” who posed a threat to troops.
A campaign is under way to drive Unrwa out of existence, its commissioner general has said, days after 18 people were killed when Israeli jets bombed an Unrwa school in Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza overnight into Saturday, killing at least 14 people, reports the Associated Press.
The body of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the Turkish-American activist killed on 6 September by an Israeli soldier, has been returned to her home town, accompanied by a police honour guard.
At least 41,182 Palestinians have been killed and 95,280 others injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday
Updated
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) shared its latest situation update on Saturday.
🔹 Six @UNRWA staff were killed in our school hit in Nuseirat on 11 September
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) September 14, 2024
🔹 At the end of the first round of the polio campaign, over 560,000 children were vaccinated across the #GazaStrip
🔹 At least 220 UNRWA colleagues have been killed in #Gaza since the war began
According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people (or nine in ten people) across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced (some, up to 10 times or more).
The situation update also details the latest on the emergency polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip, as well as information such as Unrwa’s response in areas such as food assistance, health and psychosocial support.
A new attempt has begun to try to salvage an oil tanker burning in the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, an EU naval mission said on Saturday.
The EU’s Operation Aspides published images dated Saturday of its vessels escorting ships heading to the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, reports the Associated Press (AP).
The mission has “been actively involved in this complex endeavor, by creating a secure environment, which is necessary for the tugboats to conduct the towing operation,” the EU said. A phone number for the mission rang unanswered on Saturday, reports the AP.
The Sounion came under attack from the Houthis beginning on 21 August. The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who were taken by a French destroyer to nearby Djibouti.
According to the AP, the Houthis later planted explosives aboard the ship and detonated them. That has led to fears the ship’s 1m barrels of crude oil could spill into the Red Sea.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
At least 41,182 Palestinians killed in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, says health ministry
At least 41,182 Palestinians have been killed and 95,280 others injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday, reports Reuters.
The toll includes 64 deaths in the previous 48 hours, according to the ministry.
Gaza’s ministry of health does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count.
Updated
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) disaster risk management teams, in cooperation with the Palestine Ministry of Social Development, distributed food parcels to 11,000 families in Gaza and North Gaza governates, the humanitarian organisation shared on X.
“This effort aims to alleviate the ongoing suffering of citizens due to the worsening humanitarian situation in the northern part of the [Gaza] Strip, caused by the shortage of food supplies as the Israeli occupation continues to block the entry of humanitarian aid,” the PRCS wrote on Friday.
The PRCS Disaster Risk Management teams, in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Development, distributed #food_parcels to 11,000 families in #Gaza and North Gaza governorates. This effort aims to alleviate the ongoing suffering of citizens due to the worsening humanitarian… pic.twitter.com/9u8kbdA1qd
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) September 13, 2024
Updated
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad issued a decree naming former communications minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali to form a new cabinet, state media said on Saturday.
According to Reuters, the new cabinet will replace an outgoing administration which has been serving in a caretaker role since parliamentary elections in mid-July.
Al-Jalali served as communications minister from 2014-2016. He has been subject to EU sanctions since 2014 for his “responsibility for the regime’s violent repression of the civilian population”.
According to UN figures, at least 350,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 from an uprising against Assad’s rule.
Updated
Agence France-Presse (AFP) have some additional reporting on the news that Israeli airstrikes overnight into Saturday in central and southern Gaza killed at least 14 people.
“We have recovered the bodies of 11 martyrs, including four children and three women, after an Israeli airstrike hit the house of the Bustan family in eastern Gaza City,” Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
The strike took place near the Shujaiya school in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, he said. “Rescuers are continuing to search for the missing,” Bassal said.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strike, reports AFP.
Bassal said Israeli forces carried out similar strikes in some other parts of the territory overnight, killing at least 10 people.
Five people were killed in northwestern Gaza City when an airstrike hit a group of people near Dar Al-Arqam school, he said.
Three others were killed in a strike in the al-Mawasi area of the southern Khan Younis governorate, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge, Bassal added.
Updated
Iran launched a satellite into space on Saturday with a rocket built by the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Associated Press (AP) reports citing state-run media.
The AP reports that Iran described the launch as a success, which would be the second such launch to put a satellite into orbit with the rocket. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch’s success, nor did Iranian authorities immediately provide footage or other details.
The launch comes amid heightened tensions gripping the wider Middle East over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, during which Tehran launched an unprecedented direct missile-and-drone attack on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, raising concerns among nonproliferation experts about Tehran’s programme.
Iran identified the satellite-carrying rocket as the Qaem-100, the IRGC used in January for another successful launch. Qaem means “upright” in Iran’s Farsi language. The solid-fuel rocket put the Chamran-1 satellite, weighing 60 kilograms (132 pounds), into a 550 kilometer (340 mile) orbit, state media reported.
The US state department and the US military did not immediately respond to the AP’s requests for comment over the Iranian launch.
The US had previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN security council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile programme expired last October.
According to the AP’s report, the US intelligence community’s worldwide threat assessment this year said Iran’s development of satellite launch vehicles “would shorten the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear weapons, if it chooses to produce them, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly has warned.
Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space programme, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. However, US intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organised military nuclear programme up until 2003.
Julian Borger, the Guardian’s world affairs editor, has written a piece on Israel’s prime target: the hunt for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Here is an extract:
The nearly year-long hunt for Sinwar has involved a mix of advanced technology and brute force, as his pursuers have shown themselves prepared to go to any lengths, including causing extremely high civilian casualties, to kill the Hamas leader and destroy the tight circle around him.
The hunters are a taskforce of intelligence officers, special operation units from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), military engineers and surveillance experts under the umbrella of the Israeli Security Agency, more widely known by its Hebrew initials or the acronym Shabak.
Personally and institutionally, this team is seeking redemption for the security failures that allowed the 7 October assault to happen. But despite their motivation, they have so far failed to pin down their quarry.
You can read the full piece here:
A man was shot and sustained life-threatening injuries on Thursday in Newton, Massachusetts, after he tackled a pro-Israel demonstrator.
During a news conference on Thursday evening, Marian Ryan, the Middlesex district attorney, said that the incident took place at about 6.40pm on Thursday evening.
A small group of pro-Israeli demonstrators were on one side of the street, Ryan said, and a man, who has not been publicly identified, was walking on the other side of the street and started exchanging words with the group.
Words were “exchanged back and forth”, Ryan said, and then the incident escalated when the individual crossed the street and “jumped upon one of the demonstrators”.
“A scuffle ensued,” Ryan said, adding that during the confrontation the individual who had come across the street “was shot by a member of the demonstrating group”.
The individual sustained life-threatening injuries, and is being treated at a local hospital, she said.
The person who used the gun was identified on Thursday by authorities as 47-year-old Scott Hayes from Framingham. The Middlesex district attorney’s office said on Thursday evening that Hayes was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury.
He was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.
You can read the full piece here:
The body of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the Turkish-American activist killed on 6 September by an Israeli soldier, was returned to her home town late on Friday accompanied by a police honour guard, the Associated Press (AP) reports, citing the official Turkish news agency.
Draped in a Turkish flag, the coffin was carried from a hearse to a hospital in Didim by six officers in ceremonial uniform. Her funeral is due to be held in the coastal town in western Turkey later Saturday.
The 26-year-old activist from Seattle, who held US and Turkish citizenship, was killed after a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to an Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces. Turkey announced it will conduct its own investigation into her death.
Anadolu agency reported her body arrived in Didim after an autopsy at the Izmir Forensic Medicine Institute.
As Eygi’s family watched the coffin being unloaded, her mother had to be helped by medics, the agency said.
Her death earned condemnation from US secretary of state Antony Blinken as the US, Egypt and Qatar push for a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. Talks have repeatedly been unable to progress as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of making new and unacceptable demands.
Updated
Israeli airstrikes overnight kill at least 14 people in central and southern Gaza
Israeli airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza overnight into Saturday, killing at least 14 people, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Airstrikes in Gaza City hit one home housing 11 people, including women and children, and another strike hit a tent in Khan Younis housing Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s civil defence said on Saturday. They followed airstrikes earlier this week that hit a tent camp on Tuesday and a UN school housing displaced people on Wednesday.
Israel seeking to close down Unrwa, says agency’s chief after school bombing
A campaign is under way to drive the UN relief agency for Palestinians, Unrwa, out of existence, its commissioner general has said, days after 18 people were killed when Israeli jets bombed an Unrwa school in Gaza.
Philippe Lazzarini said in an interview that the Israeli government was seeking to close down the agency, having failed to persuade western donors to stop funding it on the grounds of allegations about links between Unrwa staff and Hamas.
“This deliberate attempt to eliminate Unrwa and prevent it from operating would have devastating consequences for the multilateral system, the UN and the cause of a Palestinian transition to self-determination,” Lazzarini said.
On Wednesday Unrwa said six staff members had been killed in two airstrikes that hit al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat, in central Gaza – the highest death toll among its staff in a single incident. The Israel Defense Forces said the strikes killed nine Hamas members, three of whom had doubled as Unrwa workers.
Lazzarini said the IDF had not previously informed his agency that the three staff were Hamas members. “None of these names have ever been on any IDF list notified to us, so I have absolutely no way of being able to authenticate or not,” he said. “These people were working in the shelter … There was no indication they were military operatives.”
Unrwa, one of the UN’s largest agencies, has 13,000 staff working in Gaza and more than 30,000 in the region providing health and educational facilities to Palestinian refugees.
You can read more of Patrick Wintour’s report here:
Unrwa says one of its employees was killed during Israeli operation in occupied West Bank
It has gone 10am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said on Friday that one of its employees was killed during an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, where raids have escalated since last month.
The Israeli military called the UN worker a “terrorist” who posed a threat to troops.
Unrwa said the employee was its first to be killed in the Palestinian territory in more than a decade, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. But, he is among dozens of Palestinians killed during the large-scale Israeli operation that began days ago and is ongoing, with several more Palestinians dead since Wednesday.
Unrwa identified the employee as Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, who worked as a sanitation labourer. It said he was “shot and killed on the roof of his home by a sniper” in Faraa refugee camp.
An Israeli military spokesperson, Lieut Col Nadav Shoshani, said on X that during an operation in Faraa “a terrorist was identified hurling explosive devices that posed a threat” to forces, leading troops to open fire to remove the threat. It was later “discovered he is also an Unrwa employee”, Shoshani said.
Jawwad’s death is in addition to those of six other Unrwa staffers the UN said were killed in Gaza on Wednesday during a strike on a school turned shelter.
Mourners carried Jawwad’s body through the streets of Faraa on Friday, while in nearby Tubas, funerals also took place for other Palestinians, who were killed by an airstrike.
In other developments:
The Israeli military said it acted this week in Syria against targets, after Syrian state media reported Israeli airstrikes killed 18 people in western Syria and injured dozens more. The Israeli military targeted “several terrorists” in southern Syria, it said. A war monitor said Israeli forces helicoptered into Syria days ago and destroyed an underground missile production facility built under Iranian supervision, with two US media outlets also reporting the raid. The Israeli military declined to comment.
Mourners will gather in south-west Turkey on Saturday for the funeral of a US-Turkish activist shot dead while protesting against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The killing last week of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, has sparked international condemnation and angered Turkey. Israel’s military said she was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by its forces. Turkey said it would conduct its own investigation into her death. Eygi’s body, wrapped in the Turkish flag, arrived on Friday at its final resting place in the Aegean town of Didim – Eygi was a frequent visitor to the seaside resort – following a martyrs’ ceremony at Istanbul airport.
The head of Unrwa said a campaign was under way to drive it out of existence. Philippe Lazzarini, the UN relief agency’s commissioner general, said in an interview that the Israeli government was seeking to close down the agency, having failed to persuade western donors to stop funding it on the grounds of allegations about links between Unrwa staff and Hamas, reports Patrick Wintour.
Israeli police said on Friday they had arrested a 17-year-old in connection with a vehicle explosion in the central city of Ramla on Thursday that left four people dead. Police had said they suspected the explosion to be linked to “a criminal conflict between crime families in the Arab neighbourhood” of the mixed city.
The Israeli army took reporters on Friday to tunnels uncovered by troops in southern Gaza, including the entrance to the underground chamber where the bodies of six Israeli hostages killed by Hamas were recovered on 1 September. The military did not allow reporters into the tunnel, in the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah, for security reasons. But it has released footage showing a cramped and airless passage it said was about 20m (66ft) below ground where it said the hostages had been held possibly for weeks.
Turkey’s spy chief has met a Hamas delegation in Ankara and discussed the negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, state broadcaster TRT said on Friday.
Ibrahim Kalin, head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency, had met the delegation from the Hamas political bureau leadership, TRT Haber said, citing Turkish security sources, without saying who the delegation members were.Ministers from Muslim and European countries along with the EU’s foreign affairs chief gathered in Madrid on Friday to discuss how to advance a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Together, we want to identify the concrete actions that will enable us to make progress towards this objective,” the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on X.
South Africa is “determined” to pursue its genocide case against Israel at the international court of justice and will next month file more evidence, president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday. Israel strongly denies the accusation.
