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AFP: Following days of confusing and sometimes contradictory messaging about the EU’s stance on the developing Israel-Hamas conflict, leaders of the bloc’s countries on Tuesday are to try to rally around a clear statement.
“We felt the need to bring some order,” one EU official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue more freely.
A videoconference of the leaders, taking place at 15.30 GMT and chaired by European Council President Charles Michel, will seek to supersede initial steps taken by the European Commission and its chief, Ursula von der Leyen.
Von der Leyen last Friday flew to Israel to tell its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Europe backed Israel‘s right to defend itself.
But that message was delivered without the caution being voiced by other Western leaders, and by the EU’s own top foreign policy official Josep Borrell, that Israeli action must abide by international humanitarian law.
Several EU governments bristled at von der Leyen taking it on herself to wade into foreign policy matters, which are decided by member countries, without prior consultation and straying from their national positions.
Senior US official flies into Israel
The top US general overseeing American forces in the Middle East made an unannounced trip to Israel on Tuesday, saying he hoped to ensure its military has what it needs as it fights a deepening war against Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The trip by Army General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, head of US Central Command, is the latest by a senior US official to Israel ahead of an expected ground assault by Israel‘s military in Gaza. It comes a day before a planned visit by US President Joe Biden to the country.
The US military is increasing its firepower in the region, aiming to prevent Iran and other Iran-backed groups from getting involved in the conflict as international fears of a wider, regional war grow.
The Pentagon is also rushing weaponry, including air defenses and munitions, to Israel.
“I’m here to ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself, particularly focused on avoiding other parties expanding the conflict,” Kurilla told Reuters, which is traveling with him, in brief remarks before landing.
A US official told Reuters Kurilla was scheduled to hold high-level meetings with Israel’s military leadership, ensuring a clear understanding of the close US ally’s defense requirements.
Kurilla was also expected to outline US military support aimed at avoiding an expansion of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The IAF has posted a video showing what it claims are strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
“A short while ago, the IAF struck terror targets and military infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in Lebanon, in response to fire yesterday (Monday) towards Israel,” the IAF wrote on X.
A short while ago, the IAF struck terror targets and military infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon, in response to fire yesterday (Monday) towards Israel. pic.twitter.com/6AP56PSHld
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) October 17, 2023
Australian citizens in Palestine raise fears as rescue buses cancelled
Palestinian Australians in the West Bank who fear a surge in violence have raised concerns over the Australian government’s efforts to help them escape the region, after rescue buses to Jordan were cancelled.
With no airport in the West Bank, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) had scheduled buses to take Australian citizens from the Palestinian city of Ramallah over the border into Jordan, due to concerns about the ability of these dual nationals to access flights out of Israel’s Ben Gurion airport.
Dfat had intended to run buses on Monday and Tuesday morning, however these did not proceed, the Guardian understands. Officials will attempt to run another bus service on Wednesday.
Updated
In case you missed this earlier, a top Hamas leader said on Monday the group “has what it needs” to free all Palestinians in Israel’s jails, indicating the militant group may try to use the Israelis it kidnapped as bargaining chips to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Soon after Hamas official Khaled Meshaal made the remarks on the captives, the group’s armed wing separately said the non-Israelis were “guests” who would be released “when circumstances allow”.
Israel’s military says the group is holding hostages from 199 families in Gaza – in other words, it has alerted 199 families that they have one or more loves ones being held hostage. Hamas says it has between 200 and 250 hostages.
Hamas, which like other factions has long called for the release of the roughly 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, “has what it needs to empty the prisons of all prisoners,” Meshaal, a former Hamas chief who now heads its diaspora office in Doha, told AlAraby TV.
In 2011, Israel swapped hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to win the release of one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was held for five years. That kind of exchange - which at the time was criticised by some Israelis as too lopsided - looks an impossible bargain with dozens of people being held.
Around half a million Israelis displaced inside Israel: military
Around 500,000 Israelis have been evacuated and displaced in the 10 days since Hamas unleashed the bloodiest attack in the country’s history, the Israeli military said Tuesday.
“There are about half a million internally displaced Israelis at the time,” Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said in an online briefing.
He pointed out that all communities around the Gaza Strip had been evacuated, as had more than 20 communities along Israel‘s northern border with Lebanon.
More now on what has come out of Blinken’s meeting with Netanyahu regarding aid:
Blinken said that the United States also secured assurances from Israel on working to bring foreign assistance into the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip as Israel prepares a ground offensive against the Hamas-ruled territory.
US officials said that a new US coordinator on humanitarian aid, David Satterfield, would work with Israel to develop more concrete plans.
Biden hopes to “hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimises civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hama,” Blinken said.
“At our request, the United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza,” Blinken said.
He said the two sides were discussing the “possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm’s way.”
“We welcome the government of Israel’s commitment to work on this plan. The president very much looks forward to discussing it further when he’s here on Wednesday,” he said.
The decision for Joe Biden to travel to Israel has not been “taken lightly”, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said in his statement earlier.
“Obviously we would not be making the trip if we did not believe proper security measures were in place,” Kirby said.
NBC reports Kirby told reporters that Biden’s travel to Israel was thoroughly evaluated, but that the “security situation is certainly tense.”
On Monday, a meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and US secretary of state, Antony Blinken was disrupted by air raid sirens warning of incoming Palestinian rocket fire, forcing them to briefly shelter in a bunker.
Recap
Here is a quick recap following that IDF update and the news from Biden and Blinken:
US President Joe Biden will travel to Israel and on to Jordan Wednesday to meet with both Israeli and Arab leadership, as concerns increase that the raging Israel-Hamas war could expand into a larger regional conflict. Biden said on X, “On Wednesday, I’ll travel to Israel to stand in solidarity in the face of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack.”
Biden is looking to send the strongest message yet that the US is behind Israel. Blinken made the announcement early Tuesday after more than seven hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials. “He is coming here at a critical moment for Israel, for the region and for the world,” Blinken said.
Shortly after in Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced that Biden would also go to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss humanitarian needs. “We’ve been crystal clear about the need for humanitarian aid to be able to continue to flow into Gaza,” Kirby said. “That has been a consistent call by President Biden and certainly by this entire administration.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States and Israel had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza without benefiting Hamas, and that President Joe Biden would visit Israel this week to hear how it would minimize civilian casualties in its war effort. Blinken made the announcement after hours of negotiations with Netanyahu that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday.
Washington Post reporter John Hudson reported that he had been told by a source that Blinken delayed announcing Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv until Netanyahu had made commitments on a humanitarian package.
Meanwhile IDF spokeperson Jonathan Conricus said that 199 families have now been notified that their loved ones are being held hostage. It is an increase of 40 families, from 155 notified at the time of the last update, he said. He did not say how many hostages this translates to. The increase is not because more hostages being taken but because new information comes to light allowing people to be taken off the list of missing and confirmed as hostages.
Asked whether Biden’s visit will delay ground operations, Conricus said that he does not know, but that he does not think it will. The aim of Biden’s visit is not to “hinder” Israeli operations, he said. “It is to minimise the chances of a regional escalation.”
Conricus said he does not believe that there is any plan for Israel to ultimately “hold onto the Gaza strip”.
The IDF spokesperson was asked during that briefing what there is to stop Hamas fighters going south, too. He said this is “very difficult” and is “one of the downsides” of Israel advertising that it is going to commence enhanced military operations and telling civilians where to go.
600,000 Palestinians have moved south and that there are still 100,000 people who need to go, the IDF spokesperson said.
The “enhanced military operations” will commence “when the timing suits the goal” said Conricus. The aim of the war remains to “completely dismantle Hamas and its military capabilities”. He said, “our preparations continue in the south”, that the IDF is “actively searching for the places where Hammas commanders are hiding” and, “We continue to prepare ourselves for enhanced military operations in Gaza”. The IDF is active on the northern border, the border with Lebanon, but “not escalating” the situation, he said.
IDF spokesperson: 199 families have been notified that their loved ones are hostages
IDF spokeperson Jonathan Conricus said that 199 families have now been notified that their loved ones are being held hostage.
It is an increase of 40 families, from 155 notified at the time of the last update, he said. He did not say how many hostages this translates to. The increase is not because more hostages being taken but because new information comes to light allowing people to be taken off the list of missing and confirmed as hostages.
Most of the hostages are civilians, he said.
On Monday Hamas said that there were between 200 and 250 hostages.
Biden has tweeted about his visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, saying he is doing so “to stand in solidarity in the face of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack.”
On Wednesday, I'll travel to Israel to stand in solidarity in the face of Hamas's brutal terrorist attack.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 17, 2023
I'll then travel to Jordan to address dire humanitarian needs, meet with leaders, and make clear that Hamas does not stand for Palestinians' right to self-determination.
The IDF spokesperson was asked during that briefing what there is to stop Hamas fighters going south, too. He says this is “very difficult” and is “one of the downsides” of Israel advertising that it is going to commence enhanced military operations and telling civilians where to go.
Washington Post reporter John Hudson says that he has been told by a source that Blinken delayed announcing Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv until Netanyahu had made commitments on a humanitarian package.
Biden’s trip to Israel was intentionally not announced until the U.S. received commitments from Netanyahu on a humanitarian package, sources tell @tylerpager and me. Once Blinken got the assurances, he made the announcement in Tel Aviv.
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) October 17, 2023
Reuters: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States and Israel had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza without benefiting Hamas, and that President Joe Biden would visit Israel this week to hear how it would minimize civilian casualties in its war effort.
Blinken made the announcement after hours of negotiations with Netanyahu that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday.
He has sought in part to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza as hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
“Today, and at our request, the United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organisations to reach civilians in Gaza,” Blinken told reporters.
Blinken said the US shared Israel’s concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid entering Gaza, or prevent it from reaching people in need.
“If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it. And we will work to prevent it from happening again,” Blinken said.
Blinken did not provide details on what the aid plan would look like.
IDF Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said he does not believe that there is any plan for Israel to ultimately “hold onto the Gaza strip”.
Asked whether Biden’s visit will delay ground operations, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus says that he does not know, but that he does not think it will.
The aim of Biden’s visit is not to “hinder” Israeli operations, he said. “It is to minimise the chances of a regional escalation.”
Updated
And at the UN security council, a vote on Brazils draft resolution has been delayed until late Tuesday to give the council more time to negotiate. Brazil’s draft resolution rivals Russia’s resolution, which failed. Unlike Russia’s resolution, it condemns “the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas”.
Back to the update from White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who announced a short while ago that Biden will also go to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Kirby said, “We’ve been crystal clear about the need for humanitarian aid to be able to continue to flow into Gaza,” and, “That has been a consistent call by President Biden and certainly by this entire administration.”
600,000 Palestinians have fled south, says IDF
Conricus is now taking questions. He is asked about evacuation efforts. He says that 600,000 Palestinians have moved south and that there are still 100,000 people who need to go.
“I think that the more time goes by, people understand that this is the best option to preserve their safety,” he says, referring to Hamas telling people not to leave.
The timing of the “enhanced military operations” will commence “when the timing suits the goal” says Conricus.
The aim of the war remains to “completely dismantle Hamas and its military capabilities”.
IDF spokesperson: 'we continue to prepare ourselves for enhanced military operations in Gaza'
Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus is giving an update now. It is just after 3.30 am in Tel Aviv.
He says, “our preparations continue in the south”.
The IDF is “actively searching for the places where Hammas commanders are hiding”.
The IDF is active on the northern border, the border with Lebanon, but “not escalating” the situation, he sys.
“We continue to prepare ourselves for enhanced military operations in Gaza,” he says.
Biden will then travel to Jordan, where he will discuss humanitarian aid with Arab leaders, the White House says.
While in Israel, Biden will reaffirm US solidarity with Israel and get an update from Israeli officials about their strategy and pace of their military operations, according to Nastional Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
The US president will also “discuss humanitarian assistance to ensure we’re all working together and make sure aid doesn’t help Hamas but does help civilians”.
Biden will meet with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, and expects to hear from them what it is they need from the US.
As Biden’s visit to Israel is confirmed, the White House says that Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi have discussed the need to preserve stability in the Middle East during a phone call on Monday, and that in a separate phone call, Biden and Iraq Prime Minister Shia’ Al Sudani discussed efforts to prevent an expansion of the conflict in Gaza.
Biden also discussed the importance of addressing addressing the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza with each leader, the White House said.
Blinken: US and Israel agreed to plan allowing aid to reach civilians in Gaza
In an update following what became a seven hour meeting with Netanyahu and his cabinet, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that the US and Israel have agreed to a plan that will allow aid to reach civilians in Gaza.
Biden to visit Israel on Wednesday, says Blinken
US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to make clear Israel has the right to defend itself, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Tuesday.
Biden will reaffirm solidarity with Israel as it prepares for a ground offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza, Blinken said after lengthy talks with Netanyahu.
Updated
Aid reportedly moving toward Rafah crossing
Trucks carrying aid for the Gaza Strip are moving from Al Arish in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula towards the Rafah crossing, a witness told Reuters on Tuesday.
It was not clear when or whether the crossing will open.
Truckloads of aid have been idling at Egypt’s border with Gaza as residents and humanitarian groups pleaded Monday for water, food and fuel for dying generators, saying the tiny Palestinian territory sealed off by Israel after last week’s rampage by Hamas was near total collapse.
The Rafah crossing is Gaza’s only connection to Egypt. Mediators are trying to reach a cease-fire that would let in aid and let out trapped foreigners. Israeli airstrikes forced the crossing to shut down last week, but it remains unclear which of the regional actors is keeping the crossing closed, AP reports.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the envoy to the UN, says that the US is urging Israel to minimise the risk of civilian casualties, Reuters reports.
This echoes comments earlier from US defence secretary Lloyd Austin following a conversation with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant. Austin reiterated the United States’ commitment to avoiding an escalation of the conflict and emphasised civilian safety, the Pentagon said in a readout.
Russia's draft resolution fails at Security Council
A Russian-drafted UN Security Council resolution that would have called for a humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza failed to get the minimum nine votes needed in the 15-member body on Monday.
The draft resolution received five votes in favour, four votes against and there were six abstentions.
Russia proposed the one-page draft text on Friday, which also called for the release of hostages, humanitarian aid access and the safe evacuation of civilians in need.
The text condemned violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism, but did not name Hamas, who killed 1,300 people in Israel on 7 October.
Brazil has meanwhile proposed a resolution that calls for “humanitarian pauses” and also “firmly condemns all violence and hostilities against civilians and all acts of terrorism.” It also “unequivocally rejects and condemns the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas.”
Meanwhile in the US, former President Donald Trump has said he will ban refugees from Gaza and expand his first-term travel ban following the deadly attack on Israel last week.
Trump on Monday said as president he would begin “ideological screening” for all immigrants to the United States and bar those who empathise with Islamic extremists.
The proposals mark a dramatic expansion of the controversial and legally dubious policies that drew alarms from immigrant rights and civil liberties activists during his first campaign but helped him win the GOP primary in 2016.
Trump made the announcement Monday while campaigning in Iowa three months before voting begins in the GOP contest’s kickoff state.
More context now on the IDF saying it was launching strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, via AFP.
“The Israeli army is striking military targets of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah on Lebanese territory,” the IDF said.
Since the start of the war, clashes on the Israel-Lebanon border have left around 10 people dead on the Lebanese side, mostly combatants but also a Reuters journalist and two civilians.
On the Israeli side, at least two people have been killed.
The international community fears an escalation of the conflict between the pro-Iran Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, and the Israeli army.
Israel began evacuating thousands of residents in 28 locations in the north of the country after these border clashes.
Almost 1,000 US citizens have left Israel on charter flights
Nearly 1,000 US citizens and family members have departed Israel on State Department-sponsored charter flights since Friday for Europe, a department spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.
The State Department said it had offered more than 4,000 seats on US government-chartered transport by air and sea to US citizens and immediate family but said the flights and other departure options have generally departed at half capacity or less.
The State Department said the US government-facilitated flights are scheduled to continue from Tel Aviv through at least Thursday.
Updated
UN Security Council meets to discuss resolution on Israel
AP: The UN Security Council met Monday evening to vote on rival Russian and Brazilian resolutions that reflect deep divisions over the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the latest Hamas’ attacks and Israeli retaliation.
But immediately after the session was gavelled to order, the United Arab Emirates ambassador, Lana Nusseibeh, asked for members to go into closed consultations, and the 15 council ambassadors left the room. Several diplomats said they wanted a delay in the vote, especially on the Brazil resolution.
The UN’s most powerful body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has failed to respond to the conflict.
The Russian draft resolution, which was scheduled to be voted on first, calls for “an immediate, durable and fully respected humanitarian cease-fire ” and “strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism.” It never mentions Hamas.
The Brazilian draft resolution calls for “humanitarian pauses” and also “firmly condemns all violence and hostilities against civilians and all acts of terrorism.” But it also “unequivocally rejects and condemns the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet lasted more than six hours, Reuters reports on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the two briefly sought shelter in a bunker during an air raid alert.
The unexpectedly long meeting extended into the wee hours of Tuesday, disrupted by sirens blaring as Israel‘s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted Hamas rockets while Israel‘s army remained on standby for a possible ground assault on Gaza.
Blinken, Israel’s leading diplomat, was on the fifth consecutive day of round-the-clock diplomacy in the region, shuttling back to Israel after visiting six Arab countries in four days.
Speaking to reporters earlier after meeting Blinken, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “This will be a long war; the price will be high. But we are going to win for Israel and the Jewish people and for the values that both countries believe in.”
We’re expecting an update from the ISF spokesperson in about 90 minutes’ time.
Join us live. pic.twitter.com/YTQfsJ3irl
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 16, 2023
This is Helen Sullivan taking over our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. I’ll be bringing you the latest throughout the night.
Summary
It is just after 2am in Tel Aviv. Here is where things stand:
US president Joe Biden is strongly considering a trip to Israel as early as this week, NBC reported, citing three US officials. The officials said planning is under way, including on the ground in Israel, for a potential visit from the US president. It is unclear if Biden would make any additional stops while in the region.
Hamas demanded the release of “6,000 male and female prisoners in Israeli prisons” in exchange for hostages it took during its attacks on 7 October. The group’s captives include “high-ranking officers” of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’s diaspora office, said. A Hamas spokesperson said there were “about 200-250” Israeli captives in Gaza, contradicting an earlier statement from the Israeli military that said it had confirmed 199 hostages.
Hamas released a video on Monday showing a statement from one of the captives seized in last week’s attack. In the footage, the woman, whose injured arm is shown being treated by an unidentified medical worker, asks to be returned to her family as quickly as possible.
Iran warned Monday of a possible “pre-emptive action” against Israel “in the coming hours”, as Israel readies for a ground offensive on the Gaza Strip. Tehran has repeatedly warned that a ground invasion of the long-blockaded Gaza would be met with a response from other fronts – prompting fears of a wider conflict that could draw in other countries. “The possibility of pre-emptive action by the resistance axis is expected in the coming hours,” Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a live broadcast to state TV, as he referred to his meeting with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday spoke to his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, and reiterated the United States’ commitment to avoiding an escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict and emphasised civilian safety, the Pentagon said in a readout.
The head of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency took responsibility for the Hamas attacks that killed more than 1,400 people on 7 October. “There will be time for investigations. Now we fight,” Shin Bet director Ronen Bar said in a statement.
An intense US-led diplomatic effort failed to ease the plight of two million Palestinians trapped under bombardment in Gaza, with supplies of water, food and medicine all running out, raising the prospect of a humanitarian disaster.
At least 2,808 Palestinians have been killed and 10,850 injured since Israel launched attacks on the Gaza Strip, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has said that Israel has killed 11 Palestinian journalists in its airstrikes on Gaza.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Gaza faces an imminent public health crisis as the Palestinian enclave is “running out of water”. The UN agency said the lives of more than 3,500 patients in 35 hospitals in Gaza are at immediate risk, and called for the unobstructed access for humanitarian aid into the enclave.
The UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said “there are not enough body bags for the dead in Gaza”. It noted that Gaza had been without electricity for five days, there was limited access to clean drinking water, and more than 1 million people had been displaced.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, sheltered in a bunker for five minutes when air sirens went off during their meeting in Tel Aviv on Monday. In a joint press conference, Blinken said Israel will “always have the support of the United States”, while Gallant warned “a long war” lies ahead.
Israel activated a plan to evacuate residents within 2km (1.2 miles) of Lebanon, the military said on Monday. It followed exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in parallel to the conflict in southern Israel with Hamas. In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces said the plan included the evacuation of 28 villages.
The armed wing of Hamas, Al Qassam Brigades, said it fired a “barrage of missiles” on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In a statement on Monday, it said the latest attacks were in response to Israel’s “targeting of civilians”.
The EU announced it will launch a “humanitarian air bridge” consisting of “several flights” to Egypt to bring supplies to humanitarian organisations on the ground in Gaza. The first two flights will take place this week, carrying humanitarian cargo from Unicef including shelter items, medicines and hygiene kits, it said in a statement.
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, confirmed he will travel to Israel this week to express his solidarity. Scholz said he wanted to address “practical questions, particularly in terms of the security situation”, and “how humanitarian aid can be organised” in talks.
About 2,000 US troops have been told to prepare to be deployed for possible support to Israel, according to multiple reports. The troops are not intended to serve in a combat role, according to the reports, and come from across the armed services who are tasked with missions like advising and medical support.
Two British teenage sisters are thought to be being held captive by Hamas after last weekend’s attack on communities in southern Israel. The girls were named as Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, by a spokesperson for British families whose relatives are suspected hostages. Their mother, Lianne, who was born in Bristol, was killed in last Saturday’s atrocities.
Six Britons are dead and another 10 are missing after the assault by Hamas on southern Israel a week ago, Rishi Sunak said. Speaking in the Commons for the first time since the outbreak of war a week ago, Sunak also announced the UK would spend an extra £10m on humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The Islamophobic killing of a six-year-old Palestinian child in Illinois has sparked outrage and shock after police characterised the gruesome act as a hate crime. President Joe Biden said he was “shocked and sickened” by the “horrific” killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume, which authorities say was fueled by the Israel-Hamas war.
China and Russia hardened their positions towards the conflict in Gaza, as the war between Israel and Hamas aggravates existing geopolitical tensions and underscores the growing gulf between the cold war allies and western powers such as the US, UK and France.
A meeting between US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his war cabinet in Tel Aviv has now passed the six-hour mark.
Blinken is scheduled to return to Amman, Jordan, on Monday night.
From the Washington Post’s John Hudson:
Blinken's meeting with Israel's war cabinet is going way overtime. The traveling press is loitering outside Israel's Defense Ministry waiting for it to end. In that time, there has been two air sirens/rocket attacks. Here is a shot we caught of Iron Dome neutralizing one pic.twitter.com/9zK9BoJqjQ
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) October 16, 2023
IDF says it is striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said it is currently striking Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon.
More details to follow.
Updated
Iran warns of ‘pre-emptive action' on Israel in ‘the coming hours’
Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, warned that a “pre-emptive action” against Israel could be expected “in the coming hours”, signalling a potential escalation in the conflict.
In a live broadcast to state television, Amirabdollahian said “the leaders of resistance groups will not allow the Zionist regime to act in any way it likes in Gaza” while referencing his meeting with the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on Saturday.
He added:
The possibility of pre-emptive action by the resistance front is expected in the coming hours.
“All options are open and we cannot be indifferent to the war crimes committed against the people of Gaza,” he said. He added:
If we don’t defend Gaza today, tomorrow we have to defend against these [phosphorus] bombs in the children’s hospital of our own country.
Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon last week. Israel has denied it used white phosphorus.
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi said earlier on Monday that time was running out to reach a political solution and warned against the expansion of the Israel-Hamas war to other fronts.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent over the news wires from Israel and Gaza.
Biden 'strongly considering' trip to Israel this week - report
Joe Biden is strongly considering a trip to Israel as early as this week, NBC reported, citing three US officials.
The officials said planning is underway, including on the ground in Israel, for a potential visit from the US president. It is unclear if Biden would make any additional stops while in the region.
A visit by Biden to Israel would have “strategic importance”, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said on Monday.
Its strategic importance is for the entire Middle East, and the impact in which the highest level figure in the United States comes to Israel in time of war.
Biden cancelled a trip to Colorado on Monday to meet with his national security team as he weighed an invitation to go to Israel.
The first Arab Muslim woman elected to Manchester city council is one of a number of Labour councillors to resign from the party in protest at Keir Starmer’s pro-Israeli stance.
Amna Abdullatif, a councillor in Ardwick since 2019, said she had been left “no choice other than to resign the Labour whip and resign from the Labour party due to Keir Starmer and a number of his senior frontbench making horrifying comments about Israel having the right to withhold fuel, water, food and electricity from the 2.2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza, effectively endorsing a war crime”.
Starmer made the remarks in an interview with LBC last week, saying that “Israel has the right” to withhold power and water from Palestinian civilians. “Obviously, everything should be done within international law,” he added.
Two Labour councillors in Oxford, Shaista Aziz and Dr Amar Latif, quit the party last week for similar reasons.
Updated
Afaf al-Najjar, a resident of Gaza City, lived in a district that was bombarded by airstrikes and, after Israel issued an evacuation order through leaflets dropped from the sky, she left with her family for Khan Younis.
Najjar speaks to the Guardian about the impact of the war on her family:
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s just past 12.30am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s where things stand:
Hamas demanded the release of “6,000 male and female prisoners in Israeli prisons” in exchange for hostages it took during its attacks on 7 October. The group’s captives include “high-ranking officers” of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’s diaspora office, said. A Hamas spokesperson said there were “about 200-250” Israeli captives in Gaza, contradicting an earlier statement from the Israeli military that said it had confirmed 199 hostages.
An intense US-led diplomatic effort failed to ease the plight of two million Palestinians trapped under bombardment in Gaza, with supplies of water, food and medicine all running out, raising the prospect of a humanitarian disaster. US media reported that Joe Biden was considering a trip as an already dire situation drastically deteriorated.
At least 2,808 Palestinians have been killed and 10,850 injured since Israel launched attacks on the Gaza Strip, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has said that Israel has killed 11 Palestinian journalists in its airstrikes on Gaza.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Gaza faces an imminent public health crisis as the Palestinian territory is “running out of water”. The UN agency said the lives of more than 3,500 patients in 35 hospitals in Gaza are at immediate risk, and called for the unobstructed access for humanitarian aid into the territory.
The UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said “there are not enough body bags for the dead in Gaza”. It noted that Gaza had been without electricity for five days, there was limited access to clean drinking water, and more than 1 million people had been displaced.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, sheltered in a bunker for five minutes when air sirens went off during their meeting in Tel Aviv on Monday. In a joint press conference, Blinken said Israel will “always have the support of the United States”, while Gallant warned “a long war” lies ahead.
Israel activated a plan to evacuate residents within 2km (1.2 miles) of Lebanon, the military said on Monday. It followed exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in parallel to the conflict in southern Israel with Hamas. In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces said the plan included the evacuation of 28 villages.
The armed wing of Hamas, Al Qassam Brigades, said it fired a “barrage of missiles” on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In a statement on Monday, it said the latest attacks were in response to Israel’s “targeting of civilians”.
The EU announced it will launch a “humanitarian air bridge” consisting of “several flights” to Egypt to bring supplies to humanitarian organisations on the ground in Gaza. The first two flights will take place this week, carrying humanitarian cargo from Unicef including shelter items, medicines and hygiene kits, it said in a statement.
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, confirmed he will travel to Israel this week to express his solidarity. Scholz said he wanted to address “practical questions, particularly in terms of the security situation”, and “how humanitarian aid can be organised” in talks.
About 2,000 US troops have been put on prepare to deploy orders for possible support to Israel, according to multiple reports. The troops are not intended to serve in a combat role, according to the reports, and come from across the armed services who are tasked with missions like advising and medical support
Hamas released footage of a young woman it claims is being held hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli media reports. Israeli news identified the individual as a 21-year-old woman who was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival on 7 October.
Two British teenage sisters are thought to be being held captive by Hamas after last weekend’s attack on communities in southern Israel. The girls were named as Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, by a spokesperson for British families whose relatives are suspected hostages. Their mother, Lianne, who was born in Bristol, was killed in last Saturday’s atrocities.
Six Britons are dead and another 10 are missing after the assault by Hamas on southern Israel a week ago, Rishi Sunak said. Speaking in the Commons for the first time since the outbreak of war a week ago, Sunak also announced the UK would spend an extra £10m on humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The Islamophobic killing of a six-year-old Palestinian child in Illinois has sparked outrage and shock after police characterised the gruesome act as a hate crime. President Joe Biden said he was “shocked and sickened” by the “horrific” killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume, which authorities say was fueled by the Israel-Hamas war.
The head of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency took responsibility for the Hamas attacks that killed more than 1,400 people on 7 October. “There will be time for investigations. Now we fight,” Shin Bet director Ronen Bar said in a statement.
China and Russia hardened their positions towards the conflict in Gaza, as the war between Israel and Hamas aggravates existing geopolitical tensions and underscores the growing gulf between the cold war allies and western powers such as the US, UK and France.
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Hamas has released footage of a young woman it claims is being held hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli media reports.
Israeli news has identified the individual as a 21-year-old woman who was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival on 7 October.
In the clip, she says: “Please get me out of here as soon as possible.”
Thousands of patients’ lives in Gaza are at risk, UN officials said, and civilians – Palestinians and foreigners – wait helplessly in Gaza with no means of escape.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s team had been trying to negotiate safe passage out through the Rafah crossing for an estimated 500 Palestinian-Americans trapped inside.
“The gate is closed. They didn’t let anyone through,” said a Palestinian woman who tried to cross on Monday. “We came at 9am. It is now almost 1.15pm and it didn’t even open for a second.” Many others were waiting for a phone call saying that the crossing was open.
More than 30 arrested at White House protest
More than 30 people were arrested during a protest representing Palestinian causes in front of the White House on Monday, according to reports.
A US secret service spokesperson confirmed arrests were made, and said they were due to protesters crossing safety barriers or blocking entrances near the White House complex, WJLA reported.
This afternoon, more than 30 individuals were arrested by the U.S. Secret Service’s Uniformed Division for Unlawful Entry or Incommoding after crossing safety barriers or blocking entrances during a demonstration at the White House complex. -USSS Spokesperson Special Agent Kopek
— Allison Papson (@AllisonPapson) October 16, 2023
One of the organisers behind the protest shared video of demonstrators attempting to block entrances to the White House, and being arrested by police.
BREAKING: American Jews and allies have now blocked 4+ doors to the White House. We’re prepared to put our bodies in the way of more slaughter — we’re ready to stay here until Biden forces a ceasefire. pic.twitter.com/SlcIPuijRs
— IfNotNow🔥 (@IfNotNowOrg) October 16, 2023
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US orders 2,000 troops to prepare for possible deployment to support Israel – reports
About 2,000 US troops have been put on prepare to deploy orders for possible support to Israel, according to multiple reports.
The US military has selected roughly 2,000 troops from across the armed services who are tasked with missions like advising and medical support, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing defence officials.
The troops are not intended to serve in a combat role, according to the report, adding that no infantry have been put on prepare-to-deploy order.
The troops are currently stationed both inside the Middle East and outside, including Europe, the officials said. It isn’t clear under what circumstances the U.S. could deploy the troops or to where, but the Pentagon decision signaled it is preparing to support Israeli troops should Israel launch a ground incursion into Gaza.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has put in “be ready to potentially deploy” orders for a select number of American troops should Israel need them, Fox News reported, citing an official.
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Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has thanked the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, for his support and commitment to Israel’s security.
Posting to X, Gallant wrote:
We are going to win the war against Hamas. We will win for Israel, for the Jewish people, and for the values that our countries stand for.
Thank you @SecBlinken for your unwavering support and for your commitment to Israel’s security. Your second visit in one week, senior American officials coming to Israel every day, and the American flag waving in the Mediterranean Sea - this is a powerful message to the world. pic.twitter.com/jlFSLvdnhv
— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) October 16, 2023
The BBC is understood to have received more than 1,500 complaints relating to its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict with complaints split almost evenly between those claiming its reporting has been biased against Israel and those saying it is biased against Palestinians.
The Guardian understands the complaints on each side are in the region of 800 and are within a handful of each other. The broadcaster said it had given “careful consideration” to all aspects of its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The BBC said:
We received complaints from people who feel that our reporting of the conflict has been biased against Israel, and complaints from those who feel it has been biased against the Palestinians.
We understand that this is an extremely worrying time for people not only in the region, but also in the UK and around the world, and we have reflected this in our coverage.
German chancellor confirms he will travel to Israel
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has confirmed reports that he will travel to Israel this week to express his solidarity.
Scholz said he wanted to address “practical questions, particularly in terms of the security situation” in his talks “and how we can prevent an escalation of the conflict into further regions”, AFP reported.
He added he wanted to discuss “how humanitarian aid can be organised” while stressing that “Israel has every right to defend itself”. He also said he would travel to Egypt in a “later trip”.
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Here are some images from Monday afternoon’s protest at the White House calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, sent by the Guardian’s Robert Tait, and news agency photographers.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau said Monday afternoon he was deeply concerned by the “dire and worsening crisis” in Gaza, and wants a humanitarian corridor to be opened into the enclave.
“It is imperative that this happen,” Trudeau told the country’s lower parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, according to Reuters.
He said nothing could justify Hamas’s “acts of terror” and that the group “does not represent the Palestinian people, nor their legitimate aspirations”.
More information about the prisoners held by Hamas came in a recorded video released by the group’s armed wing on Monday, Reuters reports.
A spokesperson said there were “about 200-250” Israeli captives in Gaza, contradicting an earlier statement from the Israeli military that said it had confirmed 199 hostages.
They were seized on Saturday 7 October when Hamas fighters broke through the Israeli border fence in southern Israel, and attacked a music festival and multiple settlements killing more than 1,300 Israelis.
The unnamed Hamas spokesperson in the video also said the group was holding captives of other nationalities, whom he said were “guests”, and would be released “when circumstances allow us”.
They were, he added, being held “in accordance with ethics and humanitarian law”.
Air raid sirens sounding in Tel Aviv
Air raid sirens are sounding again in Tel Aviv. It’s just before 10.30pm in Israel’s second largest city.
Here we go again...sirens blaring and explosions heard in the skies above Tel Aviv. It has been a very busy day here. pic.twitter.com/51mzj0J4NX
— Robert Sherman (@RobertShermanTV) October 16, 2023
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Hamas demanding release of 6,000 prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages
Hamas is demanding the release of “6,000 male and female prisoners in Israeli prisons” in exchange for hostages it took during its incursions, according to Reuters.
The news agency is quoting Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’s diaspora office, as making the demand. The group’s captives, he said, include “high-ranking officers” of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
It comes as Turkey says it’s discussing with Hamas the release of civilian prisoners held by Hamas. Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister, spoke with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Monday, the country’s foreign ministry said.
Reuters said Meshaal expressed gratitude to Hezbollah for “taking steps”, presumably referring to strikes at Israel’s north from the group in Lebanon, but “needs to do more”.
And he also warned displacement of Palestinians in Gaza “will harm Egypt, Jordan and Arab national security interests”.
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Thousands call for Gaza ceasefire at White House protest
A protest of thousands of people calling for a ceasefire in Gaza has “shut down the White House”, according to its organizers.
Posts on X, formerly Twitter, by a group called If Not Now show images and video of the protesters, whom they say have “blocked 4+ doors to the White House”.
They say police are now moving in to arrest some of the activists, who are shown sat on the ground and singing.
People getting arrested — and getting replaced by more people willing to commit civil disobedience to make sure those inside the White House know this is urgent & the world is watching. pic.twitter.com/wPXGmN3mWZ
— IfNotNow🔥 (@IfNotNowOrg) October 16, 2023
Jamaal Bowman, Democratic congressman for New York, has tweeted his support for the protest, praising “hundreds of young Jews calling for the end of violence on innocent lives in Gaza”.
Outside the White House right now there are hundreds of young Jews calling for the end of violence on innocent lives in Gaza.
— Rep. Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (@JamaalBowmanNY) October 16, 2023
There’s nothing I could say that captures my respect, admiration, and heartache for members of this community who have endured unspeakable atrocities and… https://t.co/cITnBUW3e1
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UNRWA, the UN’s agency supporting Palestinian refugees, said reports circulating on social media that its supplies had been stolen from its warehouses on the Gaza Strip are false.
“No looting has taken place in any of its warehouses in the Gaza Strip,” it posted to X.
🛑URGENT CLARIFICATION FROM @UNRWA
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 16, 2023
With regards to reports on social media of looting of an UNRWA warehouse.
UNRWA would like to confirm that no looting has taken place in any of its warehouses in the Gaza Strip. [1/2]
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, talked about the possibility of the release of hostages during a phone call with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, according to his office.
Fidan discussed “the latest developments in Palestine and the possibility of release of civilians” with the exiled Haniyeh, Reuters cited a Turkish foreign ministry statement.
'This is on me': Israeli intelligence head takes responsibility for Hamas terror attacks
The head of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency took responsibility for the Hamas attacks that killed more than 1,400 people on 7 October.
In his first comments since the attacks, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar said:
Despite a series of actions we carried out, unfortunately, on Saturday we were unable to generate sufficient warning that would allow the attack to be thwarted.
As the one who heads the organization, the responsibility for this is on me. There will be time for investigations. Now we fight.
The EU has announced it will launch a “humanitarian air bridge” consisting of “several flights” to Egypt to bring supplies to humanitarian organisations on the ground in Gaza.
The first two flights will take place this week, carrying humanitarian cargo from Unicef including shelter items, medicines and hygiene kits, it said in a statement.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, during a press conference in Tirana on Monday, said:
Palestinians in Gaza are in need of humanitarian help and aid, they cannot pay the prize of Hamas’ barbarism.
US-led diplomatic effort fails to ease Palestinians’ plight in Gaza
An intense US-led diplomatic effort failed on Monday to ease the plight of 2 million Palestinians trapped under bombardment in Gaza, with supplies of water, food and medicine all running out, raising the prospect of a humanitarian disaster.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, arrived back in Israel after a tour of the five Gulf Arab states and Egypt as part of an ongoing but faltering diplomatic mission. US media reported that Joe Biden was considering a trip as an already dire situation drastically deteriorated.
Trucks carrying badly needed supplies have waited for days at Egypt’s border crossing with Gaza but repeated Israeli strikes and a diplomatic stalemate with Cairo have meant they have been unable to enter. An Israeli airstrike hit the border crossing again on Monday evening, a BBC journalist in Gaza reported, the fourth time the area has been bombed since the war began.
Residents of the strip, which is ruled by Hamas, said strikes overnight between Sunday and Monday were the heaviest yet as the conflict entered its 10th day.
According to an aid official, a few UN lorries carrying oil were allowed into Gaza from Egypt on Monday morning but the crossing remained closed to most humanitarian deliveries. “No food, nothing of that sort, made it through,” an aid source said. “Nobody is able to get anything close to that border.”
Egyptian security services had earlier assured aid agencies and journalists that an agreement had been reached for the Rafah crossing to be opened at 9am on Monday. But in response, the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a one-line statement saying: “There is no ceasefire.”
Civil defence personnel say they are struggling to extract hundreds of bodies trapped under the rubble in Gaza amid a lack of equipment and resources.
Civil defence officer Abid Saqir said there are 1,000 bodies under the rubble across the strip, citing figures shared by Gaza’s ministry of interior.
The priority for our teams in the civil defence is to extract martyrs from under rubble, despite our limited capabilities.
Blinken and Netanyahu shelter in bunker during meeting in Tel Aviv
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, sheltered in a bunker for five minutes when air sirens went off during their meeting in Tel Aviv.
The two have since moved out and are continuing their discussions at the defense ministry’s command centre, Reuters reports that a US state department spokesperson said.
Earlier, PM Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Blinken held an in-depth private meeting, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, during which National Security Council Director Hanegbi and the Prime Minister's Military Secretary, Maj.-Gen. Gil, participated at times. pic.twitter.com/AveRWVVpjb
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 16, 2023
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Gaza 'running out of water', says WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Gaza faces an imminent public health crisis as the Palestinian territory is “running out of water”.
The UN agency said the lives of more than 3,500 patients in 35 hospitals in Gaza are at immediate risk, and called for the unobstructed access for humanitarian aid into the enclave.
On Sunday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Israeli officials had told him that they had turned the water pipe back on in southern Gaza. A Hamas spokesperson denied Israel’s claims, saying that the people in Gaza “drink unhealthy water, posing a serious health crisis threatens the lives of the citizens”.
Jason Lee, the Palestine director of Save the Children, told the BBC earlier today that the aid agency had had reports that the water was flowing in parts of southern Gaza again, but that without fuel or electricity to pump it, it would not be available to the general population.
The head of the UN’s agency supporting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned late Sunday that Gaza is “being strangled”, adding that “not one drop of water” has been allowed into the Gaza Strip for more than a week. Philippe Lazzarini said:
Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity. If we look at the issue of water – we all know water is life – Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life.
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Iran’s minister of foreign affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, warned that the probabilty of the conflict spreading to other fronts “is approaching [the] unavoidable stage”.
“Time is running out for political solutions,” he posted to X.
Conferred with my counterparts from 🇹🇳,🇲🇾,🇵🇰. Underlined the need to immediately stop Zionist crimes&murder in Gaza&to dispatch humanitarian aid. I stressed that time is running out for political solutions; probable spread of war in other fronts is approaching unavoidable stage.
— H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) October 16, 2023
Rishi Sunak held a call with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, on Monday where he expressed his condolences for the deaths of Palestinian civilians, Downing Street said.
The prime minister “reiterated the UK’s position that Hamas does not speak for ordinary Palestinians,” a No 10 spokesperson said.
The pair “agreed that the international community must intensify efforts to break the cycle of violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” the statement continued.
The Prime Minister affirmed that the UK continues to support a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state existing alongside a safe and secure Israel.
A 19-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces near the Salem military checkpoint outside Jenin in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Anas Raed Farid Manasra was shot in the head and chest, Reuters reports that the Palestinian ministry said on Monday.
Sirens have sounded in Tel Aviv, where US secretary of state Antony Blinken has been meeting with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his war cabinet.
From John Hudson of the Washington Post:
Air sirens are blaring now in Tel Aviv as we waited for Blinken to finish his meeting with Israel’s war cabinet pic.twitter.com/qnlzjTLt2Q
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) October 16, 2023
Two British teenagers feared kidnapped in Hamas attack on Israel
Two teenage sisters are among the list of missing British nationals following the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October, the BBC is reporting.
The family of Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, believe they were kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri, and taken across the border into Gaza. The family has not released the girls’ surname.
Their mother Lianne, who is British and born in Bristol, was murdered in the attack, it was confirmed on Sunday night.
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Here are some of the latest images sent over the news wires of the scene at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
US officials were still hoping that the crossing – which has been inoperable due to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side – would operate for a few hours later on Monday, the White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.
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Five UN fuel trucks were seen entering Gaza on Monday afternoon, CNN reported, citing a colleague at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
This would be the first entry of fuel trucks since before the Hamas attack on 7 October.
As we reported earlier, there has been some movement of UN-flagged fuel trucks this morning at the border, but the crossing between Egypt and Gaza has remained closed.
Hospitals in Gaza are expected to run out of generator fuel in the next 24 hours, the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) said earlier on Monday.
The UN’s aid chief, Martin Griffiths, will travel to Egypt on Tuesday for “a mission to last several days”, the organisation said.
Griffiths also plans to visit Israel, the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said.
In an earlier statement, Griffiths said his office was in “deep discussions” with Israel, Egypt and other parties and that he would be travelling to the Middle East to support negotiations to get aid into the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, he said the UN was “deep in negotiations” to get the first aid into Gaza since Israel launched its bombardment last week in response to the Hamas attacks.
We need aid in. We need clarity about places of safety which will ... not be attacked, will not be a part of the war between the two sides and, of course we need a corridor which people can rely on.
Movement needs to be voluntary, it needs to be accompanied by humanitarian assistance, it needs to be safe - so, please, no bombing as they move.
And we are in detailed discussions, by the way, with the Israelis about all of those issues.
Updated
Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to more than 2,800
At least 2,808 Palestinians have been killed and 10,850 injured since Israel launched attacks on the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports that the Gaza health ministry said on Monday.
The latest death toll marks an increase from 2,750 earlier today.
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Hamas fires 'barrage of missiles' at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
The armed wing of Hamas, Al Qassam Brigades, said it fired a “barrage of missiles” on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
In a statement, it said the latest attacks were in response to Israel’s “targeting of civilians”.
Air sirens went off in Jerusalem, indicating incoming rocket or missile fire, after @SecBlinken left the city. He is on his way in a convoy to Tel Aviv now, where sirens have also gone off. People have taken shelter in both cities. It has started raining on the road. pic.twitter.com/RK6tIkpZSz
— Edward Wong (@ewong) October 16, 2023
Blinken reiterates US support as Israel's defence minister warns of a 'long war'
Israeli’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, warned “a long war” lies ahead as he met with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken.
Gallant said:
The price will be high, but we are going to win for Israel, for the Jewish people, and for the values that both countries believe in.
In brief remarks to the media, Blinken said Israel will “always have the support of the United States”.
The US has a “deep commitment to Israel’s right – indeed its obligation – to defend itself and defend its people,” Blinken added.
This is Léonie Chao-Fong with you on the live blog in Washington. You can contact me at leonie.chao-fong@theguardian.com.
Updated
The organization that placed a billboard at Harvard University accusing some students of antisemitism amid the fight between Israel and Hamas is part of a network of rightwing media organizations being funded by a major conservative donor via a shadowy new foundation.
The single largest identified donor last year to Accuracy in Media (AIM), which placed the billboard, is the Informing America Foundation (IAF), formed in 2021, which has already dished out at least $8m to rightwing nonprofit and for-profit organizations, according to IRS filings.
In turn, the IAF’s biggest donor is the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, a longstanding funder of rightwing causes whose founder and namesake sits on the IAF’s board.
Last Wednesday, AIM parked a truck with a billboard affixed to it on Harvard’s campus, and the organization’s president Adam Guillette went on X, formerly Twitter, to brag about the action.
The billboard featured photographs of students who are members of student groups that had signed a statement after Hamas’s attacks on Israel with a caption describing them as “Harvard’s biggest antisemites”. The organization also set up a page at a special URL, harvardhatesjews.com, to fundraise off the action.
The statement drew criticism for saying it held “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”. University leadership then came under fire from a former president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers, for not denouncing the student statement and for failing to make a stronger condemnation of Hamas.
Canadians in Lebanon should consider leaving while commercial flights remain available, foreign minister Mélanie Joly said. “The security situation in the region is becoming increasingly volatile,” she posted to X.
As the crisis in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel continues to unfold, the security situation in the region is becoming increasingly volatile.
— Mélanie Joly (@melaniejoly) October 16, 2023
Canadians in Lebanon should consider leaving while commercial flights remain available.
Analysts have suggested China is looking to offset concern in the Islamic and Arab worlds about Beijing’s treatment of the Muslim ethnic Uyghurs in the north-western Chinese region of Xinjiang.
The Middle East supplies much of China’s oil needs and is a nexus in the belt and road initiative, President Xi Jinping’s ambitious infrastructure project to connect markets around the world and so extend Beijing’s influence.
Since the war began, Chinese state media have been critical of Israel and blamed the US, Israel’s strongest supporter, for fanning tensions in the region. There has also been an increase in antisemitic content on the heavily policed Chinese internet, according to Yaqiu Wang, the research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at the US-based not-for-profit organisation Freedom House.
China and Russia have hardened their positions towards the conflict in Gaza in recent days, as the war between Israel and Hamas aggravates existing geopolitical tensions and underscores the growing gulf between the cold war allies and western powers such as the US, UK and France.
The Chinese foreign minister said over the weekend that Israel’s bombing campaign had gone “beyond the scope of self-defence” and that it “should stop collective punishment of the people of Gaza”.
On Friday, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, raised the possibility that an intensified siege of Gaza by Israel may resemble that of Leningrad by German armies during the second world war, a reference likely to cause deep offence in Israel.
Russia’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, arrived in Beijing on Monday before an expected visit by Putin, which will raise western concerns about increasingly close links between the two powers.
China has historically backed the Palestinian cause for decades, as did the USSR throughout the cold war. More recently, both powers have sought to balance closer ties with Israel with their broader diplomatic efforts to win allies in the Arab world and more broadly.
Russia is seeking support for its continuing war in Ukraine while China is looking to build a broader coalition of developing countries to extend Beijing’s influence and reinforce its efforts to compete with the US on the global stage.
Rishi Sunak, addressing the Commons, highlighted three things the UK government was doing.
It was deploying RAF aircraft and the Royal Navy to stop the supply of further arms to the region and to help with the humanitarian effort, he said.
He said the government was increasing the spending on humanitarian aid by £10m.
And he said British diplomacy would be doing what it could “to sustain the prospects of peace and stability in the region”, he said.
He said he had spoken to Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, earlier today.
For more updates from the UK, do follow our UK politics live blog.
Six Britons dead and 10 missing after Hamas attack on Israel
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, speaking in the Commons, said more than 1,400 people were murdered by Hamas and that they should call it what it was: a pogrom.
At least six Britons were among those killed, and a further 10 are missing, he said. Some of those are likely to be dead, he said.
The government has been helping Britons leave Israel, he said, adding that eight flights have removed 500 people.
Sunak said he had a message for the Jewish community in the UK: “We stand with you now and always.”
He also said he recognised this is a moment of “great anguish” for British Muslim communities who are “appalled” by what Hamas did, and fearful of the response. The government will listen to their concerns, he added.
Sunak said when Israel goes after Hamas, it should do so in line with international, humanitarian law. He said:
As a friend, we will continue to call on Israel to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. I repeat President Biden’s words: as democracies we are stronger and more secure when we act according to the rule of law.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
It is 6pm in Gaza and in Tel Aviv. Here is a summary of today’s events …
Israel has activated a plan to evacuate residents within 2km (1.2 miles) of Lebanon, the military said on Monday. It follows exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in parallel to the conflict in southern Israel with Hamas. In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces and the ministry of defence said the plan had been approved by the defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, and included the evacuation of 28 villages. Residents will be moved to state-subsidised guest houses.
The Israeli military has said it has confirmed that Hamas is holding 199 hostages in Gaza. The hostages were seized on Saturday 7 October when Hamas fighters broke through the Israeli border fence in southern Israel, and attacked a music festival and multiple locations killing more than 1,300 Israelis.
The Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said “there is a top national priority effort for the issue of the abductees and we are focused on this effort as a national top priority. The IDF is working around the clock to return the abductees,” adding that the IDF had notified the families of all 199. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, has offered himself in exchange for child hostages.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset that the nation of Israel is united in its goal of victory, while conceding that there would be an investigation into the intelligence and security failures that had allowed Hamas to mount such a devastating attack. He called on the world to unite and fight Hamas.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since 7 October. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has said that Israel has killed 11 Palestinian journalists in its airstrikes on Gaza.
The UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has said “there are not enough body bags for the dead in Gaza”. Its latest situational report noted that Gaza had been without electricity for five days, there was limited access to clean drinking water, and more than 1 million people had been displaced.
The Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, said on Monday that the Israeli government had yet to take a stance that allowed the crossing to open. There has been some movement of UN-flagged fuel trucks Monday morning at the border, but despite speculation of a local ceasefire and a limited opening, the crossing between Egypt and Gaza has remained closed.
The UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Monday he would be travelling to the Middle East on Tuesday to support negotiations on getting aid into the blockaded Gaza Strip. Griffiths said his office was in “deep discussions” with Israel, Egypt and other parties.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it targeted five Israeli positions in northern Israel. The Israel Defence Forces said it was returning fire over the blue line that has demarked the boundary between Israel and Lebanon since 2000.
Half of the hotel rooms in Israel are being used to house families evacuated from communities near the Gaza Strip, the head of the Israel Hotel Association said on Monday.
Israel and Hamas have made claim and counter-claim about whether Israel has resupplied water to Gaza. Israel says water was being supplied near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Hamas interior ministry spokseperson Eyad al-Bozom said it was not.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has arrived back in Israel, his second visit since the Hamas attack. US citizens are boarding an evacuation ship at the port of Haifa which will take them today to Limassol in Cyprus.
US president, Joe Biden, has cancelled a planned trip to Colorado, opting to stay in Washington DC to focus on national security meetings.
Leaders of all 27 countries in the EU have called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of all the hostages. The leaders will tomorrow meet over video link at an emergency summit called over the weekend as fears across the EU rise over the volatility of the region. In a strongly worded statement European Council president, Charles Michel, said the EU defended Israel’s right to defend itself but said it must be “in full compliance with international law and international humanitarian law”.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday in a televised press conference that “Iran considers that the US is already militarily involved in the conflic”.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has called for a ceasefire, saying: “The UN security council must take action, and the major powers should play an active role. It is imperative that a ceasefire be put in place, that the two sides be brought back to the negotiating table, and that an emergency humanitarian channel be established to prevent a further humanitarian disaster.”
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has said that six British nationals have been killed in Israel, and a further 10 are missing, some of whom are believed to have been killed. He described the Hamas attack as a pogrom.
Visiting a Jewish school in north London, Sunak said “Israel has been very clear that Hamas is the entity that’s responsible for this and what they want to do is ensure that their people are safe and that this doesn’t happen again, and that the focus of the attention of self-defence is on Hamas. I’ve raised with the Israeli prime minister the need to minimise the impact on civilians as best we can. I’ve raised the humanitarian situation. We will continue to do that with other allies around the region as well.”
Denmark has decided to send a navy frigate to join Nato’s naval force in the eastern Mediterranean to prepare for possible evacuations.
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will travel to Israel on Tuesday.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for today. I will be back with you tomorrow. I am handing over to my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong, who will be continuing our live coverage here.
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A British surgeon working as a volunteer in Gaza has claimed on social media that counter-terror police turned up at his family home and harassed his family.
Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, who has given updates on the situation in the besieged territory to the BBC and other news organisations, made the statement to his followers on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He wrote: “British counter-terrorism police has showed up at my house in the UK and harassed my family.”
Abu-Sitta has been working in hospitals in northern Gaza. On Monday morning he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 he had remained in the area to treat patients in defiance of Israel’s order that all Palestinians leave the area ahead of an expected invasion, saying:
Becoming refugees is such a formative part of Palestinian identity and people just do not want to go through this again, and so most people are staying put. Also the areas that were deemed safe have been targeted just as ferociously as the areas that people have been asked to evacuate from. And so a lot of people just have not moved. And if they have, they’ve just moved to what they consider slightly safer premises.
Abu-Sitta told the BBC that most of the patients he was operating on had suffered blast injuries, or injuries from the falling rubble of their homes. About 40% of those he was treating were children, he said. “There’s a phenomenon that we’re seeing – yesterday, I saw two kids – and it’s the phenomenon of wounded child, no surviving family,” he told the programme.
“Yesterday morning there was a five-year-old girl with burns, and another four-year-old girl with facial, also facial burns and a head injury, and they were the only ones who were dug out of the family home as survivors. And every day we have these cases.”
Asked if he planned to stay in Gaza, Abu-Sitta said: “I’ll stay until there is a ceasefire. I can’t now turn my back on my patients. I can’t turn my back on my colleagues. I came here knowing that this is a war zone, and you have a moral duty as a doctor towards your patients, and caring for your patients who can’t evacuate and can’t get away.”
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Hezbollah said it has targeted five Israeli positions in northern Israel
Reuters reports Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it targeted five Israeli positions in northern Israel on Monday.
The Israel Defence Forces earlier said they were returning fire over the blue line that has marked the boundary between Israel and Lebanon since 2000.
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Rishi Sunak has said that six British nationals have been killed in Israel, and a further 10 are missing, some of whom are believed to have been killed. He described the Hamas attack as a pogrom.
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The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, will shortly be making a statement about Israel and Gaza in parliament in London. My colleague Andrew Sparrow will be covering that in-depth on our UK politics live blog. I’ll relay the key lines here.
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Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said that Israel is returning fire into Lebanon after a shot was fired at its forces. He reported there were no casualties on the Israeli side.
לפני זמן קצר בוצע ירי לעבר כוח צה"ל שפועל בגבול לבנון. אין נפגעים לכוחותינו. בתגובה, צה"ל תוקף באמצעות ארטילריה את מקור הירי בשטח לבנון.
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) October 16, 2023
Reuters has a quick snap that warning sirens are sounding in Tel Aviv again.
Before Netanyahu spoke, the Knesset was addressed by Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, who cautioned against division in Israeli society. He said:
Many in the Israeli public are experiencing a crisis of trust. The state and its institutions must align themselves with the standards set by the people.
The people demand responsibility and the restoration of trust and rehabilitation of affected communities. They demand to be heard; they demand a helping hand.
Even in the midst of the ongoing conflict, with our fallen soldiers not yet laid to rest … dangerous voices [are] attempting to sow seeds of division and hatred. Our adversaries eagerly seek any hint of division among us.
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Netanyahu: world must unite to defeat Hamas as it defeated Isis and the Nazis
Benjamin Netanyahu has said in the Knesset that the nation of Israel is united in its goal of victory, while conceding that there would be an investigation into the intelligence and security failures that had allowed Hamas to mount such a devastating attack on 7 October. He called on the world to unite and fight Hamas.
More than 1,300 Israelis were killed in the surprise attack, with Hamas taking at least 199 hostages back into Gaza, who they still hold.
Netanyahu said:
There are many questions surrounding the disaster that befell us 10 days ago. We will investigate every aspect thoroughly.
The nation is united towards one goal, victory. We will triumph because it’s about our very existence in this region, which is fraught with dark forces. Hamas is part of the evil axis of Iran and Hezbollah. They aim to plunge the Middle East into an abyss of chaos
Now, many around the world understand who Israel is facing. They comprehend that Hamas represents a new version of Nazism. Just as the world united to defeat the Nazis and Isis, so it must unite to defeat Hamas
We are committed to all the families. We will not relent in our efforts to bring our brothers and sisters back.
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The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is addressing the Knesset. We will bring you the key lines that emerge.
More details soon …
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The charity ActionAid has repeated its call for the international community to come together to demand the reversal of Israeli evacuation orders for hospitals in Gaza. One of its youth volunteers has described conditions at al-Shifa hospital, saying:
Surprisingly we are still alive. Before becoming a shelter, this was one of the most important and largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip. The conditions here are miserable. We are without water, without food, without hygiene. People are sleeping and lying in the streets, in the corridors and everywhere inside the hospital.
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Here are some of the latest images sent over the news wires showing the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Gaza. Gaza’s health ministry says at least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded in the Gaza Strip since 7 October.
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In Gaza’s north people have told Reuters that Israeli aircraft bombed areas around al-Quds hospital early on Monday. Houses were damaged, forcing hundreds of people to take shelter in the Red Crescent-run hospital.
Health officials said Israeli planes also bombed three offices of the civil emergency and ambulance service in Gaza City, killing five people and paralysing the rescue services.
With hundreds of people trapped in collapsed buildings, rescuers and residents were frantically tearing away rubble, sometimes pulling out barely breathing children.
“We were inside the house when we found bodies scattering, flying in the air – bodies of children who have nothing to do with the war,” said one resident, Abed Rabayaa, whose neighbour’s house in Khan Yunis was hit overnight.
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The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, in a call on Monday that western countries should refrain from “provocative steps” regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Turkish presidency said.
Erdoğan also told Sunak that western powers must “remember the unkept promises to Palestine and do what is necessary”, the presidency said. It said the two also discussed the resolution of the “grave humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
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The escalating war between Israel and Hamas will not affect the security plans for next year’s Olympic Games in France, the chief of the organising committee for the Paris 2024 Olympics said on Monday in Mumbai.
Tony Estanguet said: “We will not change our plans with what is happening at the moment because since the beginning we are at the best level in terms of security with Paris 2024. We had a terrorist attack in 2015 and it was in the middle of the beginning of this project. So from the beginning, I think the public authorities with Paris 2024 set security as the number one priority in the success of the Games.”
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, 11 members of Israel’s Olympic delegation were murdered by the Palestinian militant organisation Black September in a terrorist attack. One West German police officer and five of the hostage-takers were also killed during a shootout at the Fürstenfeldbruck airbase.
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The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is due to appear in parliament at 3.30pm BST to give a ministerial statement on the situation in Israel and Gaza. Sunak’s official spokesperson has said he will provide the latest possible update about British nationals in Gaza.
The prime minister’s spokesperson said: “We know that several British nationals sadly have been killed. Others are missing. You can expect the prime minister to provide the latest possible updates on this in his statement later today. In the meantime we are assisting families and our thoughts are with those who are facing unimaginable uncertainty and fear because of these despicable attacks.”
Sunak has already visited a Jewish secondary school in north London earlier this morning, where PA Media reports he told journalists:
Israel has been very clear that Hamas is the entity that’s responsible for this and what they want to do is ensure that their people are safe and that this doesn’t happen again, and that the focus of the attention of self-defence is on Hamas.
And I think that’s right, nobody wants to see regional escalation. And certainly the Israeli prime minister does not, when I’ve spoken to him.
I’ve raised with the Israeli prime minister the need to minimise the impact on civilians as best we can. I’ve raised the humanitarian situation. We will continue to do that with other allies around the region as well.
But again, Israel has given people advance notice of what’s happening, given them the opportunity to leave and it’s Hamas who is now telling people to stay behind, it’s Hamas that is embedding itself inside civilian populations and that is just an example of the barbarity with which they operate. They are not doing the right thing by the Palestinian people by those actions, and they should be held accountable for that.
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The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will speak on Monday separately to the leaders of Israel, Iran, Syria, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, Reuters reports Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said.
An earlier readout of a call between Putin and Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, said the pair “called for an end to the shelling of Gaza and the forced displacement of its residents”.
It will be the first time Putin has spoken to Israel’s leadership since the 7 October Hamas attack was launched.
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In the UK, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said it was “abhorrent” that pro-Palestinian protesters reportedly displayed images of Hamas attackers during demonstrations.
It comes after the Metropolitan police appealed for information about two women who had pictures of paragliders taped to the back of their jackets at protests in London at the weekend.
Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson told reporters: “It is abhorrent. It is hard to conceive of a situation where people would want to show support for individuals that committed a terrorist attack which saw children, babies slaughtered. It is hard to put into words.”
PA Media reports that the prime ministers spokesperson was also critical of the BBC, which has been accused of not using the description “terrorists” for Hamas in news broadcasts in the UK. The spokesperson, who traditionally in UK politics speaks on the record but is not named, said:
The legal position is that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist group – the term terrorist is an accurate legal description. The BBC has described other attacks as terrorism – 9/11, 7/7, the Bataclan. To put it into context, the attack we witnessed in Israel was the third deadliest terror attack in the world since 1970. So there is no restriction on the BBC using that term.
White House officials are still hoping the Rafah crossing at the border with Egypt can be opened for a few hours later on Monday to allow some people to leave Gaza, Reuters reports that the White House spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview with CNN.
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Half of the hotel rooms in Israel are being used to house families evacuated from communities near the Gaza Strip, the head of the Israel Hotel Association said on Monday.
Israel has 56,000 hotel rooms, of which 28,000 are being used by evacuees with the state footing the bill, said the association chief executive, Yael Danieli, according to Reuters.
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Denmark has decided to send a navy frigate to join Nato’s naval force in the eastern Mediterranean to prepare for possible evacuations in case the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalates, Reuters reports that the Danish ministry of defence said on Monday.
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The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, discussed possible steps the countries could take to end the fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces in a phone call on Monday, Reuters reports that the Turkish presidency said.
Erdoğan’s office said the president had told Raisi that Turkey was working to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and repeated his call to refrain from steps that could exacerbate the situation.
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Reuters has a quick snap that the US president, Joe Biden, has cancelled a planned trip to Colorado, opting to stay in Washington DC to focus on national security meetings.
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Here is a video report on the scenes today at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, where people have been queueing in the hope of being able to exit the territory while humanitarian aid waits on the other side to gain access to the blockaded Palestinian people.
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Putin and Assad call for end to forced displacement of Gaza residents – reports
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass has posted to its Telegram channel to report that Vladimir Putin and Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad,have spoken about the Israel-Hamas war on the phone. It writes:
Assad and Putin, in a telephone conversation, spoke in favour of the immediate delivery of aid to Gaza, the office of the Syrian leader reports. Assad and Putin also called for an end to the shelling of Gaza and the forced displacement of its residents.
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Reuters has quoted an aide to the Israeli government disputing the Hamas claim that water has not been resupplied to Gaza. They said water was being supplied near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
The Guardian has not been able to independently verify the claim and counter-claim over the water supply.
Israel considers it has not occupied Gaza since 2005, when it began to pursue a policy of disengagement. The UN says otherwise, because of Israel’s continued control of Gaza’s airspace and territorial waters, and its ability to control food, fuel and utility supplies into the territory.
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A spokesperson for the Hamas interior ministry, Eyad al-Bozom, said on Monday that Israel had not permitted water supplies to be turned back on in Gaza, as had been reported.
“The residents drink unhealthy water, posing a serious health crisis threatens the lives of the citizens,” Reuters report he added.
Yesterday the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN: “I can tell you this morning that I have been in touch with my Israeli counterparts just within the last hour, who report to me that they have in fact turned the water pipe back on in southern Gaza.”
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Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 1pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here are the key points so far today …
Israel has activated a plan to evacuate residents within 2km (1.2 miles) of Lebanon, the military said on Monday. It follows exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in parallel to the conflict in southern Israel with Hamas. In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces and the ministry of defence said the plan had been approved by the defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, and included the evacuation of 28 villages. Residents will be moved to state-subsidised guest houses.
The Israeli military has said it has confirmed that Hamas is holding 199 hostages in Gaza. The hostages were seized on Saturday 7 October when Hamas fighters broke through the Israeli border fence in southern Israel, and attacked a music festival and multiple locations killing more than 1,300 Israelis.
The Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said “there is a top national priority effort for the issue of the abductees and we are focused on this effort as a national top priority. The IDF is working around the clock to return the abductees,” adding that the IDF had notified the families of all 199. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, has offered himself in exchange for child hostages.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since 7 October. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has said that Israel has killed 11 Palestinian journalists in its airstrikes on Gaza.
The UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has said “there are not enough body bags for the dead in Gaza”. Its latest situational report noted that Gaza had been without electricity for five days, there was limited access to clean drinking water, and more than 1 million people had been displaced.
The Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, said on Monday that the Israeli government had yet to take a stance that allowed the crossing to open. There has been some movement of UN-flagged fuel trucks Monday morning at the border, but despite speculation of a local ceasefire and a limited opening, the crossing between Egypt and Gaza has remained closed.
The UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Monday he would be travelling to the Middle East on Tuesday to support negotiations on getting aid into the blockaded Gaza Strip. Griffiths said his office was in “deep discussions” with Israel, Egypt and other parties.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has arrived back in Israel, his second visit since the Hamas attack. US citizens are boarding an evacuation ship at the port of Haifa which will take them today to Limassol in Cyprus.
Leaders of all 27 countries in the EU have called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of all the hostages. The leaders will tomorrow meet over video link at an emergency summit called over the weekend as fears across the EU rise over the volatility of the region. In a strongly worded statement European Council president, Charles Michel, said the EU defended Israel’s right to defend itself but said it must be “in full compliance with international law and international humanitarian law”.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday in a televised press conference that “Iran considers that the US is already militarily involved in the conflic”.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has called for a ceasefire, saying: “The UN security council must take action, and the major powers should play an active role. It is imperative that a ceasefire be put in place, that the two sides be brought back to the negotiating table, and that an emergency humanitarian channel be established to prevent a further humanitarian disaster.”
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will travel to Israel on Tuesday.
This is Martin Belam with you on the live blog in London, and I will be here for the next few hours. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
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The UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said on Monday he would be travelling to the Middle East on Tuesday to support negotiations to get aid into the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Griffiths said his office was in “deep discussions” with Israel, Egypt and other parties.
“I shall be going myself tomorrow to the region to try to help in the negotiations, to try to bear witness and to express solidarity with the extraordinary courage of the many thousands of aid workers who have stayed the course and who are still there helping the people in Gaza and in the West Bank,” Reuters reports he said in a statement.
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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has arrived in Israel, landing at Tel Aviv.
It is his second visit to Israel since Hamas launched its attack, killing 1,300 Israelis and taking 199 hostages captive back into Gaza.
Blinken has been on a short tour of other countries in the region, including high-level meetings in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
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Israel has killed 11 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since Hamas attack
Reuters reports that Israel has killed 11 Palestinian journalists in airstrikes in Gaza since it began retaliatory strikes after the Hamas incursion into southern Israel on 7 October. It cited the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
The overall death toll in Gaza has been recorded as at least 2,750 by the health ministry there, with 9,700 wounded.
Egypt blames Israel for failure to open Rafah border crossing
The Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, said on Monday that the Israeli government had yet to take a stance that allowed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to open, saying Egypt had aimed to keep the crossing open.
There has been some movement of UN-flagged fuel trucks this morning at the border, but the crossing between Egypt and Gaza has remained closed.
A number of people and families, thought to be those with dual nationality, are still gathered at the crossing.
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The UK armed forces minister. James Heappey. has told the GB News channel in the UK that Israel has been behaving as a “responsible actor” by warning Gazans to evacuate the north of the Gaza Strip, and described the south of Gaza as “safe haven”.
Heappey said: “There is safe haven. Israel has been clear that people should move south, below the wadi, and that will put them out of reach of their planned operations.
“But let’s be crystal clear, Israel is the democracy that is giving notice to civilians and asking them to move south. It is Hamas who uses civilians as human shields and that is the key distinction here.”
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) earlier today noted that Gaza had been without electricity for five days, there was limited access to clean drinking water, and more than 1 million people had been displaced. Gaza’s health ministry says that at least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since 7 October.
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Reuters reports that Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, has offered himself in exchange for child hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
In response to questions from the media, he said: “I am ready for an exchange, anything, if this can lead to freedom, to bring the children home. No problem. There is total willingness on my part. The first thing to do is to try to win the release of the hostages, otherwise there will be no way of stopping. We are willing to help, even me personally.”
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China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has called for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza.
Speaking in Beijing at a joint appearance with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov, Reuters reports that Yi said:
The UN security council must take action, and the major powers should play an active role. It is imperative that a ceasefire be put in place, that the two sides be brought back to the negotiating table, and that an emergency humanitarian channel be established to prevent a further humanitarian disaster.
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The US is providing a ship from the port of Haifa today that will evacuate US citizens to Limassol in Cyprus. The journey is expected to take 10-12 hours. Haaretz is reporting that boarding has started. Here are some of the images of passengers waiting to depart Israel that have been sent to us over the news wires.
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On the hostage situation, the Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said:
There is a top national priority effort for the issue of the abductees and we are focused on this effort as a national top priority. The IDF is working around the clock to return the abductees.
The IDF said it had notified the families of all of the 199 hostages now known to have been taken to Gaza by Hamas.
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Reuters reports that Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday in a televised press conference that “Iran considers that the US is already militarily involved in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians”.
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Israeli military says it has confirmed that Hamas is holding 199 hostages in Gaza
In a statement to the media the Israeli military has said it has confirmed that Hamas is holding 199 hostages in Gaza.
The hostages were seized on Saturday 7 October when Hamas fighters broke through the Israeli border fence in southern Israel, and attacked a music festival and multiple settlements killing more than 1,300 Israelis.
The army said that at least 291 Israeli soldiers have been killed so far in the conflict, and reiterated the statement from the prime minister’s office that there is no temporary ceasefire in place in southern Gaza.
Earlier the Gaza health ministry said that at least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack.
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The Israeli army spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari is due to hold a briefing in Tel Aviv shortly. We will bring you any key lines that emerge.
More details soon …
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Some UN-flagged vehicles and trucks can be seen moving at the Rafah crossing.
More details soon …
Leaders of all 27 countries in the EU have called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of all the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
The leaders will tomorrow meet over video link at an emergency summit called over the weekend as fears across the EU rise over the volatility of the region in the wake of the Hamas attack.
In a strongly word statement read out this morning by the European council president, Charles Michel, they defended Israel’s right to defend itself but said it must be “in full compliance with international law and international humanitarian law”.
The unified front comes after fears in the EU about the cost to civilian lives in Gaza in a ground operation by Israel, and also of fears of escalation in the wider region drawing in Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Michel said the summit will deal with providing basic needs for the most vulnerable citizens in accordance with humanitarian law, continued work on a two state solution, and bringing pressure to bear on all who can help de-escalate the situation.
The EU is also concerned about potentially huge numbers of migrants leaving Gaza, and the humanitarian need that will create in neighbouring countries.
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Speaking to the BBC, Martin Griffiths, the chief of the UNOffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has set out the UN view of the rules of war.
“Movement of civilians should be voluntary, to places they choose and to places of safety and should be accompanied by humanitarian assistance to make that movement safe,” he said.
“We need aid in, and we need clarity about places of safety that will not be attacked and not be part of the war between the two sides. And we need a corridor on which we can rely on.”
He added: “There is enough evidence, tragically, that some of those who have been moved in the last day or two have been attacked on their way south. This is against the rules of war.”
He demanded the release of hostages, saying their capture was illegal, egregious and immoral, adding it was “not a contradiction to hold two thoughts at once”.
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The Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq told Reuters on Monday that there was no truth to reports about the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt or a temporary ceasefire.
Egyptian security sources had told Reuters earlier that an agreement had been reached to open the border crossing to allow aid into Gaza from 0600 GMT. As of 0740 GMT the crossing remained closed.
The office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Natanyahu, also issued a terse announcement earlier that simply stated “there is no ceasefire”.
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Reuters reports that German media is carrying the news that the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will travel to Israel on Tuesday. The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, was in Israel last week.
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Here are some of the latest images of the scene at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which appears to remain closed at the moment despite the expectation it may be opened for a limited time today.
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UN relief agency: 1m people displaced in Gaza and 'not enough body bags for the dead'
The UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has issued its latest situational report on Gaza and the West Bank in which it has said “there are not enough body bags for the dead in Gaza”.
The report states:
For the fifth consecutive day, Gaza has had no electricity, pushing vital services, including health, water and sanitation to the brink of collapse, and worsening food insecurity. People across Gaza have severely limited access to clean drinking water.
Over one million people – almost half the total population of Gaza – have been displaced. 600,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in the middle area, Khan Yunis and Rafah. Of those, nearly 400,000 are in UNRWA facilities – much exceeding our capacity to assist in any meaningful way, including with space in our shelters, food, water or psychological support.
The report says “The number of killed is increasing. There are not enough body bags for the dead in Gaza.”
The agency says that 14 UNRWA staff members have been killed, but “the number is likely higher”, and that there are 23 confirmed reports of UNRWA installations being affected by Israeli airstrikes.
It states that “UNRWA has sent an advance team to Egypt to prepare for the possible opening of a humanitarian corridor to bring humanitarian aid supplies into the strip”.
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Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to at least 2,750 after Israeli airstrikes
At least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, Reuters reports that the Gaza health ministry said on Monday.
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The UK minister for the armed forces has said he hopes Britons trapped in Gaza may be able to flee if the Rafah crossing with Egypt opens – possibly as early as today.
James Heappey told Times Radio in the UK: “We had an expectation that the Rafah crossing may open today.
“The news appears to be breaking that that is now an expectation that is had in theatre as well. That is good news and it gives British nationals trapped in Gaza the opportunity to leave.”
He added that British diplomats in Cairo already had “very advanced” plans to receive nationals and get them safely to the UK.
Heappey also said he had “some confidence” that Israel could conduct an “intel-led precision operation” seeking to separate civilians from combatants.
Israel has this morning denied claims that a temporary truce had been brokered in order to allow the Rafah crossing to be opened.
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Reuters has a quick snap that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said there is no truce in southern Gaza.
Earlier Reuters reports suggested an Egypt-US-Israel-brokered deal would allow the Rafah crossing to open briefly today, so that humanitarian aid could get in to Gaza, and some dual-national Palestinians could exit into Egypt.
A video feed of the Rafah crossing appears to show lots of people and families with small children milling around, but it remains unclear if the crossing has been opened.
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Israel announces evacuation of residents within 2km zone next to Lebanon
Israel has activated a plan to evacuate residents within 2km (1.2 miles) of Lebanon, the military said on Monday. It follows exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in parallel to the conflict in southern Israel with Hamas.
In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces and the ministry of defence said the plan had been approved by the defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, and included the evacuation of 28 settlements. Residents will be moved to state-subsidised guest houses.
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The situation at Gaza’s border with Egypt is slightly unclear. Sources have told Reuters that Egypt, Israel and the US have agreed to a ceasefire in southern Gaza, and that the Rafah crossing would be open until 2pm GMT on Monday “as a one-day initial reopening”.
However, none of the parties appear to have gone on the record. Reuters reports: “Asked for confirmation, the Israeli military and the US embassy in Israel had no immediate comment.” It also reports that officials with Gaza’s governing Hamas have not confirmed it. There is a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid waiting to enter Gaza.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
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Hamas’s media office says it has no information about a humanitarian truce being agreed, according to Reuters.
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US, Israel and Egypt agree to ceasefire in southern Gaza to begin at 0600 GMT – report
The US, Israel and Egypt have agreed to a ceasefire in southern Gaza to begin at 0600 GMT (9am local time) to coincide with the reopening of the Rafah border crossing, Reuters is reporting, citing two Egyptian security sources.
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Fourteen staff members of UNRWA, the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, the agency’s head said at his Sunday press conference.
They were teachers, engineers, guards and psychologists, an engineer and a gynaecologist.
He also said that most of the agency’s 13,000 staff in Gaza had been displaced.
My colleague Kamal lost his cousin and her entire family. My colleague Helen and her children were pulled out of the rubble. I was so relieved to learn that they were still alive.
He also said that sanitary conditions were “just appalling”, with reports that in UNRWA’s logistics base hundreds of people are sharing one toilet.
Old people, children, pregnant women, people with disabilities are just being deprived of their basic human dignity, and this is a total disgrace!
He said the siege of Gaza was “nothing else than collective punishment” and added:
Imposing a siege and bombarding civilian infrastructure in a densely populated area will not bring peace and security to the region.
Updated
World has 'lost its humanity' as Gaza 'is being strangled', UN agency boss says
The world has “lost its humanity”, the head of the UN’s agency supporting Palestinian refugees said late Sunday in East Jerusalem. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, said he had called the press conference to “raise the alarm” that his colleagues in Gaza could no longer provide any humanitarian assistance in the enclave.
Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity. If we look at the issue of water – we all know water is life – Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life.
Soon, I believe, with this there will be no food or medicine either.
There is not one drop of water, not one grain of wheat, not a litre of fuel that has been allowed into the Gaza Strip for the last eight days.
Lazzarini said an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” was unfolding and warned “no place is safe in Gaza”.
While condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel, he said:
The answer to killing civilians cannot be to kill more civilians
Updated
A bit more from that interview with the UN humanitarian coordinator, Lynn Hastings, who says that the situation in Gaza is “unprecedented” and “catastrophic” and that what is happening in the enclave is “simply inhumane”:
The events of 7 October and Hamas attacks were absolute abhorrent. But this attack on Gaza, again, unprecedented, catastrophic. It really can lead nowhere for the Palestinians who live in Gaza …
It’s really about the loss of our humanity if the international community allows this to continue. What we are seeing now is simply inhumane.
She said the healthcare system in Haza had collapsed due to the lack of fuel and called for an immediate ceasefire to allow aid in to Gaza.
She also said the UN was still trying to get the Israeli military to rescind its order for more than 1 million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza, saying the order was “impossible”.
For 1 million people to leave – many of whom have absolutely no transportation, no cars, even if they have a car, there’s no fuel in Gaza any more – is impossible.
I also want to say that hospitals in the north have also been receiving notices that they should be evacuating. Again, another impossibility. People have just had surgeries. The Ministry of Health also has no capacity to move. They’ve asked the UN to help them move, we cannot do that. We also don’t have the capacity.
Updated
Israel's trajectory 'going to destroy Gaza', UN coordinator warns
Israel is on course “to destroy Gaza”, Lynn Hastings, the UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian Territory, has warned.
She called for the unconditional and immediate release of hostages being held by Hamas, but also urged “immediate unconditional access” into Gaza for the delivery of lifesaving aid. In an interview with UN News she said that Israel should not be making the latter conditional on the former.
Israel is connecting humanitarian assistance into Gaza with the release of the hostages. Again, neither should be conditional. And what we’re seeing right now, the direction that Israel is going in, they want to destroy Hamas, but their current trajectory is going to destroy Gaza.
She also said that despite reports that Israel had turned the water back on in southern Israel, UN staff had reported that it was not flowing and that the enclave’s water would run out by Tuesday at the latest.
There’s only enough water – and this isn’t for all 2 million people – of about one litre of water today, which is well below the requirement by the World Health Organization. We are anticipating that there won’t be any more water left, if not tomorrow at the very latest by Tuesday.
Here are some of the latest pictures from Gaza sent through on the wires:
A few hours ago, Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus gave an update on the conflict in which he denied that Israel was targeting civilians in Gaza.
“We strike Hamas, we strike their infrastructure and we are hunting their commanders,” he said. “Categorically we are not trying to strike civilians.”
However he did say that traditional methods such as “roof-knocking” to warn civilians to evacuate targeted buildings could not always be used “for obvious reasons”. He also denied Israeli responsibility for a strike on a civilian convoy of evacuees on Friday in which about 70 people died.
He said no media reports of hostages held by Hamas being executed had been confirmed.
In case you missed it, my colleague Ruth Michaelson has written this explainer about the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt and why Egypt has closed it.
In essence, Cairo fears that any exodus of Palestinians to its Sinai peninsula could become permanent, while Palestinians worry that Israel may not allow them back to their homes in Gaza.
Egyptian president Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi alluded to concerns about the consequences of an exodus of Palestinians from Gaza last week, saying that allowing them to settle in the Sinai, even temporarily, would be tantamount to allowing Israel to control an emptied Gaza Strip.
Egypt is also in the throes of a major economic crisis making the prospect of accepting refugees a challenging one. Egypt’s last remaining independent news outlet, Mada Masr, reported that while Cairo had rejected any suggestion of a mass displacement from Gaza into the Sinai, it was still “coming under pressure from western countries who are also offering economic incentives in an effort to come to a deal”.
To recap a little more of what Joe Biden said in his 60 Minutes interview, the US president said he believed that Hamas must be eliminated entirely but added, “there needs to be a Palestinian authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state.”
While he warned that it would be a “big mistake” for Israel to occupy Gaza, asked whether it was time for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Biden said there was “a fundamental difference” between the Israelis killed in Hamas’ attack and the Palestinians killed in the Israeli counterattack. He said:
Israel is going after a group of people who have engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust. And so I think Israel has to respond.
They have to go after Hamas. Hamas is a bunch of cowards. They’re hiding behind the civilians.
Asked whether he agreed with Israel’s siege of Gaza, he replied:
I’m confident that Israel is going to act under the measure, the rules of war.
Israel 'has no interest' in occupying Gaza, UN ambassador says
Israel “has no interest” in occupying Gaza but will do “whatever is needed” to eliminate Hamas, the country’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, has told CNN.
His comment came after US President Joe Biden warned in a 60 Minutes interview that it would be a “big mistake” for Israel to occupy the Strip, as it masses its troops on the enclave’s border in preparation for an expected ground invasion.
Erdan said:
We have no interest to occupy Gaza or to stay in Gaza, but since we are fighting for our survival and the only way, as the president [Biden] himself defined is to obliterate Hamas, so we will have to do whatever is needed to obliterate their capabilities.
Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the US, also told CNN on Sunday that Israel did not intend to occupy Gaza after the conflict ends. He said:
We have no desire to occupy or reoccupy Gaza. We have no desire to rule over the lives of more than 2 million Palestinians.
Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
Updated
The US embassy in Israel has posted an update on its website regarding media reports that the Rafah border crossing will open at 9am on Monday.
It does not confirm the reports but warns that the situation at the crossing between Egypt and Gaza will “remain fluid and unpredictable” and says it is unclear whether, or for how long, travellers may be allowed to pass through it. It wrote:
If you assess it to be safe, you may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing – there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time.
US President Joe Biden has condemned the killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian Muslim boy in Illinois, in what has been described as a hate crime. The boy’s mother was also seriously injured in the attack at their home, in which each suffered over a dozen stab wounds.
Biden said the boy’s family were Palestinian Muslims who “came to America seeking what we all seek - a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace.”
“This horrific act of hate has no place in America,” Biden said in a statement.
A 71-year-old man named as Joseph M Czuba and identified as the landlord of the property in which the family lived has been arrested and charged with murder.
Gaza hospitals have just 24 hours of fuel left, UN says
Hospitals in Gaza only have about 24 hours of fuel left, the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) said in its latest update (several hours ago now). It said:
Fuel reserves at all hospitals across Gaza are expected to last for about additional 24 hours. The shutdown of backup generators would place the lives of thousands of patients at risk.
OCHA also said that heavy Israeli bombardments of Gaza, from air, land and sea, had continued “almost uninterrupted”. As of 10pm on Sunday, 455 Palestinians had been killed and 856 injured in the previous 24 hours, it said, citing the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.
It also said that “mass displacement” of Palestinians had continued, after the Israeli military told Gazans to move to the south of the enclave on Friday.
By Saturday afternoon, nearly 600,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) were hosted in the central and southern parts of Gaza alone, in increasingly dire conditions; since then, this figure has raised significantly.
Rafah border crossing set to reopen, Blinken says
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza is set to reopen to allow humanitarian aid in, US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said, after a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
“Rafah will be reopened. We’re putting in place with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel, with others, a mechanism by which to get the assistance in and to get it to people who need it,” Blinken said, without giving any further specifics.
US media have reported that the crossing will reopen at 9am (0600 GMT) on Monday for several hours. Aid convoys are already queueing to get in. Some foreign passport holders are also expected to be evacuated via the crossing.
Updated
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is set to reopen, US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said, ahead of his expected return to Jerusalem on the next leg of an international round of diplomacy aimed at preventing the conflict from spreading.
Speaking after a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Blinken did not give any specifics about when the crossing would reopen, saying only that humanitarian aid would be allowed through. US media have reported that it will open at 9am for several hours. The Guardian has not been able to confirm those reports.
As the Israeli military prepares for an assault on Gaza, there are fears that the already daunting Palestinian death toll will rise and provoke an intervention by Iran or its proxies. Blinken is expected to hold a second round of talks in five days with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In other key developments:
UNRWA, the UN’s agency supporting Palestinian refugees, said on Sunday that Israel’s deadly strikes on Gaza have led to an “unprecedented human catastrophe” as Gaza’s death toll rises to 2,670 with 9,600 injured. Speaking to reporters, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of UNRWA, said: “If we look at the issue of water, we all know water is life and Gaza is running out of water and Gaza is running out of life.”
Over 1,000 people were missing under the rubble of buildings in Gaza that have been targeted by deadly Israeli airstrikes, the Palestinian civil defence said on Sunday. In a statement, the civil defence team said many others were pulled alive out of the rubble, 24 hours after buildings were struck.
Gaza health officials have started to store bodies in ice-cream freezer trucks because moving them to hospitals is too risky and cemeteries are running out of space. Videos posted online showed bodies wrapped in white cloth stacked inside the empty trucks.
Israeli officials said they were restoring limited water supplies to southern Gaza, amid a wider water crisis, after a call between US President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Reserves of fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip are expected to last only about 24 more hours, the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) said on Monday. “The shutdown of backup generators would place the lives of thousands of patients at risk,” OCHA said on its website.
US and Israelis officials are discussing the possibility of a visit to Israel soon by Biden at the invitation of Netanyahu, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday. A potential visit by Biden would follow similar visits from other high-ranking US officials including secretary of state Antony Blinken and defense secretary Lloyd Austin. Blinken is due to return to Israel on Monday for a second round of talks with Netanyahu.
Biden, speaking to CBS, said he is “confident” Israel will act under the rules of war in its conflict with Palestine, and added deploying US troops is not necessary. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Biden said that while he believes Hamas must be eliminated entirely, there must be a path for a Palestinian state. And he cautioned that the threat of terrorism in the United States had increased due to unrest in the Middle East.
More than 600,000 Gazans have so far moved to the southern part of the Gaza strip near the Egyptian border city of al-Arish, before an expected Israeli ground offensive. International aid workers in Gaza described an unprecedented situation of “humanitarian collapse”.
The US has warned that the war between Israel and militant group Hamas could escalate, as American warships headed to the area amid growing clashes on the country’s northern border with Lebanon. “There is a risk of an escalation of this conflict, the opening of a second front in the north and, of course, Iran’s involvement,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced deployment of a second aircraft carrier group late on Saturday, calling it a sign of “our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war.”Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said the US would suffer “significant damages” if the war in Gaza spills over into a larger conflict, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday. “We have conveyed our message to the Zionist regime through its allies that if they do not cease their atrocities in Gaza, Iran cannot simply remain an observer,” Iranian state media cited Amir-Abdollahian as telling the network.
UN secretary-general António Guterres called on Hamas to release hostages without conditions and called on Israel to allow for rapid and unimpeded humanitarian aid access to Gaza. “Each one of these two objectives are valid in themselves. They should not become bargaining chips and they must be implemented because it’s the right thing to do,” Guterres said. The Middle East is on the brink of an “abyss”, he said.
The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, has said that he spoke by phone to the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday regarding the situation in Gaza. Maduro told Abbas that Venezuela would send 30 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza in the next few days, Reuters reports.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the actions and policies of Islamist group Hamas do not represent Palestinian people, according to official news agency Wafa, although it later removed direct references to Hamas from its report. In a phone call with Maduro, “the president affirmed his rejection of the killing of civilians on both sides and called for the release of civilians, prisoners and detainees on both sides,” added the news agency.
Amnesty International has verified six videos of an attack on Salah al-Din road – a supposedly “safe” route for Palestinians feeling Gaza – that killed at least 70 people. It went on to condemn Israel’s forced evacuations of Palestinians from Gaza, saying: “Israel’s order to ‘evacuate’ is NOT compliant w/ [international humanitarian law] & must be rescinded.”
France has warned Iran “against any escalation or extension of the conflict” between Israel and Hamas, the French presidential office announced on Sunday. During a phone call between the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, Macron warned against any conflict spillover into Lebanon.
Leaders from the EU’s 27 member states have issued a statement outlining their position on the situation in the Middle East. “The European Union condemns in the strongest possible terms Hamas and its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks across Israel and deeply deplores the loss of lives,” the European Council said.
In a call with the Vatican, Israel’s foreign ministry said it expected the “Vatican to be more attentive to the suffering to Israelis.” The country’s foreign minister also called for a clear Vatican condemnation of deadly terrorism against Israelis and reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself.
