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South of the Gaza City, Israeli troops are reportedly still trying to cut off Gaza’s main highway and the parallel road along the Mediterranean coast, according to Dawood Shehab, a spokesperson for Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group allied with Hamas.
Zaki Abdel-Hay, a Palestinian living a few minutes’ walk from the road south of Gaza City, told the Associate Press people are afraid to use it. “People are very scared. The Israeli tanks are still close,” he said over the phone, adding that “constant artillery fire” could be heard near the road.
Here is a more on the South American nations taking diplomatic action and calling for a ceasefire, via Reuters.
Bolivia said on Tuesday it had broken diplomatic ties with Israel because of its attacks on the Gaza Strip, while neighbours Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors to the Middle Eastern country for consultations.
The three South American nations lambasted Israel’s attacks on Gaza and condemned the deaths of Palestinian citizens.
Bolivia “decided to break diplomatic relations with the Israeli state in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip,” Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said at a press conference.
The three countries called for a ceasefire, with Bolivia and Chile pushing for the passage of humanitarian aid into the zone and accusing Israel of violating international law.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the attacks a “massacre of the Palestinian people” in a post on the social media network X, formerly known as Twitter.
Israel’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other Latin American countries, such as Mexico and Brazil, have also called for a ceasefire.
“What we have now is the insanity of Israel’s prime minister, who wants to wipe out the Gaza Strip,” said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday.
Bolivia is among the first countries to actively break diplomatic relations with Israel over its war in Gaza. Bolivia cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009 under the government of leftist President Evo Morales, also in protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
In 2020, the government of right-wing interim President Jeanine Anez reestablished ties.
“We reject the war crimes being committed in Gaza. We support international initiatives to guarantee humanitarian aid, in compliance with international law,” Bolivian President Arce said on social media on Monday.
Communications and internet services cut off in Gaza, says Palestinian telecoms company
Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel says that there is another “complete interruption of all communications and Internet services with the Gaza Strip.”
Writing on twitter it said that international routes have been cut off.
The tweet reads: “Dear people in our beloved homeland, We regret to announce a complete interruption of all communications and Internet services with the Gaza Strip, due to international routes that were previously reconnected being cut off again. May God protect you and protect our country.”
Gaza lost internet access on Friday before it was restored.
More now on the reports that injured Palestinians and foreign nationals in Gaza could be allowed to enter Egypt for treatment.
Earlier the border authority in Gaza said that Egypt had agreed to let in 81 of the most badly wounded on Wednesday through Rafah, the only crossing not controlled by Israel.
A photographer with the AFP news agency has reported seeing a large number of ambulances gathered at Rafah.
Separately, a medical official in the Egyptian city of El Arish told AFP that medical teams will be present at the Rafah crossing to examine cases and determine which hospitals they will be sent to.
The medical official added that a field hospital with an area of 1,300 square metres would be built to receive the wounded Palestinians in the city of Sheikh Zuweid in northern Sinai, about 15km from Rafah.
The BBC has reported that the UK Foreign Office has informed British nationals trapped in Gaza that Rafah might open for limited exits.
According to that report, the Foreign Office was unable to provide details on how the opening would be managed and who would be permitted to leave.
Colombia recalls ambassador to Israel
Colombia has become the latest country to register a diplomatic protest against Israel.
The country’s leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, said on Tuesday he had recalled his ambassador over Israel’s “massacre of the Palestinian people”.
Earlier we reported that Chile had also recalled its ambassador from Israel, while Bolivia has cut ties with the country entirely.
The Associated Press: Republicans criticised Lew for his role in the Obama White House when it negotiated the Iran nuclear agreement in 2015, among other foreign policy moves. The deal with Iran — the chief sponsor of Hamas — was later scuttled by former President Donald Trump.
“This is the wrong person at the wrong time in the wrong place,” said Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, just before the vote. “The last thing we need is somebody who is very contrary to our view about how Iran should be handled.”
At the hearing, Lew defended his work in the Obama White House and called Iran an “evil, malign government.”
“I want to be clear — Iran is a threat to regional stability and to Israel’s existence,” Lew said.
He also expressed sympathy for the civilians on both sides who have been injured or killed in the fighting. It must end, Lew said, “but it has to end with Israel’s security being guaranteed.”
Lew, who is Jewish, said at the hearing that he cannot remember a time in his life “when Israel’s struggle for security was not at the forefront of my mind.”
Who is Jacob Lew, the new US ambassador to Israel?
Here is more on the new US ambassador to Israel, whose appointment was confirmed on Tuesday, via the Associated Press:
Jacob Lew, a treasury secretary under President Barack Obama, was confirmed 53-43.
He has promised to stand side by side with Israel’s leaders as they respond to the militant group’s surprise attack on 7 October, telling senators in his confirmation hearing in mid-October that “at this moment, there is no greater mission than to be asked to strengthen the ties between the United States and the state of Israel.”
President Joe Biden nominated Lew, who goes by Jack, last month to fill the post left vacant when Tom Nides left as ambassador in July. Democrats say Lew’s wealth of government experience – he also was chief of staff to Obama and White House budget director under Obama and President Bill Clinton – makes him the right person to fill the post at a a critical moment in the two countries’ relationship.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said after Lew’s confirmation that the administration is eager for him “to get on the ground and start leading our efforts to support Israel and their fight against Hamas, but also to help us integrate and continue to lead the effort to get humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.”
Republicans have a 221-212 majority in the House, but Biden’s fellow Democrats control the Senate 51-49. To become law, the bill would have to pass both the House and Senate and be signed by Biden.
The top Senate Democrat said the Republican bill would be dead on arrival in the upper chamber, even if it passed the House.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate said he felt the four issues needed to be addressed.
“We need to treat all four of these areas, all four of them, Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the border,” McConnell told reporters.
Reuters: US senators from both parties voiced doubts on Tuesday about House Republicans’ plan to provide $14.3bn in aid to Israel by cutting Internal Revenue Service funding, without providing aid to Ukraine, and Democratic President Joe Biden threatened to veto the bill were it to pass.
In the first major legislative action under new Speaker Mike Johnson, House of Representatives Republicans unveiled a standalone supplemental spending bill only for Israel on Monday.
This is despite President Joe Biden’s request for a $106bn package that would include aid for Israel and Ukraine and funding to boost competition with China in the Indo-Pacific as well as security along the U.S. border with Mexico.
“The bottom line is it’s not a serious proposal,” Senate Democratic Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, told reporters.
The administration said Biden would veto such a bill were it to reach his desk.
“This bill is bad for Israel, for the Middle East region, and for our own national security,” the White House’s Office of Management and Budget said.
Updated
More now from that call: US President Joe Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday discussed their shared commitment to increasing aid to civilians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas conflict, the White House said.
The two men also reiterated the importance of protecting civilian lives and that it was critical to ensure that Palestinians were not forcibly displaced from Gaza, the White House said.
Biden and King Abdullah II of Jordan 'agree it is critical to ensure Palestinians not forcible displaced outside Gaza'
Biden and King Abdullah II of Jordan have held a phone call during which they “agreed that it is critical to ensure that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced outside of Gaza,” Reuters reports the White House as saying.
400 American citizens and their family still in Gaza, says Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking earlier on Tuesday at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, said there were around 400 American citizens and their family members totalling around 1,000 people stuck in Gaza and wanting to get out.
“We’re working with various parties to try to facilitate their departure from Gaza. The impediment is simple: It is Hamas,” Blinken said, adding that there were another roughly 5,000 foreign nationals who were hoping to get out.
“Chile strongly condemns and observes with great concern... these military operations,” Chilean president Gabriel Boric wrote in a post on social media platform X as he announced that Chile is recalling its ambassador to Israel.
Chile recalls ambassador to Israel
Chilean president Gabriel Boric has announced that Chile is recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations.
The reason for the recall is the “violations of international humanitarian law” in the Gaza strip, Reuters reports.
Blinken holds call with Israeli president
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday “emphasised the need to take feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians” during a telephone call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the State Department said, amid the conflict with Hamas.
“The Secretary reiterated US support for Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism consistent with international humanitarian law,” spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Reuters: A Belgian government spokesperson declined to comment on whether arms were shipped to the region via Belgium.
The unions said that loading or offloading these weapons would mean contributing to supplying organisations that kill innocent people.
“We, several unions active in ground logistics, call on our members not to handle any flights that ship military equipment to Palestine/Israel, like there were clear agreements and rules at the start of the conflict with Russia and Ukraine,” the unions said.
The unions also called for an immediate ceasefire and asked the Belgian government to not tolerate arms shipments through Belgian airports.
“As unions, we stand with those who campaign for peace,” they said.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied in cities in Europe, the Middle East and Asia on Saturday to show support for the Palestinians.
Belgian transport workers’ unions call for refusal to handle arms bound for Israel
Belgian transport workers’ unions on Tuesday called on their members to refuse to handle military equipment being sent to Israel to battle Hamas gunmen, Reuters reports.
The ACV Puls, BTB, BBTK and ACV-Transcom unions said in a joint statement that airport workers have seen arms shipments.
“While a genocide is under way in Palestine, workers at various airports in Belgium are seeing arms shipments in the direction of the war zone,” the statement said.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas military operations and not civilians in Gaza. On Tuesday Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of people at a refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Israeli military said it had targeted the camp to kill Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari.
US says it has made 'real progress' on securing safe passage for foreigners from Gaza
Reuters: The United States has made “real progress” in the last few hours in negotiations to secure a safe passage for Americans and other foreigners who wish to depart Gaza, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.
“While I can’t make an announcement today, we do think we’ve made very real progress on this as I said in just the past few hours,” Miller told a news briefing.
The United States has been working with Qataris and Egyptians to open the Rafah border crossing into Egypt to allow American citizens inside Gaza to leave after Israel intensified its bombardment of the densely populated coastal enclave.
So far, traffic at Rafah has reopened one way allowing aid trucks to go slowly into Gaza.
“We would hope that any agreement to get any individuals out would also unlock the possibility of American citizens or their families and other foreign nationals coming out,” Miller said.
This is Helen Sullivan taking over our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s where things stand:
Israeli airstrikes have destroyed apartment blocks and killed dozens of people at a refugee camp in northern Gaza. At least six airstrikes hit residential areas in the Jabalia refugee camp on Gaza City’s outskirts on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and injuring about 150 people, Hamas officials said. Médecins Sans Frontières said it was “horrified” by the news.
The Israeli military said it had targeted the camp to kill Ibrahim Biari – a key Hamas commander linked to the group’s 7 October attack on Israel who, it said, had taken over civilian buildings in Gaza City with his fighters.
At least 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, have been killed in bombardments in Gaza, according to Hamas health ministry figures issued before the strikes on Jabalia. Gaza has become “a graveyard for thousands of children,” a Unicef spokesperson said.
Qatar’s foreign ministry has “strongly condemned” the Israeli strike on Jabalia refugee camp, warning that the expansion of Israel’s attacks is a “dangerous escalation” that would “undermine mediation and de-escalation efforts”.
Two French children have been killed in the north of the Gaza Strip, France’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry reiterated its call for a humanitarian pause in the fighting and demanded that French nationals and foreign citizens to be allowed to leave Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces and Hamas reported fresh clashes on Tuesday, especially around Gaza City, where Israeli tanks and infantry targeted tunnel entrances and rocket launch positions. Hamas fighters responded with machine guns and missiles. The IDF said they struck about 300 targets since Monday, hitting Hamas military compounds and killing “numerous” militants, including Nisam Abu Ajina, the commander of Hamas’s Beit Lahiya battalion.
The Israeli military is making “significant” achievements during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip but it is also “paying a heavy price”, said the defence minister, Yoav Gallant. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) separately said that two soldiers had been killed and another two seriously wounded during clashes with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
The US and Israel are considering the possibility of a multinational force that could include American, UK, French troops in the Gaza Strip, in the event that Israeli forces are successful in ousting Hamas, according to a report. US and Israeli officials have also reportedly discussed a second option that would establish a peacekeeping force or a third option that would see Gaza put under temporary UN oversight.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said they have launched a “large number” of ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel. The group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a televised statement on Tuesday that this operation is the third targeting Israel, with more to come.
The conflict has claimed the lives of 67 workers from the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), complicating efforts to run 150 shelters that are overwhelmed with more than 670,000 displaced people. About 8,000 people are sheltering at – and clogging – a logistics base at Rafah. Even so the agency delivered hundreds of tonnes of flour to 50 Gaza bakeries, helping to lower bread prices.
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire and urged all sides to respect international humanitarian law. He said he was “dismayed by reports that two-thirds of those who have been killed are women and children.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has ruled out a ceasefire and said the campaign to eradicate Hamas could last months. Israeli forces sought to avoid civilian casualties and encouraged civilians to relocate to “protected areas” in the south where they could receive food, water and medicine, said Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser.
The Rafah border crossing will be opened on Wednesday for a number of injured Palestinians to complete their treatment in Egyptian hospitals, according to reports. 81 Gazans with serious injuries will enter Egypt to receive treatment, the General Authority for Crossings and Borders in Gaza said.
The US state department has confirmed that the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will visit Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the government. Earlier this month, Blinken visited Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
A World Health Organization (WHO) official said a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza amid overcrowding, mass displacement and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure. At the same press briefing, a spokesperson for the UN children’s agency warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration with just 5% of normal water supplies available.
Hamas’s armed wing said on Tuesday that it would release a number of the foreign hostages in its captivity “in the next few days”. The Israeli military has raised the number of hostages it says are confirmed to be being held in Gaza by Hamas to 240. Hamas has so far released four hostages back to Israel.
The head of Israel’s national security council has said that he does not see a deal for the release of hostages being close. Tzachi Hanegbi also said that “the day after the war is not close” and that Hamas “must cease to exist”.
Bolivia has cut diplomatic ties with Israel due to its attacks on Gaza. The leftwing Bolivian government accused Israel of war crimes and human rights abuses it said were being committed in the Gaza Strip.
The director of the New York office of the UN high commissioner for human rights has resigned from his post, protesting that the UN is “failing” in its duty to prevent what he categorizes as genocide of Palestinian civilians in Gaza under Israeli bombardment and citing the US, UK and much of Europe as “wholly complicit in the horrific assault”.
The attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October will inspire the most significant terror threat to the US since the rise of Islamic State (IS) nearly a decade ago, FBI director Christopher Wray said at a congressional hearing in Washington on Tuesday.
Israeli intelligence ministry proposes relocating millions of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt
A leaked Israeli intelligence ministry document proposes relocating the population of the Gaza Strip to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The document, dated 13 October, suggests that Israel might initially relocate the population of the Gaza Strip to tent cities, followed later by the establishment of permanent communities in northern Sinai, Haaretz reported on Monday.
The proposal is among a number of suggestions drafted by the intelligence ministry, which lays out three options for dealing with civilians in Gaza in the aftermath of the war. Another alternative put forward by the ministry would permit the Palestinian Authority to control Gaza with its current residents remaining.
“Alternative C”, which calls for settling Gaza’s population in northern Sinai, would be best for Israel’s long-term security, the paper’s authors wrote.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office played down the report, saying that it was a “preliminary paper”. A statement added:
The ‘day after’ is a topic that has not been discussed by official Israeli channels, which are now focused on dismantling Hamas’ governing and military abilities.
Updated
Al Jazeera said the Israeli strike in Jabalia killed 19 family members of one of its video engineers, Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan.
The strike killed Mohamed’s father, two sisters, eight nephews and nieces, his brother, his brother’s wife, and their four children, his sister-in-law, and one uncle, the outlet said.
A statement from Al Jazeera reads:
We extend our sincere condolences to Mohamed and his family and stand in solidarity with them during this time of profound sorrow, and we call for justice and accountability for this senseless murder of innocent lives.
These Israeli crimes against civilians must not go without being held accountable and face the full force of international justice.
The US state department has confirmed that the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will visit Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the government.
A statement from Matthew Miller, the US state department spokesperson, said:
Secretary Blinken will travel to Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the Israeli government, and then will make other stops in the region.
Earlier this month, Blinken visited Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
Qatar warns Israeli strike on Jabalia refugee camp could ‘undermine mediation’
Qatar’s foreign ministry has “strongly condemned” the Israeli strike on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, warning that the expansion of Israel’s attacks is a “dangerous escalation” that would “undermine mediation and de-escalation efforts”.
In a statement, the ministry said the Qatari state considered the bombing of the camp to be “a new massacre against the defenseless Palestinian people, especially children and women.”
The expansion of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip to include civilian objects, like hospital, schools, population centres and shelters for displaced people, is a dangerous escalation in the course of confrontations, which would undermine mediation and de-escalation efforts.
In addition, it portends further tension, violence and instability.
Qatar Strongly Condemns the Massacre at Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/budQ7batzu
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) October 31, 2023
The Israeli military said it had targeted the camp to kill Ibrahim Biari – a key Hamas commander linked to the group’s 7 October attack on Israel who, it said, had taken over civilian buildings in Gaza City with his fighters.
The US is “deeply concerned” by the significant uptick in violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said.
In a statement posted to social media, she said the US urges Israel to prevent these attacks.
US and Israel considering peacekeeping force in Gaza - report
The US and Israel are considering the possibility of a multinational force that could include American, UK, French troops in the Gaza Strip, in the event that Israeli forces are successful in ousting Hamas, according to a report.
US and Israeli officials exploring options for the future of Gaza have also discussed a second option that would establish a peacekeeping force modeled on one that oversees a 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the conversations.
A third option would see Gaza put under temporary UN oversight, it said. The sources noted that the conversations are still at an early stage and much could change.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, alluded to the challenge of coming up with a plan for the future of Gaza when he addressed a Senate panel on Tuesday.
“We can’t have a reversion to the status quo with Hamas running Gaza,” Blinken told the Senate appropriations committee. “We also can’t have — and the Israelis start with this proposition themselves — Israel running or controlling Gaza.” He added:
Between those shoals are a variety of possible permutations that we’re looking at very closely now, as are other countries.
A witness to the Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza told CNN he saw an F-16 aircraft fire several missiles at the camp.
Mohammad Ibrahim said he was waiting in line to buy bread when he saw “seven to eight missiles fell from an F-16” on al-Yafawiya neighbourhood in the camp, on Gaza City’s outskirts. He told the outlet:
There were seven to eight huge holes in the ground, full of killed people, body parts all over the place. It felt like the end of the world.
The US has announced it will send a further 300 troops to the Middle East to support those already deployed in the region.
Pentagon spokesperson Brig Gen Patrick Ryder said on Tuesday:
These additional troops will provide capabilities and explosive ordnance disposal communications and other support enablers for forces already in the region.
He did not specify where in the Middle East the additional troops will be, but said they would not go to Israel. He added:
hey are intended to support regional deterrence efforts and further bolster us force protection capabilities.
Médecins Sans Frontières said it was “horrified” after dozens of people were killed by Israeli airstrikes at a refugee camp in northern Gaza today.
At least six airstrikes hit residential areas in the Jabalia refugee camp on Gaza City’s outskirts on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and injuring about 150 people, Hamas officials said. The Israeli military said it had targeted the camp to kill a key Hamas commander who, it said, had taken over civilian buildings in Gaza City with his fighters.
In a statement, the medical charity said many wounded people arrived to Dar al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza after the attack. It cited MSF nurse, Mohammed Hawajreh, as saying:
Young children arrived at the hospital with deep wounds and severe burns. They came without their families. Many were screaming and asking for their parents. I stayed with them until we could find a place, as the hospital was full with patients.
We condemn this latest episode of senseless violence and reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire to prevent more deaths across the Strip. Enough is enough!
— MSF International (@MSF) October 31, 2023
Palestinian women are being forced to give birth without anaesthesia, undergoing caesareans whilst awake and without pain killers amid intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip, an international charity has warned.
In a statement, ActionAid said it was “very concerned” about a lack of clean water contributing to a rise in sickness and a lack of hygiene, alongside the “serious deterioration in living conditions” across the Palestinian territory.
What little aid is “trickling” into Gaza will “barely touch the sides” of the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in Gaza, it said.
It described the situation for hospitals in northern Gaza as particularly “precarious”, with Al-Quds and Al-Shifa hospitals not receiving any aid supplies at all due to ongoing hostilities.
“The chaos and horror unleashed in Gaza is affecting women in devastating ways,” Soraida Hussein-Sabbah, a gender and advocay specialist based in Ramallah ActionAid, said.
Every day we hear of doctors delivering the babies of women who are dying in childbirth. It is catastrophic.
What are Israel’s aims in launching Gaza ground invasion?
A battle in three dimensions is complex enough, but Ben Barry, an analyst with the International Institute of Strategic Studies, said that Israel’s military had also been set contradictory political goals by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Saturday, Netanyahu said the invasion’s objective was to destroy “Hamas’s governing and military capabilities and to bring the hostages home”. The first part may imply an aggressive assault with less regard for casualties, where Hamas tunnels are mined by armed Israeli robots, or simply sealed off.
But freeing hostages, Barry argues, requires a more measured approach where the 240 people held by Hamas are located and rescued in what are likely to be complex individual operations. “You would need good intelligence and to proceed carefully,” Barry added.
Another question is how Hamas will respond. Its military strength and capacity is unclear, but its leaders have choices. Conventionally, Israel measures the size of the Hamas fighting force at about 30,000, and while about 1,200 were killed during the October attack, the impact of the Israeli bombardment is unclear.
If its fighters remain cohesive, there is the option of fighting for Gaza City and trying to inflict immediate casualties on the Israeli military. Alternatively, they could hang back, retreating to the southern part of Gaza and taking hostages with them if possible, and allowing Israel to take control of the north relatively quickly.
Israel retains formidable conventional military advantages: air superiority and a well-trained, modern fighting force with 400 tanks at the ready and more in storage. Its standing army is estimated to number 126,000, strengthened by the call-up of 360,000 reservists, but its military has to guard the north from Hezbollah in Lebanon and contend with a deteriorating security situation on the West Bank.
By contrast, Hamas has limited equipment. A video it released of its fighters showed they were armed with rocket-propelled grenades.
Verifiable information is hard to come by, but the limited evidence emerging from the combat zone suggests that the IDF is seeking to encircle Gaza City, probably as a prelude to trying to capture what was the capital of the strip.
Tanks were filmed having advanced to cut the main north-south Salah al-Din road south of Gaza City on Monday, although subsequent reports suggested the road had reopened, potentially to allow a porous encirclement, where fighters and civilians are allowed to escape a looming siege, in theory making it easier for the attackers.
Urban warfare is the most dangerous form of fighting, and as the near year-long battle of Bakhmut in Ukraine showed, even a ruined landscape still confers significant advantages to the defenders.
But Hamas has gone further, building a sophisticated, cement reinforced tunnel network underground, from which fighters can endure the most sustained aerial attack, knowing that an Israeli invasion may one day come.
Israel’s ground invasion of the northern Gaza Strip began on Friday evening, an urban warfare operation that is likely to be lengthy, fraught with danger for its military and Palestinian civilians and whose ultimate goals remain uncertain.
It began more than three weeks after Hamas’s surprising and brutal cross-border attack of 7 October, in which 1,400 Israelis were killed, and comes amid what the monitoring group Airwars says is an aerial bombardment that “far outpaces” the number of bombs dropped in “the deadliest months” of the US-led war against Islamic State.
Israeli forces have already fired more than 8,000 munitions into north and south Gaza, according to the country’s military, in an attempt to soften up Hamas resistance, but which has also led to thousands of casualties, including dozens at the Jabalia camp in the north of the strip that was hit on Tuesday.
Video and pictures released by the Israel Defence Force on Tuesday show soldiers and tanks entering a shattered urban terrain, with the Israeli military and Hamas describing fighting fierce battles, although these are likely to be only initial skirmishes for strategic position.
Updated
The US Senate has confirmed former treasury secretary Jack Lew as the new US ambassador to Israel.
Lew was approved 53-43, with two Republicans Rand Paul and of Kentucky and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina breaking rank to back him.
Two French children killed in Gaza Strip
Two French children have been killed in the north of the Gaza Strip, France’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry said the children’s mother was thought to be suffering from injuries, along with her third child, Reuters reported.
It reiterated its call for a humanitarian pause in the fighting and demanded that French nationals and foreign citizens to be allowed to leave Gaza.
Updated
Blinken to arrive in Israel on Friday to meet Netanyahu
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will arrive in Israel on Friday to meet with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, Axios reported.
BREAKING: Secretary of State Blinken will arrive in Israel on Friday and meet Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli officials
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) October 31, 2023
Updated
Life in Zanuta, a Palestinian village atop a windy ridge in the desolate south Hebron hills, deep in the occupied West Bank, has never been easy.
The community are mostly herders who raise goats and sheep through the barren landscape’s scorching summers and freezing winters, and who have steadfastly refused to leave their homes despite the mounting difficulties posed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers on one hand and radical Israeli settlers on the other.
But after weeks of intense settler violence in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, Zanuta’s 150 residents have made a collective decision to leave. Armed settlers – some in reservist army uniforms, some covering their faces – have begun breaking into their homes at night, beating up adults, destroying and stealing belongings, and terrifying the children.
After decades of a desperate fight to cling on to their land, the community has decided they have lost.
On Monday, men and women cried as they dismantled their homes and haphazardly packed solar panels, animal feed and personal belongings on to pickup trucks. The noise of the demolition drowned out the bleating from the animal pens and threw up dust and debris that tore at the eyes and throat.
“It is a new Nakba,” said Issa Ahmad Baghdad, 71, referring to the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians in 1948 after the creation of Israel. “My family are going to Rafat. But we don’t know anyone there. We don’t know what to tell the children.”
Satellite images reveal how northern Gaza has been impacted by weeks of Israeli bombardments on the besieged Palestinian territory.
“Even wars have rules,” Janez Lenarčič, the EU’s commissioner for crisis management, wrote on X, posting a video underlining that “these rules are not optional” and “civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected.”
Even wars have rules.#NotATarget pic.twitter.com/ExsBRbNrQK
— Janez Lenarčič (@JanezLenarcic) October 31, 2023
Bolivia’s leftwing government has announced it will cut ties with Israel as a result of alleged war crimes and human rights abuses it said were being committed in the Gaza Strip.
The decision was announced at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon by María Nela Prada, a minister in president Luis Arce’s administration.
“We demand an end to the attacks on the Gaza Strip which have so far claimed thousands of civilian lives and caused the forced displacement of Palestinians,” the minister told reporters in her country’s de facto capital La Paz.
The move comes after former president Evo Morales demanded his country sever ties with Israel because of the “horrific situation facing the Palestinian people”. Writing on Twitter earlier this month, Morales demanded Israel be classified as a “terrorist state” and for Benjamin Netanyahu and “his accomplices” be denounced to the international criminal court for genocide and war crimes.
Bolivia is not the first South American country to express anger at Israel’s reaction to Hamas’s 7 October attacks.
Colombia’s leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, recently likened Israel’s actions to those of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis, drawing a rebuke from Israel’s foreign ministry which accused him of putting Jewish lives in danger and encouraging “the horrific acts of Hamas terrorists” with his “hostile and antisemitic statements”.
Summary of the day so far
It’s nearly 10.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s where things stand:
Israeli airstrikes have destroyed apartment blocks and killed dozens of people at a refugee camp in northern Gaza. At least six airstrikes hit residential areas in the Jabalia refugee camp on Gaza City’s outskirts on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and injuring about 150 people, Hamas officials said.
The Israeli military said it had targeted the camp to kill Ibrahim Biari – a key Hamas commander linked to the group’s 7 October attack on Israel who, it said, had taken over civilian buildings in Gaza City with his fighters.
The Israel Defence Forces and Hamas reported fresh clashes, especially around Gaza City, where Israeli tanks and infantry targeted tunnel entrances and rocket launch positions. Hamas fighters responded with machine guns and missiles. The IDF said they struck about 300 targets since Monday, hitting Hamas military compounds and killing “numerous” militants, including Nisam Abu Ajina, the commander of Hamas’s Beit Lahiya battalion.
The Israeli military is making “significant” achievements during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip but it is also “paying a heavy price”, said the defence minister, Yoav Gallant. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) separately said that two soldiers had been killed and another two seriously wounded during clashes with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
Israeli troops on Tuesday destroyed the family home of Saleh al-Arouri, the exiled commander of Hamas forces in the occupied West Bank. His house, which local residents said was not occupied, was blown up in the early hours of the morning.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said they have launched a “large number” of ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel. The group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a televised statement on Tuesday that this operation is the third targeting Israel, with more to come.
At least 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, have been killed in bombardments in Gaza, according to Hamas health ministry figures issued before the strikes on Jabalia. Gaza has become “a graveyard for thousands of children,” a Unicef spokesperson said.
The conflict has claimed the lives of 67 workers from the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), complicating efforts to run 150 shelters that are overwhelmed with more than 670,000 displaced people. About 8,000 people are sheltering at – and clogging – a logistics base at Rafah. Even so the agency delivered hundreds of tonnes of flour to 50 Gaza bakeries, helping to lower bread prices.
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire and urged all sides to respect international humanitarian law. He said he was “dismayed by reports that two-thirds of those who have been killed are women and children.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has ruled out a ceasefire and said the campaign to eradicate Hamas could last months. Israeli forces sought to avoid civilian casualties and encouraged civilians to relocate to “protected areas” in the south where they could receive food, water and medicine, said Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser.
The Rafah border crossing will be opened on Wednesday for a number of injured Palestinians to complete their treatment in Egyptian hospitals, according to reports. 81 Gazans with serious injuries will enter Egypt to receive treatment, the General Authority for Crossings and Borders in Gaza said.
A World Health Organization (WHO) official said a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza amid overcrowding, mass displacement and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure. At the same press briefing, a spokesperson for the UN children’s agency warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration with just 5% of normal water supplies available.
Hamas’s armed wing said on Tuesday that it would release a number of the foreign hostages in its captivity “in the next few days”. The Israeli military has raised the number of hostages it says are confirmed to be being held in Gaza by Hamas to 240. Hamas has so far released four hostages back to Israel.
The head of Israel’s national security council has said that he does not see a deal for the release of hostages being close. Tzachi Hanegbi also said that “the day after the war is not close” and that Hamas “must cease to exist”.
Bolivia has broken diplomatic ties with Israel due to its attacks on Gaza. The Bolivian government accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity, when providing reasoning for why its severing diplomatic ties.
The director of the New York office of the UN high commissioner for human rights has resigned from his post, protesting that the UN is “failing” in its duty to prevent what he categorizes as genocide of Palestinian civilians in Gaza under Israeli bombardment and citing the US, UK and much of Europe as “wholly complicit in the horrific assault”.
The attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October will inspire the most significant terror threat to the US since the rise of Islamic State (IS) nearly a decade ago, FBI director Christopher Wray said at a congressional hearing in Washington on Tuesday.
Hundreds of protesters have filled Liverpool St station in London to call for solidarity with Palestinians and an end to Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza.
Russia has detained more than 80 people in connection with the antisemitic rioting on Sunday in which hundreds of young men stormed an international airport in Dagestan to stop Jews from disembarking from a flight from Tel Aviv.
Hundreds of protesters have filled Liverpool St station in London to call for solidarity with Palestinians and an end to Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza.
According to a witness, at 5.45pm protesters waiting in the station sat down on its concourse and began waving Palestinian flags and chanting: “Free, free Palestine”, “Ceasefire now” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Others hung banners from mezzanine levels surrounding the concourse, with messages including: “Ceasefire now” and “Boycott, divest, sanctions”.
🚨FREE PALESTINE! END THE SIEGE ON GAZA 🚨WE HAVE SHUT DOWN LIVERPOOL STREET STATION - JOIN US. pic.twitter.com/n4kF8lcqW5
— Sisters Uncut (@SistersUncut) October 31, 2023
The witness the Guardian spoke to estimated that about 700 activists took part in the initial sit down protest, but added that their numbers were boosted by commuters joining with chants as they passed through the station on their way home.
Protesters listened to speeches about the crisis in Gaza from representatives of the Palestinian Youth Movement, Na’Amod, No More Exclusions, Sisters Uncut and International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
CEASEFIRE NOW! 🚨🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/hyilf6Ea8o
— Sisters Uncut (@SistersUncut) October 31, 2023
Sisters Uncut, a direct action protest group, claimed credit for organising the protest. In a statement sent to the Guardian, Sisters Uncut said:
“The protest follows the continued refusal of UK politicians to call for a ceasefire in Palestine and their continued support of Israel’s aggressions on Palestine.
“Following Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s calls for ‘a time for war’ and Keir Starmer’s validation of Israel’s violent occupation, the group calls for there to be a ceasefire now and for the UK to end its arms exports to Israel, in the same way apartheid South Africa was isolated. The group is also urging Keir Starmer and the UK Government to represent the demands of the 500,000+ people taking to the streets every weekend.”
The Guardian has contacted the British transport police for comment.
Jordan’s foreign ministry has condemned Israel’s airstrike on a refugee camp, saying the attack contradicts human and moral values as well as international humanitarian law.
Here is the statement from Jordan’s foreign ministry posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, CNN reports.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli aggression that targeted the Jabalya camp in the Gaza Strip this evening, holding Israel, the occupying power responsible for this dangerous development … [The Jordanian Foreign Ministry] affirmed the Kingdom’s strong rejection and condemnation of this act, which contradicts all human and moral values and the rules of international humanitarian law.
Updated
Bolivia breaks diplomatic ties with Israel
Bolivia has broken diplomatic ties with Israel, Reuters reports.
The Bolivian government announced in a press conference on Tuesday that it would be severing its diplomatic ties with Israel once again, due to Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
The Bolivian government accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity, when providing reasoning for why its severing diplomatic ties.
In 2009, Bolivia broke its diplomatic ties with Israel after Israel launched offensives in Gaza.
The two countries renewed their relations a decade later, in 2020.
Updated
An Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in northern Gaza has killed and injured hundreds of people, the Washington Post reports, citing the Gaza health ministry.
Strikes on the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed and injured hundreds of people Tuesday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The breakdown of dead and wounded has yet to be determined amid ongoing rescue efforts pic.twitter.com/SpHgJPnwNk
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) October 31, 2023
Israel has claimed that an airstrike on Tuesday killed a top Hamas commander.
But Gaza’s health ministry has said that the attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in nothern Gaza killed hundreds of people.
Exact figures on the number of people who were killed or wounded is still being calculated as rescue efforts continue.
Hundreds killed & wounded in an Israeli strike on Jabaliya camp. The Indonesian hospital where the injured are being taken just said at a press conference surrounded by bodies they are running out of fuel. Gaza says 20 homes “completely destroyed” Israel said the strike killed a…
— Bel Trew (@Beltrew) October 31, 2023
The hospital where injured people are being taken to is reportedly running out of fuel, the Independent reports.
Updated
81 Palestinians with serious injuries in Gaza will enter Egypt to receive treatment, the General Authority for Crossings and Borders in Gaza said.
Egyptian authorities confirmed to Gazan authorities that 81 severely wounded people will be allowed to enter the country, Reuters reported.
The figure comes after Egyptian medical and security sources said that the Rafah border crossing would be opened for a number of injured Palestinians completing treatment in Egyptian hospitals, Reuters reported earlier.
Updated
Rishi Sunak held calls with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, today.
The UK prime minister told his Israeli counterpart of the importance of taking “all possible measures to minimise civilian casualties”, No 10 said in a statement.
The prime minister stressed the importance of rapidly increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza and welcomed Israel’s commitment to facilitate significantly more deliveries. He said the UK would support all efforts to ensure life-saving aid reaches those in need, including temporary humanitarian pauses.
Sunak also reiterated Britain’s “resolute backing for Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism” during the call, it said.
The leaders also “discussed the situation in the West Bank and the long-term goal of a two-state solution,” it said.
The prime minister noted the importance of all sides avoiding actions that would inflame tensions and keeping hope alive for a more secure and prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians.
In a statement after Sunak’s call with Abbas, Downing Street said the pair discussed "the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza” and that Sunak “expressed his deep condolences for the tragic loss of civilian life” during the call with the PA president.
Sunak told Abbas that “the UK would continue to support diplomatic action to protect Palestinian civilians, prevent wider escalation and secure a peaceful and lasting resolution to the crisis”, it said.
Here’s more detail on that last post about how the Rafah border crossing will reportedly be opened on Wednesday for a number of injured Palestinians to complete their treatment in Egyptian hospitals.
Egypt is preparing to receive wounded Palestinians from Gaza through the crossing for medical treatment, AFP also reported, citing medical and security sources.
An Egyptian medical official told AFP:
Medical teams will be present tomorrow at the crossing to examine the cases coming (from Gaza) as soon as they arrive... and determine the hospitals they will be sent to.
A field hospital with an area of 1,300 square metres will be built to receive the wounded Palestinians in the city of Sheikh Zuweid in northern Sinai, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Rafah, they added.
An AFP photographer on Tuesday saw a large number of ambulances gathered at the Egyptian side of the crossing.
Rafah crossing to be opened tomorrow for injured Gazans – report
The Rafah border crossing will be opened on Wednesday for a number of injured Palestinians to complete their treatment in Egyptian hospitals, Reuters reported, citing Egyptian medical and security sources as well as a Palestinian border official.
Updated
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Hamas has continued to use the civilian population in Gaza as human shields “in a very cruel and butal manner”.
In a televised statement, he accused Hamas of intentionally building infrastructure beneath people’s homes.
Top Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari is “behind the massacre not just of Israeli citizens on October 7, but also the massacres that is leading to the collapse of the Gaza Strip on its inhabitants”, he said.
Therefore we call upon the residents of northern Gaza to move south and we will allow them to do so in corridors.
Israel’s military “will continue to operate in full force” in Gaza, he added.
IDF spokesperson confirms Israel carried out strike on Jabalia refugee camp
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari is giving a televised news conference, where he said the Israeli military “managed to eliminate the terrorist murderer Ibrahim Biari” on Tuesday.
Biari was “the main leader of combat” since Israel forces entered northern Gaza, Hagari said. During his “elimination, many terrorists were killed,” he said.
He said the targeting of the building where Biari was in also “led to the collapse of other things because there was a very extensive infrastructure there”.
Updated
IDF confirms strike on Jabalia refugee camp, says it killed top Hamas commander
The Israel Defense Forces says it has killed the commander of Hamas’s central Jabalia battalion, Ibrahim Biari, in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip earlier on Tuesday.
The military said the strike killed Biari and several other Hamas militants, and caused underground tunnels used by the group to collapse, bringing down several nearby buildings.
According to the IDF, Biari was one of the Hamas commanders responsible for directing members of the militant group’s forces to invade Israel on 7 October.
The IDF said the airstrike in Jabalia was part of “a wide-scale strike” on Hamas operatives and infrastructure belonging to the group’s Central Jabaliya Battalion.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 50 people were killed and about 150 wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp.
Updated
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Israeli forces had taken control of a Hamas “military stronghold” in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and killed 50 Hamas militants during ground operations on Tuesday.
In a statement, the IDF said infantry forces and tanks seized the compound in western Jabaliya which it said was being used by Hamas’s Jabaliya battalion as a training site. The statement continued:
During the fighting in the stronghold, the forces engaged in battles with the militants and killed many of them. Aircraft also eliminated additional militants. Ground forces located and destroyed tunnel entrances, weapons, and military equipment
Updated
Hamas says it will free some foreign hostages 'in the next few days'
Hamas’s armed wing said it would release a number of the foreign hostages in its captivity “in the next few days”.
Abu Obeida, a spokesperson for al-Qassam Brigades, said in a televised statement posted on social media:
We have informed intermediaries that we will release a certain number of foreigners in the next few days.
The Israeli military earlier today raised the number of hostages it says are confirmed to be being held in Gaza by Hamas to 240.
Hamas has so far released four hostages back to Israel. The IDF has claimed to have recovered a soldier, Ori Megidish, and Shani Louk, who was believed to be held hostage, has been declared killed.
Updated
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has “firmly condemned” attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, his office has said.
The statement came after Borrell held calls with the Saudi, Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers and the secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Hissein Brahim Taha, AFP reported.
More than 120 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since 7 October, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Updated
The UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said three of its staff have been killed in strikes “while in their houses with their families” in Gaza over the last 24 hours.
A total of 67 UNRWA staff have been killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October, the agency said in its latest update.
Humanitarian needs remain “dire” in the Palestinian territory with the situation in shelters in “critical condition”, it said.
Israel's ground operation making 'significant' achievements but 'paying a heavy price', says defence minister
The Israeli military is making “significant” achievements during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip but it is also “paying a heavy price”, said the defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
“We are deploying forces on a large scale, deep in the [Gaza] Strip,” the Times of Israel reported Gallant telling troops belonging to Israel’s air force units.
There are battles against the forces that are operating [in Gaza] and the results and achievements on the battlefield are very high. Unfortunately, in war, there are also prices, and the prices in the last day were heavy prices. Despite that, we are also determined to continue and win.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier said that two soldiers had been killed and another two seriously wounded during clashes with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
From the Times of Israel’s Emanuel Fabian:
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says the IDF is making "significant" achievements during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, but that it is also "paying a heavy price."
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 31, 2023
"We are deploying forces on a large scale, deep in the Strip," says Gallant to troops of the Air Force's… pic.twitter.com/LthLR7CGVz
Updated
Top UN official resigns over ‘genocide’ of Palestinian civilians
A senior United Nations human rights official has reportedly resigned in protest over the organisation’s handling over the situation in Gaza, where, he said, “a genocide [is] unfolding before our eyes”.
In a letter shared on social media, Craig Mokhiber, the director of the New York office of the high commissioner for human rights, said it had become “painfully clear” that the UN had failed in its duty “to meet the imperatives of prevention of mass atrocities, of protection of the vulnerable, and of accountability for perpetrators”. He wrote:
The current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist settler colonial ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs … leaves no room for doubt or debate … Across the land, Apartheid rules.
The situation in Gaza “is a text-book case of genocide”, he continued, with the aim of the “expedited destruction of the last remnants of indigenous Palestinian life in Palestine”. He added:
What’s more, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe, are wholly complicit in the horrific assault.
NEW: @UNHumanRights NY Office Director @CraigMokhiber resigns in protest over timidity of key parts of #UN system on issues pertaining to Palestinian Human Rights. In letter to @volker_turk he says: "This is a text-book case of genocide. The European, ethno-nationalist, settler… pic.twitter.com/lss1EvdLb3
— Rami Ayari (@Raminho) October 31, 2023
Updated
Four injured in rocket strikes on southern Israeli city, say medics
Four people have been injured after two rockets hit the coastal city of Ashdod in southern Israel, according to emergency services.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it had treated a 50-year-old man in serious condition with shrapnel injuries. Three men aged 64, 46, and 35 were also injured after being hit by glass shards, it said.
Updated
Mahmoud Shalabi, the Gaza director for Medical Aid for Palestinians, has commented on the “vicious” attacks that took place in Gaza as Israel imposed a blackout.
At the same time as communications were lost on Friday evening, Israel intensified its aerial bombardment and launched its initial ground operation into the strip, following Hamas’s attack on southern Israel more than three weeks ago.
“Those attacks were coupled with the blackout of the internet and telecommunication in all of Gaza Strip. It meant total darkness for the people in Gaza,” said Shalabi.
I can’t as a humanitarian even do my work. I can’t help the people who are still standing in the north of Gaza. I’m asking for safe corridors. I’m asking for a ceasefire and this bloodshed to stop.
Updated
UN chief António Guterres described the level of humanitarian assistance that has been allowed into the Gaza Strip as “completely inadequate” and insufficient to meet the urgent needs of civilians.
He once again appealed for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas, adding that he was “deeply concerned about the risk of a dangerous escalation” beyond Gaza.
UN chief 'deeply alarmed' by escalation of conflict
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for humanitarian access to be granted “to meet the urgent needs created by the catastrophe unfolding” in the Palestinian territory.
In a statement on Tuesday, Guterres said he was “deeply alarmed” by the escalation of the conflict.
I condemn the killing of civilians in Gaza and I am dismayed by reports that two-thirds of those who have been killed are women and children.
The UN chief appealed for the protection of civilians who he said had “borne the brunt of the current fighting”. He urged all parties to abide by international humanitarian law, adding:
International humanitarian law establishes clear rules that cannot be ignored. It is not an a la carte menu and cannot be applied selectively.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images we have received over the newswires of the scenes in Jabalia, where dozens of people have been killed after a blast at the crowded refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Summary of the day so far …
It is 6pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
At least 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has claimed. The health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra, said 130 healthcare staff had been killed, and 15 hospitals were now out of service along with 32 healthcare centres.
The Israeli military has raised the number of hostages it says are confirmed held in Gaza by Hamas to 240. The head of Israel’s national security council said on Tuesday he does not see a deal for the release of hostages being close.
An IDF spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, has claimed that Israel intercepted a missile from the Red Sea direction. “These drones belong to the state of Yemen,” Abdelaziz bin Habtour, the prime minister of the Houthi government, told AFP, claiming the attacks.
Israeli troops on Tuesday destroyed the family home of Saleh al-Arouri, the exiled commander of Hamas forces in the occupied West Bank. His house, which local residents said was not occupied, was blown up in the early hours of the morning.
Video footage has shown at least 47 bodies recovered from rubble after an explosion in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern of Gaza. The health ministry said “more than 50 martyrs and around 150 wounded and dozens under the rubble, in a heinous Israeli massacre”. AFP reported that dozens of onlookers could be seen standing on the edges of two vast craters as people searched for survivors, and that its video footage from the scene showed at least 47 bodies recovered.
The IDF has claimed it struck 300 locations in its latest assault on Gaza. A spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said that Israel’s military is “striking in all parts of the Gaza Strip”. Israel has told people in Gaza to flee south of the Gaza River.
A World Health Organization official said on Tuesday that a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza amid overcrowding, mass displacement and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure. At the same press briefing, a spokesperson for the UN children’s agency warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration with just 5% of normal water supplies available.
Egypt is engaging at all levels to resolve the “unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, Egyptian prime minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Tuesday during a visit to the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
The attack by Hamas on Israel will inspire the most significant terror threat to the US since the rise of Isis nearly a decade ago, FBI director Christopher Wray said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators interrupted US secretary of state Antony Blinken at a Senate hearing, covering their hands in red paint and calling on him to push for a ceasefire in Gaza. The protesters stopped Blinken during his testimony several times, with police taking the individuals out of the hall.
Arab American support for Joe Biden has fallen in the wake of his response to the latest bout of violence between Israel and Hamas, a poll from the Arab American Institute (AAI) shows. The same poll showed a sharp increase in reports of discrimination against members of the community.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has spoken of his horror at the killing of Shani Louk, which he described as “slaughter”, and reiterated the EU’s call for Hamas to release all of the hostages held in Gaza.
The UK opposition leader, Keir Starmer, has set out why he opposes calls for a ceasefire, warning “that would leave Hamas with the infrastructure and the capability to carry out the sort of attack we saw on 7 October”, and instead insisting there should be “a pause in the fighting for clear and specific humanitarian purposes.”
Norway believes Israel may have broken international law in its bombardment of Gaza, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back with you again tomorrow from London. My colleague Léonie Chao-Fong will be here shortly to take you through the next few hours of our live coverage from the US.
Updated
The World Health Organization spokesperson, Christian Lindmeier, said today that the risk of civilian deaths in Gaza was directly linked to Israeli bombardment and that a “public health catastrophe” was imminent.
He said that underlying conditions in Gaza’s population could no longer be treated because of a lack of resources, emphasising the risk to babies in incubators and pregnant women. Here is the video clip …
Updated
The attack by Hamas on Israel will inspire the most significant terror threat to the US since the rise of Islamic State nearly a decade ago, FBI director Christopher Wray said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
Wray said that since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza this month after the 7 October Hamas attack, multiple foreign terrorist organisations have called for attacks against the US and the west, significantly raising the threat posed by homegrown US violent extremists.
Reuters reports that Wray was speaking at a hearing before the US Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee.
During the hearing, the US homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, said that hate directed at Jewish students in the US in recent weeks has added to an increase in antisemitism.
Updated
Earlier today Pro-Palestine demonstrators interrupted the US secretary of state’s senate hearing, covering their hands in red paint and calling on Antony Blinken to push for a ceasefire in Gaza. The protesters stopped Blinken during his testimony several times, with police taking the individuals out of the hall.
Updated
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday discussed the Israel-Palestinian conflict in a call with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, his ministry said.
Reuters reports that in its statement, the Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov noted “the unacceptability of Israeli airstrikes on Syrian territory, which have become more frequent amid the events around the Gaza Strip” and warned of “the danger of attempts by external forces to turn the Middle East into an arena for settling geopolitical scores”.
Yesterday, without presenting any evidence, Russia suggested Ukraine was behind an attempted pogrom at Makhachkala airport in Dagestan inside the Russian Federation.
Israel has struck inside Syria several times since the 7 October Hamas attacks, including at the airports in Aleppo and Damascus.
Updated
'At least 47 bodies recovered' from rubble after blast at Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza – reports
Video footage has shown at least 47 bodies recovered from rubble after an explosion in several houses in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said in a statement there were “more than 50 martyrs and around 150 wounded and dozens under the rubble, in a heinous Israeli massacre that targeted a large area of homes in Jabalia camp.”
AFP reported that dozens of onlookers could be seen standing on the edges of two vast craters as people searched for survivors, and that its video footage from the scene showed at least 47 bodies recovered.
AFP said the Israeli military did not immediately comment when contacted.
Updated
Arab American support for Joe Biden has fallen in the wake of his response to the latest bout of violence between Israel and Hamas, a poll from the Arab American Institute (AAI) shows. The same poll showed a sharp increase in reports of discrimination against members of the community.
Since Hamas’s deadly 7 October attacks, which killed 1,400 Israelis, Biden has repeatedly proclaimed the US’s “rock-solid and unwavering support” for Israel.
According to AAI, that response has prompted a “dramatic plummeting of Arab American voter support for President Biden”. There are roughly 3.7 million Arab Americans in the US.
“Support among Arab American voters for Biden has plummeted from 59% in 2020 to 17% today,” the poll analysis said.
Notably, the data found that, for the first time in AAI’s 26 years of polling, a majority of Arab Americans did not claim to prefer the Democratic party.
Moreover, 40% of those polled said they would vote for Donald Trump in 2024 – a five percentage point increase from 2020, marking an all-time high for Arab American identification with the Republican party.
Read more of Erum Salam’s report here: Arab American backing for Biden sinks over ‘rock-solid’ Israel support
Updated
Israeli official: we do not see a deal to release the hostages close
The head of Israel’s national security council has said that he does not see a deal for the release of hostages being close.
Tzachi Hanegbi was giving a press briefing where Haaretz quotes him saying: “As of today, we do not see a deal to release the hostages close.” He also said that “the day after the war is not close” and that after the Hamas massacres of 7 October “everything we know from the past has disappeared, faded away”.
He said: “There aren’t any amorphous goals such as deterrence or price tagging. The massacre on 7 October dispelled the illusions. Hamas must cease to exist, that was the cabinet’s decision. Monstrous terrorist organisations must not be allowed to rule the Gaza Strip, I believe this is also the position of the majority of the citizens of the state of Israel.”
Updated
There are reports of a large number of casualties after a blast in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The director of the Indonesian hospital in Gaza has told Al Jazeera that “more than 50 people have been killed so far”.
Al Jazeera also quotes Ahmad al-Kahlout, the director of civil defence in northern Gaza, as saying:
These buildings house hundreds of citizens. The occupation’s air force destroyed this district with six US-made bombs. It is the latest massacre caused by Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. The international community must act immediately to stop Israel before it is too late.
The camp is located at the northern end of the Gaza Strip and is one of the most densely populated places on Earth.
Updated
Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin have been addressing politicians in Washington DC over the funding of US support for Israel.
US secretary of state Blinken said:
Without swift and sustained humanitarian relief, the conflict is much more likely to spread. Suffering will grow, and Hamas and its sponsors will benefit by fashioning themselves as the saviours of the very desperation that they created.
Defense secretary Austin said:
I have repeatedly made clear to Israel’s leaders that protecting civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and strategic imperative. Democracies like ours are stronger, and more secure, when we uphold the laws of war and protect civilians.
Blinken has been repeatedly interrupted by protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
Updated
Israel’s military has released photographs which it says shows IDF troops on the ground inside the Gaza Strip.
Here is a graphic giving an idea of where the incursions have taken place.
Updated
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, on Tuesday condemned the attacks on Israel by Hamas and said the Israeli response in Gaza must respect international law.
“We condemn Hamas’s terrorist attacks against Israel,” Reuters reports Stoltenberg said in a speech in Oslo.
“At the same time it is important that Israel’s response takes place within international law, that civilian lives are protected and that humanitarian aid reaches Gaza,” he added.
Updated
On Capitol Hill, protesters chanting “ceasefire now!” interrupted secretary of state Antony Blinken’s testimony before the Senate appropriations committee.
Blinken is testifying about the Biden administration’s request for $106bn in aid for Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, and for border security.
Here’s the scene as police removed the protesters, reportedly from anti-war group Code Pink, from the hearing room:
Updated
Antony Blinken is currently testifying before the Senate appropriations committee in Washington DC about funding for Ukraine and Israel, and the US secretary of state’s address has been interrupted five times so far by demonstrators about the Israel-Hamas war.
More details soon …
Updated
Egypt describes situation in Gaza as 'unprecedented humanitarian crisis'
Egypt is engaging at all levels to resolve the “unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, Egyptian prime minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Tuesday during a visit to the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
“Egypt is engaging at all levels starting with the political leadership with president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to all state agencies that are moving to solve this unprecedented humanitarian crisis that the innocent residents of the Gaza strip are exposed to today,” Reuters reports Madbouly said.
The two-state solution is the solution that will ensure peace in the region, he added.
Updated
Yemen Houthis claim missile and drone attack on Israel, say more to come
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said on Tuesday they have launched a “large number” of ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel.
Reuters reports that the group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a televised statement that this operation is the third targeting Israel, with more to come.
AFP reports that while in Qatar, Iran’s top diplomat, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has said it was “natural” for Tehran-backed groups to attack Israel in light of its war on Hamas, warning of a wider spillover if no ceasefire is reached.
It quotes him saying: “It is natural that the resistance groups and movements do not remain silent against all these crimes. They will not wait for anyone’s advice, therefore we need to use the last political opportunities to stop the war.”
Updated
Here are some of the latest images of Gaza sent to us over the news wires:
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Turkey’s foreign ministry has said Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, will pay an official visit to Ankara on Wednesday to discuss the conflict between Israel and Palestinians, Reuters reports.
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Here is an excerpt from UK opposition leader Keir Starmer’s speech earlier, in which he criticised the international community for failing to seek a just solution for peace in Israel and Palestine over recent years:
For too long the international community has put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into the too difficult box. There is no recent equivalent of anything like the concerted push for peace we saw in the 1990s and early 2000s.
No – what has happened is we have continually paid lip service to a two-state solution. Because it’s easier – convenient – perhaps to look away.
To look away from Gaza. Knowing it is controlled by those who want to kill Jews and wipe Israel off the map.
To look away from Israel. Knowing people live without the security which they deserve.
To look away from the West Bank. Knowing more settlements are being built against international law.
This must be the time for a new resolve. A renewed push, from all parties, to find a way to peace.
It will mean engaging with our Arab partners, working urgently on viable plans for a Palestine free from the terrorism of Hamas.
It will mean engaging with Israel, seeking to address its security concerns in the future but showing clearly that the settlement building is unacceptable, unlawful and has to stop.
The Palestinian people need to know there is a genuine will and determination from Israel, from Arab states, from the west to finally address their plight in deeds as well as words.
Because the Palestinian claim to statehood is not in the gift of a neighbour. It is an inalienable right of the Palestinian people and the clear logic of any call for a two-state solution. We will work with international partners towards the recognition of a Palestinian state as part of a negotiated, just and lasting peace.
Because even in the darkest days – in fact especially in the darkest days – we have to keep alive the light of peace. Fight, despite the horror of the present, for the fragile hope of the future.
You can read the full text here.
Updated
Norway: proportionality and humanitarian law 'not been fully respected' by Israel in Gaza
Norway believes Israel may have broken international law in its bombardment of Gaza, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.
While in the UAE, foreign minister Espen Barth Eide told Reuters in an interview that while Oslo supports Israel’s right to self defence, humanitarian law must be adhered to.
“We believe that there have been cases where this proportionality and this distinction have not been fully respected,” he said.
“What we’re seeing in Gaza is a terribly dramatic humanitarian situation,” Barth Eide said. He described conditions there as “terrible” with people largely cut off from water, electricity and medical supplies after weeks of heavy bombardment by Israel.
He described satellite images that showed entire areas bombed, homes of thousands of people destroyed and medical facilities attacked as being “clearly problematic” from an international humanitarian law perspective.
“This is not only important from a legal perspective, it’s also important because there will come a time where we have to look for political solutions,” Barth Eide said.
“We need to get back to the key issue of what to do about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The two-state solution envisaged in the Oslo Accords was the only solution, he said.
The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has levelled buildings and killed thousands of Palestinians including a large number of children. Israel’s military has ordered people in Gaza to evacuate to the south part of the territory below the Gaza River. It has since launched strikes against the cities there including Khan Younis and Rafah.
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On the Telegram messaging service, the Israel Defence Force has posted that it is firing into Lebanon. It wrote:
A short while ago, IDF soldiers struck a terrorist cell planning to launch anti-tank missiles toward Israeli territory.
In addition, anti-tank missiles were fired at two IDF military posts near the border with Lebanon. The IDF is responding toward the sources of fire.
Additionally, following the initial report regarding sirens sounding in Metula, two failed launches identified from Lebanon did not cross into Israel. IDF artillery is currently striking in Lebanon.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Summary of the day so far …
It is 2.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here is a summary of the main developments today …
A World Health Organization official said on Tuesday that a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza amid overcrowding, mass displacement and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure. At the same press briefing, a spokesperson for the UN children’s agency warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration, with just 5% of normal water supplies available.
At least 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has claimed. The health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra, said 130 healthcare staff had been killed and 15 hospitals were now out of service along with 32 healthcare centres.
The Israeli military has raised the number of hostages it says are confirmed to be being held in Gaza by Hamas to 240. In a briefing on Tuesday, the IDF spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said: “So far, families of 240 hostages have received notification. The number rose to 240 because our identification – as I’ve explained, some of the people are not citizens of Israel, so identification is more complicated. It takes time.”
Hagari has also claimed that Israel intercepted a missile from the Red Sea direction. He said: “A surface-to-surface missile that was launched into the territory of the state of Israel from the Red Sea area was successfully intercepted by the ‘Arrow’ long-range defence system.” The IDF also said it had scrambled planes “and intercepted hostile targets flying in the area”. “These drones belong to the state of Yemen,” Abdelaziz bin Habtour, the prime minister of the Houthi government told AFP, claiming the attacks.
Israeli troops on Tuesday destroyed the family home of Saleh al-Arouri, the exiled commander of Hamas forces in the occupied West Bank. Arouri, a veteran Hamas leader who has spent 17 years in Israeli jails, is deputy to the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and among a group of leaders singled out by Israeli officials. His house, which local residents said was not occupied, was blown up in the early hours of the morning.
The IDF has claimed it also struck 300 locations in its latest assault on Gaza. Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus saying that Israel’s military is “striking in all parts of the Gaza Strip”. Israel has told people in Gaza to flee south of the Gaza River.
The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said it fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli forces early on Tuesday, adding that troops were “invading the southern Gaza axis”. Hamas said it also targeted two Israeli tanks and bulldozers in north-west Gaza with missiles.
The mother of Ori Megidish, the soldier the IDF on Monday said it rescued after she had been kidnapped by Hamas into Gaza, has said: “We’re praying for the return of the remaining hostages.”
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has spoken of his horror at the killing of Shani Louk, which he described as “slaughter”, and reiterated the EU’s call for Hamas to release all of the hostages held in Gaza.
The UK opposition leader, Keir Starmer, has set out why he opposes calls for a ceasefire, warning “that would leave Hamas with the infrastructure and the capability to carry out the sort of attack we saw on 7 October”, and instead insisting there should be “a pause in the fighting for clear and specific humanitarian purposes.”
Kuwait’s crown prince, Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, said on Tuesday that his country condemned Israeli “aggression” on Gaza and called for a ceasefire. He requested the opening of the crossings to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, and condemned the displacement of people within Gaza.
Updated
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has spoken of his horror at the killing of Shani Louk, and reiterated the EU’s call for Hamas to release all of the hostages held in Gaza.
He posted wrote on social media:
Horrified by the slaughter of Shani Louk, a German-Israeli citizen, by Hamas. Her death is an illustration of the barbarity of terrorists committed against hundreds of Israeli and international citizens. The EU calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages in Gaza.
Horrified by the slaughter of Shani Louk, a German-Israeli citizen, by Hamas
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) October 31, 2023
Her death is an illustration of the barbarity of terrorists committed against hundreds of Israeli & international citizens
The EU calls for the immediate & unconditional release of all hostages in Gaza
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Paris has seen Stars of David stencils painted on buildings again overnight, residents told the AFP on Tuesday, as fears mount in France over the targeting of Jews amid the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Jewish symbol was painted in multiple spots across several building fronts in a southern district of Paris, an AFP journalist saw.
Similar tags appeared over the weekend in suburbs of the city including Vanves, Fontenay-aux-Roses and Aubervilliers. In a nearby town, Saint-Ouen, they were accompanied by inscriptions such as “Palestine will overcome”.
The Union of Jewish students of France said they were designed to mirror the way Jews were forced to wear the stars by the Nazi regime.
“This act of marking recalls the processes of the 1930s and the second world war which led to the extermination of millions of Jews,” its president, Samuel Lejoyeux, told AFP. “The people who did this clearly wanted to terrify.”
In another development in France, police have shot and wounded a woman who was allegedly making threats at a train station in Paris, in the latest security incident as the country remains on heightened anti-terrorism alert after a fatal stabbing at a school this month.
Angelique Chrisafis is in Paris for the Guardian, and has this report: Police open fire after alleged threats by woman on Paris train
Updated
The mother of Ori Megidish, the soldier the IDF yesterday said it rescued after she had been kidnapped by Hamas into Gaza, has said: “We’re praying for the return of the remaining hostages.”
Haaretz reports that Maggi Megidish, speaking to the media outside her home, said: “Thank you God. Thank you to the Shin Bet security service. Thank you to the IDF and the security forces. Thank you everyone. The people of Israel live on forever.”
Updated
There is going to be a Q&A after the UK opposition leader Keir Starmer’s speech about Israel and Palestine. It may well focus on domestic politics implications in the UK, so my colleague Andrew Sparrow is covering that here.
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Israel claims to have intercepted 'hostile targets' approaching from Red Sea
The Israel Defence Forces spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, has claimed that Israel intercepted a missile from the Red Sea direction. On social media, he wrote:
A surface-to-surface missile that was launched into the territory of the state of Israel from the Red Sea area was successfully intercepted by the ‘Arrow’ long-range defence system.
The detection systems of the air force followed the trajectory of the missile and it is intercepted at the most appropriate operational time and location.
Also, IDF planes were launched in the morning following an aerial threat detected in the Red Sea area and intercepted hostile targets flying in the area.
All the threats were intercepted outside the territory of the state of Israel. No intrusion into Israeli territory was detected.
Earlier, AFP reported that a senior official from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have fired drones at Israel.
“These drones belong to the state of Yemen,” Abdelaziz bin Habtour, the prime minister of the Houthi government, told AFP when asked about the launch towards Eilat in southern Israel.
Israel blamed the Houthis for a similar drone attack on Friday in which its aircraft intercepted “hostile targets” headed for southern Israel.
Six people were lightly injured in neighbouring Egypt when debris hit a building in the Sinai resort of Taba, just across the border from Eilat, the Egyptian army said at the time.
The Houthis will release a statement on Tuesday with more details of their involvement in the “resistance” against Israel, Bin Habtour told AFP.
Updated
The UK opposition leader Keir Starmer has set out why he does not support a ceasefire in Gaza. He said:
While I understand calls for a ceasefire at this stage, I do not believe that it is the correct position now for two reasons.
One, because a ceasefire always freezes any conflict in the state where it currently lives.
And as we speak, that would leave Hamas with the infrastructure and the capability to carry out the sort of attack we saw on 7 October. Attacks that are still ongoing. Hostages, who should be released, still held.
Hamas would be emboldened and start preparing for future violence immediately.
And it is this context which explains my second reason. Our current call for a pause in the fighting for clear and specific humanitarian purposes, and which must start immediately, is right in practice, as well as principle.
In fact it is, at this moment, the only credible approach that has any chance of achieving what we all want to see in Gaza. The urgent alleviation of Palestinian suffering, aid distributed quickly, space to get hostages out.
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Gaza health ministry: 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, killed by Israel since 7 October
At least 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has claimed.
The health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra, said 130 healthcare staff had been killed, and 15 hospitals were now out of service along with 32 healthcare centres.
Updated
The UK Labour leader Keir Starmer is beginning his speech about the Israel-Hamas war at Chatham House in London. You can watch it here:
There has been a protest outside calling for a ceasefire.
Updated
Here is a video clip of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ruling out any ceasefire with Hamas. Speaking in English, Netanyahu said:
I want to make clear Israel’s position regarding a ceasefire.
Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or after the terrorist attack of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of 7 October.
Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas. To surrender to terrorists. To surrender to barbarism. That will not happen.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible says that there is a time for peace, and a time for war. This is a time for war, a war for our common future.
Updated
UK opposition leader Keir Starmer delivers speech on Israel-Hamas war
In the UK, the Labour leader Keir Starmer is due to deliver a speech about Israel and Gaza. He is expected to defend Labour’s calls for a humanitarian pause to allow Palestinians to flee the fighting, and for aid to be distributed, but to say that a permanent ceasefire at this stage could leave Hamas with the capability to carry out further attacks in Israel.
You can watch it here when it starts. He is due to begin in about five minutes.
Updated
IDF raises number of confirmed hostages held by Hamas in Gaza to 240
The Israeli military has raised the number of hostages it says are confirmed held in Gaza by Hamas to 240.
In a briefing earlier today, the IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said:
So far, families of 240 hostages have received notification. The number rose to 240 because our identification – as I’ve explained, some of the people are not citizens of Israel, so identification is more complicated. It takes time.
Hamas has so far released four hostages back to Israel; the IDF has claimed to have recovered a soldier, Ori Megidish; and Shani Louk, who was believed to be held hostage, has been declared killed. Hamas seized the hostages as part of its murderous rampage inside Israel on 7 October.
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WHO warns of imminent 'public health catastrophe' and risk of infant deaths in Gaza
A World Health Organization official said on Tuesday that a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza amid overcrowding, mass displacement and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure.
Reuters reports that at the same press briefing, a spokesperson for the UN children’s agency warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration with just 5% of normal water supplies available.
Updated
In London, Jewish activists from Na’amod (British Jews against occupation) have been staging a protest outside the Foreign Office, demanding a ceasefire and the release of all hostages.
In a statement, the group said:
The urgency for a ceasefire comes as the Israeli military’s unrelenting assault has already claimed over 8,000 lives in Gaza, injuring thousands more. Under lethal bombardment and the collapse of civilian infrastructure, entire families are being wiped out. In shamefully abstaining from supporting a truce – let alone a ceasefire – our government is complicit in this horror.
Intensifying the 16-year blockade of the strip into a “complete siege” amounts to collective punishment, a war crime; the attempt to displace over one million people, without guarantee of return, raises the spectre of a second Nakba, and is a crime against humanity. The war crimes committed by Hamas on 7 October cannot justify the perpetration of others.
Yesterday the British government dismissed a junior ministerial aide for calling for a ceasefire.
Updated
Israeli forces demolish West Bank house of senior Hamas leader
Israeli troops on Tuesday destroyed the family home of Saleh al-Arouri, the exiled commander of Hamas forces in the occupied West Bank as security forces continued a crackdown on leaders of the group that launched the attack inside Israel on 7 October.
Arouri, a veteran Hamas leader who has spent 17 years in Israeli jails, is deputy to the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and among a group of leaders singled out by Israeli officials.
Reuters reports that his house, which local residents said was not occupied, had been scheduled for demolition since last week and security forces blew it up in the early hours of the morning, according to witnesses.
The Israel Defence Forces posted a video to social media that was said to show the demolition.
צה"ל ושב"כ פועלים כנגד ארגון הטרור חמאס ברחבי יהודה ושומרון; נעצרו 38 מבוקשים והוחרמו אמצעי לחימה
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 31, 2023
כוחות הביטחון הרסו הלילה את ביתו של צלאח ערורי, סגן ראש הלשכה המדינית והאחראי על פעילות ארגון הטרור חמאס ביהודה ושומרון.
לכל הפרטים: https://t.co/LbQVIXbcDy pic.twitter.com/ZgfmyosXI2
In the message, the IDF claimed:
The IDF and Shin Bet are working against the terrorist organization Hamas throughout Judea and Samaria; 38 wanted persons were arrested and weapons were confiscated. The security forces tonight destroyed the house of Salah Arori, the deputy head of the political bureau and responsible for the activities of the terrorist organization Hamas in Judea and Samaria.
There are also still images of the destroyed house on the news wires
Updated
The UN’s humanitarian affairs chief, Martin Griffiths, has posted to social media to say he has spoken to residents inside Gaza. He wrote:
I had the sad privilege of speaking to families in Gaza over the phone this morning. What they’ve endured since 7 October is beyond devastating. And when an 8-year-old tells you that she doesn’t want to die, it’s hard not to feel helpless.
Israel said last week it had refused a visa to Griffiths after a speech by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, at the UN in New York sparked Israeli protests. Yesterday, Griffiths posted that he was “in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory”, saying “Palestinian and Israeli civilians have suffered enough”.
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The Palestinian Red Crescent has issued figures it says represent how many cases it has dealt with since the current escalation of the conflict began on 7 October. It claims it has dealt with 2,580 people being killed, and 7,667 injuries. It described those killed as “martyrs”.
📍Since the beginning of the escalation, @PalestineRCS teams have dealt with 2,580 martyrs and 7,667 injuries in #Gaza Strip up to 10am.#Gazabombing #Gazaunderattak #Gaza_Genicide #GazaUnderGenocide pic.twitter.com/dm4ogBiU4b
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) October 31, 2023
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has put the total number of deaths following Israeli actions in Gaza since 7 October at more than 8,000.
Neither sets of claims have been independently verified.
Updated
In the UK, opposition leader Keir Starmer is expected to say later today that a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war could risk further violence.
The Labour leader will make a speech on Tuesday in central London calling on global leaders to work towards restoring peace in the Middle East, as he attempts to quell growing tensions within his own party over the conflict.
Starmer will defend Labour’s calls for a humanitarian pause to allow Palestinians to flee the fighting, and for aid to be distributed. He is expected to say a permanent ceasefire at this stage could leave Hamas with the capability to carry out further attacks in Israel.
Labour’s shadow minister Sir Chris Bryant said on BBC radio this morning: “How could you have a ceasefire with Hamas who have no intention of laying down their weapons and haven’t even said that they will return the hostages?
“We’re calling for a pause because that’s the fastest way to get food, water, medicine and power back into the people of Gaza.”
PA Media reports that Bryant said Israel had a “right to self defence” but it was “not a carte blanche”.
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Kuwait’s crown prince, Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, said on Tuesday that his country condemned Israeli “aggression” on Gaza and called for a ceasefire.
Reuters reports Al-Sabah was addressing parliament on behalf of the Emir in the opening of the parliament’s regular second session.
Al Jazeera reports that he requested the opening of the crossings to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, and condemned the displacement of people within Gaza.
Updated
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari is giving a press briefing. I’ll bring you any key lines that emerge …
A UK government minister has said it was right that a colleague was sacked for calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Paul Bristow was dismissed as a ministerial aide at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on Monday after writing to the prime minister to call for an end to hostilities between Israel and Hamas to save lives.
In comments made to Times Radio in the UK, transport minister Richard Holden said “I think on this one he did get it wrong”, arguing that calling for a ceasefire would allow “Hamas to be able to act essentially with impunity”.
Among those who have called for a ceasefire are UN António Guterres and director-general of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In later comments on Sky News, Holden said he has not seen anything to suggest Israel is not acting in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
He told viewers “On a personal level I’m not an international lawyer but I’ve not seen anything which really says that it isn’t. What I want to do though is I want Israel to respond in a sensible way to this. I think it’s very difficult for Israel at the same time, who are fighting essentially a terrorist organisation who have no rules.”
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Updated
The Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari has posted to social media to say “there is no threat and there is no danger” after “IDF systems detected an aerial target approaching the territory of the state of Israel”.
Earlier there were reports of an aerial object approaching the Eilat region in Israel’s south. Unconfirmed reports on Israeli radio have suggested that a drone was shot down over the Red Sea.
Updated
The IDF has posted to social media to state that “a warning was activated about the intrusion of a hostile aircraft in the Eilat region. The details are under review.”
Eilat is Israel’s southernmost city, a resort and port on the Red Sea. It has come under fire previously during this period of conflict from a long-range missile fired from the Gaza Strip.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. I will be bringing you our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war for the next few hours. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
The IDF has struck 300 locations in Gaza in the last day, it said in a post on Twitter.
When Musheir El-Farra climbs into bed in Gaza each night, he cannot get the sounds of people screaming out of his head.
Since last week, the British civil engineer has been plagued by memories of an Israeli bomb attack on a residential block in Khan Younis in which, he said, 16 of his relatives were killed.
“Every time I go to bed I can see them, and I’m saying to myself: ‘Is there going to be more?’ Every night. Every night I can hear those screams, those wails,” he said.
El-Farra said the “massacre” was 10 metres from the house he was sheltering in, and that he now knows more than 100 people who have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its aerial bombardment and ground operation.
Describing the aftermath of the attack in the early hours of the morning last Tuesday, he said: “I saw the body of my beloved cousin, a boy I’ve loved since he was a kid, called Hatim, in front of me, on his back, with his backside exposed and we put a blanket on him.
“I saw the body of his son who was thrown from the third floor into the back yard in front of our house. I saw the body of two of the babies who were killed in that massacre.
“I saw an old woman who was severely injured being carried by our relatives. I saw them all being taken to ambulances and I saw mutilated bodies. I saw all this at a metre’s distance.
For three weeks, Sunan Chombua has waited anxiously for news about his son. On 7 October, a photograph shared online showed Komkrit Chombua, 29, sitting on the floor, head bowed, among a group of hostages taken by Hamas.
“When I looked at the phone and I saw his picture, I knew immediately it was him,” Sunan said. “I want the government to negotiate with them quicker, faster. I want to see him again, I want him to come home.”
Komkrit had moved from his home in rural Thailand four years ago to work in Israel, one of thousands of Thais who have done so, often propping up the country’s agriculture sector. This month they have found themselves in the centre of a war zone, and Thais are thought to be the biggest group of foreign nationals killed or missing in the Hamas attacks, according to Israel.
The Thai government has said 22 of its nationals have been taken hostage. A further 32 have been killed and 19 injured.
Komkrit’s parents had never wanted him to move away for work, but the salary abroad is far higher. “He just wanted to help us,” said Sunan, who is a subsistence rice farmer. “Before, we didn’t have a proper house, just a small little hut. We didn’t have money.”
Komkrit sent back enough money for his parents to build a home. “He hasn’t had a chance to see it yet,” Sunan said:
Is there evidence of war crimes in the fighting between Israel and Hamas?
The UN said that Hamas’s indiscriminate killing of more than 1,400 non-combatants, including children, and the abduction of about 200 others as hostages and human shields in Gaza, is a crime under the international humanitarian law.
“Reports that armed groups from Gaza have gunned down hundreds of unarmed civilians are abhorrent and cannot be tolerated. Taking civilian hostages and using civilians as human shields are war crimes,” it said.
Legal experts said that Hamas and other groups such as Islamic Jihad may also be guilty of war crimes for firing thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel.
The UN also said that Israel may be committing the war crime of collective punishment through its siege of the Gaza territory. The International Committee of the Red Cross agreed.
“The instructions issued by the Israeli authorities for the population of Gaza City to immediately leave their homes, coupled with the complete siege, explicitly denying them food, water and electricity are not compatible with international humanitarian law,” it said.
Amnesty International said it had “documented unlawful Israeli attacks, including indiscriminate attacks, which caused mass civilian casualties and must be investigated as war crimes”.
Human Rights Watch said “multiple war crimes have been and continue to be committed in Israel and Palestine, with grave concerns that Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups are carrying out unlawful indiscriminate attacks harming civilians”.
Updated
United Nations special envoy for Syria has told the UN security council the number of Syrians killed, injured and displaced is at its highest since 2020, citing a significant intensification of attacks in government-controlled areas, including an unclaimed attack on a graduation ceremony at a military academy in Homs, which the government attributes to terrorist organizations.
He also reported government rocket attacks throughout October on Hayat Tahrir al Sham — the insurgent group that rules much of rebel-held northwest Syria — as well as a major escalation of Turkish strikes in the northeast following an attack on Turkish government facilities in Ankara. The Turkish strikes have killed dozens, damaged health facilities, schools and camps, and displaced more than 120,000 civilians, he said.
IDF 'striking in all parts of the Gaza strip'
In an operational update a short while ago, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said that Israel’s military is “striking in all parts of the Gaza strip”.
Gaza health authorities say that 8,306 people including 3,457 minors have been killed in Israeli attacks since 7 October. UN officials say more than 1.4 million of Gaza’s civilian population of about 2.3 million have been made homeless.
Israel would be “ramping up” humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza strip, Conricus added.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general for the UN relief and works agency (UNRWA), has accused Israel of “collective punishment” of the people of Gaza and said that the current aid system is “geared to fail”.
According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, 33 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies entered Gaza through Rafah on Sunday.
Prior to the war, some 500 trucks carrying aid and other goods entered Gaza every day.
Updated
Spillover into Syria 'has already begun' says UN envoy
Associated Press: The Israel-Hamas war is spilling into Syria, fueled by growing instability, violence and a lack of progress toward a political solution to its 12-year conflict, the United Nations special envoy for the country said Monday.
Geir Pedersen told the Security Council that, on top of violence from the Syrian conflict, the Syrian people now face “a terrifying prospect of a potential wider escalation” following Hamas’ 7 October attacks on Israel and the ongoing retaliatory military action.
“Spillover into Syria is not just a risk; it has already begun,” the UN envoy for Syria said.
Pedersen pointed to airstrikes attributed to Israel hitting Syria’s airports in Aleppo and Damascus several times, and retaliation by the United States against what it said were multiple attacks on its forces “by groups that it claims are backed by Iran, including on Syrian territory.”
With the region “at its most dangerous and tense,” he said, “fuel is being added to a tinderbox that was already beginning to ignite” in Syria, which was seeing a surge in violence even before 7 October.
Which humanitarian laws apply to the Israel-Hamas war?
The United Nations has said “there is already clear evidence that war crimes may have been committed” by Hamas and the Israeli military since 7 October and that it is gathering evidence for potential prosecutions.
All parties involved in the conflict are governed by a body of law drawn from a system of conventions, treaties and war crimes tribunal rulings known as “international humanitarian law” or the “law of armed conflict”.
The law has two key elements. The protection of non-combatants such as civilians or soldiers who have surrendered, and restrictions on the type of warfare employed by a belligerent.
The rules are rooted in treaties going back to the 19th century but these days the law is built around the 1949 Geneva conventions signed after crimes against humanity committed in the second world war, with a new focus on the protection of civilians. Additional protocols have been added over the years covering the use of certain types of weapons.
There is also case law from various international tribunals, such as the international criminal tribunal that tried the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda, which was the first to rule that rape had been used as a weapon of war and genocide.
Israel has not ratified certain protocols in the conventions covering areas such as collective punishments, but the US and other countries regard these provisions as having entered customary international law and therefore binding on all states:
On Monday, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, urged the divided UN security council to come together, saying “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing more dire by the day”.
After the rejection of four previous resolutions in the 15-member security council – one vetoed by the US, one vetoed by Russia and China, and two for failing to get the minimum nine yes votes – Arab nations last Friday went to the UN general assembly where there are no vetoes.
The 193-member world body adopted a resolution calling for humanitarian truces leading to a cessation of hostilities by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions.
The security council has since been trying to negotiate a resolution that will not be rejected. While its resolutions are legally binding, assembly resolutions are not, though they are an important measure of world opinion.
In a sign of increasing US concern at the escalating Palestinian death toll, Thomas-Greenfield told the council that Biden had reiterated to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “that while Israel has the right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism, it must do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law”:
The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said it fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli forces early on Tuesday, adding that troops were “invading the southern Gaza axis”. Hamas said it also targeted two Israeli tanks and bulldozers in north-west Gaza with missiles.
Israel has expanded ground operations in Gaza over recent days, advancing on Gaza City from two directions, with tanks reported to be on the main north-south road in an apparent effort to cut the strip into two.
Gaza health authorities say that 8,306 people including 3,457 minors have been killed in Israeli attacks since Hamas launched terrorist raids into Israel on 7 October, killing more than 1,400 people and taking 240 hostages. UN officials say more than 1.4 million of Gaza’s civilian population of about 2.3 million have been made homeless.
Thailand’s foreign minister begins an urgent visit to Qatar and Egypt on Tuesday for talks on the fate of 22 Thais taken hostage by Hamas in its October 7 attack on Israel, AFP reports.
More than 230 hostages are being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to the latest Israeli figures - 22 of them Thai nationals, the foreign ministry in Bangkok has said.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Monday his government was working hard to get Thai citizens home.
He has dispatched foreign minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara to meet the Qatari prime minister and foreign minister on Tuesday, before talks with the Egyptian foreign minister on Wednesday.
Parnpree will “discuss the situation of Thai nationals being held hostage as a result of the ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza”, the ministry said in a statement.
The US has dismissed Russian claims that the west was behind an antisemitic riot in Dagestan.
President Vladimir Putin had accused Ukraine and “agents of western special services” after a mob descended on Makhachkala airport in Russia’s North Caucasus on Sunday evening in search of Jewish passengers on a plane that arrived from Israel.
At a White House briefing, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “Classic Russian rhetoric, when something goes bad in your country, you blame somebody else.”
“The west had nothing to do with this. This is just hate, bigotry and intimidation, pure and simple,” Kirby said.
A few moments ago, the IDF posted photos of what it says are ground forces in the Gaza strip. Israel has expanded ground operations in Gaza.
The below Tweet is captioned “The ground activity of the IDF forces in the Gaza Strip”.
הפעילות הקרקעית של כוחות צה"ל ברצועת עזה: pic.twitter.com/b4bopCj0d2
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 31, 2023
While this post is captioned, “Commander of the Southern Command assessing the situation in the Gaza Strip”:
מפקד פיקוד דרום בהערכת מצב ברצועת עזה: pic.twitter.com/bKAJZtTg7Q
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 31, 2023
Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire in Gaza, declaring “this is a time for war”. In a press conference conducted in English on Monday, the Israeli prime minister said the army’s advance through Gaza opened opportunities to free hostages, which he said Hamas would do only under pressure.
More than 8,000 Palestinians have already been killed in Israel’s attack on Gaza, the majority of them women and children. At least 3,200 children have been killed in just over three weeks of Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Updated
Here is our video report on what appears to be an IDF advance on Gaza City from two sides:
Updated
Aid plan ‘geared to fail’ without political will, says UN
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general for the UN relief and works agency (UNRWA), has accused Israel of “collective punishment” of the people of Gaza and said that the current aid system is “geared to fail”.
“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs,” Lazzarini said, calling for the Security Council to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, 33 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies entered Gaza through Rafah on Sunday.
Prior to the war, some 500 trucks carrying aid and other goods entered Gaza every day.
Hamas reports clashes with IDF in north and south Gaza
Reuters: Hamas said its militants fired machine guns and anti-tank missiles toward Israeli forces in north and south Gaza early on Tuesday as Israel’s tanks and infantry attacked the enclave’s main city, raising concerns about the plight of Palestinian civilians.
Israel has expanded ground operations in Gaza over recent days, advancing on Gaza City from two directions, with tanks reported to be on the main north-south road in an apparent effort to cut the strip into two.
Witnesses said Israeli forces targeted Gaza’s main north-south road on Monday and attacked Gaza City from two directions.
The Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement, said militants clashed early on Tuesday with Israeli forces “invading the southern Gaza axis, [including] with machine guns, and targeted four vehicles with al-Yassin 105 missiles,” referring to locally produced anti-tank missiles.
The militants also targeted two Israeli tanks and bulldozers in north-west Gaza with the missiles, al-Qassam said.
Neither Reuters nor the Guardian were able to confirm the reports of fighting. Israel’s military had no immediate comment.
Updated
Opening summary
This is the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war with me, Helen Sullivan.
The top developments this morning: Hamas said its militants fired machine guns and anti-tank missiles toward Israeli forces in north and south Gaza early on Tuesday as Israel’s tanks and infantry attacked the enclave’s main city, raising concerns about the plight of Palestinian civilians.
And Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general for the UN relief and works agency (UNRWA), has accused Israel of “collective punishment” of the people of Gaza and said that the current aid system is “geared to fail”.
“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs,” Lazzarini said, calling for the Security Council to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, 33 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies entered Gaza through Rafah on Sunday.
Prior to the war, some 500 trucks carrying aid and other goods entered Gaza every day.
Elsewhere:
Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire in Gaza, declaring “this is a time for war”. In a press conference conducted in English on Monday, the Israeli prime minister said the army’s advance through Gaza opened opportunities to free hostages, which he said Hamas would do only under pressure.
Nearly 70% of those reported killed in Gaza are children and women, said the UNRWA chief. The head of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees has warned that the level of destruction across Gaza “is unprecedented, the human tragedy unfolding under our watch is unbearable”. Philippe Lazzarini, addressing the UN security council on Monday, said nearly 3,200 children have been killed in Gaza in three weeks, citing figures by the territory’s health ministry.
The US does not believe a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is “the right answer” right now, the White House’s national security council spokesperson said. “We believe that a ceasefire right now benefits Hamas, and Hamas is the only one that would gain from that right now,” John Kirby said on Monday.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the Security Council to call “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, address the immense humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, affirm Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorism, and remind all actors that international humanitarian law must be respected.” She reiterated President Joe Biden’s call for humanitarian pauses to get hostages out, allow aid in, and safe passage for civilians.
Hamas has released a video of three Israeli hostages in Gaza in an apparent effort to increase the pressure on Netanyahu’s government. Netanyahu’s office named the hostages as Daniel Aloni, Rimon Kirsht and Elena Trupanov. Their families held a press conference in Tel Aviv urging the Red Cross to demand to see all of the hostages held in Gaza, and for the US president, Joe Biden, to “do any and everything in your power to bring everyone home”.
An Israeli soldier captured by Hamas has been rescued from Gaza in an overnight operation, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. Ori Megidish, an army private, was freed on Sunday night, three weeks after she was abducted with more than 220 other hostages. After a medical check declared her healthy she was reunited with her family.
Israeli forces appear to be advancing on Gaza City in two directions. In the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli armour was operating close to the Mediterranean coast. Witness reports described Israeli tanks cutting the main north-south Salah al-Din road south of Gaza City and operating on the outskirts of the Zaytun district and Shejaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City. The cutting of the key road, if confirmed, would suggest that Israeli forces are attempting to cut off Gaza City from the south, effectively isolating and laying siege to the urban sprawl that extends north all the way to Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia.
A total of 26 trucks containing food supplies and medical equipment have passed through the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip, the Palestine Red Crescent said on Monday. Just 144 trucks have delivered supplies to the Palestinian humanitarian organisation since 7 October, it said.
Hundreds of patients are trapped inside al-Quds hospital in northern Gaza amid intense constant bombardment around the hospital, ActionAid warned. More than 12,000 displaced people are taking shelter in the hospital’s corridors and courtyards in addition to hundreds of patients who would not survive the journey south, it said.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza continued to worsen, with insufficient water, food, medicine and fuel, aid agencies said. The international criminal court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, said impeding aid could constitute a war crime and urged Israel to allow more trucks to enter.
The deepening IDF incursion into Gaza came amid dwindling Israeli public enthusiasm for a prolonged occupation. Support has fallen from 65% on 10 October to 46% now, according to a study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which has monitored the same sample of 1,774 people, with a 4.2% margin of error.
Israeli forces struck targets in Syria and Lebanon, in response to launches from those areas into Israel, the military said. In separate tweets, the IDF said an aircraft had attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanese territory, including “infrastructures for directing terrorism and military infrastructures of the organisation”, and that a fighter jet had attacked launchers in Syrian territory.
Israel said it carried out an operation to “thwart terrorist infrastructure in the Jenin refugee camp” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which it claimed led to 51 people being arrested, of which it claimed 38 were operatives of Hamas.
The family of Shani Louk, a 22-year-old German-Israeli woman initially believed to have been kidnapped alive during Hamas’s assault on a music festival in Re’im, have said she died.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Monday introduced a plan to provide $14.3bn in aid to Israel by cutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service, setting up a showdown with Democrats who control the Senate.
A Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli police officer before being shot dead in annexed East Jerusalem, close to the green line. Guardian correspondents about 200 metres from where the shooting took place heard two bursts of gunfire in quick succession and saw armed police, horses and sharp shooters on motorbikes converging on a nearby petrol station.
The Kremlin has said a mob that stormed a Dagestan airport in search of Jewish passengers from Israel on Sunday did so due to “outside influence”. The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said “ill-wishers” had used widely seen images of suffering in Gaza to stir up feeling in the predominantly Muslim region in the north Caucasus. Local health authorities said 20 people were injured in the incident in Makhachkala.
A British Conservative MP, Paul Bristow, has been sacked from his government job after breaking ranks to publicly urge Rishi Sunak to back a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American boy and his mother pleaded not guilty on Monday after his indictment by an Illinois grand jury. Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of his mother, Hanaan Shahin, on 14 October. Authorities said the victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith.
Civil rights groups in the US have warned of a “wave of McCarthyite backlash” against criticism of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza after Americans expressing support for the Palestinians have been sacked, faced threats of violence and hounded by pro-Israel groups.
