Summary
We have closed this instalment of our Israel-Hamas war live blog. Go to our Israel-Hamas war page for continued coverage. Thank you.
Telephone communications and internet connectivity were gradually returning to the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to reports by Palestinian media. The destruction of phone and internet connections plunged Gaza into a communications blackout on Friday night, creating an information vacuum amid the heaviest aerial bombardment of the war so far. Gaza’s 2.3 million people were already in darkness after most electricity was cut off and fuel for generators ran out. No international aid entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday night that the military had opened a “second stage” in the war, which aimed to “destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and bring the hostages home”. He said: “The battle within the Gaza Strip will be difficult and long; this is our second war of independence.”
Netanyahu met with the families of hostages on Saturday evening following a protest by relatives outside the defence ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. It was unclear what reassurances he could offer as there appears to be no plan to negotiate prisoner exchanges or pause the offensive, which Hamas has said is a condition of any releases. Last week Hamas said approximately 50 hostages died in the bombardment. Relatives fear the recent escalation of Israel’s assault on Gaza will lead to further deaths.
Saudi Arabia’s defense minister Khalid bin Salman is expected to visit Washington on Monday, sources told Axios. The visit had been long-scheduled, but comes as Netanyahu announced the beginning of the “second stage” in the war. US President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman spoke on a call on Tuesday, and discussed efforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from widening.
Qatar-mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas aimed at de-escalating fighting in Gaza continued on Saturday, a source briefed on the negotiations said. “Talks have not broken down, but are taking place at a ‘much slower pace’ than before the escalation from Friday evening,” a source told Reuters.
UN chief António Guterres met with Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani to discuss the war. “I came to Doha to express to Prime Minister@MBA_AlThani_ our full gratitude, appreciation and support for Qatar’s tireless mediation initiatives, namely for the release of the hostages kept in Gaza,” Guterres tweeted on Saturday.
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, has ordered the return of Israeli diplomats from Turkey following Turkish president Tayyip Erdoğan’s comments at a pro-Palestinian rally in which he called Israel an “occupier.” Cohen tweeted on Saturday: “Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey.”
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and its strike group has moved through the Strait of Gibraltar, putting two American carriers in the Mediterranean Sea, a rare sight in recent years. The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is already in the eastern Mediterranean, part of a buildup of forces as the U.S. supports Israel in its war against Hamas.
Médecins Sans Frontières has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza “to prevent more deaths … and allow desperately needed humanitarian supplies in.” “We have teams on standby ready to send medical supplies and to enter Gaza, as soon as the situation allows it. But if the bombing continues with the current intensity, any effort to increase medical aid will inevitably fall short,” the organization said.
Updated
Telephone and internet connectivity returning gradually to Gaza Strip - reports
Telephone communications and internet connectivity are gradually returning to the Gaza Strip, Palestinian media is reporting.
The destruction of phone and internet connections plunged Gaza into a communications blackout on Friday night, creating an information vacuum amid the heaviest aerial bombardment of the war so far.
Palestinians, aid groups, journalists and civil society organisations said they had lost touch with staff and families.
Already in darkness after most electricity was cut off and fuel for generators ran out, Gaza’s 2.3 million people were thrown into isolation from the rest of the world.
Updated
Summary
Here is the Guardian’s roundup of the latest events in the Israel-Hamas war:
Updated
Here’s a recap of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest comments, which were televised on Saturday night.
Netanyahu said the military had opened a “second stage” in the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea.
Netanyahu told Israelis: “We have unanimously approved the widening of the ground invasion … Our objective is singular: to defeat the murderous enemy. We declared ‘never again’, and we reiterate: ‘never again, now’.”
Describing the expanding war as Israel’s “second war of independence” Netanyahu continued: “In the initial weeks of the war, we launched massive airstrikes that dealt a severe blow to the enemy.
“We eliminated many terrorists. However, we are only at the beginning. The battle within the Gaza Strip will be difficult and long; this is our second war of independence.”
Communications between Gaza and the outside world was almost entirely cut, as 2.3 million Palestinians in the blockaded coastal strip braced themselves for a second night of sharply escalating Israeli military operations.
Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf has said he does not know if his parents-in-law who are trapped in Gaza are dead or alive after Israel knocked out communications there.
Yousaf said he and his wife, Nadia, are “desperately worried” and that she is “numb” as they try to find out news about her parents.
Elizabeth El-Nakla and her husband, Maged, the parents of Yousaf’s wife, travelled to Gaza before hostilities flared up earlier this month to visit family and became trapped.
Yousaf said he has not heard from his in-laws since Friday.
He told BBC Scotland: “We haven’t heard from them obviously since the intensity of the bombing last night and you can imagine how desperately worried we are, and to be frank, we don’t know if they are alive or dead.
“And that is the reality not just facing us, clearly the reality for many people right across the world who haven’t heard from their loved ones who are trapped in Gaza and have been facing bombardment over the last three weeks.
“My wife is numb to be honest, I’m trying to do my best to give her some hope and we’re doing our best to try to keep ourselves distracted, and obviously calling as many phone numbers as we possibly can, as many relatives as we can across Gaza, with no luck this far.
The first minister reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire.
Updated
No international aid entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday, as the communications blackout created by Israel continued.
Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent, told The Associated Press that no aid trucks entered Gaza on Saturday because communication was impossible and teams inside Gaza couldn’t connect with Egyptian Red Crescent or United Nations personnel.
Before Saturday, a total of 84 aid trucks were let into Gaza, a tiny amount for a population of 2.3 million people in need of power, food, medical supplies and clean drinking water.
Republican presidential hopefuls lined up on Saturday to pledge unwavering support for Israel in its war on Hamas as they spoke at an annual gathering of influential Jewish donors, reports AFP.
Former president Donald Trump told the Republican Jewish Coalition event he would “defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like nobody has ever.”
The conflict between Israel and Hamas is “a fight between civilization and savagery, between decency and depravity, and between good and evil,” said Trump, who received the warmest response from attendees, as he took aim at President Joe Biden’s administration and avoided criticizing his rivals.
Trump has sparked fury in recent weeks by describing Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah as “very smart” and criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Also on hand in Las Vegas was Trump’s nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who called the Oct 7 Hamas surprise attack on Israel “the most deadly attack against Jews since the Holocaust itself.”
Hamas militants killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
More than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s relentless retaliatory bombardments, mainly civilians and many of them children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Updated
Here is some more context on the reports that the Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman will visit Washington on Monday.
The visit had been long-scheduled, sources told Axios, but it would come as Israel on Saturday unleashed the second phase of the Gaza war.
Khalid bin Salman is expected to meet with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and several senators, according to the Axios report.
US President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman spoke on a call on Tuesday, and discussed efforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict widening.
Saudi Arabia has been among Arab countries that have condemned the targeting of civilians and “flagrant violations of international law” in Gaza which has been under heavy Israeli bombardment.
Biden has said Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel that the Israeli government says killed about 1,400 people aimed to disrupt a potential normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Updated
The UN security council will meet on Monday, following Israel’s expanded ground operations in Gaza, according to diplomats cited in a Reuters update.
Last week, the UN general assembly overwhelmingly called for an “immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas and demanded unhindered aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip.
Last week’s motion, drafted by Jordan, is not binding, but carried political weight, and provided a snapshot of world opinion. The security council, which can pass binding resolutions, has been unable to pass a motion on the crisis without either Russia or the US wielding its veto.
US president Joe Biden hosted a meeting on Thursday with a group of Muslim leaders, NBC reports four sources familiar with the White House gathering saying.
NBC reports:
The White House neither announced the afternoon meeting in advance nor even confirmed that it happened — a vivid contrast to the approach taken when Biden met with Jewish leaders four days after the war began. At that event, Biden gave televised remarks in which he reaffirmed his “unshakeable” bond with Israel and people of the Jewish faith.
One person who attended the session on Thursday said they would have preferred if the White House acknowledged the meeting and publicized the president’s remarks.
“The optics don’t look good,” the attendee said, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk freely about the discussion with Biden. “We hope the White House moves forward with providing equal measures of transparency, inclusion and respect.”
For all the secrecy the White House attached to the meeting, some of the participants appeared happy to discuss it. A second attendee, Rami Nashashibi of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, held a news conference in Chicago on Friday to lay out what took place.
Biden spent about an hour talking privately to the Muslim leaders. He invited them to voice concerns and asked their opinions on policy and messaging matters, a person familiar with his comments said.
Gathered in the West Wing, the guests asked Biden to call for a cease-fire in the war, the person who was in the room said. Some also objected that Biden didn’t seem to show enough sympathy for civilians dying in the conflict, nor the plight of Muslim Americans facing discrimination at home, the person added.
“It was a frank, candid, emotional discussion to drive home the point that we need to see better humanization of Palestinians and recognition of their loss,” the person who attended the meeting said. “Half of Gaza is children, and it was conveyed to the president that his statements fell short and didn’t show empathy.”
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross has expressed “shocked by the level of human suffering.”
In a statement on Saturday, ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric, said:
“I am shocked by the intolerable level of human suffering and urge the parties to the conflict to deescalate now. The tragic loss of so many civilian lives is deplorable.
It is unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza amid the massive bombardments, and with a military siege in place there is also no adequate humanitarian response currently possible. This is a catastrophic failing that the world must not tolerate.
In the face of this dramatic armed conflict, what is critically needed now is adherence to international humanitarian law by all parties.
An unhindered flow of humanitarian relief and personnel into Gaza is vital, as is the capacity to get basic services on their feet again. Sustained humanitarian access is imperative, and aid workers must be able to operate in a safe environment,” President Spoljaric said.
Saudi defense minister to visit US on Monday: reports
Saudi Arabia’s defense minister Khalid bin Salman is expected to visit Washington on Monday, three sources with familiar knowledge told Axios.
According to the sources, the visit has long been scheduled but will comes days after Israel expanded its ground operation in Gaza, Axios reports.
Bin Salman is expected to meet with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, defense secretary Lloyd Austin, secretary of state Tony Blinken and several senators, the sources said.
Earlier on Saturday, the Saudi foreign ministry issued a condemnation of Israel’s ground operations, saying:
“The Kingdom condemns and denounces any ground operation carried out by Israel which would threaten the lives of Palestinian civilians and result in inhumane dangers.
The Kingdom warns of the danger of continuing to carry out these flagrant and unjustified violations that are contrary to international law against the Palestinian people and the serious repercussions they will have on regional and international peace and security.”
#Statement | The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemns and denounces any ground operations carried out by Israel which would threaten the lives of Palestinian civilians and result in inhumane dangers. pic.twitter.com/N4B4RRiP8D
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) October 28, 2023
Summary
Here is where the day currently stands:
Qatar-mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas aimed at de-escalating fighting in Gaza continued on Saturday, a source briefed on the negotiations said, even as Israel intensified its assault on the enclave, Reuters reports. “Talks have not broken down, but are taking place at a ‘much slower pace’ than before the escalation from Friday evening, the source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of negotiations,” Reuters said.
Médecins Sans Frontières is calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza “to prevent more deaths … and allow desperately needed humanitarian supplies in.” “We have teams on standby ready to send medical supplies and to enter Gaza, as soon as the situation allows it. But if the bombing continues with the current intensity, any effort to increase medical aid will inevitably fall short,” the organization said.
Elon Musk said that he will provide his Starlink satellite service to “internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza.” Musk made the announcement in response to New York’s Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s condemnation of Israel’s communications blackout in Gaza last night.
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, said that his office “will cut any ties with Starlink” following Elon Musk’s announcement on his Starlink satellite services. “Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters, elderly people. All of them! By then, my office will cut any ties with Starlink,” said Karhi.
UN chief António Guterres met with Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani to discuss the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. “I came to Doha to express to Prime Minister@MBA_AlThani_ our full gratitude, appreciation and support for Qatar’s tireless mediation initiatives, namely for the release of the hostages kept in Gaza,” Guterres tweeted on Saturday.
Hamas said that it is trying to locate eight Russian-Israeli dual citizens who are among the more than 200 hostages captured during its 7 October attacks against Israel. “We are looking for those people ... It is hard but we are looking. And when we find them, we will let them go,” senior Hamas representative Moussa Abu Marzook said, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is “ready to make sure that the murderers are going to pay the price for the massacre”, referring to the Hamas attacks of 7 October. He added that Israel is “going to abolish this evil in order to further all humanity.”
The United Arab Emirates has asked the UN security council on Saturday to meet “as soon as possible” following Israel’s communication blackout across Gaza and its expanded ground operation. The 15-member council could meet as early as Sunday, diplomats said, and the UAE has asked for UN aid chief Martin Griffiths and Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the UN agency providing aid to Palestinians, to brief, Reuters reports.
Hamas’s armed wing has announced that it is ready to release hostages captured during the October 7 attacks in return for all Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons. “The price to pay for the large number of enemy hostages in our hands is to empty the [Israeli] prisons of all Palestinian prisoners,” Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement broadcast by the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television channel, Agence France-Presse reports.
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, has ordered the return of Israeli diplomats from Turkey following Turkish president Tayyip Erdoğan’s comments at a pro-Palestinian rally in which he called Israel an “occupier.” Cohen tweeted on Saturday: “Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey.”
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Gaza following Israel’s expanded military operation in the strip that has killed over 7,000 Palestinians in the last three weeks:
Médecins Sans Frontières is calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza “to prevent more deaths … and allow desperately needed humanitarian supplies in”.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, the humanitarian organization said:
Since 27 October, the bombing by Israeli forces has intensified to a degree not seen until now: northern Gaza is being razed to the ground, while the whole Strip is being hit and civilians have no place to take shelter ...
The actions of world leaders are too weak, too slow, as a non-binding UN resolution for a ceasefire has done nothing to rein in the indiscriminate violence unleashed on a helpless people. The international community must take stronger action to urge Israel to stop the bloodshed.
We have teams on standby ready to send medical supplies and to enter Gaza, as soon as the situation allows it. But if the bombing continues with the current intensity, any effort to increase medical aid will inevitably fall short.
We have teams on standby ready to send medical supplies and to enter Gaza, as soon as the situation allows it. But if the bombing continues with the current intensity, any effort to increase medical aid will inevitably fall short.
— MSF International (@MSF) October 28, 2023
Our full statement 👇https://t.co/UiC7QpaQoB
Updated
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, said that his office “will cut any ties with Starlink” following Elon Musk’s announcement that he will provide his Starlink satellite services to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza.
In a tweet on Saturday, Karhi wrote:
Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this. Hamas will use it for terrorist activities. There is no doubt about it, we know it, and Musk knows it. Hamas is ISIS.
Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters, elderly people. All of them!
By then, my office will cut any ties with Starlink.”
Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this.
— 🇮🇱שלמה קרעי - Shlomo Karhi (@shlomo_karhi) October 28, 2023
HAMAS will use it for terrorist activities. There is no doubt about it, we know it, and musk knows it. HAMAS is ISIS.
Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters,… https://t.co/pRNOlnINbZ
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires of thousands of pro-Palestinian protestors that marched in the UK, France and Switzerland today to demand a ceasefire:
Updated
Qatar-mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas aimed at de-escalating fighting in Gaza continued on Saturday, a source briefed on the negotiations said, even as Israel intensified its assault on the enclave, Reuters reports.
From Reuters:
Talks have not broken down, but are taking place at a “much slower pace” than before the escalation from Friday evening, the source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of negotiations.
Gaza’s besieged people had barely any communications with the outside world on Saturday as Israeli jets dropped more bombs on the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave and military chiefs said a long-threatened ground offensive was gearing up.
Qatar has been conducting behind-the-scenes diplomacy for more than three weeks, speaking to Hamas officials and Israel to promote peace and secure the release of hostages.
Its mediation last week led to the release of two American hostages, a mother and daughter, and two elderly Israeli women.
Elon Musk's Starlink satellite service to support connectivity to 'internationally recognized aid organizations' in Gaza
Elon Musk said that he will provide his Starlink satellite service to “internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza.”
Starlink will support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2023
[ComStar]
Musk made the announcement in response to New York’s Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s condemnation of Israel’s communications blackout in Gaza last night.
“Cutting off all communication to a population of 2.2 million is unacceptable. Journalists, medical professionals, humanitarian efforts, and innocents are all endangered. I do not know how such an act can be defended. The United States has historically denounced this practice,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Cutting off all communication to a population of 2.2 million is unacceptable. Journalists, medical professionals, humanitarian efforts, and innocents are all endangered.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 27, 2023
I do not know how such an act can be defended. The United States has historically denounced this practice. https://t.co/L9iV7TSs2u
Updated
Arab Gulf states have largely denounced Israel’s ground operations in Gaza, AFP reports.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned the ground ops in a statement, calling the latest military action “unjustified”.
From AFP:
Saudi Arabia “condemns and denounces any ground operations carried out by Israel due to the threat they pose to the lives of Palestinian civilians”, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
It cautioned against “the danger of continuing to carry out these blatant and unjustified violations of international law against the brotherly Palestinian people”, warning of “serious repercussions for the stability of the region”.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani warned about the consequences of Israel’s ground operations in a post to X, formally known as Twitter.
“Israeli ground escalation would have dire consequences for civilians and devastating humanitarian and economic impacts,” he said, AFP reported.
Updated
UN chief António Guterres met with Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani to discuss the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
“I came to Doha to express to Prime Minister@MBA_AlThani_ our full gratitude, appreciation and support for Qatar’s tireless mediation initiatives, namely for the release of the hostages kept in Gaza,” Guterres tweeted on Saturday.
I came to Doha to express to Prime Minister @MBA_AlThani_ our full gratitude, appreciation and support for Qatar’s tireless mediation initiatives, namely for the release of the hostages kept in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/SsZS7qkG2Z
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 28, 2023
“I was encouraged by what seemed to be a growing consensus for the need of at least a humanitarian pause in the Middle East.
Regrettably, instead I was surprised by an unprecedented escalation of bombardments, undermining humanitarian objectives. This situation must be reversed,” he added.
I was encouraged by what seemed to be a growing consensus for the need of at least a humanitarian pause in the Middle East.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 28, 2023
Regrettably, instead I was surprised by an unprecedented escalation of bombardments, undermining humanitarian objectives.
This situation must be reversed.
An Israeli military spokesperson refused to confirm whether Israel was behind a communications blackout in Gaza that began Friday, Reuters reported.
When asked whether Israel was behind the telecommunications blackout, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: “We do what we have to do to secure our forces for as long as we must, temporary or permanent, as much as we need to and we will not say anything further about that.”
The communications blackout has left the territory mostly cut off as Israel intensifies its siege.
Here’s more information from the Guardian’s Rory Carroll in Jerusalem and Hibaq Farah:
The destruction of phone and internet connections has plunged Gaza into a communications blackout and created an information vacuum amid the heaviest aerial bombardment of the war so far.
A handful of reports that emerged from the enclave on Saturday depicted chaos and anguish as paramedic teams and aid agencies struggled to coordinate rescue and relief efforts and families sought news about relatives.
Rushdi Abualouf, a journalist working for the BBC in Gaza, said since communications were cut on Friday night ambulance drivers could not receive instructions so they simply drove in the direction of explosions.
‘There’s been panic everywhere, even here in Khan Younis, where the bombing was less, as people try to reach family members in other areas to check they are safe, but the phones have been cut off,’ he wrote. ‘It’s total chaos.’
Updated
Hamas said that it is trying to locate eight Russian-Israeli dual citizens who are among the more than 200 hostages captured during its 7 October attacks against Israel.
Agence France-Presse reports:
“From the Russian side, via the foreign ministry, we received a list of citizens that have dual citizenship,” senior Hamas representative Moussa Abu Marzook said, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
“We are looking for those people ... It is hard but we are looking. And when we find them, we will let them go … We are very attentive to this list and will process it carefully because we consider Russia to be a close friend,” he said.
“About the peaceful citizens that were taken and that are now in Gaza, we treat them as guests,” claimed Abu Marzook, who arrived in Russia on Thursday for talks on the hostages. “We will free them as soon as there will be the conditions,” he said, referring to the Russian-Israelis.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov confirmed Hamas had handed over a list bearing eight names.
“They have promised to react, to help, to find them and take all necessary measures to free the Russians,” TASS quoted Bogdanov as saying.
Marzook told Russian media there was no progress on international talks to free the hostages. He was quoted as saying “dozens of Western and regional officials came to us to demand the liberation of the detainees.”
The civilians were taken as “a result of chaos,” he said.
Updated
A group of protestors appears to have gathered near the Israeli defense ministry in Tel Aviv in an anti-war rally.
Several people held up signs that read: “Ceasefire. Bring them back now!” Other signs read: “Israelis for ceasefire now” and “War has no winners”.
Now in Tel Aviv first protest against the war pic.twitter.com/EFVmVZXWl3
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) October 28, 2023
Israeli left wing activists blocking a road near the ministry of defense in Tel Aviv during an anti war demo pic.twitter.com/egMllXnwia
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) October 28, 2023
Now in Tel Aviv anti war protest at the gate of the ministry of defense pic.twitter.com/GUC5U1UuIK
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) October 28, 2023
Updated
Egypt’s foreign ministry said that “Israeli obstacles” including truck inspection procedures were hindering the delivery of aid into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.
“The trucks must be inspected at the Israeli Nitzana crossing before they head to the Rafah crossing on a journey that takes a distance of 100 km (62 miles) before they actually enter the Rafah crossing, which causes obstacles that significantly delay the arrival of aid,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement, Reuters reports.
Prior to the conflict, approximately 500 aid trucks were crossing into Gaza. However, following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli bombing of Gaza, an average of only 12 trucks a day have entered, Guterres said on Friday, Reuters reports.
“We have to win against Hamas because it’s our existence, but it’s affecting all of the western civilization,” said the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He added that “Iran is the axis of evil.”
Updated
“We’re not going to change the goal of destroying Hamas,” the Israeli prime minister Netanyahu said in response to a question about the “tension between destroying Hamas and bringing back the abductees”.
“There’s no tension,” he added. “We have two goals. One is to destroy the operational and military abilities of Hamas, and the second one is to bring back the abductees.”
Updated
“There was a terrible failure. It’s going to be investigated. We’re going to turn each stone,” the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response to a question about whether he bears responsibility surrounding the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
“The ground operation that we expanded … is going to help us in this holy mission,” he added.
Updated
“The operational stages are going to take a long time,” said Benny Gantz, Israel’s former defense minister.
“Our unity is our strength, during the war and after. The people of Israel are ready … Nobody can win against us … With the help of God, we are going to fight, we are going to win.”
Updated
Speaking of Hamas, Benny Gantz, Israel’s former defense minister said: “They are war criminals that are sacrificing the citizens, residents of Gaza. Hamas brought them disaster.”
Even though they pretend they represent them, the picture is clear – it’s pure evil against pure justice and justice should prevail.
Updated
Benny Gantz, Israel’s former defense minister is now speaking at the press conference.
“The ground maneuver, alongside the other stages, could progress the return of the abductees home,” he said.
“I personally met abductees’ families and they can approach me anytime, I promise,” he added.
“As long as the military pressure and fire is going to be increased, as we hit the enemy harder, there’s a better chance … that the enemy will agree to solutions to return the loved ones,” Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said.
It’s not going to be a short war. It’s going to be a long war. We should have patience.
Updated
“We are making … effort in order to return the abductees to us, to our country. It’s a very complicated effort,” said Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
It’s dealing with reality that we didn’t know [about] in the past. We are ready to do anything … This is not a secondary mission. This is a national priority.
Updated
Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant is now speaking at the press conference.
“I have faith in the … fighters and commanders, the forces, the Mossad and its people and all the defense systems. Together, we’re going to achieve … victory,” he said.
“At this time, we are readying all the fronts – the north, center and south.”
Israel has in recent weeks warned Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate south as it expands its military operations across the strip.
Updated
“The war inside Gaza is going to be long,” the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“This is our second independence war. We’re going to save our country. We’re going to fight in the air, ground, and we are going to fight and win. …
“This is the mission of my life … in your name and the name of everybody.”
Updated
“We call the civil population, please go to the safe area on the streets,” said the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate the northern region of the Gaza Strip as Israel expands its ground presence.
He went on to address Israel’s allies, saying: “If Israel is not going to win today, they are going to be next in the axis of evil … That’s the beginning of the war.”
Updated
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is “ready to make sure that the murderers are going to pay the price for the massacre”, referring to the Hamas attacks of 7 October.
He added that Israel is “going to abolish this evil in order to further all humanity”.
Updated
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently speaking at a press conference in Tel Aviv.
“This is the second stage of the war,” he said. “Our calls are very clear – to destroy the military and government ability of Hamas and return the victims home,.”
Updated
The United Arab Emirates has asked the UN security council on Saturday to meet “as soon as possible” following Israel’s communication blackout across Gaza and its expanded ground operation.
The 15-member council could meet as early as Sunday, diplomats said, and the UAE has asked for UN aid chief Martin Griffiths and Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the UN agency providing aid to Palestinians, to brief, Reuters reports.
Hamas demands Israel free all Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages
Hamas’s armed wing has announced that it is ready to release hostages captured during the October 7 attacks in return for all Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons.
“The price to pay for the large number of enemy hostages in our hands is to empty the [Israeli] prisons of all Palestinian prisoners,” Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement broadcast by the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television channel, Agence France-Presse reports.
“If the enemy wants to close this file of detainees in one go, we are ready for it. If it wants to do it step-by-step, we are ready for that too,” he added.
The Israeli reports that some 229 hostages are currently being held in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet domestic security agency has released footage of the interrogation of what they described as two captured members of the militant Islamist group Hamas who it says participated in the October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
One appeared to confirm that Hamas uses a basement of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City to hide. “In Shifa there is a basement floor. A big place where they hide,” one of the men, described as a member of an elite Hamas unit, said.
While the IDF released a graphic on Friday night purporting to show complex underground system beneath the hospital, the interrogation - lacking in much detail - talked more simply of a basement.
The publication of the footage comes a day after IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari accused Hamas of having its main base of operations under the hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas has turned hospitals into command and control centres and hideouts for Hamas terrorists and commanders,” Hagari told a news conference. He showed photographs, diagrams and audio recordings he said showed how Hamas was using the hospital system and Al Shifa Hospital in particular to hide a variety of command posts and entry points into the extensive tunnel network under Gaza.
“Hamas terrorists operate inside and under Shifa hospital and other hospitals in Gaza,” he said. Hamas official Ezzat El-Reshiq, a member of the movement’s political bureau, said on Telegram: “There is no basis in truth to what was reported by the enemy army spokesman,” accusing Israel of spreading lies as “a prelude to committing a new massacre against our people.”
Israel has made the claims about Al Shifa – and other hospitals before – not least during the 2014 conflict in Gaza.
While it is not possible to verify the precise details provided by the IDF, including the presence of underground command centres, there is evidence that Hamas has in the past taken advantage of cover provided by civilian objects, including hospitals.
During the 2014 conflict, armed men were visible in some Gaza hospitals, while Hamas officials including leaders and security officers were present in Al Shifa at various times.
However it is also clear that both during the 2014 conflict and the present war, the main buildings of the Al Shifa hospital complex operated primarily as a civilian healthcare facility, making those buildings a protected civilian location.
Israel orders "return of diplomatic representatives" from Turkey
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, has ordered the return of Israeli diplomats from Turkey following Turkish president Tayyip Erdoğan’s comments at a pro-Palestinian rally in which he called Israel an “occupier”. Cohen tweeted on Saturday:
“Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey.
Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey.
— אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) October 28, 2023
Updated
Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, the chief executive of the humanitarian non-governmental organisation Mercy Corps, has issued the following statement in the wake of Israel’s blockade of communications in Gaza:
The last 24 hours of intense and escalating bombardments in Gaza will drastically increase the already horrific civilian death toll from this conflict. We have now lost touch with all of our nearly 70 team members in Gaza amid a communications blackout.
We have no way of verifying their safety or assessing the rapidly deteriorating situation. We fear for our team and for the 2 million civilians who are trapped in Gaza with nowhere safe to go and completely cut off from the outside world …
There is no internet. There is no mobile service. From limited information emerging from Gaza, the blackout means that people can’t call for ambulances, and the limited but critical humanitarian assistance that was still operating will be severely hampered.
We urge a ceasefire now to end the devastating loss of life and protect civilians. We urge an immediate end to the siege and the urgent restoration of telecommunications, electricity and water services …
We fear the further escalation of violence will result in untold tragedy that will be a stain on the global conscience.
Updated
‘This is the moment of truth. History will judge us all,’ UN chief António Guterres said on Saturday, Reuters reports.
Following a widespread communications blackout by the Israeli military in Gaza and a night of intensive bombing, Guterres said that the ongoing situation “must be reversed” and repeated his calls for a ceasefire.
He added that he was extremely concerned about UN staff in Gaza given the Israeli military’s blockade of communications and that he was surprised by Israel’s unprecedented escalation of its bombardments in Gaza.
The UN chief added that he was encouraged by a growing international consensus for a humanitarian pause in the strip, where thousands of people have already been killed since 7 October.
Updated
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said on Saturday that “far too many civilians, including children, have been killed” and “this is against international humanitarian law”.
A pause of hostilities is urgently needed to enable humanitarian access. … We condemn all attacks against civilians, including continuing indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israel, and we ask [for] the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Gaza is in complete blackout and isolation while heavy shelling continues. @UNRWA warns about the desperate situation of Gaza people without electricity, food, water. Far too many civilians, including children, have been killed. This is against International Humanitarian Law.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) October 28, 2023
Updated
Summary
Here is where the day currently stands:
Hundreds of people were arrested when police broke up a large demonstration of mostly Jewish New Yorkers who had taken over the main hall of Grand Central station. The organisers said they were rallying against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and wanted a ceasefire.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in central London on Saturday to demand the British government call for a ceasefire after Israel’s military widened its air and ground attacks on Gaza. Aerial footage showed large crowds setting off on the march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, with the protest due to end outside the Houses of Parliament after passing Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street office.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told a massive pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul that Israel was an occupier, and repeated his stance about Hamas not being a terrorist organisation. “I reiterate that Hamas is not a terrorist organisation. Israel was very offended by this. … Israel is an occupier, Erdoğan speaks clearly because Turkey does not owe you anything,” he said.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, warned on Saturday there was the potential for thousands more civilians to die as Israel presses ahead with a ground operation in Gaza. “Given the manner in which military operations have been conducted until now, in the context of the 56-year-old occupation, I am raising alarm about the possibly catastrophic consequences of large-scale ground operations in Gaza and the potential for thousands more civilians to die,” Turk said.
Israeli forces will continue military operations begun overnight in the Gaza Strip. “We attacked above the ground and underground, we attacked terror operatives of all ranks, everywhere,” Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant said in a video statement.
The Israel Defense Forces have released an “urgent message for the residents of Gaza” that calls on civilians in northern Gaza to temporarily relocate south. “Moving back to northern Gaza will be possible once the intense hostilities end,” an IDF spokesperson said in a video message.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said Israel’s bombardment of Gaza risks creating a catastrophe that could last “for many decades, if not centuries.” Lavrov made the comments, some of Moscow’s most critical of Israel yet, in an interview with the Belarusian state news agency Belta, which released them on Saturday.
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has warned against any expansion of the conflict in Gaza, “regardless of where it comes from”. He told Reuters on Saturday that a move in this direction means the region would become “a ticking timebomb that impacts us all”.
Israel’s military said on Saturday that it had stopped a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon at one of its drones, and was responding by striking the launch site. “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] thwarted a surface-to-air missile that was fired from Lebanon towards an IDF UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle]. In response, the IDF is striking the origin of the missile’s fire,” it said.
Israeli fighter jets struck 150 “underground targets” in northern Gaza during an intense night of raids, the army said on Saturday. Agence France-Presse reported a military statement as saying the sites hit included “terror tunnels, underground combat spaces and additional underground infrastructure”.
Updated
Hundreds of people were arrested when police broke up a large demonstration of mostly Jewish New Yorkers who had taken over the main hall of Grand Central station.
The organisers said they were rallying against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and wanted a ceasefire. The New York police department said at least 200 people had been arrested, while protest organisers said it was closer to 300.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in central London on Saturday to demand the British government call for a ceasefire after Israel’s military widened its air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Aerial footage showed large crowds setting off on the march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, with the protest due to end outside the Houses of Parliament after passing Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street office.
Rallies have also been organised elsewhere in the UK, including in Manchester and Glasgow.
In London on Saturday, demonstrators gathered with banners and posters and let off fireworks and red and green flares. Hundreds of the protesters were staging a sit-in at Waterloo station.
Updated
On Friday evening, as Israeli air and ground forces ramped up their operations in the Gaza Strip and a communications blackout fell across the embattled territory, Salim Hammad received a text from the UK Foreign Office notifying him of a possible increase in attacks and violence.
“What are we supposed to do with that information?” said Salim, a 34-year-old doctor in Oxford whose father, Abdel, is stuck at the Rafah border crossing.
“You should be trying to get your British nationals out. That’s your job.”
What was meant to be a three-day visit to Gaza City for Abdel, a transplant surgeon from Liverpool who arrived a day before the conflict erupted on 7 October with a transplant charity, has now stretched to three weeks.
A telephone and internet blackout isolated people in the Gaza Strip from the world and from each other on Saturday, with calls to loved ones, ambulances or colleagues elsewhere all but impossible as Israel widened its air and ground assault.
International humanitarian organisations said the blackout, which began on Friday evening, was worsening an already desperate situation by impeding life-saving operations and preventing them from contacting their staff on the ground.
Three weeks into a war between Israel and Hamas that has saturated global media coverage, the blackout also meant a previously constant flow of information, images and videos from inside the strip had reduced to a trickle, making it difficult to understand the extent and impact of the latest strikes.
Plestia Alaqad, a freelance journalist in Gaza, said: “My brain cannot fathom that things can get any worse. And here we are on day 21, we have lost service. If you are dying, you can’t ring up the ambulance service. If you are struck, whatever happens, you can’t communicate with anyone.”
She was speaking in a video recorded on Friday night and uploaded on Saturday to Instagram, where she has 1.4m followers, when she said she was able to access the internet, one of a small number of Palestinians in Gaza who have managed to do so.
Updated
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told a massive pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul that Israel was an occupier, and repeated his stance about Hamas not being a terrorist organisation.
“I reiterate that Hamas is not a terrorist organisation. Israel was very offended by this. (...) Israel is an occupier, Erdoğan speaks clearly because Turkey does not owe you anything,” he told hundreds of thousands of supporters.
Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses mass rally in Istanbul to show support for Palestinians:
— TRT World (@trtworld) October 28, 2023
- I thank everyone of you for showing solidarity with Palestinians
- Our hearts are wrenched due to what is happening in Gaza
- We’ll continue to raise our voice against… pic.twitter.com/uo3N2yWoBH
Updated
Labour shadow minister accuses Israel of 'disproportionate attacks on a civilian population'
A Labour shadow minister has described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “disproportionate attacks on a civilian population”.
Naz Shah, the shadow minister for crime reduction, is the latest in Keir Starmer’s party to voice their view on the conflict.
The Bradford West MP said on X: “What we are seeing is not defence, it is disproportionate attacks on a civilian population, I continue to call for a ceasefire to stop the killings of innocent civilians. We cannot be silent.”
What we are seeing is not defence, it is disproportionate attacks on a civilian population, I continue to call for a ceasefire to stop the killings of innocent civilians. We cannot be silent. https://t.co/6ea6vS9cg1
— Naz Shah MP 💙 (@NazShahBfd) October 28, 2023
Updated
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, warned on Saturday there was the potential for thousands more civilians to die as Israel presses ahead with a ground operation in Gaza.
Israel’s army relentlessly hammered the territory on Saturday after fierce overnight bombardment that rescuers said destroyed hundreds of buildings three weeks into a war sparked by the deadliest attack on Israel in the country’s history.
“Given the manner in which military operations have been conducted until now, in the context of the 56-year-old occupation, I am raising alarm about the possibly catastrophic consequences of large-scale ground operations in Gaza and the potential for thousands more civilians to die,” Turk said.
“There is no safe place in Gaza and there is no way out. I am very worried for my colleagues, as I am for all civilians in Gaza.”
Updated
Israeli forces will continue military operations begun overnight in the Gaza Strip, targeting tunnels and other infrastructure of Hamas as well as leaders of the Islamist movement, the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Saturday.
“We attacked above the ground and underground, we attacked terror operatives of all ranks, everywhere,” he said in a video statement. “The instructions for the forces are clear: the operation will continue until a new order.”
Updated
IDF re-issues warning for civilians to evacuate northern Gaza amid 'intense hostilities'
The Israel Defense Forces have released an “urgent message for the residents of Gaza” which calls on civilians from northern Gaza to temporarily relocate south.
“Moving back to northern Gaza will be possible once the intense hostilities end,” an IDF spokesperson said in a video message.
“Your window to act is closing, move south for your own safety,” he said. “This is not a mere precaution, this is an urgent plea.”
An urgent message for the residents of Gaza: pic.twitter.com/GAW3a7lWt8
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 28, 2023
Updated
An Al Jazeera correspondent has returned to work just days after his entire immediate family were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
Wael al-Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in the strike late on Tuesday. They had moved to a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza following Israel’s warning on 13 October.
Dahdouh said that as Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza he believed it was his duty to return to work as soon as possible.
“I felt that it was my duty, despite the pain and the open wound, to get back in front of the camera, and to communicate with you on social media as soon as possible.
“As you can see, the firing is ongoing everywhere. There are airstrikes and artillery shelling, and things continue to develop.”
Updated
Russia says Israel’s Gaza bombardment is against international law
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said Israel’s bombardment of Gaza risks creating a catastrophe that could last “for many decades, if not centuries”.
Lavrov made the comments, some of Moscow’s most critical of Israel yet, in an interview with the Belarusian state news agency Belta, which released them on Saturday.
While we condemn terrorism, we categorically disagree that you can respond to terrorism by violating the norms of international humanitarian law, including indiscriminately using force against targets where civilians are known to be present, including hostages that have been taken.
If Gaza is destroyed and 2 million inhabitants are expelled, as some politicians in Israel and abroad propose, this will create a catastrophe for many decades, if not centuries.
Russia itself has been the subject of intense criticism over its actions in Ukraine, which many allege have included the commissioning of war crimes.
Lavrov’s comments come with the Israel-Hamas war in its 22nd day. Health authorities in Gaza said on Friday that 7,326 Palestinians had been killed since Israel’s bombardment began.
Lavrov said Russia, which backs an immediate ceasefire and a two-state solution, continues to emphasise the need for peace.
“We remain in full contact with Israel, and our ambassador is regularly in touch with them. We are sending signals about the need to seek a peaceful solution and not to follow through with this announced ‘scorched earth’ strategy.”
Updated
Israel’s defence minister vows to meet the families of Hamas hostages
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said he will meet the families of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza on Sunday, after a group lobbying for them issued a powerful statement amid the Israeli military’s intensifying operation.
The statement from Gallant came after relatives of the 229 confirmed hostages held in the Gaza Strip demanded a meeting with the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister and members of the war cabinet.
In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said:
“This night was the worst of all nights. Anxiety, frustration, and especially enormous anger that no one from the war cabinet bothered to meet with the families of the abductees to explain to them one thing – whether the ground operation endangers the safety of the 229 abductees in Gaza.”
Updated
Egypt president warns region could become a ‘ticking timebomb’
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has warned against any expansion of the conflict in Gaza, “regardless of where it comes from”.
He told Reuters on Saturday that a move in this direction means the region would become “a ticking timebomb that impacts us all”.
Sisi also said his country’s “sovereignty and position should be respected” after drones were intercepted after entering Egyptian airspace on Friday.
On Friday, Israel said it was the target of the drones, which it blamed on Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi movement. Egypt’s military said the drones, which fell on the Egyptian towns of Taba and Nuweiba near the Israeli border, injuring six, originated in the southern Red Sea. It did not say who launched the drones.
Updated
Families of Israeli hostages fearful as military steps up ground assaults
A group lobbying for the families of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas say they are racked with “anxiety” that Israel’s long-awaited ground invasion will put them in more danger.
This night was the most terrible of all nights … against the backdrop of the major IDF [Israel Defence Forces] operation in the Strip,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement on Saturday.
Israel said on Saturday that it stepped up ground operations inside Gaza overnight – during internet and power blackouts in the territory – and that forces were still fighting in the area.
The lobbying group said that the hostages were being subjected to the same heavy bombardment as Palestinian residents and that their families were racked with “anxiety, frustration” as a result.
Hamas has taken more than 200 hostages back into Gaza during its raids. It has so far released four and said on Thursday that Israeli bombing had killed another 50 – a claim Reuters could not verify.
They are believed to be hidden in the Gaza Strip, possibly in a warren of tunnels Hamas has built there.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum criticised Israel’s cabinet for not meeting those whose loved ones were still held while Israel pressed its assault.
“The families are worried about the fate of their loved ones and are waiting for an explanation. Every minute feels like an eternity,” it said.
Updated
The World Health Organization has issued a statement. It says:
During a night of intense bombardment and ground incursions in Gaza, with reports of hostilities still continuing, health workers, patients and civilians have been subject to a total communication and electrical blackout.
The WHO reiterates its calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, and reminds all parties to the conflict to take all precautions to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. This includes health workers, patients, health facilities and ambulances, and civilians who are sheltering in these facilities. Active measures must be taken to ensure they are not harmed and safe passage provided for the movement of desperately needed medical supplies, fuel, water and food into and across Gaza.
Reports of bombardment near the Indonesia and Al Shifa hospitals are gravely concerning. The WHO reiterates that it is impossible to evacuate patients without endangering their lives. Hospitals across Gaza are already operating at maximum capacity due to the injuries sustained in weeks of unrelenting bombardment, and are unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number of patients, while sheltering thousands of civilians.
Health workers who have stayed by their patients’ sides face dwindling supplies, with no place to put new patients, and no means to alleviate their patients’ pain. There are more wounded every hour. But ambulances cannot reach them in the communications blackout. Morgues are full. More than half of the dead are women and children.
The WHO said it has not been able to communicate with its staff in Gaza, nor have other agencies. Furthermore, it is trying to gather information on the overall impact on civilians and healthcare.
The statement said the WHO “appeals to the humanity in all those who have the power to do so to end the fighting now, in line with the UN resolution adopted yesterday, calling for a humanitarian truce, as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians held captive”.
Updated
The Scottish first minister has said he has not heard from his parents-in-law who are trapped in Gaza.
Humza Yousaf said: “Thank you for your good wishes, I’m afraid we have not heard from my in-laws.
“My concern is for all the innocent people suffering for a crime they did not commit.
“If you did not vote for peace, while children are dying, then I do not know how you sleep at night.”
Thank you for your good wishes, I'm afraid we have not heard from my in-laws.
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) October 28, 2023
My concern is for all the innocent people suffering for a crime they did not commit.
If you did not vote for peace, while children are dying, then I do not know how you sleep at night.#CeasefireNow
Hamas has given no sign it would abide by ceasefire, UK foreign secretary says
Hamas has given no indication it “desires or would abide by calls for a ceasefire”, according to the UK’s foreign secretary.
James Cleverly urged pro-Palestinian supporters demonstrating on British streets over the weekend to be “conscious of disinformation and manipulation”, following reports Iran is attempting to use the rallies to sow division.
The cabinet minister’s intervention comes as Israel’s military continued to expand its operation in Gaza as part of its ongoing retaliation against Hamas’s deadly raids three weeks ago that killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians.
Cleverly told broadcasters: “We have consistently sought to bring about pauses to facilitate the inward passage of humanitarian aid that we are providing and the release of hostages and the evacuation of British nationals in Gaza, so that has been our position from the start.
“Of course we want to see this resolved, we want to see Israel safe, peaceful and secure.
“But, as yet, I have seen or heard nothing from Hamas that gives me any confidence that they desire or would abide by calls for a ceasefire.”
He said the Palestinian militant group “habitually embed military capabilities within civilian infrastructure” in a move he said was “internationally recognised” as “completely inappropriate”.
Cleverly reiterated the government’s position that Israel has a right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October.
“Of course we are having conversations, and will continue to have conversations with the Israeli military about the preservation of civilian life, about the adherence to international law,” he added.
Updated
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, on Saturday urged all to respect Egypt’s sovereignty and position in the region after drones fell on two Egyptian Red Sea towns on Friday.
Egyptians should feel safe and the army was able to protect the country, Sisi said at a manufacturing expo in Cairo.
He emphasised that Egypt would continue to play a positive role in the Israel-Hamas conflict and did not want it to expand regionally.
Updated
Fighting between Hamas and IDF appears to be ongoing
By 10am the heavy fog over Gaza has burned away and from a hillside in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, it is possible to see into Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, about 5km away.
Hamas said overnight its fighters were in a battle with the Israel Defence Forces, and that battle still appears to be going on. Heavy machine-gun fire can be heard sporadically from inside Gaza, together with bigger shell bursts, most likely tank fire.
To the south of this hill, you can hear the crump of the big self-propelled howitzers the Israelis have dug into the surrounding farmlands. Occasionally, a warplane can be heard high above and an airstrike sends a big white cloud of smoke up on the horizon. The apartment buildings in the eastern side of Beit Hanoun, nearest the Israel border and Sderot, are in ruins.
Behind them is the Jabalia refugee camp, which has also come under heavy fire. The pounding of the city is steady, but less intense than on Friday night, when it was at its heaviest between 8pm and 10.30pm, quite possibly preparing the way for an incursion. An IDF officer predicted it would escalate again when the sun sets tonight.
Updated
Israel’s military said on Saturday that it had stopped a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon at one of its drones, and was responding by striking the launch site.
“The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] thwarted a surface-to-air missile that was fired from Lebanon towards an IDF UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle]. In response, the IDF is striking the origin of the missile’s fire,” it said, according to Reuters.
The Lebanese authorities on Saturday issued precautionary guidance for evacuating Beirut international airport and its surrounding facilities in case of emergency, as tensions rise on the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The guidance for Beirut Rafic Hariri airport, which lies on the southern fringe of the capital, did not indicate any immediate escalation on the border, according to Reuters.
There have been daily but relatively contained exchanges of fire there recently between Israel and the heavily armed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
The message comes after Israel’s military widened its air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip overnight.
Updated
The Israeli military told Reuters on Saturday it had entered northern Gaza overnight and expanded military operations with infantry and armoured corps in the besieged Palestinian enclave as it steps up its assault on the Hamas militant group.
The military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces were still “in the field”, without elaborating.
Hagari also said they were “broadening the humanitarian effort” on Saturday and would allow trucks carrying food, water and medicine to enter southern Gaza.
Israel’s military targeted Hamas commanders overnight, including leaders of the group’s naval and aerial forces, which Hagari said would allow “forces on the ground to fight against a weaker enemy”.
Updated
Analysis: US looked badly isolated during Israel motion at UN general assembly
The US ended up looking quite badly isolated when only 12 countries joined Washington and Israel at the UN general assembly in opposing a motion calling for a sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities. One hour after Israel had extended its offensive in Gaza, Jordan’s motion was passed in New York by 120 votes to 14, with 45 countries abstaining.
The outcome was remarkable for showing the limited direct support for the world’s greatest superpower, with even France, Spain and the UK refusing to join the US in voting against the motion. The splits inside the EU, visible over recent weeks, were also laid bare, with the 27 members of the bloc voting three different ways, but the majority abstaining. Six of the votes the US garnered were from the Pacific Islands: Fiji, Tonga, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Jordan was delighted by the outcome, with its foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, saying the general assembly had “spoken for justice”. The resolution, he claimed, “is a clear stand against Israel’s war, against the killing of Palestinians, against war crimes, on the side of international law”.
It certainly makes clear that Israel has an imperative duty in international law to ensure civilians are not deprived of objects indispensable to their survival.
But the resolution is non-binding, more a snapshot of world opinion. The security council, which can pass binding resolutions, has been unable to pass a motion on the crisis without either Russia or the US wielding its veto.
Updated
'Total chaos' in Gaza after night of bombing, says BBC journalist
A journalist working for the BBC in Gaza described “total chaos” during the night of strikes and in its aftermath.
“There was a huge bombardment in the north of Gaza Strip on a scale we’ve never seen before,” wrote Rushdi Abualouf.
“At the hospital here, ambulance drivers told me they couldn’t communicate with anyone, so they were just driving in the direction of the explosions.
“There’s been panic everywhere, even here in Khan Younis, where the bombing was less, as people try to reach family members in other areas to check they are safe, but the phones have been cut off.”
Updated
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, says Israel must stop the “madness” and end Gaza strikes, according to Agence France-Presse.
“The Israeli bombardments on Gaza intensified last night and once again targeted women, children and innocent civilians and worsened the ongoing humanitarian crisis,” Erdoğan said on X. “Israel must immediately stop this madness and end its attacks.”
He called on people to attend a rally in support of Palestine at Istanbul Atatürk airport.
Gazze’ye yönelik sürekli artan ve dün gece yoğunlaşan İsrail bombardımanları yine kadınları, çocukları, masum sivilleri hedef almış, yaşanan insani krizi derinleştirmiştir.
— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) October 28, 2023
İsrail derhâl bu cinnet halinden çıkmalı ve saldırılarını durdurmalıdır.…
Updated
The World Health Organization (WHO) is out of contact with its staff and health facilities in Gaza, its chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The blackout is also making it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured,” he said.
“The evacuation of patients is not possible under such circumstances, nor to find safe shelter.”
Reports of intense bombardment in Gaza are extremely distressing.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 28, 2023
Evacuation of patients is not possible under such circumstances, nor to find safe shelter.
The blackout is also making it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured.
We are still out of touch with our staff…
Updated
Gaza experiences heaviest bombing since war began as 150 targets hit by Israel
The Israel Defense Forces has said about 100 jets have struck 150 underground Hamas targets in Gaza in the heaviest aerial bombardment of the Gaza war so far, as Palestinian residents of Gaza reported clashes with Israeli armoured vehicles and infantry overnight in three locations in the Gaza Strip.
With internet and mobile services almost entirely cut off in Gaza from Friday evening, information about the situation in the Hamas-ruled coastal strip of 2.3 million people was scant. However, footage from media camera positions just outside Gaza in Israel and Egypt showed a night of endless airstrikes and artillery colouring the night sky orange.
According to an IDF spokesperson’s announcement, the airstrikes involving 100 Israeli jets hit combat tunnels, underground combat areas and underground terrorist infrastructure.
The handful of reports to emerge from inside Gaza described a chaotic situation, with paramedic teams struggling to coordinate the recovery of the dead and injured because of the lack of communications.
A statement from Hamas’s military wing on Friday night said it was fighting the IDF on the ground, although it was unclear on what scale.
According to reports from Gaza residents, the heaviest clashes appeared to be taking place in the north of Gaza in the area of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, while clashes were also reported to the east of Burej in central Gaza and east of the southern city of Khan Younis, all areas that have been used as approach routes for Israeli incursions in the past.
The strikes on the extensive Hamas tunnel system in Gaza, known colloquially to Israeli military planners as the “metro”, comes after the released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, said she and other captives were taken deep inside the tunnels during her captivity.
Updated
In a live satellite TV broadcast from Gaza on Saturday morning, an Al Jazeera correspondent described the cut in internet and phone communications as “catastrophic” for rescue efforts following a night of heavy Israeli bombardment.
Unable to reach ambulance services, Palestinians were transporting the dead and injured to hospital in their cars, Reuters quoted the correspondent as saying.
“Gaza is currently blacked out,” said Paltel, the largest telecommunications provider in Gaza.
Israeli fighter jets struck 150 “underground targets” in northern Gaza during an intense night of raids, the army said on Saturday.
Agence France-Presse reported a military statement as saying the sites hit included “terror tunnels, underground combat spaces and additional underground infrastructure”.
Furthermore, several Hamas terrorists were killed.
Correspondents in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel said shelling and airstrikes continued on Saturday, although they were less intense than during the night.
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said one raid had killed the Hamas air attacks chief, Asem Abu Rakaba, who it said played a key role in the 7 October attacks that set off the current war.
Israel says 1,400 people, mainly civilians, were killed in the cross-border attack – the deadliest in the country’s history – and more than 200 taken hostage. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says more than 7,300 people have been killed in Israel’s raids since, also mostly civilians.
According to the Israeli military, Abu Rakaba oversaw Hamas drones, paragliders, aerial detection and aerial defence. A statement said:
He directed the terrorists who infiltrated Israel on paragliders and was responsible for the drone attacks on IDF [Israel Defence Forces] posts.
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In case you missed this earlier, a fifth of bakeries supported by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza have been bombed so far, as warnings have been issued of “catastrophic” food shortages due to a lack of fuel.
The UN Relief and Works Agency said 10 of the 50 bakeries it supplied with flour – helping to lower the soaring cost of bread – had been hit in airstrikes and fuel was running out for vehicles to transport flour to those that remained.
Bread has been desperately sought after, with long queues at bakeries, and has become the main food for many people in the shelters, which now house more than 600,000 people – triple their intended capacity.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said only two bakeries it had contracted had enough fuel to keep their ovens going and those that were operating were producing six times their capacity. The WFP had been supplying an average of 200,000 people a day with bread but that dropped to 150,000 on Wednesday, a spokesperson said.
Tens of thousands of people rely on small bakeries to find a loaf of bread to bring back to their families. People risk their lives and queue for hours, but they often go home empty-handed.
The full story from Kaamil Ahmed and Elena Morresi is here:
From Sederot on the northern Gaza border: a thick fog has covered Gaza and the southern Israeli coast.
Some artillery or tank fire could be heard at about 6.30am but since then it has been relatively quiet, with just an occasional detonation audible.
The big self-propelled guns dug into the farmland are silent for now.
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Hundreds of people were arrested when police broke up a large demonstration of mostly Jewish New Yorkers who had taken over the main hall of Grand Central station in protest against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, police and organisers said.
The New York police department said at least 200 people had been arrested, while protest organisers put the number at more than 300, Agence France-Presse reports.
Photos from the scene showed long lines of young people standing in handcuffs and wearing black sweatshirts with the words “Not in our name” and “Cease fire now” printed in white.
The sit-in was called by the group Jewish Voice for Peace – New York City, which said thousands of its members had attended the protest, blocking the main concourse of the city’s central rail station.
Pictures showed the terminal packed with protesters who held up banners reading “Palestinians should be free” and “Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living”.
Organisers called the peaceful sit-in “the largest civil disobedience New York City has seen in 20 years”.
Rabbis launched the event by lighting Shabbat candles and reciting the Jewish prayer for the dead, known as the kaddish.
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Australia has abstained from casting a vote in a United Nations resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza, arguing it was “incomplete” because it did not mention Hamas as the perpetrator of the 7 October attack.
On Friday, the UN general assembly overwhelmingly called for an “immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas and demanded unhindered aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip.
The motion, drafted by Jordan, is not binding but carries political weight, with 120 nations voting in favour and only 14 – including the US and Israel – voting no. Forty-five countries – including Australia, the UK, Germany, India and Canada – abstained from voting.
James Larsen, Australia’s representative to the UN, told the assembly that Australia agreed with the aims of the resolution and repeated the country’s calls for a humanitarian pause to allow food, water and medicine to reach Gazans.
The full story from Jordyn Beazley is here:
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Opening summary
Welcome to our new live blog continuing our rolling coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, now on day 22. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a look at the latest as it approaches 8.10am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv.
Israel knocked out the internet and communications across the Gaza Strip during a stepped-up bombardment on Friday night, largely cutting off the blockaded territory’s 2.3 million people from contact with the outside world and creating a near-blackout of information.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday evening its air and ground forces were stepping up their operations in Gaza. IDF spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said aerial attacks had been targeting Hamas tunnels and other targets and he warned residents of Gaza City to move south. A senior Israeli government adviser said Hamas “will feel our wrath tonight”. “Tonight we are starting payback,” Mark Regev said. “When this is over, Gaza will be very different.”
The IDF announcement came amid exceptionally heavy bombing of Gaza. After nightfall, frequent explosions from airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City. The Red Crescent, the World Health Organization, Médecins Sans Frontières, Unicef and other aid groups said they had lost all contact with their staff in Gaza.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has cautioned that “many more will die” in Gaza from catastrophic shortages. “People in Gaza are dying, they are not only dying from bombs and strikes, soon many more will die from the consequences of [the] siege,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the agency chief.
Hamas said on Saturday its fighters in Gaza were ready to confront Israeli attacks with “full force” after Israel intensified its air and ground assaults. The Palestinian militant group said earlier that its fighters were clashing with Israeli troops in Gaza’s north-eastern town of Beit Hanoun and in the central area of Al-Bureij.
The US said it sought to degrade ammunition supplies of Iranian-linked militias with strikes in eastern Syria but insisted it did not want to widen the Middle East conflict. The strikes on two sites followed attacks by Iran-linked groups against US forces in Iraq and Syria. US president Joe Biden said later in a letter to House speaker Mike Johnson on Friday that the US “stands ready to take further action”.
The near-total telecommunications blackout in Gaza risks providing cover for mass atrocities, Human Rights Watch has said. A number of international agencies and NGOs said they had lost touch with their staff in Gaza on Friday, including the UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA.
The UN general assembly has overwhelmingly called for an “immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas and demanded unhindered aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip. The motion drafted by Jordan is not binding but carries political weight, reflecting the degree to which the US and Israel are isolated internationally as Israel steps up its ground operations.
The Israeli military has accused Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza for military purposes and of turning them into “hideouts for Hamas terrorists and commanders”. While it is not possible to verify the details of the IDF’s claims, there is evidence that Hamas has in the past taken advantage of cover provided by civilian objects, including hospitals.
At least 7,326 Palestinians, including 3,038 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said in its latest update on Friday. The claims have not been independently verified.
The UN has said it is concerned that war crimes are being committed on both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict. “We are concerned about the collective punishment of Gazans in response to the atrocious attacks by Hamas, which also amounted to war crimes,” a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, Ravina Shamdasani, said on Friday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its medics had entered Gaza for the first time since the outbreak of war. Six medical staff passed through the Rafah border crossing on Friday, alongside four other ICRC specialists and six aid trucks carrying urgently needed medical material and water-purification supplies, an ICRC spokesperson said.
The Egyptian military reported that two drones fired from the southern Red Sea had landed in two resorts on the Sinai peninsula, one of them falling on Taba, which sits on the border with Israel. Six people were reported hurt in the incident, in a worrying sign of the conflict’s potential to spread.
EU leaders have unanimously called for humanitarian corridors and “pauses” in the Israel-Hamas war. An official declaration was to be issued after a two-day summit of leaders in Brussels that wrapped up on Friday.
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