Closing summary
This is where we’ll close this blog – we’re continuing over rolling live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war in a new blog here. Thank you for reading. Here’s a rundown on where things stand as it just passes 8am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 30 people were killed in an Israeli bombing of the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza late on Saturday. Hamas said in a statement on Telegram that Israel had “directly” bombed citizens’ homes, adding that most of the dead were women and children. The Palestinian news agency Wafa earlier put the death toll at 51, with scores wounded.
US president Joe Biden signalled there were small signs of progress being made towards a humanitarian pause in the war between Israel and Hamas on Saturday. US officials have been pushing for a pause but so far with little impact.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society received 30 aid trucks that entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on Saturday. Three were handed to the Red Cross and 19 to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Eight trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent were delivered to the Palestine Red Crescent.
Gaza’s Hamas-run government suspended the evacuation of foreign passport holders to Egypt on Saturday after Israel refused to allow some wounded Palestinians to be evacuated to Egyptian hospitals, a border official said.
Israeli military clashes with Palestinians were reported across the occupied West Bank overnight on Saturday, including in Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarm.
Hamas’s armed wing said more than 60 hostages were missing due to Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, also said on Hamas’s Telegram account that 23 bodies of Israeli hostages were trapped under the rubble. Reuters could not immediately verify the statement.
Protesters gathered outside the residence of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid growing anger at the government’s failures that led to Hamas’s deadly attacks against Israel on 7 October. Protesters also gathered in Tel Aviv, with many holding signs that said “Ceasefire” and others that read “Release the hostages now at all costs”.
Agence France-Presse has called on Israel ot provide “an in-depth and transparent investigation” into the exact involvement of its army after a strike severely damaged its office in Gaza City, which has been shelled for weeks. “A strike on the offices of an international news agency sends a deeply troubling message to all the journalists working in such difficult conditions in Gaza,” the news agency’s chairman and CEO Fabrice Fries said.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has reaffirmed US support for “humanitarian pauses” in the ongoing fight between Israel and Hamas. In an address in Amman, Jordan, about sparing civilians and speeding up aid deliveries entering into Gaza, Blinken said: “The United States believes that all of these efforts will be facilitated by humanitarian pauses.”
Four police officers were injured and 29 people were arrested after thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. They were arrested for inciting racial hatred, other racially motivated crimes, violence and assaulting a police officer, the Metropolitan Police said. It was the fourth consecutive week of London demonstrations in support of Palestinians.
Turkey has announced it is recalling its ambassador to Israel and cutting contact with Netanyahu. Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat called Saturday’s move “another step by the Turkish president that sides with the Hamas terrorist organisation.”
Israel will locate and kill Hamas’s Gaza chief, Yahya Sinwar, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said. “We will find Sinwar and will eliminate him,” Gallant said on Saturday as Israeli forces fought street battles with Hamas in the Palestinian territory.
Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Washington DC on Saturday to protest against the Biden administration’s support of Israel and its continued military campaign in Gaza. The demonstrators wore black and white keffiyehs as an enormous Palestinian flag was unfurled by a crowd that filled Pennsylvania Avenue, the street leading up to the White House.
Updated
The United States and its Arab allies appeared divided over calls for a ceasefire in Israel’s military offensive against Hamas as the US pushed for a more temporary pause in fighting amid growing global anger over the rising death toll among Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday, several Middle East foreign ministers urged the US to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire in a meeting with the secretary of state, Antony Blinken. The top US diplomat, however, dismissed the idea, saying such a halt would only benefit Hamas, allowing the militant organisation to regroup and attack again.
The diplomatic wrangling came as the conflict entered its fifth week, with reports that more than 30 people were killed in a strike on a refugee camp in central Gaza.
You can read our fresh wrap of all the major developments here:
