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:
Sirens that sounded in northern Israel early on Sunday were determined to be a false alarm, the Israel Defence Forces said a short while ago on X (formerly Twitter).
The Jerusalem Post had tweeted earlier that “rocket sirens sounded in Misgav Am, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, on Sunday morning”.
The sirens came amid ongoing skirmishes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants across the frontier.
Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Washington DC on Saturday afternoon to protest against the Biden administration’s support of Israel and its continued military campaign in Gaza, Associated Press reports.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” chanted demonstrators, who were mainly young people.
There is controversy around the slogan’s meaning, with some saying it advocates the destruction of Israel.
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.
Dozens of small white body bags with the names of children killed lined the street and demonstrators held signs calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Overnight clashes reported across West Bank
Israeli forces clashed with Palestinians across the occupied West Bank on Saturday night and Sunday morning, the Jerusalem Post is reporting, citing Palestinian reports.
The Post said Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarm were among the locations of the fighting.
In Nablus, three Palestinians were injured during an Israeli raid, the report said. In Jenin, one Palestinian was injured, while at least one other was arrested during a raid.
Updated
The “day after” the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza may still be weeks or months away, but it will come. “When this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next,” US president Joe Biden said recently. “And in our view, it has to be a two-state solution.”
Against a backdrop of repeated cycles of violence and a military occupation lasting more than half a century, diplomats and analysts agree that lasting peace must follow the bloodiest fighting between Israelis and Palestinians for decades.
The two-state solution to the bitter conflict that has beset the region for almost a century – dividing the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean to carve out two independent, sovereign Israeli and Palestinian states existing side by side – has repeatedly been endorsed by world leaders.
But it has proved impossible for Israel and the Palestinians to reach an agreement. And, since US-brokered talks collapsed in 2014, and as Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have proliferated, the consensus has been that the two-state solution is dead.
Can it be revived? And – given the continuing war, regional tensions and settlers’ presence in what would be a Palestinian state – what might a two-state solution look like?
See here for the full story:
Updated
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has expressed Canada’s support for Israel and its right to defend itself while reaffirming “the importance of upholding international humanitarian law and making every effort to protect Palestinian civilians”, Trudeau’s office has said.
In its statement on a conversation between the two leaders on Saturday, Trudeau’s office said he “highlighted his deep concerns with the dire humanitarian crisis, and reiterated Canada’s position on the immediate need to create conditions for urgent and necessary humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza”.
Trudeau’s office said the leaders agreed on the need for all hostages held in Gaza to be immediately released, adding:
The two leaders also discussed ongoing efforts to get foreign citizens out of Gaza and the prime minister thanked prime minister Netanyahu for Israel’s assurances that Canadians in Gaza will be able to leave in the coming days.
Trudeau’s office also said the two leaders “denounced Hamas’ continued terror and discussed the risk of potential escalation in the region” and that Trudeau “underscored Canada’s enduring support for a two-state solution and for the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, dignity and security”.
Trudeau also “recognised the disturbing rise of antisemitism around the world, including in Canada, and the impact of the October 7 attack on Canada’s Jewish community”.
Just to recap: President Joe Biden suggested there have been some advances in US attempts to persuade Israel to pause military strikes on Gaza for humanitarian reasons.
In a brief exchange with reporters as he left a church in Delaware on Saturday, Biden was asked if there was progress and he responded “Yes” and gave a thumbs-up, but did not share specifics.
Associated Press also reported that the comment came after US secretary of state Antony Blinken met with his Arab counterparts on Saturday. He disagreed with them on the need for an immediate ceasefire, saying that would leave Hamas in place, and made clear the furthest he would go was backing a pause for aid to reach civilians in Gaza.
Updated
The Israel Defence Forces has posted a video on social media of apparent Hamas tunnels in northern Gaza, saying Israel troops had uncovered “multiple access points” to them.
The IDF’s post on X (formerly Twitter) says:
While Hamas obstructs their civilians from getting to safety in southern Gaza, Hamas hides within their intricate network of terror tunnels.
IDF troops uncovered multiple access points during operational activity in Northern Gaza.
While Hamas obstructs their civilians from getting to safety in southern Gaza, Hamas hides within their intricate network of terror tunnels.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 5, 2023
IDF troops uncovered multiple access points during operational activity in Northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/vovapYD4Xn
Dozens arrested and police injured at pro-Palestinian rally in Trafalgar Square
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, PA Media reports.
They were arrested for inciting racial hatred, other racially motivated crimes, violence and assaulting a police officer, the Metropolitan Police said.
Demonstrators climbed on top of the square’s fountains as the mostly peaceful group waved flags and banners on Saturday afternoon.
But the force said some demonstrators had launched fireworks into crowds and towards police, leaving four officers injured.
There were scuffles with police as the evening went on, and smaller groups of protesters began moving away from the square.
More than 1,300 officers were on duty in the area, four of whom were injured, the force said.
At least one protester was seen carrying a banner that read “Let’s keep the world clean” with a picture of an Israeli flag being thrown into a bin.
A similar banner displayed at a protest in Warsaw was condemned by the Israeli ambassador to Poland as “blatant antisemitism”.
Effigies of dead babies were left on the ground in Trafalgar Square, next to pictures of children and candles.
The Metropolitan police issued a dispersal order for an area around the square which will remain in force until 1am. An order was also issued giving officers the power to require someone to remove any item being used to conceal their identity, the force said.
Gaza ministry says more than 30 killed in Israeli bombing of Maghazi refugee camp
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, Agence France-Presse reports.
“More than 30 [dead] arrived at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the massacre committed by the occupation in al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip,” a health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said in a statement.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa earlier said 51 Palestinians had been killed and scores wounded in the bombardment.
Hamas said in a statement posted on Telegram that Israel had “directly” bombed citizens’ homes, adding that most of the dead were women and children.
“An Israeli air strike targeted my neighbours’ house in al-Maghazi camp, my house next door partially collapsed,” said Mohammed Alaloul, 37, a journalist working for the Turkish Anadolu Agency.
Alaloul told AFP his 13-year-old son, Ahmed, and his four-year-old son, Qais, were killed in the attack, along with his brother. His wife, mother and two other children were injured.
An Israeli military spokesperson said it was looking into whether the Israel Defence Forces had been operating in the area at the time of the bombing.
Updated
In the dark and the cloying heat of a Gaza night, the troops of the 13th Battalion of Israel’s Golani Brigade were attempting to advance in northern Gaza amid the flashes of air and artillery strikes across the Gaza Strip.
The ambush, when it happened, caught them by surprise – 30 fighters from an elite Hamas unit emerging from hidden tunnel entrances. The prolonged battle that followed saw Hamas deploy drones, anti-tank missiles and mortars against the Israeli armoured personnel carriers.
As Israel’s ground invasion has pushed forward in the past seven days, it has been marked by ambushes on tanks, on troop concentrations and positions taken in shattered, bomb-damaged buildings. Vehicles have been engaged with anti-tank guided missiles and have run over mines, leading to a steady stream of Israeli casualties, even while the Israel Defence Forces has claimed to have killed scores of Hamas fighters.
As the ground war enters its second brutal week, the unanswered questions driving its logic have become ever more pressing. Can the war aims be achieved? And what happens on the day after the shooting stops?
Strikingly, unlike in previous rounds of conflict in Gaza, the strong sense of social solidarity in wartime exists this time in tandem with a furious debate over whether the public rhetoric of Israel’s political and military leaders is reflective of reality.
For the full analysis on Israel’s growing concern about the war’s direction, see here:
Updated
The Hamas-run government of Gaza 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.
“No foreign passport holder will be able to leave the Gaza Strip until wounded people who need to be evacuated from hospitals in north Gaza are transported through the Rafah crossing” to Egypt, Agence France-Presse quoted the official as saying on condition of anonymity.
An Egyptian security source confirmed to AFP that “no wounded person or holder of a foreign passport arrived at the Egyptian terminal” of Rafah on Saturday.
He said the evacuation was suspended “after the bombing of ambulances transporting injured people who were on their way to the Egyptian terminal”.
On Friday, the Israeli army announced it had struck an ambulance outside al-Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, saying it was “used by a Hamas terrorist cell”.
At least 15 people were killed and 60 wounded in the strike, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Updated
51 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza refugee camp – report
The Palestinian news agency Wafa said 51 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed and scores wounded in an Israeli bombardment of Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp on Saturday night.
Reuters could not independently verify the Wafa report.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the Hamas-run Health ministry in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qidra, said a large number of people were killed without giving an exact figure, adding scores of people with severe injuries were laying on the ground of a hospital’s emergency ward, Reuters reported.
Maghazi is located in the Deir al-Balah Governorate in the central Gaza Strip.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas, not civilians, and accuses the militants of using residents as human shields.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our rolling live coverage – stay with us for all the latest development in the Israel-Hamas war
Summary
Here is where the day stands:
The Palestine Red Crescent Society received 30 aid trucks that entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing today. Three were handed to the Red Cross and 19 to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Eight trucks from the Eygptian Red Crescent were delivered to the Palestine Red Crescent.
Agence France-Presse on Saturday called on Israel for “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,” said AFP Chairman and CEO Fabrice Fries.
In a small sign of progress towards getting a humanitarian pause in the war between Israel and Hamas, Joe Biden answered “yes” to a question about the issue this afternoon. US officials have been pushing for a pause, mainly out of concern for hostages taken by Hamas and brought to Gaza, but so far with little impact. The US has also been very clear that it does not back any calls for a ceasefire.
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.”
Turkey announced on Saturday that it is recalling its ambassador to Israel and cutting contact with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat called the move “another step by the Turkish president that sides with the Hamas terrorist organisation.”
Hamas’s armed wing said that more than 60 hostages were missing due to Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, Reuters reports. 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.
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.”
Thousands of protestors gathered in Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza in a show of solidarity with Palestinians. The rally is expected to be the US’s largest pro-Palestinian protest since the Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October.
Israel will “find and eliminate” Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant said on Saturday. “We will find Sinwar and will eliminate him,” Gallant told a news conference, as Israeli forces fought street battles with Hamas inside the Palestinian territory.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in London for the fourth consecutive week of demonstrations in a show of solidarity with Palestinians. The Metropolitan police said there will be a “sharper focus” on using social media and face recognition to detect criminal behaviour at protests this weekend.
Here are some images coming through the newswires of Gaza where over 9,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes while thousands more remain in what the UN has called a “horrific” humanitarian condition amid Israel’s seige that has caused shortages of food, water and medical aid across the strip:
Updated
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs has released a flash update on the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. Here is an excerpt on the ongoing internal displacement faced by Palestinians across the strip:
Nearly 1.5 million people in Gaza are internally displaced (IDPs). Of them, 710,275 are sheltering in 149 UNRWA facilities, 122,000 people are in hospitals, churches, and public buildings, 109,755 people are in 89 non-UNRWA schools (previously 82), and the remainder are residing with host families.
Overcrowding conditions continue to create severe health and protection risks for IDPs and are taking a heavy toll on their mental health. Damage to water and sanitation infrastructure and the limited availability of fuel to pump water creates additional public health risks. Several cases of acute respiratory infections, diarrhea and chicken pox have already been reported among people taking refuge at UNRWA shelters.
Over 530,000 people are sheltering in 92 UNRWA facilities in the southern governorates of Deir Al Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah areas. Shelters have exceeded their capacity and are unable to accommodate new arrivals. Many IDPs are seeking safety by sleeping in the streets, near to UNRWA premises
An estimated 160,000 IDPs are housed in 57 UNRWA facilities in the north and in Gaza city. UNRWA, however, is no longer able to provide services in those areas and does not have accurate information on people’s needs and conditions since the Israeli evacuation order on 13 October.
Updated
Here are some photos coming through the newswires of the ongoing pro-Palestinian rally in Washington DC, which is expected to be the US’s largest pro-Palestinian protest since the Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October.
Updated
American celebrities have voiced their support for Palestinians in Washington DC’s pro-Palestinian protest that saw tens of thousands of demonstrators take to the streets in calls for a ceasefire and for the US to halt its military aid to Israel.
American rapper and singer Macklemore addressed a crowd of thousands, saying: “I know enough to know that this is a genocide.”
In what was perhaps the largest pro-Palestinian march to take place in the US on Saturday, Macklemore took the stage and said:
There are thousands of people here that are more qualified to speak on the issue of a free Palestine than myself but I will say this:
They told me to do my research, that it’s too complex, to be silent … In the last three weeks, I’ve gone back and I have done some research, I don’t know everything, but I know enough to know that this is a genocide.
Macklemore speaks at the “Free Palestine” rally in DC:
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 4, 2023
“They told me to do my research, that it’s too complex, to be silent … In the last 3 weeks, I’ve gone back & I have done some research, I don’t know everything, but I know enough to know that this is a genocide.” pic.twitter.com/QQcjZQcSFQ
Meanwhile, actress Susan Sarandon said:
You don’t have to be Palestinian to care about what’s happening in Gaza. I stand with Palestine. No one is free until everyone is free.
You don’t have to be Palestinian to care about what’s happening in Gaza. I stand with Palestine. No one is free until everyone is free. https://t.co/23JHFbuf5K
— Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) November 4, 2023
Updated
The Palestine Red Crescent Society received 30 aid trucks that entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing today.
Three were handed to the Red Cross and 19 to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Eight trucks from the Eygptian Red Crescent were delivered to the Palestine Red Crescent.
The humanitarian group added:
The trucks contain 4 trucks of medical supplies and medicines, while the remaining trucks contain food, water, and relief items.
The total number of trucks received from October 21, 2023, until now is 451 trucks, which is equivalent to 30 trucks per day. However, Israeli authorities have not allowed the entry of fuel up to this moment.
@PalestineRCS teams received 30 trucks loaded with aid through the Rafah crossing today, 3 trucks of them were handed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and 19 trucks to UNRWA, additionally, 8 trucks from the Egyptian Red Cressent were delivered to the Palestine Red… pic.twitter.com/tBtMTXhcvp
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 4, 2023
Updated
Agence France-Presse on Saturday called on Israel for “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.
Agence France-Presse reports:
AFP “has taken note of the recent statements from the Israeli army spokesman concerning ‘an army strike nearby (the AFP office) that might have caused debris,’” it said in a statement.
However, “this statement on its own does not explain the extent of the damage caused to the AFP bureau,” located on the top floors of an 11-storey building, it said of Thursday’s incident.
“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,” said AFP Chairman and CEO Fabrice Fries.
“It is essential that all efforts are made to protect media in Gaza,” he added.
AFP is one of the few international media organisations to have an office in the Gaza Strip.
It employs a total of nine people there and is “redoubling its efforts to allow employees and their families to evacuate if they wish to leave.”
AFP’s live video feed broadcasting 24/7 from Gaza City has been temporarily suspended since Saturday, for reasons outside AFP’s control.
An AFP employee who visited the office on Friday said an explosive projectile appeared to have entered the technician’s office in the bureau horizontally from east to west.
The strike destroyed the wall opposite the window and caused significant damage to the adjacent room and other doors. It also punctured water tanks on the roof.
“According to the current information we hold, it seems that there was a IDF (Israel Defense Forces) strike near the building to eliminate an immediate threat,” a spokesperson said in a statement Friday.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society is providing pscyhological first aid and recreational activities to emergency medical teams at Al Quds Hospital in Gaza.
The activities are organized in efforts to ease “their psychological strain amid constant threats of being targeted,” PRCS said.
Pictures posted online showed emergency workers blowing balloons and sitting in a circle, smiling - a rare moment of respite amid deadly Israeli strikes that have killed over 9,000 Palestinians, including over 3,600 children across Gaza since October 7.
PRCS's Psycho-Social team provided psychological first aid and recreational activities to emergency medical teams at Al-Quds Hospital in #Gaza, easing their psychological strain amid constant threats of being targeted.❤🚑#humantarian_heros #Gaza pic.twitter.com/Gk0NtiT8Ws
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 4, 2023
Updated
Joe Biden says there is progress in efforts for a humanitarian pause in Gaza
In a small sign of progress towards getting a humanitarian pause in the war between Israel and Hamas, Joe Biden answered “yes” to a question about the issue this afternoon.
US officials have been pushing for a pause, mainly out of concern for hostages taken by Hamas and brought to Gaza, but so far with little impact. The US has also been very clear that it does not back any calls for a ceasefire.
Here is the White House pool report:
President Biden emerged from St. Edmond Roman Catholic Church at 5:05 p.m. following Mass.
Biden, wearing a blue blazer, was asked if there was any progress on getting a humanitarian pause in Gaza.
Biden said, “Yes,” and offered a thumbs up.
Updated
British woman denied passage out of Gaza via Rafah crossing
The latest from the UK Press Association on a British woman failing to get entry into Egypt from war-stricken Gaza, which has led her mother in the UK to say that foreign nationals trapped there are “being used as bargaining chips”:
Zaynab Wandawi, 29, from Salford in Greater Manchester, travelled to Gaza at the beginning of October with her husband, who is British Palestinian, and his relatives for a family member’s wedding before the Israel-Hamas war erupted.
Wandawi, an English language teacher, and a group of 12 family members – 10 of whom are British nationals, attempted to cross the border into Egypt on Wednesday, but were told their names were not on the list.
The group were told their names were on the list to cross into Egypt on Saturday, but were turned away from the border amid disagreement between the Palestinian and Israeli authorities in control of the crossing, according to her mother, Lalah Ali-Faten.
The Foreign Office said the temporary closure of the Rafah crossing was “disappointing” and it was pressing for the key border post to be reopened.
Ali-Faten, 52, from Prestwich, north Manchester, told the PA news agency: “It seems now that they’re being used as a bargaining chip, the foreign nationals.”
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where protesters have gathered in angry anti-government protests, with many urging prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign:
Updated
Protesters gather outside Israeli prime minister's residence amid growing anger at Israeli government
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.
Reuters reported that a crowd in the hundreds pushed through police barriers around Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, waving Israeli flags and chanting: “Jail now!”
Protesters also gathered in Tel Aviv, with many holding signs that said “Ceasefire” and others that read “Release the hostages now at all costs”.
On Saturday, a poll for Israel’s Channel 13 found that 76% of Israelis felt that Netanhayu should resign, Reuters reported, adding that 64% say that Israel should hold an election immediately after the war.
Forty-four percent blamed Netanyahu as the person most at fault for the 7 October Hamas attack. Thirty-three percent blamed the military chief of staff and senior IDF officials, and five percent blamed defense minister Yoav Gallant, according to the poll.
Updated
Turkey announced on Saturday that it is recalling its ambassador to Israel and cutting contact with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Turkish foreign ministry said ambassador Sakir Ozkan Torunlar was being recalled for consultations “in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians, and Israel’s refusal [to accept] a ceasefire,” Agence France-Presse reports.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat called the move “another step by the Turkish president that sides with the Hamas terrorist organisation.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters separately that he held Netanyahu personally responsible for the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza where over 9,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes.
“Netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to. We have written him off,” Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying, Agence France-Presse reports.
Nevertheless, Erdogan said on Saturday that his country could not afford to sever all diplomatic contacts with Israel.
“Completely severing ties is not possible, especially in international diplomacy,” Erdogan said.
Turkey’s move follows Israel’s withdrawal of its diplomats from the country last month after Erdogan called Israel an “occupier” at a pro-Palestinian rally.
Hamas's armed wing: more than 60 hostages missing due to Israeli airstrike
Hamas’s armed wing said that more than 60 hostages were missing due to Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, Reuters reports.
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.
It seems that we will never be able to reach them due to the continued brutal aggression of the occupation against Gaza.
Reuters could not immediately verify the statement.
Updated
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.”
“We believe humanitarian pauses can be critical mechanisms to protect civilians, to getting aid in, to getting foreign nationals out while still enabling Israel to achieve its objectives to defeat Hamas,” he added.
On Saturday, Blinken met with senior Jordanian and Arab officials in Amman in his second visit to the region since the war broke out on 7 October in an attempt to garner support for a post-conflict future for Gaza and Israel.
Updated
Middle East powers should maintain their push to de-escalate the region through trade and economic ties despite the Israel-Hamas war, a senior United Arab Emirates official said on Saturday.
Agence France-Presse reports:
The sudden flare-up in Gaza, after a deadly attack by Hamas militants, follows a period of fence-mending in the region including by the UAE and its neighbouring fellow oil giant, Saudi Arabia.
According to UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash, countries should maintain that strategy even though the war is sending shockwaves through the region.
“National actors are basically trying to use economics as a way to de-escalate tension,” Gargash told the World Policy Conference in Abu Dhabi.
“I think there is no reason why we should also veer away from that course of action.”
Gargash said the war demonstrated that the UAE and others still had to “work together with other regional actors in order to ensure that regional stability is guaranteed”.
“But I think the other message is also (that) national plans have to move on. I don’t think that national plans have to be on pause, because there will always be a major regional issue that will surprise us.”
Thousands of protestors have gathered in Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza in a show of solidarity with Palestinians.
Incredible scene here at Freedom Plaza right now. As speeches kick off, tens of thousands prepare to #MarchOnWashington.
— Palestinian Youth Movement (@palyouthmvmt) November 4, 2023
In our thousands, in our millions WE ARE ALL PALESTINIAN 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/rE5OTWDI6D
The crowd here at Freedom Plaza only continuing to grow. #MarchOnWashington #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/TMZgNnio4R
— Palestinian Youth Movement (@palyouthmvmt) November 4, 2023
More than an hour out and Freedom Plaza is FULL with thousands more on their way to join us. #MarchOnWashington #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/TxVBaUJElb
— Palestinian Youth Movement (@palyouthmvmt) November 4, 2023
Organizers of the protest said they are anticipating at least 30,000 marchers to show up today.
Marchers will loop past the White House in a unified call on Joe Biden to end US military aid to Israel, as well as urge a ceasefire.
Updated
Israel will “find and eliminate” Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant said on Saturday.
“We will find Sinwar and will eliminate him,” Gallant told a news conference, as Israeli forces fought street battles with Hamas inside the Palestinian territory.
Soon after the war between Israel and Hamas erupted, Israel said that Sinwar was a “dead man walking”, and that he and the leader of the group’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif, were the army’s top targets in the conflict.
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Activists have rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening to call for a ceasefire amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, according to videos posted online.
Protestors held signs that read “Ceasefire now” and “No military solution.” Other signs read: “Ceasefire, hostage deal.”
Now in Tel Aviv Israeli left wing activists protest against the war and calling for a ceasefire pic.twitter.com/DIFW4LIaIX
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) November 4, 2023
The protest calling for ceasefire in Tel Aviv is being attacked by right wing pic.twitter.com/oOsRQcaqsK
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) November 4, 2023
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Here are some images coming through the newswires of the pro-Palestinian protests happening across London:
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Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in London for the fourth consecutive week of demonstrations in a show of solidarity with Palestinians.
The Metropolitan police have said there will be a “sharper focus” on using social media and face recognition to detect criminal behaviour at protests this weekend.
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Here is video of a UN-run school in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp that was damaged by an Israeli airstrike:
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned it cannot provide safety to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as more than 50 UN facilities have been “impacted” by the conflict – including “five direct hits’” – and 38 people had died in UN shelters, Thomas White, the director of UNRWA affairs, said on Friday.
A group of UN experts has warned that Palestinians “are at grave risk of genocide” and condemned Israel’s strike on a residential complex in the Jabalia refugee camp earlier this week, calling it a “brazen violation of international law” and a “war crime”.
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UN chief: 'Nowhere is safe' in Gaza
The UN secretary general António Guterres has issued a statement, saying that “nowhere is safe” in Gaza as he repeats his calls for a ceasefire.
Guterres opened up his statement with a condemnation of Israel’s strike on an ambulance near Gaza’s al Shifa hospital, saying:
I am horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an ambulance convoy outside Al Shifa hospital. The images of bodies strewn on the street outside the hospital are harrowing.
I do not forget the terror attacks committed in Israel by Hamas and the killing, maiming and abductions, including of women and children. All hostages held in Gaza must be released immediately and unconditionally.
He added:
Now, for nearly one month, civilians in Gaza, including children and women, have been besieged, denied aid, killed, and bombed out of their homes.
This must stop.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is horrific. Not nearly enough food, water and medicine are coming in to meet people’s needs. Fuel to power hospitals and water plants is running out. UNRWA shelters are at nearly four times their full capacity and are being hit in bombardments. Morgues are overflowing. Shops are empty. The sanitation situation is abysmal. We are seeing an increase in diseases and respiratory illnesses, especially among children. An entire population is traumatized. Nowhere is safe.
More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since Hamas launched its attacks against Israel on 7 October.
Thousands more Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes and denied medical aid, food and water amid Israel’s deadly siege on the narrow strip.
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Médecins Sans Frontières has condemned Israel’s strike on an ambulance near Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital on Friday, calling it “a new low in an endless stream of unconscionable violence”:
The deadly attack outside the gate of l-Shifa hospital impacting an ambulance yesterday is horrendous. This is an attack outside Gaza’s main and busiest hospital, where our staff work daily to provide lifesaving medical care.
The repeated strikes on hospitals, ambulances, densely populated areas and refugee camps are disgraceful.
This is a new low in an endless stream of unconscionable violence.
— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) November 4, 2023
The repeated strikes on hospitals, ambulances, densely populated areas and refugee camps are disgraceful.
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Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in Berlin on Saturday in a show of solidarity with Palestinians.
Agence France-Presse reports that the atmosphere was calm at the start of the rally with many demonstrators showing up alongside their families and children.
Many held posters that read “Save Gaza”, “Stop genocide” and “Ceasefire” while others wore keffiyehs and shouted: “Free Palestine!”
“We estimate the number of demonstrators at around 3,500, but more are arriving,” a police spokesperson told AFP.
The rally’s organisers said they estimated about 2,000 participants would show up but police said there could be at least 10,000 participants. Police have deployed about 1,400 officers to the march.
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The United States believes that a ceasefire in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza would leave Palestinian militant group Hamas in place and allow it to regroup and carry out attacks similar to the one on 7 October, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said.
That attack killed more than 1,400 people, the worst assault in Israel’s history.
Blinken made his comments at a news conference in Amman, alongside his Jordanian and Egyptian counterparts, who have repeatedly urged an immediate cessation of hostilities.
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Blinken says US, Arab states agree Hamas-controlled status quo in Gaza cannot continue
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Saturday both Washington and Arab states believe the status quo of a Hamas-controlled Gaza cannot continue and that he has discussed with his Arab counterparts how to chart a better path forward towards a two-state solution.
Speaking at a news conference in Amman, alongside his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts, the top US diplomat also said Washington was worried about violence by extremist settlers in the West Bank.
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Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that the continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip complicated its efforts to mediate the release of hostages held by Hamas.
The foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, made the comment in a meeting with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement
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The diplomatic adviser to the United Arab Emirates’ president said on Saturday the latest war in Gaza shows Israel’s policy of containment has failed and the US needed to push for a quick end to the conflict and a new strategy, or else be considered ineffective by the region.
“If this crisis continues, especially the humanitiaran side, and if this crisis brings us back full circle to the old containment policy of pre-7 October, I think the American role here, forget right or wrong, but it will not be seen as effective,” Anwar Gargash told a policy conference in Abu Dhabi.
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Hezbollah said it carried out simultaneous attacks on Israeli positions at the Lebanese border on Saturday, as residents of south Lebanon reported some of the fiercest Israeli strikes yet during weeks of cross-border clashes.
The Israeli army said its warplanes had struck Hezbollah targets in response to an earlier attack from Lebanese territory, and was accompanying the airstrikes with artillery and tank shelling.
A Lebanese source familiar with Hezbollah’s attacks said the group had fired a powerful missile not yet used in the fighting, saying it had hit an Israeli position across the border from the villages of Ayta al-Shaab and Rmeich, Reuters reports.
On Saturday, a statement from the Israeli military said: “In response to two terrorist cells attempting to fire from Lebanon toward Israeli territory, the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] struck the cells and a Hezbollah observation post.”
It said it had also responded to mortar fire from Lebanon into northern Israel, where no casualties were reported.
Hezbollah said it had simultaneously attacked five Israeli positions along the border.
Hours later it announced a new attack on the al-Abbad Israeli position without specifying what kind of weapon was used, AFP reports.
Israel’s military said in a new statement that its fighter jets struck “terror targets” of Hezbollah, accompanied by tank and artillery fire.
“The Hezbollah targets struck include terror infrastructure, rocket storage sites and military compounds,” it said.
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Summary of the day so far
Here a brief summary of the recent developments:
An Israeli drone has fired a missile at the Gaza house of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, Reuters has said in a snap, citing the Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa Radio. The report said Haniyeh has been outside the Gaza Strip since 2019, residing between Turkey and Qatar.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, met with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in Amman on Saturday and emphasised the importance of working towards a ceasefire in Gaza and stopping Israeli aggression in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state news agency said.
The number of French citizens killed as a result of Hamas’s attacks in Israel has risen to 39, with nine other French nationals still missing, France’s foreign ministry has said.
The US special envoy David Satterfield said on Saturday that between 800,000 and 1 million people have moved to the south of the Gaza Strip, while 350,000-400,000 remain in the north of the enclave.
An Israeli airstrike on a UN-run school sheltering displaced people in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed 15 people and injured dozens more, said Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, the head of al-Shifa hospital.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told reporters that Gaza must be part of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state once the Israel-Hamas war is over, adding that Ankara would not support models “gradually erasing Palestinians from history”.
At least 9,488 Palestinians, including 3,900 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Saturday.
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, in a rare phone call with his Iranian counterpart, has underlined western warnings that Tehran must use its influence with other groups in the Middle East to prevent escalation over the conflict in Gaza.
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Thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets across the UK on Saturday for the fourth consecutive week of demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war.
A pro-Palestine rally is due to be held in Trafalgar Square from about 2.30pm on Saturday, with protesters calling for a ceasefire.
Similar events are planned in Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol and other towns and cities across the UK.
Hundreds of protesters also demonstrated outside the BBC’s London headquarters, accusing the broadcaster of bias in its coverage of the conflict.
The Metropolitan police has said there will be a “sharper focus” on using social media and face recognition to detect criminal behaviour at protests this weekend.
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The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, in a rare phone call with his Iranian counterpart, has underlined western warnings that Tehran must use its influence with other groups in the Middle East to prevent escalation over the conflict in Gaza.
It is not clear from the readouts given by either side whether Cleverly spelled out any consequences to Iran if it was deemed to be actively stoking a wider war, or if he provided any intelligence to show that the west knew the depth of Iran’s involvement.
The Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, rejected Cleverly’s message by repeating the longstanding line that Iran does not control militant groups in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria or Yemen, also known as the “axis of resistance”.
Hundreds of people are protesting outside the BBC’s London headquarters, accusing the broadcaster of bias in its coverage of Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza.
“BBC, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” chanted crowds at a protest focused around All Souls church, opposite the BBC building on Portland Place.
Hundreds of Palestine solidarity protesters have gathered outside the @BBC in Portland Place #Gaza pic.twitter.com/eXxC6o5b0c
— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) November 4, 2023
Police lined the edges of the demonstration to stop protesters spilling into the road.
The protest was one of a number in solidarity with Gaza planned in London for Saturday, including in districts outside the city centre.
The Metropolitan police said it had called in reinforcements from Kent, and drafted in officers from emergency response and neighbourhood policing teams, as well as volunteer special constables, as part of its public order policing plan.
This morning our #PublicOrder policing plan includes colleagues from; Emergency Response, Neighbourhoods, volunteer Special Constabulary @MPSSpecials and assistance from our colleagues @kent_police.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) November 4, 2023
There are a number of planned protests and we will respond to them accordingly. pic.twitter.com/hPJnJ5dyFA
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At least 9,488 Palestinians including 3,900 children have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Saturday.
Erdoğan also said the European Union (EU) had not taken a fair stance on the Israel-Hamas war and the situation in Gaza and as a result trust in the bloc had been “deeply shaken”, broadcaster Habertürk and others reported.
The support shown by European countries for Israel stemmed from “their debts” over the Holocaust, Erdoğan added in comments to reporters on a return flight from Kazakhstan on Friday.
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Turkey's Erdoğan says postwar Gaza must be part of sovereign Palestinian state
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told reporters that Gaza must be part of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state once the Israel-Hamas war is over, adding Ankara would not support models “gradually erasing Palestinians from history”.
Speaking to media on a return flight from Kazakhstan on Friday, Erdoğan also said his intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, was in contact with Israeli and Palestinian authorities, as well as Hamas, broadcaster Habertürk and others reported.
He said he would not take the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as a counterpart, but added Ankara would not sever its ties with Israel either, according to Habertürk.
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An Israeli airstrike on a UN-run school sheltering displaced people in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed 15 people and injured dozens more, said Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, the head of al-Shifa hospital.
“There are 15 martyrs and the number is expected to increase,” said Abu Selmeyah, who is also an official in the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave, Reuters reported.
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US special envoy David Satterfield said on Saturday that between 800,000 to a million people have moved to the south of the Gaza Strip, while 350,000-400,000 remain in the north of the enclave.
Talking to reporters in the Jordanian capital, Amman, he said that there were no recorded instances of Hamas interdicting or seizing aid.
“Fuel in depots in Gaza has been accessed by UNRWA for aid trucks, de-salinisation and hospitals in the south of Gaza,” he noted.
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The death toll of French citizens killed as a result of Hamas’s attacks in Israel has risen to 39, with nine other French nationals still missing, France’s foreign ministry has said.
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The stench of death still pervades Kfar Aza, an Israeli kibbutz on the periphery of the blockaded Gaza Strip. The street closest to the barbed wire border fence, just 50 metres away from the 3 mile (5km) buffer zone that separates the territories, previously housed the kibbutz’s volunteers. These young adults lived in around 40 small homes designed for single occupancy, staying for a few months at a time to explore the socialist and environmental principles typical of a kibbutz lifestyle.
As there are several communal bomb shelters in the vicinity, the houses were not designed with safe rooms in which to wait out rocket attacks. Even if they were, the occupants would not have escaped Kfar Aza’s fate on 7 October, when Hamas burst out of its cage.
What came next has forever changed the region. Four weeks after the Palestinian militant group’s horrifying attack that killed 1,400 Israelis across southern Israel, there is only silence in this community, previously home to 750 people, perforated by blasts of nearby Israeli artillery fire and a warning of an incoming anti-tank missile.
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Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, met with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in Amman on Saturday and emphasised the importance of working towards a ceasefire in Gaza and stopping Israeli aggression in southern Lebanon, Lebanon state news agency said.
Mikati also stressed Lebanon’s commitment to international legitimacy and the implementation of UN resolution 1701, calling on the international community to pressure Israel to cease its violations.
Blinken, in turn, emphasized his efforts to halt military operations for humanitarian reasons and to address the issue of prisoners.
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Reuters has more on an Israeli drone firing a missile at the Gaza house of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, according to a report on Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa Radio.
It was unclear whether any of his family members were at the house when it was struck.
Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief, has been outside the Gaza Strip since 2019, residing between Turkey and Qatar.
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The father of a young family that has escaped Gaza and returned to Australia has thanked everyone who “felt their pain”, and praised the “relentless” efforts of Australian diplomats who secured their safety.
The family of four from Adelaide travelled to Gaza so that the two children, aged seven and 10, could visit their grandparents and family. It was their first visit to Gaza. They arrived two weeks before the conflict began and, according to their lawyer, have been through hell since then.
The family were among 25 Australians who managed to escape the territory into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing.
Henry Belot has the full story:
Palestinians in Gaza reported Israeli airstrikes overnight into Saturday across the besieged territory, including the southern part, where Israel had told civilians to seek refuge as its ground operation intensifies in northern Gaza, the Associated Press reports.
Raed Mattar, who had fled northern Gaza early in the war and is sheltering in a school in the southern town of Khan Younis, said he heard explosions, apparently from airstrikes.
He said:
People never sleep. The sound of explosions never stops.
Airstrikes were also reported in Gaza City, while attacks hit the western outskirts of the city and near al-Quds hospital.
The Israeli military repeatedly hit close to the hospital in recent days, said Adly Abu Taha, a Gaza City resident who has sheltered in the hospital grounds for the past three weeks.
He said over the phone:
The bombardment get closer day by day. We don’t know where to go.
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Israel targets Hamas chief's home with missile – report
An Israeli drone has fired a missile at the Gaza house of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, Reuters has said in a quick snap, citing the Hamas-affiliated Aqsa Radio.
The report said Haniyeh was currently outside the territory.
Agence France-Presse has reported on the aftermath of what Hamas authorities said was Israeli tank shelling that killed 20 people at the Osama bin Zaid boys’ school north of Gaza City.
The report said:
Ambulance teams rushed into the debris-littered building to aid the injured and remove the dead.
Stunned onlookers wept and wandered the scene with hands clasped above the head in horror and disbelief.
A long row of washing still hung from windows on the building’s first storey, evidence that the school had become a temporary home for some of the hundreds of thousands displaced by the war.
Israel has resisted US calls for a pause in fighting and pressed its siege of Gaza City on Saturday, having encircled the Gaza Strip’s largest city.
For Vladimir Putin’s more than two-decade rule, he has promoted himself as a friend and protector of the Jewish community, and he launched an invasion last year with the ostensible goal to “denazify” Ukraine.
But the scenes of violence in Makhachkala, Dagestan, this week, as well as images of local people searching out Israeli passport holders in a hotel in the city of Khasavyurt, recalled darker moments in Russian history, when Cossacks rampaged through Jewish communities as local authorities looked on.
For some Russian Jewish leaders, the Kremlin’s recent geopolitical shift away from Israel, as well as nods toward antisemitism, played a direct role in last week’s events in Dagestan.
For Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer’s full story on how the stirring of traumatic memories is prompting deep unease, see here:
The Israeli military says it “eliminated terrorists” and located Hamas weapons while uncovering tunnel shafts in northern Gaza over the past day.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari said on X (formerly Twitter) that in one of its battles, Israeli forces fought 15 militants, killing a number of them and destroying three Hamas observation posts.
Israeli troops operated in “an area from which many attempts to attack the IDF forces through tunnel shafts and military compounds were detected”, he said.
Also, during a targeted raid in the south of the Gaza Strip, armored and engineering forces under the command of the Gaza Division worked to map buildings and neutralise explosives.
During the operation, the forces encountered a terrorist squad that came out of a tunnel shaft. In response, the fighters fired shells at the terrorists and killed them.
כמו כן, במהלך פשיטה ממוקדת בדרום רצועת עזה, כוחות שריון והנדסה בפיקוד אוגדת עזה פעלו למיפוי מבנים ונטרול מטענים. במהלך הפעילות, נתקלו הכוחות בחוליית מחבלים שיצאה מפיר מנהרה. בתגובה, ביצעו הלוחמים ירי פגזים לעבר המחבלים וחיסלו אותם. pic.twitter.com/5C61KbOxOJ
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 4, 2023
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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will hear demands for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza when he meets Middle East foreign ministers in Jordan on Saturday, the country’s foreign ministry said.
Blinken’s visit comes as a US official said talks about a “very significant” pause in fighting were under way, despite Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise that such a plan would be refused unless the hostages being held by Hamas are released.
For more on that in our wrap of all the latest news, see here:
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Here are some of the latest images from the Gaza Strip and Israel coming in over the news agency wires.
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Palestinian Red Crescent condemns deadly strike on Gaza ambulance
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has condemned the targeting of a convoy of ambulances in Gaza by Israeli forces on Friday, which it says killed 15 people and wounded more than 60 others.
The PRCS said in a statement early on Saturday that one of its ambulances was struck “by a missile fired by the Israeli forces” about 2 metres from the entrance to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Agence France-Presse reports.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 15 civilians and wounded 60 other people, the PRCS said, mirroring figures released earlier by the Hamas-run health ministry.
Another ambulance, belonging to the health ministry, was “directly targeted” by a missile about a kilometre from the hospital, causing injuries and damage, it said.
The PRCS, part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, added that deliberately targeting medical teams constituted “a grave violation of the Geneva conventions, a war crime”.
Israel’s military said it had launched an airstrike on “an ambulance that was identified by forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone”.
“A number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike,” a military statement said.
Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq said allegations its fighters were present were “baseless”.
In a statement on the incident, Israel’s military gave no evidence to support its assertion that the ambulance was linked to Hamas but said it intended to release additional information.
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Palestinians who fled to southern Gaza after warnings from Israel to leave their homes are standing in line for hours to get contaminated water they believe is making them ill.
Long queues of people waiting to fill jerry cans are now ubiquitous across the territory as water becomes increasingly scarce – a result of restrictions on water and power imposed by Israel.
None of the water pipes from Israel into Gaza are working and a pipe connecting the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Younis is leaking, according to the UN.
Eman Basher, a teacher, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that her children had been unwell since leaving their home in Gaza City.
My kids have been suffering from stomach flu with symptoms including abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea, which I always assumed is the normal result of sleeping on the floor or change of weather, just to learn that it is caused by contaminated water we drink daily and queue for hours to get.
We’ve been drinking this water for 15 days and fighting to get it.
Kaamil Ahmed’s full story is here:
Antony Blinken in Jordan for talks with Middle East foreign ministers
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II after leaving Israel empty-handed in his efforts to secure humanitarian “pauses” in its war with Hamas.
Blinken arrived late on Friday in Amman, where he will also join a meeting of foreign ministers of five Arab countries which will be attended by a representative of the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmud Abbas.
In Israel, Blinken discussed with the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the idea of “humanitarian pauses” to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and to allow aid to be distributed to the beleaguered population of the Gaza Strip.
But after meeting Blinken on Friday, Netanyahu warned there could be no “temporary truce” in Gaza unless Hamas releases the hostages it holds.
Saudi, Qatari, Emirati, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers as well as Palestinian representatives will stress the “Arab stance calling for an immediate ceasefire, delivering humanitarian aid and ways of ending the dangerous deterioration that threatens the security of the region”, the Jordanian foreign ministry said in a statement.
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A Guardian analysis of satellite imagery of the northern Gaza Strip in the aftermath of heavy bombardments has identified more than 1,000 craters visible from space within about 10 sq km.
In one area – just half a kilometre wide – a group of residential blocks has been bombed so severely that about 100 craters, some as large as 45ft (13.9m), are visible.
At least one hospital and three schools in the area have been rendered out of service, apparently due to a nearby bombing. Other buildings in the image, taken on 30 October, have been levelled entirely and reduced to rubble.
The full story from Manisha Ganguly , Lucy Swan and Paul Scruton is here:
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Opening summary
Welcome to our rolling live coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas, now on day 29. I’m Adam Fulton and here’s a rundown on the latest news as it nears 7am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv.
Fifteen people have been killed and 60 injured in an Israeli strike on a convoy of ambulances near the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
Israeli forces on Friday targeted the convoy near al-Shifa hospital transporting the wounded from Gaza City towards Rafah in the south, according to the Hamas government in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces said they carried out an airstrike on an ambulance they said was being used by Hamas and that “a number of Hamas terrorist operatives” were killed.
Meanwhile, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, arrived in Amman late on Friday and is to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Saturday after leaving Israel empty-handed in his efforts to secure “humanitarian pauses” in its war to destroy Hamas.
Blinken will also join a meeting of foreign ministers of five Arab countries which will be attended by a representative of the Palestinian Authority, a rival of Hamas.
Blinken had urged Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to temporarily stop its military offensive to allow aid into Gaza. But Netanyahu said after the meeting there could be no “temporary truce” unless Hamas released the hostages it held.
In other key developments:
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah has said his powerful militia is engaged in cross-border fighting with Israel and has threatened further “realistic escalation”. Hassan Nasrallah stopped short of announcing that Hezbollah had fully joined the Israel-Hamas war but warned that fighting on the Lebanon-Israel border would not be limited to the scale seen so far. The White House said Hezbollah should not try to take advantage of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 9,227 Palestinians, including 3,826 children, since 7 October, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Friday. The Israeli offensive on Gaza followed attacks launched by Hamas into Israel on 7 October which killed 1,400 people.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned it cannot provide safety to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians “sheltering under a UN flag”. More than 50 UN facilities have been “impacted” by the conflict – including “five direct hits” – and 38 people had died in UN shelters, Thomas White, the director of UNRWA affairs said on Friday. “Let’s be very clear, there is no place that is safe in Gaza right now.”
UNRWA “is practically out of business”, the UN’s humanitarian chief said on Friday, as he paid tribute to at least 72 UNRWA staff killed in Gaza since 7 October. Martin Griffiths told UN member states in New York that what had unfolded over the past 26 days of conflict “is nothing short of … a blight on our collective conscience”.
Talks are being held on a “very significant” pause in the Israel-Hamas war to win the release of hostages taken by Hamas, Agence France-Presse quoted a senior US official as saying. “It is something that is under a very serious and active discussion. But there is no agreement as of yet to actually get this done,” the official said on Friday. Reuters quoted a US official saying there was “indirect engagement” aimed at finding a way to get the hostages out and “it’s something we’re working on extremely hard”, but there was “absolutely no guarantee” it would happen. An estimated 240 Israeli and foreign hostages were kidnapped by Hamas during its 7 October assault.
Israel will continue its offensive in Gaza “with full force” and refuse any temporary ceasefire that does not include the release of the hostages held by Hamas, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said, rejecting US calls for a pause in the fighting. “I made clear that we are continuing full force and that Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire which does not include the release of our hostages,” he said on Friday.
Israeli forces have surrounded Gaza City and are attacking Hamas infrastructure and destroying tunnels used by militants to launch attacks, the Israeli military said on Friday. Airstrikes continued alongside the intensifying ground offensive in what Netanyahu described as the second stage of the war.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, saying “crimes against humanity” are being committed in Gaza. “There is no concept that could explain or excuse the brutality that we have witnessed since 7 October,” Erdogan said during a summit of Turkic states in the Kazakh capital, Astana.
France has reacted with “astonishment” and “incomprehension” after it said that an Israeli airstrike had hit the Institut Français in Gaza, and that the Gaza office of Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency was also hit. AFP said its Gaza City office was significantly damaged by a strike on the building on Thursday. No injuries have been reported.
Israeli forces on Friday killed six Palestinians in raids across the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, as violence surged in the occupied territory in tandem with the Gaza war. The Israeli army said its forces were “operating against Hamas” across the West Bank, with operations in Jenin and the northern city of Nablus.
The US has confirmed for the first time that it has been flying unarmed surveillance drones over Gaza. The flights were “in support of hostage recovery efforts”, the Pentagon said.
The first people in a group of about 100 Britons due to leave Gaza on Friday have made the crossing into Egypt, amid concerns about whether individuals in the north of the Palestinian territory will be able to make it to the southern Rafah crossing. By Friday, there were 127 people on the UK list to be evacuated into Egypt since the crossing opened on Wednesday. The parents-in-law of Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, were among the Britons able to leave Gaza. It is understood hundreds of British nationals remain trapped in Gaza.
The White House has said 100 American citizens and family members left Gaza on Thursday. Another large group of Americans were expected to leave the territory on Friday, it said.
Thirty-four French citizens were evacuated from the Gaza Strip on Friday, according to the French foreign ministry.
Doctors and aid workers in Gaza say they have been abandoned by the international community to a “humanitarian tragedy” as they “fight to survive” after almost four weeks of war.
Thousands of Palestinian workers from Gaza who were stranded in Israel when war broke out last month have been deported back to the war-torn strip after being expelled by the Israeli government. The UN Human Rights Office said it was “deeply concerned” about the expulsions.
Five people were arrested during a pro-Palestinian sit-in at King’s Cross station in London after the demonstration was banned. On Friday evening scores of people could still be seen outside the station on social media. Rishi Sunak, meanwhile, described pro-Palestinian protests planned for London on Armistice Day as “provocative and disrespectful”. The UK prime minister’s intervention on Friday came as two women pictured at a pro-Palestinian march in London carrying photos of paragliders were charged with terrorism offences.
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