Closing summary
It’s turned 7am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and we’ll shut this blog now. Our rolling live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war will resume shortly. You can see all our coverage here.
Here’s a rundown on where things stand:
About 26 Palestinians, mostly children, were killed in an Israeli bombardment of the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza early on Saturday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
A first consignment of fuel has entered Gaza after Israel bowed to US pressure for limited deliveries to allow wastewater treatment and the resumption of communications after a two-day blackout. Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Friday the country’s war cabinet had agreed to allow two tanker trucks of fuel to enter the Gaza Strip each day, a quantity he described as “very minimal”.
The White House said fuel should be allowed into the Gaza Strip “on a regular basis and in larger quantities”, while welcoming the Israeli move.
A top UN official has renewed calls for a “humanitarian ceasefire” to allow aid to reach the 2.2 million people trapped in the Israel-Hamas war, saying: “We are not asking for the moon.”
Israel has issued a fresh warning to Palestinians in the southern city of Khan Younis to relocate west out of the line of fire and closer to humanitarian aid.
Israeli troops will advance to anywhere Hamas exists, including the southern part of the Gaza Strip, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said. It comes amid mounting concerns about Israeli plans to expand military operations in parts of the south where people have sought refuge from fighting. Civilians in parts of south-east Gaza were told in leaflets dropped by Israeli aircraft to move into a smaller “safe zone” in the coastal town of Mawasi, which covers just 14 sq km (5.4 sq miles), prompting warnings from the heads of 18 UN agencies and international aid groups.
At least 12,000 Palestinians, including 5,000 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to Hamas officials on Friday.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it has been trying to evacuate some of its staff and their families currently trapped inside the organisation’s facilities near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Since last Saturday, MSF staff and families – 137 people, 65 of them children – have not been able to go outside because of ongoing fighting, it said.
Gaza’s main telecommunications companies, Paltel and Jawwal, have confirmed the “partial restoration” of telecom services in various parts of Gaza.
At least five Palestinians were killed and two others injured in a blast at a building in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said early on Saturday.
A UN human rights official has urged Israel to stop using water as a “weapon of war” and allow clean water and fuel into Gaza to restart the water supply network. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN special rapporteur on water and sanitation, said consciously preventing supplies of safe water from entering Gaza “violates both international humanitarian and human rights law”. The UN says Gaza’s civilians face the “immediate possibility” of starvation.
An Israeli police investigation into the Hamas attacks at a music festival on 7 October has updated the death toll to 364, according to Israeli media reports. Earlier counts had placed the death count from the attack at Supernova music festival in Kibbutz Re’im at 270.
The Israeli military has said it has retrieved the body of a soldier, Noa Marciano, who had been held captive by Hamas in a building near Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital. It comes after the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday they had found the body of Yehudit Weiss, one of about 240 hostages taken on 7 October, in a building near the hospital.
Bahrain’s crown prince says a “hostage trade” between Hamas and Israel could achieve a break in hostilities he believes might end the conflict in Gaza. Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa also said security in the region would not realised without a two-state solution, in which he described the US as “indispensable” in achieving.
The deputy head of Israel’s legislature has criticised the decision to allow a limited amount of fuel into Gaza for humanitarian needs. Nissim Vaturi, deputy speaker of the Knesset and a member of the ruling Likud party, said Israel was being “too humane” and that it should “burn Gaza now”.
Five countries have submitted a referral to the international criminal court (ICC) for an investigation of “the situation in the state of Palestine”, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said. Khan confirmed his office was already conducting an investigation into the situation in the state of Palestine which began in March 2021.
The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis will meet next week with relatives of hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza. The pope will separately meet with a delegation of Palestinians with family members in Gaza, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said.
Updated
The director of the al-Wafa hospital in Gaza City was killed and several doctors were injured in an Israeli airstrike launched against the hospital overnight on Friday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The director’s name was Midhad Mhaisen, according to reports.
Wafa quoted local sources as saying Israeli warplanes launched an air raid against the al-Wafa hospital and home for elderly care in the al-Zahra area.
