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.
Key event
Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia have called for an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
The countries said they were issuing their statement to give a better and fair reflection of the discussions on the Gaza situation during a meeting of leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) in San Francisco.
Israel’s attack on Gaza’s largest hospital has sparked accusations of war crimes, but Israel says it falls within the boundaries of international law. In case you missed this earlier, we look at what humanitarian law says about hospitals, whether they can be targeted in military attacks, and what happens if a hospital loses its protected status.
Fuel enters Gaza as phone blackout lifts
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, Agence France-Press reports.
The first delivery arrived from Egypt late on Friday as Israel pressed its offensive, combing the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, for the Hamas operations centre it says lies beneath.
Israel’s war cabinet unanimously agreed on Friday to allow two fuel tankers a day “to run the wastewater treatment facilities ... which are facing collapse due to the lack of electricity”, national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said 70% of residents had no access to clean water in south Gaza, where raw sewage has started to flow on the streets.
Under the deal, 140,000 litres (37,000 gallons) of fuel will be allowed in every 48 hours, of which 20,000 litres will be earmarked for generators to restore the phone network, a US official said.
Communications have been down for two days after fuel ran out, and a first consignment of about 17,000 litres was earmarked for telecommunications company Paltel. The communications blackout hampered aid deliveries, UNRWA said.
Israeli attack in Khan Yunis kills 26 – Palestinian report
About 26 Palestinians, mostly children, were killed in an Israeli bombardment of the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza early on Saturday, Reuters reports the Palestinian news agency Wafa as saying.
A group of pro-Palestinian protesters forced their way into a building on a University of Michigan campus in the US, police said.
Video posted on social media showed protesters on Friday pushing past police into an administration building that houses offices for the school president, Associated Press reports.
An estimated 200 people then entered the building, university deputy police chief Melissa Overton said.
Once inside, protesters chanted, called for the university to divest from Israel and waved Palestinian flags, as seen on the video.
About six police agencies, including state police, assisted campus officers. There were no reports of injuries.
Officers began removing protesters from the building on the Ann Arbor campus on Friday evening, police said.
A top United Nations official has renewed calls for a “humanitarian ceasefire” to allow aid to reach the 2.2 million people trapped in the war between Israel and Hamas, saying: “We are not asking for the moon.”
“Call it what you will, but the requirement – from a humanitarian point of view – is simple: stop the fighting to allow civilians to move safely,” the UN humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, said in an address to the UN general assembly on Friday.
Agence France-Presse reports that Griffiths also said:
We are not asking for the moon. We are asking for the basic measures required to meet the essential needs of the civilian population and stem the course of this crisis.
As well, Griffiths called for the release of all hostages held in Gaza without condition.
About 240 were taken hostage and 1,200 people killed in Israel when Hamas militants carried out a cross-border attack on 7 October, Israeli officials say. In Gaza, 12,000 people have been killed in Israel’s relentless response, officials in the Hamas-run territory say.
Griffiths pleaded:
Give the people of Gaza a breather from the terrible, terrible things that have been put on them these last few weeks.
Updated
US calls for more fuel to be allowed into Gaza
The White House has said fuel should be allowed into the Gaza Strip “on a regular basis and in larger quantities” after Israel agreed to allow in two tanker trucks’ worth a day.
Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Friday that Israel’s war cabinet had agreed to allow the “very minimal” amount of fuel to enter for Gaza’s communications system and water and sewage services.
The White House said later on X (formerly Twitter) that it was “glad Israel agreed to fuel deliveries to Gaza at our strong request”.
We believe these deliveries should continue on a regular basis and in larger quantities.
We are glad Israel agreed to fuel deliveries to Gaza at our strong request. We believe these deliveries should continue on a regular basis and in larger quantities.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 17, 2023
The White House also said:
The US is working closely with Israel and our partners in the region to ensure the continued delivery of fuel so lifesaving humanitarian aid can be delivered and essential services in Gaza can be restored.
Hanegbi had said the aim of allowing in the two trucks’ worth of fuel was to prevent the spread of disease in Gaza without disrupting Israel’s ability to continue its war against Hamas.
Hanegbi said the fuel amounted to roughly 2-4% of the normal quantities of fuel that entered Gaza before the war erupted on 7 October.
Updated
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, Reuters reports.
The warning in the latest indication that the Israeli military plans to attack Hamas in southern Gaza after subduing the north.
Mark Regev, an aide to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told MSNBC on Friday:
We’re asking people to relocate. I know it’s not easy for many of them, but we don’t want to see civilians caught up in the crossfire.
Such a move could compel hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled south from the Israeli assault on Gaza City to relocate again, along with residents of the southern city of Khan Younis, worsening a dire humanitarian crisis.
Khan Younis has a population of more than 400,000.
Israel dropped leaflets over eastern areas of Khan Younis overnight on Thursday telling people to evacuate to shelters, suggesting military operations there were imminent.
Updated
There’s more in on the blast at a refugee camp in Nablus on the West Bank: witnesses have told Agence France-Presse that the strike appeared to have come from a drone.
There was no immediate confirmation.
At least five Palestinians were killed in the blast at a building in the camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service has said.
The camp’s administration said an aerial strike targeted the local headquarters of the Palestinian group Fatah in the camp.
The Israeli military said it was checking on the reports.
About 24,000 people live in the Balata refugee camp, in the northern West Bank, and several Palestinian armed groups operate inside, AFP reports.
The strike comes a day after the Israeli army said it had killed at least seven militants in two separate confrontations in the West Bank.
This is Adam Fulton taking over the live blog. We’ll keep bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s just past 2am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
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.
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 have been 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.
Israel’s national security adviser has said 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”. Tzachi Hanegbi said the fuel would be allowed for Gaza’s communications system and water and sewage services. An Israeli official later said there would be “no limitation” on aid requested for Gaza by the UN, an apparent concession to international pressure and warnings that its iron grip on the war-torn Palestinian territory will lead to starvation and disease.
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. The partial restoration comes after a limited quantity of fuel was provided through the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), they said.
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, reminded Israel that consciously preventing supplies of safe water from entering Gaza “violates both international humanitarian and human rights law”. The UN has warned that Gaza’s civilians face the “immediate possibility” of starvation, and that overcrowding and lack of clean water are speeding the spread of diseases as winter approaches.
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. Meanwhile, Israeli security forces mounted a major hours-long raid in the city of Jenin beginning on Thursday night, destroying roads and killing between three and five Hamas militants in the latest instance of surging violence across the occupied West Bank. Hamas said three of its fighters had died in the raid. Israeli military officials said their forces had killed at least five militants.
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 (IDF) 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 is 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.
Five Palestinians killed in blast at Nablus refugee camp
At least five Palestinians were killed in a blast at a building in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service has said.
Two others were injured in the incident, it said.
The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment on the incident.
Updated
Another 25 Irish citizens and dependants are expected to be able to leave Gaza, Ireland’s tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin has said.
In a statement posted to social media on Friday, Martin said the group should be able to cross the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, bringing the total number of Irish citizens and dependants leaving to 51.
Martin added:
I am conscious that many of those who left Gaza over the last few days have been deeply traumatised by their experience. As they return to Ireland in the coming days, they will need all of our support as they begin to restart their lives.
He said he was “deeply concerned” about the situation of hostages in Gaza, and paid tribute to the Israeli-Irish girl, Emily Hand, believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas.
Update on Irish citizens crossing from Gaza into Egypt pic.twitter.com/JdFPuEJChm
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) November 17, 2023
The amount of water available to people trapped in Gaza will still be just 17% of levels before Israel’s siege on the Palestinian enclave, Oxfam has said, after Israel’s government announced that two trucks of fuel will be allowed into Gaza each day.
More than 344m litres of total water were available in Gaza via groundwater wells and pipelines before the siege, the charity said. Currently, only 58m litres – less than a fifth – is available.
The bare minimum international standard in an emergency is 15 litres per person, per day. People are already having to survive on rationing between 1-3 litres a day for all water use and are resorting to drinking sea and untreated water.
It said current fuel levels have made water treatment, pumping and distribution “virtually impossible”, and warned that gastroenteritis and dehydration are spreading and the risk of water borne disease is rife.
An Oxfam member of staff in Gaza said:
The water is disgusting, most people are having to drink brackish water from wells. There is no electricity, so we have to fill buckets and carry up to the roof tank. Our whole family are sick with diarrhoea.
Death toll from Hamas attack on Israeli music festival rises to 364
An Israeli police investigation into the Hamas attacks at a music festival on 7 October have updated the death toll to 364, according to Israeli media reports.
That figure would make up nearly one-third of all of those killed during the onslaught in Israel on 7 October, the Times of Israel reported, citing Channel 12.
Earlier counts had placed the death count from the attack at Supernova music festival in Kibbutz Re’im at 270.
The Israeli police reportedly believe that Hamas did not know about the festival before carrying out the attacks.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) met with the World Health Organization (WHO) chief on Friday.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of UNRWA, said he and WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, discussed the “lack of protection to medical facilities, risk of diseases [and] the humanitarian crisis among people in #Gaza stripped of dignity overnight.”
Posting to social media, he added:
We call for a ceasefire & we are committed to deliver assistance to Palestinians in need wherever they are.
Today, @DrTedros & I spoke about lack of protection to medical facilities, risk of diseases & the humanitarian crisis among people in #Gaza stripped of dignity overnight.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) November 17, 2023
We call for a ceasefire & we are committed to deliver assistance to Palestinians in need wherever they are. pic.twitter.com/0hkFitEqZ7
Israeli troops to advance 'wherever Hamas exists, including in southern Gaza', says IDF spokesperson
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.
Hagari, in his regular briefing on Friday, said:
We are determined to advance our operation. It will happen wherever Hamas exists, including in the south of the strip.
It will happen at the time, place and conditions that are best for the military.
The IDF spokesperson’s comments come 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 have been 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).
The deputy head of Israel’s legislature has criticised the decision to allow a limited amount of fuel into Gaza for humanitarian needs, and said Israel should “burn Gaza now”.
Nissim Vaturi, deputy speaker of the Knesset and a member of the ruling Likud party, said Israel is being “too humane” in a post on social media on Friday, adding:
Burn Gaza now no less! Don’t allow fuel in, don’t allow water in until the hostages are returned back!
His post as Israel war cabinet agreed on Friday to allow 140,000 litres (36,985 gallons) of fuel into Gaza every two days amid acute shortages that threatened aid deliveries and communications in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Phone and internet services partially restored in Gaza, say telecoms firms
Gaza’s main telecommunications companies Paltel and Jawwal have confirmed the “partial restoration” of telecom services in various parts of Gaza.
The firms announced a complete blackout of their services yesterday due to a lack of fuel. The partial restoration comes after a limited quantity of fuel was provided through the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), they said.
We would like to announce the partial restoration of telecom services in various areas within Gaza Strip. This comes after a limited quantity of fuel was provided through UNRWA to operate our main generators.#KeepGazaConnected
— Paltel (@Paltelco) November 17, 2023
1/2
Updated
The UK education secretary has expressed “deep concern” that some children are missing lessons to join protests backing a ceasefire in Gaza, with hundreds estimated to have joined school strikes on Friday.
Gillian Keegan said schools should treat the wave of absences “with the utmost seriousness”, despite strike organisers circulating messages suggesting parents would not be fined if children missed school for short or one-off instances.
The school strikes have been called by the Stop the War Coalition, which tweeted pictures saying hundreds of children had joined protests outside town halls in Glasgow, and in the London boroughs of Redbridge and Newham.
Using the hashtag SchoolStrikeForPalestine, students also staged walkouts in Manchester, Luton, Bristol, and the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Harrow.
More school strikes are expected next week, and the weekly national marches in London have this weekend been changed to local action by protesters supporting Palestine and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
MSF says 'terrified' staff and families trapped for six days near al-Shifa hospital
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 in a statement on Friday.
The charity said bullets were fired into its guesthouse on Tuesday, and the office building was hit by shrapnel and the guesthouse’s water tank was shelled on Thursday.
Staff have reported high-intensity fighting “getting very close to them”, it said, adding that thousands of civilians trapped in hospitals and other places in Gaza City “suffer the same fate” and are “at risk of dying in the coming days, if not hours”.
Ann Taylor, MSF’s head of mission in Palestine, said:
Our colleagues hear the constant sounds of gunfire, shelling, and drones. We can hear it when we speak with them on the phone. The evacuation route to southern Gaza remains unsafe. They are terrified, they ran out of food several days ago, and children have now started getting sick from drinking salty water. They must be evacuated now.
Here are some of the latest images over the newswires from Gaza.
Five countries ask ICC to investigate situation in Palestine
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.
South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti – all ICC members – have submitted a referral which his office received on Friday, he said in a statement.
Khan confirmed his office was already conducting an investigation into the situation in the state of Palestine which began in March 2021 and encompasses any crimes that may have been committed since June 2014 and Gaza and the West Bank.
That investigation now “extends to the escalation of hostilities and violence since the attacks that took place on October, 2023”.
Khan, who recently visited the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, said his team had collected a “significant volume” of evidence on “relevant incidents” in the war, adding:
I will also continue my efforts to visit the State of Palestine and Israel in order to meet with survivors, hear from civil society organisations and engage with relevant national counterparts.
Updated
UN agency says work in Gaza has become 'mission impossible'
An official at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said that the work of the agency in Gaza has become “mission impossible”.
Natalie Boucly, acting deputy commissioner-general, said on Friday that no part of the Gaza Strip has been spared from the bombardment. She said:
Hospitals, mosques, churches, bakeries, and over 60 UNRWA buildings and schools have been hit across Gaza.
Most of UNRWA’s impacted facilities were in the middle areas and in the south of Gaza, she said, noting that this was where people were told to go for safety.
She added that those people had come to UNRWA buildings “to be protected by the UN flag” but the work of the agency has become “mission impossible”, adding:
We cannot fully protect people in UN premises, under the UN flag. We cannot reach people in need, including thousands still trapped in the north. We cannot provide sufficient assistance to those we can reach.
Labour MPs have voiced concern about their safety and condemned the “vile abuse” against them and their staff as pro-Palestine protesters targeted their offices after criticism of the party’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
More than 100 pro-Palestine events are due to take place across the UK this weekend, but there will be no large-scale national march in London.
Campaigners are also planning a series of marches on the offices of Labour MPs who failed to vote for a Scottish National party motion on Wednesday calling for a ceasefire, including one at the constituency office of Keir Starmer.
Dozens of activists held protests outside the offices of the London Labour MPs Vicky Foxcroft and Meg Hillier on Friday, a day after hundreds gathered outside the east London office of Rushanara Ali.
Lucy Powell, the shadow leader of the House of Commons, called for social media companies to “do more to stop the whipping up of hate and misinformation”.
Several have contacted police for help in bolstering security, while the chair of the Women’s Parliamentary Labour party (WPLP) said she had called a meeting for Tuesday to assess the extent of the threat and offer reassurance where possible. Siobhan McDonagh, chair of the WPLP, said:
When we are in an atmosphere where two MPs have died in recent years, then people do have reasonable concerns about their safety and the strength of our democratic system.
On Friday the office of the shadow Welsh secretary, Jo Stevens, was daubed with red paint by protesters who also attached posters saying she had “blood on your hands”, something she said was “designed to cause fear and harassment”.
Israeli forces say they are still carefully exploring the Dar al-Shifa hospital site.
The video presentation of al-Shifa did show the main facilities lay deep underground, and it is quite possible the Israeli soldiers have not reached them yet, so there could be much more to come. But the attempt to present what has been found so far as significant is bound to fuel scepticism about whatever is presented later.
There are questions over how much of its graphic presentation of the network under al-Shifa was based on what Israel knew already; its own architect had built an extensive basement area there the last time Israel directly occupied Gaza, up to 2005.
All of this is significant under the Geneva conventions, which forbid military operations against hospitals unless “they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy”. This exception, spelled out in article 19 of the fourth Geneva convention, states specifically:
… the presence of small arms and ammunition taken from such combatants and not yet handed to the proper service, shall not be considered to be acts harmful to the enemy.
Israel ratified the Geneva conventions in 1951 and claims to observe the principle of proportionality under international humanitarian law, in which the direct military advantage anticipated from a military operation outweighs the civilian harm that can reasonably be anticipated as a consequence. Its observance of those principles is what is in question.
IDF evidence so far falls well short of al-Shifa hospital being Hamas HQ
Before their capture of Dar al-Shifa hospital, the Israel Defense Forces went to great lengths to depict the medical complex as a headquarters for Hamas, from where its attacks on Israel were planned.
The evidence produced so far falls well short of that. IDF videos have shown only modest collections of small arms, mostly assault rifles, recovered from the extensive medical complex. That suggests an armed presence, but not the sort of elaborate nerve centre depicted in animated graphics presented to the media before al-Shifa was seized, portraying a network of well-equipped subterranean chambers.
Even the videos produced so far have raised questions under scrutiny. A BBC analysis found the footage of an IDF spokesperson showing the apparent discovery of a bag containing a gun behind an MRI scanning machine, had been taped hours before the arrival of the journalists to whom he was supposedly showing it.
In a video shown later, the number of guns in the bag had doubled. The IDF claimed its video of what it found at the hospital was unedited, filmed in a single take, but the BBC analysis found it had been edited.
Updated
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.
The meetings will be held on Wednesday in the Vatican. Bruni added:
With these meetings, which are of an exclusively humanitarian character, Pope Francis wants to show his spiritual closeness to the sufferings of both.
Israel: 'No limitation' on humanitarian aid in Gaza
Israel promised on Friday there would be “no limitation” on aid requested for Gaza by the United Nations, an apparent concession to international pressure and warnings that its iron grip on the war-torn Palestinian territory will lead to starvation and disease.
Earlier Friday, Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said the country’s war cabinet had agreed to allow two tanker trucks of fuel to enter the Gaza Strip each day – a quantity he said was “very minimal” and allowed for only a communications system and water and sewage services.
At a media briefing later in the day, however, Israel appeared to be loosening its position, a defense ministry official pledging: “Every list we get from the UN will be delivered”.
Col Elad Goren of the ministry’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat) department, did not specifically mention fuel, or that Israel would allow more than two tankers in a day.
But he spoke of plans to increase aid more broadly, including setting up field hospitals to treat wounded Gazans:
We will increase the capacity of the humanitarian convoys and trucks as long as there is a need. Every list that we get from the UN will be delivered. We will check it and it will enter Gaza, so it’s up to the UN to give us those lists.
And if there is a need for 400 trucks, tomorrow there will be 400 trucks. We are not limiting this issue. There is no limitation.
According to Reuters, Israel has promised to allow in aid in the past, but notes Goren’s remarks appeared to signal a shift in tone after UN agencies warned that humanitarian conditions for 2.3 millions Gazans were rapidly deteriorating.
Updated
Joe Biden, the US president, discussed the need for more humanitarian aid in Gaza in a phone call Friday lunchtime with Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar, according to a statement from the White House:
The two leaders discussed the urgent need for all hostages held by Hamas to be released without further delay. The leaders also discussed ongoing efforts to increase the flow of urgently needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza and Israel’s decision to resume fuel deliveries for life-saving aid.
The leaders agreed to remain in close touch, including through their teams, on these matters.
Qatar has played a key role in mediation efforts to persuade Hamas to release hundreds of hostages it is holding captive in Gaza, and in urging Israel to allow more aid to reach civilians in the war-torn territory.
Bahrain's crown prince proposes 'hostage trade'
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 realized without a two-state solution, in which he described the US as “indispensable” in achieving, Reuters reports.
He made the comments on Friday in a keynote address to the 2023 Manama Dialogue security summit hosted by the international institute for strategic studies (IISS) in Bahrain, an annual gathering of Middle Eastern foreign ministers and policy makers.
LIVE NOW: Bahrain’s HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa delivers the Keynote Address at #IISSMD23 | @BahrainCPnews @BahrainPMO https://t.co/1cUOMMe4Bf https://t.co/kqLnBsL4m5
— IISS News (@IISS_org) November 17, 2023
“It is a time for straight talking,” he said, urging Hamas to release Israeli women and children it has held hostage in Gaza since its 7 October attacks.
“The intention is to break so people can take stock, can bury their dead, people can finally start to grieve and maybe people can start to ask themselves about the intelligence failure that led to this crisis in the first place,” he said.
The prince stuck to a largely neutral tone through his speech, calling the situation in Gaza “intolerable” and condemning both Hamas for its attacks and Israel for its massive military response.
Mediation efforts led by fellow Gulf Arab state Qatar for the release of about 240 hostages held by Hamas have so far been unsuccessful. Hamas has released only a handful of captives on what it says is humanitarian grounds.
Updated
World Central Kitchen, the international disaster relief charity founded by the celebrity chef José Andrés, says it has trucks packed with food and cooking equipment positioned and ready to aid the humanitarian relief effort in Gaza.
The organization is working in partnership with the non-profit America Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) and says it has a large warehouse outside Cairo to keep a supply chain running.
Positioning our @WCKitchen trucks near Gaza. So we can join the humanitarian envoys.Wbring pellets for cooking, Cookstoves, water, Grains. Meats etc..we have big warehouse outside Cairo to make sure we will not stop supplying Gaza partners @AneraOrg as well as our own kitchens! pic.twitter.com/Byrrwfz0TP
— José Andrés 🇺🇸🇪🇸🇺🇦 (@chefjoseandres) November 17, 2023
On Wednesday, Anera announced that it had supervised the first WCK trucks gaining entry to Gaza to supply flour and beans.
The United Nations warns that Gaza’s civilians face the “immediate possibility” of starvation, and that overcrowding and lack of clean water are speeding the spread of diseases as winter approaches.
Deliveries of already scarce food and other supplies have been halted in recent days because of shortages of fuel for trucks and a communications blackout that has made it impossible to coordinate deliveries, aid agencies said.
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Satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies on Friday show Palestinians gathering along Salah al Deen Road as they attempt to flee south.
Fears are now growing for people crowded into the south of the Gaza Strip, as Israel’s military appears to be preparing to step up operations beyond northern areas that have been the focus until now.
Civilians in parts of south-east Gaza have been 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.
There are already 1.6 million displaced people in Gaza, more than two-thirds of its population. Most fled the north after similar warnings that nowhere in or around Gaza City would be safe for civilians.
The exodus south has continued amid heavy fighting and even though almost anyone who leaves now must travel on foot. The satellite images below show a crowd hundreds strong apparently waiting to pass through a checkpoint on a road that Israel had declared safe for civilians.
The husband of a teacher from Liverpool who is stuck in Gaza has criticised the Foreign Office for failing to help his wife reach safety.
Islam Alashi, who teaches English as a second language, travelled to Gaza in September to visit family. She has been stuck there amid Israeli bombardment since the conflict with Hamas began on 7 October. Alashi is a Palestinian national with a spousal visa to remain in the UK, while her husband, Feiz Chihaoui, and their two children are British citizens.
When Chihaoui contacted the British embassy in Cairo for assistance in October, he was told none could be provided because Alashi was not a British citizen.
“I was crying yesterday and said look: ‘I’m British. My kids, they’re British, and I’ve got the right to everything,” said Chihaoui, 45.
On 8 November, Chihaoui provided identification documents at the Foreign Office’s request and was told steps were being taken to share his wife’s details with the Egyptian authorities. They have not heard from the UK government since.
“All I ask is just to get my wife back,” he said. “I’m not asking for any more, and this is 100% my right.”
Updated
Médecins Sans Frontières has said it has not received an update from its staff inside Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital since Israeli forces entered the facility on Wednesday.
In a statement on Friday, MSF said that as of Thursday, it still has at least one staff member inside Shifa but contact with them has been “intermittent”. It added:
We haven’t had an update on the situation inside the hospital from our staff since Israeli forces entered the facility on November 15.
When we were last able to speak with our colleagues, remaining medical staff were still trying to treat and help patients and displaced civilians who sheltered inside al-Shifa, despite having had no electricity, food, or water for days.
The charity reiterated its call for the respect and the protection of health facilities, healthcare workers, patients and civilians, and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
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More protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza were under way in the US on Friday morning, with police breaking up crowds and arresting demonstrators in various locations.
New York police on Friday arrested pro-Palestine supporters who occupied the headquarters of News Corp, the media company that owns the Fox News channel and the Wall Street Journal and New York Post newspapers, according to clips posted on social media.
Dozens of demonstrators gathered in the News Corp lobby, chanting, “Shame” and “Fox News … you can’t hide. Your lies cover up genocide.”
BREAKING: Pro-Palestine activists are occupying the headquarters of News Corp, the media conglomerate that owns Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) November 17, 2023
Activists have thrown “blood money” onto the floor representing the conglomerate’s promotion of Israeli genocide. pic.twitter.com/6NOsU0OhPR
Pro-ceasefire demonstrators were also arrested on Friday in New York City after blocking the entrance to the headquarters building for BNY Mellon, a corporate investment company, which they said holds shares in weapons supply for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
More protests are expected on Friday and throughout the weekend in New York, Chicago and other major US cities. Such demonstrations come as recent polling shows that US public support for Israel is dropping, while the Hamas authorities in Gaza reported on Friday that more than 12,000 Palestinians, overwhelmingly civilians and mostly women and children, have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas in October.
Updated
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is “extremely concerned” about the spread of disease in Gaza, after weeks of Israeli bombardments have forced people to crowd into shelters with little clean water and food.
Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza, said that more than 70,000 cases of acute respiratory infections and over 44,000 cases of diarrhoea had been recorded, figures significantly higher than expected.
The start of the rainy season and the possibility of flooding had also increased fears that the sewage system would be overwhelmed and disease would spread.
The absence of fuel has forced the shutdown of sewage pumping stations and desalination plants, increasing the risk of water contamination and the outbreak of disease.
Here’s our video report:
Death toll in Gaza passes 12,000, including 5,000 children, say Hamas officials
At least 12,000 Palestinians, including 5,000 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to Hamas officials.
Ismail Thawabta, the director general of the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza, said there were 3,750 missing persons, including 1,800 children, who are still under the rubble.
In an update on Friday, Thawabta also told reporters that at least 200 doctors, nurses, and paramedics have been killed since the start of the conflict, Al Jazeera reported.
Updated
Here’s more from Ashraf al-Qudra, the Palestinian health ministry spokesperson in Gaza, who is inside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
Israeli forces have turned the Shifa complex into a “military base for its operations”, he told Al Jazeera today.
He said Israeli army vehicles have not moved from the vicinity of the complex “at all”, as large numbers of Israeli soldiers have been sweeping through the basement and the ground floor of the hospital, including the special surgical unit. He told the outlet:
Every now and then there are sounds of sporadic gunfire inside the complex, whether it’s from snipers or from the [army] vehicles.
“The reality here is cruel and painful,” al-Qudra added, as people lack the “most basic of life’s necessities”, including food and water.
Twenty four patients have died over the past two days at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital due to power outages caused by the lack of fuel, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
“Vital medical equipment has stopped functioning because of the power outage,” a spokesperson for the Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra, said on Friday, AFP reported.
Israeli special forces continued to search the sprawling hospital complex on Friday, after first entering Gaza’s largest hospital in an early Wednesday morning raid that drew fierce condemnation from the head of the World Health Organization, who called it “totally unacceptable”.
The situation at Shifa is “catastrophic” for patients, displaced people and health workers who are crammed inside without electricity, water or food, the hospital’s director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told AFP.
Israel has defended its Shifa operation, with the military saying it had found weapons as well as “intelligence materials, military technologies and equipment, command and control centres, and communications equipment, all belonging to Hamas”, as well as a Hamas tunnel shaft.
Hamas and medical administrators have strenuously denied the allegation the hospital was a command centre, and the health ministry in Gaza said the Israeli military did not find any weapons in the hospital. A British doctor working at Shifa said the charge was an “outlandish excuse”.
Updated
Sirens have sounded in Tel Aviv and other cities in central Israel warning of incoming rockets for the first time since Tuesday.
There have been no immediate reports of injuries or damage, the Times of Israel reported.
Several Iron Dome interceptor missiles have been seen over the area, it said.
UN official urges Israel to stop using water as a 'weapon of war'
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 in statement on Friday:
Every hour that passes with Israel preventing the provision of safe drinking water in the Gaza strip, in brazen breach of international law, puts Gazans at risk of dying of thirst and diseases related to the lack of safe drinking water.
He reminded Israel that consciously preventing supplies of safe water from entering Gaza “violates both international humanitarian and human rights law”, adding:
The impact on public health and hygiene will be unimaginable and could result in more civilian deaths than the already colossal death toll from the bombardment of Gaza.
He added that children – particularly those under the age of five – would be the first affected by the water and sanitation crisis, along with women.
These frequently invisible casualties of war are preventable, and Israel must prevent them. Israel must stop using water as a weapon of war.
Updated
Relatives of hostages taken by Hamas in its 7 October attack on Israel embarked on their fourth leg of a five-day march from Tel Aviv to Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem as they plead for the release of their loved ones held captive in Gaza.
The march began on Tuesday and is 40 miles long. The marchers, who include relatives of more than 50 hostages, have been camping in tents along the way and expect to complete the march outside Netanyahu’s office on Saturday.
Family members have called on Israel’s war cabinet for more information on the whereabouts of their loved ones and to consider a ceasefire deal or prisoner exchange, nearly six weeks after they were abducted and taken into Gaza.
Hamas has offered to release all the hostages in exchange for some 6,000 Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails, but the cabinet has rejected the proposal.
There have been reports in Israeli and Arabic media on negotiations to secure the release of at least some of the hostages, but there has been no confirmation from any side of an imminent deal.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The UN has warned that Gaza’s civilians face the “immediate possibility” of starvation, and that overcrowding and lack of clean water are speeding the spread of diseases as winter approaches. Deliveries of already scarce food and other supplies have been halted in recent days because of shortages of fuel for trucks and a communications blackout, now in its second day, that has made it impossible to coordinate deliveries, aid agencies said.
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 (IDF) 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.
A doctor at Shifa has said Israeli forces had “found nothing” during searches of the hospital complex, and that food and water were running out. “It’s a totally terrifying situation,” Ahmed El Mokhallalati told Reuters. “They are shooting all the time, all the areas.”
Israeli security forces have mounted a major raid in the city of Jenin, destroying roads and killing between three and five Hamas militants in the latest instance of surging violence across the occupied West Bank. Hamas said three of its fighters had died in the raid, which began late on Thursday night and lasted about eight hours. Israeli military officials said their forces had killed at least five militants.
At least 11,470 Palestinians, including 4,707 children and 3,155 women, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas war broke out six weeks ago, according to the Palestinian health authorities on Thursday. The vast majority have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. In recent days, the Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank has started updating the Gaza death toll, AP reported, after the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza stopped publishing updates after ministry officials based in Shifa hospital lost electricity and connectivity. The conflict was triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October that killed more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
Israel’s national security adviser has said 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”. Tzachi Hanegbi said the fuel would be allowed for Gaza’s communications system and water and sewage services, and that the aim was to prevent the spread of disease.
Civilians in parts of south-east Gaza have been 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. There are already 1.6 million displaced people in Gaza, more than two-thirds of its population. Most fled the north after similar warnings that nowhere in or around Gaza City would be safe for civilians.
Greece’s foreign minister, George Gerapetritis, has said talks on opening a humanitarian aid corridor into north Gaza could soon yield results. “I am relatively optimistic that we could have some positive results soon,” he said on Friday after meeting his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts.
The EU’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has urged the Middle East not to “go back to 20 years ago” with repeated cycles of violence and conflict as he continued his four-day diplomatic push to get a plan under way for enduring peace. On Thursday, he called on Israel not to be “consumed by rage” in its response.
More than 100 pro-Palestine events demanding a ceasefire in Gaza are due to take place across the UK this weekend, but there will be no large-scale national march in London, according to organisers. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend vigils, protests, petitions, fundraisers and marches across London boroughs and cities, including Birmingham, Cambridge, Liverpool and elsewhere on Saturday.
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong in Washington taking over the live blog. You can reach me at leonie.chao-fong@theguardian.com.
Updated
Fears are growing for people crowded into the south of the Gaza Strip, as Israel’s military consolidates its control of the northern areas around Gaza City, and appears to be preparing to step up operations elsewhere.
Civilians in parts of south-east Gaza have been 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.
There are already 1.6 million displaced people in Gaza, more than two-thirds of its population. Most fled the north after similar warnings that nowhere in or around Gaza City would be safe for civilians.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Friday that more than 800,000 internally displaced people were staying in at least 154 shelters run by UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency.
The Reuters news agency reports that talks on opening a humanitarian aid corridor into north Gaza could soon yield results.
The claim comes from Greece’s foreign minister, George Gerapetritis, after his meeting with Israeli and Palestinian counterparts.
He said:
I am in constant communication with both parties and I am relatively optimistic that we could have some positive results soon.
With world powers anxious to coordinate help for Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s bombardment and siege, Gerapetritis said he believed Israel was considering allowing increased aid and was keen to hear all possible options.
Cyprus has made a proposal, which Greece endorses, to open a maritime corridor to expand capacity for relief into the Palestinian enclave beyond the Rafah crossing from Egypt.
Another alternative is via a port in Israel then a northern entry point into Gaza, Gerapetritis said.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming though from Israel and Gaza:
Updated
Earlier, the UN said Gaza’s civilians faced the “immediate possibility” of starvation, and overcrowding and the lack of clean water were speeding the spread of disease as winter approaches.
Deliveries of already scarce food and other supplies have been halted in recent days because of shortages of fuel for trucks and a communications blackout that made it impossible to coordinate deliveries, aid agencies said. Palestinian network operators said they had no fuel to power phone and internet systems.
You can read our full report on the situation for civilians in Gaza here:
As we reported earlier, Israeli security forces have mounted a major raid in the city of Jenin, destroying roads and killing between three and five Hamas militants in the latest instance of surging violence across the occupied West Bank.
Hamas said three of its fighters had died in the raid, which began late on Thursday night.
You can watch our video report here:
Updated
Israel agrees to allow 'very minimal' quantity of fuel into Gaza
Israel’s national security adviser says the country’s war cabinet has agreed to allow two tanker trucks of fuel to enter the Gaza Strip each day – a quantity he described as “very minimal”.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Tzachi Hanegbi said the fuel would be allowed for Gaza’s communications system and water and sewage services.
He said the aim is to prevent the spread of disease without disrupting Israel’s ability to continue its war against the Hamas militant group.
Hanegbi said the fuel amounted to roughly 2% to 4% of the normal quantities of fuel that entered Gaza before the war erupted on 7 October.
Updated
A doctor al-Shifa hospital in Gaza said on Friday Israeli forces had “found nothing” during searches of the hospital complex, and that food and water were running out.
Ahmed El Mokhallalati told Reuters by telephone that despite the “difficult” conditions at the hospital, no babies had died there since Israeli troops entered it on Wednesday.
Israel says Hamas has a command centre underneath the hospital, an assertion the Palestinian militant group denies. Reuters has been unable to verify the situation at the hospital independently.
“It’s a totally terrifying situation, here the Israeli tanks and the Israeli troops have been moving within the hospital area, all over the hospital,” said Mokhallalati, a surgeon born in Ireland who trained in Cairo and practiced in London.
“The situation is totally difficult. They are shooting all the time, all the areas.”
The Israeli military said on Thursday it had uncovered a Hamas tunnel shaft and a vehicle with weapons at al-Shifa. It also made public videos and photographs to support its statement.
Speaking in English, Mokhallalati said: “They have found nothing. They have found no single resistance. No single gunshot, against them within the hospital area.”
The hospital, packed with patients and displaced people and struggling to keep operating, has become a focus of global concern.
Updated
Israel kills Hamas militants in Jenin raid
Israeli security forces have mounted a major raid in the city of Jenin, destroying roads and killing between three and five Hamas militants in the latest instance of surging violence across the occupied West Bank.
Hamas said three of its fighters died in the overnight raid, which began late on Thursday night and lasted about eight hours. Israeli military officials said their forces had killed at least five.
The raid underlined the high tensions in the West Bank since the attacks launched by Hamas into southern Israel last month which prompted a massive Israeli military offensive into Gaza.
The mounting death toll in the West Bank has underscored fears that the territory seized by Israel in the 1967 war could spiral out of control amid the conflict in Gaza.
Pope Francis will meet next week with relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza, a source said on Friday.
The source, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss papal plans, said 12 relatives would meet the pope early on Wednesday morning before his weekly general audience.
The source said they would be a mix of relatives who met with Italian leaders last month and others who were not among the first group.
The Vatican’s number two, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said on Friday the Holy See believed the release of the hostages and a ceasefire – which Israel has so far ruled out – were two “fundamental points” to resolve the crisis.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Rome, Parolin said the Vatican was working on a meeting between the pope and relatives of the hostages but gave no time frame.
“We are working on it and hope to realise it as soon as possible,” he said.
Updated
Here are some images from the wires of the funeral of Noa Marciano, an Israeli soldier whose remains were recovered yesterday near the al-Shifa hospital during the Israeli ground operation in Gaza.
Updated
Israel’s war cabinet has approved letting in two fuel trucks a day into Gaza to help meet UN needs, an Israeli official said on Friday.
The official, who declined to be identified, said the decision came after a request from Washington, Reuters reports.
Allowing in the fuel, the official said, gives Israel extra room to manoeuvre in the international arena so it can continue its campaign to eradicate Hamas in Gaza.
The amount of fuel will give “minimal” support for water, sewage and sanitary systems in Gaza to prevent pandemics, the official said.
Janez Lenarčič, the EU’s commissioner for crisis management, has called for ensuring the delivery of fuel into Gaza for humanitarian organisations.
“I most strongly urge the parties involved to stop hindering humanitarian efforts and ensure sufficient & non-interrupted delivery of fuel into Gaza to humanitarian organisations as well as to turn back on communications which are crucial for delivery of life-saving assistance,” he said.
I most strongly urge the parties involved to stop hindering humanitarian efforts and ensure sufficient & non-interrupted delivery of fuel into #Gaza to humanitarian organisations as well as to turn back on communications which are crucial for delivery of life-saving assistance❗️
— Janez Lenarčič (@JanezLenarcic) November 17, 2023
Updated
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is travelling to Germany today, amid tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas.
Earlier this week, Erdoğan called Israel a “terror state”. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, meanwhile, has repeatedly defended Israel’s right to defend itself, saying “the charges being brought against Israel are absurd”.
The Turkish leader will meet with Scholz and the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Updated
The EU’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has urged the Middle East not to “go back to 20 years ago” with repeated cycles of violence and conflict as he continues his four-day diplomatic push to get a plan under way for enduring peace.
On Thursday, he called on Israel not to be “consumed by rage” in its response, saying he understood the “anguish” “fears” and “pain” of Israelis following the 7 October attacks. Over the weekend he is visiting the West Bank, Bahrain, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi and Jordan with a blueprint for so-called for “day after” plan.
“The important thing today is to bring to the minds of everyone we have to engage in a peace process,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday. “If we don’t stop this cycle of violence it will happen again and now there is an opportunity, a kind of wake up [call] in order to deal with the problem that we have almost forgotten about.
“We believe that peace with the Arab world is enough and it is not enough, peace has to be done with the Palestinians themselves. The first thing to do is to start thinking about how do we manage the situation in Gaza. Once the Gaza war, little by little will decrease, we will have to have a mindset to look for a stable solution. We cannot go back to 20 years ago.”
For too long the EU has delegated responsibility for the Middle East to the US, he said in Brussels this week. “We have been far too absent,” he added.
Borrell’s blueprint centres on a six-point plan with the EU and Arab world leading, alongside the US:
No reduction in territory size of Gaza
No long-term security presence by Israel
No forced displacement of people from Gaza
A single Palestinian Authority for West Bank and Gaza
Involvement of the Arab leaders
Involvement of Europe
Updated
WHO voices concern over spread of disease in Gaza
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday it was very concerned about the spread of disease in Gaza as weeks of Israeli bombardments have caused the population to crowd in shelters with scarce food and clean water.
“We are extremely concerned about the spread of the disease when the winter season arrives,” said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory.
He said more than 70,000 cases of acute respiratory infections and over 44,000 cases of diarrhoea had been recorded in the densely populated enclave, figures significantly higher than expected.
Updated
Communications systems in the Gaza Strip are down for a second day, causing aid agencies to halt cross-border deliveries of humanitarian supplies amid warnings people could soon face starvation.
Israel has been pushing deeper into Gaza City, and its troops have been searching al-Shifa, Gaza’s biggest hospital, for traces of a Hamas command centre the military alleges is located under the building, AP reported.
They have displayed images of what they claimed to be a tunnel entrance and weapons found in a truck inside the compound, but do not yet have any evidence of the command centre. Hamas and al-Shifa staff deny such a command centre exists.
The war, now in its sixth week, was triggered by Hamas’s 7 October attack in southern Israel, in which militants killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and captured about 240 men, women and children.
Abeer Etefa, a Middle East regional spokesperson for the United Nations’ World Food Programme, said Gaza was receiving only 10% of its needed food supplies daily, and dehydration and malnutrition was growing with nearly all of the 2.3 million people in the territory needing food.
“People are facing the immediate possibility of starvation,” she said from Cairo.
With few trucks entering Gaza and no fuel to distribute the food, “there is no way to meet the current hunger needs”, she added.
“The existing food systems in Gaza are basically collapsing.”
Updated
Updated
The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has urged leaders of developing nations to unite in the face of growing challenges due to the Israel-Hamas war as he convened a virtual summit of more than 100 countries.
“This is the time when the countries of the global south should unite for the greater global good,” Modi said in a speech, referring to developing nations.
The Voice of Global South summit was convened to follow up on decisions made during the G20 meeting in September that New Delhi claimed was a diplomatic success and where the African Union was added as a member.
India sees itself as a leader of the global south and says the world should make progress on key issues important to these countries.
Updated
More than 100 pro-Palestine events demanding a ceasefire in Gaza are due to take place across the UK this weekend, but there will be no large-scale national march in London, according to organisers.
Organisers of the pro-Palestine marches that have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to London’s streets have planned smaller action in villages, towns and cities rather than holding a national march in the capital this Saturday, citing the challenges of coordinating weekly national protests and growing support across the country. The next large national march in central London would be held on 25 November, they said.
“This Saturday, ordinary people across the UK will come out again to show the vast majority of them support a ceasefire,” said Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), a lead organiser of the march.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend vigils, protests, petitions, fundraisers and marches across London boroughs and cities including Birmingham, Cambridge, Liverpool and elsewhere on Saturday, according to organisers.
With communications out and in the absence of fuel, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said it was impossible to coordinate humanitarian aid truck convoys.
“If the fuel does not come in, people will start to die because of the lack of fuel. Exactly as from when, I don’t know. But it will be sooner rather than later,” said UNRWA’s commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini.
Updated
As of late Thursday night, there was no further word from the Palestinian companies, Paltel and Jawwal, whose internet, mobile phone and landline networks remain inoperable because fuel has run out.
Israel refuses fuel imports, saying Hamas could use them for military purposes.
Updated
IDF says it has retrieved body of soldier taken hostage by Hamas
The Israeli military said on Friday it retrieved the body of a soldier, Noa Marciano, who had been held captive by Palestinian militant group Hamas in a building near Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital.
The Israeli military on Tuesday confirmed the death of the soldier after Hamas issued a video of her alive followed by images of what the Palestinian faction said was her body after she was killed in an Israeli airstrike on 9 November.
Updated
18 UN agencies and international charities reject IDF calls for evacuation to 14 km sq 'safe zone'
After the Israeli military dropped leaflets Wednesday afternoon telling Palestinians in areas east of the southern town of Khan Younis to evacuate to a “safe zone” in Mawasi, a town of just 14 sq km, the heads of 18 UN agencies and international charities on Thursday rejected the creation of a safe zone, saying that concentrating civilians in one area while hostilities continue was too dangerous.
Similar leaflets were dropped over northern Gaza for weeks ahead of Israel’s ground invasion.
The aid agencies called for a cease-fire and unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid and fuel for Gaza’s population.
Despite the IDF having told Palestinians to leave northern Gaza for the south, strikes continued in the south Thursday. In the city of Deir al-Balah, a funeral was held for 28 people killed in an overnight bomb that leveled several buildings.
Most of Gaza’s population is crowded into southern Gaza, including hundreds of thousands who heeded Israel’s calls to evacuate the north. Some 1.5 million people driven from their homes have packed into UN shelters or houses with other families.
If the assault moves into the south, it is not clear where they would go. Egypt has refused to open its borders to Palestinians forced to leave their homes by Israeli forces., though Egypt has received limited numbers of medical evacuees from Gaza through the Rafah crossing this month, most of whom have been taken to Egyptian hospitals for treatment.
“We have to concentrate on getting medical facilities established inside of Gaza so it can be more accessible to Palestinians who are in need for medical assistance,” Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said at a briefing for foreign media in Cairo on Thursday.
Three Palestinians killed in drone strike on Jenin, West Bank - report
Three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli drone strike in the city Jenin in the West Bank, the head of the Palestinian ambulance service told Reuters on Friday.
It is unclear whether the deaths were in the refugee camp raided by the IDF overnight, or in another part of Jenin.
Since 7 October, at least 190 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry.
The figure is almost as high as the ministry’s toll of 208 dead for the first nine months of the year up to the start of the war.
Raids by Israeli forces on Palestinian communities have multiplied in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Seven Palestinians were killed this week during an Israeli raid in Tulkarem, in the north of the West Bank, while a ninth was shot dead near Hebron on Tuesday morning.
IDF raid Jenin refugee camp in West Bank
A large deployment of Israeli troops raided the Jenin refugee camp overnight, AFP reporters there said. Israel’s military did not immediately comment.
Al JAzeera reports that IDF troops are raiding Ibn Sina Hospital near Jenin, with “dozens of Israeli armoured vehicles … seen surrounding the hospital complex.”
UN warns of ‘immediate possibility of starvation’ in Gaza
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the Gaza Strip now faces a “massive” food gap and widespread hunger while nearly the entire population of the Palestinian enclave is in “desperate” need of food assistance.
In a statement on Thursday, WFP executive director Cindy McCain said food and water supplies are “practically non-existent” in Gaza that “civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation.”
Opening summary
This is the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war with me, Helen Sullivan.
The top development this morning: The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the Gaza Strip now faces a “massive” food gap and widespread hunger while nearly the entire population of the Palestinian enclave is in “desperate” need of food assistance.
In a statement on Thursday, WFP executive director Cindy McCain said food and water supplies are “practically non-existent” in Gaza that “civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation.”
Meanwhile a large deployment of Israeli troops raided the Jenin refugee camp overnight, AFP reporters there said. Israel’s military did not immediately comment.
Al JAzeera reports that IDF troops are raiding Ibn Sina Hospital near Jenin, with “dozens of Israeli armoured vehicles … seen surrounding the hospital complex.”
We’ll have more shortly.
Other developments include:
At least 11,470 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas war broke out six weeks ago, according to figures by the Palestinian health authorities. The ministry said 4,707 of the dead were children and minors and that 3,155 were women. The vast majority have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. In recent days, the Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank has started updating the Gaza death toll, AP reported. Until last week, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza was the main official source for the death toll in the Palestinian enclave, but it stopped publishing updates after key ministry officials based in Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital lost electricity and connectivity.
All communications are down in Gaza on Thursday night. The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Gaza was in a “total communication blackout” and that he feared the blackout could heighten panic in the Gaza Strip and erode civil order. The main telecommunications companies confirmed no telecom services were working because of the lack of fuel.
The Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza has been completely shut down and about 45 patients who urgently need surgery have been left in the reception area, the hospital chief Atef al-Kahlout has said. Al-Ahli hospital is currently under siege by Israeli tanks and a “violent attack is underway” at the hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Thursday.
The Israeli operation in al-Shifa hospital continued on Thursday after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the sprawling compound in the early hours of Wednesday morning. There were reports of shooting at the hospital. The IDF said it had uncovered a Hamas tunnel shaft and a vehicle with weapons at the Dar al-Shifa hospital complex. It made videos and photographs of the tunnel shaft and weapons public, but no independent verification was possible. The IDF accused Hamas earlier in the day of hiding evidence that would confirm that the organisation had used the hospital as a command and control centre – a charge Israel has made frequently in recent weeks as troops have advanced further into the territory and global anger has mounted.
Hamas and medical administrators have strenuously denied the allegation al-Shifa hospital was a command centre and the health ministry in Gaza said the Israeli military did not find any weapons in the hospital. Human Rights Watch said that images released by Israel on Wednesday of weapons it says its soldiers found inside al-Shifa were not sufficient to justify revoking the hospital’s status as protected by the laws of war. The White House’s national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said the US is still “convinced by the soundness” of its intelligence “that convinces us that Hamas was using al-Shifa as a command and control node”.
The UN is looking for ways to evacuate al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, but options are limited by security and logistical constraints, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday. One obstacle is that the Palestinian Red Crescent lacks sufficient fuel for its ambulances within Gaza to evacuate patients, according to the WHO regional emergency director, Rick Brennan. The WHO understood that there were still about 600 patients, including 27 in critical condition, at Shifa, he said.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has announced a “next stage” of the offensive in Gaza during a situational assessment on Thursday. “I arrived today at the headquarters of the division whose special forces also operate inside the Shifa hospital,” i24NEWS reported Gallant saying alongside the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) deputy chief of staff and other senior officers. “There are significant findings. We are working with precision and determination.” His comments came as the Israeli military said it uncovered a Hamas tunnel shaft and a vehicle with weapons at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital complex. It made videos and photographs of the tunnel shaft and weapons public, but no independent verification was possible.
The Israeli military said it has recovered the body of an Israeli hostage from a building near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old woman, was abducted from the Be’eri kibbutz by Hamas during their attack on southern Israel on 7 October. The IDF said the body had been identified by forensic scientific examiners and the family had been informed.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said there will be no aid deliveries into Gaza from the Rafah crossing from Friday. All communications are down in Gaza because of a lack of fuel, UNRWA said in a statement on Thursday. “This makes it impossible to manage or coordinate humanitarian aid convoys,” Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications, said. The UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said he believed there was a deliberate attempt to “strangle” its humanitarian work in Gaza.
The Israeli air force dropped leaflets overnight on Thursday in eastern areas of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, telling people to evacuate to shelters for their own safety – suggesting imminent military operations in the area. The flyers told civilians in Bani Shuhaila, Khuza’a, Abassan and al-Qarara that anyone in the vicinity of militants or their positions was “putting his life in danger”, local people told Reuters. Tens of thousands of people displaced from the north have sought refuge in Khan Younis, causing severe overcrowding amid shortages of food and water.
The heads of several United Nations agencies and other humanitarian organisations have said they will not take part in the establishment of any “safe zones” in Gaza that are declared by only one side of the conflict. The joint statement on Thursday said proposals to unilaterally create “safe zones” in Gaza “risk creating harm for civilians, including large-scale loss of life, and must be rejected”.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said there were “strong indications” that some hostages were held in Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, and that it was “one of the reasons” Israeli forces entered the hospital. In an interview with CBS, Netanyahu added that “if they were, they were taken out.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also spoken with Israeli war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz and discussed efforts to boost and accelerate the transit of critical humanitarian assistance into Gaza, the State Department said on Thursday.
linken also stressed the urgent need for affirmative steps to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank, including by confronting rising levels of settler extremist violence, the department said in a statement.The UN high commissioner for human rights has said the killing of civilians in Gaza cannot be dismissed as “collateral damage”, while calling for a ceasefire based on humanitarian and human rights grounds. Volker Türk said that five weeks into the war, “massive outbreaks of infectious disease, and hunger” seemed inevitable in the densely populated Gaza.
Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam brigades, has claimed responsibility for a shooting at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem. Six Israeli security force members were wounded after three gunmen opened fire at the checkpoint on Wednesday, Israeli police said.
Shelling intensified across Lebanon’s frontier with Israel on Thursday, with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah saying it had fired missiles at eight positions across the border, and Israel saying it had retaliated with artillery.
Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, on Thursday repeated his call for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 on Wednesday, Lapid said “we can’t run an extended [military] operation with a prime minister we do not have faith in.”
Joe Biden has presented an unapologetic defence of his refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, arguing on Wednesday night that Hamas presented a continuing threat to Israel. The US president also argued that Israeli forces had switched from aerial bombardment, which he seemed to acknowledge had been indiscriminate in parts, to more targeted ground operations. Biden’s remarks come amid escalating tensions between US and Israeli officials over Israel’s future strategy.
Israel’s UN ambassador has denounced a UN security council resolution calling for a “humanitarian pauses” as “disconnected from reality” and “meaningless”. The UNSC voted on Wednesday to back a resolution calling for “urgent extended humanitarian pauses for [a] sufficient number of days to allow aid access” to the embattled territory. The US and the UK abstained.
Norway’s parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the government to be ready to recognise an “independent” Palestinian state. Iceland, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic and Romania are among countries to have already given legal recognition to a Palestinian state.
