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Israel’s military preparing “unrelenting attacks” to dismantle Hamas.
Israeli chief of staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi issued a statement late on Monday suggesting that Israel had no intention of curbing its strikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip and hinting that it was well prepared for a ground assault.
“We want to bring Hamas to a state of full dismantling,” Halevi said. “The path is a path of unrelenting attacks, damaging Hamas everywhere and in every way.’
“We are well prepared for the ground operations in the south,” he added, referring to southern Israel, which borders Gaza. “Troops who have more time are better prepared, and that is what we are doing now.”
Heres a bit more from the director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, Thomas White, who told the BBC that a shortage of shelter, food and drinking water in the south of Gaza had forced some residents to return to their homes in the north.
“People have left everything in the north … they’ve come to the south where they are struggling to find shelter, food is scarce, many people are having to drink unpotable water, so the situation in the south is dire,” White told the BBC.
Israel delivered sweeping evacuation orders for almost half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people on 13 October. The UN estimates that almost two-thirds of Gaza’s population have been displaced over the last two weeks.
The US has said now is not the time for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as the UN reports that some Palestinians who fled their homes in the north of Gaza have returned due to a lack of food and shelter in the south.
On Monday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN that Israel still had “work to do to go after Hamas leadership”, echoing comments from the US president, Joe Biden, that any discussions of a ceasefire could only take place if Hamas freed all its hostages in Gaza.
The statement from the White House was at odds with comments from UN and EU officials who on Monday called for a humanitarian pause in fighting so that aid could be delivered into Gaza.
The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, Thomas White, told the BBC on Monday that a shortage of shelter, food and drinking water in the south had forced some residents to return to their homes in the north.
Here’s our full report:
Biden urges Netanyahu to maintain 'flow of urgently needed' aid to Gaza
President Joe Biden “underscored the need to sustain a continuous flow of urgently needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza” in a phone call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House has said.
The US leader also updated Netanyahu on US support for Israel and “ongoing efforts at regional deterrence, to include new US military deployments”, the statement said.
The White House also said the president had welcomed the release of two hostages from Gaza and reaffirmed his commitment to securing the release of the remaining hostages as well as safe passage for US citizens and other civilians in Gaza.
Here are some of the most recent images coming to us from Gaza:
Israel would not allow fuel into Gaza even if all hostages are released, Mark Regev, a senior advisor to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has told CNN. He said:
At the moment we have no interest in more fuel going to the Hamas military machine and we have not authorized fuel, we have authorized medicine, we have authorized water. We’ve authorized foodstuffs, we’ve not authorized anything else.
Asked if Israel would allow fuel to enter Gaza if all hostages were released, Regev said Israel’s position would not change.
The government decision is that fuel doesn’t go in because it will be stolen by Hamas and it’ll be used by them to power rockets that are fired into Israel to kill our people.
Israel will not delay a possible ground invasion of Gaza over concerns for the more than 200 hostages being held there by Hamas, the country’s energy minister has told German tabloid Bild.
Israel Katz, who had previously insisted that not an “electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter” Gaza, until the hostages were freed, told the paper:
We are doing everything we can and working with every interlocuter we can to bring those kidnapped home… But that cannot prevent our other actions, including the ground invasion, if we decide to do it, because that’s what Hamas wants.
Huge billboards depicting leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah looking beaten and bound as Israeli soldiers stand over them, line the main thoroughfares in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
The words: “We love you, we trust you,” directed at the Israeli army and: “Never again,” are printed big and bold. The graphic AI-generated imagery has elicited different responses from the Israeli public; some find the campaign repugnant, many others have welcomed it.
Ofer Rosenbaum, 36, whose PR work has had previous brushes with controversy, is behind the provocative campaign launched last week that he hopes will help restore trust in Israel’s security forces.
Observing a billboard from across the highway, retired accountant Simona Yaloz, 65, said she was disgusted by the image. “I hate it, really, it’s not the Israeli attitude,” Yaloz said. “This is very extreme, it’s too violent. There are extreme people here but we’re trying to avoid it.”
Fashion designer Shiran, who only gave one name, said she and her husband were supportive of the billboard campaign. “We both smiled when we saw it. I think we’ve been too kind and too nice for too long. We’ve let people outside of Israel tell us what we can and can’t do,” said the 30-year-old.
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte was in Israel on Monday, as international leaders continued diplomacy aimed at showing solidarity with Israel while also calling for restraint in its response to Hamas’ 7 October attack.
It was of “existential importance for Israel to remove the Hamas threat,” Rutte said in a statement after meeting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
But he added that the aid arriving in Gaza was “not nearly enough” and that “civilian casualties and regional escalation must be prevented”.
This requires restraint from Israel when it comes to the use of force.
He also called for a return to talks on a two-state solution:
Though it may seem far away, peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians is only possible if prospects for a Palestinian state, alongside a secure Israel, are renewed.
US sending military advisors and air defence systems to Israel
The Pentagon is sending military advisers and sophisticated air defense systems to Israel ahead of an anticipated ground assault into Gaza by Israel’s military.
One of the officers leading the assistance is Marine Corps Lt Gen James Glynn, who previously helped lead special operations forces against the Islamic State and served a high-profile role during intense combat in Falluja, one of the bloodiest and most controversial centers of battle for US forces during the war in Iraq.
Glynn will also be advising on how to mitigate civilian casualties during urban warfare, a US official told the Associated Press, on condition of anonymity.
Glynn and the other military officers who are advising Israel “have experience that is appropriate to the sorts of operations that Israel is conducting”, the national security council spokesman, John Kirby, said on Monday in a briefing at the White House.
The Israeli military has confirmed Palestinian reports of an airstrike on a refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Reuters.
The Israeli airstrike targeted a staging ground for Hamas in Al-Shati refugee camp, a military spokesperson said without providing any further details.
Palestinian media have reported that five people were killed while a spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry has said children and women were among the casualties.
Washington is concerned that Israel lacks achievable military objectives in Gaza and does not yet have a workable plan for a ground invasion, the New York Times has reported, citing senior officials in the Biden administration.
Defense secretary Lloyd J Austin has stressed the need for careful consideration of how a ground invasion would be conducted in conversations with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, the paper wrote.
It added that Biden officials still insist they support an invasion and that they are not telling Israel what to do.
However the NYT also said that in conversations with Israeli officials about prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aim of eradicating Hamas, the Americans had not yet seen an achievable plan of action and there were concerns that a ground operation could be extremely bloody for civilians as well as troops.
“The first thing that everyone should know, and I think everyone does know, is that urban combat is extremely difficult,” Austin told ABC News’s This Week on Sunday.
There was no immediate Israeli response to the report but a diplomat from the Israeli Embassy denied that the US government was advising the Israelis to delay the ground invasion, as the paper reported on Sunday.
Updated
Here’s a bit more from Obama’s statement on the Israel-Hamas conflict, in which he said that it is important that “Israel’s military strategy abides by international law, including those laws that seek to avoid, to every extent possible, the death or suffering of civilian populations”. He wrote:
Upholding these values is important for its own sake – because it is morally just and reflects our belief in the inherent value of every human life.
Upholding these values is also vital for building alliances and shaping international opinion – all of which are critical for Israel’s long-term security.
He noted that this presented an “enormously difficult task”, one at which the US “had at times fallen short of”. And after an attack that evoked “some of the darkest memories of persecution against the Jewish people”, Israeli citizens were understandably demanding their government do “whatever it takes to root out Hamas and make sure such attacks never happen again”, he said. However, he continued:
In dealing with what is an extraordinarily complex situation where so many people are in pain and passions are understandably running high, all of us need to do our best to put our best values, rather than our worst fears, on display.
That meant opposing anti-semitism and “efforts to minimize the terrible tragedy that the Israeli people have just endured as well as the morally-bankrupt suggestion that any cause can somehow justify the deliberate slaughter of innocent people”.
It also meant rejecting anti-Muslim, anti-Arab or anti-Palestinian sentiment, he said.
It means refusing to lump all Palestinians with Hamas or other terrorist groups. It means guarding against dehumanizing language towards the people of Gaza, or downplaying Palestinian suffering - whether in Gaza or the West Bank – as irrelevant or illegitimate.
Israel's response to Hamas risks eroding global support, Obama says
Israel’s siege and bombardment of Gaza following the Hamas attack of 7 October risks backfiring and ultimately undermining long term efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region, Barack Obama has said.
“Even as we support Israel, we should also be clear that how Israel prosecutes this fight against Hamas matters,” the former US president said in a statement that also emphasised Israel’s “right to defend its citizens against such wanton violence”. He continued:
The world is watching closely as events in the region unfold, and any Israeli military strategy that ignores the human costs could ultimately backfire.
Thousands of Palestinians, including many children, had already been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza, while hundreds of thousands had been forced from their homes, Obama wrote.
The Israeli government’s decision to cut off food, water and electricity to a captive civilian population threatens not only to worsen a growing humanitarian crisis; it could further harden Palestinian attitudes for generations, erode global support for Israel, play into the hands of Israel’s enemies, and undermine long term efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region.
China calls on Israel to respect humanitarian law
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has said Beijing is “deeply concerned” by the escalating war between Israel and Hamas and called on Israel to respect humanitarian law in a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen, Chinese state media has reported.
All countries have a right to self-defence but China condemns all acts that harm civilians and opposes any violation of the international law, Wang said, according to Xinhua.
The conflict affects the whole world, he added, and “involves a major choice between war and peace”. Xinhua wrote that he stressed:
The painful lesson of the repeated cycle of Palestinian-Israeli conflict fully demonstrates: only adhering to the concept of common security can help achieve sustainable security, and only adhering to the direction of political settlement can facilitate the thorough resolution of Israel’s legitimate security concerns.
The two-state solution is the consensus of the international community.
Wang said he hoped both sides could consider “ long-term interests of peace and security shared by future generations” and that they would resume peace talks.
Israel struck a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip late on Monday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, Reuters has reported. The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment.
In a statement on Facebook, health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said the Israeli bombardment targeted Gaza’s Al-Shati camp, which abuts the Mediterranean coastline.
Palestinian media reported that five people were killed in the camp. Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports.
Updated
The wires have sent through some pictures of the hostages newly released by Hamas:
I’m Helen Livingstone, taking over from my colleague Richard Luscombe.
Updated
Summary of the day
It’s 2am Tuesday in Gaza and Tel Aviv, midnight in London, and 7pm Monday in Washington DC. Here’s what we’ve been following:
Hamas released two hostages from those it’s holding in Gaza. The group named them as Israeli women Nurit Yitzhak (also known as Nurit Cooper), 79, and Yocheved Lifschitz, 85, and said they were released on “humanitarian and poor health grounds”. The women were transported by the Red Cross to Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Israel, then taken for medical care and a reunion with their families. Earlier, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it believed Hamas was still holding 222 hostages in Gaza.
The United Nations warned of an increasingly dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, with small amounts of food, water, medicines but not fuel being delivered in a convoy of 20 trucks on Monday. Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” for more aid to be sent in. The UN, meanwhile, says only two days of fuel are left for its agency assisting Palestinians, and that water desalination and electricity generating plants will cease to function, affecting hospitals and other critical services.
The White House, however, says the “time is not right” for a ceasefire. John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, told CNN the US position was that all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza must be released first. “The message was pretty clear to Hamas: ‘release all the hostages’. That needs to be the first move here. We’re not talking about a ceasefire right now. In fact, we don’t believe that this is the time for a ceasefire,” he said.
Kirby also said Iran was behind attacks by proxy on US troops in the Middle East after a barrage of drone and missile attacks over the weekend. At a media briefing, he said the US was ramping up its military capabilities in the Middle East and warned Iran or other nations seeking to use the conflict as an excuse to attack US interests: “Don’t do it.”
Reports from Israel suggested that the release of about 50 hostages held by Hamas could be imminent. The Tel Aviv news channel I24 reported “sources within Gaza” as saying “the finalization of a potential deal” brokered by Qatari was under way for the release of about 50 abductees who hold dual citizenship. Officials of Red Cross were believed to on their way to receive the group, I24 said, and the release could be concluded “in the hours ahead” if there were no obstacles. But there was no further news by Monday night.
Almost 20,000 people have been internally displaced in south Lebanon and elsewhere since early October, a United Nations agency said, reflecting escalating violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 19,646 people had been displaced inside Lebanon since it began tracking movements on 8 October, the day after the assault on Israel by Hamas militants, the AFP news agency reported.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said at least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October. It said the dead included 2,055 children. Additionally, it said 15,273 people had been wounded. The ministry put the death toll in the past 24 hours at 436, including 182 children. It said most of the fatalities had occurred in the southern Gaza Strip, to where Israel’s military has ordered Palestinians to evacuate. The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel’s military said that ground forces mounted limited raids into the Gaza Strip overnight to fight Palestinian gunmen, and that airstrikes were being focused on sites where Hamas was assembling to attack any wider Israeli invasion. The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said: “During the night there were raids by tank and infantry forces. These raids are raids that kill squads of terrorists who are preparing for our next stage in the war. These are raids that go deep.”
The leaders of the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany and Italy called on Israel to adhere to international law and protect civilians, while reiterating Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. In a statement, the leaders’ offices said: “The leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.”
Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for his country’s support as the latter visited Tel Aviv. Israel’s prime minister said of the conflict: “It’s a battle against civilization. It’s civilization against barbarism. We’re on the side of civilization. We have to unite, all together, against Hamas, which is Isis.”
A Palestinian photojournalist, Roshdi Sarraj, was killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Radio France reported. The French broadcaster said Sarraj was killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes on Tel al-Hawa, in Gaza City. His wife and one-year-old daughter were injured.
Turkey sent two cargo planes to Egypt on Monday carrying further medical equipment and supplies for Gaza, the health minister Fahrettin Koca said. He said two more aircraft would be sent with more supplies.
A 33-year-old Dutch woman was killed in an explosion in Gaza, the Dutch foreign ministry said. Named locally as Islam al-Ashqar, she was visiting relatives at the Nusairat refugee camp in central Gaza and was one of 22 Dutch nationals that the ministry was trying to help leave, the broadcaster NOS said.
Updated
A coalition of six human rights groups has petitioned Israel’s high court for the release of “thousands” of Palestinian workers from Gaza it says are being held illegally and without charge in detention centers.
They asked the court on Monday to instruct the Israeli military, prison service and police to “disclose the names and whereabouts of all Gaza residents being held in Israeli detention centers and release any persons unlawfully detained to the West Bank until they are able to return to Gaza”.
The groups say that Israel started detaining an unknown number of about 18,500 Palestinian residents of Gaza who hold work permits issued by the Israeli authorities. How many were in Israel when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, or immediately thereafter, is unknown.
On 10 October, the Israeli government revoked all the permits, instantly turning Palestinians who had lawfully present in Israel into illegal aliens, say the groups.
Updated
White House: 'not the time' for Gaza ceasefire
The Biden administration does not believe the time is right for a ceasefire in Gaza, a senior official said on Monday evening.
Speaking to CNN, John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, said the US position was that all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza must be released first.
His words echoed comments from Joe Biden earlier on Monday that “we should have those hostages released and then we can talk”. Kirby said:
I thought the message was pretty clear to Hamas: ‘release all the hostages’. That needs to be the first move here. We’re not talking about a ceasefire right now. In fact, we don’t believe that this is the time for a ceasefire.
Israel has a right to defend themselves. They still have work to do to go after Hamas leadership. We’re gonna keep supporting them … our focus is on making sure that they have what they need to carry on this fight.
Updated
China’s top foreign minister Wang Yi will visit Washington DC later this week, and will meet US secretary of state Antony Blinken, Reuters reports.
The rare three-day visit to the US by a senior Chinese diplomat, from 26 to 28 October, will include discussions about the Israel-Hamas conflict, the news agency said.
Updated
Third aid convoy enters Gaza but fuel situation 'critical'
The United Nations says a third convoy of humanitarian aid, consisting of 20 trucks, delivered water, food and medicine to Gaza on Monday, but warned that fuel was not included and reserves will run out within the next two days.
Humanitarian deliveries through the Rafah crossing from Egypt began on Saturday. According to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, cited by Reuters, 54 trucks have entered in the three days since then.
UN officials have said about 100 aid trucks would be needed daily to meet essential needs in Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, some 1.4 million of which are now homeless. Wrangles over procedures for inspecting the aid, and ongoing aerial attacks in Gaza, left the aid stuck in Egypt.
Joe Biden received an update on the situation during a briefing at the White House on Monday afternoon.
President Biden and Vice President Harris received a briefing today from their national security team on the latest developments in Israel and Gaza. pic.twitter.com/qEsh4n8U5H
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 23, 2023
The US president, who has submitted a $106bn request to Congress including humanitarian aid for Ukraine and Gaza, tweeted his government’s commitment to sending humanitarian relief.
“The United States remains committed to ensuring that civilians in Gaza will continue to have access to food, water, medical care, and other assistance, without diversion by Hamas,” Biden said.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, meanwhile, has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to allow more aid in. No fuel will mean water desalination and energy generating plants cannot function, and hospitals and other essential services will be without power, the UN said.
Dujarric said the UN was pushing for fuel deliveries that were essential to its agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
“They can see the bottom of the fuel tank. We’re talking days. And when that happens, that will be truly devastating, on top of what is already a devastating humanitarian situation,” he said.
Updated
Two Israeli women released in Gaza by Hamas earlier on Monday are in the care of the Israeli military and on their way to a medical facility in Israel, the office of Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Nurit Cooper (also known as Nurit Yitzhak), 79, and Yocheved Lifschitz, 85, were kidnapped along with their husbands from kibbutz Nir Oz, near the Gaza border, on 7 October. Their husbands are still being held by Hamas.
Updated
Harrowing footage of killings and mutilations during Hamas’s rampage in southern Israel earlier this month was shown to journalists by Israeli authorities earlier on Monday.
The 43-minute compilation was screened privately at a military base in Tel Aviv to hundreds of international reporters, many of whom were visibly shaken by what they saw.
Its purpose, Israel officials said, was to counter what it saw as a growing denial of Hamas atrocities.
This is a report by the Guardian’s Rory Carroll. It contains accounts of a number of distressing incidents:
Updated
UN rights chief calls for 'immediate humanitarian ceasefire'
Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, called on Monday for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza.
In a statement, he said “far too many civilian lives, many of them children, have already been lost”:
The first step must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, saving the lives of civilians through the delivery of prompt and effective humanitarian aid.
This violence will never end unless leaders stand up and take the brave and humane choices that are required by fundamental humanity.
Israel has launched repeated airstrikes against Hamas in Gaza in response to its attack on the country that killed more than 1,400 earlier this month and appears to be preparing a massive ground invasion.
Palestinian authorities have said more than 5,000 civilians have been killed from the Israeli bombardment, while the international community remains divided over halting the fighting to facilitate an infusion of aid.
Türk’s statement continued:
Far too many civilian lives, many of them children, have already been lost – on both sides – as a consequence of these hostilities. And unless something changes, coming days will see more civilians on the brink of death from continuing bombardment.
Updated
Joe Biden’s earlier abrupt departure from an economic policy speech to urgently head for the White House situation room was entirely innocuous, it seems.
There was speculation the US president was called away to deal with a rapidly developing issue, possibly connected to the release Monday of hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
Not so, it seems:
We’re now told the Sit Room session Biden alluded to was a regularly scheduled update on Israel and Gaza https://t.co/WGyW4DZS3r
— Steve Holland (@steveholland1) October 23, 2023
Here’s our video of Rishi Sunak addressing the House of Commons earlier today.
The prime minister said UK intelligence had concluded that a deadly blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group, and he announced a further £20m in aid to Gaza.
Here’s the statement from the Lifschitz family following the release of Yocheved Lifschitz, one of two Israeli women hostages freed by Hamas on Monday:
We can confirm that Yocheved Lifshitz, mother of British citizen Sharone Lifschitz, and Nurit Cooper, were released from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
They were handed over to the Red Cross at the Rafah crossing a short time ago, from there they will be transferred shortly to Israel. The families have been informed.
Sharone Lifschitz, who lives in London, said:
I can confirm that my mother Yochi (Yocheved) Lifschitz was one of two hostages released to the Red Cross this evening. While I cannot put into words the relief that she is now safe, I will remain focused on securing the release of my father and all those – some 200 innocent people – who remain hostages in Gaza.
Oded Lifschitz, husband of Yochved, and Sharone’s father, is a veteran Israeli journalist and peace activist who was captured by Hamas with his wife.
Their daughter spoke with the Guardian about their situation earlier this month, and has met UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and opposition leader Keir Starmer in recent days to seek their help facilitating her parents’ release.
Another elderly hostage with UK links is Ada Sagi, a woman in her 80s whose dual-national son Noam has also spoken with government officials.
Read more:
Updated
Egypt’s Al Qahera TV network has aired video it says is freed Hamas hostages Nurit Yitzhak and Yochved Lifschitz being transferred from a Red Cross vehicle into Egyptian ambulances as the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
عبر وساطة مصرية.. #القاهرة_الإخبارية تنفرد حصريا بنشر فيديو وصول السيدتين المحتجزتين إلى #معبر_رفح#تضامنا_مع_فلسطين #من_غزة_هنا_القاهرة#فلسطين pic.twitter.com/g9zCUtP9a0
— AlQahera News (@Alqaheranewstv) October 23, 2023
Updated
Shortly after two hostages were released in Gaza, Joe Biden quickly left an event as he was needed in the White House’s Situation room.
At the end of an event to promote his economic policy, Biden abruptly left, telling the audience that he had to leave the event and go to the Situation room.
While not confirmed, the meeting in the Situation room is likely about the hostages’ release.
During the same event, Biden was asked about the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza. In response, he said: “We should have those hostages released and then we can talk.”
From Bloomberg News’ Jennifer Jacobs:
Asked about a ceasefire in Gaza, BIDEN tells us: "We should have those hostages released and then we can talk.” pic.twitter.com/k1VI3tICND
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 23, 2023
🚨 Biden left a Bidenomics event immediately after his remarks saying he was needed in the Situation Room pic.twitter.com/kdl1y7sv2k
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 23, 2023
Red Cross says it helped facilitate release of two more hostages from Hamas
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that they helped facilitate the release of two hostages held by Hamas, in a new post to X.
In the statement posted online, ICRC confirmed that they transported the two hostages out of Gaza Monday evening.
“Our role as a neutral intermediary makes this work possible & we are ready to facilitate any future release,” the ICRC post read.
“We hope that they will soon be back with their loved ones.”
📢 We facilitated the release of 2 more hostages, transporting them out of #Gaza this evening.
— ICRC (@ICRC) October 23, 2023
Our role as a neutral intermediary makes this work possible & we are ready to facilitate any future release.
We hope that they will soon be back with their loved ones.
Updated
At least 35 employees with the United Nations’ Agency for Palestine Refugees have been confirmed killed in violence during the Israel-Hamas conflict, the agency reported on Monday.
Six staff were killed in Gaza since Saturday, according to a statement posted Monday to X, previously known as Twitter.
At least half of those killed were teachers. An agency school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, was struck and severely damaged on Saturday, with the death toll unknown.
🔺Another six @UNRWA staff have been confirmed killed, bringing total to 35 staff killed since 7 October
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 23, 2023
🔺Across📍#GazaStrip, nearly 600,000 internally displaced people sheltering in 150 @UNRWA facilities
🔺40 @UNRWA installations have now been damagedhttps://t.co/fuyeJwzoak pic.twitter.com/vq4wpkEsmZ
The agency added that 40 installations have also been damaged amid the outbreak of fighting.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s just after 10pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv, and here are the developments we’ve been following today in the Israel-Hamas conflict:
Hamas says it has released two more hostages from those it’s holding in Gaza. The group named them as Nurit Yitzhak and Yochved Lifschitz, and said they were release on “humanitarian and poor health grounds”. There is no independent confirmation of their release yet, and their whereabouts are currently unknown. Hamas released American mother and daughter Judith and Natalia Raanan on Friday. Earlier today, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it believed Hamas was still holding 222 hostages in Gaza.
Reports from Israel suggested that the release of about 50 hostages held by Hamas could be imminent. The Tel Aviv news channel I24 reported “sources within Gaza” as saying “the finalization of a potential deal” brokered by Qatari was under way for the release of about 50 abductees who hold dual citizenship. Officials of Red Cross are believed to on their way to receive the group, I24 said, and the release could be concluded “in the hours ahead” if there are no obstacles.
The White House said Iran is behind attacks by proxy on US troops in the Middle East after a barrage of drone and missile attacks over the weekend. At a media briefing on Monday, John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council said the US was ramping up its military capabilities in the Middle East and warned Iran or other nations seeking to use the conflict as an excuse to attack US interests: “Don’t do it”.
Almost 20,000 people have been internally displaced in south Lebanon and elsewhere since early October, a United Nations agency said on Monday, reflecting escalating violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 19,646 people had been displaced inside Lebanon since it began tracking movements on 8 October, the day after the assault on Israel by Hamas militants, the AFP news agency reported.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said at least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October. It said the dead included 2,055 children. Additionally, it said 15,273 people had been wounded. The ministry put the death toll in the past 24 hours at 436, including 182 children. It said most of the fatalities had occurred in the southern Gaza Strip, to where Israel’s military has ordered Palestinians to evacuate. The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel’s military said on Monday that ground forces mounted limited raids into the Gaza Strip overnight to fight Palestinian gunmen, and that airstrikes were being focused on sites where Hamas was assembling to attack any wider Israeli invasion. The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said: “During the night there were raids by tank and infantry forces. These raids are raids that kill squads of terrorists who are preparing for our next stage in the war. These are raids that go deep.”
Washington has advised Israel to delay its expected ground invasion of Gaza in order to buy time to negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas and allow more aid in to Palestinian civilians, the New York Times reported, citing US officials.
A third convoy of aid trucks entered the Rafah crossing from Egypt on Monday bound for the besieged Gaza Strip, an aid worker and two security sources have told Reuters. On Saturday and Sunday 34 trucks passed through. The number of trucks in Monday’s convoy was similar to each of those days, the aid worker and security sources said. UN officials say about 100 trucks would be needed daily to meet essential needs in Gaza.
The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, joined calls on Monday for a humanitarian pause in the conflict to let more aid supplies into Gaza.
The leaders of the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany and Italy have called on Israel to adhere to international law and protect civilians, while also reiterating Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. In a statement put out after a phone call, the leaders’ offices said: “The leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.”
Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for his country’s support as the latter visited Tel Aviv. Netanyahu said of the conflict: “It’s a battle against civilization. It’s civilization against barbarism. We’re on the side of civilization. We have to unite, all together, against Hamas, which is Isis.”
The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, has said the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are exposed to “the Israeli murder and criminal machine”.
A Palestinian photojournalist, Roshdi Sarraj, has been killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Radio France reported. The French broadcaster said Sarraj was killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes on Tel al-Hawa, in Gaza City. His wife and one-year-old daughter were injured.
Israel’s military has claimed to have fired at a “suspicious aerial target” attempting to enter Israel from the direction of Lebanon.
Turkey sent two cargo planes to Egypt on Monday carrying further medical equipment and supplies for Gaza, the health minister Fahrettin Koca said. He said two more aircraft would be sent with more supplies.
A 33-year-old Dutch woman has been killed in an explosion in Gaza, the Dutch foreign ministry has said. Named locally as Islam al-Ashqar, she was visiting relatives at the Nusairat refugee camp in central Gaza and was one of 22 Dutch nationals that the ministry was trying to help leave, the broadcaster NOS said.
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The two hostages Hamas said on Monday it had released “on humanitarian grounds” were named by the group as Israeli women Nurit Yitzhak and Yochved Lifschitz.
There has so far been no immediate independent confirmation of their release, and the women’s whereabouts are unknown. although some social media posts suggest they had reached the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Hamas, in a statement from Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for its armed Al-Qassam Brigades, said “compelling humanitarian and poor health grounds” were behind its decision to release the pair. It also said it had tried to release them on Friday, but said without corroboration that Israel had “refused to receive them”.
The Guardian spoke earlier this month to Sharone Lifschitz, who lives in London but grew up on a kibbutz in Israel near the border with Gaza. She said her parents were there when Hamas fighters broke through on 7 October, and she feared they were taken across the border as hostages.
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Hamas says it has released two hostages
Hamas has said it released two more hostages Monday, Reuters is reporting.
It comes as reports in Israel suggest a deal may be imminent to secure the release of about another 50 abductees with dual nationality. The group released Americans Natalie and Judith Raanan on Friday.
No more details were immediately available about Monday’s reported release, but Reuters said it was announced by the armed wing of Hamas and involved “mediation” by Qatar and Egypt.
Kirby was also asked at the White House briefing about a possible conflict between US priorities for the war against Hamas, which include pouring in humanitarian aid to Gaza and freeing hostages, and that of Israel, which has committed to destroying the group:
We agree. The priority has to be going after Hamas. There’s no daylight here.
We also think it’s important for humanitarian assistance to flow and for our hostages to get home with their families, and we’re working all three of those things.
White House warns Iran not to use Israel-Hamas conflict to attack US forces
The Biden administration is warning Iran and other nations seeking to use the Israel-Hamas conflict as a conduit for attacks on US forces and personnel in the Middle East: “Don’t do it”.
Speaking after what he said was a weekend “uptick in rocket and drone attacks by Iranian-backed proxy groups against military bases housing US personnel in Iraq and Syria,” John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, gave the blunt warning at a lunchtime briefing to reporters on Monday:
We know Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah. And we know that Iran is closely monitoring and in some cases actively facilitating these attacks, and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good, or for that of Iran.
Kirby alluded to a build up of US military capability in the region, including the deployment of two aircraft carrier strike groups to the Middle East, and the repelling of drone and missile attacks:
Iran’s goal is to maintain some level of deniability, but we’re not going to allow them to do that. We also are not going to allow any threat to our interest in the region to go unchallenged. We demonstrated last week that we will use the military capabilities available to us to protect and defend those interests and those capabilities are getting bigger, better every day.
President Biden has said our message to any hostile actor seeking to escalate or widen this conflict is very simple: ‘Don’t do it’.
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The White House says it cannot comment on reports from the Middle East about a Qatari-brokered “deal” with Hamas to release hostages with dual nationality that it’s holding in Gaza to the Red Cross.
John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council, suggested to reporters that negotiations were at a delicate stage:
Where we are right now in the process makes it impossible for us to publicly detail the efforts that are going on. We are grateful for all the help we got getting those two Americans out, the mother and daughter, and we’re glad that that they’re OK.
There’s just a lot of effort going on, a lot of conversations and discussions with partners in the region. And I think it’s just best if we don’t detail that.
Hamas, meanwhile, appeared to confirm that conversations were taking place towards a hostage release deal, but that Israel must stop bombing Gaza first.
Speaking on Sky News, Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas group’s chief hostage negotiator, said:
Let them stop this aggression and you will find the mediators like Qatar and Egypt and some Arab countries and others will find a way to have them released and we’ll send them to their homes.
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Hopes rising for 'imminent' deal for hostages' release
Reports from Israel suggest that the release of about 50 hostages held by Hamas could be imminent.
The Tel Aviv news channel I24 is reporting “sources within Gaza” as saying “the finalization of a potential deal” brokered by Qatari was under way for the release of about 50 abductees who hold dual citizenship.
Officials of Red Cross are believed to on their way to receive the group, I24 said, and the release could be concluded “in the hours ahead” if there are no obstacles.
It is believed a suspension of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza was part of the deal to allow Red Cross teams to reach the hostages safely.
Earlier today, the Israeli Defense Forces raised the number of hostages it said were being held by Hamas to 222. On Friday, Hamas released two US citizens, Natalie Raanan, 17, and her mother Judith, 59, on “humanitarian grounds”.
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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold public hearings to allow parties to give their views on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, Reuters is reporting. It will eventually issue a non-binding legal opinion.
The ICJ, also known as the world court, was asked by the 193-member United Nations General Assembly in December to give its view on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians.
Hearings in The Hague will begin 19 February. The request for a so-called advisory opinion had been made before this month’s Hamas attack on Israel, so the ICJ’s opinion will focus solely on the Israeli occupation.
The resolution passed the General Assembly with 87 votes in favor. Israel, the US and 24 other members voted against, while 53 abstained.
UN: 20,000 displaced by violence in Lebanon
Almost 20,000 people have been internally displaced in south Lebanon and elsewhere since early October, a United Nations agency said on Monday, reflecting escalating violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 19,646 people had been displaced inside Lebanon since it began tracking movements on 8 October, the day after the assault on Israel by Hamas militants, the AFP news agency reported.
Most were those fleeing the south of Lebanon, while some people have also moved from other areas. Israeli authorities have also been evacuating dozens of towns and communities from the north of Israel, IOM said.
Rocket exchanges between Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Israel have become increasingly prevalent since the 7 October attacks.
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The office of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has joined with the Israel Defense Ministry and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to issue a rare joint statement asserting “close and full cooperation” between them.
“There is total and mutual trust between the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister and the IDF Chief-of-Staff; the unity of the goal is clear,” the statement says, insisting the cooperation will lead to “a decisive victory over Hamas”.
Joint Statement by the Prime Minister's Office, the Defense Ministry & IDF Spokesperson:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 23, 2023
The Prime Minister, the Defense Minister and the IDF Chief-of-Staff are working in close and full cooperation, around the clock, to lead the State of Israel to a decisive victory over Hamas.
Netanyahu’s relationship with the military has been testy of late. Former military leaders and politicians said at the weekend his “dysfunctional government” bore responsibility for the attacks on Israel by Hamas.
And media reports earlier this year painted a picture of hostility between Netanyahu and the country’s military leaders, including that he was “at odds” with defense minister and former IDF commander Yoav Gallant, now a leading voice in Israel’s unity government.
Read more:
The Israeli public has a “very high level of trust” in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but much lower confidence in prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet, a survey by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) has found.
According to the survey by the Jerusalem-based policy group, 79% of respondents said they were confident Israel would win the war with Hamas, and 78% said the condition of Israeli society was either somewhat or very united.
But Netanyahu’s level of trust among the same respondents was only 32%, with 68% saying they had a low level trust or did not know.
Yedidia Stern, JPPI’s president, said the results reflected a “crisis of confidence” for Netanyahu’s unity government:
The survey shows that the Israeli public believes in the capability of the state of Israel to win the war. But there is a crisis of confidence in, and much criticism of, the political leadership.
We must draw lessons from the situation and rebuild mutual trust between the public and the government.
The reported drone attack Monday on US troops in Syria took place at the Al-Tanf military air base, near the country’s borders with Iraq and Jordan, Reuters said, citing two US officials.
The officials confirmed there were no injuries.
On Sunday, Lloyd Austin, the US defense secretary, said he was worried about an escalation of attacks on US forces in the wider Middle East region as Israel prepared to launch a ground invasion of Gaza.
“What we’re seeing is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region. We’re going to do what’s necessary to make sure that our troops are in the right position, they’re protected, and that we have the ability to respond,” he told ABC’s This Week.
US troops have come under drone attack in Syria, Reuters is reporting. Officials told the news agency there were no immediate reports of injuries.
We’ll have more details soon.
Here’s a little more of what Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons on Monday as he pledged an additional £20m for aid to Gaza:
We need a constant stream of aid pouring in, bringing the water, food, medicine and fuel that is so desperately needed.
We are providing an additional £20m humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, more than doubling our previous support to the Palestinian people.
Foreign ministers of the European Union have agreed to “keep up the financial support” for humanitarian aid for Gaza, Joseph Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat has said.
He repeated the need to maintain electricity supplies to Gaza to ensure desalination plants can operate to provide potable water to citizens and hospitals.
He was speaking at a press conference following a meeting in Luxembourg.
The foreign ministers also all support a “pause” in the hostilities in Israel and Gaza to allow urgent humanitarian aid to get through to the Palestinian civilians and hospitals. Borrell said:
There is a consensus on the need for a pause for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza without running huge risks the risks that would be involved if there were ongoing hostilities.
I believe that the idea of a humanitarian pause to facilitate to enable the arrival of humanitarian aid, which would allow displaced persons to find shelter, is something that the leaders will support.
No vote or decision was taken in Luxembourg but the temporary cessation of violence will be on the agenda of a meeting of leaders of the 27 member states this Thursday.
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Gaza hospital blast caused by militants’ rocket, UK agencies believe
UK intelligence services have concluded that the deadly blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group rather than by an Israeli airstrike, Rishi Sunak has told MPs.
Briefing the Commons after his trip last week to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the prime minister said the explosion was likely to have been caused by a missile or part of a missile launched within Gaza and towards Israel.
Sunak used this assessment to criticise some media outlets for initially reporting that the blast appeared to have been caused by Israel.
Also in the statement, Sunak stressed the need for a two-state solution, saying this was “essential” for lasting peace. He also said the UK would provide £20m for in aid to Gaza.
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The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari has posted to social media to say Israel has again exchanged fire after been shot at from Lebanon.
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Israel’s education minister has called for the immediate release of hostages by Hamas and said that “trying to kill Jews because they are Jews” is “not going to be an option any more” after Israel has finished its military campaign.
Yoav Kisch was appearing on the GB News channel in the UK. He said:
We demand the immediate and unconditional release of these hostages. We’re dealing with uninvolved people, babies, kids, elderly women – it’s crazy that we even have to speak about it.
It’s such a war crime that is even hard to imagine. So this thing has to happen immediately. We will continue our efforts to make sure that Hamas will not control Gaza.
This is for the benefit of both Israel and the Palestinians. Hamas is the main cause for the suffering of both people.
Kisch went on to say: “I hope that this message will be conveyed not only to the Palestinians but also to Lebanon, Hezbollah and Iran so they will see that whoever is trying to kill Jews because they are Jews, like they did in the Holocaust, this is not going to be an option any more in the future.”
Updated
The Israel Defence Forces have posted a video to social media that they say shows regular and reserve soldiers “conducting training exercises in order to improve the readiness and competence of the forces to manoeuvre in the Gaza Strip”.
The IDF also said meetings were being held to “tighten cooperation between air and ground forces”.
Earlier, the IDF said it had struck 320 Hamas targets in Gaza and launched limited raids overnight into the Gaza Strip. Hamas claimed to have encountered Israeli troops.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip has been put at over 5,000 since Israel began its air bombardment in response to the 7 October Hamas attack in southern Israel that killed more than 1,300 Israelis.
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Riham Jafari, an advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, has reiterated that Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare system are in grave peril. She said:
Neighbourhoods surrounding hospitals have been targeted, putting those sheltering there at risk, terrified for their futures and living in a state of fear. Four hundred civilians were killed in Gaza last night, most of them were women and children. Twenty-four hospitals, including the al-Quds, are under the threat of bombing at any time due to Israeli evacuation orders they received, according to the Red Crescent. Those hospitals are filled with the sick and wounded, and their courtyards include thousands of people who were displaced and have taken refuge there to escape the continuous bombing of Gaza.
ActionAid has also distributed a quote that it says comes from a pregnant mother sheltering in a school near to the city of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. Somaya told the charity her family had already been displaced twice since 7 October, and said:
My children are screaming all night, while there is bombing on us. I am pregnant. On the 28th of the month, I am supposed to give birth, I will have a caesarean section. Where should I go? Where will it be born? When the baby comes, it must be born in a clean place. Where is the cleanliness? What can we do?
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UN humanitarian office: more than half of Gaza's population now internally displaced
The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) has said about 1.4 million of Gaza’s population – more than half – are now internally displaced, with many seeking refuge in overcrowded UN emergency shelters.
Israel has ordered Gaza residents to evacuate the north. But the OCHA said it believed hundreds and possibly thousands of people who had fled were now returning to the north due to increased bombardments in the south and lack of shelter, Reuters reports.
An Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters: “The IDF has been encouraging residents of the northern Gaza Strip to move southward and not to stay in the vicinity of Hamas terror targets within Gaza City.
“But, ultimately, Hamas has entrenched itself among the civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip. So wherever a Hamas target arises, the IDF will strike at it in order to thwart the terrorist capabilities of the group, while taking feasible precautions to mitigate the harm to uninvolved civilians.”
Israel’s military has released satellite imagery that it claims shows Hamas rocket launchers positioned near schools, mosques and hospitals.
Al Jazeera reports that another mosque has been struck in Gaza today, the Al-Noor Al-Mohammedi mosque in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood. It reports this is the 32nd mosque struck by Israel since 7 October.
The news service interviewed a 21-year-old student, Tala Herzallah, who said: “Last night cannot be described in words. We were literally shaking due to fear. We didn’t know if we would wake up alive or not. If the morning will come for us, knowing that we could die any minute. We spent the whole night praying, asking God to keep us alive. I slept for just two hours and woke up to a series of bombings.”
She told reporters that she immediately began phoning family and friends to see if they had also survived the night. “Some of them answered me and others did not. I don’t know if those not answering means they are dead or they’re just out of battery charge.”
Updated
Here is Bethan McKernan’s latest report from Jerusalem:
The blockaded Gaza Strip has been hit by one of the deadliest nights of Israeli bombing so far in the new war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
At least 400 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and 70 were killed overnight on Sunday in bombardments of the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp and streets close to two hospitals in Gaza City.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the strip’s civil defence unit, told the independent Palestinian media organisation Wattan that rescue operations were becoming more difficult because of the scale of destruction and impeded access. “Our crews are recovering victims in the form of body parts, and the chances of recovering survivors are diminishing,” he said.
The World Health Organization has said seven hospitals in northern Gaza have had to shut down due to damage from strikes, lack of power and supplies, or Israeli evacuation orders.
Despite a second convoy of aid entering on Sunday, Cindy McCain, the executive director of the US World Food Programme, said the situation in Gaza remained “catastrophic”.
You can read Bethan McKernan’s full report here: Israel hits Gaza with one of deadliest bombings so far in war against Hamas
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Al Jazeera reports that Hamas has said it encountered Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip overnight, after Israel said it had carried out limited raids.
Al Jazeera writes: “Hamas says its fighters encountered an Israeli armored unit infiltrating in southern Gaza. The group said the infiltration took place east of Khan Younis. It added that its fighters successfully destroyed some Israeli military equipment before returning to base.”
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Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 3.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here is a summary of the latest headlines in the Israel-Hamas conflict …
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said at least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October. It said the dead included 2,055 children. Additionally, it said 15,273 people had been wounded. The ministry put the death toll in the past 24 hours at 436, including 182 children. It said most of the fatalities had occurred in the southern Gaza Strip, to where Israel’s military has ordered Palestinians to evacuate. The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel’s military said on Monday that ground forces mounted limited raids into the Gaza Strip overnight to fight Palestinian gunmen, and that airstrikes were being focused on sites where Hamas was assembling to attack any wider Israeli invasion. The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said: “During the night there were raids by tank and infantry forces. These raids are raids that kill squads of terrorists who are preparing for our next stage in the war. These are raids that go deep.”
The number of confirmed hostages held by Hamas in Gaza after it captured them in southern Israel on 7 October has risen to 222. Hagari said the total included a not insignificant number of foreign nationals, and it had taken time to contact their families. He said: “We are working in all ways to free the hostages and bring them home,” adding that the raids inside Gaza had sought to gather information on them.
Washington has advised Israel to delay its expected ground invasion of Gaza in order to buy time to negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas and allow more aid in to Palestinian civilians, the New York Times reported, citing US officials.
A third convoy of aid trucks entered the Rafah crossing from Egypt on Monday bound for the besieged Gaza Strip, an aid worker and two security sources have told Reuters. On Saturday and Sunday 34 trucks passed through. The number of trucks in Monday’s convoy was similar to each of those days, the aid worker and security sources said. UN officials say about 100 trucks would be needed daily to meet essential needs in Gaza.
The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, joined calls on Monday for a humanitarian pause in the conflict to let more aid supplies into Gaza.
The leaders of the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany and Italy have called on Israel to adhere to international law and protect civilians, while also reiterating Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. In a statement put out after a phone call, the leaders’ offices said: “The leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.”
Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for his country’s support as the latter visited Tel Aviv. Netanyahu said of the conflict: “It’s a battle against civilization. It’s civilization against barbarism. We’re on the side of civilization. We have to unite, all together, against Hamas, which is Isis.”
The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, has said the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are exposed to “the Israeli murder and criminal machine”.
A Palestinian photojournalist, Roshdi Sarraj, has been killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Radio France reported. The French broadcaster said Sarraj was killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes on Tel al-Hawa, in Gaza City. His wife and one-year-old daughter were injured.
Israel’s military has claimed to have fired at a “suspicious aerial target” attempting to enter Israel from the direction of Lebanon.
Turkey sent two cargo planes to Egypt on Monday carrying further medical equipment and supplies for Gaza, the health minister Fahrettin Koca said. He said two more aircraft would be sent with more supplies.
A 33-year-old Dutch woman has been killed in an explosion in Gaza, the Dutch foreign ministry has said. Named locally as Islam al-Ashqar, she was visiting relatives at the Nusairat refugee camp in central Gaza and was one of 22 Dutch nationals that the ministry was trying to help leave, the broadcaster NOS said.
Updated
Here are a couple of images sent over the news wires that show some aid being sorted before it is distributed to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
UN officials say about 100 trucks of aid would be needed daily to meet essential needs in Gaza. Just a fraction of that has been allowed to pass.
Updated
Reuters is carrying an interview with an 18-year-old Palestinian who claims to have lost 13 members of her family after they fled from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south – as ordered by the Israeli military – only to be caught up in the bombardment there.
Dima al-Lamdani said she had had to identify the bodies of her relatives at a makeshift morgue in Khan Younis after losing her parents, seven siblings and four members of her uncle’s family. She said her family and that of her uncle travelled in two cars across Gaza.
She said her family was staying at a temporary shelter when “at 4.30am I was awake and sitting with my aunt drinking coffee. Suddenly I woke up in the middle of ruins. Everyone around me was screaming, so I screamed.”
“This is a nightmare. It will never be wiped from my memory,” she said. “I had a sister, 16. They wrote my name on the white sheet they wrapped her body in, they thought it was me.
“They told us to evacuate your place and go to Khan Younis because it is safe. They betrayed us and bombed us.”
Updated
Turkey sent two cargo planes to Egypt on Monday carrying further medical equipment and supplies for Gaza, the health minister Fahrettin Koca said, Reuters reports. He said two more aircraft would be sent with more supplies.
Updated
Gaza health ministry: more than 5,000 killed by Israeli attacks, including more than 2,000 children
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said at least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October. It said the dead included 2,055 children. Additionally, it said 15,273 people had been wounded.
The ministry put the death toll in the past 24 hours at 436, including 182 children. It said most of the fatalities had occurred in the southern Gaza Strip, to where Israel’s military has ordered Palestinians to evacuate. The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel began launching its retaliatory strikes after the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel that killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including at a music festival and in communities near the Gaza border.
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Israel’s government has issued a readout of the meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Israel’s prime minister said: “I always say that the best thing about standing with Israel is standing with Israel in Israel. And you’re doing that. I appreciate the solidarity of you, your government, the people of Greece, at this darkest hour. It’s a battle against civilization. It’s civilization against barbarism. We’re on the side of civilization. We have to unite, all together, against Hamas, which is Isis.”
Mitsotakis said: “I come here not just as an ally but as a true friend. What happened was truly horrible and we from the very first moment defended and supported the right of Israel to defend itself in line with international law. And we drew a very clear distinction between Hamas and the Palestinian people. We will continue to be able to support you and to hope that whatever happens, happens without too much of a humanitarian cost. But you can count on our support and our help.”
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Reuters is carrying some further details of the limited raids that Israel claims it has carried out within the Gaza Strip.
It quotes the IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari as saying:
During the night there were raids by tank and infantry forces. These raids are raids that kill squads of terrorists who are preparing for our next stage in the war. These are raids that go deep.
Reuters reports that he also said the raids tried to gather information on the 222 hostages being held by Hamas.
Updated
The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, has said the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are exposed to “the Israeli murder and criminal machine”.
Speaking before a cabinet session in Ramallah, he said the spectre of death threatened thousands of children and patients in Gaza’s hospitals, Al Jazeera reports.
Updated
Israel’s military has claimed to have fired at a “suspicious aerial target” attempting to enter Israel from the direction of Lebanon.
A third convoy of aid trucks entered the Rafah crossing from Egypt on Monday bound for the besieged Gaza Strip, an aid worker and two security sources have told Reuters.
On Saturday and Sunday 34 trucks passed through. The number of trucks in Monday’s convoy was similar to each of those days, the aid worker and security sources said. UN officials say about 100 trucks would be needed daily to meet essential needs in Gaza.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Updated
Reuters has a quick snap that a further convoy of aid trucks is entering the Rafah crossing.
More details soon …
Updated
A 33-year-old Dutch woman has been killed in an explosion in Gaza, the Dutch foreign ministry has said.
Named locally as Islam al-Ashqar, she was visiting relatives at the Nusairat refugee camp in central Gaza and was one of 22 Dutch nationals that the ministry was trying to help leave, the broadcaster NOS said.
On her way into a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Luxembourg, the Dutch foreign minister, Hanke Bruins, said: “Yesterday we received the horrible news that Islam al-Ashqar passed away, and it is a great sadness for her husband and all her children, and we sympathise intensely with them.
“Our people in Ramallah are in touch with the family, and I’m going to get in touch with the family myself.”
It is also now known that an 18-year-old Dutch man was taken hostage in the Be’eri kibbutz, where he was visiting his girlfriend, according to an earlier statement by the Israeli embassy in the Netherlands.
Asked about him on Monday, Bruins said: “We have no further information about the Dutchman who has been taken hostage at the moment. His family must also really be in huge fear and very concerned. We are obviously trying to go through all diplomatic channels and put pressure on to make sure the hostages are released.”
Earlier this morning Israel raised the number of hostages confirmed to have been taken by Hamas during its 7 October attack to 222. Israel said the hostages included a not insignificant number of foreign nationals.
Updated
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has landed in Israel and is expected to meet Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters reports.
Updated
Thousands of civilians, including children, have been killed in Israeli strikes that have flattened residential districts in the Gaza Strip. According to health officials in the Hamas-run territory, more than 4,600 people have been killed, making the conflict the most fatal of the five wars Israel has fought against militants there since 2007. The latest escalation was triggered by the Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October that killed more than 1,400 Israelis.
Information coming out of Gaza – which is under siege – is hard to verify, but my colleagues Weronika Strzyżyńska and Harriet Sherwood have put together profiles of some of the people reported to have been killed.
You can read that here: Doctors, poets, families, babies: victims of Israel’s war on Gaza
Updated
Latvia’s foreign minister and former prime minister said the EU had to encourage the return to political talks in the Middle East.
“The EU needs to encourage talks, and the only way to really de-escalate is to work harder now towards the two-state solution,” Krišjānis Kariņš said.
He added: “If the Palestinians had a clear state, I think that that would help also to alleviate some of the pressure, maybe a great part of the pressure, which has been building up there for years and years. So we have to work towards this two-state solution. So that there is a clear end goal where this is heading.”
Updated
The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari also explained why the number of confirmed hostages was slowly rising. He said the total included a significant number of foreign nationals, and it had taken time to contact their families.
Hagari said: “We are working in all ways to free the hostages and bring them home.”
Updated
Israel says it launched 'limited raids' into the Gaza Strip overnight
Reuters reports that Israel’s military said on Monday that ground forces mounted limited raids into the Gaza Strip overnight to fight Palestinian gunmen, and that airstrikes were being focused on sites where Hamas was assembling to attack any wider Israeli invasion.
The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari also said the military had carried out strikes to eliminate 20 Hezbollah cells in southern Lebanon since the start of the war.
Updated
EU foreign ministers are in Luxembourg today, with Israel and Hamas pushing Ukraine off the top of their agenda for the first time in 18 months.
Slovenia’s foreign minister, Tanja Fajon, called for a pause in hostilities to let aid through.
A humanitarian ceasefire means that we can provide humanitarian assistance. If you speak about self-defence, Slovenia supports the right to proportionate, urgent self-defence, but we have to be aware that strong military attack can have serious consequences and serious numbers of deaths in civilians we currently have in Gaza, more than 1 million people that have nowhere to go and this is something we have to address.
Earlier this morning, the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, noted that just 20 trucks got into Gaza yesterday, compared with 100 a day before the conflict.
It’s clear that 20 is not enough. It is important … in order to make the power station work, and the desalination station work, otherwise if there is not water, and there is not electricity, without water and electricity in hospitals can barely work.
Updated
Israel says 222 confirmed hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza
The IDF has raised the number of people confirmed to be held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since 7 October to 222.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
It is 11am in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here is a summary of the latest headlines in the Israel-Hamas war:
The leaders of the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany and Italy have called on Israel to adhere to international law and protect civilians, while also reiterating Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. In a statement put out after a phone call, the leaders’ offices said: “The leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians. They welcomed the release of two hostages and called for the immediate release of all remaining hostages. They committed to close coordination to support their nationals in the region, in particular those wishing to leave Gaza.”
The White House has promised a “continued flow” of aid into Gaza, after a second convoy entered on Sunday and Israel continued to bombard the besieged enclave into the early hours of Monday. The UN said the volume of aid entering Gaza was just 4% of the daily average before the hostilities and a fraction of what was needed, with food, water, medicines and fuel stocks running out.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that in the last 24 hours they had attacked more than 320 targets in the Gaza Strip, and they continued to attack “terrorist infrastructures and military targets”.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed 4,741 Palestinians, with 15,898 hurt. Authorities in Gaza claimed that 40% of those killed in the Gaza Strip were children. Israel has been launching the attacks since 7 October, when a Hamas attack inside Israel killed more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians.
Washington has advised Israel to delay its expected ground invasion of Gaza in order to buy time to negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas and allow more aid in to Palestinian civilians, the New York Times reported, citing US officials.
Two Palestinians have been killed at the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.
A Palestinian photojournalist, Roshdi Sarraj, has been killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Radio France reported. The French broadcaster said Sarraj was killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes on Tel al-Hawa, in Gaza City. His wife and one-year-old daughter were injured.
Doctors in the Gaza Strip say dwindling fuel supplies due to the Israeli siege of Gaza are putting dozens of premature babies hooked up to incubators at risk of imminent death.
Two activists from a Jewish-Arab peace movement were recently detained in Israel for putting up posters with a message that police deemed to be offensive. The message was: “Jews and Arabs, we will get through this together”. The activists, members of Standing Together, had their posters confiscated, as well as T-shirts printed with peace slogans in Hebrew and Arabic.
The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, joined calls on Monday for a humanitarian pause in the conflict to let more aid supplies into Gaza.
UK transport secretary, Mark Harper, said: “The most important thing is to support people in the region and that’s why we’ve been urging the Israeli government and the Egyptian government to make sure that aid can get into Gaza. We saw the first stages of that at the weekend, and that was very welcome.”
Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, is due to visit Israel on Monday, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, will visit on Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, offered a strong endorsement on Sunday of the Joe Biden White House’s $106bn aid proposal to Israel and Ukraine, saying he and the president were essentially “in the same place” on the issue.
China views the situation in Gaza as “very serious”, with the risk of a large-scale ground conflict rising, Chinese state media have reported, citing the country’s Middle East special envoy.
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The Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari is giving a press briefing at the moment. I’ll bring you any key lines that emerge.
More details soon …
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The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, joined calls on Monday for a humanitarian pause in the conflict between Israel and Hamas to let more aid supplies into Gaza.
“Now the most important thing is for humanitarian support to go into Gaza,” Borrell told the media, Reuters reports, as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. Borrell said the ministers would discuss the call for a pause.
“Personally, I think a humanitarian pause is needed in order to allow humanitarian support to come in and be distributed,” Borrell said.
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In the UK, the transport secretary has said now is not the right time to be discussing taking refugees from Gaza. Mark Harper told Sky News:
Reaching for the tool of refugees at this stage is not the right one to do. I think the most important thing is to support people in the region and that’s why we’ve been urging the Israeli government and the Egyptian government to make sure that aid can get into Gaza. We saw the first stages of that at the weekend, and that was very welcome.
Harper also addressed the issue of whether London’s police acted appropriately during pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the capital at the weekend. He said:
I saw those clips of [protesters chanting ‘jihad’] at the weekend. I along with many people would have been disturbed by it.
The home secretary will make it clear that the government thinks the full force of the law should be used. The police are operationally independent, which I think is appropriate, and they will have to explain the reasons for the decisions they have taken.
He was also critical of a video that emerged that appeared to show a driver on the London underground leading a chant of “free Palestine” over the train intercom, saying it was “disturbing”.
“I want to make sure people across the country are secure,” he said, “and those sorts of things will have been very concerning, particularly to people in the Jewish community.”
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Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the newswires from Khan Younis in Gaza.
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In its latest social media post, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) has claimed that in the last 24 hours “the IDF attacked over 320 targets throughout the Gaza Strip”, saying it continues to attack “terrorist infrastructures and military targets”.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims that Israeli strikes have so far killed 4,741 Palestinians, with 15,898 hurt, since the campaign was launched on 7 October in response to the surprise Hamas attack inside Israel, which killed over 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Washington has advised Israel to delay its expected ground invasion of Gaza in order to buy time to negotiate the release of 212 hostages held by Hamas and allow more aid in to Palestinian civilians, the New York Times has reported, citing US officials.
The US also wants more time to prepare for possible attacks by Iran-backed groups on US interests, the paper reported, adding that such attacks were likely to increase when Israel launches its invasion.
However the paper noted that officials said the Biden administration was “not making a demand of Israel and still supports the ground invasion and Israel’s goal of eradicating Hamas”.
The Times said the advice was being relayed by defense secretary Lloyd J Austin because the Pentagon has been advising Israel on military matters and Austin has being having near daily phone calls with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.
Two Palestinians have been killed at the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday, Reuters reports.
Residents told Reuters that Israeli forces raided the camp and carried out widespread arrests, where they clashed with gunmen and some youths who threw stones.
Israeli forces have currently retreated to the outskirts of the camp, the residents added.
The Israeli army has not issued a statement about the incidents.
Thousands of people took part in a rally in Berlin to show solidarity with Israel on Sunday. Here are some of the images of the demonstration sent to us from the wires:
Israel intensifies airstrikes on Gaza overnight
With tanks and troops massed at the Gaza border, waiting for the command to cross, Israel intensified its bombardment of the enclave overnight.
Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the country had increased airstrikes across Gaza to hit targets that would reduce the risk to troops in the next stage of the war.
A ground invasion has been expected but its timing remains unclear. Asked by Australian broadcaster the ABC on Monday whether the invasion had been delayed in order to leave more time to get Israeli hostages out of Gaza, Israel Defence Force spokesperson Jonathan Conricus was reluctant to give any insight into the country’s deliberations:
That’s a very good question. The answer I can provide is that we are going to dismantle Hamas totally and we’re going to bring our people home.
And asked whether an invasion was inevitable, he said:
The aim here is to totally dismantle Hamas from its military capabilities. If that can be done from the air … with very limited exposure to our troops and less damage on the ground that would be great.
If Hamas were to come out of their hiding places that they hide underneath the civilians … and return our hostages, all 212 of them, and surrender unconditionally, then the war would end.
If they won’t, we will probably have to go in and get it done.
Fears of a widening war have grown as Israeli warplanes struck two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants on Sunday. The Israeli military also said it had struck targets in Lebanon overnight.
“Our forces struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon, including a military compound and an observation post,” it said in an X/Twitter post on Monday, adding, “4 Hezbollah terrorist cells operating on the border with Lebanon were struck.”
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China says regional outlook 'worrisome', risk of large-scale conflict increasing
China views the situation in Gaza as “very serious” with the risk of a large-scale ground conflict rising and the spread of armed conflicts along neighbouring borders, Chinese state media have reported, citing the country’s Middle East special envoy.
The envoy Zhai Jun, who is visiting the Middle East, said spillover effects in the region and internationally are widening, as conflict along the Israeli-Lebanese and Israeli-Syrian borders spread, “making the outlook worrisome”, Reuters reported. The news wire writes:
Zhai called on the international community to be “highly vigilant in this regard” and to take immediate action urging parties concerned to strictly abide by international humanitarian law and avoid a serious humanitarian disaster while putting in “joint efforts to control the situation”.
Zhai also said China is willing to do “whatever is conducive” to promote dialogue, achieve ceasefire and restore peace, as well as to promote the two-state solution and a just and lasting resolution to the conflict, China Central Television said.
Last week, Zhai pinned the cause of the Israel-Gaza crisis on the lack of guarantees for Palestinian rights as he met with his Russian counterpart in Qatar, a go-between in the conflict.
Zhai said China will continue maintaining close communication with the international community, including the Arab countries and will next visit the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries in the region to further strengthen coordination aimed at ending the crisis.
Prior to his trip, Zhai had phone calls with the foreign ministry heads of the Palestinians, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Norway, as well as with the special representatives at United Nations and European Union.
World leaders call on Israel to protect civilians
The leaders of the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany and Italy have called on Israel to adhere to international law and protect civilians, while also reiterating Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism.
In a statement put out after a phone call, the leaders’ offices said:
The leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.
They welcomed the release of two hostages and called for the immediate release of all remaining hostages. They committed to close coordination to support their nationals in the region, in particular those wishing to leave Gaza.
The leaders also welcomed news that aid conveys had been allowed into Gaza and added that diplomacy aimed at preventing the conflict from spreading was continuing.
The leaders committed to continue close diplomatic coordination, including with key partners in the region, to prevent the conflict from spreading, preserve stability in the Middle East, and work toward a political solution and durable peace.
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Two activists from a Jewish-Arab peace movement were recently detained in Israel for putting up posters with a message that the police deemed to be offensive. The message was: “Jews and Arabs, we will get through this together.”
The activists, members of Standing Together, had their posters confiscated, as well as T-shirts printed with peace slogans in Hebrew and Arabic.
It was not an isolated incident. Across Israel, people are being detained, fired from their jobs, and even attacked for expressing sentiments interpreted by some as showing sympathy for Hamas after the group’s murderous attack on 7 October.
The definition of pro-Hamas is often widened to include expressions of sympathy for the plight of Palestinian children trapped in Gaza, or calls for peace, especially if expressed in both Arabic and Hebrew.
Last week, after 15 years of service at a Petah Tikva hospital, its director of the cardiac intensive care unit was suspended from his position.
Abed Samara’s apparent offence was his profile picture on social media – a dove carrying an olive twig and a green flag emblazoned with the shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.” He had adopted the picture last year, long before the Hamas attack, but it was nevertheless seen as somehow voicing support for the outrage.
Doctors in the Gaza Strip say dwindling fuel supplies due to the Israeli siege of Gaza are putting dozens of premature babies hooked up to incubators at risk of imminent death, the Associated Press has reported. The news agency writes:
The UN health agency estimates there are 130 premature babies at “grave risk” while some hospitals say they are hours away from running out generator fuel.
Israel has barred fuel from crossing into Gaza out of fears it will end up in the hands of the Hamas militant group. The UN agency responsible for Palestinians says it only has three days of fuel stocks left to meet critical needs.
Once the generators stop, the director of al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza Strip, Iyad Abu Zahar, fears that the babies on the neonatal ward, unable to breathe on their own, will perish.
“The responsibility on us is huge,” he said.
At least seven of the almost 30 hospitals in Gaza have been forced to shut down due to damage from relentless Israeli strikes and lack of power, water and other supplies. Doctors in the remaining hospitals said they are on the brink. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Sunday it has enough fuel to last three days to serve critical needs.
“The world cannot simply look on as these babies are killed by the siege on Gaza ... A failure to act is to sentence these babies to death,” said Melanie Ward, chief executive of the Medical Aid for Palestinians aid group.
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Mitch McConnell offered a strong endorsement on Sunday of the Joe Biden White House’s $106bn aid proposal to Israel and Ukraine, saying he and the president were essentially “in the same place” on the issue.
McConnell, the powerful Republican leader in the US Senate, also rebuffed some of his GOP colleagues in the Senate who have called for a package separating assistance for the two countries, saying it would be “a mistake” during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation.
The Republican leader offered significant backing to the White House’s $106bn request, including $14bn in assistance to Israel, $60bn in aid to Ukraine and another $14bn to improve security on the US Mexico border. An additional $10bn would be allocated to humanitarian relief as well as an additional $7bn to the Indio-Pacific region.
Nine Republican senators wrote a letter to McConnell on Thursday saying that Ukraine and Israel aid should not be paired together. “These are two separate conflicts and it would be wrong to leverage support of aid to Israel in an attempt to get additional aid for Ukraine across the finish line,” the group wrote.
McConnell rejected that view on Sunday. “I view it as all interconnected,” he said during the interview. “The Ukrainians are destroying the army of one of our biggest rivals. I have a hard time finding anything wrong with that. I think it’s wonderful that they’re defending themselves.”"
Some of the latest pictures from Gaza sent to us by the news wires:
Palestinian photojournalist Roshdi Sarraj has been killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Radio France has reported.
The French broadcaster said Sarraj was killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes on Tel al-Hawa, in Gaza City. His wife and 1-year-old daughter were injured.
The 31-year-old had worked as a “fixer” for Radio France since 2021, the broadcaster said. A fixer is someone who accompanies journalists, helps them find interviewees and sometimes helps with translation.
“Those who knew Roshdi Sarraj and worked with him praised him as an outstanding journalist,” Radio France wrote. “It is thanks to his work that the life of Palestinians and the horror of the war could be told on the airwaves of [public radio channel] France Inter.”
Sarraj, along with his wife and friends, had founded the press agency Ain Media, which employed editors, cameramen and photographers, among others, according to Radio France.
Reporter Alice Froussard, who worked with Sarraj, tweeted a photograph of him, and said his last message to her had been, “sending love to you”.
“Sending love to you”. Voilà son dernier message. En bombardant sa maison, Israël a tué mon ami @RoshdiSarraj, mon fixeur, celui sans qui je n’étais rien là bas. Il était journaliste et réalisateur, il avait créé @AinMedia. Il avait 31 ans, c'est bien trop jeune pour mourrir. pic.twitter.com/f3Mg39JDxB
— Alice Froussard (@alicefrsd) October 22, 2023
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Children in Gaza are developing severe trauma symptoms alongside the risk of death and injury, according to a Palestinian psychiatrist.
On Sunday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 1,750 children had been killed in the 16 days of bombardment by Israeli forces since Hamas’s murderous onslaught on 7 October. That is an average of almost 110 children a day. Thousands more have been injured.
The psychological impact of the war on children was showing, said Fadel Abu Heen, a psychiatrist in Gaza. Children had “started to develop serious trauma symptoms such as convulsions, bed-wetting, fear, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, and not leaving their parents’ sides.”
The “lack of any safe place has created a general sense of fear and horror among the entire population and children are most impacted,” he said.
Dutch PM Rutte and French President Macron to visit Israel
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is set to visit Israel on Monday and French President Emmanuel Macron will visit on Tuesday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said.
Other world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and German chancellor Olaf Scholz have already visited Israel in order to express solidarity with the country, and , it is thought, privately urge caution on Israel.
In particular, as Patrick Wintour wrote in this weekend analysis, leaders are worried about what would come after a ground invasion of Gaza, there being little indication that Israel has a concrete plan.
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White House promises 'continued flow' of aid into Gaza
The White House has promised a “continued flow” of aid into Gaza, after a second convoy entered on Sunday and Israel continued to bombard the besieged enclave into the early hours of Monday.
Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu agreed in a call that “there will now be continued flow of … critical assistance into Gaza,” the White House said, after a second convoy of 14 trucks entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
The UN said the volume of aid entering Gaza was just 4% of the daily average before the hostilities and a fraction of what was needed with food, water, medicines and fuel stocks running out.
COGAT, the Israeli defence body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Sunday’s second batch of aid included water, food and medical supplies and that everything was inspected by Israel before it was brought into Gaza. Israel has not allowed any fuel to enter Gaza.
The delivery came as Israel continued to target Gaza with airstrikes, concentrating on the strip’s centre and north, Palestinian media reported. Areas near three hospitals were reportedly hit early on Monday.
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Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the conflict between Israel and Hamas with me, Helen Livingstone.
A second aid convoy of 14 trucks has entered Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths has called it “a small glimmer of hope for the millions of people in dire need of humanitarian aid”. However, he added that civilians in Gaza “need more, much more”.
The White House has said that after talks between US President Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu there will now be a “continued flow” of aid into Gaza, although they did not specify how much.
The talks came as Israel said it was intensifying its attacks on Gaza. Military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said the country had increased airstrikes across the strip to hit targets that would reduce the risk to troops in the next stage of the war.
Fears of a widening war grew as Israeli warplanes also struck two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants while the military also returned fire into Lebanon after a drone and anti-aircraft missiles were fired into northern Israel.
In other key developments:
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Israeli strikes have killed 4,741 Palestinians, with 15,898 hurt. Authorities in Gaza said 40% of those killed in the Gaza Strip were children. Israel has been launching the attacks since 7 October, when a Hamas attack inside Israel killed more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians.
Palestinian media reported that Israel was also bombing the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis. The attacks came hours after the Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari called on Gaza’s residents to move south “for your own safety”.
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has said 29 of its workers have been killed in Gaza since 7 October.
Doctors in the Gaza Strip say dwindling fuel supplies are putting dozens of premature babies hooked up to incubators at risk of imminent death. The UN health agency estimates there are 130 premature babies at “grave risk” while some hospitals say they are hours away from running out generator fuel.
Israel’s military said the number of people held captive was confirmed to be 212. The release of two Americans on Friday raised hopes that others might be able to return home.
Israel said it had returned fire into Lebanon after a drone and anti-aircraft missiles were fired into northern Israel. The country has said it plans to evacuate 14 additional communities in the area.
Israeli fighter jets launched an airstrike on the southern outskirts of Aitaroun town, southern Lebanon, the Lebanese state media of NNA reported late Sunday.
Israel also struck the West Bank, hitting a compound beneath a mosque early on Sunday that the Israeli military claimed was being used by Hamas.
Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah on Sunday against opening a second war front with Israel. He said: “If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will long for the second Lebanon war. It will be making the mistake of its life. We will strike it with strength that it cannot even imagine and the significance to it and to the country of Lebanon will be devastating.”
Speaking to soldiers near the blue line UN-drawn boundary that separates Israel and Lebanon, Netanyahu said: “I know that you lost friends, and it’s a very difficult thing, but we are in the fight of our life, a fight for our home. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s not an overstatement, that’s this war. It is kill or be killed, and they need to be killed.”
US secretary of state Antony Blinken and defense secretary Lloyd Austin said the US expected the Israel-Hamas war to escalate through involvement by proxies of Iran. “We don’t want escalation,” Blinken said. “We don’t want to see our forces or our personnel come under fire. But if that happens, we’re ready for it.”
Joe Biden held a call on Sunday with the leaders of Canada, France, Britain, Germany and Italy to discuss the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the White House said.
Benjamin Netanyahu said that French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will visit Israel. The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that the two leaders “will arrive on Monday and Tuesday” and meet with Netanyahu.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will visit Tehran on Monday.
Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian discussed the means of stopping the Israeli “brutal crimes” in the besieged Gaza enclave, the group said in a statement late Sunday.
Turkey sent its presidential plane with a medical team and supplies to Egypt on Sunday, carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza.
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said on Sunday he had “no idea” how many people died in a blast at an Anglican hospital in the Gaza Strip, and that assuming Israeli culpability could be tantamount to antisemitic libel.
Thousands of people gathered in Berlin and London to oppose antisemitism and support Israel on Sunday. “It is unbearable that Jews are living in fear again today – in our country of all places,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the crowd at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, estimated at 20,000 by organisers and 10,000 by police.
Thousands of people attended a rally in Paris in the first pro-Palestinian demonstration allowed by police since the 7 October Hamas attacks. About 15,000 people showed up at the Place de la Republique, according to police figures, to express their solidarity with Palestinians.
