Pressure has intensified on Israel to negotiate the release of more than 200 people held by Palestinian militants in Gaza, Ruth Michaelson, Julian Borger and Quique Kierszenbaum reported, with desperate families begging officials to help free their loved ones before an anticipated ground invasion.
An Israeli military spokesperson announced on Sunday that more than 212 people were held in Gaza, as officials worked to identify and locate those missing after a deadly incursion by Hamas on 7 October.
On Sunday evening, a group of families of those held hostage in Gaza met the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, at his residence in Jerusalem for almost two hours, as crowds gathered outside, singing songs of mourning.
“Don’t forget us,” one woman called to the crowd – a sea of yellow ribbons, Israeli flags and signs reading “bring them home”.
“The message from the president is that the whole leadership came together to resolve this crisis,” said Eyal Eshel, the father of 19-year-old Roni Eshel, who was serving at a military base near the border with Gaza. “I want to tell the only person that can resolve this, prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu: you recruited our girls, our request is you bring them home – all of them.”
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.
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 said on Monday, 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. It 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.
Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian discussed in a call late on Sunday the means of stopping Israel’s “brutal crimes” in Gaza, Hamas said in a statement according to Reuters.
Israel and the US have said there is no evidence linking Iran to Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October, but Iran has praised the assault and Amir-Abdollahian has warned that if Israel does not stop its assault on Gaza, Tehran could intervene.
Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, has also been engaged in small-scale cross-border raids on Israel.
Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far right extremist who was in 2007 convicted of racist incitement against Arabs and backing a group considered by Israel and the US to be a terrorist organisation, has criticised the entry of aid into Gaza.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he wrote:
Any agreement on “continuous aid to Gaza” that does not include the release of all our abductees is a continuation of the concept that led us to where we are. Humanitarian aid only in exchange for the release of all the abductees!
The ABC’s interview with IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus referenced concerns that aid agencies have for about 130 premature babies who are in incubators in Gaza’s hospitals.
Doctors and aid groups there have warned that these babies are at “grave risk” as Israel’s blockade on fuel means the hospitals are within days, or sometimes hours of running out of fuel for the generators which power the incubators.
The director of al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza Strip, Iyad Abu Zahar, told the Associated Press news wire, “The responsibility on us is huge.” A bit more from the AP report:
At least seven of the almost 30 hospitals 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 U.N. 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.
None of the 20 aid trucks that crossed into Gaza on Saturday, the first since the siege was imposed, contained fuel, amid Israeli fears it will end up in Hamas’ hands. Limited fuel supplies inside Gaza were being sent to hospital generators.
A bit more from that ABC interview with IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus. Asked whether a ground invasion of Gaza 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.
Asked whether invasion had been delayed in order to get the hostages out, he was reluctant to give any insight into Israel’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.
Israeli warplanes bombarded areas near three hospitals in the Gaza Strip early on Monday, Palestinian media reported according to Reuters, but it was not immediately clear whether the hospitals themselves suffered damage. The news agency writes:
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reports, which said Israel had struck near Gaza City’s Shifa and Al-Quds hospitals and near the Indonesian Hospital, in the enclave’s north.
The director of the Indonesian Hospital told Al Jazeera the Israeli bombardment caused “serious damage and injuries,” without providing details.
Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the reports. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries at or near the other two hospitals.
Jonathan Conricus, the spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces, has been speaking to Australia’s ABC broadcaster.
He said that any countries accusing Israel of war crimes were not democracies and “were not in any position to lecture Israel about anything related to humanitarian issues”.
Anyone out protesting against Israel was either “uninformed or really filed with hate towards Israel based on things that have nothing to do with what’s going on in Gaza right now.
Asked about the siege of Gaza, including the cutting off of water supplies and accusations that Israel was imposing collective punishment on the area’s inhabitants, Conricus said Israel in fact had only ever supplied about 10 per cent of the water to Gaza. The rest was pumped from Gaza’s aquifer, he said (although as the ABC interviewer pointed out, without fuel, which Israel has also cut off, this is no longer possible).
“I don’t think we should be forced to provide sustenance to the very same enemy that is firing rockets at our civilians and trying to kill our civilians,” Conricus said. He also claimed that there was still fuel in Gaza, which had been stolen by Hamas.
Asked about UNICEF concerns over newborn babies in hospital incubators in northern Gaza, where everyone has been told to evacuate or risk being considered a terrorist supporter, Conricus replied:
We will not target the civilian popular, they are not our enemy. We have told the civilian population to evacuate northern Gaza out of concern for their safety ... we have said that the effort should be made by anyone who can.
Updated
The leaders of the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Canada have reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism but “called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians” in a joint statement issued after a telephone call.
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 the first convoys of humanitarian aid have been allowed into Gaza and said they would continue “coordinating with partners in the region to ensure sustained and safe access to food, water, medical care, and other assistance”.
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.
Israeli aircraft struck two Hezbollah cells in Lebanon early on Monday, which were planning to launch anti-tank missiles and rockets toward Israel, its military said, as fighting flared across the two countries’ shared border. Reuters reports:
Lebanon’s state-run news agency NNA reported an Israeli air strike on the southern outskirts of Aitaroun, in southern Lebanon. It did not provide details.
The military said one cell was adjacent to the Israeli town of Mattat, around 13 kilometres (8 miles) southwest of Aitaroun. It said the other was further north in the disputed Shebaa Farms area. The military said it struck both cells before they fired.
It was not immediately clear if the two sides were referring to the same set of incidents.
Justin Trudeau has spoken with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, about the “terrorist organization Hamas’ brutal attacks”, the Canadian prime minister said on Twitter.
He reaffirmed Israel’s “right to defend itself in accordance with international law”, he said and added:
We spoke about the hostages held by Hamas, and the need for their immediate release. I also expressed my concern for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and my support for the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security.
Today, I spoke with President @Isaac_Herzog about the terrorist organization Hamas’ brutal attacks. I expressed my condolences for the victims and all affected. I also reaffirmed Canada’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with international law.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 22, 2023
This is Helen Livingstone, taking over from my colleague Maya Yang.
Summary
It is nearly 2am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here is a summary of the latest headlines:
A second aid convoy comprising of 14 trucks has crossed the Rafah border crossing and entered Gaza on Sunday. Announcing the crossing, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said: “Another small glimmer of hope for the millions of people in dire need of humanitarian aid. But they need more, much more.”
Pope Francis has once again urged for the end of the Israel-Hamas war, calling for humanitarian aid to delivered and for hostages to be released. Speaking at his Sunday prayer, Francis said: “War is always a defeat, it is a destruction of human fraternity. Brothers, stop! Stop!”
Thousands of people gathered in Berlin and London to oppose antisemitism and support Israel on Sunday. Earlier, German chancellor Olaf Scholz inaugurated a new synagogue in Dessau and said he was “outraged” by the rise in antisemitism since the war broke out on 7 October.
Thousands of people attended a rally in Paris in what is the first pro-Palestinian demonstration allowed by police since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. Reuters reports around 15,000 people showed up at the Place de la Republique, according to police figures, to express their solidarity with Palestinians.
At least three Palestinians were killed on Sunday night in an Israeli air strike in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, medics and witnesses told Reuters. Several others were wounded.
UNRWA, or the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, has announced that 29 of its colleagues in Gaza have been killed since 7 October. According to the agency, half of these colleagues were UNRWA teachers.
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. Earlier in the day, the US president held a call with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Benjamin Netanyahu said that French president Emmanuel Macron and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will visit Israel next week, Reuters reports. The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that the two leaders “will arrive on Monday and Tuesday” and meet with Netanyahu.
Israel “cannot go back to the status quo”, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in his NBC interview on Sunday. When asked whether it is clear who is going to govern Gaza once the war is over, Blinken said: “They can’t go back to the status quo with Hamas being in a position in terms of its governance of Gaza to repeat what it did.”
The Israeli military reports that one of its tanks accidentally hit an Egyptian post near the Gaza border and expresses sorrow over the incident, Reuters reports. An Egyptian army spokesperson said that border watchmen sustained minor injuries.
Updated
Here are some images coming out of Gaza where the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes have risen to over 4,700 since 7 October:
Updated
Here is video of Pope Francis urging for the end of the Israel-Hamas war on Sunday.
Speaking to a crowd at his traditional Angelus prayer at Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, Francis said:
War is always a defeat, it is a destruction of human fraternity. Brothers, stop! Stop!
He went on to add:
I renew my call for spaces to be opened, for humanitarian aid to continue to arrive and for hostages to be freed.
VIDEO: 'Stop, stop!' Pope Francis pleads for end to Israel-Hamas conflict and fighting in Ukraine, saying 'war is always a defeat... a destruction of human fraternity." pic.twitter.com/cCzoDt8MgB
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) October 22, 2023
Updated
Joe Biden has spoken with Pope Francis to discuss the latest developments in Israel and Gaza.
According to a readout released by the White House on Sunday, the US president discussed his recent visit to Israel with the Pope, as well as his efforts to ensure delivery of food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance.
“They also discussed the need to prevent escalation in the region and to work toward a durable peace in the Middle East,” the readout said.
Updated
Here are images from the news wires of the pro-Israeli rallies that were held in Berlin and London today:
Updated
Thousands gather in Berlin and London to oppose antisemitism and support Israel
Thousands of people gathered in Berlin and London to oppose antisemitism and support Israel on Sunday.
The Associated Press reports:
Some of those who gathered in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate carried Israeli flags or posters with photos of some of the more than 200 people seized by Hamas as hostages during the militants’ deadly Oct. 7 incursion into Israel.
“It is unbearable that Jews are living in fear again today — in our country of all places,” President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the crowd, estimated at 20,000 by organizers and 10,000 by police. “Every single attack on Jews, on Jewish institutions is a disgrace for Germany. Every single attack fills me with shame and anger.”
Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz inaugurated a new synagogue in the eastern city of Dessau and said he was “outraged” by the upsurge in antisemitism since the conflict began.
Several buildings in Berlin where Jews live had the star of David painted on doors and walls, and assailants threw two Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in Berlin last week.
“Here in Germany, of all places,” Scholz said, vowing that “our ‘never again’ must be unbreakable.”
At a vigil in London’s Trafalgar Square, participants held posters bearing the images of hostages and the missing, and chanted “bring them home.”
Fourteen more aid trucks enter Gaza through Rafah border crossing
A second aid convoy has crossed the Rafah border crossing and entered Gaza on Sunday as Joe Biden holds further talks with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Announcing the crossing of 14 additional aid trucks with aid provided by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said:
Another small glimmer of hope for the millions of people in dire need of humanitarian aid. But they need more, much more.
I’m particularly grateful to the aid workers on the Palestinian side who immediately sprang to action to offload the goods – despite the risks. True heroes. They, too, need protection.
Another glimmer of hope. pic.twitter.com/Keq1fuq0sG
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) October 22, 2023
The 14 aid trucks on Sunday joins the 20 aid trucks that crossed through the border and into Gaza on Saturday (marking the first convoy of aid that entered into the war-torn strip since 7 October).
International humanitarian organizations have called on the urgent and continous flow of aid into Gaza where over 4,600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli aistrikes while over 14,200 remain injured, the Gaza health ministry reports.
On Sunday, the US president spoke with the Israeli prime minister and welcomed the first two convoys of humanitarian assistance into Gaza. The leaders “affirmed that there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance into Gaza”, the White House said.
It also added that Biden and Netanyahu discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all the remaining hostages currently held by Hamas, including US citizens. Biden also thanked Netanyahu for Israel’s support in helping accommodate the release of two US hostages earlier this week. According to Israel, 212 hostages are held by Hamas in Gaza.
Updated
Here are some images from news wires of the pro-Palestinian solidarity rally that took place in Paris earlier today:
Updated
Thousands gather in Paris for first authorised pro-Palestinian rally since 7 October
Thousands of people attended a rally in Paris in what is the first pro-Palestinian demonstration allowed by police since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel.
Reuters reports around 15,000 people showed up at the Place de la Republique, according to police figures, to express their solidarity with Palestinians.
The protest in Paris was called by the collective National Collective for a sustainable and just peace between Palestinians and Israelis, made up of more than 40 organisations, including left-wing party France Unbowed, the CGT trade union and the organisation France Palestine Solidarity.
Paris said that the protest was authorised, unlike other protests, because the declaration released by organisers condemned Hamas’s attacks on Israel on 7 October.
Updated
At least three Palestinians were killed on Sunday night in an Israeli air strike in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, medics and witnesses told Reuters.
Several others were wounded, Reuters reports.
Updated
UNRWA, or the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, has announced that 29 of its colleagues in Gaza have been killed since 7 October.
According to the agency, half of these colleagues were UNRWA teachers. It said:
As an agency, we are devastated. We are grieving with each other and with the families.
We are in shock and mourning.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 22, 2023
It is now confirmed that 29 of our colleagues in📍#Gaza have been killed since October 7.
Half of these colleagues were @unrwa teachers.
As an Agency, we are devastated. We are grieving with each other and with the families. pic.twitter.com/TPTdUAAjg3
Unicef has also mourned the loss of the humanitarians and teachers, saying: “The lives and safety of all the humanitarian workers and the civilians they serve must be respected.”
All of us at @UNICEF are shocked and deeply saddened at the devastating loss of humanitarians and teachers in Gaza.
— Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) October 22, 2023
Our condolences to their families and our @UNRWA colleagues.
The lives and safety of all humanitarian workers and the civilians they serve must be respected. https://t.co/azV0P6RZNt
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.
Earlier in the day, the US president held a call with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Israel and Hamas cannot coexist,” said former US vice-president and 2024 presidential candidate Mike Pence.
In a new interview with NBC, Pence said:
I really believe in this moment America has to send a clear call that we will stand with Israel every step of the way, as they do what needs to be done. I agree with what one Israeli official said recently: Israel and Hamas cannot coexist. We must support Israel in their effort to crush Hamas and secure their nation.
He went on to condemn the Joe Biden administration’s current approach to the hostage crisis, saying:
I welcome the release of two American hostages this week. I’m grateful for that. But going hat in hand to Qatar and standing by while Hamas decides whether they’re going to release another hostage, it’s totally unaccepted.
We are the leader of the free world. We are Israel’s strongest ally on the planet. We need to send a message to Hamas that you need to turn those hostages back over, or you’ll answer, not just to Israeli Defense Forces, but you’ll answer to the United States armed forces.
Updated
The Joe Biden administration has urged Israel to delay its ground invasion of Gaza to allow for more hostages to be released by Hamas and for more aid to enter Gaza, CNN reports.
One source familiar with the discussion told CNN: “The [administration] pressed Israeli leadership to delay because of progress on the hostage front” and the need to get trucks of aid into Gaza.
A senior Israeli official denied that the US is seeking a delay in Israel’s ground invasion on Gaza, telling CNN: “We deny this report. We have a close dialogue and consultations with the US administration. The US is not pressing Israel in regards to the ground operation.”
There is growing pressure on Israel to negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas. An Israeli military spokesperson announced on Sunday that more than 212 people were held in Gaza.
Read the full story on the increasing pressure faced by Israel here:
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu said that French president Emmanuel Macron and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will visit Israel next week, Reuters reports.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that the two leaders “will arrive on Monday and Tuesday” and meet with Netanyahu.
Updated
Here is video of a mosque in West Bank that was hit and destroyed by an Israeli aircraft early on Sunday as Israel intensifies its attacks in north Gaza:
The airstrike is at least the second in recent days to hit the West Bank, where violence has surged since Hamas’s attack on 7 October.
Updated
The family of missing UK teenager Noiya Sharabi has told the BBC that she was murdered in the Hamas attack.
According to the BBC, 16-year-old Noiya Sharabi and her 13-year old sister Yahel disappeared following Hamas’s attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, which killed their mother Lianne.
Speaking to the outlet, Noiya’s family said that she has been officially identified and said: “Noiya was clever, sensitive, fun and full of life – her smile lit up the room like a beacon.”
They added that Noiya embraced every opportunity to help others, particularly those less fortunate than she, and was a gifted student and linguist, the BBC reports.
The two sisters had been missing since Hamas’s attack on 7 October. Their father Eli is reported to still be missing. The BBC adds that other relatives have been kidnapped.
Earlier this week, the family told BBC that Yahel was murdered, and remembered her as being “full of adventure and mischief”.
“We will forever miss her, but are grateful for the light she brought into our lives in the too-short time she was with us,” they told the BBC about Yahel.
Updated
Israel “cannot go back to the status quo”, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in his NBC interview on Sunday.
When asked whether it is clear who is going to govern Gaza once the war is over, Blinken said:
I think we know two things. We can’t go back to the status quo. They can’t go back to the status quo with Hamas being in a position in terms of its governance of Gaza to repeat what it did.
At the same time, what I’ve heard from the Israelis is absolutely no intent, no desire to be running Gaza themselves. They moved out of Gaza unilaterally, unconditionally, a couple of decades ago, but they can’t be in a position where they’re constantly at the threat of the most horrific terrorist attacks coming from Gaza.
So, something needs to be found that ensures that Hamas can’t do this again. But that also doesn’t revert to Israeli governance of Gaza, which they do not want and do not intend to do.
There are different ideas out there about what could follow, but all of that I think needs to be worked. And it’s something that needs to be worked even as Israel is dealing with the current threat.
Updated
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said that “actions would speak, not words, particularly coming from Hamas” in a new interview with NBC on Sunday.
In response to whether he takes Hamas at its word following apparent readiness to release additional hostages and whether the US is working with Qatar to make it happen, Blinken said:
We’ve been engaged, as I said, with partners. So one of the first things that I did after the horrific attack of October 7 and hostages were taken … was to talk to everyone we could who might have influenced with Hamas, in terms of releasing them. In the instance of Judith and Natalie, I, again, want to thank the government of Qatar for playing a very important role in getting them out and now on their way home to see their loved ones.
On whether all unaccounted for Americans are being held as hostages, Blinken said: “We don’t know … we believe that some significant number are hostages.”
Updated
Second aid convoy enters Rafah crossing en route to Gaza
A second aid convoy entered the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Sunday, heading towards Gaza, according to Egyptian security and humanitarian sources.
Reuters reports:
Shortly after the convoy entered the crossing, witnesses said a blast was heard in the vicinity and that ambulances could be heard deploying from the Egyptian side. The cause and exact location of the blast were not immediately clear.
A total of around 19 trucks in Sunday’s convoy carrying medical and food supplies had been inspected by UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, the sources said.
A first convoy of 20 trucks of badly needed supplies had entered Gaza on Saturday through Rafah, which had previously been out of operation after bombardments hit on the Gaza side of the border and amid wrangling over conditions for delivering aid.
Distribution of those supplies began on Sunday, but aid officials are still warning of a humanitarian disaster as supplies of food, water and fuel run low.
Updated
The Israeli military reports that one of its tanks accidentally hit an Egyptian post near the Gaza border and expresses sorrow over the incident, Reuters reports.
According to an Israel Defence Forces spokesperson, the tank accidentally fired and hit an Egyptian position near the border in the Kerm Shalom area.
An Egyptian army spokesperson said that border watchmen sustained minor injuries after being accidentally hit by fragments of a shell from the tank, Reuters reports.
Updated
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has called on the international community to create a ‘united front’ to stop Israel’s attacks across Gaza.
“We place at the top of our priorities stopping the Israeli aggression … and bringing in medical and relief aid to prevent a major humanitarian catastrophe,” he said during a meeting with 25 ambassadors, representatives and consuls, Reuters reports.
Updated
Eleven Hezbollah fighters have been killed in the past 24 hours, at least four of them in two separate drone attacks.
Israel is deploying armed drones to target Hizbollah operatives in a new escalation. In the same period, Hezbollah conducted more than a dozen attacks on Israeli targets, ranging from communication towers, monitoring cameras, military positions and at least one armoured vehicle, as well as on targets in the contested Shab’a farms.
After one Hizbollah attack early this morning, smoke could be seen rising from Israeli positions opposite to the Lebanese town of Nakoura.
Eyewitnesses also reported the sounds of a dozen or so rockets fired from the Lebanese side around noon today.
Updated
Al Qaida and IS have called on their followers to strike Israeli, US and Jewish targets, raising security concerns across the world.
The Guardian’s Jason Burke reports:
In a series of statements over the past two weeks, affiliates of al-Qaida congratulated Hamas on its “invasion of Israel”, a reference to the terrorist attacks that killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians, on 7 October.
The Israeli military offensive in Gaza, which has caused a humanitarian crisis and so far killed more than 4,500 people, according to medical authorities in the Hamas-controlled territory, has provoked outrage across the Islamic world.
This offers an opportunity to extremist groups, experts say.A recent statement from al-Shabaab, al-Qaida’s powerful affiliate in Somalia, said the conflict in the Middle East was not just “the battle of the Islamic factions in the land of Palestine in particular, but rather the battle of the entire Muslim Ummah.”
It added: “Muslims must gather and offer everything they can to support the mujahideen against the Jews and their hypocritical infidel allies. The strength of this nation lies in the strength of its jihadist fronts.”
Other al-Qaida affiliates in the Indian subcontinent, Yemen and Syria issued similar statements.
For further details, click here:
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 6pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here is a summary of the latest headlines.
Israel has said it is intensifying attacks on north Gaza, and warned that anyone who stays risks being considered a terrorist sympathiser, as airstrikes continued on Sunday in the south, where civilians had fled hoping to survive the war.
Israel’s military said the number of people held captive had risen to 212. The release of two Americans on Friday raised hopes that others might be able to return home.
The Palestinian 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 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.
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.
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.”
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Sunday that Washington saw potential for escalation in the ongoing war in the Middle East due to the actions of Iran and its proxies in the region.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will visit Tehran on Monday.
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.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for today. I will be back with you tomorrow. Maya Yang will be here shortly to continue our live coverage.
Updated
The Times of Israel is reporting that the Israeli government press service has released figures of the number of rockets it claims have been fired into Israel since Hamas began its 7 October attack.
It reports that more than 7,400 rockets have been fired, and that the government claims that “the Iron Dome intercepted over 1,100 of these rockets, 550 misfired and fell inside Gaza, and more than 400 directly hit Israel.”
The Times of Israel notes that “the figures did not account for several thousand rockets, many of which may have fallen in open areas, although the government did not immediately qualify the discrepancy”.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Reuters has a quick snap that a blast and ambulances have been heard near the Rafah crossing. A small number of aid trucks were attempting to enter Gaza earlier today.
More details soon …
Updated
Palestinian health ministry: 4,741 killed, 15,898 wounded by Israeli attacks
The Palestinian health ministry has given updated casualty figures for Palestinians since the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel which killed over 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians.
The ministry states that since 7 October Israeli reprisals have killed 4,741 Palestinians, with 15,898 hurt. Earlier, authorities in Gaza said 40% of those killed in the Gaza Strip were children.
Updated
Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in the West Bank on Sunday, bringing the number of deaths to 91 since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday, Reuters reports.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Sunday that Washington saw potential for escalation in the ongoing war in the Middle East due to the actions of Iran and its proxies in the region.
Reuters reports that Blinken told NBC News the US was not looking for escalation, and hoped more hostages would be released by Hamas.
Earlier today, Israel said it had exchanged fire over the blue line boundary with Lebanon, and said it planned to evacuate 14 additional communities in northern Israel.
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The Times of Israel is carrying some fuller quotes from Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to soldiers in the north of Israel today. It quotes the Israeli prime minister saying:
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.
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.
In a message on social media, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has confirmed that 29 of its workers have been killed in Gaza since Israel commenced its retaliatory airstrikes for the Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
We are in shock and mourning.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 22, 2023
It is now confirmed that 29 of our colleagues in📍#Gaza have been killed since October 7.
Half of these colleagues were @unrwa teachers.
As an Agency, we are devastated. We are grieving with each other and with the families. pic.twitter.com/TPTdUAAjg3
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Netanyahu warns of 'devastation' for Lebanon if Hezbollah enters war
Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah on Sunday against opening a second war front with Israel, saying that doing so would bring Israeli counterstrikes of “unimaginable” magnitude that would wreak “devastation” upon Lebanon.
In an official transcript of a briefing Israel’s prime minister gave commandos near the Lebanese border, Reuters reports he also said: “I cannot tell you right now if Hezbollah will decide to enter the war fully.”
He said the conflict was “do or die” for Israel.
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Justin Welby 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.
Asked during a visit to Jerusalem if he could corroborate a figure for the fatalities, the Archbishop of Canterbury told reporters: “I have no idea about how many civilians there were. I’ve heard so many numbers.”
“What I have said to people, publicly, is: ‘Don’t assume it’s Israel. You have no proof that it’s Israel. Many people have made a clear case it’s not. At the very best, do not start propagating another blood libel,’” Reuters reports he said.
What happened to cause the 17 October explosion at al-Ahli hospital, and how many people were victims, has been hotly contested.
Hamas accused Israel of carrying out an airstrike on the hospital. Israel said the blast was caused by a Palestinian rocket falling short. Israel’s account has been supported by the US, France and Canada.
The Gaza health ministry put the death toll at 471. An Israeli official said it appeared to be “several dozen”. A US intelligence report estimated the number killed to be “probably at the low end of the 100 to 300 spectrum”.
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There is currently a pro-Israel demonstration taking place in Berlin, Germany.
Deutsche Welle reports that a pro-Palestinian march scheduled for central Berlin today has been cancelled by the police, citing “the ‘imminent danger’ of incitement, antisemitic slogans and violence or the glorification thereof at the event”. It writes:
German interior minister Nancy Faeser on Friday said that although everyone in Germany has the right to demonstrate and freely express their option, ‘there is a clear red line: no tolerance for antisemitic or anti-Israel agitation and no tolerance for violence.’
Sunday’s event was the latest of several to be cancelled in the capital, with Berlin authorities announcing that all substitute events will be banned until at least 30 October.
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Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza, Israel and beyond.
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Reuters has a quick snap that a second aid convey, consisting of 17 trucks, has entered the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.
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Health ministry: Gaza death toll rises to 4,651 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes, 40% are children
Gaza’s health ministry spokesperson claimed on Sunday that since 7 October, Israeli strikes on Gaza had resulted in the death of 4,651 Palestinians, of which 40% were children.
More than 14,245 others have been wounded, 70% of them children and women, the ministry claimed.
The spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qudra, claimed that Israel strikes had killed 266 Palestinians over the past 24 hours, including 117 children, Reuters reports.
The claims have not been independently verified.
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The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has increased his calls for humanitarian aid to Gaza, urging the restoration of water supplies where possible.
Sunak said the UK supported “absolutely” Israel’s right to defend itself against the “murderous enemy” of Hamas, and that Israel had a duty to restore its security and bring back its citizens being held hostage.
He also said the people of Gaza were “suffering terribly at the moment, with the casualty numbers climbing constantly”.
Writing in the Telegraph, Sunak said: “We need to see a stream of trucks rolling through that crossing to bring aid to the civilian population. We also need to see all water supplies to Gaza restored where physically possible.
“All sides should commit to the sanctity of UN installations, hospitals and shelters. We’re working intensively with international partners to ensure that British nationals currently trapped in Gaza are also able to leave through this crossing while aid enters.”
Sunak said he had been clear with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, that any ground offensive “must be done in line with international humanitarian law and taking every possible step to avoid harming civilians”.
Read more of Rowena Mason’s report here: Rishi Sunak presses for restoration of water supplies in Gaza
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Summary of the day so far …
It is 2pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
Israel has said it is intensifying attacks on north Gaza, and warned that anyone who stayed risked being considered a terrorist sympathiser, as airstrikes continued on Sunday in the south, where civilians had fled hoping to survive the war.
Israel’s military said the number of people held captive had risen to 212. The release of two Americans on Friday raised hopes that others might be able to return home.
Palestinian media reported that at least 11 people were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, and that Israel was bombing the southern city of Rafah. The attacks came hours after the Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari called on Gaza’s residents to move south “for your own safety”.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Saturday that Israel’s retaliatory attacks had killed at least 4,385 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, with more than a million of the territory’s 2.3 million people displaced. An attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants on 7 October killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians, in massacres that have shocked Israel.
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.
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 convened his cabinet late on Saturday, reportedly to discuss the expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s healthcare system is “facing collapse”, Médecins Sans Frontières has said. The international medical organisation said on Saturday that Gaza’s hospitals were “overwhelmed and lacking resources”.
Doctors in Gaza warned that 130 premature babies were in “imminent danger due to a lack of fuel”. “The world cannot simply look on as these babies are killed by the siege in Gaza,” said Melanie Ward, the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Posters went up online overnight calling for religious Jewish settlers to go to pray at the sacred enclosure around al-Aqsa mosque, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, a provocative act that has the potential for triggering unrest in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will visit Tehran on Monday.
Turkey sent its presidential plane with a medical team and supplies to Egypt on Sunday, carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza.
The UK’s immigration minister said on television this morning that the UK government’s priority was getting British nationals out of Gaza rather than offering to take in additional refugees from the region.
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The latest statement posted to social media from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari says:
The IDF continues to attack several targets of the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the morning hours, among the targets attacked were the head of a rocket firing squad, and several other operatives. In addition, a weapons production site and a military headquarters of the terrorist organization Hamas were attacked.
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Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from inside the Gaza Strip.
Posters went up online overnight calling for religious Jewish settlers to go to pray at the sacred enclosure around al-Aqsa mosque, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, a provocative act that has the potential for triggering unrest in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
About 100 people turned up at the Mugrabi Gate at the western wall, but they were only allowed in by the police 20 at a time, and they were then escorted across the esplanade to the eastern wall to pray out of sight – a compromise with the religious right that has become routine.
The police locked down the Old City checking all bags, and there were no sign of any Palestinian demonstrations, but it is a potential flashpoint in the coming days.
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On the Jenin airstrike, the IDF spokesperson Lt Col Richard Hecht said: “Last night, there was an aerial strike on an underground terror compound in the al-Ansar mosque in Jenin. We were focusing on terrorists, an imminent threat, a ticking timebomb.”
Asked to specify whether the strike was carried out by a drone or a jet fighter, which would be the first time a warplane had been used against the West Bank since the second Intifada, nearly 20 years ago, Hecht said only that it was an “aerial attack”.
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The Israel Defence Forces claim that this morning they shot down a drone approaching from the direction of Lebanon, and said they were returning fire into Lebanon after anti-aircraft missiles were fired into Israel across the UN-drawn blue line that demarks the boundary that has existed between the two countries since 2000.
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The Palestinian ambassador to the UK has criticised those attending pro-Palestinian demonstrations in order to intimidate the Jewish community, saying they should “shut up”.
On Sky News, Husam Zomlot was asked about people attending rallies carrying Hamas flags or glorifying the attacks on 7 October, and said:
This is abhorrent, unacceptable. Those people hijack our cause for their own twisted logic.
The Jewish people have nothing to do with it. This is not a religious conflict. Many of those who demonstrated for Palestine yesterday were Jews. Many of those strong voices are the Jewish people defending us.
Those who have hate in their hearts for Jews would have hate in their hearts for Muslims and Christians, we have nothing to do with them and they should shut up.
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Russian news agency RIA is reporting that Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Tehran on Monday.
Israel has claimed it has killed the deputy commander of the Hamas rocket fire force.
The Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari made the claim and said: “We continue to attack targets with an emphasis on Gaza City and its surroundings, but in the entire Gaza Strip, in preparation for the next phase of the war.”
Hagari also referenced the strike on al-Ansar mosque, in the Jenin refugee camp, claiming that Hamas had been operating underneath it. “They [Hamas] desecrate holy places in the hope that they will be harmed and they will be able to start a campaign against Israel,” he said. Palestinian sources say at least two people were killed in the strike.
Updated
Turkey sent a plane with a medical team and supplies to Egypt on Sunday carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza, the Turkish health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said.
“Our plane took off to help Gaza. The presidential plane filled with medicine and medical supplies, carrying 20 specialist doctors, departed from Ankara to Egypt,” Koca said in a post on social media, Reuters reports.
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The UK’s immigration minister has said on television this morning that the UK government’s priority is getting British nationals out of Gaza rather than offering to take in additional refugees from the region.
Speaking on Sky News, Robert Jenrick said:
We already have a global scheme which is operated by the UN on our behalf and they choose individuals.
At the moment, priority is simply to get the British nationals out of Gaza and to ensure there is as much humanitarian relief there. That’s the first step.
It’s quite a long way ahead before we could reach the point where we might be able to see more people leaving Gaza. At the moment Egypt, for example, is not willing to admit refugees, and we understand the reasons behind that.
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Haaretz reports that sirens are sounding in Ashkelon. The city is in Israel’s south, close to the Gaza Strip.
Reuters has a quick snap that Israel’s military has said the number of confirmed hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip is now 212.
More details soon …
Updated
Palestinians said they had received renewed new warnings from Israel’s military to move from north Gaza to the south of the strip, with the added message that they could be identified as sympathisers with a “terrorist organisation” if they stayed put.
Reuters reports that the message was delivered in leaflets marked with the Israel Defence Forces name and logo from Saturday and also sent to people via mobile phone audio messages across the Gaza Strip.
“Urgent warning, to residents of Gaza. Your presence north of Wadi Gaza puts your life in danger. Whoever chooses not to leave north Gaza to the south of Wadi Gaza might be identified as an accomplice in a terrorist organisation,” the leaflet said.
Israel has previously warned Palestinians to move south, although Palestinians told Reuters they had not previously been told they could be considered “terrorist” sympathisers if they did not.
Since it began launching retaliatory strikes following the Hamas attack on 7 October, Israel has repeatedly bombarded areas south of the Wadi Gaza, despite instructing Palestinians to evacuate to there.
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At least two workers were killed on Sunday “as a result of Israeli bombardment targeting Syria’s Damascus airport at dawn,” Syria’s general directorate of meteorology said in a statement, Reuters reports.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Hamas says at least 55 killed as Israel intensifies Gaza strikes
Overnight raids on the Gaza Strip killed at least 55 people, the Hamas government said on Sunday, after Israel announced it was stepping up strikes.
“More than 55 martyrs,” the government press office said in a statement on the latest night of bombing in response to the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October, Agence France-Presse reported.
The statement added that more than 30 homes had been destroyed in the hours after an Israeli military spokesperson said raids would be increased.
The Hamas government says more than 4,300 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the war started in response to a Hamas attack on Israel that left about 1,400 people dead.
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The USS Carney, a US Navy guided missile destroyer, was in the northern Red Sea last Thursday morning when its radar detected three cruise missiles apparently launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The missiles’ target was unclear but they were heading north, so it was “potentially” Israel. Within a very short time, the Carney had destroyed them all.
These were the first shots fired by the US in defence of Israel in the current conflict. The Pentagon press secretary later told reporters that the intervention was “to send a strong message intended to deter a wider conflict” and “regional escalation”.
The crew of the USS Carney are not alone in having this objective. Since Hamas’s terrorist attacks on 7 October, very large numbers of people have been working very hard to contain the hostilities. The motives and means of presidents, prime ministers, priests, humanitarians, protesters, influencers, spies, diplomats and many others may vary but foremost for many is the very real fear of the consequences for all of us of failure.
To read all of this analysis by Jason Burke, click here:
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An assessment by French military intelligence indicates the most likely cause of the deadly explosion at Gaza City’s Al-Ahli hospital was a Palestinian rocket that carried an explosive charge of about 5kg (11 pounds) and possibly misfired, a senior French military official has said.
Associated Press reports the official said several rockets in the arsenal of Hamas carried explosive charges of about that weight, including an Iranian-made rocket and another that was Palestinian-made.
None of the French military intelligence pointed to an Israeli strike, the official said on Friday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity but was cleared to discuss the assessment by President Emmanuel Macron in what was described as an attempt to be transparent about the French intelligence findings. The assessment was based on classified information, satellite imagery, intelligence shared by other countries and open-source information, the official said.
The report came as Canada’s defence department said Israel was not behind the hospital explosion on Tuesday night.
Reuters quoted the National Department of Defence as saying in a statement: “Analysis conducted independently by the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command indicates with a high degree of confidence that Israel did not strike the Al-Ahli hospital on 17 October 2023.”
The explosion was more likely caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza, the Canadian department said, based on analysis of open source and classified reporting.
Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike for the killings, while the Israeli army blamed a misfired rocket from the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which denied it was responsible.
Updated
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, convened his cabinet late on Saturday, reportedly to discuss the expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, while the US said it would send more air defence systems to the Middle East and prepare to move in more troops after attacks on its forces in Iraq and warnings from militants against intervening to support Israel against Hamas.
For our full report covering the conflict’s latest key developments, click here:
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The news that Israel is planning to evacuate 14 additional communities in northern Israel comes as its military says escalating attacks by Hezbollah risk “dragging Lebanon into a war”.
Agence France-Presse reports that the Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said: “Hezbollah … is dragging Lebanon into a war that it will gain nothing from, but stands to lose a lot.”
Israel has been exchanging fire with Hezbollah across its northern border.
Conricus said:
Hezbollah is playing a very, very dangerous game. They’re escalating the situation. We see more and more attacks every day.
Is the Lebanese state really willing to jeopardise what is left of Lebanese prosperity and Lebanese sovereignty for the sake of terrorists in Gaza?
Recent exchanges of fire have killed four Hezbollah fighters and a member of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in Lebanon, while three Israeli troops were injured, one seriously, in Hezbollah anti-tank fire, and two Thai farm workers also wounded.
Israel has ordered dozens of northern communities to evacuate, and several thousand Lebanese have fled border regions for the southern city of Tyre.
The Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem has warned the group could step up its involvement in the conflict.
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Israel to evacuate 14 more communities in north
Israel plans to evacuate 14 additional communities in northern Israel, it has said in a statement, snapped on Reuters.
The move comes after renewed cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants across Israel’s northern border, prompting concerns of a widening conflict amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Updated
Israel pounded southern Gaza with airstrikes early on Sunday after saying it would intensify its attacks in the territory’s north, Reuters reports.
At least 11 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, and Israeli was striking the southern city of Rafah, Palestinian media reported.
The strikes came hours after the Israeli military spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari called on Gazans to move south “for your own safety”.
“We will continue to attack in the area of Gaza City and increase attacks,” he told Israeli reporters on Saturday.
Israel started its “total siege” of Gaza after Hamas militants carried out a cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, killing 1,400 people, mainly civilians.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday that Israel’s air and missile strikes in retaliation had killed at least 4,385 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, while more than a million of the territory’s 2.3 million people had been displaced.
Updated
Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank overnight, bringing the total number of deaths there to 89 since 7 October, Reuters quoted the Palestinian health ministry as saying on Sunday.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome back to our rolling live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a snapshot of where things stand, including the latest developments on day 16.
Israel said it planned to intensify its attacks on Gaza from Saturday night, while Israeli commanders visited frontline units to rally troops who have massed on the border with Gaza.
Israel’s R Adm Daniel Hagari, speaking to reporters in response to a question about a possible ground invasion into Gaza, said on Saturday: “We will deepen our attacks to minimise the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks from today.”
The chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, told one infantry brigade on Saturday: “We will enter Gaza. Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there – but we are also preparing for them.”
Meanwhile, Israel says it killed “terror operatives” from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were planning attacks, in an airstrike on al-Ansar mosque in Jenin in the West Bank early on Sunday.
The Red Crescent in Jenin said one person was killed and three injured.
In other news as it approaches 7.30am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv:
Israel said its aircraft struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Saturday and that one of its soldiers was hit by an anti-tank missile, in cross-border fighting that the Iran-backed group said killed six of its fighters. A security source in Lebanon said one Hezbollah fighter was killed in the Lebanese area of Hula, opposite the Israeli community of Margaliot, which Israel said was the target of an anti-tank missile attack. The Israeli army said it fired back. Hezbollah, which claimed attacks on Israeli military positions throughout Saturday, later said five other members were killed.
The US will send a terminal high-altitude area defence (Thaad) system and additional Patriot air defence missile system battalions to the Middle East, the Pentagon has said, in response to recent attacks on US troops in the region. The defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, also said he was placing additional troops on prepare-to-deploy orders, while not saying how many.
Two Palestinians were killed and several wounded in Israeli shelling on the Jenin refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Hamas claimed it had planned to release two more hostages “for humanitarian reasons” but that Israel refused, a Hamas spokesperson said on Saturday. The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that “we will not refer to false propaganda by Hamas” and it would “continue to act in every way to return all the kidnapped and missing people home”. Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, had said it informed Qatar on Friday of Hamas’s intention to release the two hostages.
Hezbollah is “in the heart of the battle”, the deputy leader of the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon said. Sheikh Naim Kassem vowed that Israel would pay a high price whenever it started its ground offensive in Gaza.
Gaza’s healthcare system is “facing collapse”, Médecins Sans Frontières has said. The international medical organisation said on Saturday that Gaza’s hospitals were “overwhelmed and lacking resources”.
Doctors in Gaza have warned that 130 premature babies are in “imminent danger due to a lack of fuel”. “The world cannot simply look on as these babies are killed by the siege in Gaza,” said Melanie Ward, the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians.
The Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza finally opened to allow in a trickle of aid on Saturday for the first time in two weeks, after intense negotiations involving the US, Israel, Egypt and the UN. Under the US-brokered agreement, only 20 trucks were allowed in on Saturday, deliveries from the Egyptian Red Crescent to the Palestinian Red Crescent organisation. Aid officials said they were not expecting a delivery on Sunday, with the next consignment due to be a UN convoy on Monday. Saturday’s entry of humanitarian aid “is a welcomed glimpse of hope but this minuscule aid represents a drop in the ocean”, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, urged all parties to keep the Rafah crossing into Gaza open to enable aid to continue coming through.
The US on Saturday proposed a draft UN security council resolution that says Israel has a right to defend itself and demands Iran stop exporting arms to “militias and terrorist groups threatening peace and security across the region”. Russia plans to hold another UN security council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the Russian deputy UN envoy Dmitry Polyansky said on Saturday.
Qatar’s foreign minister has said it is coordinating with the US and other international partners to release more hostages and reduce escalation in Gaza. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani spoke to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in a phone call on Saturday.
The first Palestinian American to serve as a congressman on the US Capitol is mourning the loss of several family members who were killed at the Greek Orthodox church in Gaza that was reportedly struck by Israel. Justin Amash detailed his sorrow in a post on X/Twitter.
Up to 100,000 people marched in London on Saturday in support of Palestine, calling on an immediate end to the war.
Thirteen people were reportedly killed in an airstrike above a residential unit in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. The report from Reuters, citing Hamas media, has not been independently verified.
The Iraqi prime minister said at peace talks in Cairo on Saturday that Palestinian people were “facing genocide” and being targeted in hospitals. “It’s a war crime on full scale,” Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said: “We won’t leave, we will remain on our land.” The UN secretary general, António Guterres, told the summit that the time had come for “action to end this godawful nightmare” and called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. “I appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire now,” he said. The UN’s undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and the emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza “has reached catastrophic levels”.
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