Closing summary
It’s coming up to 2.30pm in Tel Aviv and Gaza City. The Guardian’s coverage of the Middle East crisis is coming to a close. Here’s a round-up of today’s events:
The Israeli military said it failed to intercept a missile from Yemen that fell in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area. Paramedics treated 14 people with minor shrapnel injuries and some were taken to hospital, the ambulance service said in a statement.
The US has removed a bounty from Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that seized power in Syria. The move followed talks between Syria’s new authorities and a US delegation after which a HTS statement said they wanted Syria to contribute to “regional peace”.
Pope Francis condemned the bombing of children in Gaza as “cruelty”, a day after an Israeli air strike reportedly killed 12 members of the same family, including seven children. “Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war. I want to say it because it touches my heart,” he told an audience of members of the government of the Holy See.
The Gaza death toll rose to 45,227, according to the Gaza health ministry. The toll includes 21 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which also said 107,573 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
Israel security forces carried out raids in the West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency. Palestinian news agencies also reported that Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in the West Bank village of Burqa, east of Ramallah.
The Israeli military said its forces shot a protester during a demonstration against the army’s activities in a village in southern Syria on Friday, injuring him in the leg. Since Islamist-led rebels toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on 8 December Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military facilities in what it says is a bid to prevent them from falling into hostile hands.
According to Gaza’s civil defence agency the death toll of the family that was killed in an Israeli strike on Jabalia yesterday has risen from 11 to 12, including seven children.
Gaza health ministry says death toll now 45,227
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 45,227 people have been killed during more than 14 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 21 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which also said 107,573 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October, 2023.
An article on the Israeli news site Walla, owned by the Jerusalem Post, revealed Israel has used civilian contractors to demolish buildings and build military infrastructure in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The story, written by a journalist embedded with the IDF, describes how the Israeli military operate in the Shaboura neighbourhood on the outskirts of the Rafah refugee camp.
The story says the military are tasked with “exploring the area, killing terrorists, locating and destroying terror infrastructure above and below ground level, exposing the area, opening roads and securing the area.”
It goes on to say: “Civilian contractors are also operating to demolish buildings and build engineering infrastructure not far from the “Greenberg Road” (named after the commander of the 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade, Lt. Col. Tomer Greenberg, who died in the war in Gaza).”
Images show how displaced Gaza residents live in close proximity to vast piles of rubbish in makeshift camps in the coastal area of Gaza City.
Piles of rubbish have built up in the territory over the 14 months of war between Israel and Hamas. Nearly two million residents have been displaced because of the fighting. Much of Gaza has been left in ruins.
The tons of waste pose a serious threat to health, with risks of disease outbreaks.
The Quds News Network, affiliated with Hamas, is reporting ongoing raids by Israeli security forces and Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Palestine’s Wafa news agency reports that Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in the West Bank village of Burqa, east of Ramallah.
Wafa also reported that Israeli forces shot bullets and tear gas in a raid on Qusra, south of Nablus. Israeli forces raided the town of Allar, north of Tulkarem, arresting at least one person, according to Wafa.
The Israeli military said its forces shot a protester during a demonstration against the army’s activities in a village in southern Syria on Friday, injuring him in the leg.
Since Islamist-led rebels toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on 8 December Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military facilities in what it says is a bid to prevent them from falling into hostile hands.
In a move widely condemned internationally, Israel also sent troops into a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights and beyond, calling it a defensive and temporary measure.
“During a protest against IDF’s activities in the area of Maariya in southern Syria, IDF [the Israeli military] called on protesters to distance themselves from the troops,” the military told Agence France-Presse.
Read the full report below.
The Israel Defence Forces confirmed a playground was hit by a Houthi-launched missile that struck Jaffa.
In a post on X, the IDF said: “A children’s playground and houses were hit tonight by a missile attack launched from Yemen by Houthi terrorists. An elementary school was hit by a missile launched from Yemen by Houthi terrorists just days ago. The Houthis only care about one thing: killing and destroying the lives of Israeli civilians. We won’t let them.”
On the IDF’s Telegram channel, a statement said: “Overnight, a missile was fired from Yemen into central Israel, and a fallen projectile was identified in the Tel Aviv-Yafo area. IDF Home Front Command teams and additional rescue forces were dispatched to the scene and began searching the area along with additional security forces, local officials, and emergency services to investigate the scene of the fallen projectile.”
On Thursday a missile fired from Yemen was partially intercepted over central Israel. Part of the missile hit a school in Ramat Gan on the edge of Tel Aviv, destroying a building.
The Israeli military says the Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the Israel-Hamas war. The Houthis have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden – attacks they say won’t stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Pope Francis has condemned the bombing of children in Gaza as “cruelty”, a day after the territory’s rescue agency said an Israeli air strike killed ten members of the same family, including seven children.
“Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war. I want to say it because it touches my heart,” he told an audience of members of the government of the Holy See, AFP reported.
A Houthi-launched missile that Israel failed to intercept landed in Jaffa. Photos show a large crater in a playground surrounded by apartment blocks.
Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom (MDA), said in a statement that 16 people were “mildly injured by glass shards from shattered windows in nearby buildings”.
A spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthis said the group had hit a “military target” in the Jaffa area with a ballistic missile.
The US has removed a bounty from Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that seized power in Syria.
The move followed talks between Syria’s new authorities and a US delegation after which a HTS statement said they wanted Syria to contribute to “regional peace”.
“Based on our discussion, I told him that we were dropping the offer of a reward,” Barbara Leaf, who lead the US delegation, told reporters.
She said she told the new Syrian leader of the “critical need to ensure that terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside Syria or outside, including to the United States and our partners in the region”.
He “committed to doing so”, she said, adding he had appeared to her as “pragmatic”.
HTS, which leads the victorious coalition of armed groups in Damascus, claims to have broken with jihadism and has sought to reassure people of its ability to revive the country after nearly 14 years of civil war.
France, Germany, Britain, and the United Nations have also sent emissaries to Damascus in recent days to establish contacts with the new authorities.
The West is wary of the risk of fragmentation of the country and the resurgence of the jihadist group Islamic State, which has never been completely eradicated there.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 25 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Reuters reports, citing medics. The toll included at least eight in an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp and at least 10, including seven children, in the town of Jabalia.
Opening Summary
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of developments in the Middle East.
The Israeli military said it failed to intercept a missile from Yemen early on Saturday that fell in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area.
Paramedics were treating 14 people with minor shrapnel injuries and some were taken to hospital, the ambulance service said in a statement. The Israeli police reported receiving reports of a fallen missile in a town in the Tel Aviv area.
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
On Thursday, Israel killed at least nine people when it launched strikes against ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-held parts of Yemen and threatened more attacks against the Yemeni group.
Here’s what else you need to know:
The Israeli military said its forces had shot a protester during a demonstration against the army’s activities in a village in southern Syria on Friday, injuring him in the leg. Since Islamist-led rebels toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on 8 December Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military facilities in what it says is a bid to prevent them from falling into hostile hands. In a move widely condemned internationally, Israel also sent troops into a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights and beyond, calling it a defensive and temporary measure.
Gaza’s civil defence rescue agency reported that an Israeli air strike killed 10 members of a family on Friday in the northern part of the territory, including seven children. Violence in the Gaza Strip continues to rock the coastal territory more than 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war, even as international mediators work to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants. The Israeli military told the AFP news agency it had struck “several terrorists who were operating in a military structure belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation and posed a threat to IDF troops operating in the area”.
Syria wants to contribute to “regional peace”, the country’s new authorities said late on Friday, after a meeting between leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and a US diplomatic delegation. “The Syrian side indicated that the Syrian people stand at an equal distance from all countries and parties in the region and that Syria rejects any polarisation,” the statement said. It said the new authorities wanted to “affirm Syria’s role in promoting regional peace and building privileged strategic partnerships with countries in the region”.
The meeting between al-Sharaa - known previously by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani - and the US delegation led by Barbara Leaf, head of the Middle East at the State Department, was “positive”, a Syrian official previously told AFP. Al-Sharaa, the leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that seized power in Damascus, was previously the target of US sanctions. But after their first formal contact in Damascus on Friday, Washington announced it had dropped a bounty for his arrest.
The Iranian government is attempting to salvage some influence with Syria’s new leaders, as Tehran reels from its sudden loss of authority in Damascus after the collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is already facing multiple domestic and international crises, including power cuts due to a lack of oil supplies, continued tensions over its nuclear programme and a row about a new law that will toughen punishments for women who do not wear the hijab. But it is the sudden loss of influence in Syria after the fall of Assad to rebel groups that is exercising Iranian officials most.
