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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Jonathan Yerushalmy (now); Léonie Chao-Fong Martin Belam, Yohannes Lowe and Helen Livingstone (earlier)

US warns Israel not to attack Beirut airport – as it happened

Hezbollah IDF Israel United Nations Lebanon Beirut Haifa Hamas Gaza Hashem Safieddine
Flame and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahieh, Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday.
Flame and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahieh, Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

We’re ending our live coverage here, but will be back if any major news breaks.

For now, you can read the latest on the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border here:

In New York, protests marking 7 October have seen pro-Palestinian demonstrations grow to a blocks-long column that marched through Manhattan streets, avenues and landmarks.

Protesters spread a large Palestinian flag on a street near the New York Stock Exchange early Monday afternoon, while a smaller group of counter-protesters held an Israeli flag.

Associated Press journalists saw several people being taken into police custody at various points in the march. Police said multiple arrests were made; no further information was immediately available.

While the protesters paused to conduct a Muslim evening prayer at the southwestern corner of Central Park, the parents of American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra shared their anguish from the park’s SummerStage venue.

“We would never have imagined we would still be standing here a whole year later, with no news of him,” his mother, Orna Neutra, told hundreds of people at an event that drew New York’s governor, mayor, US senators and other elected officials. Her son, a New York-born Israeli soldier, turns 23 next week.

People around the world have marked the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, which left 1,200 people dead and sparked the conflict in Gaza.

Vigils paid tribute to the victims of the Hamas attacks, and the hostages in Gaza, and protests called for an end to the Israeli offensive, which has left nearly 42,000 people dead and tens of thousands injured.

Here’s a wrap from our video team looking at protests and vigils around the world.

French President Emmanuel Macron held meetings on Monday with the families of two French nationals who are being held hostage in the Gaza Strip and families of victims of the 7 October attacks who are living in France, Macron’s office said.

Macron said France will do “everything possible” to push for a cease-fire and an agreement that would allow the release of Ohad Yahalomi and Ofer Kalderon, the French hostages, as a priority, the statement said.

Macron expressed “the nation’s compassion” toward those affected by the 7 October attacks and told the families meeting at the Elysee presidential palace that France will stand by their side and continue to “fight tirelessly” against the rise of antisemitism.

The US State Department says that nearly 900 American citizens, green card holders and their families have now left Lebanon on US-contracted flights since late September.

Another 150 Americans, legal permanent residents and immediate family left Beirut on Monday on a flight to Istanbul, department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

The US has so far organised eight flights — most to Istanbul but at least one to Germany — since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensified at the end of last month.

Each of those flights, which cost $283 per person, has had a capacity of 300 passengers for a total of 2,400 seats, meaning that fewer than half of the available seats have been occupied.

Miller said about 8,500 Americans citizens, many of them dual US-Lebanese nationals, have reached out to the US embassy in Beirut for information about how to leave the country.

Hezbollah launches 190 rockets at Israel on Monday, IDF reports

Hezbollah launched around 190 rockets at Israel on Monday, the IDF reported, adding that most were targeting the north of the country.

Late on Monday, Hezbollah said that it had launched a “barrage” of rockets at a military intelligence base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Air raid alerts were activated across the centre of the country. The IDF said “about five launches were detected that crossed from Lebanon, some of them were intercepted by the Air Force and the rest fell in an open area.”

At least 21 people, including five children and two women, were killed in strikes in central Gaza on Monday night, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital, where the bodies were taken.

Two strikes hit houses in the Bureij refugee camp. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies along with about a dozen wounded, including several children.

Emergency responders said more people are thought to be under the rubble.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reported attacks.

A short while ago, Joe Biden was asked what his message to the families of those still being held hostage in Gaza was.

The US president was leaving the White House for an event, after ceremonies were held to mark the anniversary of 7 October earlier in the day.

Biden told the reporter that he would be talking to some of the families later.

When asked whether he’d spoken to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden replied “no”.

Air raid alerts have continued to sound in northern Israel.

In the last hour, sirens have gone off in the city of Kiryat Shmona and Rosh Hanikra, both locations lie right on the border with Lebanon.

More on the late night strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The country’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that the area was “the target of two raids” late on Monday. The attacks came after Israel’s military had issued a warning to inhabitants of the area. Several strikes had already hit the suburbs earlier in the evening.

Flame and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut.
Flame and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

A correspondent from the AFP news agency reported seeing smoke rising from the suburbs.

NNA said that Israeli strikes also hit areas in southern Lebanon, including coastal villages, after the Israeli army on Monday had said it would expand its operations against Hezbollah to Lebanon’s coast south of the Al-Awali river.

Summary of the day so far

It’s 1am in Gaza, Beirut and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

  • Israel launched new strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Monday, hours after intense Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon with 100 aircraft targeting about 120 sites in the space of an hour, according to the country’s military. Lebanese state media said two new strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday night, shortly after Israel’s military issued a warning to inhabitants of the area.

  • Israel’s military also declared areas around a number of towns in northwest Israel as closed to the public on Monday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that a “new closed military zone” would be imposed along the border with Lebanon would now include the towns of Shlomi, Rosh Hanikra, Hanita, Arab al-Aramshe and Adamit. A separate IDF statement warned Lebanese civilians to avoid being on the beach or on boats on the coast from the Awali River southward until further notice.

  • At least 1,400 Lebanese people, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes. In southern Lebanon an Israeli strike late on Sunday killed at least 10 firefighters, the latest in a series of strikes that have killed dozens of first responders, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday.

  • Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli military intelligence base near Tel Aviv on Monday. The Israeli military said sirens sounded in central Israel after approximately five projectile launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory. The military said some projectiles were intercepted, while the rest fell in open areas.

  • Israel also intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza, calling for evacuations of the north of the territory amid renewed military operations. Israeli tanks advanced into Jabalia on Monday, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic urban refugee camps, after encircling it, residents said. “We are in a new phase of the war,” the Israeli military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.”

  • At least 41,909 Palestinian people have been killed and 97,303 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday. The territory’s health ministry said the toll included 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours.

  • Ceremonies were held across Israel on Monday as the country marked the first anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to continue fighting to “thwart any future threat against the state of Israel” in a televised address. As memorial events took place across Israel, violence continued to rage on multiple fronts, with Israel also expanding its ground operation into Lebanon with elements of a third division joining the fighting. Demonstrations and memorials marking the anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza took place across the world.

  • Families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza gathered near Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence and stood during a two-minute siren, replicating a custom from Holocaust Remembrance and Memorial Day. Out of 251 people taken hostage on 7 October 2023, an estimated 97 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.

  • Joe Biden commemorated the anniversary of the 7 October attacks in Israel with a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House. The US president paid tribute in a statement earlier on Monday to “the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust” and condemned the “vicious surge in antisemitism in America” since the attacks. Biden also spoke with Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, on Monday.

  • Hezbollah has instructed fighters not to target Israeli forces near a UN peacekeeper base in the Lebanese border town of Maroun al-Ras, according to a statement by one of the group’s field commander on Monday. The Israeli military is setting up a forward operating base near a UN peacekeeping mission on the blue line in southern Lebanon. The base put peacekeepers at risk, said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

  • Israel’s military claimed on Monday that it intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired at central Israel from Yemen. The missile set off air raid sirens across large swaths of central Israel, sending residents running for shelter. Yemen’s Houthi group later claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Iran-backed group said they fired two missiles at military targets in the Jaffa area in central Israel.

  • Israel does not have confirmation that the potential successor to the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has died, a government spokesperson said. Asked if Israel could confirm the death of Hashem Safieddine, who chairs Hezbollah’s executive council, the Israeli spokesperson said: “When it is confirmed, as and when, it will be on the IDF (Israeli military) website.”

  • A 12-year-old Palestinian child was shot dead by Israeli security forces in Qalandia refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. It said seven other people, including three children, were wounded in the same incident. The child was named by the agency, citing the health ministry, as Hatem Ghaith. A 66-year-old Palestinian man was killed in a separate Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said. The ministry said Ziad Abu Haleel was killed when Israeli forces “attacked him during a raid on his home in Dura, south of Hebron”.

  • The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, urged all sides to pull back from the brink in the Middle East as he addressed the House of Commons on the anniversary of the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel. Starmer said stopping all arms sales to Israel will “never” be his position. The UK has withdrawn the families of its embassy staff working in Israel due to the escalation in fighting.

US warns Israel not to attack Beirut airport

The US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, has called on Israel not to attack Beirut airport or the roads leading to it.

Earlier on Monday, Israel’s air force carried out a strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, near the international airport, a security source told AFP.

Miller told reporters:

We think it’s very important that not only the airport be open, but that the roads to the airport be open, so that American citizens who want to leave can get out, but also citizens of other countries.

World leaders marked the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks launched by Hamas on Israel on Monday in commemorations ranging from official statements to formal ceremonies and small private vigils.

Updated

Hezbollah has issued a statement in which he said it targeted an Israeli military intelligence base near Tel Aviv.

The Iran-backed group said it fired “a salvo of rockets at the Glilot base of military intelligence unit 8200 on the outskirts of Tel Aviv”.

As we reported earlier, air raid sirens sounded in the city and central Israel and Israel’s military said approximately five projectile launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

Updated

Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal said the group would rise “like a phoenix” from the ashes despite suffering heavy losses during a year of war with Israel.

Hamas continues to recruit fighters and manufacture a “significant portion” of its ammunition and weapons, according to Meshaal, who is currently the head of the Hamas office in the Palestinian diaspora and a former political chief of Hamas.

“Palestinian history is made of cycles,” Meshaal, 68, he told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

We go through phases where we lose martyrs and we lose part of our military capabilities, but then the Palestinian spirit rises again, like the phoenix, thanks to God.

Meshaal, a central figure in Hamas since the 1990s, was born in the West Bank but grew up in Kuwait and has spent most of his life outside the Palestinian territories, lobbying for the group from abroad.

He survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997 after he was injected with poison, and was overall Hamas leader from 1996-2017.

His latest comments appear intended as a signal that Hamas plans to fight on whatever its losses. “As long as the [Israeli] occupation exists, the region remains a ticking timebomb,” he said.

Updated

Israeli air force says five rockets fired from Lebanon

The Israeli air force has posted an image on X (formerly Twitter), saying, in translation from Hebrew: “Following the alerts that were activated in several areas in the center of the country, about five launches were detected that crossed from Lebanon, some of them were intercepted by the air force and the rest fell in an open area.”

The Beirut-based Arab satellite news channel, Al Mayadeen English, has posted more specifically about the sirens, reporting them sounding in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

Updated

Sirens are sounding in central Israel again, this time warning the public of reports of rockets fired from Lebanon.

Earlier, sirens have sounded because of incoming fire from Yemen and from Gaza.

But now, Reuters and AFP report, the Israeli military said that sirens sounded in central Israel after several projectile launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

Here’s a short clip posted to X from Israel’s N12 News, with the text translated via Google echoing the wire copy above, citing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and saying the details are under review.

Updated

Netanyahu vows Israel will continue to fight in 7 October address

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed to continue fighting to “thwart any future threat against the state of Israel” in a televised address marking the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks.

In the pre-recorded address, Netanyahu described 7 October as “a day of loss and pain and unbelievable sadness”. He said:

As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country – we will continue to fight. As long as there are kidnapped in Gaza – we will continue to fight. We will not give up any of them. I will not give up. As long as our citizens do not return to their homes safely – we will continue to fight.

The US continues to assess that Israel’s ground operations in Lebanon have been “limited”, a US state department spokesperson said on Monday.

Matthew Miller, in a briefing with reporters, said the US expects Israel to target Hezbollah in Lebanon “in a way that complies with international humanitarian law and minimises civilian casualties”.

He did not say whether the US assesses Israeli airstrikes in Beirut to be in compliance with international humanitarian law, and did not say if Washington is carrying out its own assessments of the matter.

Updated

New Israeli strikes reportedly in southern Beirut suburbs

New Israeli strikes have been reported in south Beirut on Monday night.

Lebanese state media reported that two strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, and smoke could be seen above the area.

It comes just shortly after the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for civilians in the Lebanese capital to leave specific buildings.

Updated

We reported earlier that a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, named by the Palestinian health ministry as Hatem Ghaith, was shot dead by Israeli forces in Qalandia refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Seven other people, including three children, were injured in the Israeli raid on Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement that its teams treated five injured people from the raid in Qalandia camp, some of them “very critical”.

A 66-year-old Palestinian man was killed in a separate Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The ministry said Ziad Abu Haleel was killed when Israeli forces “attacked him during a raid on his home in Dura, south of Hebron”.

Abu Haleel’s son, Murad, told AFP his father died after being beaten by Israeli soldiers who had come to arrest his brother. He said:

My father tried to stop them, so they struck him twice on the chest, then pushed him, causing his chest to collide with the door, which led to his martyrdom.

The US has announced new sanctions on three individuals and a “sham charity” it accused of being prominent international financial supporters of Hamas, as well as on a financial institution in Gaza that it accused of being controlled by the militant group.

In a statement announcing the latest sanctions, the US treasury department said they “play critical roles” in financing Hamas’s “terrorist activities”.

The US treasury department will continue “relentlessly degrading the ability of Hamas and other destabilizing Iranian proxies to finance their operations and carry out additional violent acts,” the US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said in a statement. She added:

The Treasury Department will use all available tools at our disposal to hold Hamas and its enablers accountable, including those who seek to exploit the situation to secure additional sources of revenue.

Protests held in New York on anniversary of 7 October attacks

Here are some images taken by my colleague Julius Constantine Motal of protests in New York on Monday to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks on 7 October.

The Hamas attacks on southern Israel last year killed nearly 1,200 people, according to Israeli government figures, including hundreds at a music festival near the Israel-Gaza border, and saw about 250 hostages taken to Gaza.

The Israeli offensive into Gaza it triggered has since killed nearly 42,000 people, most of them civilians, according to health authorities.

Updated

Israeli military issues new evacuation orders on Beirut's southern suburbs

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has issued another warning for civilians to immediately leave the area near specific buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs ahead of expected Israeli airstrikes.

IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted maps of the specific buildings in the Burj al-Barajneh neighbourhood and Hadath neighbourhood, warning residents to evacuate and stay away from the buildings for a distance of no less than 500 metres.

A second Brazilian government charter flight for its nationals in Lebanon left Beirut on Monday, according to the Brazilian air force.

The plane carrying 227 Brazilians, including 49 children, will stop for fuel in Lisbon before heading to São Paulo’s Guarulhos airport, where it is due to arrive Tuesday, a statement said.

The plane carried medical and hospital supplies donated by Brazil to Lebanon, its foreign ministry said.

The first repatriation flight landed in São Paulo on Sunday, where Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was on site to greet those fleeing the violence in Lebanon.

Houthis claim responsibility for missiles fired at central Israel

We reported earlier that Israel’s military claimed that it intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired at central Israel from Yemen.

The missile triggered sirens in the area, including in Tel Aviv.

Yemen’s Houthi group have since claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Iran-backed group said they fired two missiles at military targets in the Jaffa area in central Israel.

Air France and its low-cost airline Transavia announced they are suspending flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, citing security concerns.

Flights to Tel Aviv are suspended until 15 October, and flights to Beirut until 26 October, the Air France-KLM group airlines said, adding:

The resumption of service will be subject to an evaluation of the situation on the ground.

Updated

Here are some of the latest images sent to us from the newswires from Lebanon, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Updated

The World Bank is looking to free up emergency funds for Lebanon, potentially including up to $100m (£76m)through the use of special clauses in existing loan deals, its managing director of operations told Reuters.

The Washington-based development lender currently has $1.65bn (£1.26bn) in loans to the country including a $250m loan approved this week to help connect dispersed renewable energy projects in the country.

Amid fighting across southern Lebanon, the bank was currently discussing ways in which it could help support the economy, including through the use of so-called Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERCs) clauses. The World Bank’s managing director of operations, Anna Bjerde, said:

We can use our existing portfolio and free up some money for really critical, short-term liquidity needs.

Israeli military declares new 'closed military zone' on areas of Lebanon border

Israel’s military has declared areas around a number of towns in northwest Israel as closed to the public on Monday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that a “new closed military zone” would be imposed along the border with Lebanon would now include the towns of Shlomi, Rosh Hanikra, Hanita, Arab al-Aramshe and Adamit.

It is the fourth closed military zone imposed on the border since the IDF launched its ground operations in Lebanon last week, according to the Times of Israel.

Many parts of northern Israel have been evacuated due to heavy rocket and missile fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Updated

Summary of the day so far

It’s just past 8.30pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

  • Israel launched an intense wave of air raids on southern Lebanon on Monday with 100 aircraft targeting about 120 sites in the space of an hour, according to the country’s military. The bombing came as an IDF spokesperson issued an urgent warning to Lebanese civilians to avoid being on the beach or on boats on the coast from the Awali River southward until further notice.

  • A fresh round of airstrikes hit Beirut’s suburbs late on Sunday. In southern Lebanon an Israeli strike killed at least 10 firefighters, the latest in a series of strikes that have killed dozens of first responders, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday, while Israel’s military said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

  • At least 1,400 Lebanese people, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group from the blue line boundary between the two countries so tens of thousands of Israeli citizens can return home.

  • Israel also intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza, calling for evacuations of the north of the territory amid renewed military operations. Israeli tanks advanced into Jabalia on Monday, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic urban refugee camps, after encircling it, residents said. “We are in a new phase of the war,” the Israeli military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.”

  • At least 41,909 Palestinian people have been killed and 97,303 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday. The territory’s health ministry said the toll included 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours.

  • Ceremonies were held across Israel on Monday as the country marked the first anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks. Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reiterated his vow to bring back all hostages still held in Gaza. Israel’s government has failed to agree a hostage exchange and ceasefire deal with Hamas in the ten months since a brief negotiated pause in fighting ended late last year. As memorial events took place across Israel, violence continued to rage on multiple fronts, with Israel also expanding its ground operation into Lebanon with elements of a third division joining the fighting.

  • Families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza gathered near Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence and stood during a two-minute siren, replicating a custom from Holocaust Remembrance and Memorial Day. Out of 251 people taken hostage on 7 October 2023, an estimated 97 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.

  • Joe Biden commemorated the anniversary of the 7 October attacks in Israel with a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House. The US president paid tribute in a statement earlier on Monday to “the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust” and condemned the “vicious surge in antisemitism in America” since the attacks. Biden also spoke with Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, on Monday.

  • Hezbollah has instructed fighters not to target Israeli forces near a UN peacekeeper base in the Lebanese border town of Maroun al-Ras, according to a statement by one of the group’s field commander on Monday. The Israeli military is setting up a forward operating base near a UN peacekeeping mission on the blue line in southern Lebanon. The base put peacekeepers at risk, said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

  • Israel’s military claimed on Monday that it intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired at central Israel from Yemen. The missile set off air raid sirens across large swaths of central Israel, sending residents running for shelter. The IDF statement did not say who fired the missile.

  • Israel does not have confirmation that the potential successor to the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has died, a government spokesperson said. Asked if Israel could confirm the death of Hashem Safieddine, who chairs Hezbollah’s executive council, the Israeli spokesperson said: “When it is confirmed, as and when, it will be on the IDF (Israeli military) website.”

  • A 12-year-old Palestinian child was shot dead by Israeli security forces in Qalandia refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. It said seven other people, including three children, were wounded in the same incident. The child was named by the agency, citing the health ministry, as Hatem Ghaith.

  • Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed that Israel would pay a price for the “genocide” in Gaza. In comments likely to enrage the Israeli prime minister on Monday, Erdoğan said “Just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity, Netanyahu and his murder network will be stopped in the same way.”

  • The UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, disputed claims that there had been a “stepping back” in the government’s support of Israel. Starmer said stopping all arms sales to Israel will “never” be his position. The UK has withdrawn the families of its embassy staff working in Israel due to the escalation in fighting.

  • France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said on Monday that “force alone” will not provide Israel with security. Barrot said that France remained a staunch defender of Israel’s security, but that it was vital to be frank about the civilian suffering in Gaza and added “We have a responsibility to act today to avoid Lebanon finding itself in a short horizon in a dramatic situation like Syria found itself a few years ago.”

Updated

Hezbollah tells fighters not to target Israeli forces near UN base

Hezbollah has instructed fighters not to target Israeli forces near a UN peacekeeper base in the Lebanese border town of Maroun al-Ras, according to a statement by one of the group’s field commanders given to Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen broadcaster on Monday.

In the statement, the group accused Israel of using the peacekeepers as human shields, Reuters reported.

Updated

Joe Biden commemorated the anniversary of the 7 October attacks in Israel with a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House on Monday.

The US president was joined by Jill Biden and Rabbi Aaron Alexander, who said a short prayer. Biden did not speak at the ceremony, but he paid tribute earlier in a statement to “the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust” and condemned the “vicious surge in antisemitism in America” since the attacks.

“The October 7 attack brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of hatred and violence against the Jewish people,” he said, before also referencing the suffering of Palestinians.

“I believe that history will also remember October 7 as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day. Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict.”

The UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer disputed claims that there had been a “stepping back” in the Government’s support of Israel.

He told the Commons: “There’s been no stepping back of support for Israel, we’ve been absolutely robust in that support.”

Tory MP Greg Smith had asked: “Some of the decisions he has taken has led to a feeling that this Government has stepped back its support for Israel, not least in the restoration of the funding for UNRWA. Does the Prime Minister regret that and will he revisit that decision?”

Elsewhere, Conservative former minister Robert Jenrick said there had been an “explosion of antisemitism” in the UK since the October 7 attacks in Israel, adding: “We have to root out those who despise our country and our values.

“What will the Prime Minister do to revoke visas, where appropriate, of those in the UK who are conducting themselves in this manner, to encourage the police to enforce our existing laws without fear or favour, and defer the ban and proscribe those organisations such as the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps)?”

Starmer replied: “We are proud of the democratic right to protest in this country but supporting a proscribed terrorist group is unacceptable and we need to be very, very clear about that and give the police our full support in taking the action they need to take in relation to it, wherever it is in the United Kingdom.”

Israel’s military said on Monday it was partially easing some restrictions for residents in areas in northern Israel that were put in place after Hezbollah in Lebanon increased the intensity of its cross-border rocket fire in recent weeks.

The military said that the “activity scale will be changed from Limited Activity to Partial Activity,” adding that educational activities in those areas can now be held if they are adjacent to bomb shelters or other safe rooms, Reuters reports.

“The rest of the country’s guidelines remain unchanged,” it said.

UK prime minister says he will 'never' stop all arms sales to Israel

The UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer said stopping all arms sales to Israel will “never” be his position.

He told the Commons: “If sale of weapons for defensive use by Israel were banned, that is a position that I could not countenance a year after October the 7th. It is not a position I could countenance in the face of attacks by Iran.

“The whole House saw the number of missiles coming over into Israel only the other day, and the idea that we could say we support Israel’s right to defend herself, and at the same time deprive her of the means to do so, is so wholly inconsistent that it will never be my position.”

Starmer was speaking in response to SNP MP Brendan O’Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber), who said: “While I welcome the prime minister’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, there is so much more he can do to bring that about.”

He added: “Why does he continue to licence 90% of weapon sales to Israel when there is ample proof that UK weapons are still being used to prolong this catastrophe?”

Updated

Israeli military says it will 'soon' launch operations on south Lebanon coast

The Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson issued an urgent warning on Monday to people to avoid being present on the beach or on boats on Lebanon’s coast from the Awali river southward until further notice.

The army “will soon operate in the maritime area against Hezbollah’s terrorist activities” south of the river, army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement published in Arabic on social media.

Updated

U.S. president Joe Biden spoke with Israel’s president Isaac Herzog on Monday to mark one year since Hamas’ October 7th attack, the White House said.

The pair reaffirmed their commitment to achieving a deal in Gaza to bring hostages home, secure Israel and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians, the White House said.

Updated

Here is a clip of the UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer speaking in parliament earlier today, where he called for a return of the remaining hostages in Gaza and also urged regional actors to “step back from the brink”.

Here are some pictures sent over the news wires showing commemorations of victims of the 7 October attacks in southern Israel that are taking place in Bangkok in Thailand. 41 Thai workers in Israel were killed during the Hamas attack inside southern Israel, and 31 Thai nationals were seized as hostages and abducted into Gaza. Eight are believed to remain in Gaza among the captives.

Lebanese MP Melhem Khalaf has accused Israel of “a crime against humanity” with its bombardment of the country.

Lebanon’s state-owned National News Agency quotes him saying:

Lebanon is the victim of the biggest war crime, a crime against humanity. Our people sleep on the ground in schools without a means to secure their most basic needs. Our children, our elderly, our families live in anxiety, terror, and fear for the future. The horizon is bleak before them. Without schools. Without work. Without housing.

More than 1.3 million people in Lebanon – over a fifth of the population – have been displaced from their homes after Israel stepped up its aerial attacks on what it claims are Hezbollah targets.

In Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, relatives and mourners have gathered for the funeral of 12-year-old Hatem Ghaith who was killed by Israeli security forces.

Israel’s military has claimed in the last few moments that it intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired at central Israel from Yemen.

More details soon …

UK prime minister Keir Starmer has been speaking in parliament in London about the 7 October anniversary. My colleague Andrew Sparrow reports:

Keir Starmer says the 7 October attack was the bloodiest day for the people of Israel since the Holocaust. He says 15 Britons were “brutally slain” that day, and another has died since in captivity. For many people, the pain of that day is as acute as it was a year ago.

Last week he met the families of people killed and held hostage, he says. He says he will never forget what they said. The families of hostages are going through “agony” day after day. They must be returned, he says.

He says it is also “a day of grief for the wider region”. The human toll among innocent civilians in Gaza is “truly devastating”, he says. What is happening there is “a living nightmare” and it must end, he says.

He says last week the Iranian regime chose to strike Israel. All MPs will join him in condemnding this attack, he says. It was not a defensive action. It was a major escalation, in response to the death of a terrorist leader, he says.

He urges all sides to step back from the brink, and find the courage of restraint.

Working with other world leaders, he will focus on three areas, he says.

First, he is focusing on Lebanon. Some Britons have already been evacuated, and further evacuations are planned. He says he is continuting to call for an immediate ceasefire, and for a political solution. Hezbollah must withdraw, and stop firing rockets.

Second, they must renew efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza. And more relief must be provided for civilians. He says the ongoing restrictions on age are “impossible to justifiy”. Israel must open more crossings, and provide a safe haven for aid workers.

And, third, there must be solutions for the long term, he says. The two-state solution must be the ultimate goal. There is no other option offering security. So they must build a political route towards it, he says. The key to this is a ceasefire in Gaza now, he says.

It is worth noting that Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government includes people implacably opposed to a two-state solution, including finance minister Bezalel Smotrich who has described it as his “life’s mission” to thwart the creation of a Palestinian state.

Speaking in Israel on the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks on southern Israel, France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said “force alone” will not provide Israel with security.

Reuters quotes him saying:

Force alone cannot guarantee the security of Israel, your security. Military success cannot be a substitute for a political perspective. To bring the hostages home to their loved ones, to allow the displaced to return home in the north, after a year of war, the time for diplomacy has come.

Barrot said that France remained a staunch defender of Israel’s security, but that it was vital to be frank about the civilian suffering in Gaza and added “We have a responsibility to act today to avoid Lebanon finding itself in a short horizon in a dramatic situation like Syria found itself a few years ago.”

Reuters reports the Kremlin has said president Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke on the phone today about the crisis in the Middle East, and announced they would have a one-to-one on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Russia’s Kazan later this month.

Earlier Erdoğan criticised what he called Israel’s genocide in Gaza, saying “Just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity, [Israel’s prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his murder network will be stopped in the same way.”

Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the newswires from Lebanon:

Updated

The US state department said nearly 700 American citizens, green card holders and family members have now left Lebanon aboard US-contracted planes since late September.

The department said earlier today that about 90 passengers - less than a third of the planes 300-person capacity – departed Beirut for Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday on the latest flight, according to the Associated Press.

Updated

Israel can't confirm death of Hashem Safieddine, spokesperson says

Israel does not have confirmation that the potential successor to the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has died, a government spokesperson said.

Asked if Israel could confirm the death of Hashem Safieddine, who chairs Hezbollah’s executive council, spokesperson David Mencer told an online briefing:

We don’t have that confirmation yet. When it is confirmed, as and when, it will be on the IDF (Israeli military) website.

Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, was killed by Israel in a series of strikes on the group’s underground headquarters in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, in late September.

Another similar strike reportedly killed Safieddine in the area, though this has not been confirmed. A cousin of Nasrallah, Safieddine was born in 1964 in southern Lebanon and is another founder member

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In a separate statement released by the White House, the US vice president and Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, said she would “never forget the horror of October 7, 2023”.

In a statement, Harris said:

I will do everything in my power to ensure that the threat Hamas poses is eliminated, that it is never again able to govern Gaza, that it fails in its mission to annihilate Israel, and that the people of Gaza are free from the grip of Hamas. I will never stop fighting for the release of all the hostages, including the seven American citizens, living and deceased, still held: Omer, Edan, Sagui, Keith, Judy, Gad, and Itay. I will never stop fighting for justice for those who murdered Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other Americans. And I will always ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists like Hamas. My commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering…

Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7 launched a war in Gaza. I am heartbroken over the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year—tens of thousands of lives lost, children fleeing for safety over and over again, mothers and fathers struggling to obtain food, water, and medicine. It is far past time for a hostage and ceasefire deal to end the suffering of innocent people. And I will always fight for the Palestinian people to be able to realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination. We also continue to believe that a diplomatic solution across the Israel-Lebanon border region is the only path to restore lasting calm and allow residents on both sides to return safely to their homes.

Harris does not appear to be deviating much from US President Joe Biden’s position of staunchly supporting Israel (economically, militarily and diplomatically), which during its war on Gaza has effectively been unconditional.

Updated

'Far too many civilians have suffered', says Biden as he calls for end to war

The White House has released a statement from the US president, Joe Biden, on the anniversary of the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on southern Israel.

Biden said:

On this day last year, the sun rose on what was supposed to be a joyous Jewish holiday. By sunset, October 7 had become the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Today marks one year of mourning for the more than 1,200 innocent people of all ages, including 46 Americans, massacred in southern Israel by the terrorist group Hamas. One year since Hamas committed horrific acts of sexual violence.

One year since more than 250 innocents were taken hostage, including 12 Americans. One year for the survivors carrying wounds, seen and unseen, who will never be the same. And one year of a devastating war. On this solemn anniversary, let us bear witness to the unspeakable brutality of the October 7th attacks but also to the beauty of the lives that were stolen that day…

I believe that history will also remember October 7th as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day. Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict — and tens of thousands have been killed, a human toll made far worse by terrorists hiding and operating among innocent people.

We will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza that brings the hostages home, allows for a surge in humanitarian aid to ease the suffering on the ground, assures Israel’s security, and ends this war. Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live in security, dignity, and peace.

Biden, in the last months of his presidency, has failed to exercise US leverage – as Israel’s biggest arms supplier and diplomatic shield at the UN – over Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Updated

The US state department has issued a statement from Antony Blinken on the anniversary of the 7 October attack on southern Israel. In it, the secretary of state says:

Today, we mark a devastating and tragic anniversary. On 7 October 2023, more than 1,200 men, women and children, including 46 Americans and citizens of more than 30 countries, were slaughtered by Hamas – the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Girls and women were sexually assaulted. The depravity of Hamas’s crimes is almost unspeakable.

He continues:

Hamas’ attacks on 7 October unleashed a year of conflict, with tragic consequences for the Palestinian people. The US mourns the death of every innocent who died on 7 October and in the year since. It is time to reach a ceasefire agreement that brings the hostages home, alleviates the suffering of the Israeli and Palestinian people, and ultimately brings an end to this war.

The international community must also stand steadfast in the face of terrorism and violent extremism, including the sources of support for groups like Hamas. It must condemn Iran’s support for Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region that are responsible for so much death, destruction, and instability.

On this painful anniversary, the US stands with Israel as it defends itself against terrorism. We remain steadfast in our commitment to lasting peace and stability across the region and for a common future for Israelis and Palestinians with equal measures of security, dignity, opportunity, and freedom.

The Lebanese National News Agency reports that in the last thirty minutes a series of Israeli strikes have hit “more than thirty towns and villages in Tyre district”.

There are also Lebanese media reports of a new Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh. Itay Blumental, military correspondent for Israel’s Channel 11, has posted this image on social media which purports to be from the scene.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that a 12-year-old Palestinian child has been shot dead by Israeli security forces in Qalandia refugee camp, which is situated in the Israeli-occupied West Bank between Jerusalem to the south and Ramallah to the north. It reports that seven other people, including three children, were wounded in the same incident. The child was named by the agency, citing the health ministry, as Hatem Ghaith.

Global children’s charity Plan International UK has issued a renewed plea for a ceasefire on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks on southern Israel. In a statement chief executive Rose Caldwell said:

We are heartbroken by the horrific violence that has engulfed Gaza, Israel, the West Bank, and Lebanon since October 2023. Every day that passes without a permanent ceasefire means more children killed, while those who survive are exposed to constant daily traumas that will leave mental and physical scars for years to come.

The international community has a legal and moral obligation to stop this devastation and prevent countless more deaths. We are calling for the unconditional and immediate release of all remaining civilian hostages in Gaza, all Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons, and all Palestinians who have been arbitrarily arrested and detained. We implore the parties to the conflict to respect and adhere to International humanitarian law at all times, and continue to call for an immediate end to the targeting of aid workers by the Israeli military in Gaza.

The UK has withdrawn the families of its embassy staff working in Israel due to the escalation in fighting, Reuters reports.

“As a precautionary measure following escalation in the region, family members of British embassy staff have been temporarily withdrawn,” the Foreign Office travel advice webpage for Israel read. “Our staff members remain.”

The British government has advised citizens in Lebanon to leave the country as Israel expands its airstrike campaign against what it says are Hezbollah targets. British citizens living in Israel are not being told to leave but are being cautioned that consular assistance is “severely limited”.

Summary of the day so far …

It has just gone 3pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City. Here are the headlines …

  • Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon overnight killed 10 firefighters, bringing to 115 the number of rescuers killed in a year, according to a tally compiled by AFP. During a visit to Lebanon, Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, has warned that “Israeli aggression” was pushing the region towards the “abyss” of full-blown war. Two people were killed after Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the Lebanese town of Qaliya in the western Bekaa valley

  • Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated his vow to bring back all hostages still held in Gaza as vigils were held on the one year anniversary of the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed. Israel’s government has failed to agree a hostage exchange and ceasefire deal with Hamas in the ten months since a brief negotiated pause in fighting ended late last year

  • President Isaac Herzog was among those holding a moment of silence at the site of the Nova music festival, where about 360 people were shot dead during last year’s Hamas attack, and where family and friends are holding commemorations

  • Families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza gathered near Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence and stood during a two-minute siren, replicating a custom from Holocaust Remembrance and Memorial Day. Out of 251 people taken hostage on 7 October 2023, an estimated 97 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.

  • Israel’s military has announced the death of a second soldier in combat on the Lebanese border. The IDF has said another division was deployed yesterday for “localised operations” in southern Lebanon

  • Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed that Israel would pay a price for the “genocide” in Gaza. In comments likely to enrage the Israeli prime minister, Erdoğan said “Just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity, Netanyahu and his murder network will be stopped in the same way”

  • The IDF has called on residents of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate southward towards the so-called “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi, where an estimated one million displaced people are sheltering

  • At least 41,909 Palestinian people have been killed and 97,303 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday. The Hamas-led ministry said the toll includes 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours

  • Air raid sirens were activated in central Israel on Monday after rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, the army said

  • A 19-year-old Palestinian journalist whose work appeared on Al Jazeera has been killed in an Israeli strike, the Qatar-based network has reported

The Israeli military has announced the death of second soldier in combat on the Lebanese border, Reuters reports. The military had earlier on Monday said a soldier had been killed in combat on the border and two soldiers were severely injured.

Turkish president says Israel will pay price for 'genocide' in Gaza

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed that Israel would pay a price for the “genocide” in Gaza.

“It should not be forgotten that Israel will sooner or later pay the price for this genocide that it has been carrying out for a year and is still continuing,” he wrote in a post on X.

“Just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity, Netanyahu and his murder network will be stopped in the same way,” Erdoğan said.

“A world in which no account is held for the Gaza genocide will never find peace.”

Erdoğan has been a vocal opponent of Israel’s war on Gaza, which the territory’s health ministry says has killed nearly 42,000 people, many of whom are women and children. He has called for Israel to be punished in international courts and criticised western nations for backing the country’s ongoing military assault.

The Turkish leader added in his post on X:

What has been massacred live on TV in front of the eyes of the world for exactly one year is actually all of humanity, all of humanity’s hopes for the future.

Today, I remember with sorrow the tens of thousands of people who have been massacred by the murderous Israeli government since 7 October, and I offer my most heartfelt condolences to my heartbroken Gazan, Palestinian and Lebanese brothers and sisters who lost their spouses, children and families. Israel’s long-standing policy of genocide, occupation and invasion must now come to an end.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated his vow to bring back all hostages still held in Gaza as vigils were held on the one year anniversary of the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed.

In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu said:

On this day, in this place, and in many places across our country, we remember our dead, our hostages, whom we are obligated to bring back and our heroes who fell in defence of the homeland and the nation. We went through a terrible massacre a year ago.

His comments came just hours after the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Idan Shtivi, 28, one of the hostages taken by Hamas from the Supernova music festival last year, was killed during the attacks and that his “body is still held captive by Hamas”(see earlier post at 07.25).

Out of 251 people taken hostage on October 7 2023, an estimated 97 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.

Netanyahu has been accused of blocking a ceasefire deal over his insistence on continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt, and central Gaza’s Netzarim corridor, a strategic route bisecting Gaza.

Hamas has demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Egypt has said that a heavy Israeli military presence on its border threatens the peace treaty between the countries.

We have a little more information on the Jordanian foreign minister’s diplomatic visit to Beirut (see post at 11.28) today.

Ayman Safadi arrived on board a plane earlier carrying 13 tonnes of food supplies, relief materials, medication, and medical equipment, Al Jazeera reported.

Safadi will meet Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati, speaker of the country’s parliament Nabih Berri, and Lebanese army commander general Joseph Aoun.

Israeli airstrike kills 10 firefighters in southern Lebanon, health ministry says

Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon overnight killed 10 firefighters (earlier reports said 8 firefighters had been killed).

“An Israeli strike overnight targeted a local firefighting centre in Baraasheet where 10 civil defence members were present,” municipal official Reda Ashour said.

The health ministry reported the “killing of 10 firefighters” who were “in the building ready to go out on rescue missions”, bringing to 115 the number of rescuers killed in a year, according to a tally compiled by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

Updated

'Israeli aggression' pushing region towards the 'abyss' of full-blown war, Jordan's foreign minister warns

During a visit to Lebanon, Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, has warned that “Israeli aggression” was pushing the region towards the “abyss” of full-blown war.

“The Israeli aggression... which started in Gaza and now has continued into Lebanon is pushing the whole region into the abyss of full-blown regional war,” Safadi told a news conference in Beirut.

At the beginning of the year, Safadi voiced support for South Africa’s case against Israel in the international court of justice which accused the state of committing genocide in its war on Gaza. Safadi said Israeli military actions against civilians in Gaza met the legal definition of genocide.

Updated

The Israel Defense Forces has called on residents of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate southward towards the so-called “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi, where an estimated one million displaced people are sheltering.

“Israeli army forces are operating with intensity in the area,” the statement read.

Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained in the heavily destroyed north after earlier Israeli warnings that sent around a million people fleeing to the south.

The Israeli military claims its forces are in Jabalia to fight Hamas militants, dismantle military infrastructure and prevent Hamas from regrouping. It was reported yesterday that the Israeli military had carried out intense bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp, killing at least 17 people.

Al-Mawasi, which has also been the target of deadly Israeli airstrikes, is severely overcrowded and aid agencies struggle to provide even the most basic services. Palestinians are being told to evacuate there, even though it is not safe.

In May, an aid worker described to the Guardian the “horrific and dehumanising” conditions, with limited food, filthy and scarce water, overwhelmed healthcare facilities and almost no sanitation.

Another said the coast was “totally jam packed, with block after block of tents and only narrow gaps between them”.

“There is no infrastructure inside the camps and very limited new supplies getting in of course,” he said.

Updated

Two people were killed after Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the Lebanese town of Qaliya in the western Bekaa valley, Lebanon’s state run national news agency has reported.

Families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza – about 100, a third of whom are said to be dead – gathered near Benjamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence and stood during a two-minute siren, replicating a custom from Holocaust Remembrance and Memorial Day. Hamas kidnapped 251 people during the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks, according to Israel’s figures. Our video team has this report on the protest near Netanyahu’s residence:

Updated

Here is the official statement from Spain’s ministry of foreign affairs to mark the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage:

The government of Spain remembers and reiterates its most vehement condemnation of the atrocious Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 and expresses its solidarity with the families and friends of the victims.

It especially remembers Maya Villalobo and Iván Illaramendi, the two Spanish citizens who were killed during terrorist attacks.

One year on, the government expresses its solidarity with the relatives of the hostages who remain in captivity and demands their immediate release.

There needs to be a ceasefire, the release of hostages, access for humanitarian aid to civilians and an end to violence.

The government reiterates its determination to combat anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred and discrimination.

The government is committed to continuing working towards peace in the Middle East and to advancing the solution of two states living side-by-side in peace and security, which is the best guarantee of stability for everyone in the region.

Death toll in Gaza reaches 41,909, says health ministry

At least 41,909 Palestinian people have been killed and 97,303 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The toll includes 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry.

The health ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.

Updated

Air raid sirens ring in several parts of northern Israel and in Tel Aviv

Air raid sirens were activated in central Israel on Monday after rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, the army said. The Israel Defense Forces have also said air raid sirens have been ringing in some areas of northern Israel, including Dovev and Misgav Am, and in Tel Aviv. Earlier today, the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a post on Telegram it had hit Tel Aviv with a barrage of rockets. There have not been any immediate reports of injuries.

Updated

Kim Willsher is a Guardian foreign correspondent based in Paris

French ministers including prime minister Michel Barnier and former president Nicolas Sarkozy will attend a memorial ceremony for the victims of October 7 on Monday evening.

Around 4,000 people are expected at the Dôme arena at the Porte de Versailles to mark the one year anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel and show their support for the hostages still being held in Gaza.

The families of hostages will attend after a meeting with president Emmanuel Macron. France is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe, estimated to number around 500,000 people.

“October 7 was obviously an earthquake for Israel but it was also a shock in France,” Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council for Jewish Institutions in France (Crif), said. He added that he was dismayed by the surge in antisemitism in France over the last year. A total of 887 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the first six months of 2024, according to the interior ministry.

Monday’s event marking October 7 comes days after Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), called on university students to “put Palestinian flags everywhere if possible” in response to a memo from higher education minister Patrick Hetzel calling on universities to “keep order” on the one year anniversary of the Hamas attacks.

Arfi accused LFI of stoking antisemitism in France having “hysterically forced the public debate around the issue of Gaza”. He said Mélenchon had given “political backing” to antisemitism.

On Saturday, Macron called for a halt on the delivery of arms to Israel that could be used in Gaza, provoking an angry response from Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Updated

New Israeli military division sent to Lebanon, IDF says

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said another division was deployed yesterday for “localised operations” in southern Lebanon.

This division is reportedly the third troop grouping at division strength to be used in Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon, which was launched a week ago when several areas in the south of the country were told to evacuate.

“The soldiers of the 91st division began localised and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon,” a statement from the Israeli army read.

More than 2,000 Lebanese people have been killed and more than 9,500 injured since 23 September 2024, when Israel started an intense aerial bombing campaign in south Lebanon and the Bekaa valley.

Updated

Early this morning, Israel intercepted two aerial targets launched from the east after sirens went off in the central areas of Rishon Lezion and Palmachim, the military has said.

Israeli military investigating how Hezbollah-fired missiles broke through defence systems to attack Haifa

As we mentioned in the opening summary, there have been reports that Hezbollah rockets hit Israel’s third-largest city of Haifa early on Monday. Five people were reported to have been injured in the attack in Haifa, with police saying several buildings and properties were damaged.

It was the first direct attack on the northern city that evaded the Israeli military’s usually reliable air defence systems. The military said it is investigating how Hezbollah-fired missiles were able to break through Israel’s air defence systems.

Hezbollah said it targeted a military base south of Haifa with a wave of “Fadi 1” missiles. Media said two rockets hit Haifa - 27 miles (17 km) from the Lebanese border - on Israel’s Mediterranean coast, and five hit Tiberias 65 km (40 miles) away.

Israel’s military confirmed five rockets were launched at Haifa from Lebanon, adding: “Interceptors were fired. Fallen projectiles were identified in the area. The incident is under review.” Israeli media said that overall 10 people were injured in Haifa and Tiberias.

Updated

Hezbollah vows to keep fighting Israeli 'aggression'

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, have vowed to keep up the fight against Israeli “aggression” and called Israel a “cancerous gland that must be eliminated, no matter how long it takes”.

Both Hezbollah and the Lebanese people have paid a “heavy price” for the militant group’s decision to open a “support front” for Gaza on 8 October, but “we are confident... in the ability of our resistance to oppose the Israeli aggression”, it said in a statement.

Hezbollah also said the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed, were “heroic”, saying they will have “historic” effects in the region. There “is no place” for Israel there, the militant group said.

Starting on 8 October 2023, a day after the Hamas led assault on southern Israel, which led to Israel launching a war on Gaza, there have been almost daily cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Hamas’ ally. The violence forced about 60,000 Israelis to evacuate from northern Israel, and about 100,000 Lebanese people from the south of their country.

The Israeli government said its invasion of (southern) Lebanon was to push Hezbollah back from the border so displaced Israelis could safely come home.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in nearly a year of fighting, most in the past two weeks by Israeli attacks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. 1.2 million Lebanese people are estimated to have been forced to leave their homes due to Israeli bombardment that has targeted large swathes of the small country, including Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.

Updated

Lebanon’s state run national news agency, which posts regular news alerts on X, says there has been an Israeli attack on the outskirts of Qsarnaba, in the east of the country, and a “raid” in the Hamra area between the southern towns of Briqa and Zrarieh.

Eleven civilians were injured on Sunday evening in Israeli attacks that targeted displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, and north Gaza’s Jabalia camp, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, is reporting.

Israeli warplanes reportedly bombed a tent sheltering internally displaced people west of the Nuseirat camp, injuring seven civilians. Four civilians in a centre in the Jabalia camp were injured by Israeli attacks, according to the Wafa report.

Israeli forces have regularly targeted Jabalia, displacing most residents there. Yesterday, the Israeli military said its forces had surrounded the Jabalia area of northern Gaza because of what it claimed was the presence of “terrorists” and their “infrastructure”.

Updated

French President Emmanuel Macron has paid tributes to the victims of the Hamas October 7 attack on southern Israel on its one year anniversary.

“The pain remains, as vivid as it was a year ago. The pain of the Israeli people. Ours. The pain of wounded humanity,” he said in a post on X.

“We do not forget the victims, the hostages, or the families with broken hearts from absence or waiting. I send them our fraternal thoughts.”

Macron called for a halt on arms deliveries to Israel for use in Gaza on Saturday, provoking an angry response from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilised countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Yet, President Macron and other western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them.”

On Sunday, Macron talked by phone with Netanyahu, reaffirming France’s “unwavering commitment” to Israel’s security while insisting on a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israeli jets have bombed a house in the town of Srifa, in south-east Lebanon, killing at least four people, according to local media reports.

Updated

Key event

Idan Shtivi, one of the hostages taken by Hamas from the Supernova music festival on 7 October last year, was killed during the attacks and his “body is still held captive by Hamas”, the Hostages and Missing Families forum has said.

The forum said Shtivi, 28, had just arrived at the festival site when the attack began.

The forum, which is made up of a group of relatives of the abductees who have led the protest movement and calls for a ceasefire deal, said in a statement:

On October 7, Idan arrived at the Nova Festival in the early morning to document his friends’ performances and workshops.

However, he never made it inside. When the attack began, Idan helped two strangers he had just met escape from the site. This selfless choice ultimately led to his abduction.

The announcement came as Israel marked the first anniversary of the 7 October Hamas-led attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage. Hamas are still holding around 100 hostages inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Updated

Every day, morning and night, Wiwwaeo Sriaoun prays for the safe return of her son, Watchara. It is now one year since he was taken hostage by Hamas, one of dozens of Thai migrant workers kidnapped from the farms on which they were working in southern Israel on 7 October, last year.

From her home in a sleepy, rural village in Udon Thani, north-east Thailand, Wiwwaeo has followed every development in the devastating and spiralling war that has erupted tens of thousands of miles away since Hamas’s attack on Israel.

“How is he surviving there? Is he safe? Is he still alive? How is he eating? How is he sleeping?” asks Wiwwaeo, 53. The lack of news has been unbearable.

“I have to keeping going because my son still has not returned, and his daughter, my granddaughter, is still little,” she says.

Watchara’s daughter, Irada, whose nickname is Nuu Dee (similar in meaning to “Little Miss Good” or “Little Good Girl”) is now nine years old. At first, she would ask whether her father was still working and when he would return. “She watches the news, and her friends at school ask her about it, and so we told her the truth: that her father was captured, but he is still alive. He’s not dead,” says Wiwwaeo. Someday, they hope, he will come back to pick her up and take her to school again.

Read the full story here:

Palestinian journalist killed in Israeli strike on Gaza

A 19-year-old Palestinian journalist whose work appeared on Al Jazeera has been killed in an Israeli strike, the Qatar-based network has reported.

Hassan Hamad, a freelance journalist who lived in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, had reportedly received threats from an Israeli officer via WhatsApp. It was not possible to verify the claim but the Israeli military has been accused of deliberately targeting journalists, which it denies.

In a post on Hamad’s account on Sunday, apparently by a colleague, it said:

Hassan Hamad, the journalist who did not live past the age of 20, resisted for a full year in his own way. He resisted by staying away from his family so they wouldn’t be targeted. He resisted when he struggled to find an internet signal, sitting for an hour or two on the rooftop just to send the videos that reach you in seconds.

The message continued saying:

Yesterday, from 10 PM, he moved between the bombed locations and then returned to search for an internet signal, only to go back and cover the scenes of the scattered remains. He endured the pain of an injury to his leg, yet continued filming.

At 6 AM, he called me to send his last video. After a call that didn’t last more than a few seconds, he said, “There they are, there they are, it’s done,” and hung up. It’s a feeling no human can bear.

Al Jazeera said it had verified footage of Hamad’s body, which was found in pieces and had to be placed into plastic bags and shoe boxes.

Hamad’s colleagues in Gaza posted tributes to him on social media. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 128 journalists have been killed by Israel in Gaza since the start of the 7 October conflict.

Updated

Pictures are beginning to come in from the site of the Nova music festival, where about 360 people were shot dead in last year’s Hamas attack, and where family and friends are holding commemorations.

President Isaac Herzog was among those holding a moment of silence there at 6.29am, when the attack began last year.

Updated

US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin has reaffirmed his “unwavering US commitment to Israel’s security, a ceasefire in Gaza, and a diplomatic resolution that enables citizens to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border” in a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.

In a statement issued by the Pentagon, Austin also noted that the US maintained a “significant capability” in the region to defend US personnel, support Israel’s “self-defence” and “deter further escalation”.

“The two leaders reiterated their commitment to deterring Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from taking advantage of the situation or expanding the conflict,” the statement added.

The warning against escalation came even as Israel continued to bomb Gaza, where it has killed tens of thousands of people including thousands of children in response to the 7 October Hamas attack, and Lebanon and threatened Iran with retaliatory strikes.

Updated

In her new home in a kibbutz near Netanya, Batsheva Yahalomi knows what it is to see a child released, but also to have a husband who remains missing.

They had lived in Nir Oz kibbutz, where a quarter of the residents were killed or kidnapped. Batsheva’s husband, Ohad, was wounded in the initial attack. In the chaos Batsheva and her two daughters were separated from her teenage son, Eitan, and taken towards the Gaza border by motorbike. She and her daughters managed to escape, but Eitan and Ohad were abducted by different groups of men.

“At the beginning of war, I think the fact of the kidnappings and that children and women were taken was so shocking for everyone that it was urgent to get them out,” she said.

Like many among the families of the remaining hostages, Batsheva has detected a subtle change in attitudes after the impetus for a deal under which more than 100 hostages were released. Support remains still strong, but momentum has faded as other considerations have crept in.

“There are people, I think a small group of people in Israel, radical people, who have accepted situation that the hostages are there and think that there are bigger goals. But most people are supportive.

Read the full story below:

The Israeli military confirmed early Monday it had carried out strikes on al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, claiming it had become the base for a Hamas “command and control complex”, without providing any evidence.

Al Jazeera reported that 11 people were injured in the attack, which targeted the tents of displaced people sheltering in the hospitals grounds. It was not possible to verify either report as Israel does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza.

The hospital, the only functioning hospital in central Gaza, has already been the target of multiple deadly Israeli attacks, including at the end of last month and in August, when an Israeli attack killed at least five people and set the tents of displaced people on fire.

Updated

The armed wing of Hamas has claimed it fired rockets into southern Israel on Monday.

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement that its fighters fired the projectiles at “enemy gatherings” at Rafah crossing, Kerem Shalom crossing and kibbutz Holit near the border with Gaza.

The Israeli military meanwhile claimed it had “thwarted an immediate threat” from Hamas, by attacking “launching positions and an underground [Hamas] route” throughout the Gaza Strip. It was not possible to verify the claim.

Updated

In the past year in the Gaza Strip, Israel has bombed more than 40,000 targets, found 4,700 tunnel shafts and destroyed 1,000 rocket launcher sites, the military has claimed on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. Reuters reports further:

Tallying troops whose names it received permission to publish, Israel’s military said 726 Israeli soldiers had been killed since 7 October 2023. Of those, 380 died in the 7 October attacks and 346 in Gaza combat starting 27 October 2023.

Injured troops numbered 4,576 since that date. Fifty-six soldiers died as a result of operational accidents, which the military did not define.

In data to mark the 7 October anniversary, the Israeli military said it enlisted 300,000 reservists since the start of the war – 82% men and 18% women and nearly half of them aged 20 to 29.

Since the start of the war, 13,200 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza. Another 12,400 were fired from Lebanon, while 60 came from Syria, 180 from Yemen and 400 from Iran, the military said.

It said it killed more than 800 “terrorists” in Lebanon, where 4,900 targets have been struck from the air along with about 6,000 ground targets. Over the past year, Israel arrested more than 5,000 suspects in the West Bank and Jordan Valley.

The military said it killed eight Gaza militant brigade commanders, about 30 battalion commanders and 165 company commanders over the past year.

Updated

Israel bombs Beirut overnight

Israel continued its bombardment of Beirut up overnight, with Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reporting that the latest attack took place just minutes ago.

Huge balls of fire and smoke were seen rising from Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh suburb, which is regarded as a Hezbollah stronghold. The Israeli military claimed it was targeting Hezbollah’s headquarters and weapons warehouses, without providing any evidence for the claim.

It was not immediately clear if there were casualties from the area, which has become difficult to access due to Israeli strikes.

A separate Israeli strike earlier Sunday in the town of Qamatiyeh southeast of Beirut killed six people, including three children, Lebanon’s health ministry said, according to the Associated Press.

One Israeli soldier has been killed in combat on the border with Lebanon, the Israeli military has said, naming him as Master Sgt. Etay Azulay. Two other soldiers from his unit were seriously wounded in the same incident, it said.

Israelis hold vigils, ceremonies as they mark one-year anniversary of Hamas attack

Israelis are expected to flock to ceremonies, cemeteries and memorial sites around the country today, remembering the hundreds of victims, the dozens of hostages still in captivity and the soldiers wounded or killed trying to save them. The Associated Press reports:

At 6.30 am – the exact hour Hamas launched its attack – the families of those killed at the Nova music festival were gathering at the site where almost 400 revellers were gunned down and from where many others were taken hostage.

At that same time, the families of hostages still held in Gaza – about 100, a third of whom are said to be dead – were gathering outside prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence to stand during a two-minute siren, replicating a custom from the the most solemn dates on the Israeli calendar, Holocaust Remembrance and Memorial Day.

An official state ceremony focusing on acts of bravery and hope is set to be aired on Monday evening. The ceremony was prerecorded without an audience – apparently to avoid potential disruptions – in the southern city of Ofakim, where over two dozen Israelis were killed.

But anger at the government’s failure to prevent the attack and enduring frustration that it has not returned the remaining hostages prompted the families of those killed and taken captive to hold a separate event in Tel Aviv.

That event had been set to draw tens of thousands of people but was scaled back drastically over prohibitions on large gatherings due to the threat of missile attacks from Iran and Hezbollah.

Updated

Opening summary

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, invasion of Lebanon and the wider Middle East crisis.

Israel is holding vigils and ceremonies to mark the one-year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack on the country – in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped and taken into Gaza – including at the site of the Nova music festival.

Israel is also on high alert for possible terrorist attacks timed to coincide with the anniversary. Fighting meanwhile continues in Gaza and Lebanon, and the conflict appears on the brink of escalating further, as Israeli leaders threaten Iran with further retaliatory strikes.

Early on Monday Israeli media reported that at least five people were injured in Hezbollah rockets attacks on the Israeli city of Haifa and another in the nearby city of Tiberias. Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli military base near Haifa in its third attack on a military position in the area in one day.

Israel launched fresh strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Sunday, a day after heavy consecutive strikes on the Lebanese capital.

Israeli jets launched a strike targeting the Saint Therese area, and a second targeting the Burj al-Barajneh area, Lebanese state media reported, as well as two additional strikes, including one it described as “violent”. Pictures and videos showed huge explosions of orange fire and smoke from the southern suburbs.

Lebanese security sources said Israeli strikes since Friday on Dahiyeh – said to be a Hezbollah stronghold and the area where leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed over a week ago – were keeping rescue workers from scouring the site of Thursday night’s attack, which apparently targeted his likely successor.

Israel’s military claimed it was targeting Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut and weaspons storage sites, adding that secondary explosions indicated the presence of weapons.

In other developments:

  • The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ordered a “closed military zone” around three towns on the border with Lebanon and issued new evacuation orders for areas in southern Lebanon on Sunday. In a statement, the IDF said it is “strictly prohibited” to enter the communities of Manara, Yiftach, and Malkia. The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson ordered residents of about 25 areas in southern Lebanon to head immediately to the north of the Awali river.

  • Israel expanded its actions in Lebanon, making its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, and Israeli troops launched raids in the south. A Lebanese security official told Reuters that Saturday’s strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli killed a member of Hamas, his wife and two children. Media affiliated with the Palestinian group said the strike killed a leader of its armed wing, naming him as Saeed Atallah.

  • Iranian authorities confirmed the resumption of air traffic after flight cancellations at some airports over “operational restrictions”, state media reported. Flights have been operational again since 11pm (1930 GMT) on Sunday a spokesperson for Iran’s civil aviation organisation said.

  • The UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) has said it is deeply concerned by what it called Israel’s “recent activities” adjacent to the mission’s position inside Lebanon. Unifil said on Sunday that the activities by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are an “extremely dangerous development” as it “urgently” reminded all actors of “their obligations to protect UN personnel and property.” Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, said it is “outrageous” for the IDF to have “threatened” Unifil.

  • More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon nearly a year of fighting, most of them in the past two weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The ministry said on Sunday 23 people had been killed on Saturday.

  • The latest Israeli strikes on Beirut came after days of Israeli bombing that killed the Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and possibly his potential successor, Hashem Safieddine. A Lebanese security source said on Saturday that Safieddine had been out of contact since Friday, after an Israeli airstrike near the city’s international airport that was reported to have targeted him. Israeli strikes across the region in the past year, sharply accelerated in the past few weeks, have shattered Hezbollah’s leadership. On Sunday, the Israeli foreign ministry said its air force killed Hezbollah commander, Hader Ali Taweel.

  • At least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, according to latest figures released by Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday. The health ministry also reported at least 97,166 people have been injured. Thousands more are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory.

  • Israel issued a new blanket evacuation order for all of the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, where hundreds of thousands of civilians remain. “We are in a new phase of the war,” the Israeli military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.” Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained in the heavily destroyed north after earlier Israeli warnings that sent around a million people fleeing to the south, even though people say there is nowhere safe to go.

  • For the first time in months, Israel sent a column of tanks into northern Gaza and launched major operations there, surrounding Jabalia, the largest of strip’s eight historic refugee camps. Gaza’s civil defence agency said 24 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a mosque in central Gaza early on Sunday. Witnesses said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque, near the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, was being used to house displaced people. The Israeli military said it was being used as a Hamas command centre.

  • Palestinians across northern Gaza have been told to flee to al-Mawasi on the southern coast, a so-called “humanitarian area” where an estimated one million displaced people are sheltering. Mawasi, which has been the target of deadly Israeli airstrikes, is severely overcrowded and aid agencies struggle to provide even the most basic services. In May, an aid worker described to the Guardian the “horrific and dehumanising” conditions, with limited food, filthy and scarce water, overwhelmed healthcare facilities and almost no sanitation.

  • The UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said that Lebanon is seeing a “major displacement crisis” as a result of Israel’s escalating airstrikes, some of which have violated international law. About 40% of Lebanon’s 1.25 million school pupils have become displaced by ongoing Israeli attacks, Lebanon’s director general of education, Imad Achkar, said. The Lebanese government has said schools will postpone the start of the academic year due to intensifying Israeli airstrikes. Israeli strikes have forced 1.2 million people – almost a quarter of Lebanon’s population – from their homes, officials say. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said 20,000 Palestinian refugees have been forcibly displaced by Israeli airstrikes on camps in Lebanon.

  • Israeli authorities said they were on the lookout for attacks timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Monday. One woman was killed and 10 people were wounded in the suspected terror attack on Sunday at the central bus station in Be’er Sheva, a city in the Negev desert in southern Israel, the second attack in the last week. Israel’s military reportedly said it anticipates possible long-range rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

  • Syria’s defence ministry said Israel launched airstrikes on military positions in central Syria on Sunday, causing “material damage”. “Israeli strikes” targeted a “weapons depot south of Homs and a rockets depot in the eastern Hama countryside,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights War Monitor, told AFP.

  • Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said his country is closely coordinating with the US as it prepares to strike back at Iran, but that Tel Aviv will make its own independent decisions about how to retaliate. Despite the US having made clear that it opposes a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Gallant told CNN on Sunday that “everything is on the table”. Gallant is expected to visit the US this coming week where he is scheduled to meet with the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. In a statement on Sunday, Gallant warned Iran that it may end up like Gaza or Beirut if it attempts to harm Israel.

  • The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, said Washington will not stop putting pressure on Israeli and Arab leaders during ongoing diplomatic efforts. Harris was asked, in an interview with “60 Minutes” if the US has a “real close ally” in Netanyahu, to which she responded: “The better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? The answer to that question is yes.”

  • The last currently scheduled plane for British nationals leaving Lebanon landed in Birmingham airport on Sunday night. The flight was the fourth charter flight to have left Beirut for the UK. There are no further flights scheduled, the UK Foreign Office said, citing a reduction in demand but it said the situation will be “closely” monitored. In addition, the UK has advised its citizens on Sunday against all travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

  • The UK government is advising Israel to show “restraint” as Keir Starmer warned that “sparks”’ from the Middle East conflict could “light touchpapers in our communities at home”. Peter Kyle, a UK cabinet minister, did not rule out the possibility of the UK military helping Israel attack Iran, but noted any “operational decision to be taken” would be based on “delicate negotiations”.

  • A call by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, for a halt in arms supplies to Israel for use in Gaza has been met with an angry rebuttal from Benjamin Netanyahu. “As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilised countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side,” Netanyahu said in a statement. The pair spoke on Sunday in a call that the Élysée Palace described as “frank”.

  • Thousands of protesters took to the streets in major cities around the world for a second day on Sunday to demand an end to bloodshed in Gaza and the wider Middle East as the start of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory approaches its first anniversary. About 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London while thousands gathered in Paris, Rome, Manila, Cape Town, New York City, Sydney and Melbourne.

Updated

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