Closing summary
We’re winding up our live reporting of the Middle East crisis for now – it’s just passed 3.45am in Tel Aviv, Beirut and Gaza City. Our latest full report can be seen here, as well as all our Middle East coverage. Here’s a recap of the latest – thanks for reading.
Widespread protests have broken out across Israel after the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, fired his defence minister, Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu said there had been too many gaps between them over the management of Israel’s wars and that a “crisis of trust” had developed. He named Israel Katz as the new defence minister. Thousands of Israelis spontaneously rallied in Tel Aviv against the decision, blocking a main road across Israel, while others demonstrated outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, chanting slogans like “We deserve better leaders” and calling the prime minister a traitor. Some clashed with police.
Gallant said after his dismissal that he believed “everyone of conscription age must serve in the IDF and defend the state of Israel” – including the Ultra-Orthodox – and that it was Israel’s “moral obligation and responsibility” to bring Israeli hostages home “with as many alive as possible”. There would not be any atonement for abandoning the captives and for “those leading this mistaken path”, he said. Gallant also spoke of the need for a state inquiry into any security failures that enabled the 7 October attacks.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, called Gallant’s dismissal “the last thing Israel needs”. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the move was an “act of madness” in the middle of a war and that “Netanyahu is selling Israel’s security and the Israeli army soldiers for a disgraceful political survival”. The far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, praised Netanyahu for firing the defence minister, saying that “with Gallant … absolute victory cannot be achieved”.
Israel Katz vowed to prioritise the return of Israel’s hostages and the “destruction” of Hamas and Hezbollah, in his first post on X since accepting the defence minister role.
An Israeli strike targeting a residential building in the town of Barja, about 20km south of Beirut, killed at least 20 people on Tuesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Rescue operations were under way, it said. Flames reportedly continued to emerge from the building on Tuesday evening.
An Iran-backed militia in Iraq reportedly claimed to have fired drones at Israel. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it fired them at an unspecified site in what it appeared to indicate was in Israel’s south, and attacked a “vital target” in the port city of Haifa.
Updated
Yoav Gallant’s sacking as defence minister is likely to precede a shake-up of Israeli-US relations and will give Benjamin Netanyahu a freer hand, Andrew Roth reports in this analysis, in case you missed it earlier.
He writes:
Netanyahu’s decision to fire Gallant removes one of the harshest critics from his own government and empowers members of the far-right and ultra-Orthodox interests in Israel to key positions in Netanyahu’s cabinet.
By all accounts, the key causes for Gallant’s departure lie in domestic Israeli politics: the two men’s disagreements over a hostage deal with Hamas, Gallant’s opposition to blanket exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews from service in the IDF, and over a leaking scandal involving a close aide to Netanyahu.
But Gallant’s departure also comes at a crucial moment: the day of a US presidential election that will determine the nature of continued US support for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as leniency toward Israeli policy in the West Bank and a potential escalation with Iran.
In many ways, Gallant’s sacking is the first step to clear the decks for an unclear new relationship with the US – either with a Kamala Harris administration that will probably continue support for Israel in an environment of deep distrust and growing criticism over the deaths of Palestinians, or a highly unpredictable Donald Trump administration that has vowed to back Israel to “finish the job” despite a fraught personal relationship between the two men.
Read the full analysis here:
Updated
An Iran-backed militia in Iraq claims to have fired drones at Israel, the Times of Israel is reporting.
It quoted the Islamic Resistance in Iraq as saying it fired drones at an unspecified site in “the southern occupied territories”, apparently referring to Israel’s south.
The group also said it attacked a “vital target” in Haifa.
The report said that earlier, the Israeli military said it downed two drones fired from Iraq, including one that entered Israeli airspace in the Arava Desert, close to Ramon airport.
The second drone was shot down before entering Israeli airspace, the military said. Those attacks were also claimed by the Iraqi group.
There were no reports of drone attacks in Israel since then and no sirens had been activated.
Yoav Gallant has posted a tribute on X/Twitter to Israeli military forces and Gaza hostages, along with a photo of himself saluting.
The defence minister, dismissed by Benjamin Netanyahu, says:
I salute Israel’s fallen troops and their families, our wounded veterans, the hostages and their families, all of the IDF’s troops and security forces. I trust you and salute you.
I salute Israel’s fallen troops and their families, our wounded veterans, the hostages and their families, all of the IDF’s troops and security forces.
— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) November 5, 2024
I trust you and salute you. pic.twitter.com/7BuM2v8fyT
As we’ve reported, a speech Gallant made after his dismissal on Tuesday evening can be read in full here on the Times of Israel website. It reports him saying he was sacked for demanding Israeli military service for all – including the Ultra-Orthodox community – a hostage deal and an inquiry into the failures around 7 October.
Netanyahu cited “too many gaps” and a breakdown of trust with Gallant amid the Gaza war among reasons for the sacking.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming in of the thousands of Israelis protesting in Tel Aviv after Benjamin Netanyahu’s sacking of defence minister Yoav Gallant.
As reported earlier, the demonstrators are calling on his Gallant’s successor, Israel Katz, to prioritise a hostage deal to return the captives still held in Gaza.
Updated
An Israeli strike targeting a residential building in a town south of Beirut on Tuesday killed at least 20 people, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
“The raid by the Israeli enemy on Barja left 20 dead,” the ministry said of the strike on the coastal town around 20km south of the capital, adding that rescue operations were under way.
Agence France-Presse also reported that flames continued to emerge from the building on Tuesday evening, according to a correspondent with the news agency at the scene, as several families fled the site.
It was the second Israeli strike on Tuesday in a region outside the strongholds of militant group Hezbollah.
Earlier, a strike targeting another residential building in Jiyeh, near Barja, killed one person, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. A security source said an apartment used by Hezbollah was targeted.
Updated
US has 'real questions' about Gallant dismissal – official
A senior US official has said it has “real questions” about the reasons Benjamin Netanyahu fired defence minister Yoav Gallant and “what is driving the decision”, the Israeli paper Haaretz is reporting.
It quoted the official as saying the Israeli prime minister’s decision was “surprising” and “concerning, especially in the middle of two wars and as Israel prepares to defend against a potential attack from Iran”.
The official said: “We have real questions about the reasons for Gallant’s firing and about what is driving the decision.”
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage – stay with us for the latest on the Middle East crisis
Evening summary
The time in Gaza and Israel is approaching 1am. Here’s an evening summary of events in the Middle East.
Widespread protests have broken out across Israeli after the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and named Israel Katz as the new Israeli defence minister.
Netanyahu said there have been too many gaps between him and Gallant over the management of Israel’s wars, and that a “crisis of trust” gradually developed between himself and Gallant that did not allow for normal management of the war.
Thousands of Israelis spontaneously rallied in Tel Aviv to protest against the decision, blocking a main road across Israel, while others demonstrated outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, chanting slogans like “We deserve better leaders” and calling the prime minister a traitor. Some clashed with police.
In other key developments:
Gallant gave an emotional press conference, stating that he believes “everyone of conscription age must serve in the IDF and defend the state of Israel”. The Ultra-Orthodox in Israel are exempt from military service, while other Israelis are conscripted.
Gallant also said it is Israel’s “moral obligation and responsibility” to bring Israeli hostages home “with as many alive as possible” and that this is “achieveable but involves painful compromises that Israel can bear”. He added there would not be any atonement for abandoning the captives and for “those leading this mistaken path”.
Gallant also spoke of the need for a state inquiry into any security failures that enabled the 7 October attacks and to learn lessons from “a truthful investigation”.
Sirens have sounded in the Red Sea port city of Eilat and in the Arava area, a valley that stretches from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Eilat, after the Israeli military intercepted two drones from the east. No injuries have been reported.
Israel’s newly appointed defence minister, Israel Katz, vowed on Tuesday to prioritise the return of Israel’s hostages from Gaza and the “destruction” of Hamas and Hezbollah, in his first post on X since accepting the role.
That’s it from me, Donna Ferguson. I’m now handing over the blog to my colleague Adam Fulton in Australia. Thanks for following along.
The Times of Israel has published the entire speech of the former defence minister Yoav Gallant after he was sacked.
You can read it in full.
He states that he was informed just a few minutes before 8pm local time in Israel that the prime minister had decided to dismiss him. The news was announced to the media at around the same time.
Reports are coming in about the thousands of Israelis who have rallied in Tel Aviv to protest against the sacking of defence minister Yoav Gallant.
The protesters are calling on his successor Israel Katz to prioritise a hostage deal to return the captives still held in Gaza, according to Reuters.
Chanting slogans against the government and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the demonstrators held up signs with slogans such as “We deserve better leaders” and “Leaving no one behind!”
One protester wore handcuffs and a face mask with Netanyahu’s likeness, others wore “Bring them home now!” T-shirts referring to the hostages.
“Bibi traitor! You’re guilty” chanted some, referring to Netanyahu and blaming him for failing to prevent the Hamas attack on 7 October last year.
“We, the protesters, believe that Gallant … is actually the only normal person in the government,” 54-year-old teacher Samuel Miller told a reporter, slamming Netanyahu’s administration for opening “new fronts in uncalled-for wars”.
“He’s doing nothing to safeguard our peace, the peace of the Palestinians, the peace of everybody in this region,” Miller told AFP.
He also criticised Netanyahu’s government for “doing absolutely nothing to free the hostages” still held in Gaza.
An Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages in Gaza on Tuesday has also expressed “deep concern” over the sacking and urged Katz to “prioritise” a deal to free the captives.
“We expect the incoming defence minister, Israel Katz, to prioritise a hostage deal … to secure the immediate release of all hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
Einav Tzangauker, whose son Matan is among the hostages, was among those protesting against Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.
“If it is possible to replace a defence minister in the middle of a war, then it is surely possible to replace a prime minister who is unqualified to bring back the hostages,” she told Israel’s Channel 12.
Netanyahu “is intentionally endangering Israel’s security and all that because of a dispute between him and Gallant on how to continue the war”, she added.
Updated
Israeli president says Gallant sacking 'the last thing Israel needs right now'
The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has posted remarks on X after the prime minister, Benjamin Netanhayu, sacked his defence minister.
“The last thing Israel needs right now is an upheaval and a rupture in the middle of the war. Israel’s security must be above all considerations,” he wrote in Hebrew.
“One hundred and one hostages are still in enemy captivity this evening. Thousands of bereaved girls and family members mourn their shattered world. Many reservists bear the burden of protecting the people and the homeland and cry out together with their families for a broad Israeli partnership. Thousands of our brothers are evacuated from their homes for over a year.”
He added: “We must not go back towards the abyss! Israel’s enemies are only waiting for a sign of weakness, disintegration or division within us.”
He then said the role of Israel’s leadership is to “act with great responsibility” at this time.
הדבר האחרון שמדינת ישראל צריכה עכשיו זה טלטלה וקרע באמצע המלחמה. ביטחון מדינת ישראל חייב להיות מעל לכל שיקול.
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) November 5, 2024
101 חטופים נמצאים גם הערב בשבי האויב. אלפי בנות ובני משפחות שכולות אבלים על עולמם שחרב. מילואימניקים רבים נושאים בנטל ההגנה על העם והמולדת וזועקים יחד עם משפחותיהם…
Updated
An explosion was heard in the Homs province in Syria, as a result of confronting and shooting down a hostile drone, Syrian state media is reporting.
It did not provide any further details about the damage caused by the drone.
Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli attack targeted an industrial zone and some residential buildings in the town of Qusayr in Homs, Syrian state TV reported.
In a press conference, according to The Times of Israel, Yoav Gallant has revealed he was fired from his post as defence minister over three issues:
how the defence burden should be shared
the need to bring home the hostages
the need for a state commission of inquiry into the 7 October attacks and the war that followed.
Regarding who should serve in the Israeli army, Gallant told reporters “the issue isn’t only a social one, but is a topic central to our existence – the security of Israel and the nation that sits in Zion”.
The Ultra-Orthodox in Israel are exempt from military service, while other Israelis are conscripted.
Gallant predicts Israel will face challenges in the coming years which mean that “there is no choice. Everyone must serve in the Israel Defense Forces, and participate in the mission of defending Israel”.
He said that there will never be “atonement” for abandoning the hostages: “Whoever dies among the hostages can never be returned.” He added: “It will become a mark of Cain on the forehead of Israeli society, and on those who are leading this mistaken path.”
He also called for a government investigation into the 7 October attacks, so that military, political and security lessons can be learned and Israeli forces prepared for future challenges.
At one point, when referring to Israel’s security as his life’s mission, he reportedly choked back tears. “Since October 7, I’ve focused on one mission – victory in the war,” he said.
He went on to praise Israeli’s war effort and warned of a “moral darkness” that has engulfed the country.
Finally, he saluted those have died in the war, the hostages and their families.
Opposition Chief Yair Lapid told the Israeli newspaper that the salute given by fired defence minister Yoav Gallant will be “engraved in the memory of every Israeli”.
“This is how an officer and fighter who was fired only because he refused to prefer Netanyahu’s wretched politics over the good of the fighters and the lives of the hostages,” Lapid said.
Updated
There are eyewitness reports of clashes breaking out between protesters and police outside the residence of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
עימותים בין מפגינים לשוטרים סמוך למעון ראש הממשלה pic.twitter.com/5sXApXSDWZ
— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) November 5, 2024
Updated
Yoav Gallant, who was sacked from his post earlier today, has told reporters that Gaza hostages must be brought home while “still alive” and that “everyone” must serve in the Israeli army.
As my colleague Sarah Haque reported earlier, over 13 months of war in Gaza, and one in Lebanon, disagreements with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over strategy and how best to bring Israeli hostages home frequently put Gallant at loggerheads with his leader.
The final straw that led to Gallant being fired appears to have been his renewed efforts to enforce military conscription for the Ultra-Orthodox community.
Updated
Sirens have sounded in the Red Sea port city of Eilat and in the Arava area, a valley that stretches from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Eilat, after the Israeli military intercepted two drones from the east.
No injuries have been reported.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement that it targeted a “vital target” in Eilat by drones.
The Iraqi pro-Iran group has been launching attacks on Israel since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Updated
Photos show the reaction of Israelis to the decision to sack the defence minister Yoav Gallant.
Biden officials reportedly saw Gallant as a voice of reason within the Israeli government and a politician who understood the need to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
Updated
The Pentagon has said that Yoav Gallant, who has been fired as defence minister, was a “trusted partner” and that America’s commitment to Israel’s security “remains ironclad”.
Pentagon spokesperson Maj Gen Patrick Ryder added in a statement: “The US Department of Defense will continue to work closely with Israel’s next Minister of Defense.”
Updated
Reuters has some more information about Israel Katz, the new defence minister, who is described as a long-time ally and loyalist of the prime minister.
A member of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, in which he was previously president of the party’s convention, Katz has held multiple cabinet roles going back to 2003.
As foreign minister, Katz drew international attention for his pointed attacks on world leaders and international organisations that had expressed opposition to Israeli military actions, particularly in Gaza.
He spearheaded a diplomatic battle against the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and last month Israel’s parliament banned the agency from working in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem.
On Monday, Katz instructed his ministry to formally notify the United Nations that Israel was cancelling its agreements with UNRWA.
Last month Katz triggered outrage when he declared UN chief Antonio Guterres “persona non grata in Israel” and wrote in a post on X that he would ban him from entering the country.
Before serving as foreign minister, Katz’s most notable role was as minister of transport.
He spent a decade in the post from 2009-2019, but had also held the energy and finance portfolios in various Netanyahu cabinets.
Aviv Bushinsky, a political commentator and Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, told AFP that Katz was likely to be more in tune with the prime minister than his predecessor Gallant.
“I cannot recall an incident when Israel Katz was in opposition to Netanyahu with anything,” Bushinsky said.
“It is true he does not have any military experience, but he was a very good transport minister and has sat in the cabinet for many years,” he added.
“Besides, Netanyahu thinks he can run the show himself – and he has managed to run the show even though Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, two generals, quit the government.”
Born in the coastal city of Ashkelon, Katz has been a prominent player in Israeli politics since becoming a member of parliament, the Knesset, in 1998.
Today he is among the highest-ranking ministers in the Likud party.
Married with two children, Katz is a resident of Moshav Kfar Ahim in southern Israel.
Thousands of Israelis are blocking a main highway in Tel Aviv in a spontaneous protest about the sacking of defence minister Yoav Gollant.
Traffic on Ayalon Highway, the main artery through central Israel, has come to a standstill in both directions.
Protesters are lighting bonfires and erecting makeshift roadblocks with road signs and construction materials, and chanting that the Israeli prime minister is a traitor with blood on his hands, the Times of Israel reports.
More than 2,000 protesters are present, according to the Israeli newspaper, and the Ayalon is awash with Israeli flag, photos of the hostages and yellow flags, which signify solidarity with the hostages.
Updated
Police are reportedly blocking protesters from reaching the residence of the Israeli prime minister and have stationed barriers and water cannon at the site.
The police have not yet used the cannon, the Times of Israel reports.
Photographs from Reuters show police detaining a protester.
Updated
Photos are coming in of the anti-government protesters taking to the streets after the sacking of Yoav Gallant.
Updated
The Israeli prime minister is trying to avoid “blowback” from the Biden administration by firing Yoav Gollant on the day of the US presidential election, while Biden’s attention is elsewhere, a US official has reportedly told The Times of Israel.
The official told the Israeli newspaper that the Biden administration was caught off guard by the decision, and is still working to gather more information.
On a previous occasion when Netanyahu fired Gallant, in March, the White House expressed its “deep concern” about the decision, and Netanyahu reversed his decision after widespread public opposition to the move.
The newspaper reports that Biden officials saw Gallant as a “voice of reason” inside the Israeli government.
Updated
Israel’s newly appointed defence minister, Israel Katz, vowed on Tuesday to prioritise the return of Israel’s hostages from Gaza and the “destruction” of Hamas and Hezbollah, in his first post on X since accepting the role.
“I accept this responsibility with a sense of mission and a deep commitment to the security of the State of Israel and its citizens,” Katz wrote in Hebrew.
“We will work together to march the security system to victory against our enemies and to achieve the goals of the war: the return of all the abductees as the most important value mission, the destruction of Hamas in Gaza, the defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the containment of Iranian aggression and the return of the residents of the north and south to their homes in safety,” he added.
אני מודה לראש הממשלה נתניהו על האמון שהעניק לי במינוי לתפקיד שר הביטחון.
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) November 5, 2024
אני מקבל את האחריות הזו בתחושת שליחות ובחרדת קודש למען ביטחונה של מדינת ישראל ואזרחיה.
נעבוד יחד להצעיד את מערכת הביטחון לניצחון מול אויבינו ולהשגת יעדי המלחמה: השבת כל החטופים כמשימה הערכית החשובה ביותר,…
Updated
Thousands of demonstrators are spontaneously gathering near the private residence of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reports.
Skirmishes are breaking out between police and protesters, according to the Israeli newspaper.
Updated
The White House has reacted to the news that the Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant was fired earlier today.
Gollant has been an “important partner” to the US on all matters related to Israel’s security, a White House national security council spokesperson said.
“As close partners, we will continue to work collaboratively with Israel’s next Minister of Defense,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Summary of the day
It is approaching 10pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City, and 11.30pm in Tehran. Here are the key developments you might have missed:
At least 35 people have been reported killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza on Tuesday, including children and people killed after tents housing displaced civilians were struck.
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and named Israel Katz as the new Israeli defence minister. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement late on Tuesday, “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defense minister.” Gallant wrote on X: “The security of the state of Israel was and will always remain the mission of my life.”
Hundreds of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening to protest against the sacking of defence minister Yoav Gallant, according to an AFP journalist. Chanting slogans against the government and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the demonstrators gathered in the commercial hub shortly after Gallant’s dismissal was announced. A previous attempt to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu.
More than 100 patients including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases are due to be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday, per the World Health Organization. It said 12,000 people were awaiting transfer on medical grounds.
Municipal workers began demolishing seven homes in occupied East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood on Tuesday, Palestinian residents and the municipality said, after an Israeli court called their construction illegal.
Israeli planes have dropped leaflets over Beit Lahiya in the far north of Gaza ordering residents who have not yet left their homes and shelters housing displaced families to leave the town. Al Jazeera, citing Gaza’s civil defence, reports that Israeli forces continue to disrupt humanitarian and medical services in northern Gaza for the 14th day in a row.
Action For Humanity (AFH), a UK-based charity which is operating in Gaza, has published a report in which it has claimed that 24% of people it spoke to in Gaza have been displaced ten times or more times over the past year by Israeli military action.
Israel’s military reported that as of 3pm local time (1pm GMT) it had recorded “approximately 40 projectiles” crossing over into Israel from Lebanon today. It also issued an operational update on its ground incursions inside Lebanese territory in which it claims to have located and destroyed an underground structure belonging to Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s Nation News Agency reported the Israeli army “is booby-trapping and destroying entire neighbourhoods in cities and towns, such that more than 37 towns have been wiped out and their homes destroyed, and more than 40,000 housing units have been completely destroyed”. Israel has repeatedly claimed it is carrying out limited intelligence-led raids.
Israel’s army and the Shin Bet have announced that they have arrested what they described as over 60 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Lebanon. In a statement they said senior figures were among those arrested. At least four Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces during the course of their operations inside the West Bank on Tuesday.
Syria’s state TV has reported that the city of Al Qusayr has been targeted by “Israeli aggression”. Al Qusayr is to the north-east of Lebanon, on the approach to Homs from Baalbek.
Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza told AFP on Tuesday that whoever emerges victorious in the US presidential election must end the conflict in the territory, which has taken an appalling human toll.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi spoke to his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty, and according to the Tasnim news agency “reaffirmed that Iran has a right to respond to any violation of its security and territorial integrity in line with the principle of legitimate self-defence”.
Russia was evacuating about 100 of its citizens from Beirut to Moscow on a special flight.
The Times of Israel is reporting that an unnamed Israeli official has told it that nothing will happen on the ground in terms of a ceasefire or hostage deal until the result of the US election is known.
A protest in Tel Aviv by relatives and friends of those still being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas blocked the southern Ayalon highway. In a statement the protestors said “A government that conducts psychological warfare against its own people, while continuously forsaking them, has no mandate to continue a war. Only signing a hostage deal and ending the war in Gaza will bring everyone home”.
Ireland accepted the appointment of a full Palestinian ambassador for the first time on Tuesday, after Dublin formally recognised a Palestinian state earlier this year. Senior ministers confirmed that Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid would step up from her current position as Palestinian Head of Mission to Ireland.
Alon Nimrodi, the father of an IDF soldier Tamir Nimrodi who was seized and abducted into Gaza during the 7 October attack has been highly critical of the government’s handling of the hostage situation, and in an interview described some members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet as “human garbage”.
Hundreds in Tel Aviv protest Israel defence minister’s firing
Hundreds of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening to protest against the sacking of defence minister Yoav Gallant, an AFP journalist reported.
Chanting slogans against the government and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the demonstrators gathered in the commercial hub shortly after Gallant’s dismissal was announced.
In other recent developments, an Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages in Gaza on Tuesday urged the country’s newly appointed defence minister to “prioritise” a deal to free the captives.
“We expect the incoming defence minister, Israel Katz, to prioritise a hostage deal … to secure the immediate release of all hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
Updated
Full-scale war in the Middle East involving Israel and Iran is likely, most western Europeans responding in a poll believe, with many criticising Israel’s conduct thus far and saying that if such a war did occur, the US and Europe should not provide it with military aid.
A YouGov Eurotrack survey in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and the UK found that strong majorities in all seven countries, ranging from 65% in France to 82% in Spain, felt the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 were not justified.
However, the most commonly held opinion in each country – from a low of 43% in Germany, 46% in France, 47% in the UK, 57% in Italy to a high of 65% in Spain – was that neither have Israel’s subsequent attacks in Gaza been justified.
Similar if slightly larger pluralities – from 47% in Denmark through 49% in Germany, 50% in France and the UK and 68% in Spain, consistently one of the EU’s most pro-Palestinian member states – said Israel’s attacks on Lebanon were unjustified.
Read more here:
We’ve had further details come in about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
Gallant is a figure widely considered by Israel’s international allies to be a brake on the far-right elements of the country’s coalition government. A previous attempt to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. The prime minister announced his decision late Tuesday.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defense minister,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement late on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defense minister.”
The prime minister has been at odds with his defence minister since before the war, when Gallant voiced opposition to planned judicial reforms that critics said amounted to democratic backsliding. His dismissal was long expected.
Over 13 months of war in Gaza, and one in Lebanon, disagreements over strategy, how best to bring Israeli hostages home frequently put the two men at loggerheads; the final straw appears to have been Gallant’s renewed efforts to enforce military conscription for the Ultra-Orthodox community.
Updated
The former Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has responded to news that he has just been fired by the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on social media.
He wrote on X: “The security of the state of Israel was and will always remain the mission of my life.” Next to his post, he put two emojis of the Israeli flag.
ביטחון מדינת ישראל היה ותמיד יישאר משימת חיי 🇮🇱🇮🇱
— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) November 5, 2024
Netanyahu fires his defence minister, citing 'too many gaps' and a 'crisis of trust'
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and named Israel Katz as the new Israeli defence minister.
Gideon Saar has been appointed as foreign minister.
Netanyahu said there have been too many gaps between him and Gallant over the management of Israel’s wars.
He added that a “crisis of trust” gradually developed between himself and Gallant that did not allow for normal management of the war, Reuters reports.
Updated
The death toll in Lebanon has reached 3,013 since October 2023, according to the Lebanese government.
Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,013 people and injured 13,553 others over the past 13 months, Reuters reports.
Palestinians in Gaza hope new US president will end war
Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza told AFP on Tuesday that whoever emerges victorious in the US presidential election must end the conflict in the territory, which has taken an appalling human toll.
“We are hanging by a thread, and like every other people in the world, we are looking for someone who can stop the war,” said Ayman al-Omreiti, 45, from Gaza City’s Al-Daraj neighbourhood.
“Our hope is that the American people will choose someone who can end the suffering of the Palestinian people.”
Millions of Americans began to cast their ballots on Tuesday in a contest that pre-election polling suggested was too close to call.
Omreiti, who has been displaced several times during the 13 months since the war broke out, said he hoped Democratic vice-president Kamala Harris would defeat Republican rival Donald Trump.
“The Palestinian people are worried about a possible Trump victory, and we hope the results will be favourable for his opponent, Harris, because she has called for an end to the war several times,” he said.
On Monday, Kamala Harris pledged to “do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza” in her final rally in Michigan on Sunday, as she attempted to appeal to the state’s large Arab American and Muslim American population two days out from the election.
This week Democrats have fought to counter the gains made by Green Party candidate Jill Stein among Arab American and Muslim American voters in Michigan, with the Democratic National Committee launching a series of ads on Instagram and YouTube aiming to discourage people from voting for Stein and Cornel West, who is running as an independent and is also a critic of Israel.
Another Palestinian resident of Gaza City, Hani Ajur, is clear in his view: Whoever becomes president must end the war. Ajur’s son and brother were killed in the war, while his home was destroyed by Israeli shelling.
“We hope that after all these sacrifices … whoever wins, whether it is Trump or Harris, will put an end to this war and bring peace to the region,” he said.
“We are exhausted with the bombings, the destruction, the martyrs, the wounded and the devastation. We’re just tired of this life.”
Updated
Israel demolishes seven Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem
Municipal workers began demolishing seven homes in occupied East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood on Tuesday, Palestinian residents and the municipality said, after an Israeli court called their construction illegal.
“This morning the Jerusalem Municipality, with a security escort from the Israel police, began its enforcement against illegal buildings in the Al-Bustan neighbourhood in Silwan,” Jerusalem’s Israeli-controlled city hall said in a statement.
Activist Fakhri Abu Diab, one of those affected by the demolition, confirmed that “at least seven homes have been demolished, and the operation is ongoing”.
“They demolished my home, which I had renovated after it was previously demolished earlier this year, as well as my son’s house, Haitham Ayed’s family home, and four homes belonging to the Al-Ruwaidi family,” Abu Diab told the Associated Foreign Press. He said around “40 people, including children, were affected by the demolitions in the neighbourhood, leaving them homeless”.
An AFP photographer saw at least four bulldozers operating on Tuesday at demolition sites in the neighbourhood under tight Israeli police supervision.
In a statement, Jerusalem city hall pointed to court orders that call for the demolition of the buildings due to zoning laws that make them illegal.
“The buildings, like most of the buildings in the neighbourhood, are located on an area that is a green designation, that is, an open public area and where there is no possibility for zoning,” the municipality said, adding that the area would become a green zone instead.
Abu Diab said the true aim of the demolitions was “to reduce the percentage of Arabs and alter the demographic composition of Jerusalem in favour of (Israeli) settlers”.
230,000 Israeli settlers live in East Jerusalem, according to the UN. Another 3,000 live in Palestinian neighbourhoods within East Jerusalem’s boundaries, according to Israeli rights organisation Peace Now.
Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the six-day war of 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognised by most of the international community. Permanent settlement of territory occupied militarily is illegal under international law.
Updated
More details have come through about an attack on the Syrian city of Al Qusayr. Syria’s state TV reports that an Israeli attack targeted an industrial zone and some residential buildings in the town of Al Qusayr in central Syria on Tuesday.
The outlet quoted the Homs province’s health director as saying there were no injuries as a result of the attack.
A previous “Israeli aggression” on Qusayr on Thursday wounded a number of civilians and caused material damage, state media reported.
Israel’s military, which typically does not comment on specific reports of strikes in Syria, said in a statement in reference to that attack that it had hit weapons storage facilities and command centres used by militant group Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah’s munitions unit is responsible for the storage of weapons in Lebanon and has recently expanded its activities into Syria in the area of Qusayr. This is a further example of Hezbollah establishing logistical infrastructure to transfer weapons from Syria to Lebanon through smuggling routes,” the statement said.
Israel says it has been carrying out strikes to reduce the transfer of weapons from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The claims have not been independently verified.
35 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza
The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes since Monday night has risen to 35, Palestinian medics and media reported on Tuesday.
Israeli forces issued new evacuation orders in the north of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and carried out military strikes.
Since their last update, medics said on Tuesday that at least five others were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia north of Gaza City.
In a statement issued earlier, Israel’s military claimed that during its operations in the north of Gaza it has “eliminated dozens of terrorists during close-quarters encounters and aerial strikes and dismantled terrorist infrastructure sites.”
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Ireland approves Palestinian ambassador for first time
Ireland accepted the appointment of a full Palestinian ambassador for the first time on Tuesday, after Dublin formally recognised a Palestinian state earlier this year.
Senior ministers confirmed that Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid would step up from her current position as Palestinian Head of Mission to Ireland.
In May, Dublin said it was recognising Palestine as “a sovereign and independent state” comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and agreed to establish full diplomatic relations.
Spain and Norway recognised a Palestinian state the same day as Ireland, with Slovenia following a week later, drawing retaliatory moves from Israel.
Formal diplomatic relations between Ireland and the State of Palestine were established in September.
The upgrade means that the diplomatic mission will now have the full range of privileges and immunities applicable under the Vienna Convention.
Summary of the day so far …
It is approaching 5pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City, and 6.30pm in Tehran. Here are the latest headlines …
At least 30 people have been reported killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza on Tuesday, including children and people killed after tents housing displaced civilians were struck. In its daily update, the Hamas-led health ministry at least 43,391 people have been killed in total
More than 100 patients including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases are due to be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday, per the World Health Organization. It said 12,000 people were awaiting transfer on medical grounds
Israeli planes have dropped leaflets over Beit Lahiya in the far north of Gaza ordering residents who have not yet left their homes and shelters housing displaced families to leave the town. Al Jazeera, citing Gaza’s civil defence, reports that Israeli forces continue to disrupt humanitarian and medical services in northern Gaza for the 14th day in a row
Action For Humanity (AFH), a UK-based charity which is operating in Gaza, has published a report in which it has claimed that 24% of people it spoke to in Gaza have been displaced ten times or more times over the past year by Israeli military action
Israel’s military reported that as of 3pm local time (1pm GMT) it had recorded “approximately 40 projectiles” crossing over into Israel from Lebanon today. It also issued an operational update on its ground incursions inside Lebanese territory in which it claims to have located and destroyed an underground structure belonging to Hezbollah
Lebanon’s Nation News Agency reported the Israeli army “is booby-trapping and destroying entire neighbourhoods in cities and towns, such that more than 37 towns have been wiped out and their homes destroyed, and more than 40,000 housing units have been completely destroyed”. Israel has repeatedly claimed it is carrying out limited intelligence-led raids
Israel’s army and the Shin Bet have announced that they have arrested what they described as over 60 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Lebanon. In a statement they said senior figures were among those arrested. At least four Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces during the course of their operations inside the West Bank on Tuesday
Syria’s state TV has reported that the city of Al Qusayr has been targeted by “Israeli aggression”. Al Qusayr is to the north-east of Lebanon, on the approach to Homs from Baalbek
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi spoke to his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty, and according to the Tasnim news agency “reaffirmed that Iran has a right to respond to any violation of its security and territorial integrity in line with the principle of legitimate self-defence”
Russia was evacuating about 100 of its citizens from Beirut to Moscow on a special flight
The Times of Israel is reporting that an unnamed Israeli official has told it that nothing will happen on the ground in terms of a ceasefire or hostage deal until the result of the US election is known
A protest in Tel Aviv by relatives and friends of those still being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas blocked the southern Ayalon highway. In a statement the protestors said “A government that conducts psychological warfare against its own people, while continuously forsaking them, has no mandate to continue a war. Only signing a hostage deal and ending the war in Gaza will bring everyone home”
Alon Nimrodi, the father of an IDF soldier Tamir Nimrodi who was seized and abducted into Gaza during the 7 October attack has been highly critical of the government’s handling of the hostage situation, and in an interview described some members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet as “human garbage”
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have shot dead three men in Qabatiya. It said “soldiers had fired live bullets at a car after it had deliberately collided with a military vehicle, to force it to stop.”
Israeli authorities have reportedly demolished three homes in the al-Bustan neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem’s Silwan area.
Al Jazeera reports that, according to the Jerusalem Governorate, this is the seventh house demolished in the area in the last year.
Al Jazeera was banned earlier this year from operating in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, and its offices in Ramallah were raided.
Reuters has a quick snap that Syria’s state TV is reporting that the city of Al Qusayr has been targeted by “Israeli aggression”.
Al Qusayr is to the north-east of Lebanon, on the approach to Homs from Baalbek.
More details soon …
The Times of Israel is reporting that an unnamed Israeli official has confirmed to it that Hamas had rejected a proposal for a short-term ceasefire and hostage release deal. They told the Times of Israel that “Nothing is happening on the ground until we know the results of the US elections”. Because of the way the US electoral system works, and how tight the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump appears to be, that could be some time.
The official also appeared to have confirmed an earlier story in Israeli media that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are offering the captors of hostages money and safe passage in return for their release.
Despite brokering efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the US, nobody has been able to bring Hamas and Israel to agree a ceasefire and hostage release deal since the last pause in fighting collapsed late last year.
Updated
Israel’s military reports that as of 3pm local time (1pm GMT) it had recorded “approximately 40 projectiles” crossing over into Israel from Lebanon today.
Here are some of the latest pictures sent to us over the news wires from Gaza.
Lebanese media is reporting further Israeli airstrikes on Aitat, which is to the south-east of Beirut, and Aanquon, which is further south.
Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting that seven people were injured in the earlier Israeli airstrike on Jiyeh, which is on the coast to the south of Beirut. The injured have been transported to the Siblin governmental hospital.
In a daily update, the health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 43,391 people have been killed.
The toll includes 17 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which added that approximately 102,347 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip.
Lebanese media reports a strike on a residential building
Lebanese state media reported a strike on an apartment in the Jiyeh coastal area south of Beirut on Tuesday.
The official National news agency said “a raid targeted a residential apartment in a building in the town of Jiyeh,” where an Associated Foreign Press correspondent said a large plume of grey smoke covered the area.
Updated
Israel’s military has issued an operational update on its ground incursions inside Lebanese territory in which it claims to have located and destroyed an underground structure belonging to Hezbollah.
In the statement, the IDF says it has “destroyed dozens of military structures and assembly sites belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, eliminated terrorists with guidance of Israeli Air Force aircraft, and located numerous weapons and terrorist infrastructure.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel’s military has also permitted publication of images of its soldiers operating inside northern Israel after some members of the media were given a tour by the military on Monday which included visiting the Israeli town of Metula.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have been forced from their homes by repeated rocket fire coming from inside Lebanon. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has made their safe return one of its war aims.
The National news Agency in Lebanon has reported that a plane loaded with humanitarian relief, including food and supplies for shelters, has arrived in Beirut from Saudi Arabia. It reports it is the 19th such shipment since Israel stepped up its aerial attacks on Lebanese territory.
This pictures shows Palestinians in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip burying bodies on Tuesday in a mass grave after people were killed by Israeli airstrikes.
The IDF this morning issued evacuation orders to people who have remained in the north of the territory.
Israel’s military reports that warning sirens are sounding again in northern Israel.
Father of IDF soldier held in Gaza labels members of Israeli cabinet 'human garbage' over failure to strike release deal
Alon Nimrodi, the father of an IDF soldier Tamir Nimrodi who was seized and abducted into Gaza during the 7 October attack, has given a radio interview in Israel in which he is highly critical of the government’s handling of the hostage situation. He called some of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ministers “human garbage”.
Writing in Haaretz, Bar Peleg reports:
“I can’t describe the state’s incompetence and the failure of those involved,” Nimrodi said, adding that he “has no expectations” because “nothing practical is happening.”
When asked if he had tried to speak with coalition members who oppose the potential hostage deal, Nimrodi said, “I’ll be blunt: these people are human garbage. I tried to meet with them, but their arrogance and hubris are even worse than what you see in the media reports.”
Nimrodi also addressed the media’s handling of the hostages, saying, “It’s unacceptable that a report about the hostages is the fifth or sixth item in the main news broadcasts.”
The abducted soldier’s father was speaking on with Kan public broadcaster Reshet Bet radio, and said he personally had reached out to contacts in Qatar to find out more about the negotiations than he was getting from the government.
Action For Humanity (AFH), a UK-based charity which is operating in Gaza has published a research paper into the difficulties on the ground for people when they receive evacuation orders from the Israeli military, titled Erased in Plain Sight.
It found that 24% of people it spoke to in Gaza have been displaced ten times or more times over the past year, and that 15% of respondents said they were unable to evacuate due to disability or caregiving responsibility when they received orders from the IDF.
Charles Lawley, director of communications and advocacy at the AFH, said:
This report shows that Gaza is being erased in plain sight. The so-called “evacuation orders” - and I hesitate to call them that, as that is the language used by the Israeli military and implies it is doing the people of Gaza a favour by giving them a warning before bombing their homes – inflict terrors, are ambiguous and difficult to comply with, on the occasions they are given.
This pattern of relentless military force, characterised by aerial bombardment and ground incursions, forcible transfers, deprivation of basic necessities, and the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, roads and other civilian infrastructure, systematically create life-threatening conditions that align with acts of extermination and genocide.
Israel’s military frequently describes the way it issues evacuation orders as “efforts to minimise harm to civilians while continuing to attack Hamas terror targets,” who it frequently accuses of endangering its own civilians by operating out of populated areas.
Gaza has a population of about 2.2 million people and is one of the most densely populated territories in the world.
This image, taken from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, shows smoke billowing over a village in Lebanon after an Israeli strike.
More than 100 patients including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases will be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday, Reuters reports a World Health Organization (WHO) official said.
WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Rik Peeperkorn, said that 12,000 people were awaiting transfer.
The transferred patients will exit Gaza into Israel via the Kerem Shalom crossing, then travel on to the UAE and Romania.
Foreign minister reiterates Iran's right to defend itself from Israeli attacks
Iran’s Tasnim news agency has carried a read-out of a phone call between Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi and his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty.
In the report, Araqchi is credited with saying that he believed Israel’s actions were “aimed at broadening the war to the entire region and disrupting peace, stability, and security of the region.”
Tasnim also reported:
[Araqchi] also reaffirmed that Iran has a right to respond to any violation of its security and territorial integrity in line with the principle of legitimate self-defence.
Iran and Israel have exchanged several direct state-to-state attacks during the course of the year, with Iran claiming to respond to Israeli assassinations of senior figures, and Israel saying it is responding to Iran’s strikes on its territory.
As my colleague Patrick Wintour noted:
The chain of responsibility, from Iran’s perspective, started with an Israeli bombing on 1 April on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps officers. Iran responded with Operation True Promise 1 on 13 April, a highly signalled attack using drones and missiles.
Israel retaliated on 19 April, with limited airstrikes on an air defence radar close to a nuclear site in Iran.
Subsequently, the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on 31 July, and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut on 27 September along with the IRGC deputy commander of operations, Abbas Nilforoushan.
This led to Iran’s response on 1 October, labelled Operation True Promise 2, in which about 200 ballistic missiles were fired at Israel.
Israel blames Iran for backing Hezbollah, which has had northern Israel under near constant rocket fire since the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel in 2023. Tens of thousands of Israelis have been forced from their homes in the north of the country. Israel attacked on Iran on 26 October, with Tehran anticipated to respond again.
30 reported killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza as IDF orders more Palestinians to flee their homes
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have now killed at least 30 Palestinians since Monday night, Palestinian media and medics said on Tuesday, as the IDF issued further evacuation orders for the besieged Palestinian territory.
Reuters reports that an airstrike damaged two houses in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, and killed at least 20 people late on Monday, citing Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media.
Palestinian health officials said six people had also been killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and Deir Al-Balah, while four other people were killed in the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda around midnight. At least two children were among those reported dead.
Israeli planes have dropped leaflets over Beit Lahiya in the far north of the territory ordering residents who have not yet left their homes and shelters housing displaced families to leave the town.
“To all those who remained at homes and shelters, you are risking your lives. For your safety you have to head south,” said the leaflet, which was written in Arabic. UN agencies have said that almost all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during the course of the war.
Al Jazeera, citing Gaza’s civil defence, reports that Israeli forces continue to disrupt humanitarian and medical services in northern Gaza for the 14th day in a row.
In a statement issued earlier, Israel’s military claimed that during its operations in the north of Gaza it has “eliminated dozens of terrorists during close-quarters encounters and aerial strikes and dismantled terrorist infrastructure sites.”
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Reuters has a quick snap, citing Interfax, that Russia is evacuating about 100 of its citizens from Beirut to Moscow on a special flight.
Israel’s army and the Shin Bet have announced that they have arrested what they described as over 60 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Lebanon. In a statement they said senior figures were among those arrested.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have detained at least 15 people this morning in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
It takes, the agency says, the number of people detained by Israel in the 13 months since the 7 October attack to over 11,600.
Here are some images of the scenes of protest in Tel Aviv, where relatives and loved ones of Israelis still being held captive in Gaza by Hamas are calling on Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government to do more to secure their release.
Al Jazeera reports that the death toll from an Israeli strike on tents housing displaced people in central Gaza has risen to six, and includes a six-year-old and a four-year-old child.
Lebanon’s Nation News Agency has reported that the Israeli army, which has been staging incursions inside the south of the country, “is booby-trapping and destroying entire neighbourhoods in cities and towns, such that more than 37 towns have been wiped out and their homes destroyed, and more than 40,000 housing units have been completely destroyed.”
The report suggests that Israeli forces are clearing an area 3km deep that runs from Naqoura on the coast to Khiam in the east.
At least four people killed by Israeli security forces in occupied West Bank
At least four people were killed on Tuesday during an Israeli military raid and airstrikes on the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Reuters reports the Palestinian ministry said two people had been killed in the city of Qabatiya and two others in the Tammoun area.
Palestinian news agency named one of those killed in Tammoun as Hani Bani Odeh, and said that the body of the second dead person there had been taken by Israeli forces.
Palestinian media sources report that Hezbollah claims to have targeted Israeli forces in the north of the country at Dovev, which is close to the UN-drawn blue line that separates Lebanon and Israel.
Earlier the Israeli military reported that warning sirens were sounding in the Upper Galilee area.
Israeli media reports that the Iranian-backed militia Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed to have launched three drones overnight that were aimed at Haifa.
A protest in Tel Aviv by relatives and friends of those still being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas has again blocked the southern Ayalon highway.
Haaretz quotes the protestors saying in a statement:
Netanyahu is sacrificing the lives of the 101 hostages in Gaza, who have been held there for nearly 400 days, and repeatedly endangering our security.
A government that conducts psychological warfare against its own people, while continuously forsaking them, has no mandate to continue a war. Only signing a hostage deal and ending the war in Gaza will bring everyone home.
Hamas seized about 250 hostages from Israel during the 7 October attack in 2023, of which about 100 are still believed to be held in Gaza. A significant number of them are believed to have been killed.
Lebanese media reports further fighting in the south of the country
The National News Agency in Lebanon has reported fighting in the south of the country, near Halta, Kfarchouba and Chebaa, all of which are close to the blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
In its report, the agency says “some heights are witnessing movements of enemy [Israeli] infantry forces and vehicles … these movements are being targeted by [Hezbollah] rocket salvos, while the forested areas remain exposed to artillery shelling and airstrikes from time to time.”
Yesterday the Israeli military said it was “conducting limited, localised, targeted raids based on precise intelligence in thicketed terrain along the border fence in southern Lebanon, where the Hezbollah terrorist organisation has established itself.”
The death toll in Lebanon since Israel stepped up its campaign and began launching significant airstrikes has reached over 3,000 according to Lebanese authorities.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have been forced to flee their homes in northern Israel by near constant rocket fire from inside Lebanon, which itself has seen over a million people displaced by Israeli attacks.
Israel’s military says that following an “hostile aircraft infiltration” warning in Masada in southern Israel near the Dead Sea, its air force intercepted a UAV that crossed into Israel from the east. It also claims to have intercepted a separate drone that crossed into Israel from Lebanon this morning.
At least 29 killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza including attacks on tents housing displaced people
At least 29 Palestinians were killed early on Tuesday by Israeli airstrikess on Gaza, including on tents housing displaced people. Casualties were recorded in Beit Lahiya, Deir Al-Balah and the town of Al-Zawayda, Reuters reports, citing Palestinian news agency Wafa.
According to Wafa, 20 people were killed in a heavy airstrike on a home in Beit Lahiya, located in the northern part of Gaza, two people were killed when a tent in central Deir al-Balah was hit and four people were killed and others injured in a similar attack on a tent in al-Zawayda.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
US steps up criticism of Israel over Gaza conditions amid threat of possible sanctions
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
The Biden administration has stepped up criticism of Israel for not doing enough to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza as a 30-day deadline for Israeli officials to meet certain requirements or face potential sanctions looms.
State department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday gave Israel a “fail” grade in terms of meeting the conditions laid out in a letter last month to senior Israeli officials by secretary of state Antony Blinken and defense secretary Lloyd Austin. He said there were still roughly nine days until the deadline expires, but that limited progress thus far has been insufficient.
“As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around,” Miller told reporters.
It comes as Israel formally notified the United Nations of its intention to ban the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, in a move the country’s allies and aid workers warn will deepen the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 16 Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and residents feared new air and ground attacks were aimed at emptying areas of civilians in the territory’s north.
In other developments:
More than 50 countries are urging the UN security council and general assembly to take immediate steps to halt arms sales or transfers to Israel, saying there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect the military materiel will be used in conflict-torn Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel claims to have killed two senior Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon in two separate strikes, as it continues its attacks on what it calls terrorist infrastructure. Lebanese authorities have put the death toll from Israeli airstrikes in the country at over 2,800.
Palestinian authorities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have said that a massacre was narrowly avoided after an arson attack attributed to Israeli settlers on a building and about 20 cars in Al-Bireh, near to Ramallah. Witness said ten people poured liquid on the cars to torch them. Israeli security forces say they are investigating the incident.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that 94,431 children under the age of 10 got a polio vaccine over the weekend, which represents 79% of the target in northern Gaza. At least 90% vaccination of a population is needed to stop the spread of the virus.
Leaks from Netanyahu’s office may have compromised a peace deal, an Israeli court found. A breakdown in peace negotiations may have been caused by leaked and falsified documents involving a close aide to the prime minister, an Israeli court has said. The leaking of the documents – to Britain’s Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s tabloid Bild – came at a crucial time for hostage negotiations.
Updated
