Summary of the day …
The US and 17 other countries including the UK, France and Germany, calling for the release of hostages by Hamas, and saying that there is a deal on the table that offers “an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza” in return. In the letter they write “The fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza, who are protected under international law, is of international concern. We emphasise that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza.”
Briefing the media about the letter, a senior US administration official said Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had prioritised holding on to the hostages over securing a ceasefire. They said “Hamas is holding hostages, they are releasing videos of the hostages and refusing to let the hostages go back to their families. And if they would do that, this crisis will wind down. It’s just a very clear path.”
Israel appears to be readying to send troops into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the only corner of the strip that has not seen fierce ground fighting and where more than half of the Palestinian territory’s population of 2.3 million has sought shelter. Haaretz reported “The Israeli army has informed the government that its forces have completed their preparations for an upcoming operation in Rafah, and that the date for such an operation is to be decided by the cabinet.”
An aid worker who was part of Belgium’s development aid efforts has been killed by an Israeli strike on Gaza, the country’s development minister, Caroline Gennez, said on Thursday. The statement said at least seven people were killed by the strike on a building that housed about 25 people, including displaced people from other parts of the Gaza Strip. “The indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians goes against every international and humanitarian law and the rules of war”, Gennez said. More than 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began.
At least 34,305 Palestinians have been killed and 77,293 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. That number includes 43 deaths in the last 24 hours. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
16-year-old Khaled Raed Arouq was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid in Ramallah, reports Palestinian news agency Wafa. A boy has also been injured during an Israeli security force raid in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus.
Both US Centcom and the Greek defence ministry have reported that their forces have intercepted or shot down drones or missiles believed to have been fired at commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
A row has taken place in the House of Lords in London – the unelected second chamber of the British parliament – after a minister refused to answer what they described as a “deeply inappropriate” question about British Jews and Israel.
Journalist and broadcaster Lord Singh of Wimbledon asked:
Would the minister agree that it would enhance the image and security of the wonderful Jewish people if the Jewish people in this country were to issue a strong statement disassociating themselves from the policies of the Netanyahu government, the atrocities that have been committed on the people of Gaza, who are also human?
Instead of that, the Board of Deputies has unfortunately sent a delegation to Tel Aviv, showing solidarity for what the Netanyahu government. Atrocities include the destroying of hospitals and the firing on aid convoys, killing even British people.”
In reply, PA Media reports Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom replied:
I think that’s a deeply inappropriate question and I’m not going to stoop so low as to answer it.
Conservative peer Baroness Altmann, who is Orthodox Jewish, said later in the debate that the British Jewish community have “no responsibility for the actions of an overseas government”.
The unelected upper chamber were discussing plans to enhance the safety of London’s Jewish community amid a rise in antisemitic abuse.
The senior US administration official added in a media briefing about the hostage appeal letter:
I think we are just shining the spotlight on the fact that, as awful as this crisis is in so many different dimensions, there’s a core fundamental truth to it that Hamas is holding hostages, they are releasing videos of the hostages and refusing to let the hostages go back to their families. And if they would do that, this crisis will wind down. It’s just a very clear path.
Speaking as the White House issued a joint appeal with 17 other countries for the release of hostages from Gaza, a senior US administration official told the media:
[Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar has made the decision he’d rather hold [the hostages] rather than securing a ceasefire and that’s just the truth of the situation.
Right now – and I think this is the view of the Egyptians and those who are very deeply involved in this – the answer that came back from inside Gaza was basically totally non-constructive.
Now, I will say since then, we have had signals that “we didn’t mean to reject it” and this is coming from Hamas, and we’re actually ready to sit down again. But whether or not this is just stringing things out, or whether that’s something real, we’re gonna test that proposition here over the coming days.
18 countries including US release letter offering 'immediate and prolonged Gaza ceasefire' in return for hostage release
The White House has issued a joint letter signed by the leaders of 18 countries calling for the release of hostages by Hamas, and offering “an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza” in return.
The letter reads:
We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days. They include our own citizens. The fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza, who are protected under international law, is of international concern.
We emphasise that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities. Gazans would be able to return to their homes and their lands with preparations beforehand to ensure shelter and humanitarian provisions.
We strongly support the ongoing mediation efforts in order to bring our people home. We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages, and let us end this crisis so that collectively we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region.
As well as the US, the letter is signed by Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, and the UK.
For its part, Israel appears set to launch a planned ground offensive on Rafah in the south of Gaza, with Israeli media reporting that the IDF has told the government it is ready and awaiting orders, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet meeting to discuss the plans.
Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza have put renewed pressure on Netanyahu’s government to restart negotiations for a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of their loved ones.
Hamas and other militant groups took about 250 people hostage on 7 October when they overran towns and kibbutzim next to Gaza. 105 were released as part of a hostage deal last November in exchange for a pause in fighting. It is unclear how many of the remaining hostages are still alive.
Here are some pictures sent over the news wires from occupied Hebron, where Jewish settlers under the protection of Israeli security forces have again paraded during the Passover holiday.
Palestinian news agency Wafa earlier reported that 16-year-old Khaled Raed Arouq was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid in Ramallah. It reported Arouq died after being “shot by Israeli gunfire” early on Thursday morning.
Wafa said Israeli military vehicles stormed the city and “confrontations broke out between citizens and the occupation forces, who fired live bullets and stun grenades”. It said Israeli forces were stationed in several neighbourhoods and raided a house in al-Bireh to the north-east.
AFP is carrying some further detail, reporting that the Palestinian health ministry said Arouq was shot in the chest and “martyred by the occupation’s live bullets”.
Israeli police said “terrorists threw stones at the forces operating in the area, the forces responded with gunfire, and hits were identified”.
The police said they made several arrests and that Israeli forces did not suffer any casualties. The army did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
AFP has also spoken to Majed Arqawi, a cousin of Arouq, who told the news agency “He was hit by a bullet in his back, which exited through his chest … they assassinated him in cold blood.”
A funeral for the 16-year-old has taken place in Jenin. Wafa said Arouq’s father was an officer in the Palestinian military intelligence service.
Yaniv Kubovich reports for Haaretz that Israel’s military has told the government it is ready to go ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah.
The Israeli army has informed the government that its forces have completed their preparations for an upcoming operation in Rafah, and that the date for such an operation is to be decided by the cabinet. The IDF awaits the government’s decision, and when it comes, it will begin evacuating Rafah. According to army estimations, the evacuation of the remaining population of Rafah – about one million people – will take weeks, and forces will enter the territory only after it is completed.
Belgian aid worker and 7-year-old son killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrike on Rafah
An aid worker who was part of Belgium’s development aid efforts has been killed by an Israeli strike on Gaza, the country’s development minister, Caroline Gennez, said on Thursday.
“It is with deep sadness and horror that we learn of the death of our colleague Abdallah Nabhan (33) and his seven-year-old son Jamal, last night, following a bombardment by the Israeli army in the eastern part of the city of Rafah”, Reuters reports the minister said in a statement.
Nabhan worked for the Enabel agency, assisting small businesses.
The statement said at least seven people were killed by the strike on a building that housed about 25 people, including displaced people from other parts of the Gaza Strip.
“The indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians goes against every international and humanitarian law and the rules of war”, Gennez said.
More than 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began. On 1 April international outrage was sparked when a series of Israeli drone strikes killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers after their convoy was targeted. A service to honour the seven was being held in Washington DC today, with senior figures of the Biden administration in attendance.
Ruth Michaelson reports for the Guardian from Jerusalem
The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza have put renewed pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to restart negotiations for a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of their loved ones, as Israeli authorities said they were making progress in preparations for a ground assault on Rafah.
After the release by Hamas of a hostage video of the Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, police and protesters clashed outside the Israeli prime minister’s Jerusalem home, and demonstrators lit fires, set off fireworks and swarmed the car of the far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Speaking under duress in the proof-of-life video posted on Hamas’s Telegram account, Goldberg-Polin accused Israel’s government of abandoning the people who are being held hostage by Hamas and claimed that 70 captives had been killed in Israel’s bombing campaign.
Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), described the video as “an urgent call for action”, adding that “until Hamas releases our hostages the IDF will continue to pursue Hamas everywhere in Gaza”.
“Despite preparations to enter Rafah, until now we saw lots of military pressure, and my brothers-in-law are still not back home,” said Dalia Cusnir, whose husband’s brothers are being held in Gaza. “This will only come through a deal.”
“It feels from outside that they’re not making every effort,” she said of the Israeli government. “They just don’t understand that time is … not even running out, it has run out.”
Read more of Ruth Michaelson’s report here: Families of Israeli hostages renew pressure for ceasefire negotiations
A top EU has said it is crucial for the bloc’s mission to the Red Sea to “conserve resources” over the long haul because the threat posed by Houthi attacks “will not disappear”.
Austrian Gen Robert Brieger was speaking after a Greek frigate, part of the EU mission called Aspides, said it had intercepted drones fired this morning.
The chair of the EU’s military committee, Brieger, said “The task given to the military is simply to protect merchant ships and to show the public that the EU is not willing to accept a terrorist organisation will interrupt the freedom of movement at sea,” Brieger said.
Associated Press reports Brieger said that he’s asking EU members to provide the necessary resources. He said that it is the first time that the EU has launched a naval operation in a hostile environment that’s twice the size of the 27-nation bloc, calling it a “litmus test” that the bloc will pass successfully.
Summary of the day so far …
The White House says it wants “answers” from Israeli authorities after the discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli sieges. The head of Khan Younis’s civil defence department has said that only 65 bodies have been identified out of 392 bodies recovered from mass graves in Gaza. Yamen Abu Sulaiman is quoted by Al Jazeera saying the rest of the bodies remain unidentified because of advanced decomposition or mutilation. He called for access for international media. Israel has insisted that “The claim that the IDF buried Palestinian bodies is baseless and unfounded.”
Israel appears to be readying to send troops into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the only corner of the strip that has not seen fierce ground fighting and where more than half of the Palestinian territory’s population of 2.3 million has sought shelter. The Israeli military said on Wednesday that two reservist brigades had been mobilised for missions in Gaza, while video that circulated online appeared to show rows of square white tents going up in Khan Younis, 3 miles (5km) north of Rafah, which was decimated in a months-long Israeli air and ground campaign.
At least 34,305 Palestinians have been killed and 77,293 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. That number includes 43 deaths in the last 24 hours. Palestinian hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip overnight have killed at least five people, including two children, identified in hospital records as Sham Najjar, six, and Jamal Nabahan, eight. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Hamas has released a video of an Israeli-American man held hostage in Gaza who is seen alive and saying that the captives are living “in hell”. He identifies himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on 7 October. The video showed him missing a hand. His parents said in a statement they were “relieved to see him alive” but worried for his wellbeing.
A top Hamas political official has told the Associated Press the militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders. The comments by Khalil al-Hayya in an interview Wednesday came amid a stalemate in months of ceasefire talks.
16-year-old Khaled Raed Arouq was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid in Ramallah, reports Palestinian news agency Wafa. A boy has also been injured during an Israeli security force raid in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus.
Both US Centcom and the Greek defence ministry have reported that their forces have intercepted or shot down drones or missiles believed to have been fired at commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
A memorial at the National Cathedral in Washington on Thursday will honour the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza earlier this month.
At least 20 people were arrested, including a photojournalist, as police and demonstrators violently clashed at the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday.
Images from the news wires show that Israel is continuing to bombard Gaza and carry out airstrikes on Lebanon.
The United Kingdom maritime trade operations (UKMTO) has provided more details on an incident 15 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s Aden. It writes:
The master reports a loud bang heard and a splash and smoke seen coming from the sea. The master reports vessel and all crew are safe. Military authorities are supporting. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.
Earlier today both US Centcom and the Greek defence ministry reported intercepting drones or missiles believed to be fired by Yemen’s Houthis.
Lauren Gambino is in Washington for the Guardian, and has written an explainer on what Donald Trump’s Middle East policy might be if he were re-elected …
More than six months into the ruinous Middle East conflict, amid fears of a wider regional war, Donald Trump has offered plenty of criticism – of US president Joe Biden, his successor and all-but-certain rival for the White House, and of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister – but few details on what he might have done differently.
Trump’s relative silence leaves major questions about how he would act if he were to inherit the conflict in January.
At a windy rally in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, earlier this month, Trump began his hour-long address by sending prayers and support to Israel as it withstood Iran’s aerial assault.
“They’re under attack right now,” the former president and presumptive Republican nominee said. “That’s because we show great weakness.”
Trump, who often describes himself as the “best friend that Israel has ever had”, blamed Tehran’s bombardment – and the entire bloody crisis – on Joe Biden, claiming it “would not have happened” if he had been president.
Yet moments later, he appeared to agree with his supporters when they began chanting “Genocide Joe” – a term more commonly invoked by activists protesting against Biden’s abiding support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 33,800 Palestinians and pushed the territory to the brink of famine.
“They’re not wrong,” the former president said, as he stepped away from the lectern and let them chant.
Read more of Lauren Gambino’s explainer here: What would Trump’s Middle East policy be if he were re-elected?
The head of Khan Younis’s civil defence department has said that only 65 bodies have been identified out of 392 bodies recovered from mass graves in Gaza.
Yamen Abu Sulaiman is quoted by Al Jazeera saying the rest of the bodies remain unidentified because of advanced decomposition or mutilation. He called for access for international media.
Hamdah Salhut, reporting for Al Jazeera from East Jerusalem also had this to say on the subject, writing:
The Israelis did say … they had intelligence, that there were captives buried there, and that they did this in a targeted and precise manner with dignity and respect.
But what we’ve been seeing from images on the ground, what we’re hearing from Palestinians, is a completely different story.
If an investigation were to be had, it would be the Israeli army carrying out this investigation themselves, followed by some sort of conclusion where they have absolved themselves of any wrongdoing.
Israel has insisted that “The claim that the IDF buried Palestinian bodies is baseless and unfounded.”
Death toll in Gaza Strip has reached 34,305 Palestinians – ministry
At least 34,305 Palestinians have been killed and 77,293 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday, Reuters reports.
That number includes 43 deaths in the last 24 hours. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel has continued to bombard Gaza today. Among those killed in strikes overnight and into Thursday in Rafah were two children, identified in hospital records as Sham Najjar, six, and Jamal Nabahan, eight.
The US Central Command has said that it has this morning shot down four drones and an anti-ship missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
April 24 Red Sea Update
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 24, 2024
At 11:51 a.m. (Sanaa time) on April 24, a coalition vessel successfully engaged one anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) launched from Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas in Yemen over the Gulf of Aden. The ASBM was likely targeting the MV… pic.twitter.com/MppinZTpTi
This follows an earlier report by the Greek defence ministry that its ship in the region had also intercepted two drones. [See 7.37am BST]
The United Kingdom maritime trade operations (UKMTO) has reported it has been notified of an incident 15 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s Aden.
UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 065 - ATTACK#MartimeSecurity #MarSechttps://t.co/fX3hWupi7g pic.twitter.com/mQ3nmxwGj7
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) April 25, 2024
More details soon …
Here is our video report on the mass graves at a hospital complex in Gaza. Palestinian civil defence teams began exhuming bodies outside the Nasser hospital complex in Khan Younis last week after Israeli troops withdrew. A total of 310 bodies have been found in the past week, Palestinian officials have said.
Palestinian rescue teams and several UN observation missions also reported the discovery this month of multiple mass grave sites at al-Shifa hospital compound in Gaza City after an Israeli withdrawal.
Officials in Gaza said the bodies at Nasser were people who had died during the siege. Israel’s military on Tuesday rejected allegations of mass burials at the hospital, saying it had exhumed corpses in the hope of finding hostages taken by Hamas in October.
Palestinian hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip have killed at least five people.
Among those killed in the strikes overnight and into Thursday were two children, identified in hospital records as Sham Najjar, six, and Jamal Nabahan, eight.
More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it appears to be preparing for an offensive in the city.
In central Gaza, four people were killed in Israeli tank shelling, and their bodies were brought to a local hospital. Family members told the Associated Press they were killed as they tried to move to northern Gaza, where Israel’s military is preventing people from returning to their homes.
Updated
Here are some of the scenes in Jerusalem, where people, including Israeli interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have been worshipping during the Passover holiday.
Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah for Al Jazeera, states that two people have been killed there by drone strikes. He writes for the news network:
A surge in attack drones flying over Rafah has taken place over the past couple of hours. At least two people have been hit in what appear to be targeted killings – one in the western part of the city and the other in the east. They were killed when the drones fired missiles about half an hour apart. The tragedy keeps unfolding. The destruction is overwhelming. Everywhere you go, you see rubble-filled roads.
Pictures coming in overnight from the news wires show Palestinians mourning those killed by the latest round of Israeli airstrikes on Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, an area where Israel’s military has repeatedly ordered civilians to evacuate to.
A memorial at the National Cathedral in Washington on Thursday will honour the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza earlier this month.
José Andrés, the chef and philanthropist behind the Washington-based World Central Kitchen disaster relief group, is expected to speak at the celebration of life service, Associated Press reports.
The aid workers were killed 1 April when a succession of Israeli armed drones ripped through vehicles in their convoy as they left one of World Central Kitchen’s warehouses on a food delivery mission. The Israeli military dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others after the seven aid workers were killed.
The aid workers, whose trip had been coordinated with Israeli officials, are among more than 220 humanitarian workers killed in the six-month-old Israel-Hamas war, according to the United Nations. That includes at least 30 killed in the line of duty.
The Biden administration said that Douglas Emhoff, husband of vice-president Kamala Harris, and US assistant deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell would be among senior administration figures attending.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that a boy has been injured during an Israeli security force raid in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus.
A Wafa correspondent reported that Israeli forces “raided a number of homes, searched them, and tampered with their contents”, and a Palestine Red Crescent Society spokesperson said its ambulance crews took the boy to hospital after he was shot and received bullet wounds.
An earlier report from Wafa states that 16-year-old Khaled Raed Arouq was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid in Ramallah.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
Al Jazeera reports that Israel continues its aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
The news network writes that “An airstrike targeted a family home in the area of Fukhari, east of Khan Younis. The extent of casualties remains unclear. Meanwhile, more Israeli air raids took place in the western part of Rafah, following earlier reports of overnight strikes on a home in the southernmost city of Gaza that killed at least five.”
Greek vessel intercepts two drones launched by Yemen's Houthis
A Greek military vessel serving in the EU’s naval mission in the Red Sea intercepted two drones launched by Yemen’s Houthis towards a commercial ship.
Reuters reports that officials at the Greek defence ministry said on Thursday “On Thursday morning Greek frigate Hydra, while it was escorting a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden, fired at two drones.”
“It destroyed one while the second moved away,” they added. Another defence official confirmed the details of the incident to the news agency.
Greece has supplied a frigate to the EU’s mission, called Aspides, that launched in February to help protect the key maritime trade route from drone and missile attacks. Yemen’s Houthis say they have been targeting Israeli commercial interests in the Red Sea as a show of support for the Palestinian people of the besieged Gaza Strip.
At least 20 people were arrested, including a photojournalist, as police and demonstrators violently clashed at the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday.
Hundreds of students walked out of class to protest against the conflict in Gaza and demand the university divest from companies that manufacture machinery used in Israel’s war efforts, carrying signs and chanting.
Dozens of local and state police – including some on horseback and holding batons – formed a line to stop protesters from marching through campus. Officers pushed them off the campus lawn and at one point sent people tumbling into the street.
According to local reporter Ryan Chandler, police ordered demonstrators to disperse via an audio announcement that could be heard across campus: “I command you in the name of the people of the state of Texas to disperse.”
Welcome and opening summary
Welcome to our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I’m Martin Belam in London and I’ll be with you for the next while.
The White House says it wants “answers” from Israeli authorities after the discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli sieges.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said health workers uncovered nearly 340 bodies of people allegedly killed and buried by Israeli forces at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, reports Agence France-Presse. About 30 bodies were reported found buried in two graves in the Al-Shifa hospital courtyard in Gaza City.
Israeli army spokesperson Major Nadav Shoshani claimed the grave at Nasser “was dug – by Gazans - a few months ago”.
The Israeli army did acknowledge that “corpses buried by Palestinians” had been examined by soldiers searching for hostages, but did not directly address allegations that Israeli troops were behind the killings.
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:
Israel appears to be readying to send troops into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the only corner of the strip that has not seen fierce ground fighting and where more than half of the Palestinian territory’s population of 2.3 million has sought shelter. The Israeli military said on Wednesday that two reservist brigades had been mobilised for missions in Gaza, while video that circulated online appeared to show rows of square white tents going up in Khan Younis, 3 miles (5km) north of Rafah, which was decimated in a months-long Israeli air and ground campaign.
Hamas has released a video of an Israeli-American man held hostage in Gaza who is seen alive and saying that the captives are living “in hell”. He identifies himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on 7 October. The video showed him missing a hand. His parents said in a statement they were “relieved to see him alive” but worried for his wellbeing.
A top Hamas political official has told the Associated Press the militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders. The comments by Khalil al-Hayya in an interview Wednesday came amid a stalemate in months of ceasefire talks.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has claimed that since 7 October 2023, Israeli military strikes have killed half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon. Israel’s military issued a statement earlier to say this morning it struck at what it called “Hezbollah terror targets” in southern Lebanon. “Many forces are deployed on the border and IDF forces are carrying out offensive action currently throughout southern Lebanon,” Gallant said in a statement.
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday condemned pro-Palestinian protests at universities in the United States as “horrific”, saying the demonstrations “have to be stopped”, as he categorised students as antisemitic.
In its latest operational briefing, Israel’s military claims that in the last 24 hours it struck at “over 30 Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip” which it claimed included “weapons storage facilities, terrorist cells, military structures, and additional terrorist infrastructure.”
The Hamas-led health authority in the Gaza Strip puts the number of Palestinians killed by Israel’s military assault at over 34,000, the majority of which it says are women and children. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
