Closing summary
It’s 1am in Tel Aviv, Gaza and Beirut. Here’s where we stand:
Dozens of Palestinians, including many women and children, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded block of flats in the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday. Gaza’s civil defence agency said 93 people had been killed and 40 were still missing, with many of the victims members of the extended Abu Nasr family, as well as Palestinians displaced from elsewhere.
The US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, called the Israeli strike on Beit Lahiya “a horrifying incident with a horrifying result”. The US is “deeply concerned by the loss of civilian life”, Miller said, noting that “there are reports of two dozen children killed in this incident.” US officials have reached out to Israel’s government “to ask what happened here”, he added.
At least 43,061 Palestinian people have been killed in Gaza and 101,223 injured in Israeli airstrikes since last October, according to the latest figures from the territory’s health ministry on Tuesday.
Israel’s latest major operation in northern Gaza, focused in and around the Jabaliya refugee camp, has killed hundreds of people and driven tens of thousands from their homes in another wave of mass displacement more than a year into the war. Israeli attacks have killed more than 700 people in northern Gaza in a little over three weeks, with nearly 300 of those deaths, mainly in the north, occurring in the past nine days alone.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) called for immediate action to avert famine in northern Gaza. It warned that north Gaza “continues to deteriorate, the likelihood of a larger group being impacted by famine will surely increase”. In Gaza’s two northern governorates, where about 300,000 people remain trapped, famine is expected to arrive between now and May.
At least 10 people were killed in an Israeli strike on Sarafand in southern Lebanon late on Tuesday, according to the town’s mayor. An earlier strike further north near Sidon left six dead and 37 wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said. It said that 2,792 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since last October.
Hezbollah has elected its deputy secretary general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, as its new head, ending a month-long vacuum after the group’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by Israel. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, warned that Qassem’s appointment was “not for long”.
A senior Hamas official has said the group is “open to any deal or ideas” from mediators to end the war in Gaza but insisted that these should include a complete Israeli military withdrawal from the Palestinian territory. The remarks from Sami Abu Zuhri, do not signal a change from Hamas’s outstanding conditions. Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the war can only end when Hamas is eradicated.
Israel is not addressing the “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, the US envoy to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the UN security council on Tuesday. Her remarks came as deadline imposed by Washington looms for Israel to improve the situation on the ground in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.
Norway said it would seek clarification from the international court of justice (ICJ) over Israel’s aid obligations after the Knesset vote banning any cooperation with the UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa. The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the decision by the Israeli parliament was “intolerable” and would have “devastating consequences”. The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, on Monday suggested sanctions could be taken against Israeli politicians if Unrwa was “brought to its knees”.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said Unrwa would be prevented from doing general assembly mandated work if Israel implemented the laws, and called on it “to act consistently with its obligations” under the UN charter and international law. In a letter to Netanyahu, Guterres wrote about the “devastating impact on the humanitarian situation of Palestinians in the occupied territory” if the legislation is implemented, his spokesperson said.
Austria’s chancellor Karl Nehammer condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the “very serious” rocket attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which led to eight Austrian soldiers being injured on Tuesday. The Israeli military said Hezbollah was responsible for the attack on the Unifil headquarters in Naqoura on Tuesday.
Germany has recalled its ambassador to Tehran and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Berlin in protest over the execution of a German-Iranian dual national, Jamshid Sharmahd, accused of terrorism by Iran.
Updated
Care International has condemned the decision by Israel’s Knesset yesterday to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), calling the move “indefensible” and said it “flies in the face of the countless promises to its allies that it plans to increase aid”.
The charity called on the UK government to stop selling arms to Israel in a statement on Tuesday. It said:
We urge world leaders to do all they can to pressure Israel into reversing this law and securing an immediate ceasefire. This is another example of Israel ignoring its obligations under international law. The UK Government must end all arms sales to Israel. What more evidence does this Government need before they stop fuelling this war?
Germany has recalled its ambassador to Tehran and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Berlin in protest over the execution of a German-Iranian dual national, Jamshid Sharmahd, accused of terrorism by Iran.
His daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, who had pressed the German and US governments hard to save him, said she and her brother felt let down by the failure of both governments to do more. Sharmahd was executed on Monday.
Gazelle Sharmahd said the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had declined to meet her. On social media she published a video of herself standing in silence saying the bond she had with her father was unbreakable.
Our beloved hero and father of Iran Jimmy joon,
— Gazelle غزاله شارمهد (@GazelleSharmahd) October 28, 2024
As I am waiting in silence our bond exceeds words.
The German @AuswaertigesAmt and US @StateDept will talk to me shortly and I will assess if they have any proof that the cowardly jihadists of the occupying Islamic Regime have… pic.twitter.com/1stqgy3DW4
The US refusal in to include Sharmahd in a $6bn cash exchange for five prisoners in September 2023 had infuriated her, but the US said that although her father had lived in California and had a green card he was not a US citizen, and so could not part of the deal. The $6bn in Iranian funds had been frozen in a South Korean bank account.
Scholz called Sharmahd’s execution a “scandal” and the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, threatened Iran’s “inhumane regime” with “serious consequences”.
Sam Rose, the deputy director of Unrwa affairs in Gaza, told CNN earlier that the population of the Palestinian territory is “on its knees and going through absolutely untold misery” and the idea that Israel would ban the UN humanitarian body from operating via the country was potentially devastating.
“The role that Unrwa is playing here is unprecedented for any humanitarian organization anywhere in the world” in the circumstances in Gaza, he said.
“The entire humanitarian system here relies every minute of every day on Unrwa to deliver services to 2 million people living in the worst possible conditions, so any effort to change that … will be devastating.”
“The entire humanitarian system here relies every minute of every day on @UNRWA to deliver services to 2 million people living in the worst possible conditions”
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 29, 2024
Sam Rose tells @CNN about the potentially devastating effects of ban on UNRWA passed by the Israeli parliament,… pic.twitter.com/bIlZmFsQcC
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The details of what has happened in Sarafand in Lebanon are still coming into focus, and information about the death toll and injuries is fluid.
The country’s health ministry right now is counting that at least eight people have been killed, fewer fatalities than the coastal town’s mayor has said so far.
“The Israeli enemy raid on Sarafand this evening has, according to a provisional toll, left eight dead and 21 wounded,” a ministry statement said, adding that rescue workers were searching for survivors.
An earlier strike further north near Sidon left six dead and 37 wounded, according to a new toll from the ministry, Agence France-Presse reports. It had reported initially that five had been killed and 33 injured.
Updated
At least 10 people were killed in an Israeli strike on Sarafand in southern Lebanon late on Tuesday, according to the town’s mayor.
Most of those killed were women and children, he told Reuters.
Here are some of the latest images sent from the newswires from Lebanon.
As we reported earlier, the country’s health ministry said 2,792 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since last October.
Updated
Amnesty International has criticised Israel’s decision to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), calling it an “unconscionable” and “appalling, inhumane” law.
The Israeli parliament’s decision is an “outright attack on the rights of Palestinian refugees” that “amounts to the criminalisation of humanitarian aid and will worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis”, according to a statement from the rights organisation’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard.
She said the UN agency has played an “indispensable” role in offering food, water, medical aid, education and shelter to the nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza who have been “forcibly displaced, subjected to an engineered famine, and stand at serious risk of genocide” as a result of Israel’s “relentless” offensive. Callamard added:
This appalling, inhumane law will only exacerbate the suffering of Palestinians, who have endured unimaginable hardship and whose need for global support is greater than ever. The international community must be quick to condemn it in the strongest possible terms and exert any influence they have on the Israeli government to repeal it.
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Hamas 'open to any deal' to end war that includes complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, says official
A senior Hamas official has said the group is “open to any deal or ideas” from mediators to end the war in Gaza but insisted that these should include a complete Israeli military withdrawal from the Palestinian territory.
Sami Abu Zuhri, in a televised speech on Tuesday reported by Reuters, said:
The movement has confirmed it is open to any deal or ideas that ends the suffering of our people in Gaza and achieve a permanent ceasefire, and the occupation’s withdrawal from all of Gaza Strip.
A deal must involve an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, allow unrestricted aid and a reconstruction of Gaza, and a swap of Israeli hostages in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
His statement do not signal a change from Hamas’s outstanding conditions. Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the war can only end when Hamas is eradicated.
Updated
Israel’s military said four of its soldiers were killed in combat in northern Gaza, and one officer was severely injured.
Separately, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said another soldier died from wounds sustained in battle in southern Lebanon, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since October 2023 to 777.
Updated
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has sent a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu protesting new Israeli legislation banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), his spokesperson said.
Guterres outlined in his letter “the issues of international law that have been raised by this law”, they said, adding that it would have a “devastating impact on the humanitarian situation of Palestinians in the occupied territory” if implemented.
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CNN has apologised to its viewers after a panellist on its NewsNight programme made derogatory remarks implying that a fellow guest on the show, the broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, was a terrorist.
Ryan James Girdusky, a conservative commentator, told Hasan, a Guardian US columnist and former host on MSNBC, who is Muslim, that he hoped his “beeper doesn’t go off”, in an apparent reference to Israel’s targeting of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon with exploding pagers last month. The wave of coordinated explosions killed 12 people and injured thousands.
“Did your guest just say I should be killed on live TV?” Hasan asked the show’s anchor, Abby Phillip.
Girdusky to Hasan: I hope your beeper doesn’t go off pic.twitter.com/YmHhYnkDZ3
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 29, 2024
After a commercial break, Phillip issued an on-air apology to Hasan and viewers and said Girdusky had been removed from the show.
In a statement, CNN said there was “zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air” and that Girdusky “will not be welcomed back at our network”. Hasan retweeted the statement on X.
Updated
Austria’s chancellor Karl Nehammer condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the “very serious” rocket attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which led to eight Austrian soldiers being injured on Tuesday.
Posting to X, Nehammer said his thoughts were with the injured soldiers, adding that their efforts are “essential for international stability, in crisis hotspots”.
Austrian soldiers actively participate in UN-peace-keeping missions such as @UNIFIL_ in southern Lebanon.Their efforts are essential for international stability, in crisis hotspots.
— Karl Nehammer (@karlnehammer) October 29, 2024
We condemn in the strongest possible terms today’s very serious incident, presumably caused by…
His foreign minister, Alexander Schallenberg, said he was “outraged” by the attack, adding that:
Attacks on UN peacekeepers are a grave violation of international law and totally unacceptable.
Outraged by today's attack on @UNIFIL_ resulting in eight injured Austrian peacekeepers!
— Alexander Schallenberg (@a_schallenberg) October 29, 2024
The safety & security of the blue helmets must be guaranteed at all times.
Attacks on @UN peacekeepers are a grave violation of international law and totally unacceptable.
Updated
The Israeli military has said that Hezbollah was responsible for a rocket attack on a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil) on Tuesday, which resulted in eight wounded Austrian soldiers.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the rocket was launched “from the Hallousiyyeh El Faouqa area which hit the Unifil headquarters” in Naqoura, southern Lebanon.
Earlier today, a report was received regarding damage caused to UNIFIL’s Headquarters in the area of Naqoura, southern Lebanon. An examination determined that Hezbollah launched a rocket from the Hallousiyyeh El Faouqa area which hit the @UNIFIL_ Headquarters.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 29, 2024
UNIFIL reported a… pic.twitter.com/OhE6VpkuUI
Updated
Number of people killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon rises to 2,792, says health ministry
Lebanon’s health ministry has issued an updated death toll from Israeli attacks in the country to 2,792, with 12,772 additional people wounded.
In the last 24 hours, 82 people were killed, and 180 others wounded, the report added.
Updated
The number of people killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon has risen to 2,787, with 12,772 additional people wounded since October 2023, according to the latest figures from Lebanon’s health ministry on Tuesday.
In the last 24 hours, 77 people were killed and 180 others were wounded, it said.
Separately, the ministry said at least five people were killed and another 33 injured on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on a town near the main southern city of Sidon.
Rescuers were still looking for survivors under the rubble, it added.
Tuesday’s strike was the second deadly attack on Sidon since Sunday, after nine people were killed and 38 others wounded in an Israeli strike on the town, the ministry said.
Updated
Here’s more from Matthew Miller, the US state department spokesperson, during his briefing with reporters.
Washington is “deeply troubled” by legislation passed by Israel yesterday banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Miller said.
The Knesset vote on Monday came after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, warned Israel in a letter that the US could withhold weapons transfers if Israel did not take immediate action to let more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Blinken “made clear that we were opposed to the passage of this legislation, and he made clear that there could be legal and policy implications to the implementation of that legislation”, Miller said.
The US state department spokesperson said that Washington will engage with the Israeli government “in the days ahead about how they plan to implement” the ban.
Miller noted that the legislation “poses risks for millions of Palestinians who rely on Unrwa”, specifically those in Gaza.
The UN agency undertakes a role that “cannot be filled by anyone else”, he added.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent from the newswires from the Gaza Strip.
As we reported earlier, the latest figures from the Palestinian territory’s health ministry on Tuesday show at least 43,061 Palestinian people have been killed and 101,223 injured in Israeli airstrikes since last October.
The latest death toll does not include the dozens of people killed in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded block of flats in Beit Lahiya earlier today.
Israel’s recent offensive in northern Gaza has killed more than 700 people in a little over three weeks, with nearly 300 of those people, mainly in the north, being killed in the past nine days alone.
Updated
US says it is concerned by 'horrifying incident' where 'two dozen children killed' in Israeli strike in north Gaza residential block
The US is “deeply concerned by the loss of civilian life” in an Israeli strike on a residential building in northern Gaza that killed at least 93 people, including a large number of children, a US state department spokesperson has said.
As we reported earlier, at least 93 Palestinians were killed or missing and dozens wounded in the attack on a building in Beit Lahiya on Tuesday, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Among the dead were at least 20 children, medics said.
Al Jazeera is reporting that 109 people were killed by the Israeli strike on the five-story building housing displaced families.
US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters:
We are deeply concerned by the loss of civilian life in this incident. This was a horrifying incident with a horrifying result.
He said he could not speak to the total death toll, but noted:
There are reports of two dozen children killed in this incident. No doubt a number of them are children who have been fleeing the effects of this war for more than a year now.
US officials have reached out to Israel’s government “to ask what happened here”, he added.
Updated
Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, has called on EU and UN member states to make clear their support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), urging that it is “time to stop this horror of history” after Israel’s parliament banned the agency from operating in Israeli-controlled lands.
More than 100,000 people in northern Gaza, mostly women and children, are effectively “trapped with no safe place to go to”, Higgins said in a statement on Tuesday:
Given the circumstances of people starving to death, the placing under attack of the United Nations agency that is responsible for keeping them alive constitutes an appalling failure of diplomacy and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. It is time to stop this horror of history. Palestine and Israel will ultimately have to live together in spaces adjacent to each other.
Irish taoiseach Simon Harris, also on Tuesday, said Europe needed to find the “moral courage” to act on this issue. He said:
More people will die, more children will starve, there is no alternative to Unrwa … The actions we have seen in the Knesset really are absolutely shameful.
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Israel warns Iran not to retaliate against airstrikes last week
Israel’s military chief warned Iran on Tuesday to refrain from retaliating against its airstrikes last week.
“If Iran makes the mistake of launching another missile barrage at Israel, we will once again know how to reach Iran, with capabilities that we did not even use this time,” Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff, told air and ground crews last Saturday.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
An Israeli attack on a residential building sheltering displaced civilians in northern Gaza’s town of Beit Lahiya is reported to have killed 93 people, including 20 children, according to medics. Dozens of people are reported missing and 150 others are estimated to be injured. The Israeli military is yet to comment on the deadly airstrike. Nearby Kamal Adwan hospital is struggling to treat people injured in the attack as it reportedly has run out of medical supplies and only has two paediatric doctors, with no surgeons.
The attack came a day after Israel’s parliament passed a law to ban the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from operating inside the country, alarming many of Israel’s allies who fear it will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. The Turkish foreign ministry said earlier today that the move aimed to disrupt efforts to reach a two-state solution. Jordan’s foreign ministry said Monday’s vote was “part of the systematic targeting” of Unrwa and a “continuation of Israel’s frantic efforts to assassinate the UN agency politically, in addition to its aggressive war on the Palestinian people”.
Hezbollah said it had chosen Naim Qassem, deputy secretary general, to succeed Hassan Nasrallah as leader of the Lebanese militant group after Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on south Beirut last month.
Lebanese state media reported that Israeli tanks have rolled into the outskirts of the village of Khiam, in what is thought to be their deepest incursion yet into south Lebanon in the ground assault launched last month.
Famine is imminent in Gaza, says a report. Gaza is facing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, according to the new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released on Tuesday. “People in Gaza are starving to death right now. The speed at which this manmade hunger and malnutrition crisis has ripped through Gaza is terrifying,” said World Food Programme (WFP) executive director Cindy McCain.
Banning Unrwa is an act of genocide, says UK Green party co-leader Carla Denyer. Responding to the ban by the Israeli government, Denyer said: “Gaza is experiencing a severe, ongoing humanitarian crisis. Banning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population, is an act of genocide.”
Unifil, the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has warned Hezbollah that any deliberate attack on them “is a grave violation of international humanitarian law”, after a rocket hit its headquarters in Naqoura earlier on Tuesday.
Updated
The director of Unrwa in Gaza says it will be “impossible” to operate if Israel goes ahead with a ban on the agency.
Sam Rose, Unrwa’s Gaza deputy director, told the BBC: “There are hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in buildings under the safety of a UN flag and if that protective status of the buildings is taken away then of course we can’t in any way pretend to guarantee that safety.”
“We’re not just distributing aid or providing water – we’re running a health system, we’re running an education system,” he said.
“Other UN agencies work on policy, they work on normative issues, they provide support to member states or government. They are not in the business of running health services, or education services.”
Updated
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s envoy to the UN, demands the Security Council protects civilians from Israel’s attacks.
“Israel has crossed every red line, broken every rule, defied every prohibition. When is enough really enough? When are you going to act? You are the Security Council. You have to reach every single one who is in pain among the Palestinians. That is your duty,” the envoy said at a council meeting.
Mansour says people in Gaza have been “enduring unspeakable pain,” and called on the council to stop “this genocide or forever remain silent”.
Updated
Israel’s recent offensive in northern Gaza has killed more than 700 people in a little over three weeks, with nearly 300 of those deaths, mainly in the north, occurring in the past nine days alone. While it has attempted to justify its renewed focus on the north by claiming it is targeting regrouped Hamas fighters, the intensity of the fighting has caused heavy losses among the 100,000 civilians still living there. Many of them are families who, exhausted by Israel’s multiple forced displacement orders, have chosen to stay in the north…
The UK’s Middle East minister says the vote in Israel’s parliament on Unrwa “clearly jeopardises the entire international humanitarian response in Gaza”.
Speaking to the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme, Hamish Falconer says the UK would “press on the Israelis to change the approach” and “do everything we can both publicly and privately”.
Falconer says the UK does not “accept the premise that Unrwa is broken and needs to be replaced”.
Updated
Hezbollah appoints Naim Qassem as its new leader
Qassem replaces the late Hassan Nasrallah as secretary-general of the Lebanese militant group.
An Israeli strike killed Nasrallah in Beirut in late September.
In a statement, Hezbollah said Qassem was elected to take up the position due to his “adherence to the principles and goals of Hezbollah”.
It added that the group would “[ask] God Almighty to guide him in this noble mission in leading Hezbollah and its Islamic resistance”.
Updated
Famine is imminent in Gaza, says report
Gaza is facing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, according to the new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released on Tuesday.
In Gaza’s two northern governorates, where about 300,000 people remain trapped, famine is expected to arrive between now and May.
The new report found that around half the population of Gaza have run out of food and face starvation.
“People in Gaza are starving to death right now. The speed at which this man-made hunger and malnutrition crisis has ripped through Gaza is terrifying,” said World Food Programme (WFP) executive director Cindy McCain.
“There is a very small window left to prevent an outright famine and to do that we need immediate and full access to the north. If we wait until famine has been declared, it’s too late. Thousands more will be dead.”
The WFP estimates that feeding people will require allowing at least 300 trucks to enter Gaza every day, but WFP has only taken nine convoys to the north since the start of the year.
Sending aid to Gaza requires clearance from Israel every day. Consequently, long waits can occur at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, and truck convoys face looting and are frequently turned back; even if they do get through, looting remains a high risk.
“WFP and our partners have food supplies ready, at the border and in the region, to feed all 2.2 million people across Gaza – but moving food into and within Gaza is like trying to navigate a maze, with obstacles at every turn,” said WFP Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Carl Skau.
“The complicated border controls, combined with the high tensions and desperation inside Gaza, make it nearly impossible for food supplies to reach people in need, particularly in the north. But the delivery of 18 trucks of food on Sunday shows that it can be done. This cannot be a one-off, but this needs to be sustained, regular and at scale to support those in need.”
Updated
Banning Unrwa is an act of genocide, says UK Green party co-leader Carla Denyer.
Responding to the ban by the Israeli government, co-leader of the Green party, Carla Denyer, said:
Gaza is experiencing a severe, ongoing humanitarian crisis. Banning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population, is an act of genocide.
Rather than wringing their hands over this criminal decision by the Israeli government, it is time for the UK and the international community to act. We must see the suspension of arms sales to Israel, and the introduction of divestments, boycotts, sanctions and prosecutions for all those on all sides of the escalating conflict in the Middle East who have committed war crimes.
Updated
Unifil, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, warns Hezbollah that any deliberate attack on them “is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” after a rocket hit its headquarters in Naqoura earlier on Tuesday.
On a post on X, Unfil said the “rocket was fired from north of UNIFIL’s headquarters, likely by Hizbullah or an affiliated group. We have opened an investigation into the incident.”
Statement:
— UNIFIL (@UNIFIL_) October 29, 2024
This afternoon a rocket hit UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, setting a vehicle workshop on fire. Peacekeepers were not in bunkers at the time. While some peacekeepers suffered minor injuries, fortunately no one was seriously injured. pic.twitter.com/MuJ1sOEnQR
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Qatar says it will work with US President Joe Biden “until the last minute” to reach a ceasefire deal.
“We don’t foresee any negative result of the elections on the mediation process itself,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told a press conference.
“We believe that we are dealing with institutions and in a country like the United States, the institutions are invested in finding a resolution to this crisis.”
Qatar, along with the US and Egypt, continues to mediate negotiations between Israel and Gaza for a deal to end the war.
Unifil, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has said that a rocket that hit its headquarters in Naqoura earlier was fired from the north, likely by Hezbollah or an affiliated group (see post at 14.37 for more details on the attack).
Israel's decision to ban Unrwa will have 'devastating consequences', WHO chief warns
The head of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has condemned Israel’s decision to pass a law banning the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, from operating in the country.
In a post on X, he said Unrwa, which provides education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, has been an “irreplaceable lifeline” to Palestinians in Gaza for the last 70 years.
The WHO chief said the decision by the Israeli parliament to ban Unrwa was “intolerable” and will have “devastating consequences”.
“It contravenes Israel’s obligations and responsibilities, and threatens the lives and health of all those who depend on Unrwa,” he said.
.@UNRWA is an irreplaceable lifeline to the Palestinian people. And it has been for the past seven decades.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 28, 2024
UNRWA was created by the @UN Member States. Today’s decision by the Israeli parliament barring UNRWA from its life-saving and health-protecting work on behalf of millions… pic.twitter.com/mWVwln63d9
Unrwa said the new laws – due to come into effect within three months – will cause the supply chain of aid to Gaza to “fall apart”, excepting an already dire humanitarian crisis.
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Rocket attack injures 8 Austrian Unifil soldiers in southern Lebanon - defence ministry
A rocket attack has injured eight Austrian soldiers with a UN peacekeeping contingent in southern Lebanon, the Austrian defence ministry said.
“Eight Austrian army soldiers from the Unifil contingent (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) were injured today at 12:58 pm (1058 GMT) by a rocket hit in camp Naqoura; none of them seriously,” the statement said, adding the injuries were “minor and superficial”.
The Austrian defence ministry condemned the attack and adding it was “currently not possible to say where the attack came from”.
Unifil, the UN force deployed since 1978 to southern Lebanon, was established to patrol the country’s southern frontier after Israel invaded in 1978.
The UN’s top decision-making body, the security council, has since renewed and expanded its mandate repeatedly, notably during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000.
Earlier this month, Unifil accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of deliberate violations, with several of its positions having come under fire. You can read more about Unifil’s peacekeeping role in this useful explainer.
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Israeli forces have detained at least 15 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank over the last day, according to a joint statement by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
The detentions were reported by Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, as having occurred across various areas, including Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Nablus and Tubas.
It is estimated that over 11,500 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since last October.
Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the West Bank.
They have described alleged abusive and humiliating treatment, including holding blindfolded and handcuffed detainees in cramped cages as well as beatings, intimidation and harassment.
Israel has issued an apparent threat to Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Qassem as he succeeds Hassan Nasrallah – the former leader who was killed by an Israeli strike. Alongside a photo of Qassem, the country’s defence minister Yoav Gallant as tweeted:
Temporary appointment. Not for long.
Temporary appointment.
— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) October 29, 2024
Not for long. pic.twitter.com/ONu0GveApi
Reuters reports that Qassem was appointed Hezbollah’s deputy chief in 1991 by the then-secretary general Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.
Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been one of Hezbollah’s leading spokesmen, conducting interviews with foreign media; including while cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the last year.
Since Nasrallah’s killing, Qassem has given three televised addresses, including one on 8 October, in which he said the armed group supported efforts to reach a ceasefire for Lebanon. He is considered by many in Lebanon to lack the charisma and gravitas of Nasrallah.
In its official Arabic account on Twitter, the Israeli government says:
His tenure in this position may be the shortest in the history of this terrorist organization if he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine.
There is no solution in Lebanon except to dismantle this organization as a military force.
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Spain’s interior ministry says it is cancelling a contract to buy ammunition from an Israeli firm, widening a Spanish pledge not to sell weapons to Israel to include purchases too, Reuters reports.
Cadena Ser radio earlier reported that the Guardia Civil police force agreed to buy more than 15m 9mm rounds for €6m (£4.98m, $6.48m) from Guardian LTD Israel. Spain said it would stop arms sales to Israel in October 2023 – when Israel’s war with Hamas started in Gaza. Ministers now say:
The Spanish government maintains the commitment not to sell weapons to the Israeli state since the armed conflict broke out in the territory of Gaza. Although, in this case, it is an acquisition of ammunition, the Interior Ministry has initiated the administrative procedure to cancel the purchase.
The ministry said Israeli companies would also be excluded from any outstanding tenders. The contract was tendered in February and awarded on 21 October; with two of the three lots awarded to an Israeli company, it added.
Spain has been one of the European Union’s harshest critics of Israel’s campaign in Gaza and, more recently, in south Lebanon.
Updated
The UK prime minister’s official spokesperson expresses grave concern at the vote in the Israeli parliament that would effectively ban Unrwa.
This legislation risks making Unrwa’s essential work for Palestinians impossible; jeopardising the entire international humanitarian response in Gaza and the delivery of essential health and education services in the West Bank.
There is a risk that this situation in the region could seriously destabilise… Just because the Knesset has passed this Bill, it does not mean that it has to be implemented, and we urge the Israeli government not to implement this legislation.
We do not believe it is in their interests to prevent the largest aid organisation in Gaza from operating.
Updated
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, has said that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza, and that the country is seeking the “eradication of Palestinians” from their land.
She said that “the genocide of the Palestinians appears to be the means to an end: the complete removal or eradication of Palestinians from the land so integral to their identity, and which is illegally and openly coveted by Israel”.
Humanitarian system in Gaza will collapse if Unrwa is unable to operate, warns Unicef
Unicef spokesperson James Elder has been answering questions from the media about last night’s vote in the Israeli parliament that would effectively ban Unrwa, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, from operating within Israel.
“If Unrwa is unable to operate, it’ll likely see the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza,” Elder was quoted by Reuters as having said. “So a decision such as this suddenly means that a new way has been found to kill children,” he added.
Other UN agencies at the media briefing said it would be impossible to fill the void left by Unrwa, the main UN organisation working on the ground in Gaza to provide emergency relief to Palestinian people.
“It is indispensable and there is no alternative to it at this point,” UN humanitarian office spokesperson Jens Laerke said, as Israel’s ongoing assault on the territory is worsening already dire conditions in which Palestinians face widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
In response to a question about whether the ban represented a form of collective punishment against Palestinians, he said:
I think it is a fair description of what they have decided here, if implemented, that this would add to the acts of collective punishment that we have seen imposed on Gaza.
The head of the International Organization for Migration said IOM could not replace Unrwa in Gaza but that it could provide more relief to those in crisis.
“That is a role that we are very, very keen to play, and one that we will be stepping up with the support of various stakeholders,” IOM director general Amy Pope said.
It comes as France’s foreign ministry says it “very strongly regrets” that Israel’s parliament passed two laws that could prevent Unrwa from operating in the Palestinian territories.
“Implementation of these laws would have very serious consequences for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is already catastrophic, but also all of the Palestinian territories,” the statement read, adding that France “reiterates its support for Unrwa and will continue to track the implementation of reforms necessary for its actions to be neutral”.
Updated
Death toll in Gaza reaches 43,061, says health ministry
At least 43,061 Palestinian people have been killed and 101,223 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since last October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Of those, 41 Palestinians were killed and 113 others were injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period, according to the ministry, which has said in the past that thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory.
The toll did not include the 93 people who were killed and many others injured in the Israeli attack in Beit Lahiya.
Gaza’s civil defence agency has said that 93 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahiya, confirming the figure given by Gaza government’s media office earlier.
“The number of martyrs in the massacre of the Abu Nasr family home in Beit Lahia has risen to 93 martyrs, and about 40 are still missing under the rubble,” agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement.
The death toll has been increasing throughout the day as more bodies have been recovered from under the rubble of the residential building that was sheltering displaced Palestinian people.
Updated
The Qatari foreign ministry has said Qatar will work with Joe Biden’s administration “until the last minute” to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal.
“We don’t foresee any negative result of the elections on the mediation process itself. We believe that we are dealing with institutions, and in a country like the United States, the institutions are invested in finding a resolution to this crisis,” ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a press conference.
Former Republican president Donald Trump is in a tight presidential race with US vice president, Kamala Harris. The US election will be held on 5 November. Whoever wins will serve four years in the White House starting from their inauguration on 20 January 2025.
As my colleague Andrew Roth notes in this story, there is considerable doubt that the White House under either Trump or Harris will be prepared to meaningfully rein in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and find a diplomatic solution to Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Israel and Hamas accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands over the summer and negotiations ground to a halt in August.
Netanyahu has previously been accused of blocking a ceasefire deal over his insistence on continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt, and central Gaza’s Netzarim corridor, a strategic route bisecting Gaza.
Hamas has demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Egypt has said that a heavy Israeli military presence on its border threatens the peace treaty between the countries.
Updated
Summary of the day so far...
An Israeli attack on a residential building sheltering displaced civilians in northern Gaza’s town of Beit Lahiya is reported to have killed 93 people, including 20 children, according to medics. Dozens of people are reported missing and 150 others estimated to be injured. The Israeli military is yet to comment on the deadly airstrike. Nearby Kamal Adwan hospital is struggling to treat people injured in the attack as it reportedly has run out of medical supplies and only has two paediatric doctors, with no surgeons.
The attack came a day after Israel’s parliament passed a law to ban the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from operating inside the country, alarming many of Israel’s allies who fear it will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. The Turkish foreign ministry said earlier today that the move aimed to disrupt efforts to reach a two-state solution. Jordan’s foreign ministry said Monday’s vote was “part of the systematic targeting” of Unrwa and a “continuation of Israel’s frantic efforts to assassinate the UN agency politically, in addition to its aggressive war on the Palestinian people”.
Hezbollah said it chose deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, to succeed Hasan Nasrallah as leader of the Lebanese militant group after Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on south Beirut last month.
Lebanese state media reported that Israeli tanks have rolled into the outskirts of the village of Khiam, in what is thought to be their deepest incursion yet into south Lebanon in the ground assault launched last month.
Updated
Israeli tanks enter outskirts of Khiam in deepest incursion yet into southern Lebanon – media
Lebanese state media reports that Israeli tanks have rolled into the outskirts of the village of Khiam, in what is thought to be their deepest incursion yet into south Lebanon in the ground assault launched last month.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported the entry of “a large number of tanks belonging to the Israeli occupation army” into the eastern outskirts of Khiam, about six kilometres (nearly four miles) from the border with Israel.
The Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for a number of villages in southern Lebanon, the NNA reported. They are: Tayr Harfa, al-Jabin, al-Qasr al-Ahmar, Jabal al-Batm, Zebqin, Sheheen, al-Himyari, al-Kharib, Ansar, Mataria al-Shomr, Adloun, Majdal Zun, Shama, Abu Shash, al-Naqoura and Alma al-Shaa.
Updated
Lisa O’Carroll is a senior correspondent for the Guardian
The incoming European council president António Costa is visiting Dublin today and will discuss the latest Middle East crisis.
The Irish taoiseach Simon Harris said he will urge him to “use all levers” to effect change in the middle east.
He said:
Unfortunately we meet the day after Israel voted for a horrific escalation in suffering by effectively banning Unrwa.
I strongly condemn the passage of the legislation in the Israeli Knesset. If implemented, it will make it impossible for Unrwa to carry out its vital role across the region. If Unrwa cannot carry out its mission, more innocent people will die.
A barrage of projectiles was fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Tuesday, killing at least one person in the town of Maalot, Israeli emergency services and the military said.
“We saw an unconscious male with no pulse and no breathing... but his injury was critical and we had to pronounce him deceased,” Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
MDA Spokesperson: Update to the Red Alert sirens in Maalot
— Magen David Adom (@Mdais) October 29, 2024
MDA EMTs and Paramedics have reported a male with no signs of life and a number of anxiety patients. Updates to follow pic.twitter.com/lBgy4OOth4
Separately, the Israeli military said about 50 projectiles had been identified crossing from Lebanon into the Upper and Western Galilee regions on Tuesday morning.
Death toll from Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya raised to 93 - Gaza media office
Al Jazeera has spoken with the director-general of the Gaza government’s media office, Ismail al-Thawabta, who has said at least 93 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike on northern Gaza’s town of Beit Lahiya. Gaza’s health ministry said earlier today that 60 people were killed in the strike this morning, which hit a residential building housing displaced civilians. Al-Thawabta said that the building Israel attacked housed 200 people. Dozens of people are reported missing and 150 others estimated to be injured. Medics said 20 children were among the dead.
Many of those injured have been rushed to nearby Kamal Adwan hospital inside the Jabalia refugee camp. But the hospital is struggling to treat them as it reportedly has run out of medical supplies and only has two paediatric doctors, with no surgeons. Israeli forces detained dozens of medical staff at the hospital days ago. Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, director of the hospital, told Al Jazeera on Friday that most of the surgeons had been arrested by Israeli troops, meaning urgent surgeries could not be performed.
Updated
Houthi rebels launch drones towards Israeli city of Ashkelon
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have confirmed that they carried out a drone attack on southern Israel on Tuesday morning.
A Houthi military statement read:
The UAV (drone) force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a specific military operation targeting the industrial zone of the Israeli enemy in the Ashkelon region.
The Houthis claimed the attack “was carried out with a number of drones that have successfully achieved their objectives”.
Israel’s military said earlier that the drone “fell in an open area” of Ashkelon, just north of the Gaza Strip.
The Houthi rebels, who have being attacking ships crossing the Red Sea since last November, say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and in support of Lebanon against Israeli attacks.
Ireland’s foreign minister said he would be pressing ahead with work on legislation which would sanction exports from the occupied Palestinian territories.
With an election expected to be called next week, there is not enough time to pass the Occupied Territories bill, but Micheál Martin said he hoped it would get to the committee stage before that with amendments drafted to make it constitutionally and legally robust.
The bill, which was first proposed in 2018, has already passed through the Irish senate but remained in abeyance in the Dáil until it was given the go ahead by the attorney general two weeks ago following the International Court of Justice ruling in July on “unlawful” occupation of Palestinian territories.
He said officials would be meeting with legal advisors to further progress. “Hopefully we can get to a hearing stage in committee before the Dail is dissolved,” Martin said.
The bill needed to be robust enough to “withstanding any legal challenges” he said, alluding to a recent European Court of Justice ruling blocking efforts by the European Commission to include western Sahara in its trade deals with Morocco.
Western Sahara is largely controlled by Morocco but the Algeria-backed Polisario Front has campaigned for independence for the territory since before colonial ruler Spain pulled out in 1975.
Lisa O’Carroll is a senior correspondent for the Guardian
Israel’s plan to ban Unrwa from any activity in Palestinian territories is “beyond concerning, beyond disappointing”, the agency’s director of communications Juliette Touma has said.
In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE she said they had “no visibility” and “no information” on the Israeli plan following the vote in the Israeli parliament last night.
“It is beyond disappointing, it is quite frankly outrageous primarily because of the impact it is likely to have on our humanitarian operation,” she said.
Israel said it would continue to work with other UN agencies such as Unicef, but Touma said it was Unrwa which delivered programmes for Unicef on the ground, including polio vaccination.
She said:
We are talking about tens of thousands who work with the agency in Gaza. We have the infrastructure, the fleet of cars, the logistics bases. So it is very, very difficult to replace Unrwa.
And we do know from previous attempts to replace the agency or to provide humanitarian assistance in council, these attempts fail and fail miserably.
At some point during the war, we were providing shelter in United Nations buildings to over a million, but no other EU agency does that. We are the largest provider for food assistance in Gaza, the largest primary health care provider, the largest number of staff.
…..
— Juliette Touma (@JulietteTouma) October 28, 2024
No words
No words
I’m sorry for you, world……
I’m so sorry for where we got….. https://t.co/zhOb7f0iPN
There has been more reaction to Israel’s decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Unrwa, from operating inside of the country.
In a statement, the Turkish foreign ministry said the move aimed to disrupt efforts to reach a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding Unrwa provided vital help to Palestinians.
“It is the legal and moral obligation of the international community to take a strong stance against attempts to ban Unrwa, which was established by a UN general assembly resolution,” the ministry said. “As the chair of the working group on the financing of Unrwa, Türkiye will continue to provide political and financial support to the agency,” it added.
Turkey has been fiercely critical of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon. It has halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s foreign ministry said Monday’s vote was “part of the systematic targeting” of Unrwa and a “continuation of Israel’s frantic efforts to assassinate the UN agency politically, in addition to its aggressive war on the Palestinian people”.
Updated
Hezbollah elects Naim Qassem, deputy secretary general, as new leader
Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group, says it has chosen Naim Qassem to replace its former leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month.
Kassem, a longtime deputy to Nasrallah, has served as Hezbollah’s acting leader since Nasrallah’s death.
“Hezbollah’s (governing) Shura Council agreed to elect... Sheikh Naim Qassem as secretary general of Hezbollah,” Hezbollah said in a statement. Qassem was elected by the five-member Shura Council, the group’s main decision-making body, two days before Tuesday’s announcement, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Qassem, 71, was one of Hezbollah’s founders in 1982 and has been the party’s deputy secretary general since 1991, the year before Nasrallah took the helm. He was born in Beirut in 1953 to a family from the village of Kfar Fila on the border with Israel.
He was the most senior Hezbollah official to continue making public appearances after Nasrallah largely went into hiding following the group’s 2006 war with Israel.
Updated
Beit Lahiya death toll rises to 60, local officials say
At least 60 Palestinian people were killed with 17 others missing under the rubble after an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday, Gaza health ministry official Marwan Al-Hams has told journalists (see post at 07.50 for more details – a death toll of 55 was previously reported).
Updated
Outcry over Israel's 'devastating' decision to ban main UN Palestinian aid agency
As we mentioned in the opening summary, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has warned Israel’s implementation of a law banning the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from operating in Israel would have “devastating consequences for Palestine refugees”.
“There is no alternative to Unrwa,” Guterres said in a statement.
“The implementation of these laws would be detrimental for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for peace and security in the region as a whole. As I said before, Unrwa is indispensable.”
Israel’s parliament voted on Monday to ban Unrwa from the country within 90 days, in defiance of US and other international pressure to maintain the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the country’s Palestinian population.
The Knesset banned the UN agency from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, including the areas of annexed East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. A second vote declared Unrwa a terror group, effectively banning any direct interaction between the agency and the Israeli state.
Unrwa head Philippe Lazzarini called the Israeli decision “unprecedented” and said it was “nothing less than collective punishment” for Palestinians. The bills “will only deepen the suffering Palestinians, especially in Gaza, where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell”. An Unrwa spokesperson said the law would be a “disaster” and have a serious impact on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.
The US state department said it was “deeply concerned” by Israel’s move to ban Unrwa, with spokesperson Matthew Miller saying the agency plays a “critical, important role in delivering humanitarian assistance to civilians that need it in Gaza”.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said Britain was “gravely concerned” the bill had passed, while its foreign secretary, David Lammy, earlier on Monday suggested sanctions could be taken against Israeli politicians if Unrwa was “brought to its knees” by the Knesset’s decision.
The governments of Spain, Slovenia, Ireland and Norway jointly condemned Israel’s ban on Unrwa and said it set a “very serious” precedent for the work of the UN and all organisations of the multilateral system. Belgium said it “deeply regrets” the Knesset’s vote. Germany’s commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian assistance said the move would be “jeopardising vital humanitarian aid for millions of people”.
Almost all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people are reliant on aid and services from Unrwa, which has provided aid, schooling, healthcare and assistance across the Palestinian territories and to Palestinian refugees elsewhere for more than seven decades. You can read more about the agency’s humanitarian activities and its deteriorating relationship with the Israeli government in this useful explainer on the bill that passed on Monday.
Israeli airstrike kills at least 55 Palestinian civilians in Beit Lahiya - reports
Here is a little more detail on the Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya this morning that, according to reports, killed at least 55 Palestinian civilians, many of whom were women and children.
Among the people who were killed included a mother and her five children, and another mother with her six children, according to an initial casualty list provided by the emergency service.
Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, said it was overwhelmed by the number of people injured in the bombing who needed treatment.
“The world must take action and not just watch the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he told Al Jazeera. “We call on the world to send specialised medical delegations to treat dozens of wounded people in the hospital.”
Israeli troops withdrew from the Kamal Adwan hospital on Saturday, after storming the medical facility and detaining dozens of its staff.
Updated
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the Middle East crisis amid Israel’s ongoing wars on Lebanon and Gaza.
At least 55 civilians, including children and women, were killed by an Israeli airstrike on the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday morning, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported.
Israeli forces targeted a residential building sheltering displaced Palestinians, Wafa reported, adding that more than 20 injured people were taken to Kamal Adwan hospital, which has been hit by “continuous artillery shelling since dawn today”.
Dr Hussam Abu Safia, Kamal Adwan’s director general, told Al Jazeera that many of those injured in the attack died due to lack of resources in the hospital, which has reported dire shortages of fuel and other supplies amid relentless Israeli attacks in the area over recent weeks.
The Israeli military claims the aim of the renewed assault on the north is to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping there. But the IDF has attacked hospitals and shelters, and food and water are running out thanks to a blockade on aid deliveries and sieges focused on northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas.
In other developments:
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said Israel’s implementation of a law banning the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from operating in Israel “could have devastating consequences for Palestine refugees” in the occupied territories and that was “unacceptable”. The Israeli legislation is expected to lead to the closure of Unrwa’s East Jerusalem headquarters and would effectively block the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza via Rafah in the south. The severing of diplomatic relations would preclude Israel from issuing entry and work permits to foreign Unrwa staff and prevent coordination with the Israeli military to permit aid shipments. The legislation will not come into effect immediately.
Unrwa head Philippe Lazzarini called the Israeli decision “unprecedented” and said it was “nothing less than collective punishment” for Palestinians. The bills “will only deepen the suffering Palestinians, especially in Gaza, where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell”. An Unrwa spokesperson said the law would be a “disaster” and have a serious impact on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military said a drone that hit the southern city of Ashkelon on Tuesday was launched from Yemen, from where Houthi rebels have mounted a drone and missile campaign in support of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.
Two people were killed in an Israeli strike near Syria’s border with Lebanon, a Syrian war monitor said on Tuesday – the second strike in less than a week near a key land crossing. Israeli warplanes attacked vehicles near Al-Nazariya village in Al-Qaseer countryside along the border with Lebanon, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that two people in the vehicles were killed.
At least 60 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley on Monday, according to reports. The country’s health ministry said the tolls covered several areas in the Baalbek region as its governor, Bachir Khodr, decried what he called the “most violent” raids on the area since the Israel’s assault on Lebanon was launched late last month. The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Monday for large swathes of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported “a series of strikes” on the ancient coastal city, beginning with a raid on a residential apartment which reportedly killed at least seven people.
About 100,000 Palestinians are trapped in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas without medical or food supplies, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service warned. It said its operations had ground to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into the northern part of the Strip.
Benjamin Netanyahu has denied reports that Israel has received a proposal that would include the release of four hostages in return for a 48-hour ceasefire in Gaza. The statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office came a day after Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said his country has proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza which would entail an exchange of four Israeli hostages for some Palestinian prisoners. “If such a proposal were made, the prime minister would accept it on the spot,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Israel and Iran have accused each of endangering Middle East peace in a heated exchange at a UN meeting in New York, called after Israel’s Saturday attack on Iranian military targets.
