We’ll close this live blog now and continue our rolling live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here. Thanks for reading. Here’s an overview of the latest developments as it approaches 7.40am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv.
Israel said it planned to intensify its attacks on Gaza from Saturday night. Speaking to reporters in response to a question about a possible ground invasion into Gaza, Israeli Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said on Saturday: “We will deepen our attacks to minimise the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks from today.” Hagari repeated his calls for Gaza residents to evacuate south.
Israel said its aircraft struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Saturday and that one of its soldiers was hit by an anti-tank missile, in cross-border fighting that the Iran-backed group said killed six of its fighters. A security source in Lebanon said one Hezbollah fighter was killed in the Lebanese area of Hula, opposite the Israeli community of Margaliot, which Israel said was the target of an anti-tank missile attack. The Israeli army said it fired back. Hezbollah, which claimed attacks on Israeli military positions throughout Saturday, later said five other members were killed.
The Unites States will send a terminal high altitude area defence (Thaad) system and additional Patriot air defence missile system battalions to the Middle East, the Pentagon has said, in response to recent attacks on US troops in the region. Defence secretary Lloyd Austin also said he was placing additional troops on prepare-to-deploy orders, while not saying how many.
Israel says it killed “terror operatives” from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were planning attacks, in an air strike on a mosque in Jenin on the West Bank. The strike hit the Al-Ansar mosque, which the Israeli military said on Sunday “was used by the terrorists as a command centre to plan the attacks and as a base for their execution”. It did not specify the number killed. The director of the Red Crescent in Jenin, Mahmoud Al-Saadi, said one person was killed and three injured.
Two Palestinians were killed and several wounded in earlier Israeli shelling on the Jenin refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Canada’s defence department has said Israel was not behind the Al-Ahli hospital explosion in Gaza. Reuters quoted the National Department of Defence as saying in a statement: “Analysis conducted independently by the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command indicates with a high degree of confidence that Israel did not strike the Al-Ahli hospital on 17 October 2023.” The explosion was more likely caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza, it said, based on analysis of open source and classified reporting. Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike for the killings, while the Israeli army blamed a misfired rocket from Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which denied it was responsible.
Hamas claimed it had planned to release two more hostages “for humanitarian reasons” but that Israel refused, a Hamas spokesperson said on Saturday. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that “we will not refer to false propaganda by Hamas” and would “continue to act in every way to return all the kidnapped and missing people home”. Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, had said it informed Qatar on Friday of Hamas’s intention to release the two hostages.
Hezbollah is “in the heart of the battle”, the deputy leader of the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon said. Sheikh Naim Kassem vowed that Israel would pay a high price whenever it started its ground offensive in Gaza.
Gaza’s healthcare system is “facing collapse”, Médecins Sans Frontières has said. The international medical organisation said on Saturday that Gaza’s hospitals were “overwhelmed and lacking resources”.
Doctors in Gaza have warned that 130 premature babies are in “imminent danger due to a lack of fuel”. “The world cannot simply look on as these babies are killed by the siege in Gaza,” said Melanie Ward, the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians.
The Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza finally opened to allow in a trickle of aid on Saturday for the first time in two weeks, after intense negotiations involving the US, Israel, Egypt and the UN. Under the US-brokered agreement, only 20 trucks were allowed in on Saturday, deliveries from the Egyptian Red Crescent to the Palestinian Red Crescent organisation. Aid officials said they were not expecting a delivery on Sunday, with the next consignment due to be a UN convoy on Monday. Saturday’s entry of humanitarian aid “is a welcomed glimpse of hope but this minuscule aid represents a drop in the ocean”, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, urged all parties to keep the Rafah crossing into Gaza open to enable aid to continue coming through.
The US on Saturday proposed a draft UN security council resolution that says Israel has a right to defend itself and demands Iran stop exporting arms to “militias and terrorist groups threatening peace and security across the region”. Russia plans to hold another UN security council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Russian deputy UN envoy Dmitry Polyansky said on Saturday.
Qatar’s foreign minister has said it is coordinating with the US and other international partners to release more hostages and reduce escalation in Gaza. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani spoke to US secretary of state Antony Blinken in a phone call on Saturday.
The first Palestinian American to serve as a congressman on the US Capitol is mourning the loss of several family members who were killed at the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza that was reportedly struck by Israel. Justin Amash detailed his sorrow in a post on X/Twitter.
Up to 100,000 people marched in London on Saturday in support of Palestine, calling on an immediate end to the war.
Thirteen people were reportedly killed in an airstrike above a residential unit in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. The report from Reuters, citing Hamas media, has not been independently verified.
The Iraqi prime minister said at peace talks in Cairo that Palestinian people were “facing genocide” and being targeted in hospitals. “It’s a war crime on full scale,” Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said: “We won’t leave, we will remain on our land.” UN secretary general António Guterres told the summit that the time had come for “action to end this godawful nightmare” and called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. “I appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire now,” he said. The UN’s undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and the emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza “has reached catastrophic levels”.
Israeli commanders have visited frontline units to rally troops who have massed on the border with Gaza pending an anticipated ground assault.
“We will enter Gaza,” chief of staff Lieut Gen Herzi Halevi told one infantry brigade on a visit on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reports.
“Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there – but we are also preparing for them,” Halevi said.
A ground invasion poses myriad challenges for Israeli troops, who are likely to be confronted by Hamas booby traps and tunnels in a densely packed urban environment.
The safety of more than 200 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 and held in Gaza is another complicating factor.
An Israeli soldier guides an armoured personnel carrier in southern Israel on Saturday amid massed troops at the border with Gaza. Photograph: Alexi J Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Israel did not strike Al-Ahli hospital, Canada says
Canada’s defence department has said Israel was not behind the Al-Ahli hospital explosion in Gaza.
Reuters quoted the department as saying in statement:
Analysis conducted independently by the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command indicates with a high degree of confidence that Israel did not strike the Al-Ahli hospital on 17 October 2023.
The explosion was more likely caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza, the National Department of Defence said, based on analysis of open source and classified reporting.
Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike for the killings, while the Israeli army blamed a misfired rocket from Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which denied it was responsible.
Health authorities in the Hamas-ruled enclave originally put the death toll at 471. The US intelligence community later reportedly estimated there were likely 100 to 300 people killed, while saying the assessment may evolve.
This feature from Thursday looks into the efforts to get a clearer picture of who was behind the blast:
US to boost military equipment in Middle East, Pentagon says
The Unites States will send a terminal high altitude area defence (Thaad) system and additional Patriot air defence missile system battalions to the Middle East, the Pentagon has said, in response to recent attacks on US troops in the region.
Reuters quoted defence secretary Lloyd Austin as saying in a statement on Saturday:
Following detailed discussions with President [Joe] Biden on recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces across the Middle East region, today I directed a series of additional steps to further strengthen the Department of Defence posture in the region.
Austin also said he was placing additional troops on prepare-to-deploy orders, while not saying how many.
The Israel Defense Forces has posted apparent images on social media of what it called “a Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist compound” in the Al-Ansar mosque in Jenin on the West Bank.
The IDF has said it killed “terror operatives” in an airstrike on the mosque, without specifying the number, while the Red Crescent in Jenin said one person was killed and three injured.
The IDF posted on X/Twitter:
The IDF & ISA just conducted an aerial strike on a Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist compound in the Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin.
Recent IDF intel revealed that the Mosque was used as a command center to plan and execute terrorist attacks against civilians. pic.twitter.com/gQfyv6wUAV
It’s just turned 5am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s an overview of where things stand, including the latest developments:
Israel said it planned to intensify its attacks on Gaza from Saturday night. Speaking to reporters in response to a question about a possible ground invasion into Gaza, Israeli Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said on Saturday: “We will deepen our attacks to minimise the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks from today.” Hagari repeated his calls for Gaza residents to evacuate south.
Israel said its aircraft struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Saturday and that one of its soldiers was hit by an anti-tank missile, in cross-border fighting that the Iran-backed group said killed six of its fighters. A security source in Lebanon said one Hezbollah fighter was killed in the Lebanese area of Hula, opposite the Israeli community of Margaliot, which Israel said was the target of an anti-tank missile attack. The Israeli army said it fired back. Hezbollah, which claimed attacks on Israeli military positions throughout Saturday, later said five other members were killed.
Israel says it killed “terror operatives” from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were planning attacks, in an air strike on a mosque in Jenin on the West Bank. The strike hit the Al-Ansar mosque, which the Israeli military said on Sunday “was used by the terrorists as a command centre to plan the attacks and as a base for their execution”. It did not specify the number killed. The director of the Red Crescent in Jenin, Mahmoud Al-Saadi, said one person was killed and three injured.
Two Palestinians were killed and several wounded in earlier Israeli shelling on the Jenin refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Hamas claimed it had planned to release two more hostages “for humanitarian reasons” but that Israel refused, a Hamas spokesperson said on Saturday. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that “we will not refer to false propaganda by Hamas” and would “continue to act in every way to return all the kidnapped and missing people home”. Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, had said it informed Qatar on Friday of Hamas’s intention to release the two hostages.
Hezbollah is “in the heart of the battle”, the deputy leader of the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon said. Sheikh Naim Kassem vowed that Israel would pay a high price whenever it started its ground offensive in Gaza.
Gaza’s healthcare system is “facing collapse”, Médecins Sans Frontières has said. The international medical organisation said on Saturday that Gaza’s hospitals were “overwhelmed and lacking resources”.
Debris in the air after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, as seen from the border area on Saturday near Sderot, Israel. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
Doctors in Gaza have warned that 130 premature babies are in “imminent danger due to a lack of fuel”. “The world cannot simply look on as these babies are killed by the siege in Gaza,” said Melanie Ward, the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians.
The Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza finally opened to allow in a trickle of aid on Saturday for the first time in two weeks, after intense negotiations involving the US, Israel, Egypt and the UN. Under the US-brokered agreement, only 20 trucks were allowed in on Saturday, deliveries from the Egyptian Red Crescent to the Palestinian Red Crescent organisation. Aid officials said they were not expecting a delivery on Sunday, with the next consignment due to be a UN convoy on Monday. Saturday’s entry of humanitarian aid “is a welcomed glimpse of hope but this minuscule aid represents a drop in the ocean”, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, urged all parties to keep the Rafah crossing into Gaza open to enable aid to continue coming through.
Humanitarian aid vehicles arriving in the southern Gaza Strip from Egypt on Saturday after moving through the Rafah border crossing. Photograph: Belal Al Sabbagh/AFP/Getty Images
The US on Saturday proposed a draft UN security council resolution that says Israel has a right to defend itself and demands Iran stop exporting arms to “militias and terrorist groups threatening peace and security across the region”. Russia plans to hold another UN security council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Russian deputy UN envoy Dmitry Polyansky said on Saturday.
Qatar’s foreign minister has said it is coordinating with the US and other international partners to release more hostages and reduce escalation in Gaza. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani spoke to US secretary of state Antony Blinken in a phone call on Saturday.
The first Palestinian American to serve as a congressman on the US Capitol is mourning the loss of several family members who were killed at the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza that was reportedly struck by Israel. Justin Amash detailed his sorrow in a post on X/Twitter.
Up to 100,000 people marched in London on Saturday in support of Palestine, calling on an immediate end to the war.
Thirteen people were reportedly killed in an airstrike above a residential unit in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. The report from Reuters, citing Hamas media, has not been independently verified.
The Iraqi prime minister said at peace talks in Cairo that Palestinian people were “facing genocide” and being targeted in hospitals. “It’s a war crime on full scale,” Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said: “We won’t leave, we will remain on our land.” UN secretary general António Guterres told the summit that the time had come for “action to end this godawful nightmare” and called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. “I appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire now,” he said. The UN’s undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and the emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza “has reached catastrophic levels”.
The director of the Red Crescent in Jenin said one person was killed and three others injured in the Israeli airstrike on a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank.
Mahmoud Al-Saadi was quoted by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, AFP reports.
Israel had said the strike killed “terror operatives” from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were planning attacks.
Two photos just in of the compound beneath the Jenin mosque Israel hit in an airstrike on the West Bank on Sunday.
Israel said it killed “terror operatives” from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were planning attacks, without specifying the number killed or their identities.
People inspect damage after the Israeli strike hit a compound beneath a mosque in Jenin refugee camp, West Bank. Photograph: Reuters
The aftermath of the airstrike. Photograph: Reuters
Israel says airstrike on West Bank mosque killed 'terror operatives'
Israel says it killed “terror operatives” from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were planning attacks, in an air strike on a mosque in Jenin on the West Bank.
The strike hit the Al-Ansar mosque, which the Israeli military said on Sunday “was used by the terrorists as a command centre to plan the attacks and as a base for their execution”, Agence France-Presse reports.
The Israeli military said those targeted had already carried out “several terror attacks over the last months and were organising an additional imminent terror attack”.
It said they were “neutralised”, without giving details on the number killed in the strike or their identities.
The United States has proposed a draft UN security council resolution that says Israel has a right to defend itself and demands Iran stop exporting arms to “militias and terrorist groups threatening peace and security across the region”.
Reuters reports that Saturday’s draft text, which it has seen, calls for the protection of civilians – including those who are trying to get to safety – notes that states must comply with international law when responding to “terrorist attacks”, and urges the “continuous, sufficient and unhindered” delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip.
It was not immediately clear if or when the US planned to put the draft resolution to a vote. To pass, a resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by Russia, China, the US, France or Britain.
The US move comes after it vetoed a Brazilian-drafted text on Wednesday that would have called for humanitarian pauses in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants to allow aid access to Gaza.
As news broke that two Americans held hostage in Gaza had been released by Hamas after talks brokered by Qatar, telephones started ringing in Doha.
France’s Emmanuel Macron and the UK’s Rishi Sunak were among the world leaders waiting at the end of the line, officially to congratulate the tiny Gulf state on its successful negotiations but mostly to ask for help getting their own citizens home.
See Emma Graham-Harrison’s full story here on how Qatar’s role in the hostage crisis has enhanced its reputation as a global mediator:
