Key moments
An Israeli airstrike has killed at least 50 people in a refugee camp, Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas, has claimed.
Video footage from the scene showed dozens of bodies recovered from the rubble, many of them children, after the strike hit several buildings in the densely crowded camp.
Health officials claimed that around 150 others were wounded in the attack. Ragheb Aqal, a Jabalia resident, described the strikes as “an earthquake” which shook the entire camp.
• Israel-Hamas war live: follow latest news and updates
“I went and saw the destruction ... homes buried under the rubble and body parts and martyrs and wounded in huge numbers,” the 41-year-old told AFP news agency.
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People were still “transporting the remains of children, women and elderly”, he added.
Jabalia camp is Gaza’s largest refugee camp, located north of Gaza City. Gaza’s civil defence director said that it had been “completely destroyed” in the bombardment.
“These buildings house hundreds of citizens,” Ahmad al-Kahlout told reporters. “The occupation’s air force destroyed this district with six US-made bombs. It is the latest massacre caused by Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The Times could not immediately verify the health ministry’s and civil defence director’s claims.
The alleged attack on the refugee camp comes as Israel is expanding its ground offensive in Gaza after it attacked Hamas gunmen inside the terrorist group’s vast network of tunnels.
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The tunnels are a key objective for Israel as it widens ground operations inside Gaza to wipe out Hamas, following the surprise attack three weeks ago that Israeli authorities say killed more than 1,400 people.
Discover expert articles about the Israel-Hamas war from The Times and Sunday Times here.
Bolivia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza offensive
Bolivia has broken all diplomatic ties with Israel citing what its foreign ministry described as an “aggressive and disproportionate military offensive” against the population of the Gaza Strip, an action which it said was “a threat to international peace and security”.
In 2009, Bolivia under its then left-wing leader Evo Morales, cut relations with Israel in protest of its attacks on the Gaza Strip. They were reinstated by the government of President Áñez in 2020. Shortly before the foreign ministry made its announcement, Morales had criticised the current socialist president, Luis Arce, for not breaking ties, describing Israel as a “terrorist state”.
The other Latin American countries which do not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel are Venezuela, which cut them in 2009, and Cuba, whose late president, Fidel Castro, broke all ties in 1973 following the Yom Kippur war, in which Cuba sided with Syria and Egypt.
‘Progress’ in talks to allow foreigners to leave Gaza
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The United States has made “real progress” in negotiations to secure a safe passage for Americans and other foreigners who wish to depart the Gaza Strip, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has said.
“While I can’t make an announcement today, we do think we’ve made very real progress on this as I said in just the past few hours,” Miller told a news briefing.
So far, traffic at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt has reopened one way allowing aid trucks to enter Gaza.
“We would hope that any agreement to get any individuals out would also unlock the possibility of American citizens or their families and other foreign nationals coming out,” Miller said.
Some injured Palestinians could be evacuated from Gaza via the Rafah crossing, according to officials.
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Wael Abu Omar, the director of media at the Rafah crossing on the Palestinian side, said that it could open on Wednesday to allow the wounded to be treated in Egyptian hospitals.
Sunak calls on Israel to increase humanitarian aid
Rishi Sunak has called on Israel to rapidly increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza in a phone call with the Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Oliver Wright writes).
The prime minister, who also spoke to the head of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, reiterated calls for a temporary “humanitarian pause” in the Israeli offensive to allow the safe delivery of supplies into the territory.
Sunak and Netanyahu are understood to have had a “detailed discussion” about how aid could be distributed safely and not fall into the hands of Hamas terrorists.
They also discussed the longer term “governance” of Gaza after Israeli operations in the territory ended as part of wider talks with other regional leaders.
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“The leaders discussed the long-term goal of a two-state solution,” said a Downing Street spokeswoman.
She added: “The prime minister reiterated the UK’s resolute backing for Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism, while emphasising the importance of taking all possible measures to minimise civilian casualties.”
Downing Street said that in the call with Abbas, Sunak had set out the “intensive diplomatic and practical efforts” that the UK was making to “rapidly increase the delivery of life-saving aid to Gaza”.
Sunak “said the UK would continue to support diplomatic action to protect Palestinian civilians, prevent wider escalation and secure a peaceful and lasting resolution to the crisis”.
Pro-Palestinian campaigners stage sit-in at Liverpool St
Pro-Palestinian campaigners have staged a sit-in at Liverpool Street station this evening to call for a ceasefire in Gaza (George Sandeman writes).
Pictures and video shared on Twitter/X showed over 100 people sitting on the floor of the station chanting slogans and playing music while onlookers took pictures. Other protesters stood on raised walkways where they unfurled Palestinian flags and banners.
Sisters Uncut, one of the groups who organised the protest, said they had chosen the location because of its location in the City of London. They said some firms with offices there had helped facilitate the arms trade with Israel by providing loans and investment.
Earlier this month the government said it had no plans to stop arms export licences to the country.
Aditi Wilson, one of the protesters, said: “It cannot be business as usual when businesses in the City fund and profit from the murders of Palestinians. The UK has a moral obligation to stop fuelling this war with weapons and with its public endorsement.”
A spokesperson for National Rail said there was no disruption to their services and that their staff reported no problems for passengers.
They added that the protesters left by 7pm.
IDF claims strikes targeted senior Hamas commanders
The Israeli military said that it carried out widespread airstrikes on Hamas infrastructure “that had taken over civilian buildings” in Jabalia and that tunnels under the buildings collapsed. It said the strikes killed a large number of Hamas militants, including Ibrahim Biari, who it said oversaw operations in the northern part of the strip.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) also said ground troops took control of a Hamas military stronghold in west Jabalia, killing 50 militants.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denied the IDF claim, saying it was trying to justify “its heinous crime” against civilians.
An IDF spokesman suggested it was investigating reports of the casualties at the Jabalia refugee camp. “There was a very senior Hamas commander in that area,” Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht told CNN. “We’re looking into it and we’ll be coming out with more data as we learn what happened there.”
C of E bishops not calling for immediate ceasefire
Church of England bishops have condemned Hamas for its terrorist attacks and for using Gazans as “human shields” — and also criticised Israel for bombing “places of sanctuary” — but have not called for an immediate ceasefire (Kaya Burgess writes).
A collective statement released by the church’s House of Bishops — made up of more than 50 of the most senior bishops in the church — called for “immediate humanitarian pauses” to the conflict to enable wounded and vulnerable people to be evacuated from Gaza.
They added they were “holding out hope for a ceasefire in the longer term”, but without calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities, echoing the comments made by Sir Keir Starmer earlier.
The group statement said that they “condemn the terrorist actions of Hamas” and said that Hamas’s actions were “built on its denial of the right of Israel to exist”. They added: “Hamas has oppressed the people it was originally elected to serve and has put them in harm’s way by using them as human shields. Its actions are a violation of international law.”
The statement added that the death toll from “three weeks of bombardment” in Gaza was a “humanitarian catastrophe” and said: “Even defined evacuation routes have been hit. Places of sanctuary and gathering have been bombed.”
The senior clerics called for Hamas to release all hostages unconditionally and for Israel to “protect the population of the occupied territories”.
Two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza
Two young Israeli soldiers were killed during combat operations in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the military has announced.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) website named the soldiers as Sergeant Levi Lifshitz, 20, and Sergeant Roy Wolf, also 20.
Both were soldiers in the Givat Patrol unit and “fell in battle in northern Gaza”, the IDF said.
For each soldier, the site said their families had been notified and that the IDF shares their grief.
Gaza conflict ‘has created worst terror threat since Isis’
The Hamas attack on Israel has triggered the most significant terror threat to the US since the rise of Isis nearly a decade ago, the FBI director, Christopher Wray, told a congressional hearing (David Charter in Washington writes).
Wray said that since the start of the conflict in Gaza, terrorist organisations including Islamic State, al-Qaeda and Hezbollah have called for attacks against Americans and the west.
“We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration the likes of which we haven’t seen since Isis launched its so-called caliphate several years ago,” Wray said.
“Our most immediate concern is that violent extremists, individuals or small groups, will draw inspiration from the events of the Middle East and carry out attacks against Americans going about their daily lives,” he said.
“That includes not just homegrown violent extremists inspired by a foreign terrorist organisation but also domestic violent extremists targeting Jewish or Muslim communities.”
Wray mentioned the stabbing death of a six-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois by his landlord, a murder being investigated as a hate crime.
Anti-war protesters target Blinken at US Congress
Protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza repeatedly interrupted Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, as he attempted to make his case to Congress for more funding for Israel and Ukraine.
One protester after another in the public seats jumped up to decry US support for Israel’s attack on Gaza every couple of minutes during Blinken’s opening address to a Senate committee.
During each interruption, he sat in awkward silence alongside Lloyd Austin, the defence secretary, both facing ahead while police officers removed the unruly demonstrators behind them.
The first man who interrupted at the start of Blinken’s remarks said: “The Geneva Convention prohibits the bombing of densely populated areas. Stop supporting the genocide of the people of Gaza.”
Moments after he was removed, a woman began shouting: “The US is supporting a brutal massacre … The American people do not want to support this brutal war. Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now!”
A third woman a couple of minutes later screamed: “The Palestinians are not animals, ceasefire now.”
At the end of his opening statement, Blinken said: “I also hear very much the passions expressed in this room and outside this room. All of us are committed to the protection of civilian life.”
Biden has requested a $105 billion package including $14.3 billion for Israel, $61.4 billion to support Ukraine and replenish Pentagon stockpiles of weapons and $9.1 billion for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine and other places.
Houthis vow to carry out more attacks on Israel
The Houthis have vowed to carry out more attacks after the group announced that it fired ballistic missiles and drones at Israel (Abbie Cheeseman writes).
It is the third such attack by the Iranian proxy force since the war began, all of which have been intercepted, by the US, the Israeli air force and Israel’s Arrow air defence system.
The Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare’e railed against “Israeli-American aggression on Gaza” and said there would be more attacks. Iran said it was “natural” that the resistance groups affiliated to it would attack Israel.
“They will not wait for anyone’s advice, therefore we need to use the last political opportunities to stop the war,” Iran’s top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in Qatar’s capital Doha, where he met with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, to push for a ceasefire.
More than 20,000 Israeli troops in Gaza
More than 20,000 Israeli troops have entered the Gaza Strip since ground operations began on Friday, it has been reported (Abbie Cheeseman writes).
At least two armoured and infantry divisions have been deployed, according to a report by Axios that cites unnamed Israeli sources. Israel has been secretive about its ground operations in Gaza as it tries to minimise its potential for losses.
Daniel Hagari, the Israel Defence Forces spokesman, said: “Combined forces of the IDF, led by ground forces, have been conducting fierce battles deep in the territory of the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas also said it had targeted Israeli tanks in Gaza and destroyed enemy vehicles.
Israel deploys Arrow defence system after Houthi attacks
The Israeli military said that it has used its long-range Arrow air defence system for the first time during the war (Abbie Cheeseman writes). It follows a second missile attack that is believed to have been launched by the Houthis in Yemen towards southern Israel.
The IDF said a surface-to-surface missile was fired towards Israel “from the area of the Red Sea” before the Israeli air force tracked the missile and intercepted it “at the optimal operational moment and location”.
The announcement came after the military reported a “hostile aircraft intrusion” heading towards the Red Sea port of Eilat on Tuesday morning, for which the Houthis took responsibility.
An “important” statement is expected from the Houthis, who control the north of Yemen and also act as an Iranian proxy force, within an hour.
Starmer’s car attacked after Chatham House speech
Police intervened to protect Sir Keir Starmer as he left Chatham House in central London after a speech in which he rejected calls for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The Labour leader had backed calls for a “humanitarian pause” to Israeli operations to allow aid to enter Gaza from Egypt. He insisted that Labour was united in response to the crisis.
• Keir Starmer mobbed by pro-Palestinian crowd as he shuns Israel-Gaza ceasefire
Starmer warned that calling on Israel to halt operations in Gaza played into the hands of the terrorists who attacked the country earlier this month. He said this could lead to further attacks against Israel and do nothing to prevent the cycle of violence in the region.
Israel ‘used white phosphorus in Lebanon’
Amnesty International has released evidence that points to Israel’s use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon, saying that one of the attacks should be investigated as a war crime as it injured civilians (Abbie Cheeseman writes).
Weapons experts from Amnesty said they verified photos and videos of Israeli forces using the weapons in Lebanese towns and villages between October 10 and 16.
White phosphorus is only considered a legal weapon to use in conflict if it is not fired towards areas populated with civilians or civilian infrastructure.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the allegations, but when the organisation Human Rights Watch made similar allegations accusing the Israeli military of using white phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon shortly after the latest conflict broke out, they released a statement saying: “The current accusation made against the IDF regarding the use of white phosphorus in Gaza is unequivocally false.”
Israel-Hamas: the war in pictures
Public health catastrophe in Gaza ‘imminent’
A World Health Organisation official said on Tuesday that a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza amid overcrowding, mass displacement and damage to the water and sanitation infrastructure (Abbie Cheeseman writes).
The comments came after Catherine Russell, the head of Unicef, told the security council that children were at risk of dying from dehydration and waterborne diseases in Gaza.
She claimed that more than 420 Palestinian children are being killed or injured every day, a number that “should shake each of us to our core”.
The Palestinian health ministry, which is run by Hamas, claimed the death toll to be 8,525 people, including 3,542 children. A spokesman claimed that 15 hospitals and 32 healthcare centres are out of service, and at least 130 healthcare staff have been killed.
Houthi attack on Eilat thwarted
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a thwarted drone attack on Israel this morning.
Israel’s military earlier reported a “hostile aircraft intrusion” that set off warning sirens in the area of Eilat on the Red Sea, which is packed with displaced people from the borders with Gaza and Lebanon.
“These drones belong to the state of Yemen,” Abdel-Aziz bin Habtour, the prime minister of the Houthi government in Yemen, said.
Israel also blamed the Houthis — part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” — for a drone attack on Friday which landed in an Egyptian Red Sea resort, injuring six people.
A spokesman for the Houthi military said that they would deliver “an important statement” in the coming hours. Iran has warned that the response from its proxy forces will grow stronger as Israel crosses “red lines”.
Settler attacks on Palestinians double in West Bank
Almost 1,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in the West Bank since the new round of conflict broke out in Gaza on October 7, according to the latest update from the United Nations (Abbie Cheeseman writes).
Settler violence towards Palestinians from armed Israelis who live in the West Bank has risen from an already high level before the war broke out. In the previous 18 months, 1,100 people had been displaced, the UN said.
According to the UN, at least 121 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by settlers or Israeli authorities since October 7, including 33 children. The Palestinian Prisoners Society said that at least 1,680 Palestinians had been arrested in the West Bank.
Airstrikes hit area around al-Quds hospital
Airstrikes hit the area around Gaza’s al-Quds hospital overnight, for the second time in the past three days (Abbie Cheeseman writes).
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that there were “continuous artillery and airstrikes” in the area of the hospital, at just after 1am local time. “The building is trembling and the displaced civilians and the working crews are experiencing fear and panic,” it posted on Twitter/X.
About 12,000 people are estimated to be sheltering in the corridors of al-Quds hospital.
“It’s clear that hospitals cannot be evacuated without endangering lives. How can people — babies on incubators, the elderly, and those on mechanical ventilation — be expected to evacuate a hospital that has been under constant bombardment?” said Riham Jafari of ActionAid.
Israel’s UN ambassador wears yellow star
Israel’s UN ambassador displayed a yellow star on his chest yesterday as he addressed the UN security council, provocatively pledging to wear the badge until members of the council condemn Hamas atrocities.
Gilad Erdan’s wearing of the badge, which has come to symbolise the oppression of Jews since its imposition in Nazi-occupied Europe, was swiftly criticised by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, which urged him to wear the Israeli flag instead.
Erdan denounced the security council for staying silent over the unprecedented deadly attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israel on October 7. The deeply divided 15-member council has not adopted a single resolution during the war between Israel and Hamas.
UAE confirms it will not cut ties with Israel
Ali Al Nuaimi, the head of the foreign affairs and defence committee in the United Arab Emirates parliament, has said its diplomatic ties are not at risk despite the divisive opinions caused in the region due to the war on Hamas (Melanie Swan writes). Al Nuaimi said: “From the United Arab Emirates perspective, the Abraham Accords are there to stay.”
The 2020 Abraham Accords are a US-brokered deal opening ties between Israel and Arab states, including the UAE and Bahrain. Al Nuaimi added: “The Accords are our future ... We want everyone to acknowledge and accept that Israel is there to exist and that the roots of Jews, Christians, are not in New York or Paris but here in our region. They are part of our history and they should be part of our future.”
Al Nuaimi added: “No person with a human feeling and common sense will agree with the barbarian terrorist attack that Hamas committed on October 7.”
Hezbollah and Israel clash on Lebanon border
The Israeli army and Hezbollah engaged in clashes over the Lebanese-Israeli border (Abbie Cheeseman writes from Beirut).
Israel Defence Forces posted a video of its strikes in southern Lebanon, in which it claimed to have hit “military infrastructure”. In response Hezbollah issued its own videos and photographs of it firing across the border in the third week of tit-for-tat exchange.
Although the clashes have for the most part stayed within long-held rules of engagement, in recent days Israel and Hezbollah have fired deeper into territory on both sides of the border.
The Lebanese paramilitary group appears to be changing tactics because of its relatively heavy loss of troops. It reported its first use of a surface-to-air missile which it claimed downed an Israeli drone on Sunday. At least 47 Hezbollah fighters have been killed so far in the clashes that have been contained in the immediate border areas.
Hamas commander behind kibbutz massacre is killed
Overnight the IDF also announced the assassination of Nasim Abu Ajina, the commander of the Beit Lahia battalion of Hamas’s Northern Brigade, who directed the massacre on October 7 in Kibbutz Erez and Moshav Netiv HaAsara (Melanie Swan writes).
Abu Ajina commanded Hamas’ aerial array, and took part in the development of Hamas’s unmanned aerial vehicles and paragliders.
“His elimination significantly harms the efforts of the Hamas terrorist organisation to disrupt the IDF’s ground activities,” the IDF said.
West Bank home of Hamas chief destroyed
The West Bank home of Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy political chief of Hamas, has been destroyed by the Israel Defence Force (Melanie Swan writes).
• Who are the leaders of Hamas? The men behind the attack on Israel
Based in Lebanon, al-Arouri is considered the de facto leader in the West Bank, ruling in exile like Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who lives between Qatar and Turkey.
Arouri’s home, in Arura near Ramallah, was destroyed in an aerial attack on Tuesday morning. Although the IDF said it could not comment on the attack without co-ordinates, The Times of Israel claimed the green light for the demolition was given on October 27 by the IDF central command head, Major General Yehuda Fox.
Release my abducted children, mother pleads
An Israeli mother whose two teenage children have been abducted by Hamas has urged the warring parties to come to an agreement so they can be safely released.
Hadas Kalderon’s children were taken by Hamas from the Nir Oz kibbutz, which is just over a mile away from the Gaza border. She has lived there for nearly two decades. Her mother and niece were killed when Hamas fighters invaded on October 7.
It is estimated that 100 of the approximately 400 residents of Nir Oz were killed by the terrorists. Another 80 were taken hostage, including Kalderon’s 16-year-old daughter, Sahar, and 12-year-old son, Erez, as well as their father, Ofer, 53.
Read the story in full here.
