Israeli troops mass on Gaza border as death toll from Hamas attack passes 1,000

Hundreds of thousands of reservists head for units amid mounting expectation of large-scale ground invasion

A massive Israeli military buildup was continuing along Gaza’s border on Tuesday, as the country’s military confirmed the death toll from Saturday’s Hamas attack – the deadliest militant assault in its history – had passed 1,000 and wave after wave of airstrikes hit the militant-controlled territory.

Amid mounting expectations that Israel would launch a ground invasion of Gaza within days, Israeli soldiers were still collecting bodies of the dead four days after Hamas rampaged through southern Israeli towns in the deadliest terrorist attack in the country’s history.

Continue reading...

Humza Yousaf calls for UK to push for Gaza humanitarian corridor

Scottish first minister says he has made contact with his wife’s parents who are trapped in besieged enclave after Hamas attack

Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, has called on the UK foreign secretary to push for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Gaza.

Yousaf revealed on Monday that his wife Nadia’s parents, who live in Dundee, are trapped in Gaza and struggling to find safe passage.

Continue reading...

‘Here he had nobody’: strangers bury young Briton in quiet, jittery Jerusalem

As Nathanel Young, 20, was buried, the streets of the divided city remained uneasily empty with both sides fearing reprisals

On a hillside in Jerusalem, hundreds of people stood in near silence at the funeral of a lone soldier. Speaking only in whispers or exchanging glances they crammed on to the stone walls that overlooked the line of white gravestones in Israel’s national cemetery on Mount Herzl.

A fearful quiet had descended on the city, with the line of cars snaking up the hillside and the crowds of people finding their way to the cemetery marking the only crowds in a place normally teeming with life.

Continue reading...

Israel declares siege of Gaza as Hamas threatens to start killing hostages

Hamas says Israeli strikes have killed some captives and it will kill another if bombing without warning continues

Israel has declared a “complete siege” of Gaza, cutting off water, food and power supplies, as Hamas militants threatened to start killing Israeli civilian hostages if the bombing of civilian areas in the enclave continued without prior warning.

Palestinian militants abducted more than 100 people during a surprise multi-front attack in which they killed more than 700 – making Saturday the deadliest day in Israel’s history. Israeli media said on Monday the death toll had climbed to 900.

Continue reading...

At least 11 US citizens killed in Hamas attacks on Israel, Biden says

Death toll up to 800, including French, Argentinian, Thai and Nepalese, with at least 10 UK citizens reportedly dead or missing

At least 11 US citizens were among those killed in the Hamas onslaught on Israel at the weekend, Joe Biden said on Monday, as the death toll in Israel rose above 800.

As it became clear that the dead included people from different backgrounds and originally from countries other than Israel, the BBC reported that at least 10 British citizens were dead or missing. France confirmed the deaths of two of its citizens, and there were reports that as many as nine French people were missing, dead or taken hostage. German citizens are also thought to have been killed or kidnapped.

Continue reading...

EU appears to backpedal on freezing of Palestinian aid payments

Earlier announcement by Olivér Várhelyi had prompted surprise from member states including Ireland and Spain

The EU has been plunged into a diplomatic row after an announcement that it was to suspend “all payments” to Palestinians as a result of Hamas’s attacks on Israel led to clashes with several member states including Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands.

After six hours scrambling for an explanation, the European Commission appeared to backpedal on an announcement made by the commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, saying: “There will be no suspension of payments.” But it muddied the waters by saying there were “no payments foreseen”.

Continue reading...

Oil price leaps and airline shares fall after Hamas attack on Israel

Investors predict more instability in Middle East, as some flights to Tel Aviv are suspended

Oil and gas prices rose on Monday and airline shares fell amid widespread flight cancellations as markets reacted to the surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas.

Investors appeared to be pricing in the prospect of more instability in the Middle East, given the warning from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that his country was embarking on a “long and difficult war”. The death toll has passed 1,100 since fighting started on Saturday and is rising.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak says UK is ‘poised’ to offer Israel military help if required

UK prime minister will chair Cobra meeting as death toll continues to rise after Hamas’s surprise attack

Rishi Sunak has pledged to provide diplomatic, intelligence or security support to Israel if requested after attacks by Hamas, as he chaired an emergency meeting of Cobra.

No 10 said the UK stood “poised” to help Israel militarily if it asked for assistance and is not ruling out evacuating some British citizens from affected areas, saying keeping them safe was the “utmost priority”.

Continue reading...

X criticised for enabling spread of Israel-Hamas disinformation

Elon Musk endorsed users who have posted ‘wrong and unverifiable things’ while paid-for accounts spread fake news

X’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict has come under scrutiny after a “deluge” of fake posts and Elon Musk’s recommendation of war coverage from accounts that have made false claims or antisemitic comments.

The owner of X, formerly Twitter, recommended two accounts on Sunday. He wrote: “For following the war in real-time, @WarMonitors and @sentdefender are good. It is also worth following direct sources on the ground. Please add interesting options in the replies below.”

Continue reading...

Monday briefing: Death toll rises to more than 1,100 after weekend of conflict in Israel and Gaza

In today’s newsletter: Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been wounded and killed since Saturday morning, with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning of a ‘long and difficult war’ after Hamas attack

Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning.

At about 6:30am local time on Saturday, Hamas, the Palestinian para-military group, launched an unprecedented, surprise attack by land, air and sea, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and launching an incursion into southern Israel taking over several Israeli towns. The offensive, which Hamas have called “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, took place a day after the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur war and caught the Israeli government and military completely off guard. It has been described as an “intelligence failure for the ages”.

Germany | Germany’s opposition conservatives have held ground in the key states of Hesse and Bavaria in elections that highlighted discontent with Olaf Scholz’s centre-left government amid worries about economic slowdown and migration.

Labour | Rachel Reeves will announce today that a Labour government would create a powerful Covid corruption commissioner to help recoup billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that has been lost to waste, fraud and flawed contracts during the pandemic.

Health | Mental healthcare in England has become “a national emergency”, with “overwhelmed” services unable to cope with a big post-Covid surge in people needing help, NHS bosses say.

Conservatives | Working-class people who were a key part of the coalition of voters that delivered the Conservatives’ 2019 general election win have been deserting the party in droves under Rishi Sunak’s leadership, polling by YouGov has found. Only 44% of working-class voters who voted for the Tories in 2019 say they will back the party next time.

Spain | Tens of thousands of people have joined conservative and far-right Spanish political leaders in Barcelona to protest against the Socialist party’s decision to consider an amnesty for those involved in the failed, unlawful and unilateral push for Catalan independence six years ago.

Continue reading...

Israel military says situation ‘dire’ in south as 260 bodies retrieved from festival

IDF says fighting is ongoing in south, saying it ‘could be a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbour wrapped into one’ as Supernova festival-goers describe attack

About 260 bodies have been recovered from the site of a music festival in southern Israel that was attacked by Hamas militants, as Israel’s military said fighting was ongoing in the region and described the situation as “dire”.

Late on Sunday, Israeli rescue service Zaka said it had retrieved hundreds of bodies from the Supernova festival, near Kibbutz Re’im close to Gaza. Shocking images and video from the site showed festival-goers running for their lives across open fields as Hamas gunmen attacked them and took hostages.

Continue reading...

Israel-Hamas war: what has happened and what has caused the conflict?

Offensive launched from Gaza represents large failure of Israeli intelligence and is likely to have long-lasting repercussions

Shocked Israelis woke on the last day of the Jewish high holidays to the wail of sirens as Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired thousands of rockets from Gaza and armed militants broke down the hi-tech barriers surrounding the strip to enter Israel, shooting and taking hostages. Militants in boats also tried to enter Israel by sea.

Continue reading...

Egypt: police officer shoots dead two Israeli tourists and Egyptian guide

Israel’s national security council says its citizens should avoid going abroad and those in Egypt should leave

An Egyptian police officer shot dead two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide on Sunday, as war raged for a second day between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Israel’s national security council later said its citizens should consider not travelling abroad particularly in the Middle East “on the backdrop of the attack in Egypt”. It said visitors already in Egypt should leave “as soon as possible”.

Continue reading...

‘People are fearful of what’s to come’: Gaza civilians flee waves of Israeli strikes

Palestinians seek refuge but electricity and gas have been cut off and medical infrastructure is on its knees

Palestinians across the besieged Gaza Strip have described their terror and confusion, as thousands fled a wave of Israeli airstrikes after Hamas’s unprecedented cross-border incursion.

“When we began asking about the situation inside the hospitals we work with, one person described it as a slaughterhouse,” said Mahmoud Shalabi of Medical Aid for Palestinians, who is overseeing support to hospitals across the Gaza Strip.

Continue reading...

Biden to announce new military aid to Israel after Hamas attack, Blinken says

US secretary of state also confirms that American citizens are among those killed and taken hostage

The Biden administration is preparing to send additional military assistance to Israel to ensure it has all it needs to rebuff the Hamas attack from Gaza, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Sunday, as he confirmed that American civilians were among those killed and taken hostage.

Speaking to CNN’s State of the Union, Blinken said that extra help for Israel was likely to be announced by the end of the day. He said the US government had received reports of “several Americans” killed in the fighting, as well as “reports of missing Americans”.

Continue reading...

Hamas attack has abruptly altered the picture for Middle East diplomacy

Iran wants to make it impossible for Saudi Arabia to strike deal with Israel, while others in region cannot afford mayhem in Gaza

As the death toll rises, and the security consequences multiply, Israel is pointing its finger of accusation at Tehran for orchestrating the attacks by Hamas. The attacks may have been born of anger, specifically at the months-long behaviour of the Netanyahu coalition, including the provocations at al-Aqsa mosque, but Iran and the forces it supports have a longer-term strategic goal: to thwart the US-led effort to achieve a normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a move that would entrench the US in the Middle East – and in Iran’s eyes deprive the Palestinians of their last influential sponsor.

Iran’s goal is to denormalise the region, and make it near-impossible for Saudi Arabia to strike a deal. Israel, by contrast, wants to shrink the Palestinian conflict diplomatically so it gradually becomes an irrelevance, a historical curio such as the Yom Kippur war. The aid it drip-feeds to Gaza via Qatar is one leg of this strategy.

Continue reading...

Hundreds of bodies recovered from Israel music festival – as it happened

This blog is now closed. Follow our latest updates from the Gaza conflict here

The Israeli air force has released footage of an airstrike in the Gaza Strip.

There are two key questions in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s surprise assault on Israel: what was the attack designed to achieve, and why now?

Continue reading...

Met increases patrols in London after reports of Israel attack celebrations

Minister shares video posted by Rachel Riley of people waving Palestinian flags in west London

The Metropolitan police have said they have increased patrols in London after receiving reports of people celebrating the attack on Israel by Hamas.

Hamas sent fighters across the border and fired thousands of rockets in what it said was a new operation on Saturday morning. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the group would “pay a price that it hasn’t known until now” as he called up reservists.

Continue reading...

White House condemns Hamas and pledges support for Israel after attacks

Joe Biden says US will offer ‘rock solid and unwavering’ support to Israeli government as Tel Aviv mounts counterattack

The White House and other US politicians voiced their support for Israel on Saturday after attacks from Hamas stunned the world.

Joe Biden said he spoke to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday, assuring him that the American government is “ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the government and people of Israel”.

Continue reading...

Civilians and soldiers held hostage in Gaza, says Israel – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

Rocket fire continues to strike Israel from Gaza.

Israeli media have reported that gunmen opened fire on passers-by in the town of Sderot, in southern Israel, and footage circulating on social media appeared to show clashes in city streets as well as gunmen in jeeps roaming the countryside.

Continue reading...