Israel-Hamas war live: Israeli PM Netanyahu speaks in Tel Aviv, signals ‘second stage of war’ against Hamas, pledges to ‘abolish this evil’

‘The war inside Gaza is going to be long,’ Netanyahu says, calling the ground invasion a ‘holy mission’.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, says Israel must stop the “madness” and end Gaza strikes, according to Agence France-Presse.

“The Israeli bombardments on Gaza intensified last night and once again targeted women, children and innocent civilians and worsened the ongoing humanitarian crisis,” Erdoğan said on X. “Israel must immediately stop this madness and end its attacks.”

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Australia abstains from UN resolution calling for truce in Gaza, prompting criticism at home

Representative explains resolution ‘did not recognise terror group Hamas as perpetrator of 7 October attack’

Australia has abstained from casting a vote in a UN resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza, arguing it was “incomplete” because it did not mention Hamas as the perpetrator of the 7 October attack.

On Friday, the United Nations general assembly overwhelmingly called for an “immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas and demanded unhindered aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip.

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A day by day account of week three of the Israel-Hamas war

Aid trucks trickle into Gaza while Israel steps up operations and the UN’s general assembly calls for an immediate truce

Fourteen more aid trucks crossed the border from Egypt to Gaza, joining the 20 aid trucks that had entered the previous day, which was the first aid convoy to arrive in the territory since Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel on 7 October.

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Airstrikes on Gaza bakeries add to ‘catastrophic’ food shortages

UN refugee agency says 10 of 50 bakeries it helps have been hit and fuel is running out to transport flour to those that remain

A fifth of bakeries supported by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza have been bombed so far, as warnings have been issued of “catastrophic” food shortages due to a lack of fuel.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said 10 of the 50 bakeries it supplies with flour, helping to lower the soaring cost of bread, have been hit in airstrikes and fuel is running out for vehicles to transport flour to those that remain.

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Israel-Gaza war: UN general assembly calls for ‘immediate, durable humanitarian truce’

Resolution, passed by 120 votes to 14, is not binding, but carries great political and symbolic weight

The UN general assembly has overwhelmingly called for an “immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas and demanded unhindered aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip.

The motion drafted by Jordan is not binding, but carries political weight, reflecting the degree to which the US and Israel are isolated internationally as Israel steps up its ground operations.

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US envoy to UN says Arab states ‘empowering Hamas’ with Gaza ceasefire motion

Resolution tabled by by Jordan calls for restraint from Israel but does not say Hamas was behind 7 October attack

The US envoy to the UN has accused Arab states of empowering Hamas and turning a blind eye to evil by tabling a draft resolution at the general assembly calling for restraint from Israel but failing to name Hamas as the perpetrators of the massacres of 7 October.

Linda Thomas Greenfield, who faced successive attacks by member states for failing to condemn Israel’s use of violence in Gaza, insisted the US mourned every loss of civilian life but also hit back by claiming the draft motion tabled by Jordan gave cover to Hamas.

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UN general assembly calls for immediate truce – as it happened

United Nations resolution passes with 120 votes in favour of truce. This blog is now closed. Our live coverage continues here

A member of the Hamas delegation visiting Moscow has said that it needs time to locate all of the hostages who have been taken to Gaza by various Palestinian factions, Reuters is reporting, citing Russia’s Kommersant newspaper.

Kommersant also reported a member of the Hamas delegation saying that it could not release the hostages until a ceasefire was agreed and that Israeli bombing of Gaza has killed 50 of the hostages seized during raids by Palestinian militants.

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Police seek four people for ‘pro-Hamas’ signs at Palestine demo in London

Placards declaring support for Hamas and featuring images of paragliders used to attack Israel would break UK terrorism law

Police are looking for four people alleged to have shown support for terrorism, including a man who held a placard declaring full support for Hamas, and three women alleged to have brandished photos of paragliders, which may be a reference to those that were used to attack Israel.

The Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command issued photos of the suspects and said hate crimes continued to increase. Another big pro-Palestinian demonstration through central London is scheduled for Saturday.

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‘What are they waiting for?’: Britons in Gaza feel abandoned by UK government

Those unable to leave or with family trapped there say they feel hopeless and have had no help

In late August, Nasser Hamid Said made an emergency trip from London to Gaza with his wife and two children after the death of his sister. For the past 20 days the family have been caught up in an altogether different nightmare: sheltering with relatives amid nonstop Israeli airstrikes and growing fears of an invasion.

“I’m fearful for my children,” he said over the sound of airstrikes in the city of Jabalia. “We need from our government just help to get out. What are they waiting for? I don’t understand.”

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Israelis hesitant over Gaza ground invasion amid hostage fears, poll shows

Only 29% of those surveyed backed an immediate offensive, while 49% said it would be better to wait

After the murderous onslaught by Hamas on 7 October, Israelis rallied around the prospect of a swift invasion of Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government mobilised tanks and reservists amid widespread agreement that Israel needed to enter the enclave and destroy Hamas.

Three weeks later, however, there is still no invasion and many Israelis seem to no longer want one – at least not immediately.

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Why did the US launch airstrikes on Syria and what happens next?

The war in Gaza risks developing into a wider conflict, but for now, the actions seem to be more about messaging between Washington and Tehran

Over the last 10 days, US military bases in eastern Syria and western Iraq have been hit by rockets and drones. There have been 22 such attacks, although details are sketchy and some may not have been counted. More than 20 US service personnel have been injured, though not seriously, and a civilian contractor died of cardiac arrest.

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Arab nations condemn Israel’s Gaza assault during UN debate

US warned over ‘genocide in Palestine’, as foreign ministers challenge targeting of civilians and international law breaches

Arab nations have linked hands with the Global South to challenge Israel and its western backers to end the bombing in a Gaza at the start of a rare two-day emergency debate at the UN general assembly.

In a fierce warning on Thursday the Iranian foreign minister said that if what he described as the genocide did not stop the US would “not be spared from this fire”.

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Joe Biden doesn’t trust casualty figures from Gaza’s health ministry. Experts do

Israel and Joe Biden have shown scepticism about accuracy of rising death toll but others point to historical reliability of data

In this time of war, the health ministry in Gaza has been given its own health warning. Joe Biden has questioned the reliability of its reporting of the number of people killed and wounded during the Israeli assault on Gaza – because the health ministry is run by Hamas.

“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” the US president said. “But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.”

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Israeli forces enter new phase of war against Hamas with Gaza raid

Significant incursion comes as EU leaders finalise text calling for ‘humanitarian corridors and pauses’

Israeli forces entered a new phase of their war against Hamas in Gaza on Thursday, launching a substantial but limited raid into the coastal strip, in what was described as a probing action in preparation for a more sustained ground offensive.

Infantry backed by tanks and armoured bulldozers moved in under cover of night and attacked Hamas targets in an hours-long raid into the north of the territory, as officials raised the number of hostages confirmed to be held by the militant Islamist group to 224.

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Released Israeli hostage doing well and trying to help free others, daughter says

Sharone Lifschitz says she is ‘immensely proud’ of her mother, who shook hands with a Hamas captor

It was an extraordinary moment when an 85-year-old hostage shook the hand of her Hamas captor and said one word: “Shalom”.

Yocheved Lifshitz, who was released by Hamas after 16 days in captivity, is now focused on trying to secure the release of other hostages. And her daughter, Sharone Lifschitz, has revealed that the captor was reportedly a paramedic with whom her mother had discussed peace.

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Hamas delegation travels to Moscow for talks on foreign hostages in Gaza

Russia says it discussed evacuation of Russian and other foreign citizens with group led by Mousa Abu Marzook

A senior Hamas delegation has travelled to Moscow to meet Russian foreign ministry officials in the organisation’s first high-profile international visit since it launched a raid in southern Israel on 7 October, killing an estimated 1,400 people and taking another 220 hostage.

The delegation was led by Mousa Abu Marzook, a founder and political leader of Hamas, who met the Russian deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov. Marzook, who lives in exile in Qatar, travelled to Moscow after an earlier meeting in Doha with Bogdanov and the Iranian deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani.

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Israel-Hamas war live: Aid ‘barely trickling’ into Gaza, says UN humanitarian chief; Gaza health ministry releases names of 7,000 it says have been killed

UN humanitarian chief says bombardments on Gaza ‘getting worse’; Gaza health ministry releases 212-page document of names of 7,000 it says have been killed

As the death toll mounts in Gaza, Palestinians are burying the unidentified dead in mass graves, with a number instead of a name, residents say. Some families are using bracelets in the hope of finding their loved ones should they be killed.

Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed over 6,500 people, the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip said on Wednesday.

Biden said on Wednesday he had “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using” for the death toll, but he did not say why he was skeptical. The United Nations relies on the Gaza ministry for death toll figures.

In the US, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it was “deeply disturbed” by Biden’s comments on the Gaza figures, and called on the president to apologise.

Israeli tanks and troops are massed on the border with Gaza awaiting orders, Reuters reports. Israel has called up 360,000 reservists.

International pressure is growing to delay any invasion of Gaza, not least because of hostages. More than half the estimated 220 hostages held by Hamas have foreign passports from 25 different countries, the Israeli government said. Many were believed to have had dual Israeli nationality.

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All 27 EU leaders call for ‘humanitarian corridors and pauses’ in Gaza

Official declaration to be issued, which also seeks a peace conference on a two-state solution

Leaders of the 27 EU member states have unanimously called for “humanitarian corridors and pauses” of the shelling in Gaza to allow food, water and medical supplies to reach Palestinians.

An official declaration will be issued after a two-day summit of leaders in Brussels.

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Al Jazeera says Israeli airstrike killed the family of its Gaza correspondent

The wife, son, daughter and grandson of Wael al-Dahdouh, the bureau chief in Gaza, were targeted at a relief camp, outlet says

An Al Jazeera correspondent is mourning the loss of his entire immediate family after they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

The family of Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, had moved to a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza after Israel’s warning on 13 October to those in the northern half of the territory to leave.

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Aukus will ‘get done’ despite jitters in Congress, Biden tells Albanese at White House meeting

Getting approval for nuclear submarine plan through legislature a question of ‘not if, but when’

Joe Biden has played down congressional jitters over the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine deal and has revealed he assured Xi Jinping that the countries involved are not aiming to “surround China”.

The US president welcomed the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to the White House and insisted he was “confident that we’re going to be able to get the money for Aukus because it’s overwhelmingly in our interest”.

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