Israel Palestine war news RECAP: Israel unveils ‘three-phase’ Gaza war plan amid mounting protests around the world

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An asylum seeker, who is said to have wanted to avenge the deaths of people in Gaza, has carried out a suspected terror attack in Britain, it was claimed last night.

The man, who came to the UK in 2020, told police that he had done it for ‘Palestine’, according to The Telegraph.

Details of the terror attack that can be reported are highly restricted for legal reasons. But the suspect, who is currently in custody, is said to have told authorities after his arrest that he had committed the offence because Israel had killed children in Gaza.

Senior politicians have questioned why information of the attacker’s motivation was not made public amid warnings that pro-Palestine protests this weekend could encourage so-called lone-wolf attacks.

These photos show the devastation left by Israeli air strikes in the city of Al-Zahra in the Gaza Strip on Friday.

Missiles from Israel levelled a number of buildings in the central Gazan city, as the violence shows no sign of abating.

More than 5,000 people have been killed on both sides since the conflict began with Hamas’s cross-border terrorist attack on October 7.

US President Joe Biden has said Israel should delay its ground invasion of Gaza for the safety of hostages.

When asked by a reporter on Friday whether the attack should be delayed until more hostages can get out, he said: ‘Yes’.

It comes after the release of two US hostages who were held by Hamas for two weeks.

It is believed that more than 200 people are still being held by the terrorist group after its attack on Israel on October 7.

The United States Embassy in Jerusalem has shared a photo of Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan after their release by Hamas.

The mother and daughter were seen speaking into a phone at the embassy, with President Joe Biden talking to them from the other end of the line.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), has said reports that a hospital in Gaza has been ordered to evacuate by the Israeli military are ‘disturbing’.

Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said it had received a threat from the IDF to bomb Al-Quds Hospital. It said Israel has demanded the immediate evacuation of the Gaza City hospital, which has more than 400 patients and thousands of displaced civilians who sought refuge on its grounds, it said.

Ghebreyesus said it is ‘impossible’ for overcrowded hospitals to safely evacuate.

Hospitals in the besieged enclave ‘must be allowed to perform their lifesaving functions,’ he wrote in a message on social media. ‘They must be protected.’

In a field close to the Gaza border a young female conscript is preparing for action.

Just a fortnight ago she was working in an advertising agency in Tel Aviv, now she is heading for the hell that is Gaza – and its Hamas terrorists.

‘It’s pretty different from what I was doing two weeks ago, that’s for sure. But everything changed on October 7,’ she said, referring to the slaughter of 1,400 of her fellow citizens by Hamas. ‘This is our fight for survival. We are trained for this and we will win.’

She is among 370,000 conscripts who abandoned their day jobs – and their cars outside army bases – to sign up. Both the people of Israel and of Gaza are braced for mass bloodshed as the former vows to punish Hamas by land, air and sea.

SAM GREENHILL watched as crews made the final preparations for their ‘Swords of Iron’ invasion of Gaza – with tanks, troops and fearsome armoured bulldozers massed for the onslaught.

The mighty Caterpillar D9R, nicknamed ‘Doobi’, which means ‘teddy bear’ in Hebrew, is designed to smash fences and take on the maze of narrow streets, vast tunnel networks, booby traps and sniper positions that await Israeli troops.

Thousands of Palestinian supporters are expected to converge on Downing Street on Saturday as diplomatic efforts intensify to allow access for humanitarian aid to Gaza and secure the release of hostages.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced following his meetings with Middle East leaders that the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza should be reopening ‘imminently’ and he had discussed how the UK could offer support ‘on the ground’ to get aid into the besieged territory.

An Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson has said that despite releasing to hostages, Hamas is has a ‘real face of evil’.

Major Dorion Spielman told CNN: ‘Hamas is trying to paint itself as a human rights organization now.

‘[They’ve] given back two of the hostages but the real face of evil is still there. Rockets are raining down on Israel.

‘You know, let’s get back all the hostages and then we can begin to speak with them.’

He added that releasing hostages was ‘right out of the Hamas playbook’.

He said: ‘It’s a very typical cycle. They attack and massacre and send rockets to Israel, then they run back to Gaza.

‘In the past they hid under their own civilians waiting for us to kill them… and then they turn to America and the international community and claim human rights violations so we’ll stop, so they can regroup.

‘They want to have us pause on eliminating them… [but] we’re at war with them. There’s going to be no break. We’re going to eliminate them.

‘This is just another tactic for them to try to get us to stop. But they’re mistaken. Hamas is an evil that has to be stopped completely. And that’s what we’re going to do.’

The BBC has quietly dropped the use of word ‘militants’ to refer to Hamas following weeks of pressure, it has emerged.

The corporation will now call the group a ‘proscribed terrorist organisation’ by the UK Government or others.

BBC News has faced huge criticism over its refusal to describe Hamas fighters as terrorists, even though the Home Office classifies the group as a ‘terrorist organisation’.

The broadcaster, which has cited its editorial guidelines as the reason for refusing to use the word terrorist, had previously been calling the fighters ‘militants’. It also described the slaughter of Israeli civilians as a ‘militant’ attack.

Hamas has said it was working with Qatari and Egyptian mediators to release ‘civilian’ hostages taken during their October 7 attacks on Israel.

The comments came after the release of two American women.

Gaza’s Islamist rulers said they were ‘working with all mediators to implement the movement’s decision to close the civilian (hostage) file if appropriate security conditions allow.’

The group said that Americans Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan were freed following efforts by Qatar and Egypt.

Antisemitic offences in London have increased by over 1,000% this month compared to last year, police have said.

And since the Hamas attack on Israel, Tell Mama (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) has recorded a six-fold increase in reports compared to the same period last year.

The Metropolitan Police said there had been ‘a significant increase in hate crime across London’ and that officers had made 21 arrests for hate crime offences, amid the Israel-Hamas war.

These arrests included a man detained on suspicion of defacing posters of missing Israelis in Camden and another man in relation to 10 incidents of Islamophobic graffiti on bus stops in New Malden and Raynes Park.

The Metropolitan Police said there had been 218 antisemitic offences between October 1 and 18, compared to 15 in the same period last year – an increase of 1,353%.

They added that Islamophobia offences during the same period had increased from 42 last year, to 101 this year – an increase of 140%.

This is the first photo of US hostages Judith and Natalie Raanan since their release by Hamas.

The pair are pictured holding hands with an unidentified man who is wearing a bulletproof vest, alongside two Israeli soldiers, in the photo released by the Israeli government.

A blast at a hospital in Gaza was not the result of an Israeli missile strike, but most likely a misfiring Palestinian rocket, the French military intelligence directorate said on Friday.

Palestinian officials said 471 people were killed in the blast at Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital late on Tuesday.

Gaza’s health ministry blamed an Israeli air strike, while Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by militants.

‘There is nothing that allows us to say that it is an Israeli strike, but the most likely (scenario) is a Palestinian rocket that had a firing incident.’

Satellite photos taken in Egypt today show a long convoy of aid trucks lined up waiting to cross the border into the Gaza Strip after being stuck in ‘limbo’ for days.

More than 200 trucks carrying roughly 3,000 tons of aid were positioned near the crossing, according to aid officials. The provisions are intended to bring some relief to the Palestinians in Gaza, which is being blockaded by Israel.

Many in Gaza, reduced to eating one meal a day and without enough water to drink, are waiting desperately for the aid. It was unclear whether fuel would be allowed across to power hospital generators.

On Friday, workers began repairing damaged to the crossing caused by Israeli bombings. Officials hoped to open the crossing on Saturday.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that Israel had told it to evacuate five schools ‘as fast as possible’.

All of the schools are in Gaza City, close to the hospital.

‘We did what we could to protest and reject this decision, but this means that from now these facilities are no longer safe,’ said an UNRWA statement, calling on thousands of people to flee.

It comes as the Palestine Red Crescent announced that Israel had told it to evacuate A-Quds Hospital days after a blast that killed hundreds at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.

Families of some of the 203 Hamas hostage gathered for a symbolic Friday night dinner today to call for their loved-ones to be released.

Anguished mothers and fathers stood behind place settings at a huge table in the centre of Tel Avivi as part of their determined campaign to ‘Bring Them Home’.

The Israel Defence Force (IDF) have announced they believe the most of the 203 hostage taken to Gaza are alive.

And today the heart-broken parents joined in prayers for the safe return of all the hostages.

With tears streaming down their cheeks, they sang the traditional Jewish hymn, ‘Shalom Aleichem Malachei Hashalom, which is recited on Friday night before the Sabbath meal.

US President Joe Biden said Friday he was ‘overjoyed’ after Hamas released two American hostages abducted during the militant group’s surprise attack from Gaza on Israel.

‘Today, we have secured the release of two Americans taken hostage by Hamas during the horrific terrorist assault against Israel on October 7,’ Biden said in a statement.

‘Our fellow citizens have endured a terrible ordeal these past 14 days, and I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear.’

Biden thanked Qatar, the Gulf state that hosts a Hamas political office and has previously brokered deals between the group and Israel, and the Israeli government ‘for their partnership in this work.’

The US president vowed that work would continue to win the release of other Americans being held by Hamas since the attack, some of whose families he spoke to last week.

‘We will not stop until we get their loved ones home. As president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans held hostage around the world,’ Biden said.

Canada is still committed to a two-state solution to create peace in the Middle East, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday, reiterating the country’s long-time position in the wake of deadly Hamas attacks against Israel earlier this month.

‘Canada remains firm and steadfast in our commitment to a two-state solution,’ Trudeau told reporters in Toronto.

‘The world and the region needs a peaceful, safe, prosperous, viable Palestinian state alongside a peaceful, prosperous, democratic, safe… Israel.’

Greta Thunberg today deleted a pro-Palestine social media post after critics claimed a stuffed octopus in the photo could be viewed as an ‘anti-Semitic’ symbol – with the activist saying the toy helps with her autism.

The 20-year-old wrote: ‘Today we are striking in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected.’

While many criticised her for failing to condemn Hamas attacks on Israel, others questioned why the image of her with three other activists featured a blue octopus, branding it an ‘anti-Semitic trope’ for an imaginary worldwide Jewish conspiracy.

In response, Ms Thunberg deleted the original photo and replaced it with one showing the octopus cropped out.

She wrote: ‘It has come to my knowledge that the stuffed animal shown in my earlier post can be interpreted as a symbol for antisemitism, which I was completely unaware of.

‘The toy in the picture is a tool often used by autistic people as a way to communicate feelings. We are of course against any type of discrimination, and condemn antisemitism in all forms and shapes. This is non-negotiable. That is why I deleted the last post.’

Israel said it will cut ‘the umbilical cord’ with Gaza to create ‘a new security reality’ and block all crossings after annihilating Hamas in a ground invasion.

The Israeli military today punished Gaza with airstrikes and authorities inched closer to bringing aid to desperate families and hospitals.

Israel will enforce a buffer zone within the Gaza Strip once the war is over, Israel’s agriculture minister Avi Dichter said on Thursday.

In comments that seemed to refer to setting up a buffer zone in the coastal strip, Israel’s foreign minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday that ‘at the end of this war, not only will Hamas no longer be in Gaza, but the territory of Gaza will also decrease’.

Hamas has released two US nationals who were being held hostage in Gaza, in the first such show of mercy since the terror group’s brutal surprise attack on Israel nearly two weeks ago.

The Daily Mail understands the names of the hostages are Judith Raanan and Natalie Raanan, a mother and daughter from Chicago who were visiting Israel for a relative’s birthday when they were kidnapped.

The two women have left Gaza and entered Egypt under the guidance of the Israeli branch of the Red Cross, Israeli state-run media outlet KAN 11 reported.

Thousands of people in Muslim countries and beyond held demonstrations Friday in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

They called for an end to Israel’s blockade and airstrikes following a brutal incursion into southern Israel by fighters from the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza.

Demonstrators headed to Israeli military checkpoints after Friday prayers in the West Bank and gathered in Iraq at the country’s border crossing with Jordan; in Jordan itself; in locations across Egypt; in Turkey’s capital Ankara and its most populous city of Istanbul; and in Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and South Africa.

There were also protests in the Iranian capital of Tehran and in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.

Israel’s Iron Dome has continued to shoot down Hamas rockets aimed towards the country from Gaza.

Dramatic images show four missiles launched by the terrorist group being intercepted by the £1.3billion defence system tonight.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday called on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, which he said amounted to genocide, and urged governments worldwide to work for a humanitarian ceasefire in the region.

While initially condemning civilian deaths and calling for restraint as it sought to repair ties with Israel after years of animosity, Ankara has toughened its stance against Israel as the fighting and humanitarian crisis in Gaza has intensified.

‘I repeat my call for the Israeli leadership to never expand the scope of its attacks on civilians and to immediately end its operations amounting to genocide,’ Erdogan said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He added Israel was provoking non-regional actors instead of turning back from its mistakes in Gaza, and said that the region needed saving from the “frenzy of madness” supported by Western powers and media. Erdogan also said Ankara was working to end the fighting before it reached ‘a point of no return’.

‘It is clear that security cannot be achieved by massacring children, women, civilians; by bombing hospitals, schools, mosques, and churches,’ Erdogan said.’Cruelty does not bring prosperity.’

The Palestine Red Crescent, an aid charity which works in the Gaza Strip, says it has received warnings from Israel’s armed forces telling them to evacuate a hospital.

The organisation says it has been told to evacuate Al-Quds Hospital, where 400 people are patients and 12,000 civilians have taken refuge from Israeli air strikes.

Gaza’s ruler Hamas said Friday its armed wing has released two American hostages, from around 200 captives abducted in attacks by the militant group in Israel on October 7.

‘In response to Qatari efforts, (Ezzedine) al-Qassam Brigades released two American citizens (a mother and her daughter) for humanitarian reasons,’ Hamas said in a statement posted on Telegram.

The Islamist group did not detail how or when the hostages were released.

The Israeli military said earlier Friday that most of those abducted to Gaza were still alive.

‘The majority of the hostages are alive. There were also dead bodies that were taken… to the Gaza Strip,’ an army statement said.

The military said more than 20 hostages were minors, while between 10 and 20 were over the age of 60.

There are also between 100 and 200 people considered missing since the Hamas attacks, the army added.

With instructions such as ‘kill the problematic ones’, a hostage-taking manual found on Hamas gunmen makes for bone-chilling reading.

It is a detailed eight-page ‘how to’ guide for snatch squads who stormed Israeli settlements to kill and abduct the residents.

Urging the terrorists to ‘create chaos’, the directions are spread over eight chapters which have titles such as ‘Isolation and control’ and ‘Camouflage and hiding’.

Intriguingly, the manual suggests the October 7 atrocity may not have gone according to plan – with the fanatics not supposed to take hostages all the way back to Gaza.

Some 203 terrified innocents ended up as ‘human shields’ in the territory. But the manual indicates the original purpose of the hostage-taking was to keep them in Israel possibly to aid a protracted standoff. Or, as the manual starkly puts it, ‘cannon fodder’.

You can see the full manual in the article below:

Satellite photos have shown a long convoy of trucks filled with humanitarian aid waiting to cross the border from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, analysts today claimed.

More than 200 trucks carrying roughly 3,000 tons of aid were positioned near the crossing, according to aid officials. The provisions are intended to bring some relief to the Palestinians in Gaza, which is being blockaded by Israel in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants on towns in southern Israel.

Many in Gaza, reduced to eating one meal a day and without enough water to drink, are waiting desperately for the aid. It was unclear whether fuel would be allowed across to power hospital generators.

On Friday, workers began repairing damaged to the crossing caused by Israeli bombings. Officials hoped to open the crossing on Saturday.

• Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shook hands with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting in Egypt on Friday.
• This is Mr Sunak’s third stop on his tour of the region, as part of a diplomatic effort to stop the Israel-Hamas war from escalating.
• Earlier, the PM held a meeting with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during his trip to Cairo.
• In a statement, Downing Street said Mr Sunak and his Egyptian counterpart agreed leaders needed to ‘avoid a contagion of conflict’ in the Middle East.

Enraged Palestinian supporters have continued ripping down posters of Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas – with one telling people filming her to ‘f*** off’ and another saying ‘go cry’.

Shocking footage has been posted online showing woman in London tearing down posters of kidnapped Israeli citizens and claiming there was ‘inaccurate information’ on them about women being raped.

Appalled witnesses filmed the young woman, who has not yet been identified, clutching the torn down posters depicting the innocents taken hostage by Hamas terrorists in Israel on October 7.

This is the shocking moment a CNN journalist was accosted by a furious crowd of Palestians during a live broadcast.

Reporter Sara Sidner was filming a live report on the West Bank – one of two Palestinian territories – when she was ambushed by an outraged man

‘You are a genocide supporter. You are not welcome here!’ he screamed at Sidner, inching closer to her face while others surrounded them.

‘F*** CNN! F*** CNN!’ the man yelled while Sidner and her retreated away from the shouting crowd.

Fears are growing the bitter conflict between Israel and Hamas could push tensions across the Middle East to breaking point, with experts warning the region is teetering on the edge of a ‘deep and dangerous abyss’ as the spectre of war looms large.

The crisis comes after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels launched a rocket attack, forcing American Arleigh Burke-class destroyer the USS Carney to blast the missiles out of the sky.

Tor Wennesland, the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said any escalation of violence may instantly alter the trajectory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the worse and drag the entire Middle East with it.

‘The events of the past days have served to reignite grievances and reanimate alliances across the region,’ he told the UN Security Council earlier this week.

‘The risk of an expansion of this conflict is very, very real and extremely danger.’

More than 1,000 police officers are being mobilised ahead of a major protest in London on Saturday, the Met has said.

The ‘significant demonstration’ is being staged by Palestine Solidarity Campaign and follows from a similar rally last week, which saw thousands of people marching from the BBC’s New Broadcasting House to Downing Street last Saturday.

Protesters are expected to begin marching through the capital at midday, starting at Marble Arch, before heading towards Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly and Trafalgar Square. It will again end outside Whitehall.

In a post on social media today, the Metropolitan Police added it would clampdown on those openly supporting terror organisations like Hamas or Hezbollah.

‘Supporting the Palestinian cause or criticising Israel is not, in itself, unlawful. Support for proscribed organisations such as Hamas or Hezbollah is,’ the force said.

‘Anyone wearing, carrying or otherwise displaying symbols that are supportive of a proscribed organisation can be arrested.’

New photos have this afternoon revealed the huge column of Israeli armour gathered on the outskirts of Gaza ahead of a potential ground invasion.

Dozens of tanks as well as other armoured fighting vehicles have been pictured massing close to the border of the coastal enclave.

Israel’s Defence Force has not yet commented on when any ground offensive to root out and destroy Hamas will be launched, following the terror group’s deadly attack on October 7.

But tens of thousands of troops along with military kit have been ammassed in the past few days.

Overnight, Israel launched a devastating series of bombing runs, strking more than 100 targets.

The latest images come as Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant told lawmakers about the country’s plan to defeat the terror group.

Gallant said Israel expected a three-phase war, starting with airstrikes and ground maneuvers. It anticipates then defeating pockets of resistance, and finally, ceasing Israel’s ‘responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip’.

• Metropolitan Police reveal antisemitic offences in London have skyrocketed by a staggering 1,353 per cent this month compared to the same period last year.
• Meanwhile,Islamophobic offences have ballooned 140 per cent in the wake of the attack by Hamas on Israel.
• There have been 218 antisemitic offences between October 1 and 18 in London, compared to 15 in the same period in 2022.
• Islamophobic offences were up to 101, from 42.
• In a statement, the Met said: ‘Regrettably, despite the increased presence of officers we have seen a significant increase in hate crime across London. This includes abuse directed at individuals or groups in person or online, racially or religiously motivated criminal damage and other offences.’
• Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the rise in antisemitism sickening and vowed that Britain would not tolerate any hatred.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews have met with under-fire BBC boss Tim Davie, the corporation’s director general.

The meeting came amid fury over the broadcaster’s stance in recent days to describe Hamas as ‘militants’ rather than terrorists, and for it initial coverage of Tuesday’s explosion at the al-Ahli Arabi hospital in Gaza.

In a statement following the meeting, the board of deputies said: ‘The BBC confirmed it was committed to continued dialogue. It also confirmed it is no longer BBC practice to call Hamas militants. Instead, the BBC describes the group as a proscribed terrorist organisation by the UK government and others, or simply as Hamas.

Marie van der Zyl, the president of the board of deputies, added: ‘We emphasised our outrage at the refusal of the BBC to describe Hamas’ barbaric actions as terrorism and the damaging, false report of the rocket which killed innocent civilians. We will both continue dialogue as well as pursuing legal avenues.’

Emmanuel Macron has spoken to families of French hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists – as he committed the Government would do ‘everything’ it could to bring them home safely.

The French president spoke to distraught relatives via a video link, he announced on social media.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Macron said: ‘France is not abandoning its own people. We are doing everything possible to obtain the release and return of our compatriots. The Nation stands with them.’

Hamas says it has 200 hostages and that 50 more are held by other armed groups in the enclave. It said more than 20 hostages have been killed by Israeli air strikes, but has not given any further details.

Israel today insisted the ‘majority’ of the hostages still held captive by the terrorist group were ‘still alive’.

France has not said exactly how many of its citizens are held in Gaza, although there are seven unaccounted for after the attacks, of which some are being held hostage.

Israel has today revealed its three-part plan in its war to defeat Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Speaking to lawmakers today, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant discussed the long-term plans for Gaza..

Gallant said Israel expected a three-phase war, starting with airstrikes and ground maneuvers. It anticipates then defeating pockets of resistance, and finally, ceasing Israel’s ‘responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip’.

The news comes ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive following a night of intense bombings, which saw the IDF striking more than 100 targets.

The Israeli military said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza linked to the territory’s Hamas rulers, including a tunnel and arms depots.

On Thursday, Gallant ordered soldiers to prepare to see Gaza ‘from the inside’, hinting at a ground offensive aimed at crushing Hamas rulers nearly two weeks after their bloody incursion into Israel.

Officials have given no timetable for such an operation.

Angry anti-Israel protests have erupted across the world today after Hamas leaders demanded thousands of demonstrators take to the streets and target Israeli and US embassies ahead of an imminent ground invasion of Gaza.

The demonstrations were staged after Friday prayers in Muslim communities across the world – including in Bangladesh, South Korea and Iraq – with thousands of protesters condemning Israel’s attacks on Gaza and showing support for the two million Palestinians who are trapped in the war-torn enclave.

• The Hamas-controlled health ministry claimed at least 4,137 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel began bombarding the Palestinian enclave.
• The ministry added another 13,162 people have been wounded in the Israeli strikes, which have been ongoing since October 7.
• The figures are yet to be independently verified.

• Israel’s defense minister today said one objective in the military campaign in the Gaza Strip is to end Israel’s responsibility over the Palestinian coastal enclave.
• Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made the remarks during a briefing to parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, his office said.
• ‘Gallant detailed the objectives of the campaign including the elimination of Hamas and destruction of both its military and governing capabilities, the complete removal of Israeli responsibility from the Gaza strip, and the creation of a new security reality in the region,’ the statement said.

‘Three Hezbollah terrorists were identified in the area of the border with Lebanon. Israel Defence Forces aircraft struck the terrorists,’ Israeli authorities said.

‘In addition, a short while ago, IDF snipers opened fire toward gunmen that were identified operating in the area of the border with Lebanon.’

• The majority of some 200 people kidnapped in Israel by Hamas militants and taken to the Gaza Strip are still alive, the Israeli military said Friday.
• In a statement by the Israeli Army, a spokesman said: ‘The majority of the hostages are alive. There were also dead bodies that were taken… to the Gaza Strip.’
• The news comes ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive to assault key Hamas positions following more than 100 strikes by the IDF overnight.
• The military said more than 20 hostages were children, while between 10 and 20 were over the age of 60.
• Israel adds between 100 and 200 people are still considered missing since the Hamas attacks.
• Meanwhile, the Hamas-controlled health ministry claimed at least 4,137 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel began bombarding the Palestinian enclave.
• In figures yet to be independently verified, the ministry added another 13,162 people have been wounded in the Israeli strikes, which have been ongoing since October 7.

Another plane carrying fresh humanitarian aid has arrived in Egypt just 20 minutes from the border with Gaza.

The arrival comes as calls increase to open up a corridor to send vital ‘life-saving’ supplies into Palestine.

Overnight, barriers blocking the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt were removed.

The World Health Organization called for the ‘immediate, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access, including through Rafah’.

The Kremlin said on Friday that remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Palestinian militant group Hamas were ‘unacceptable’.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the current time was a potentially dangerous moment on the international agenda, and that the threat to Russian citizens would grow exponentially once Israel started its expected ground operation to try to oust Hamas from Gaza.

Peskov declined to say who would represent Russia at a peace summit for the Palestinian conflict in Cairo on Saturday, referring the query to the foreign ministry.

The comments from the Kremlin official come as Putin’s forces continue their murderous invasion of Ukraine, with Russian shelling of the city of Vovchansk reportedly injuring two men, aged 57 and 69, and damaged a children’s building and four residnetial properties

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has told of his anguish at the war between Israel and Gaza.

In an emotive post on X, formerly Twitter, the health chief said: ‘All of us at the WHO have been shocked, appalled and saddened by the conflict in Israel and Gaza.’

Deploring the ‘attacks on health care in boith Gaza and Israel’, Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus pleaded for more ‘life-saving supplies’ to be delivered into Gaza.

Calling on Israel to send fuel as part of its contribution, the health boss added: ‘Our trucks are loaded and ready to go.’

He continued: ‘Bullets and bombs are not the solution to this situation. War will bring nothing but destruction and horror.’

• About 1,000 protesters from several mosques in Jakarta marched on the heavily-guarded US embassy in Indonesia’s capital, on Friday.
• They were denouncing the staunch American support for Israel and demanded an end to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
• Similar protests also took place outside the UN mission, a few miles from the US embassy, and in the compound of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• In Kuala Lumpur, Malasyia, demonstrators torched pictures of Israeli President Isaac Herzog outside the US embassy.

• Ashley Perry, former senior advisor to the Israeli government accuses Hamas of using aid money to build an underground network of tunnels in Gaza.
• Mr Perry told Sky News Hamas bunkers were built ‘for them and their families’ adding Hamas ‘don’t care about the average civilian on the ground’.
• He adds Israeli blockade was ‘ensuring the water, electricity and air was cut out’ from the bunkers ‘pushing’ Hamas chiefs onto ground to allow IDF to target them.

• The Israel Defence Forces posted an update to X sayinng fighter jets attacked more than hundred ‘operational targets’ run by Hamas
• Attacks destroyed ‘tunnel shafts, munitions warehouses and dozens of operational headquarters’, IDF said.
• Israel also claimed to have ‘eliminated a terrorist who was in the naval force’ of Hamas who ‘took part in the murderous terrorist operations in the Gaza Strip’.

• Trucks stuffed with international aid for Gaza should be rolling “in the next day or so,” the United Nations said Friday.
• A spokesman for UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told reporters in Geneva they were in “deep and advanced negotiations” with all sides to ensure aid moves “as quickly as possible.”
• “A first delivery is due to start in the next day or so,” they said.
• Medicine, water purifiers and blankets were being unloaded at El Arish airport near Gaza, an AFP reporter saw, with Ahmed Ali, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent, saying he was getting “two to three planes of aid a day”.

• The Israel Defence Forces has changed its messaging over the evacuation of Kiryat Shmona near the border of Lebanon.
• Some 20,000 residents were told to leave their homes earlier today but the IDF now says the evacuation order is not mandatory.

• French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will attend a meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli issue in Egypt on Saturday, a French diplomatic source said on Friday.
• Colonna had already travelled to Cairo, Beirut and Israel last week as Paris looks to reduce the risk of an escalation across the region.
• Diplomatic sources said there was still a possibility that President Emmanuel Macron would attend the meeting.
• It comes as British PM Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden visited the region this week.

• Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip is destroyed overnight, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
• Unconfirmed reports by Gaza health officials claimed 500 Muslims and Christians were sheltering in it at the time of the blast.
• The Israeli military told AFP that its fighter jets had hit a command and control centre involved in launching rockets and mortars towards Israel.
• In a statement, the IDF said ‘as a result’ of the strike, ‘a wall of a church in the area was damaged’, adding: ‘We are aware of reports on casualties. The incident is under review.’
• Footage from the scene shows rescue workers sifting through large piles of rubble and debris.
• The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressed its ‘strongest condemnation’ of the strike.

• Columns of Israeli tanks have massed on the Israel-Gaza border and tens of thousands of soldiers appear to be steeling themselves for battle today.
• The massing of artillery and men at the border comes after heavy machine gunfire was heard along the border in the early hours of this morning.

It was supposed to be a scene of joy – a mother reaching out to her crying newborn daughter and cradling her to her chest after months of feeling her little kicks.

But instead, the hospital room was silent as the doctor carefully placed the unborn baby, no bigger than his palms, onto her mother’s unmoving body.

• Any escalation of military activities in the Gaza Strip will be “catastrophic” for people there, the UN high commissioner for refugees said Friday.
• “(I) can tell you with certainty that any further escalation or even continuation of military activities will just be catastrophic for the people of Gaza,” Filippo Grandi told reporters in Japan.
• While stressing that refugee agency UNHCR has no formal mandate in the Palestinian Territories or Israel, Grandi said that he “shares the extreme worry and anguish that has been expressed by many of my colleagues including the UN secretary general” about the conflict.
• It comes as the UN said the first aid delivery into the besieged Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt should take place “in the next day or so”.
• The Israeli military said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza linked to the territory’s Hamas rulers overnight, including a tunnel and arms depots.

• China and Russia “share the same position on the question of Palestine,” China’s Special Envoy on the conflict, Zhai Jun has declared.
• “China and Russia share the same position on the question of Palestine, and China is ready to maintain communication and coordination with the Russian Federation in order to cool down the situation as soon as possible,” the envoy said in comments carried by Chinese broadcaster CCTV.
• Beijing argues the conflict is inflamed because ‘the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people have not been guaranteed,’ according to Zhai.

• Hamas spokesman Hassan Yousef was arrested by Israeli troops amid a raid on the West Bank yesterday.
• Israel’s security agency Shin Bet confirmed the arrest this morning speaking with CNN.
• Yousef is top Palestinian politician and also serves as Hamas’ official spokesperson in the West Bank.

• Rishi Sunak and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani have agreed to work together to prevent the spread of violence throughout the Middle East.
• Downing St. statement said the pair “underlined the imperative of avoiding any escalation in the violence” and “agreed that leaders had a responsibility to do everything possible to prevent it”.
• “They agreed on the urgent need to get food, water and medicine to civilians who are suffering,” the statement read.
• “The leaders looked forward to meeting again soon to deepen the bilateral relationship between our countries.”

• Sir Keir Starmer has said Israel does not have the right to withhold humanitarian aid from Gaza.
• ‘(Israelis) have the right to self-defence – that right they do have – but not the right to withhold that humanitarian aid that needs to get in. It is now absolutely urgent.’

• Rishi Sunak is travelling to Egypt as part of an intensive diplomatic effort to prevent the Israel-Hamas war spiralling into a wider regional conflict.
• The Prime Minister has already held talks with Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia‘s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
• Downing Street said he would hold further meetings with counterparts from the region in Egypt.

• The death toll from a raid by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank rose to 13, Palestinian health officials said Friday, as casualties mounted in the territory while war rages in Gaza.
• At least 81 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank since the Gaza conflict erupted on October 7, according to figures from the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.
• One member of the Israeli security forces has also been killed in the territory.

• A senior Israeli official said the government could take action if the BBC continued ‘crossing the line in accordance with our laws’.
• It came after Israel’s president Isaac Herzog said its policy of referring to Hamas as militants was ‘atrocious’.
• Israel’s communications ministry is currently looking at the possibility of closing Qatari-owned

Al Jazeera’s local bureau over claims its coverage was favourable to Hamas.

• Heavy machine gun fire was heard along the Israel-Gaza border in the early hours of Friday, after the green light was given for a ground invasion.
• Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, on Thursday visited troops positioned along the Gaza border, and told them that they would soon see the Palestinian enclave ‘from inside’.
• An infantry commander in the IDF told DailyMail.com on Thursday that they were ready to invade, adding there was ‘a very high level of optimism’ among his troops.