• It is the 58th day of the war: According to Hamas, over 16,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 5,600 children. In Israel, 1,200 people died in the attack on October 7th.
• The area of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, which is the target of intensive air, sea and ground bombardment by Israel. According to Hamas, 300 people have died since the end of the ceasefire
• “We continue to fight for the destruction of Hamas. “We will do everything we can to free the hostages,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a live TV address
• Pentagon chief Austin warns: “Israel must protect civilians in Gaza or it will be a strategic defeat”
• The words and acronyms to understand the conflict: Here is the glossary.
• The history of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, explained here.
1:32 p.m. – Israeli soldiers are wounded in an attack from southern Lebanon
Some soldiers were injured in Beit Hillel (Upper Galilee) by the explosion of an anti-tank missile fired from southern Lebanon. The Israeli military spokesman reported that the vehicle they were in was damaged. The spokesman added that more explosions had been reported on the slopes of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights.
12:41 p.m. – Rocket from Lebanon, explosion in Upper Galilee
An explosion occurred in the Upper Galilee after mortar shells or an anti-tank missile were fired. According to media reports, the accident occurred near the village of Beit Hillel, not far from the border with Lebanon. According to initial information, a vehicle was damaged. Additional explosions were previously reported in the Golan Heights due to rocket fire from Syria and near Kibbutz Yiftach, near the border with Lebanon.
12:28 p.m. – Netanyahu: “It would be a mistake to entrust the PNA with responsibility for Gaza”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to prevent any form of influence by the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip once the military operation against the enclave and the Islamist movement Hamas ends. “It is a mistake to entrust the Palestinian Authority with responsibility for Gaza, because in the end we will come to the same result.” They are united by their rejection of the existence of Israel, he added.
12:26 p.m. – Pope Francis: “The broken ceasefire in Gaza is sad”
“The situation in Israel and Palestine is serious. It hurts that the ceasefire has been broken: it means death, destruction and misery. Many hostages have been released, but many are still in Gaza. We think of them, of their families, who have seen a light, the hope of being able to embrace their loved ones again.” Said the Pope during the Angelus prayer in an appeal read out in his place by Monsignor Paolo Braida. “There is a lot of suffering in Gaza, there is a lack of basic needs,” he continued. I hope that all parties involved can reach a new ceasefire agreement as soon as possible and find solutions that go beyond weapons and try to take bold paths to peace.”
11:22 a.m. – Israel warns Hamas leaders: “Drop your weapons or you will die.”
With a direct attack on the Sajaya neighborhood (Gaza City) imminent, the Israeli army warned local Hamas commanders that they would have to surrender if they did not want to die. On the Internet, military spokesman Avichay Adraee published a text in Arabic in which he published pictures of eleven Hamas commanders who, according to Israel, were active in Sajaya. “Drop your weapons,” he wrote, “if you do not want to suffer the same fate as Wissam Farhat and Yunis Mishtaha.”
10:40 a.m. – Alarm sirens in the kibbutzim near the Strip
Alarm sirens continue to sound this morning in the kibbutzim near the Gaza Strip. The military spokesman updates it. The alarm particularly affects the kibbutzim Nir Oz and Kissufim as well as the nearby town of Magen. They face the central and southern part of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli army activities continue. Residents were ordered to reach emergency shelters.
10:24 a.m. – Tanks near Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip
Yesterday evening, Israeli armored vehicles passed through Wadi Gaza, entered the southern part of the Gaza Strip and landed on the Khan Yunis-Deir el-Ballah highway. Additional armored vehicles took up positions on the beach in Deir el-Ballah. Local sources reported that fighting broke out between the army and Hamas militants in the nearby Karara area last night. As the air force continues its bombing campaign, military spokesman Avichay Adraee ordered the evacuation of the center of Khan Yunis after some parts of the city were cleared yesterday. The order is to reach the city of Rafah.
10:10 a.m. – Israel arrests 60 Palestinians in the West Bank
Israel has arrested at least 60 Palestinians in nightly raids in the West Bank. This was announced by the Society of Palestinian Prisoners, saying that last night’s arrests took place mainly in the cities of Hebron, Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least four women were among those arrested. The latest arrests add to more than 3,000 Palestinians detained in the West Bank since October 7, according to the United Nations human rights office. Many prisoners are held without trial or charge in a system of “administrative detention.”
9:41 a.m. – Iran: “If Israel doesn’t stop, the war will spread”
“If the Israeli regime’s attacks and war crimes against Gaza and the West Bank do not stop, there is a possibility that the war will expand,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, quoted by the Irna agency as saying in a telephone conversation that evening with the High Representative of EU foreign policy, Josep Borrell. “The Zionist regime must also lift the siege, allow humanitarian access to the enclave (the Gaza Strip) and put an end to the forced evictions of Palestinians,” the Tehran diplomacy chief added.
9:16 a.m. – The Israeli army identifies a rocket launch site in Syria
The Israeli army said it had identified the location from which a rocket was fired from Syria into Israel and said its artillery responded with a hit. No further information was provided.
9:08 a.m. – British surveillance planes will fly over Gaza
British surveillance planes will fly over the Gaza Strip to help Israel search for remaining hostages. According to the British government, the planes were not supposed to have any weapons on board and were intended solely to collect information about the whereabouts of the hostages. The British Ministry of Defense will fly reconnaissance aircraft over the eastern Mediterranean, including the airspace over Israel and Gaza, it announced on Saturday evening.
8:46 a.m. – US State Department: Israel accepts the establishment of large security zones in Gaza
Israel has agreed to designate large security zones in the southern Gaza Strip as it expands its military operations, according to a senior State Department official. The deal comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s third trip to the region and fourth trip to Israel since the Oct. 7 attack, a point the U.S. has emphasized heavily. On each of Blinken’s trips to Israel, he armed himself with specific requests, the official said. First there was humanitarian aid to Gaza, then there was a lull in fighting, and now Blinken wants a plan to minimize the suffering of civilians in the southern Gaza Strip as military operations expand. Israel initially opposed the first two requests, but this time it appeared more willing and is already working on developing a plan.
7:35 a.m. – Israel and the plan for a year-long war. Hamas leaders ‘destined to die’
(Davide Frattini) 26 years ago, in the first of his six mandates, Benjamin Netanyahu crossed the path of Khaled Meshaal on a street in Amman. Two Mossad agents try to eliminate the then head of Hamas with a toxic poison; they have to get very close to him. They manage to defile his ear, the bodyguards become suspicious and stop them, they are handed over to the Jordanians. They had entered on a Canadian passport, they can only leave if the Israeli prime minister agrees to give King Hussein – he is now an ally but threatens to sentence them to death – the antidote to save the half-dead man, who ordered a series of murder-suicide attacks in Israel. Bibi gives in, the deadly battle with Meshaal and Hamas begins again, and like its leader, the organization is revitalized and strengthened after the failed assassination attempt.
Here is the full article.
6:34 a.m. – Israeli raids overnight in Gaza, seven dead east of Rafah
New Israeli attacks on Gaza. Seven Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli attack on a house east of the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip tonight. This was announced by the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
3:55 a.m. – Hamas: “Stop the ceasefire until Israel stops the attacks.”
“Prisoner exchange negotiations have ended and will not resume until Israel halts military operations in Gaza and extradites all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons,” a Hamas official told Al Jazeera. Israel withdrew its Mossad negotiating delegation to Doha, Qatar, after negotiations to continue the ceasefire reached an impasse.
3:30 a.m. – Israel is ready for a “safe zone” in the southern Gaza Strip, according to US sources
Israel has agreed to designate large security zones in the southern Gaza Strip after expanding its military operations. The agreement comes after Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s third trip to the region and fourth trip to Israel since the Oct. 7 attack. A senior US State Department official told NBC News.
On each of his trips to Israel, Blinken has made specific demands, the official emphasizes, from humanitarian aid in Gaza to ceasefires in the fighting, while Blinken is now calling for a plan to minimize the suffering of civilians in southern Gaza. Israel – the senior official continues to NBC News – initially rejected the first requests, but this time it appeared more available and was already working on drawing up a plan for “safe zones” in the south of the Gaza Strip. The official concluded by saying that the required security areas were much larger than initially discussed and the details still needed to be worked out. Under the agreement, some people would have to leave their homes, the official concluded, adding that these areas could still be the focus of targeted counterterrorism operations.
3:18 a.m. – Netanyahu’s press conference
“There is no conspiracy, there has been no conspiracy and there cannot be one.” There are questions that need to be answered: what happened, how it happened and that will be investigated at the end of the war.” With these words he replied Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when asked by Haaretz about a poll that found a third of the Jewish public believes Israeli defense officials were involved in the Hamas attack or knew about it in advance.
Asked how he would react if Hamas proposed a new ceasefire, Netanyahu stressed: “Hamas has violated the agreement. I said if they did, we would start the war again, and that’s exactly what happened.” “There is international pressure,” he admits, but says he has created space for Israel to continue its war aims. “Ultimately we are the ones who make the decisions and our ultimate decision is to destroy Hamas, get our hostages back and ensure that there is no new terrorist control of Gaza,” he says.
Asked why he and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held separate press conferences just minutes apart, Netanyahu replied: “Tonight I suggested to the defense minister that we hold a joint press conference.” He decided what he decided. But it is important that the public listens to us,” he says, adding that the two and the rest of the Israeli leadership are “working together” to achieve the war goals. One journalist suspects that Netanyahu has missed the chance to eliminate the Hamas leadership with a surprise attack in recent years. He replies: “I will not act irresponsibly and I will not reveal the full picture that was presented to me and the series of recommendations that I received from the security institutions.” Whenever possible, we have many leaders of Hamas and other terrorist groups, and now we will complete the mission,” he says.
He is later asked if he will resign after the war, given his unpopularity in recent polls. Netanyahu responds: “I don’t do polls. I have been commissioned by the citizens of Israel to lead the State of Israel. If we worked based on daily polls, I don’t think I would be here for a day.” Netanyahu welcomes U.S. support and says the U.S. supports some of the war’s goals, “two of them for sure” – an apparent reference to public differences with the government over the post-war Gaza Strip, where the US wants to see a “revived” Palestinian authority. “There are differences of opinion about how to achieve all of these goals,” he acknowledges, but says the two allies have largely managed to overcome them. He also acknowledges some differences of opinion “on humanitarian issues.” “Ultimately, this is our war. Ultimately we have to make decisions. Ultimately, we make decisions. We often manage to convince our American friends. I hope and believe that it will continue to be the case in the future.”
2:56 a.m. – USA: Israel must protect the civilian population in Gaza or it will be strategically defeated
The Pentagon chief warns Israel of the risk of “strategic defeat” in the war against Hamas if it does not heed warnings about the growing number of civilian casualties in Gaza. “I have personally urged Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, avoid irresponsible rhetoric and prevent settler violence in the West Bank,” said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, as reported by Bloomberg.
2:41 a.m. – Gaza evacuation system brings macabre naval battle to life
The UN Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that Israel’s new system of forced evacuation in the southern Gaza Strip could turn Palestinians’ lives into a “macabre game of naval battle”. The Guardian reports on this, recalling that Israel has begun deploying a new evacuation system that divides Gaza into more than 600 blocks and is accessible via a QR code on flyers and social media posts. This system – the Guardian continues – appears designed to allow the Israel Defense Forces to attempt to relocate civilians into an increasingly restricted area while targeting Hamas militants. But after weeks of bombings and blockades, most people have little access to electricity to charge phones and other devices, and even for those who can get online, the telecommunications system regularly collapses. That means residents don’t have a reliable way to access the map, Ocha said.
02:34 a.m. – Negotiations are stopped, Israel withdraws its delegation to Qatar
Israel has decided to withdraw its delegation from the Gaza ceasefire negotiations underway in Qatar. The Mossad representatives who were in Doha were recalled to their homeland due to the “deadlock” in the negotiations. “At the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad chief David Barnea ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office, quoted by Al Jazeera. According to the Israeli prime minister, Hamas “did not keep its part of the agreement, which provided for the release of all children and women according to a list sent to and approved by Hamas.” The Mossad chief thanks the head of the CIA, the Egyptian intelligence minister and the Prime Minister of Qatar for their cooperation in the enormous mediation effort that led to the release of 84 children and women from the Gaza Strip and 24 foreign nationals. », we read again in the press release. The issue concerns Hamas’s proposal to include some of those who died in Gaza in the number of hostages to be released.
1:53 a.m. – The US is making every effort to ensure the release of the hostages
US President Joe Biden’s administration will “make every effort” to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including American citizens who remain missing. A senior US government official told CNN that negotiations in Doha, Qatar, had failed. An American woman and seven men were missing following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the White House said.
1:17 a.m. – Hamas: We only have men and soldiers hostage
The head of Hamas’s political office, Saleh al-Arouri, said in an interview with Al Jazeera that the organization had extradited all women and children and that now “only men and soldiers” were in the hands of the militiamen. Haaretz writes it. “Israel insists that we still have women and children, even though we have made it clear that we have handed over all the women and children in our possession and now only men and soldiers remain,” he said, adding that it there have been no ceasefire negotiations are currently underway and that Hamas will not release any more hostages without a global ceasefire and the release of all Palestinian prisoners.
1:01 a.m. – Gallant: Hamas does not want to release 15 women and 2 children
Hamas violated the agreements “when it refused to release 17 hostages: 15 women and two children,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. For this reason, the Israeli army received orders yesterday to “strengthen and intensify military activities in Gaza.” “Military pressure – Gallant said – allows us to achieve two goals: to harm Hamas and to promote the release of the hostages.” Israel, he specified, had recovered 110 hostages and the bodies of three prisoners. “No army has ever acted better against terrorist groups.” Israel has also killed “thousands of terrorists.”
00:42 – Attack on Khan Yunis from sea and sky, order to evacuate
The Khan Yunis area in southern Gaza was the target of intense bombing last night. According to local sources, the air force attacked buildings in the city, while artillery fired in parallel on the agricultural area of Karara near the border with Israel, and the navy opened fire on targets on the coast of nearby Deir el-Balla. Meanwhile, the military spokesman issued immediate evacuation orders in Arabic for residents of Khan Yunis and Deir el-Ballah districts. The order is to advance south towards the Muwassi dunes and the border town of Rafah.
In Khan Yunis, the military spokesman reported, the air force hit 50 targets last night. He added that the navy had “attacked Hamas military targets with high-precision ammunition” in Deir el-Ballah. In addition, infrastructure used by Hamas naval forces was hit. Military radio noted that Israel is currently operating in the area and firing from a distance. According to the broadcaster, these are preparatory operations with a view to a possible deployment of ground troops.
12:24 a.m. – Unicef: “More than 5,300 children were killed before the ceasefire”
Before the fighting subsided, more than 5,300 Palestinian children were killed in 48 days of continuous bombing, a figure that does not include many children still missing and presumed buried under the rubble. This is what Unicef says and adds: “Children need a permanent humanitarian ceasefire.” All children of the State of Palestine and Israel deserve peace. If the violence reaches this intensity again, it can be assumed that hundreds more children will be killed and injured every day. As of yesterday, the Gaza Strip is once again the most dangerous place in the world for children.”
“For seven days,” says UNICEF Director-General Catherine Russell, “there was a glimmer of hope for children in the midst of this terrible nightmare.” More than 30 children held hostage in Gaza were released and reunited with their families. The humanitarian pause has allowed us to increase deliveries of vital aid to Gaza and the wider region. UNICEF and its partners were able to significantly expand their operations and programs. And we were able to begin reuniting separated children with their families. This was not enough to meet the scale of humanitarian needs, but it was a start. We now need safer and more predictable access to reach injured, displaced and traumatized children. And we need to help children exposed to the cold, wet weather. Children need a permanent humanitarian ceasefire. We call on all parties to ensure that children are protected and supported in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law. “All children of the State of Palestine and Israel – concluded Russell – deserve peace and the hope for a better future.”
00:03 – Hamas: “The number of deaths since the end of the ceasefire is 240”
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip said today that 240 people have been killed in Palestinian territory since the end of the ceasefire. Another 650 people were injured in “hundreds of airstrikes, artillery and naval shelling throughout the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement, adding that Israeli forces “particularly targeted Khan Yunis, where dozens of houses were destroyed.”