06.29 GMT
We have published a full report on the Israeli military’s release of video footage saying it shows the hostage-taking at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on October 7, the day Hamas launched its devastating attacks on Israel .
CCTV video broadcast by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman appeared to show a group of men marching a person carrying a frog into a hospital, to the surprise of medical staff. A second clip showed an injured man on a stretcher. Another man in civilian clothes nearby had an assault rifle.
Separately, the IDF claimed that one hostage, a 19-year-old Israeli army conscript named Noa Marciano, was killed by Hamas in hospital.
Hamas had previously blamed an Israeli airstrike for her death.
The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza said it was unable to confirm the authenticity of the footage of the two hostages broadcast by the IDF, according to the BBC. Hamas leadership did not immediately comment on the claims. It was previously said that some hostages had been taken to hospitals for treatment.
Our full report is here:
According to the Israeli military, footage shows foreign hostages being taken at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza
Updated at 06:29 GMT
06.19 GMT
According to the military, Israel is expanding its operation in Gaza
The Israeli military said it would “expand” its operation in the Gaza Strip, Agence France-Presse reports.
Israel urged residents of Gaza’s largest refugee camp, Jabalia, and a nearby coastal camp to evacuate, while the military said on Sunday it would “expand its operational activities to additional neighborhoods” in the Gaza Strip.
After heavy bombardment, an AFP journalist saw columns of smoke rising from Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip in the area on Sunday.
A Hamas health official said more than 80 people were killed in twin attacks in Jabalia on Saturday, including at a UN school housing displaced people.
Social media videos verified by AFP showed bodies covered in blood and dust on the floor of a building where mattresses were wedged under school desks.
Palestinians search for victims at the site of Israeli attacks on houses in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo: Portal
The Israeli military said Jabalia was among the areas of focus as troops “target terrorists and attack Hamas infrastructure.”
Without mentioning the attacks, the Israeli army said it was investigating “an incident in the Jabalia region.”
U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk on Sunday condemned the alleged attack on the school as “horrific,” adding that “the terrible events of the last 48 hours in Gaza are unbelievable.”
On Monday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said that the Indonesian hospital near Jabalia had also come under fire.
Updated at 06:38 GMT
05.55 GMT
Portal published a video report on belongings left behind after the Hamas attack on a music festival in southern Israel on October 7.
In the post on
These are the possessions left behind after Hamas attacked a music festival in southern Israel. At a trauma center in the city of Caesarea, survivors reclaimed their lost possessions while the families of the dead reunited with the things their loved ones left behind pic.twitter.com/0VbIwRtMhZ
– Portal (@Portal) November 20, 2023
An Israeli police investigation into the Oct. 7 attack on the Supernova music festival at Kibbutz Re’im found the death toll to be 364, according to Israeli media reports last week.
That number would represent nearly a third of all people killed in the October 7 attack in Israel, the Times of Israel reported, citing Channel 12.
Earlier counts had put the death toll from the attack on the festival at 270.
Israeli police reportedly believe Hamas was unaware of the festival before carrying out the attacks.
Here’s our explainer on last month’s attack:
How Hamas’ attack on the Supernova festival in Israel unfolded
Updated at 06.09 GMT
05.29 GMT
Iran’s supreme leader says Israel has suffered a “defeat” in its war against Iran-backed Hamas and that this is “a fact.”
In a speech quoted by Agence France-Presse at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerospace center in the capital Tehran, Khamenei said: “The defeat of the Zionist regime.” [Israel] in Gaza is a fact.”
Advancing and entering hospitals or homes is not victory, because victory means defeating the other side.
Khamenei said Israel has “so far failed” to achieve its stated goal of destroying Hamas “despite the massive bombings” in Gaza.
“This inability reflects the ineptitude of the United States and Western countries” that support Israel, he added.
Iran, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, called the Oct. 7 attacks a “success” but denied any direct involvement.
Updated at 05:29 GMT
05.15 GMT
We just published a full report on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who say they have seized a so-called Israeli cargo ship in the Red Sea and warn that any ships linked to Israel are “a legitimate target for the armed forces.” become”.
Houthi forces will “continue to conduct military operations against the Israeli enemy until the aggression against Gaza ceases and the ugly crimes … against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza and the West Bank cease,” a spokesman for the group, Yahya Saree, said on X (formerly Twitter ).
Israel said the ship was a British and Japanese-operated cargo ship and described the incident as an “Iranian act of terrorism” with implications for international maritime security.
Here is the full report:
Yemen’s Houthi rebels hijacked a Red Sea cargo ship in a Slovenian port in 2008 and described Israeli ships as “legitimate targets.” The Galaxy Leader. Photo: Kristijan Bracun/AP
Updated at 05:17 GMT
05.05 GMT
The world must act urgently to end the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, China says
The international community must take urgent action to stop the “humanitarian catastrophe” unfolding in Gaza, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said while visiting diplomats from Arab and Muslim-majority countries.
“Let us work together to quickly calm the situation in Gaza and restore peace in the Middle East as quickly as possible,” Wang told foreign ministers in his opening speech in Beijing on Monday, Agence France-Presse reports.
“A humanitarian catastrophe is occurring in Gaza,” Wang told delegates, including the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
A delegation of foreign ministers from the Palestinian Authority, Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan is in Beijing this week for talks on “de-escalating” the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Smoke rises over buildings during an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip on Friday, as seen from southern Israel. Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images
Wang said:
The situation in Gaza affects all countries around the world and calls into question the human sense of right and wrong and the bottom line of humanity.
Wang also said China fully supports the call for a two-state solution in Gaza at the recent Islamic Arab summit in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al Saud said the international community must take responsibility to stop Israel.
Updated at 06.05 GMT
04.52 GMT
Arab and Muslim ministers call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at China meeting
Arab and Muslim ministers called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday as their delegation visited Beijing on the first leg of a trip to press for an end to hostilities and allow humanitarian aid to the area.
Portal reports that the delegation, scheduled to meet representatives of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, is also putting pressure on the West to reject Israel’s justification of its actions against Palestinians as self-defense.
The officials holding meetings with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Monday come from countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, Palestine and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh this month also called on the International Criminal Court to investigate “war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel” in the Palestinian territories.
Saudi Arabia has tried to pressure the United States and Israel to end hostilities in Gaza, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, rallied Arab and Muslim leaders to reinforce that message.
Updated 06.04 GMT
04.44 GMT
Here are some recent images from the Gaza Strip, this time from the funeral of freelance journalists Hassouna Sleem and Sary Mansour.
The two were killed on Saturday in an Israeli attack on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, their relatives and Palestinian health authorities said.
According to health authorities, 17 people died in the attack.
Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Updated at 04:44 GMT
04.26 GMT
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s ongoing live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war with me, Adam Fulton.
The Israeli military has released surveillance camera footage purporting to show hostages being taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on October 7 after they were kidnapped during Hamas attacks on southern Israel.
The first clip, whose timestamp appears to be 10:53 a.m. on Oct. 7, shows a man wearing shorts and a light blue shirt being dragged through what appears to be a lobby by five men, at least three of whom are armed.
In the second, seemingly timestamped at 10:55 a.m., an injured man in his underwear is wheeled in on a stretcher by seven men – at least four of them armed – while several men in blue hospital gowns look on.
An independent review of the recordings was not possible. More on that soon.
Surveillance camera footage released by the Israeli army allegedly shows Hamas militants leading hostages into Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7. Photo: Israeli Army/AFP/Getty Images
Other important developments shortly before 6:30 a.m. in Gaza City and Tel Aviv:
Palestinian doctors have evacuated 31 premature babies from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City According to the World Health Organization, they were taken to a hospital in southern Gaza for evaluation and treatment. Doctors noted that “all babies are fighting severe infections due to a lack of medical supplies and infection control measures cannot continue at Al-Shifa Hospital,” it said. Preparations for the babies to enter Egypt are underway, said the general director of hospitals in Gaza, Mohammed Zaqut.
Israel and Hamas appear to be moving toward an agreement that would include the release of a significant number of hostages, possibly in return for a limited ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. Senior U.S. and Israeli officials, as well as the Qatari prime minister, all hinted that a deal was close on Sunday, although observers have pointed out that public statements during such negotiations are often misleading and any potential deal could easily collapse.
A senior Israeli source and a senior Hamas member rejected a report quoting an unnamed Hamas source as saying an agreement had been reached According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, a ceasefire is expected to be agreed on Sunday and a number of hostages will be released on Monday.
Japan’s top government spokesman says the country is appealing to Yemen’s Houthis who hijacked a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea and is seeking help from Saudi, Omani and Iranian authorities to work towards the rapid release of the ship and its crew. According to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, there were 22 crew members on board, including Bulgarians and Filipinos.
The Israeli military has released video footage that purports to show the first hard evidence of a sophisticated Hamas tunnel network beneath Al-Shifa Hospital Complex. On Sunday it said its troops had “exposed a 55-meter-long terror tunnel with a depth of 10 meters” under the hospital complex. Hamas rejected Israel’s claim, while Gaza Health Ministry director Mounir el-Boursh reportedly called it a “pure lie.”
At least 13,000 Palestinians were killed and 30,000 injured by Israeli attacks across Gaza since October 7, the Gaza Strip Health Ministry said on Sunday. Almost 884,000 internally displaced people are being housed in 154 shelters run by the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees in Gaza, the agency said.
On Sunday, people wait for food aid in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Xinhua/Shutterstock
France will send a warship to provide medical aid to Gazasaid President Emmanuel Macron.
The head of a prominent media institution in the Gaza Strip and two other journalists were killed over the weekend were involved in Israel’s offensive in the territory, their relatives said. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the weekend deaths brought to 48 the number of journalists and media workers killed in the region since October 7.
The World Health Organization, which conducted a second assessment visit to al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday, praised health workers Working in the facility declared a “death zone” by the WHO.
Updated at 04.51 GMT