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Authorities in Iceland have declared a state of emergency and asked thousands of people to evacuate after hundreds of earthquakes rocked the country's southwestern Reykjanes peninsula.
However, they advise: “Keflavik International Airport is operating as normal. While there is no current eruption, it is increasingly possible that one could occur. You should monitor local media for updates and follow the authorities advice on travel to the area.”
The advice stops well short of advising against travel to Iceland, meaning airlines and holiday companies are operating as normal – with no automatic right to cancel.
Iceland’s National Police Commissioner declared a state of emergency for civil defence after 1,485 earthquakes hit the country in the last 48 hours.
Thousands of people living in the southwestern town of Grindavik have been asked to leave as a precaution.
According to information from the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), seismic activity in the area has increased significantly since 3pm on Friday.
Iceland earthquakes: Are flights still running amid fears of volcano eruption?
Iceland has declared a state of emergency as hundreds of earthquakes struck the southwestern Reykjanes peninsula in the past 48 hours.
Despite fears of an impending volcanic eruption, flights from the UK to Keflavik international airport 10 miles north of the eruption site are going ahead as usual.
The first of 14 scheduled flights on Saturday from the UK took off without incident from London’s Luton Airport at 6.32am and landed at 9.33am at Keflavik international airport, about 10 miles north of the eruption site.
The 7.40am flight from Manchester airport also safely arrived at Keflavik international airport at 10.30am.
Foreign Office steps up warning to British travellers
The Foreign Office has just updated its advice to British travellers, saying it is “increasingly possible” that a volcanic eruption could occur.
The official warning on “volcanic eruption and earthquakes” reads: “Earthquakes and indications of volcanic activity have increased above normal levels on the Reykjanes peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik.
“The Icelandic authorities continue to monitor the area closely, particularly the area northwest of Mt Thorbjörn near the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon.
On 10 November, a Civil Protection Alert was declared after an intense swarm of earthquakes.
“The town of Grindavík was evacuated as a precaution. Some roads have been closed and visitors are advised to stay away from the area.
“Keflavik International Airport is operating as normal. While there is no current eruption, it is increasingly possible that one could occur.
“You should monitor local media for updates and follow the authorities advice on travel to the area.”
The advice stops well short of advising against travel to Iceland, meaning airlines and holiday companies are operating as normal – with no automatic right to cancel.
A professor of geophysics says the magma tunnel under Grindavík has reached its full width, report Ríkisútvarpið is Iceland’s national public-service broadcasting organization.
He told RUV: ““We have no idea how big the eruption would be if it did happen. There is nothing certain about the subject. There is great uncertainty as to how big it will be on the surface and where exactly it would erupt if it did.”
ICYMI - Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon spa temporarily shuts down over volcanic threat
Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon spa has temporarily shut down, one week after a series of earthquakes led guests to vacate the hotel.
The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa southwest of Reykjavík, will reportedly be closed until 16 November due to a series of earthquakes that hit the region after midnight on 2 November. The earthquakes were followed by tremors, alarming enough for 40 guests at the spa to reportedly leave the resort’s premises.
In a statement posted to its website, the spa explained: “The primary reason for taking these precautionary measures is our unwavering commitment to safety and wellbeing. We aim to mitigate any disruption to our guests’ experiences and alleviate the sustained pressure on our employees.”
Foreign Office advice is regarded by the UK travel industry as the arbiter of whether or not a destination is safe.
Were the FCDO to warn against travel to parts of Iceland, holidaymakers already there would be moved and no further departures would operate to those areas.
The Foreign Office last updated its travel advice on Tuesday 7 November. At the time, the FCDO warned: “Earthquake and indications of volcanic activity have increased above normal levels on the Rekjanes peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik.
“The Icelandic authorities continue to monitor the area closely, particularly the area northwest of Mt Thorbjörn near the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon.
“Although there is no current eruption, it is possible that one could occur. You should monitor local media for updates and follow the authorities advice on travel to the area.”
All routes to Grindavik are closed except for emergencies, the Icelandic authorities said on Saturday.
People must report to the closure posts, Iceland Roads said in a post on social media.
Nearly 4,000 people of the small Grindavik town have been told to evacuate amid fears of a volcanic eruption following a series of earthquakes that struck the country over the past 48 hours.
Iceland’s National Police Commissioner on Friday declared a state of emergency for civil defence.
Keflavik international airport is about 10 miles north of the eruption site.
The first of 14 scheduled flights today from the UK took off from Luton airport at 6.32am. The plane is operated by easyJet and is due to touch down at Keflavik international airport, about 10 miles north of the eruption site, at around 9.10am.
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “Our flying schedule is currently operating as normal however we are monitoring the situation closely and should this change we will contact customers directly to advise on their flights.”
The remaining 13 are on airlines including British Airways, easyJet, Icelandair and Wizz Air are all flying to Keflavik. Nine are from London, three from Manchester and one each from Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Another flight from London Gatwick airport to Iceland’s northern city, Akureyri, about 200 miles from the seismic activity, is due to arrive shortly after 10am.
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Israel is to begin daily four-hour pauses in its military campaign against Hamas in northern Gaza to allow residents to flee south, the White House has said.
US president Joe Biden asked Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to introduce daily pauses earlier this week. Israel is said to have committed to announcing each window three hours in advance. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that civilians would be able to flee using two routes, with a coastal road joining the territory’s main north-south highway, which has been used by tens of thousands of people in recent days.
Mr Kirby called the pauses a “significant first step” and said that the US “want[s] to see them continued for as long as they are needed”. Similar short-term pauses have occurred in the past, but Thursday’s announcement appeared to be an effort to formalise and expand the process as the US has pressed Israel to take greater steps to protect civilians in Gaza.
Gaza has been under aerial bombardment for a month in the wake of an attack by Hamas inside Israel on 7 October that saw 1,400 people killed and around 240 hostages taken back to Gaza. Ground operations have also been ramping up over the last 10 days, with intense fighting inside Gaza City in the north of the strip, where Israel has focused its ground forces.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run strip said that more than 10,800 people – about 40 per cent of them children – had been killed in air and artillery strikes on Gaza as of Thursday, with areas of the strip laid waste by unrelenting Israeli bombardments. There were no immediate reports of a lull in fighting in the wake of the White House announcement.
US president Joe Biden says he has asked Israel to implement a longer pause
Israel has also blockaded the strip, with the UN and aid agencies saying that far more aid needs to be allowed into the besieged territory, as fuel used for power, water, food and medical supplies are all running low or running out. The United States wants to see more trucks carrying humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza, aiming for 150 trucks a day, Mr Kirby said. “We need to see more soon,” he added. Before the current conflict, 400 or more trucks of aid used to enter the strip each day. The US Department of State said it is critical that humanitarian supplies and assistance are expanded in the areas where people are moving.
Mr Biden told reporters as he left the White House soon after the announcement that he had sought a longer pause. “Yes,” he said. “I’ve asked for a pause longer than three days.” Asked if he was frustrated with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Biden said, “It’s taken a little longer than I hoped.” The president also said there was “no possibility” of a ceasefire.
Israel’s defence minister said later on Thursday that the military was undertaking “localised, pinpoint measures” in Gaza to enable Palestinian refugees to flee the fighting with Hamas, in an apparent reference to the four-hour pauses announced by Washington.
“These things do not detract from the war fighting,” Yoav Gallant said when asked about the US announcement. Israeli military spokesperson Lt Col Richard Hecht said: “There’s no ceasefire, I repeat there’s no ceasefire. What we are doing, that four-hour window, these are tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid.”
A UN spokesperson says any halt to fighting for humanitarian purposes would ideally need to be coordinated with the United Nations. Stephane Dujarric said a pause would need to be agreed by all parties to the conflict and coordinated by the UN in order “to be truly effective”.
In northern Gaza, Israeli forces fought Hamas militants and inched their way closer to two big hospitals where thousands are seeking shelter in and around the al-Shifa Hospital and al-Quds Hospital as ground battles rage around them and airstrikes rain down from above. The Israeli military has said that the Hamas main command centre is located in and under the al-Shifa Hospital complex, and that Hamas uses the people sheltering in hospitals as human shields. Hospital staff at al-Shifa have denied that claim.
The hospital has been overwhelmed with daily waves of casualties who have been injured in airstrikes. The UN delivered two truckloads of supplies on Wednesday night, the second delivery since the war began – enough to last a few hours, the hospital’s director said.
Palestinians families have been fleeing Gaza City and other parts of northern Gaza
(AFP via Getty)
“The conditions here are disastrous in every sense of the word,” Mohammed Abu Selmia told reporters. “We’re short on medicine and equipment, and the doctors and nurses are exhausted. We’re unable to do much for the patients.”
The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, said Israel had again told residents in the north to move south, and that shelling around the main road was continuing, endangering evacuees. “We saw decomposed bodies, people from civilian cars, civilians like us, not military cars or resistance men,” Khaled Abu Issa told reporters after crossing into the south with his family at Wadi Gaza.
Mr Kirby said that alongside their humanitarian purpose, the four-hour pauses could help with “getting all 239 hostages [the number still held] back with their families, to include the less than 10 Americans that we know are being held. So if we can get all the hostages out, that’s a nice finite goal ... Humanitarian pauses can be useful in the transfer process.”
Indirect talks have been taking place in Qatar – a country that also played a role in the freeing of four hostages by Hamas last month – about a larger release of hostages. CIA director William Burns was in Doha on Thursday to discuss efforts to win the release of hostages in Gaza with the Qatari prime minister and the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, US officials told various US media outlets.
Also on Thursday, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza said it was prepared to release two Israeli hostages, an older woman and a boy, for humanitarian and medical reasons once appropriate measures were met. It is not clear what those measures might be.
Meanwhile, in Paris, officials from about 80 countries and organisations met to coordinate humanitarian aid to Gaza and find ways to help injured civilians to escape the siege, now in its second month.
“Without a ceasefire, lifting of the siege and [an end to the] indiscriminate bombarding and warfare, the haemorrhage of human lives will continue,” Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said prior to the White House announcement.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
It’s 8:37am in Gaza and here are the latest developments:
Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel does not seek to conquer, occupy or govern Gaza after its war against Hamas, but a “credible force” would be needed to enter the Palestinian territory if necessary to prevent the emergence of militant threats.
Earlier, the Guardian reported that Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in return for the release of some of the hostages held in the territory early in the war, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The IDF has confirmed it struck what it said was a group in Syria that was responsible for a drone that hit a school in the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Thursday. The military did not say what organisation in Syria had launched the drone. It said: “The IDF holds the Syrian regime fully responsible for every terror activity emanating from its territory.”
Palestinian officials said Israel launched airstrikes on or near at least three hospitals on Friday, further stressing the Palestinian territory’s precarious health system as it struggles to cope with thousands of people wounded or displaced in Israel’s war against Hamas militants. Israel has not responded to the claims.
The White House announced earlier that Israel would begin to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in parts of northern Gaza to allow people to leave. But there are yet to be clear signs of this taking place. The Israeli military has said it has not agreed to a ceasefire but that it will continue to allow “tactical, local pauses” to let in humanitarian aid into Gaza. Any plans for short-term pauses in the fighting in Gaza must be carried out in coordination with the UN and after agreement by all sides to be “truly effective”, a UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric has said.
In Israel, healthcare professionals and the families of hostages and their supporters held a demonstration outside the International Committee of the Red Cros (ICRC) headquarters in Tel Aviv on 9 November. They were calling on the organisation to demand access to visit and treat the hostages still being held inside Gaza.
A UN report paints a stark picture of the Palestinian economy after a month of war and Israel’s near-total siege of Gaza. The gross domestic product shrank 4% in the West Bank and Gaza in the war’s first month, sending more than 400,000 people into poverty – an economic impact unseen in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, or any previous Israel-Hamas war, the UN said.
A poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Researchsays it has found Democrats are split on how President Joe Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas conflict. The poll found 50% of Democrats approve of how Biden has navigated the conflict while 46% disapprove – and the two groups diverge substantially in their views of US support for Israel.
Turkey’s president has said he told the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, that the number of aid trucks entering Gaza each day should be increased to at least 500.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that he raised the issue with Blinken during talks earlier this week, according to the Associated Press.
Erdogan said Blinken’s approach to the proposal – conveyed to him by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara - was “positive.”
Erdogan was quoted as saying by NTV television and other media that the current number of aid trucks crossing into Gaza is “20 to 30 trucks”.
Erdogan said Turkey wanted to address a shortage of ambulances in Gaza and was cooperating with other countries to supply food and medicine. He added that Ankara was also ready to treat Gaza civilians with chronic illnesses, such as cancer, in its hospitals.
Reuters has further comments from the UN high commissioner for human rights, who this morning said Israel must take immediate measures to protect Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Speaking to reporters in Jordan, Volker Türk, said at least 176 Palestinians, including 43 children and one woman, had been killed in incidents involving Israeli security forces since the beginning of October. At least eight Palestinians had been killed by Israeli settlers.
Prior to the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, it was already the deadliest year on record for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with about 200 killed.
Türk added:
It is Israel’s duty to ensure that all incidents of violence are promptly and effectively investigated, and that victims are provided with effective remedies.
“Continued widespread impunity for such violations is unacceptable, dangerous, and it is in clear violation of Israel’s obligation under international human rights law.”
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, has described Israel’s decision to allow four-hour pauses in fighting as “very cynical and cruel”.
“There has been continuous bombings, 6,000 bombs every week on the Gaza Strip, on this tiny piece of land where people are trapped and the destruction is massive. There won’t be any way back after what Israel is doing to the Gaza Strip,” Albanese told reporters in Adelaide, Australia, according to the Associated Press.
“So four hours ceasefire, yes, to let people breathe and to remember what is the sound of life without bombing before starting bombing them again. It’s very cynical and cruel.”
Her remarks come after the White House said Israel would begin to implement the hours-long pauses in parts of northern Gaza to allow people to leave. But there are yet to be clear signs of this taking place.
In response to the US announcement, the UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said any plans for short-term pauses in the fighting in Gaza must be carried out in coordination with the UN and agreed to by all sides in order to be “truly effective”.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has called on Israel to take immediate measures to protect Palestinians in the West Bank, Reuters reports.
The appeal comes one day after Israel’s Defence Forces killed 18 Palestinians and injured at least 20 others during an hours-long daytime raid on Jenin city and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s military said it was conducting counter-terrorism raids in Jenin and gave no further details.
From the Jordanian capital of Amman, Türk told reporters:
I also appeal, as a matter of urgency, for Israeli authorities to take immediate measures, to take steps to ensure the protection of Palestinians in the West Bank, who are being on a daily basis subjected to violence from Israeli forces and settlers, ill treatment, arrests, evictions, intimidation and humiliation.”
Iran has warned that the scale of civilian suffering caused by Israel’s war on Hamas will inevitably lead to an expansion of the conflict, Reuters is reporting.
“Due to the expansion of the intensity of the war against Gaza’s civilian residents, expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, told his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, on Thursday evening.
Iran’s state-run Press TV reported the comments, made during a telephone conversation, on Friday.
The comments could ramp up concerns over whether Washington’s diplomatic efforts and deployment of US naval forces to the eastern Mediterranean will be able to keep the conflict from further destabilising the Middle East, Reuters notes.
The World Health Organization has sounded the alarm regarding the spread of infectious diseases in Gaza due to intense overcrowding, contaminated water and scant access to hygiene facilities.
In a statement the WHO said that since mid-October 2023, more than half of the 33,551 reported cases of diarrhoea are among children under the age of five.
The organisation said it was a significant increase from the 2,000 or so monthly cases in children under five seen throughout 2021 and 2022.
In health facilities, damaged water and sanitation systems, and dwindling cleaning supplies have made it almost impossible to maintain basic infection prevention and control measures. These developments substantially increase the risk of infections arising from trauma, surgery, wound care and childbirth.
“Insufficient personal protective equipment means that healthcare workers themselves can acquire and transmit infections while providing care to their patients. The management of medical waste at hospitals has been severely disrupted, further increasing exposure to hazardous materials and infection.”
The 7 October Hamas raid on Israel – and Israel’s response – has brought long-simmering tensions to the surface at college campuses across the US.
Threats and clashes have sometimes come from within, including at Cornell, where a student is accused of posting online threats against Jewish students, according to the Associated Press. A University of Massachusetts student was arrested after allegedly punching a Jewish student and spitting on an Israeli flag at a demonstration. At Stanford, an Arab Muslim student was hit by a car in a case being investigated as a hate crime.
The Guardian has this dispatch from Columbia University, where fierce debates about the conflict and the US response have riven the university. Students have clashed in duelling statements, rallies, and occasional physical confrontations and hundreds of faculty members have also become involved.
Read our report here:
Associated Press is reporting that diplomats and defence chiefs of India and the US met on Friday, focusing on security issues involving the Indo-Pacific, China and the Israel-Hamas war.
India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said the situation in the Middle East was a big concern. “India has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine living within secure and recognised borders, side-by-side at peace with Israel.”
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the US and India had a strong partnership and they would discuss matters with implications for the future.
Blinken is in Asia engaging in intense diplomacy with regional partners to show unity over Russia’s war in Ukraine and other major issues and prevent existing differences on Gaza from deepening.
It’s 8:37am in Gaza and here are the latest developments:
Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel does not seek to conquer, occupy or govern Gaza after its war against Hamas, but a “credible force” would be needed to enter the Palestinian territory if necessary to prevent the emergence of militant threats.
Earlier, the Guardian reported that Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in return for the release of some of the hostages held in the territory early in the war, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The IDF has confirmed it struck what it said was a group in Syria that was responsible for a drone that hit a school in the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Thursday. The military did not say what organisation in Syria had launched the drone. It said: “The IDF holds the Syrian regime fully responsible for every terror activity emanating from its territory.”
Palestinian officials said Israel launched airstrikes on or near at least three hospitals on Friday, further stressing the Palestinian territory’s precarious health system as it struggles to cope with thousands of people wounded or displaced in Israel’s war against Hamas militants. Israel has not responded to the claims.
The White House announced earlier that Israel would begin to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in parts of northern Gaza to allow people to leave. But there are yet to be clear signs of this taking place. The Israeli military has said it has not agreed to a ceasefire but that it will continue to allow “tactical, local pauses” to let in humanitarian aid into Gaza. Any plans for short-term pauses in the fighting in Gaza must be carried out in coordination with the UN and after agreement by all sides to be “truly effective”, a UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric has said.
In Israel, healthcare professionals and the families of hostages and their supporters held a demonstration outside the International Committee of the Red Cros (ICRC) headquarters in Tel Aviv on 9 November. They were calling on the organisation to demand access to visit and treat the hostages still being held inside Gaza.
A UN report paints a stark picture of the Palestinian economy after a month of war and Israel’s near-total siege of Gaza. The gross domestic product shrank 4% in the West Bank and Gaza in the war’s first month, sending more than 400,000 people into poverty – an economic impact unseen in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, or any previous Israel-Hamas war, the UN said.
A poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Researchsays it has found Democrats are split on how President Joe Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas conflict. The poll found 50% of Democrats approve of how Biden has navigated the conflict while 46% disapprove – and the two groups diverge substantially in their views of US support for Israel.
It’s approaching mid-morning in Gaza now. The Guardian and other outlets have been reporting that the White House announced Israel would begin to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in parts of northern Gaza to allow people to leave.However, there is yet to be a clear sign that this is taking place. Here are some scenes from the strip yesterday.
Here is our latest full report on recent developments in the Israel-Hamas war. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said he isn’t seeking to govern Gaza, after earlier saying Israel may be responsible for its security indefinitely. It also includes reports of attacks on three hospitals in the territory, including the main Al Shifa hospital.
In Israel, healthcare professionals and the families of hostages and their supporters held a demonstration outside the International Committee of the Red Cros (ICRC) headquarters in Tel Aviv on 9 November. They were calling on the organisation to demand access to visit and treat the hostages still being held inside Gaza. Here are some scenes from that protest:
Let’s get a bit more on our earlier post on Israel’s response to the drone that hit a school in the southern Israeli city of Eilat. The Israeli military has now posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the strike it says it carried out. On the post the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say that they believe an organisation in Syria was responsible and that the IDF has now hit back. There’s no more detail yet as to which organisation Israel is referring to. Here’s the post below:
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have occupied the lobby of The New York Times on Thursday, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza while accusing the media company of showing a bias toward Israel in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the publication’s Manhattan headquarters. Many entered the building’s atrium for a sit-in and vigil that lasted more than an hour.
Led by a group of media workers calling themselves “Writers Bloc,” demonstrators read off the names of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza, including at least 36 journalists whose deaths have been confirmed since the war began.
The sit-in followed a series of actions at high-profile locations in New York intended to bring attention to the growing death toll in Gaza.
An email sent to New York Times staffers by the publication’s head of corporate security described the protest as “peaceful,” noting that “no entrances are blocked.”
On Tuesday, activists with the group Jewish Voice for Peace briefly took over the Statue of Liberty. The week prior, hundreds of people packed into Grand Central Terminal, shutting down the commuting hub during rush hour while hoisting banners that read “Ceasefire Now.”
A new UN report paints a stark picture of the Palestinian economy after a month of war and Israel’s near total siege of Gaza.
The gross domestic product shrank 4% in the West Bank and Gaza in the war’s first month, sending more than 400,000 people into poverty – an economic impact unseen in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, or any previous Israel-Hamas war, the UN said.
Gaza’s Hamas rulers launched a surprise attack on Israel on 7 October, killing more than 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and kidnapping about 240 others.
More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since Israel launched weeks of intense airstrikes, followed by an ongoing ground operation. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said Thursday that 10,818 Palestinians, including more than 4,400 children, have been killed so far.
The rapid assessment of economic consequences of the Gaza war released on Thursday by the UN Development Program and the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia was the first UN report showing the devastating impact of the conflict.
If the war continues for a second month, the UN projects that the Palestinian GDP, which was $20.4bn before the war began, will drop by 8.4%. That’s a loss of $1.7bn. If the conflict lasts a third month, Palestinian GDP will drop by 12%, with losses of $2.5bn and more than 660,000 people pushed into poverty, it projects.
UN Development Program Assistant Secretary-General Abdallah Al Dardari told a news conference launching the report that a 12% GDP loss at the end of the year would be “massive and unprecedented.” By comparison, he said, the Syrian economy used to lose 1% of its GDP a month at the height of its conflict, and it took Ukraine a year and a half of fighting to lose 30% of its GDP, an average of about 1.6% a month.
Here are some of the latest images coming from inside Gaza as the fighting continues:
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research says it’s found Democrats are split on how President Joe Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The poll found 50% of Democrats approve of how Biden has navigated the conflict while 46% disapprove – and the two groups diverge substantially in their views of US support for Israel.
Biden’s support on the issue among Democrats is down slightly from August, as an AP-NORC poll conducted then found that 57% of Democrats approved of his handling of the conflict and 40% disapproved.
The war could complicate Biden’s re-election effort as he faces having to balance factions of his party with very different views on the conflict and who is ultimately responsible.
The poll was of 1,239 adults, conducted between 2 and 6 November.
The Reuters news agency is reporting that Israel’s military says an organisation in Syria launched a drone that hit a school in the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Thursday, and that it struck the group in response.
The military did not say what organisation in Syria had launched the drone toward Eilat, on the Red Sea.
But it said in a statement it holds Syria’s government fully responsible “for any terror activity emanating from its territory.” There were no reports of injuries from the drone strike, which caused light damage, according to Reuters.
The drone incident adds to a spate of attacks directed from the region since the 7 October outbreak of Israeli fighting with Gaza’s Hamas militants.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. I’m Reged Ahmad and these are the latest developments:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahusaid of his government: “we don’t seek to conquer Gaza, we don’t seek to occupy Gaza, and we don’t seek to govern Gaza”. But he said “a credible force” would be needed to end Hamas rule of the territory. “What we have to see is Gaza demilitarised, deradicalised and rebuilt,” he told Fox News in the US. “We have to destroy Hamas, not only for our sake, but for the sake of everyone.” His comment come days after he suggested Israel would keep control over Gaza indefinitely after its war against Hamas ends, saying his country will take “overall security responsibility” for the territory.
Gaza officials said Israel launched air strikes on or near at least three hospitals on Friday, further stressing the Palestinian territory’s precarious health system as it struggles to cope with thousands of people wounded or displaced in Israel’s war against Hamas militants.
At least 10,812 Palestinians, including 4,412 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza has said in its latest update. The death toll from the Hamas attacks on Israel is 1,400 and 240 hostages remain in Gaza.
18 Palestinians have been killed and at least 20 others injured by the Israel Defence Forces during a raid on Thursday on Jenin city and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. According to Palestinian health ministry figures, at least 178 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the 7 October attack on Israel.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said one of their paramedics was shot in the back and wounded by Israeli forces targeting an ambulance during the raid in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.
Officials and diplomats are negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, the Guardian understands. The discussions include the possibility of a one- to three-day ceasefire, although nothing has been agreed, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have said.
The White House announced that Israel would begin to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in parts of northern Gaza to allow people to leave. The US national security spokesperson, John Kirby, described it as “a significant first step”. The US state department later said on Thursday that there will be two humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave hostile areas of northern Gaza.
The Israeli military has said it has not agreed to a ceasefire but that it will continue to allow “tactical, local pauses” to let in humanitarian aid into Gaza. A senior Israeli official told the Times of Israel the new four-hour pauses will take place in a different northern Gaza neighbourhood each day, with residents notified three hours ahead of time. There were no immediate reports of a lull in fighting raging among the ruined buildings in the north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said it was undertaking “localised and pinpoint measures” for civilians to leave but “these things do not detract from the war fighting”.
Any plans for short-term pauses in the fighting in Gaza must be carried out in coordination with the UN and following agreement by all sides to be “truly effective”, a UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric has said.
Thousands of Palestinians continued to flee south from northern Gaza. Israel said it had allowed movement along the Salah al-Din road – the main highway that runs along the Gaza Strip – for the fifth consecutive day. Images of the mass exodus showed many people evacuating on foot with their belongings tied to their backs, with some pushing wheelchairs and prams.
Yemen’s Houthi forces have said they launched “a barrage of ballistic missiles” targeting “various sensitive targets” in southern Israel. A Houthi military spokesperson said some of those missiles were heading for the Red Sea city of Eilat. Israel’s military said a drone hit a building in the southern Israeli city, and that no physical injuries were reported.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt reopened on Thursday for limited evacuations. Nearly 700 foreign passport holders and dependents were reportedly able to leave Gaza through the crossing on Thursday as well as 12 medical evacuees and 10 companions,after the crossing was suspended for a day.
We're pausing our live coverage for the next
few hours, so until then, here's a quick recap on where things stand in the
conflict.
US President Joe Biden says Israel's agreement to observe a daily,
four-hour pause in its bombardment of northern Gaza to allow civilians to flee
is a step in the right direction.
The US will continue to talk to Israel about the length and
frequency of such military pauses, US National Security Council spokesman John
Kirby tells the BBC. He also says any future release of hostages held in Gaza
would require a longer pause in the fighting to ensure their safe passage.
This comes as the world saw the first glimpse of Israeli
hostages for around 10 days, after the second largest armed faction in Gaza,
Islamic Jihad, released a video showing two hostages.
One, Hanna Katsir, a woman in her 70s, is pictured sitting
in a wheelchair. She was taken from kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October. The other is a
young boy.
Negotiations about the fate of the around 240 hostages in Gaza
are intense and have been going on for weeks, and the prospect about some kind
of deal to release them has moved in and out of focus, the BBC's Paul Adams
says.
The publication of the hostage video comes as Israel’s military
is involved in heavy fighting in the centre of Gaza City, with its troops
battling Hamas in an area close to two major hospitals – Al Shifa and Al Quds.
One man told the BBC he had fled under a "barrage of bullets".
There have also been clashes in the West Bank, with 14
Palestinians reported killed in an
Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp, according to the Palestinian health
ministry. It's one of deadliest incidents of its kind in Jenin, which has been raided by Israel several
times.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli forces again opened the main
road out of Gaza City for several hours to allow civilians to move south, away
from the heaviest fighting. Thousands have done so, mostly on foot.
Officials and diplomats are negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, the Guardian understands.
The discussions include the possibility of a one- to three-day ceasefire, although nothing has been agreed, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have said.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly said there will be no ceasefire in Gaza until hostages – of which there are believed to be more than 240 – are released. Hamas says hostages will not be released until a ceasefire is agreed.
Netanyahu said on Wednesday night: “I want to put to the side all sorts of idle rumours that we are hearing from all sorts of directions, and repeat one clear thing: there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages.”
Qatar has been mediating between Israel and Hamas.
An unidentified drone has hit a building in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, the military has said.
Israel usually announces if attacks come from Gaza, suggesting the drone may have come from elsewhere.
The Israeli military said earlier this month it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea as reinforcements, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and vowed to carry out more.
The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said calls for a ceasefire in Gaza are understandable. The UK has backed Israel’s war and not called for a ceasefire itself despite intense international pressure.
“Well, what we have said, is that calling for a ceasefire is understandable,” Cleverly said during a visit to Riyadh, where he met Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
“But what we also recognise is that Israel is taking action to secure its own stability and its own security. Of course, we want to see this terrible situation resolved as quickly as possible,” he added. “The immediate challenge is the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza.”
At least 10,812 Palestinians, including 4,412 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza has said in its latest update.
The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, will visit the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a Middle East trip starting on Friday, her ministry has said.
Reuters is reporting that a trilateral meeting was held in Qatar on Thursday between CIA and Mossad chiefs and the Qatari prime minister to discuss the parameters of a deal for hostage releases and a pause in the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Citing a source said to be briefed on the meeting, Reuters said the talks also included a discussion over allowing humanitarian imports of fuel into Gaza.
Nato allies support humanitarian pauses in the war to allow aid to reach Gaza, the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said.
International law must be respected and civilians be protected in the conflict, he told reporters in Berlin as he addressed the media before a meeting with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, Reuters reported.
“The war in Gaza must not turn into a major regional conflict. Iran and Hezbollah must stay out of this fight,” Stoltenberg added.
The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, has called for “the immediate and unconditional” release of the estimated 240 hostages taken by Hamas, which include 21 Argentine citizens – the youngest of whom is reportedly just nine months old.
In a full-page advertisement published in many of Israel’s major newspapers on Thursday, Fernández wrote: “Argentina demands the immediate and unconditional release of the people who were abducted by the group Hamas, and in particular our fellow citizens.”
The Argentinian baby is reportedly the youngest of all the hostages taken by Hamas when the militant group launched its attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October.
Fernández said he was working with other countries in the region to secure the freedom of the hostages and “to bring an end to the terrible consequences the conflict is having on Palestinian and Israel women, children and civilians”.
As well as the kidnapped Argentinians, at least nine Argentine citizens were reportedly killed during the Hamas assault. Citizens of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay were also killed. Argentina is home to Latin America’s largest Jewish community with about 180,000 Jews.
Fernández’s advert – which appeared in newspapers including Haaretz, Israel Hayom and the Jerusalem Post – will reportedly be published in other countries, including the US, on Friday.
The defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said Israel is in a “prolonged war”.
“We need to resolve things quickly, even if not perfectly,” Gallant said during a meeting with directors general of government ministries and local officials, according to the Times of Israel news outlet.
He said the military’s plan was to stop Hamas rocket fire so that Israeli public life near Gaza could continue.
“We are in a prolonged war, and the issue of the [Israeli] civilian economy is a main factor in the management of the war,” he was quoted as saying.
Speaking at the aid conference in Paris, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has criticised Israel’s war on Gaza.
Here is the tweet, quoting Philippe Lazzarini:
Two former international prosecutors have called on the international criminal court to issue arrest warrants for political and military leaders of Israel and Hamas.
Carla Del Ponte served as chief prosecutor of the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Graham Blewitt was deputy prosecutor of the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Thousands of lives have already been lost, and many more have been destroyed. Respect for international law is in short supply, with attacks on civilians, hostage taking, and the indiscriminate bombing of urban areas. Such acts can constitute international crimes.
We have prosecuted such war crimes before, as well as crimes against humanity and genocide. It is never an easy task, but it is a vital one.
Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians and wounded 13 others during a raid on Jenin city and refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry has said.
Israel’s military said it was conducting raids in Jenin, but gave no further details.
