Israel-Hamas war live: hopes rise of ‘imminent’ deal to release 50 hostages; about 1.4m internally displaced in Gaza

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The White House says it cannot comment on reports from the Middle East about a Qatari-brokered “deal” with Hamas to release hostages with dual nationality to the Red Cross.

John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council, suggested to reporters that negotiations were at a delicate stage:

Where we are right now in the process makes it impossible for us to publicly detail the efforts that are going on. We are grateful for all the help we got getting those two Americans out, the mother and daughter, and we’re glad that that they’re OK.

There’s just a lot of effort going on, a lot of conversations and discussions with partners in the region. And I think it’s just best if we don’t detail that.

Hamas, meanwhile, appeared to confirm that conversations were taking place towards a hostage release deal, but that Israel must stop bombing Gaza first.

Speaking on Sky News, Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas group’s chief hostage negotiator, said:

Let them stop this aggression and you will find the mediators like Qatar and Egypt and some Arab countries and others will find a way to have them released and we’ll send them to their homes.

Hopes rising for 'imminent' deal for hostages' release

Reports from Israel suggest that the release of about 50 hostages held by Hamas could be imminent.

The Tel Aviv news channel I24 is reporting “sources within Gaza” as saying “the finalization of a potential deal” brokered by Qatari was under way for the release of about 50 abductees who hold dual citizenship.

Officials of Red Cross are believed to on their way to receive the group, I24 said, and the release could be concluded “in the hours ahead” if there are no obstacles.

It is believed a suspension of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza was part of the deal to allow Red Cross teams to reach the hostages safely.

Earlier today, the Israeli Defense Forces raised the number of hostages it said were being held by Hamas to 222. On Friday, Hamas released two US citizens, Natalie Raanan, 17, and her mother Judith, 59, on “humanitarian grounds”.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold public hearings to allow parties to give their views on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, Reuters is reporting. It will eventually issue a non-binding legal opinion.

The ICJ, also known as the world court, was asked by the 193-member United Nations General Assembly in December to give its view on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians.

Hearings in The Hague will begin 19 February. The request for a so-called advisory opinion had been made before this month’s Hamas attack on Israel, so the ICJ’s opinion will focus solely on the Israeli occupation.

The resolution passed the General Assembly with 87 votes in favor. Israel, the US and 24 other members voted against, while 53 abstained.

UN: 20,000 displaced by violence in Lebanon

Almost 20,000 people have been internally displaced in south Lebanon and elsewhere since early October, a United Nations agency said on Monday, reflecting escalating violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 19,646 people had been displaced inside Lebanon since it began tracking movements on 8 October, the day after the assault on Israel by Hamas militants, the AFP news agency reported.

Most were those fleeing the south of Lebanon, while some people have also moved from other areas. Israeli authorities have also been evacuating dozens of towns and communities from the north of Israel, IOM said.

Rocket exchanges between Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Israel have become increasingly prevalent since the 7 October attacks.

The office of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has joined with the Israel Defense Ministry and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to issue a rare joint statement asserting “close and full cooperation” between them.

“There is total and mutual trust between the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister and the IDF Chief-of-Staff; the unity of the goal is clear,” the statement says, insisting the cooperation will lead to “a decisive victory over Hamas”.

Netanyahu’s relationship with the military has been testy of late. Former military leaders and politicians said at the weekend his “dysfunctional government” bore responsibility for the attacks on Israel by Hamas.

And media reports earlier this year painted a picture of hostility between Netanyahu and the country’s military leaders, including that he was “at odds” with defense minister and former IDF commander Yoav Gallant, now a leading voice in Israel’s unity government.

Read more:

The Israeli public has a “very high level of trust” in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but much lower confidence in prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet, a survey by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) has found.

According to the survey by the Jerusalem-based policy group, 79% of respondents said they were confident Israel would win the war with Hamas, and 78% said the condition of Israeli society was either somewhat or very united.

But Netanyahu’s level of trust among the same respondents was only 32%, with 68% saying they had a low level trust or did not know.

Yedidia Stern, JPPI’s president, said the results reflected a “crisis of confidence” for Netanyahu’s unity government:

The survey shows that the Israeli public believes in the capability of the state of Israel to win the war. But there is a crisis of confidence in, and much criticism of, the political leadership.

We must draw lessons from the situation and rebuild mutual trust between the public and the government.

The reported drone attack Monday on US troops in Syria took place at the Al-Tanf military air base, near the country’s borders with Iraq and Jordan, Reuters said, citing two US officials.

The officials confirmed there were no injuries.

On Sunday, Lloyd Austin, the US defense secretary, said he was worried about an escalation of attacks on US forces in the wider Middle East region as Israel prepared to launch a ground invasion of Gaza.

“What we’re seeing is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region. We’re going to do what’s necessary to make sure that our troops are in the right position, they’re protected, and that we have the ability to respond,” he told ABC’s This Week.

US troops have come under drone attack in Syria, Reuters is reporting. Officials told the news agency there were no immediate reports of injuries.

We’ll have more details soon.

Here’s a little more of what Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons on Monday as he pledged an additional £20m for aid to Gaza:

We need a constant stream of aid pouring in, bringing the water, food, medicine and fuel that is so desperately needed.

We are providing an additional £20m humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, more than doubling our previous support to the Palestinian people.

Foreign ministers of the European Union have agreed to “keep up the financial support” for humanitarian aid for Gaza, Joseph Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat has said.

He repeated the need to maintain electricity supplies to Gaza to ensure desalination plants can operate to provide potable water to citizens and hospitals.

He was speaking at a press conference following a meeting in Luxembourg.

The foreign ministers also all support a “pause” in the hostilities in Israel and Gaza to allow urgent humanitarian aid to get through to the Palestinian civilians and hospitals. Borrell said:

There is a consensus on the need for a pause for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza without running huge risks the risks that would be involved if there were ongoing hostilities.

I believe that the idea of a humanitarian pause to facilitate to enable the arrival of humanitarian aid, which would allow displaced persons to find shelter, is something that the leaders will support.

No vote or decision was taken in Luxembourg but the temporary cessation of violence will be on the agenda of a meeting of leaders of the 27 member states this Thursday.

Gaza hospital blast caused by militants’ rocket, UK agencies believe

UK intelligence services have concluded that the deadly blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group rather than by an Israeli airstrike, Rishi Sunak has told MPs.

Briefing the Commons after his trip last week to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the prime minister said the explosion was likely to have been caused by a missile or part of a missile launched within Gaza and towards Israel.

Sunak used this assessment to criticise some media outlets for initially reporting that the blast appeared to have been caused by Israel.

Also in the statement, Sunak stressed the need for a two-state solution, saying this was “essential” for lasting peace. He also said the UK would provide £20m for in aid to Gaza.

The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari has posted to social media to say Israel has again exchanged fire after been shot at from Lebanon.

Israel’s education minister has called for the immediate release of hostages by Hamas and said that “trying to kill Jews because they are Jews” is “not going to be an option any more” after Israel has finished its military campaign.

Yoav Kisch was appearing on the GB News channel in the UK. He said:

We demand the immediate and unconditional release of these hostages. We’re dealing with uninvolved people, babies, kids, elderly women – it’s crazy that we even have to speak about it.

It’s such a war crime that is even hard to imagine. So this thing has to happen immediately. We will continue our efforts to make sure that Hamas will not control Gaza.

This is for the benefit of both Israel and the Palestinians. Hamas is the main cause for the suffering of both people.

Kisch went on to say: “I hope that this message will be conveyed not only to the Palestinians but also to Lebanon, Hezbollah and Iran so they will see that whoever is trying to kill Jews because they are Jews, like they did in the Holocaust, this is not going to be an option any more in the future.”

The Israel Defence Forces have posted a video to social media that they say shows regular and reserve soldiers “conducting training exercises in order to improve the readiness and competence of the forces to manoeuvre in the Gaza Strip”.

The IDF also said meetings were being held to “tighten cooperation between air and ground forces”.

Earlier, the IDF said it had struck 320 Hamas targets in Gaza and launched limited raids overnight into the Gaza Strip. Hamas claimed to have encountered Israeli troops.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip has been put at over 5,000 since Israel began its air bombardment in response to the 7 October Hamas attack in southern Israel that killed more than 1,300 Israelis.

Riham Jafari, an advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, has reiterated that Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare system are in grave peril. She said:

Neighbourhoods surrounding hospitals have been targeted, putting those sheltering there at risk, terrified for their futures and living in a state of fear. Four hundred civilians were killed in Gaza last night, most of them were women and children. Twenty-four hospitals, including the al-Quds, are under the threat of bombing at any time due to Israeli evacuation orders they received, according to the Red Crescent. Those hospitals are filled with the sick and wounded, and their courtyards include thousands of people who were displaced and have taken refuge there to escape the continuous bombing of Gaza.

ActionAid has also distributed a quote that it says comes from a pregnant mother sheltering in a school near to the city of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. Somaya told the charity her family had already been displaced twice since 7 October, and said:

My children are screaming all night, while there is bombing on us. I am pregnant. On the 28th of the month, I am supposed to give birth, I will have a caesarean section. Where should I go? Where will it be born? When the baby comes, it must be born in a clean place. Where is the cleanliness? What can we do?

UN humanitarian office: more than half of Gaza's population now internally displaced

The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) has said about 1.4 million of Gaza’s population – more than half – are now internally displaced, with many seeking refuge in overcrowded UN emergency shelters.

Israel has ordered Gaza residents to evacuate the north. But the OCHA said it believed hundreds and possibly thousands of people who had fled were now returning to the north due to increased bombardments in the south and lack of shelter, Reuters reports.

An Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters: “The IDF has been encouraging residents of the northern Gaza Strip to move southward and not to stay in the vicinity of Hamas terror targets within Gaza City.

“But, ultimately, Hamas has entrenched itself among the civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip. So wherever a Hamas target arises, the IDF will strike at it in order to thwart the terrorist capabilities of the group, while taking feasible precautions to mitigate the harm to uninvolved civilians.”

Israel’s military has released satellite imagery that it claims shows Hamas rocket launchers positioned near schools, mosques and hospitals.

Al Jazeera reports that another mosque has been struck in Gaza today, the Al-Noor Al-Mohammedi mosque in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood. It reports this is the 32nd mosque struck by Israel since 7 October.

The news service interviewed a 21-year-old student, Tala Herzallah, who said: “Last night cannot be described in words. We were literally shaking due to fear. We didn’t know if we would wake up alive or not. If the morning will come for us, knowing that we could die any minute. We spent the whole night praying, asking God to keep us alive. I slept for just two hours and woke up to a series of bombings.”

She told reporters that she immediately began phoning family and friends to see if they had also survived the night. “Some of them answered me and others did not. I don’t know if those not answering means they are dead or they’re just out of battery charge.”

Here is Bethan McKernan’s latest report from Jerusalem:

The blockaded Gaza Strip has been hit by one of the deadliest nights of Israeli bombing so far in the new war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

At least 400 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and 70 were killed overnight on Sunday in bombardments of the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp and streets close to two hospitals in Gaza City.

Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the strip’s civil defence unit, told the independent Palestinian media organisation Wattan that rescue operations were becoming more difficult because of the scale of destruction and impeded access. “Our crews are recovering victims in the form of body parts, and the chances of recovering survivors are diminishing,” he said.

The World Health Organization has said seven hospitals in northern Gaza have had to shut down due to damage from strikes, lack of power and supplies, or Israeli evacuation orders.

Despite a second convoy of aid entering on Sunday, Cindy McCain, the executive director of the US World Food Programme, said the situation in Gaza remained “catastrophic”.

You can read Bethan McKernan’s full report here: Israel hits Gaza with one of deadliest bombings so far in war against Hamas

Al Jazeera reports that Hamas has said it encountered Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip overnight, after Israel said it had carried out limited raids.

Al Jazeera writes: “Hamas says its fighters encountered an Israeli armored unit infiltrating in southern Gaza. The group said the infiltration took place east of Khan Younis. It added that its fighters successfully destroyed some Israeli military equipment before returning to base.”

Summary of the day so far …

It has just gone 3.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here is a summary of the latest headlines in the Israel-Hamas conflict …

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said at least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October. It said the dead included 2,055 children. Additionally, it said 15,273 people had been wounded. The ministry put the death toll in the past 24 hours at 436, including 182 children. It said most of the fatalities had occurred in the southern Gaza Strip, to where Israel’s military has ordered Palestinians to evacuate. The claims have not been independently verified.

Israel’s military said on Monday that ground forces mounted limited raids into the Gaza Strip overnight to fight Palestinian gunmen, and that airstrikes were being focused on sites where Hamas was assembling to attack any wider Israeli invasion. The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said: “During the night there were raids by tank and infantry forces. These raids are raids that kill squads of terrorists who are preparing for our next stage in the war. These are raids that go deep.”

The number of confirmed hostages held by Hamas in Gaza after it captured them in southern Israel on 7 October has risen to 222. Hagari said the total included a not insignificant number of foreign nationals, and it had taken time to contact their families. He said: “We are working in all ways to free the hostages and bring them home,” adding that the raids inside Gaza had sought to gather information on them.

Washington has advised Israel to delay its expected ground invasion of Gaza in order to buy time to negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas and allow more aid in to Palestinian civilians, the New York Times reported, citing US officials.

A third convoy of aid trucks entered the Rafah crossing from Egypt on Monday bound for the besieged Gaza Strip, an aid worker and two security sources have told Reuters. On Saturday and Sunday 34 trucks passed through. The number of trucks in Monday’s convoy was similar to each of those days, the aid worker and security sources said. UN officials say about 100 trucks would be needed daily to meet essential needs in Gaza.

The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, joined calls on Monday for a humanitarian pause in the conflict to let more aid supplies into Gaza.

The leaders of the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany and Italy have called on Israel to adhere to international law and protect civilians, while also reiterating Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. In a statement put out after a phone call, the leaders’ offices said: “The leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.”

Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for his country’s support as the latter visited Tel Aviv. Netanyahu said of the conflict: “It’s a battle against civilization. It’s civilization against barbarism. We’re on the side of civilization. We have to unite, all together, against Hamas, which is Isis.”

The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, has said the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are exposed to “the Israeli murder and criminal machine”.

A Palestinian photojournalist, Roshdi Sarraj, has been killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Radio France reported. The French broadcaster said Sarraj was killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes on Tel al-Hawa, in Gaza City. His wife and one-year-old daughter were injured.

Israel’s military has claimed to have fired at a “suspicious aerial target” attempting to enter Israel from the direction of Lebanon.

Turkey sent two cargo planes to Egypt on Monday carrying further medical equipment and supplies for Gaza, the health minister Fahrettin Koca said. He said two more aircraft would be sent with more supplies.

A 33-year-old Dutch woman has been killed in an explosion in Gaza, the Dutch foreign ministry has said. Named locally as Islam al-Ashqar, she was visiting relatives at the Nusairat refugee camp in central Gaza and was one of 22 Dutch nationals that the ministry was trying to help leave, the broadcaster NOS said.