Israel-Hamas war live: Israel to have ‘security responsibility’ for Gaza when fighting ends, says Netanyahu | Israel-Hamas war

Eylon Levy, Israeli government spokesperson, has posted to social media some images of people working to identify human remains from the destruction caused by Hamas fighters inside Israel on 7 October. In the accompanying message, he writes:

On 7 October, Hamas incinerated its victims so badly that the IDF has recruited archaeologists to sift through the rubble and find human remains. They’ve found “certain evidence” of the remains of ten people.

The Hamas attack on 7 October killed at least 1,400 people. The death toll of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since Israel began its campaign against Hamas now stands, according to the health ministry there, at over 10,000. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty claim from Gaza.

Israel’s military has issued its latest operational update, in which it claims to have captured a Hamas military stronghold and detonated a Hamas weapons depot “in a civilian area” adjacent to the al-Quds Hospital. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas is using hospital buildings to carry out operations.

In a statement posted to Telegram, the Israeli military said:

Over the past day, IDF troops secured a military stronghold belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in the northern Gaza Strip. Anti-tank missiles and launchers, weapons, and various intelligence materials were located in the compound by the troops.

In coordination with soldiers on the ground, an IDF fighter jet struck a cell of approximately ten terrorists. Following this, IDF ground troops identified an anti-tank missile cell operating in their vicinity. The troops directed an IDF aircraft that struck the terrorist cell.

Dozens of Hamas mortar shell launchers were also struck overnight.

In addition, IDF naval forces struck with precise ammunition strategic targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation, including posts containing technological assets.

Furthermore, IDF troops located a number of Hamas terrorists who barricaded themselves in a building adjacent to the al-Quds Hospital, and planned to carry out an attack on the forces from there. IDF soldiers directed an aircraft to strike the Hamas terrorists. The attack led to significant secondary explosions which indicate the presence of a Hamas weapons depot in a civilian area.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that a statement by an Israeli junior minister who appeared to voice openness to the idea of Israel carrying out a nuclear strike on Gaza had raised many questions, Reuters reports.

Heritage minister Amihay Eliyahu, part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, made the remarks in a radio interview, and has been suspended from the Israeli cabinet.

In comments also carried by Tass, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on the Soloviev Live TV channel:

This raised a huge number of questions. Question number one – it turns out that we are hearing an official statement about the presence of nuclear weapons? Accordingly, the next questions that everyone has are – where are the international organizations, where is the IAEA, where are the inspectors?

Israel has never conducted a public nuclear test or stated in public that it has possession of nuclear weapons. However, international observers believe it has a stockpile of 80-90 warheads.

Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would consider “tactical little pauses” in fighting to allow the entry of aid or the exit of hostages from the Gaza Strip, but he again rejected calls for a ceasefire, as Israel marked a month since Hamas’s deadly attacks killed 1,400 people.

When asked who should govern the territory after fighting ends, the Israeli prime minister told ABC news in an interview broadcast on Monday night: “Israel will for an indefinite period … have the overall security responsibility [in Gaza] because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have that security responsibility.”

Having encircled the densely populated Gaza City in the north of the enclave, where the Hamas Islamist group is based, Israel’s military said it had taken a militant compound and was set to attack fighters hiding in underground tunnels.

Read our full report on the latest news from the Israel-Hamas conflict here:

Fresh pictures have been coming in from Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has been carrying out airstrikes.

The Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has expressed grief over the death of a 69-year-old Jewish man during an altercation between opposing protesters in the city of Thousand Oaks on Monday (which we reported here).

In a statement, the body’s executive director, Hussam Ayloush, said it was “deeply saddened by this tragic and shocking loss” and said its thoughts were with his family and the Jewish community.

Ayloush also urged the public to wait for the results of the police investigation into the death before drawing any conclusions.

We join local Jewish leaders in calling on all individuals to refrain from jumping to conclusions, sensationalizing such a tragedy for political gains, or spreading rumors that could unnecessarily escalate tensions that are already at an all-time high …

While we strongly support the right of political debate, CAIR-LA and the Muslim community stand with the Jewish community in rejecting any and all violence, antisemitism, Islamophobia, or incitement of hatred.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has arrived in Japan for a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers expected to be dominated by the Israel-Hamas war.

Blinken made no public comment as he arrived for the two days of discussions in Tokyo after a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, where he pushed for humanitarian “pauses” in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and attempted to contain the conflict.

Agence France-Presse reports:

Calls have been mounting for a ceasefire, including from UN agencies and several countries.

A key ally of Israel, the US has not backed these calls, insisting that Israel has the right to respond – though Washington has called for pauses in the fighting.

In Turkey on Monday, Blinken said Washington was working “very aggressively” to expand aid for trapped civilians.

“I think we will see in the days ahead that the assistance can expand in significant ways,” Blinken added, without providing details.

The ministers from the G7 – the US, Japan, France, Britain, Italy, Germany and Canada – were also set to discuss the conflict in Ukraine as well as relations with China.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said two Israeli rockets hit around 50 metres from the al-Quds hospital in Gaza City overnight.

Earlier it had issued an urgent appeal to international relief organisations saying the hospital would run out of fuel within 48 hours, meaning “life saving equipment, neonatal incubators and intensive care units will cease to function”.

It said the hospital was also housing 14,000 people displaced by Israeli airstrikes and evacuation orders.

Hospitals including al-Quds had been “continusously shelled” over the past week, with strikes hitting no more than 50 metres away, it said. At least 60 hospital staff, patients and displaced people had been injured in the attacks, while hospital buildings and ambulances had also sustained “significant damage”. It continued:

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the northern region is worsening day by day due to the increased intensity of military attacks and airstrikes by the Israeli occupation forces ….

The situation is exacerbated by the ongoing and indiscriminate targeting and destruction of residential homes infrastructure and public facilities.

A month after Hamas went on a murderous rampage in Israel, prompting 30 days of devastating airstrikes on Gaza by Israel, the Associated Press has looked back at some of the most striking images captured during the period. Here are a selection:

As fears grow over escalating violence in the West Bank, a German broadcast journalist has described how he and his team were detained and threatened by Israeli soldiers as they were reporting from the area.

ARD correspondent Jan-Christoph Kitzler, a Palestinian and a German colleague were returning from an interview when they were stopped by Israeli soldiers south of the West Bank city of Hebron, the network said in its report from Sunday.

The soldiers were “extremely aggressive” and pointed weapons at the group several times, ARD said: “The soldiers repeatedly filmed the ARD team at close quarters – for Kitzler and the team it was a clear attempt to intimidate them.”

Christian Limpert, head of ARD’s studio in Tel Aviv, said it was an attempt to prevent reporting from the West Bank and that other international media outlets were also affected:

It was the second incident for us within a week. Our team identified themselves clearly as accredited members of the press and were far away from military secure zones. We cannot accept the actions of the Israeli military.

“The soldiers threatened us with weapons and asked us whether we were Jewish. Our colleague was called a traitor,” Kitzler said. He posted pictures on X, formerly Twitter, of the soldiers pointing their weapons inside the journalists’ vehicle.

The situation was resolved after more than an hour after further Israeli soldiers and police officers became involved, ARD said.

It added that the soldiers appeared to be settlers from the area who had been called up as reservists, noting that they were using a private vehicle and wore civilian headwear.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in a fresh wave of violence by Israeli settlers since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October and hundreds have been forced from their homes.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry has said that the purpose of the Indonesia Hospital in Gaza is to “fully” serve Palestinians in response to an accusation by the Israeli military that it has been used by Hamas to launch attacks. Reuters reports:

Israeli military’s has said that Hamas “systematically exploits hospitals as part of its war machine” as it exposed a network of tunnels, command centres and rocket launchers beneath and adjacent to hospitals in northern Gaza.

Hamas denies doing so and has accused Israel of spreading lies.

“Indonesia Hospital in Gaza is a facility built by Indonesians fully for humanitarian purposes and to serve the medical needs of Palestinians in Gaza,” the ministry said in a statement, adding the hospital is run by Palestinian authorities, helped by a few Indonesian volunteers.

The hospital “is currently treating patients in the amount that far exceeds its capacity”, the ministry added.

Sarbini Abdul Murad, the chairman of MER-C, a voluntary group which funded the Indonesia hospital, told Reuters on Tuesday the hospital had run out of fuel, and had “collapsed”.

On Monday, Sarbini denied Israel‘s accusations, adding that it was a “precondition so that they can attack the Indonesian hospital in Gaza”.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, has called for an immediate ceasefire and has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza.

In Jerusalem, Israelis held a vigil on Monday evening to mark 30 days since the Hamas attack on Israel in which 1,400 people were killed, with a candle lit for each victim.

Relatives of the dead gathered at Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall to mark a month of mourning. The holy site is considered the most sacred place Jews can worship. Prayers were held marking the first month of grief, in line with Jewish tradition. Agence France Press reported:

“We don’t have other ways to commemorate them except with prayers, lighting candles, and having them in our heart,” said Yossi Rivlin, who lost two brothers at a music festival massacre during the Hamas attack.

“This unity of the Israeli nation, we feel it not only in our house but all around the country. Too bad we had to wait for this moment,” the 26-year-old added.

“It’s a terrible time. I just hope we won’t forget and return to our routine.”

Standing before a giant Israeli flag, army chief cantor Shai Abramson gave a prayer for the departed, modified to include a blessing for security forces who “paid with their lives for the protection of Israeli land”.

The ceremony was the first religious commemoration organised at the Wailing Wall since 7 October.

It was attended by Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet formed by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of the attack, the deadliest the nation has suffered since its founding in 1948.

An investigation has been launched in Los Angeles after a 69-year-old man died as a result of injuries sustained during a physical altercation between rival pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters, Ventura County Sheriff’s Office have said.

In a statement identifying the man as Paul Kessler, the sheriff’s office said they had “not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime”.

It said that police were called to the city of Thousands Oaks on Monday afternoon after reports of a physical altercation during which Kessler fell back and struck his head on the ground. He died in hospital of his injuries.

It said an autopsy had been performed and the cause of death determined to be “blunt force head injury and the manner of death homicide” but also said the incident “appears to be isolated and not part of a large effort.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles said he was an “elderly Jewish man” who was “struck in the head by a megaphone wielded by a pro-Palestinian protestor in Westlake Village.” Police did not immediately confirm those details.

It said it was the fourth “major antisemitic crime” committed in Los Angeles this year and added: “Violence against our people has no place in civilized society. We demand safety.”

Rabbi Michael Barclay of Temple Ner Simcha in Westlake Village, near Thousand Oaks, urged people to avoid jumping to conclusions about what happened, according to the Associated Press.

“I just got off the phone with the Chief of Police,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “They have conflicting reports of what happened, and they did interview the suspect that is identified in social media at the event. They have no video.”

He said police are being cautious before making accusations. “We need to do the same; and not let this become a spark that starts an inferno,” he wrote.

Israel may have ‘security responsibility’ for Gaza for ‘indefinite period’ after war ends, Netanyahu says

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