Israel-Hamas war live: White House promises ‘continued flow’ of Gaza aid as Israel steps up airstrikes in north of strip | Israel-Hamas war

With tanks and troops massed at the Gaza border, waiting for the command to cross, Israel intensified its bombardment of the enclave overnight.

Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the country had increased airstrikes across Gaza to hit targets that would reduce the risk to troops in the next stage of the war.

A ground invasion has been expected but its timing remains unclear. Asked by Australian broadcaster the ABC on Monday whether the invasion had been delayed in order to leave more time to get Israeli hostages out of Gaza, Israel Defence Force spokesperson Jonathan Conricus was reluctant to give any insight into the country’s deliberations:

That’s a very good question. The answer I can provide is that we are going to dismantle Hamas totally and we’re going to bring our people home.

And asked whether an invasion was inevitable, he said:

The aim here is to totally dismantle Hamas from its military capabilities. If that can be done from the air … with very limited exposure to our troops and less damage on the ground that would be great.

If Hamas were to come out of their hiding places that they hide underneath the civilians … and return our hostages, all 212 of them, and surrender unconditionally, then the war would end.

If they won’t, we will probably have to go in and get it done.

Fears of a widening war have grown as Israeli warplanes struck two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants on Sunday. The Israeli military also said it had struck targets in Lebanon overnight.

“Our forces struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon, including a military compound and an observation post,” it said in an X/Twitter post on Monday, adding, “4 Hezbollah terrorist cells operating on the border with Lebanon were struck.”

China views the situation in Gaza as “very serious” with the risk of a large-scale ground conflict rising and the spread of armed conflicts along neighbouring borders, Chinese state media have reported, citing the country’s Middle East special envoy.

The envoy Zhai Jun, who is visiting the Middle East, said spillover effects in the region and internationally are widening, as conflict along the Israeli-Lebanese and Israeli-Syrian borders spread, “making the outlook worrisome”, Reuters reported. The news wire writes:

Zhai called on the international community to be “highly vigilant in this regard” and to take immediate action urging parties concerned to strictly abide by international humanitarian law and avoid a serious humanitarian disaster while putting in “joint efforts to control the situation”.

Zhai also said China is willing to do “whatever is conducive” to promote dialogue, achieve ceasefire and restore peace, as well as to promote the two-state solution and a just and lasting resolution to the conflict, China Central Television said.

Last week, Zhai pinned the cause of the Israel-Gaza crisis on the lack of guarantees for Palestinian rights as he met with his Russian counterpart in Qatar, a go-between in the conflict.

Zhai said China will continue maintaining close communication with the international community, including the Arab countries and will next visit the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries in the region to further strengthen coordination aimed at ending the crisis.

Prior to his trip, Zhai had phone calls with the foreign ministry heads of the Palestinians, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Norway, as well as with the special representatives at United Nations and European Union.

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.

They welcomed the release of two hostages and called for the immediate release of all remaining hostages. They committed to close coordination to support their nationals in the region, in particular those wishing to leave Gaza.

The leaders also welcomed news that aid conveys had been allowed into Gaza and added that diplomacy aimed at preventing the conflict from spreading was continuing.

The leaders committed to continue close diplomatic coordination, including with key partners in the region, to prevent the conflict from spreading, preserve stability in the Middle East, and work toward a political solution and durable peace.

Julian Borger

Two activists from a Jewish-Arab peace movement were recently detained in Israel for putting up posters with a message that the police deemed to be offensive. The message was: “Jews and Arabs, we will get through this together.”

The activists, members of Standing Together, had their posters confiscated, as well as T-shirts printed with peace slogans in Hebrew and Arabic.

It was not an isolated incident. Across Israel, people are being detained, fired from their jobs, and even attacked for expressing sentiments interpreted by some as showing sympathy for Hamas after the group’s murderous attack on 7 October.

The definition of pro-Hamas is often widened to include expressions of sympathy for the plight of Palestinian children trapped in Gaza, or calls for peace, especially if expressed in both Arabic and Hebrew.

Last week, after 15 years of service at a Petah Tikva hospital, its director of the cardiac intensive care unit was suspended from his position.

Abed Samara’s apparent offence was his profile picture on social media – a dove carrying an olive twig and a green flag emblazoned with the shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.” He had adopted the picture last year, long before the Hamas attack, but it was nevertheless seen as somehow voicing support for the outrage.

Sam Levine

Mitch McConnell offered a strong endorsement on Sunday of the Joe Biden White House’s $106bn aid proposal to Israel and Ukraine, saying he and the president were essentially “in the same place” on the issue.

McConnell, the powerful Republican leader in the US Senate, also rebuffed some of his GOP colleagues in the Senate who have called for a package separating assistance for the two countries, saying it would be “a mistake” during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation.

The Republican leader offered significant backing to the White House’s $106bn request, including $14bn in assistance to Israel, $60bn in aid to Ukraine and another $14bn to improve security on the US Mexico border. An additional $10bn would be allocated to humanitarian relief as well as an additional $7bn to the Indio-Pacific region.

Nine Republican senators wrote a letter to McConnell on Thursday saying that Ukraine and Israel aid should not be paired together. “These are two separate conflicts and it would be wrong to leverage support of aid to Israel in an attempt to get additional aid for Ukraine across the finish line,” the group wrote.

McConnell rejected that view on Sunday. “I view it as all interconnected,” he said during the interview. “The Ukrainians are destroying the army of one of our biggest rivals. I have a hard time finding anything wrong with that. I think it’s wonderful that they’re defending themselves.””

Harriet Sherwood

Children in Gaza are developing severe trauma symptoms alongside the risk of death and injury, according to a Palestinian psychiatrist.

On Sunday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 1,750 children had been killed in the 16 days of bombardment by Israeli forces since Hamas’s murderous onslaught on 7 October. That is an average of almost 110 children a day. Thousands more have been injured.

The psychological impact of the war on children was showing, said Fadel Abu Heen, a psychiatrist in Gaza. Children had “started to develop serious trauma symptoms such as convulsions, bed-wetting, fear, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, and not leaving their parents’ sides.”

The “lack of any safe place has created a general sense of fear and horror among the entire population and children are most impacted,” he said.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is set to visit Israel on Monday and French President Emmanuel Macron will visit on Tuesday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said.

Other world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and German chancellor Olaf Scholz have already visited Israel in order to express solidarity with the country, and , it is thought, privately urge caution on Israel.

In particular, as Patrick Wintour wrote in this weekend analysis, leaders are worried about what would come after a ground invasion of Gaza, there being little indication that Israel has a concrete plan.

The White House has promised a “continued flow” of aid into Gaza, after a second convoy entered on Sunday and Israel continued to bombard the besieged enclave into the early hours of Monday.

US President Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed in a call that “there will now be continued flow of … critical assistance into Gaza,” the White House said, after a second convoy of 14 trucks entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing.

The UN has warned that the volume of aid entering Gaza was just 4% of the daily average before the hostilities and a fraction of what was needed with food, water, medicines and fuel stocks running out.

COGAT, the Israeli defence body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Sunday’s second batch of aid included water, food and medical supplies and that everything was inspected by Israel before it was brought into Gaza. Israel has not allowed any fuel to enter Gaza.

The delivery came as Israel continued to target Gaza with airstrikes, concentrating on the strip’s centre and north, Palestinian media reported, adding that areas near three hospitals were hit early on Monday.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the conflict between Israel and Hamas with me, Helen Livingstone.

A second aid convoy of 14 trucks has entered Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths has called it “a small glimmer of hope for the millions of people in dire need of humanitarian aid”. However, he added that civilians in Gaza “need more, much more”.

The White House has said that after talks between US President Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu there will now be a “continued flow” of aid into Gaza, although they did not specify how much.

The talks came as Israel said it was intensifying its attacks on Gaza. Military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said the country had increased airstrikes across the strip to hit targets that would reduce the risk to troops in the next stage of the war.

Fears of a widening war grew as Israeli warplanes also struck two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants while the military also returned fire into Lebanon after a drone and anti-aircraft missiles were fired into northern Israel.

In other key developments:

• The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Israeli strikes have killed 4,741 Palestinians, with 15,898 hurt. Authorities in Gaza said 40% of those killed in the Gaza Strip were children. Israel has been launching the attacks since 7 October, when a Hamas attack inside Israel killed more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians.

• Palestinian media reported that Israel was also bombing the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis. The attacks came hours after the Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari called on Gaza’s residents to move south “for your own safety”.

• The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has said 29 of its workers have been killed in Gaza since 7 October.

• Doctors in the Gaza Strip say dwindling fuel supplies are putting dozens of premature babies hooked up to incubators at risk of imminent death. The UN health agency estimates there are 130 premature babies at “grave risk” while some hospitals say they are hours away from running out generator fuel.

• Israel’s military said the number of people held captive was confirmed to be 212. The release of two Americans on Friday raised hopes that others might be able to return home.

• Israel said it had returned fire into Lebanon after a drone and anti-aircraft missiles were fired into northern Israel. The country has said it plans to evacuate 14 additional communities in the area.

• Israeli fighter jets launched an airstrike on the southern outskirts of Aitaroun town, southern Lebanon, the Lebanese state media of NNA reported late Sunday.

• Israel also struck the West Bank, hitting a compound beneath a mosque early on Sunday that the Israeli military claimed was being used by Hamas.

• Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah on Sunday against opening a second war front with Israel. He said: “If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will long for the second Lebanon war. It will be making the mistake of its life. We will strike it with strength that it cannot even imagine and the significance to it and to the country of Lebanon will be devastating.”

• Speaking to soldiers near the blue line UN-drawn boundary that separates Israel and Lebanon, Netanyahu said: “I know that you lost friends, and it’s a very difficult thing, but we are in the fight of our life, a fight for our home. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s not an overstatement, that’s this war. It is kill or be killed, and they need to be killed.”

• US secretary of state Antony Blinken and defense secretary Lloyd Austin said the US expected the Israel-Hamas war to escalate through involvement by proxies of Iran. “We don’t want escalation,” Blinken said. “We don’t want to see our forces or our personnel come under fire. But if that happens, we’re ready for it.”

• Joe Biden held a call on Sunday with the leaders of Canada, France, Britain, Germany and Italy to discuss the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the White House said.

• Benjamin Netanyahu said that French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will visit Israel. The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that the two leaders “will arrive on Monday and Tuesday” and meet with Netanyahu.

• Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will visit Tehran on Monday.

• Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian discussed the means of stopping the Israeli “brutal crimes” in the besieged Gaza enclave, the group said in a statement late Sunday.

• Turkey sent its presidential plane with a medical team and supplies to Egypt on Sunday, carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza.

• Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said on Sunday he had “no idea” how many people died in a blast at an Anglican hospital in the Gaza Strip, and that assuming Israeli culpability could be tantamount to antisemitic libel.

• Thousands of people gathered in Berlin and London to oppose antisemitism and support Israel on Sunday. “It is unbearable that Jews are living in fear again today – in our country of all places,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the crowd at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, estimated at 20,000 by organisers and 10,000 by police.

• Thousands of people attended a rally in Paris in the first pro-Palestinian demonstration allowed by police since the 7 October Hamas attacks. About 15,000 people showed up at the Place de la Republique, according to police figures, to express their solidarity with Palestinians.