Hamas 'unresponsive' to attempts to restart hostage talks with Israel

Hamas is not replying to requests to revive hostage negotiations, US sources say.

A source familiar with efforts to reopen talks told CNN that the terror group had not been receptive to outreach from Qatar.

The gas-rich state, which has helped broker previous hostage releases, reportedly put forward a potential deal to free male and female hostages.

One senior US official told the outlet: “There’s not an active negotiation, but there’s a real exploration of ideas for how to get this going.”

Israel declared 19 of 135 people still in Gaza captivity dead in absentia on Tuesday, after announcing its forces had recovered the bodies of two hostages.

04:07 PM GMT

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04:00 PM GMT

Nine Israeli soldiers killed in double bomb attack

Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in a Hamas ambush in Gaza City, with senior commanders among the dead.

Four Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops were attacked with gunfire and an explosive device while searching a cluster of buildings in the neighourhood of Shejaiya, long considered a Hamas stronghod.

A second group of soldiers attempted to rescue them but were also ambushed, leading to a 3-hour pitched battle.

Air support rescued many of the IDF troops but among the nine killed were Col. Itzhak Ben Basat, 44, the most senior officer to have been killed in the entire war, and Lt. Col. Tomer Grinberg, a battalion commander.

Another Israeli soldier from Ashkelon was also killed in northern Gaza in a different incident.

A total of 115 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the conflict.

03:27 PM GMT

Biden meeting with relatives of hostages 'this morning,' says White House

US President Joe Biden was meeting with the families of American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, a White House official said.

The in-person meeting, which is the first between the US president and hostages’ families, “is taking place this morning,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, without providing further details.

Relatives of all eight Americans who are deemed unaccounted for after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th were expected to attend the gathering at the White House, a senior Biden administration official said.

02:58 PM GMT

Situation at Jenin refugee camp 'deteriorating,' says Palestinian Red Crescent

02:48 PM GMT

People of Gaza are 'running out of time,' says head of UN agency for Palestinian refugees

The people of Gaza are “running out of time and options,” the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has warned.

Philippe Lazzarini told the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva: “They face bombardment, deprivation and disease in an ever shrinking space,” adding that Gazans were “facing the darkest chapter of their history since 1948, and it has been a painful history”.

Mr Lazzarini said the UN Palestinian refugee agency’s ability to render services in Gaza was on the verge of collapse after more than 130 staff were killed in the enclave.

He added that 130 UNRWA staff had been killed in the enclave.

02:22 PM GMT

Flooding brings further misery to Gaza

Strong wind and heavy rain in Gaza overnight on Wednesday brought even worse misery to displaced families, tearing and flooding flimsy tents, drenching clothes and blankets and making everyone cold.

At a tent camp in Rafah, located on sandy terrain strewn with rubbish, people were trying to recover from a horrible night, carrying buckets of sand to cover puddles inside or just outside their tents, and hanging up soggy clothes.

Some families have proper tents, but others are making do with tarpaulins or thin, see-through plastic made to protect goods, not provide shelter for people. Many tents have no ground-sheets, so people spent the night huddling on wet sand.

“It is torn and water poured on us. We were drenched,” said Ramadan Mohadad, a middle-aged man who was trying to fix his family’s shelter fashioned from strips of plywood and a thin plastic sheet.

02:13 PM GMT

Von der Leyen backs sanctions on extremist settlers in West Bank

“Extremist” Israeli settlers involved in attacks in the West Bank should be sanctioned, Ursula von der Leyen has said.

“The rise in violence by extremist settlers is inflicting immense suffering on the Palestinians. It undermines the prospects for a lasting peace and could further exacerbate regional instability,” the European Commission president told EU lawmakers.

“I am in favour of sanctioning those involved in the attacks in the West Bank. They must be held accountable. This violence has nothing to do with the fight against Hamas and must stop.”

Ms Von der Leyen’s comments come after European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that he would put forward a proposal to sanction the West Bank settlers.

01:53 PM GMT

Jenin in pictures:

01:26 PM GMT

UK and US target Hamas with new sanctions to isolate terror group

The UK has sanctioned seven further individuals linked to Hamas, to counter the ongoing threat posed by the terror organisation, cut off its access to finances and impose fresh travel restrictions on individuals linked to the group to disrupt its operations.

Today’s move, coordinated with the United States, is the UK’s second round of targeted sanctions imposed on figures associated with Hamas since the October 7 attacks on Israel.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said: “Hamas can have no future in Gaza. Today’s sanctions on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad will continue to cut off their access to funding and isolate them further.

“We will continue to work with partners to reach a long-term political solution so that Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace.”

Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas’ co-founder, is among those targeted in today’s sanctions. Also targeted is Ali Baraka, Hamas’s Head of External Relations, who has publicly defended the October 7 attacks and sought to justify the taking of hostages.

01:21 PM GMT

Tanker in Red Sea targeted by speedboat gunfire and missiles

A tanker in the Red Sea off Yemen’s coast was fired on by gunmen in a speedboat and targeted with missiles, maritime sources said, in the latest incident to threaten the shipping lane after Yemeni Houthi forces warned ships not to travel to Israel.

A second vessel was also approached by the speedboat in the same area but was not attacked, British maritime security firm Ambrey and other sources said.

The Iran-aligned Houthi group has sought to support their Palestinian ally Hamas in the Gaza war by firing missiles at Israel and threatening shipping in the busy Bab al-Mandab Strait, next to Yemen at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest incident in the busy shipping route off Yemen’s coast.

12:50 PM GMT

Israel will pursue war against Hamas 'with or without US support'

Israel will continue its war on Hamas whether or not it has international support, its Foreign Minister has said.

Eli Cohen said that agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza at this stage would be a mistake.

“Israel will continue the war against Hamas with or without international support,” he said.

“A ceasefire at the current stage is a gift to the terrorist organization Hamas, and will allow it to return and threaten the residents of Israel.”

Mr Cohen also called on the international community to act “effectively and aggressively” in order to protect global shipping lanes.

12:19 PM GMT

Israeli soldiers filmed setting fire to scarce water and food supplies

12:10 PM GMT

UN votes overwhelmingly for Gaza ceasefire

The United Nations demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza in a non-binding vote.

The 193-member UN General Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire with three-quarters of member states voting in favour.

The US and Israel, which argue a ceasefire only benefits Hamas, voted against the measure along with eight other countries. The United Kingdom abstained.

Before the resolution, Joe Biden warned Israel that it is losing its allies’ support over the thousands of civilians killed in the bombing of Gaza.

The vote comes amid dire warnings from U.N. officials about a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

11:41 AM GMT

Pictured: Israeli forces shell the Gaza Strip

11:07 AM GMT

Gaza facing 'public health disaster,' warns UN

The United Nations humanitarian office said that Gaza faced a “public health disaster” due to the collapse of its health system and the spread of disease caused by overcrowding.

“We all know that the health care system is or has collapsed,” said Lynn Hastings, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“We’ve got a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster.”

The United Nations and aid groups have sounded the alarm about the spread of infectious disease in Gaza, where the internal displacement of 85 per cent of the population has caused overcrowding in shelters and other temporary living facilities.

WHO has reported a sharp rise in acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, lice, scabies and other fast-spreading diseases.

10:49 AM GMT

Poll: Should there be a Gaza ceasefire?

10:33 AM GMT

Hospital in northern Gaza a 'humanitarian disaster zone'

The last “barely functioning” hospital in Gaza is a “humanitarian disaster zone,” the United Nations has said.

Dr Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organisation’s representative in Gaza, said staff at Al-Ahli hospital were amputating people’s limbs “as the last resort to take lives.

It is the last remaining hospital in the northern half of the Gaza Strip that is still partially functioning.

10:12 AM GMT

UN chief warns of further displacement

The United Nations refugee chief warned that the Gaza conflict could spur more displacement in the wider region as UN officials, politicians and aid groups gathered in Geneva to seek solutions to a global displacement crisis.

A record 114 million people around the world have been driven from their homes, including about 40 million refugees fleeing dozens of active conflicts including in Sudan and Ukraine.

Flight from Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas gunmen in southern Israel has also internally displaced 85 per cent of the Palestinian enclave’s population.

“A major human catastrophe is unfolding in the Gaza Strip and so far the Security Council has failed to stop the violence,” Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, an event hosted every four years.

“We foresee more civilian deaths and suffering and also further displacement that threatens the region.”

09:39 AM GMT

Israeli embassy accuses UK ad firm of ‘playing into hands of terrorists’

The Israeli embassy has accused a UK advertising company of “playing into the hands of terrorists” after it cancelled a hostage awareness campaign.

Launched by the embassy alongside the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the campaign featured images of people who had been kidnapped by Hamas and were still being held hostage in Gaza.

A two-week deal was signed between the forum and advertising firm London Lites to run the campaign on billboards in 10 sites across the capital, including one on Brick Lane in east London, White City in north-west London and Bermondsey in south London.

Read more here

09:22 AM GMT

Rafah shelling 'heaviest in days'

Gazans said the shelling in Rafah was some of the heaviest in days. Health officials said 22 people including children were killed there.

Israel’s military said that over the past day it hit several posts that were used to fire rockets at its territory, raided a Hamas compound where it found some 250 rockets among other weapons and struck a weapons production factory.

09:01 AM GMT

Pope renews calls for 'immediate humanitarian ceasefire' in Gaza

Pope Francis has renewed his call for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza and pleaded for an end to suffering for both Israelis and Palestinians.

“I renew my appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” he said during his Wednesday audience.

“May this great suffering for the Israelis and the Palestinians be over,” he said, urging the release of all Israeli hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

08:40 AM GMT

Bodies of two hostages recovered in Gaza, says Israel

The Israeli army said on Tuesday that it had recovered during an operation in Gaza the bodies of two hostages taken by Hamas in its October 7 attack.

Following a positive identification of the remains, authorities informed their families that the two “bodies had been recovered and returned to Israel”, the army said in a statement.

The army had previously confirmed that one of the hostages, soldier Ziv Dado, was killed on the day of the attack, but Israel considers those still held by Hamas to be hostages regardless of whether they are dead or alive.

Read more here

08:36 AM GMT

Biden to meet with families of American hostages in person for first time

Joe Biden will hold his first in-person meeting with the families of Americans taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 attack, two White House officials said.

It was not immediately clear how many families would be attending the White House meeting in person, or via videoconference.

The US president has previously met with some family members virtually and spoken to others on the phone, officials said.

“We’re not going to stop until every hostage is returned home,” Mr Biden told donors in Washington on Tuesday, saying the US commitment to Israel is “unshakable.”

08:27 AM GMT

Israeli troops in pictures:

08:25 AM GMT

Israel losing allies’ support over civilian deaths, Biden warns

Joe Biden has warned Israel that it is losing its allies’ support over the thousands of civilians killed in the bombing of Gaza.

Speaking at a campaign fundraising event, the US president urged Benjamin Netanyahu to change his hard-line government and back the two-state solution aimed at resolving the conflict.

“They’re starting to lose that support,” Mr Biden said, referring to the international outcry at the bombing campaign, which has now killed more than 18,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Read more here

08:24 AM GMT

Israel begins pumping seawater into Hamas tunnels

Israel’s military has reportedly begun pumping seawater into the Gaza tunnels said to be occupied by Hamas fighters, as it pushes further into the terrorist group’s stronghold.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have built five pumps to flood the network of tunnels, where Hamas fighters have been hiding and holding hostages.

On Tuesday, US officials said the operation had started, and the Biden administration had been told it could take weeks, according to a report.

Read more here

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