Israel-Hamas war: Aid trucks mobbed by crowds in Gaza

Aid trucks in Gaza have been mobbed by crowds of people desperate for food and other vital supplies.

Footage from the Associated Press showed dozens of Palestinians surrounding aid trucks at the Rafah crossing from Egypt, and climbing onto the vehicles to throw the boxes to the crowds.

It comes after the UN said this week that hunger and desperation were driving people to seize humanitarian aid being delivered to Gaza, warning of a “breakdown of civil order”.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on Saturday: “I would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity.”

05:13 PM GMT

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05:00 PM GMT

Pictured: Palestinian children walk following an Israeli raid on Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank

04:32 PM GMT

US to push Israel for 'small-scale' raids in next phase of war

The United States will push Israel to carry out smaller, more focused raids in the next phase of the war.

Lloyd Austin, the US Defence Secretary, is expected to put pressure on Israeli leaders to end the war’s most intense phase and adopt a more targeted strategy against Hamas during a visit to Israel on Monday.

US officials told the New York Times they would want Israel to conduct smaller, strategic raids using elite troops, and deploy more precise missions to destroy Hamas leaders and rescue hostages in the next phase.

Mr Austin will meet Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, to discuss their vision and stress the importance of civilian safety.

Mr Biden wants Israel to start using more precise tactics in around three weeks, US officials said.

04:30 PM GMT

Aid received in Gaza 'doesn't meet 10 per cent of the needs,' says Palestine Red Crescent

04:15 PM GMT

Pictured: Israeli soldiers gather at the abandoned site of the Supernova music festival

03:59 PM GMT

Telecom services are being gradually restored in Gaza

Telecom services are being gradually restored in the central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, telecommunication companies Paltel and Jawwal said on Sunday.

“Our field teams were able to reach and repair the main damaged site after numerous attempts in the past days with the help of relevant international bodies,” the two companies said in a joint statement.

Communication and internet services have been down in Gaza since Dec. 14.

03:25 PM GMT

Exclusive: Inside the Hamas tunnel network

What strikes you first about the tunnel is its size. Jutting out from the desert sand at a gradient of about 25 degrees, the rusty tubular steel opening is just big enough to drive a car through, writes Paul Nuki, The Telegraph’s Global Health Security Editor, in Gaza.

That is far from an accident. Hamas, as it proved on Oct 7, is a mobile terror group and this vast tunnel network, running 50m deep in places and emerging just shy of the Erez Crossing at Gaza’s northern tip, is believed to have been designed for a wider invasion of Israel.

“From here you can be in Tel Aviv in 50 minutes and Jerusalem in an hour,” says one of the soldiers charged with taking us into it.

Read the full story here

03:06 PM GMT

Israel uncovers 'biggest Hamas tunnel' near Gaza border

Israeli forces battling Hamas said they had uncovered an unusually large concrete and iron-girded tunnel, designed to carry carloads of militant fighters from Gaza right up to the border.

Chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari put the full length of the tunnel at 2.5 miles - enough to reach into northern Gaza City, once the heart of Hamas governance and now a devastated combat zone.

It was “the biggest tunnel we found in Gaza ... meant to target the (Erez) crossing,” he said, without specifying whether it was used by Hamas for the Oct. 7 attack.

“Millions of dollars were invested in this tunnel. It took years to build this tunnel ... Vehicles could drive through.”

02:30 PM GMT

Almost 80 aid trucks enter Kerem Shalom crossing

The Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza opened on Sunday for aid trucks for the first time since the outbreak of war, officials said, a move intended to double the amount of food and medicine reaching the enclave [see post at 11:41].

Two sources in the Egypt Red Crescent told Reuters that trucks were starting to enter on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing on their way into Gaza. One said there were 79 trucks.

Kerem Shalom, on the border of Egypt, Israel and Gaza, is one of the main transit points for goods in and out of Gaza, allowing much faster transit than the Rafah passenger crossing a few kilometres away.

02:11 PM GMT

US to push Israel to 'define milestones' in war against Hamas

The US will push Israel to define milestones in its war against Hamas.

Lloyd Austin, the US Defence Secretary, will press Israeli officials on “what metrics they’re looking at in order to transition to the next phase of their campaign in Gaza,” a senior defence official told CNN.

Mr Austin, who visits Israel on Monday, will “receive specific updates” on how the Israeli defence minister and the Israeli military assess progress in their campaign to destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure.

“Secretary Austin will want to hear a very clear articulation of their self-assessment when he’s there on Monday,” the official told CNN.

01:41 PM GMT

Pictured: Rally for release of hostages

Scores of protesters set up tents outside the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv on Saturday, saying they would stay until the Israeli government resumed hostage negotiations with Hamas.

01:20 PM GMT

Pope Francis deplores the death of two women in Gaza parish

Pope Francis deplored the death of two women in a Catholic parish in Gaza, where he said “defenceless civilians” were targeted by shootings and bombings.

“I continue to receive very serious and painful news from Gaza,” he said at the end of the Angelus prayer. “A mother and her daughter... were killed and other people injured by sniper fire.”

“This happened even inside the parish of the Holy Family where there are no terrorists, but families, children, sick or disabled people,” the pope stressed.

01:05 PM GMT

Britain calls for 'sustainable' ceasefire in shift of tone

Britain has called for a “sustainable” ceasefire in Gaza in a marked shift of tone towards the war.

Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, called for “peace lasting for days, years, generations,” adding that, “too many civilians have been killed.”

In a joint article in the Sunday Times with German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, they wrote “But let us be clear. We do not believe that calling right now for a general and immediate ceasefire, hoping it somehow becomes permanent, is the way forward.”

They added: “The sooner it comes, the better — the need is urgent.”

12:56 PM GMT

Pictured: Netanyahu at cabinet meeting

Benjamin Netanyahu read out a letter at his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday which he said was written by relatives of dead soldiers.

“You have a mandate to fight. You do not have a mandate to stop in the middle,” he quoted them as saying, responding: “We will fight to the end.”

12:15 PM GMT

France urges all parties to 'deescalate' on Israel-Lebanon border

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna urged all parties including Israel to ‘deescalate’ on the volatile Israel-Lebanon border where tensions have risen amid the Gaza war.

“The risk of escalation remains... and if things were to spiral out of control, I don’t think anyone would benefit, and I say this to Israel too,” she said on a visit to the Shura military base in central Israel.

“This call for caution and deescalation applies to everyone.”

11:41 AM GMT

UN aid trucks to enter Gaza from Israeli territory

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said:

11:23 AM GMT

Gaza remains under communications blackout

Gaza remains under a communications blackout for a fourth straight day — the longest of several outages over the course of the war.

Aid groups say this complicates rescue efforts after bombings and make it even more difficult to monitor the war’s toll on civilians.

International aid organisations have struggled to get supplies to desperate Gazans.

It comes as the UN said this week that hunger and desperation were driving people to seize humanitarian aid being delivered to Gaza, warning of a “breakdown of civil order”.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on Saturday: “I would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity.”

10:58 AM GMT

24 reportedly killed in strike on Jabalia

At least 24 people were reportedly killed in an airstrike on Jabalia on Sunday morning, the director-general of the Hamas-controlled health ministry has said.

Dr. Munir Al-Bursh told CNN that 24 people had been killed as a result of an airstrike in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

He said that 90 people had been injured in addition to those killed, with the majority of the casualties women and children.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on strikes in the Jabalia area.

10:28 AM GMT

French foreign minister calls for 'immediate and durable' Gaza truce

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna pressed for an “immediate and durable” truce in the Gaza war.

“Too many civilians are being killed,” Ms Colonna said during remarks in Tel Aviv with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen, as Israel presses on with its offensive after the October 7 attacks.

Ms Colonna also stressed that the victims of Hamas’s attacks must not be forgotten, including those subjected to sexual violence.

“Needless to say, France believes the word of these women victims,” she said, in reference to allegations of widespread sexual assaults during the Hamas attacks.

10:08 AM GMT

Ceasefire can't be sustainable until we've dealt with Hamas, says deputy PM

A ceasefire can’t be sustainable until we’ve dealt with Hamas, Oliver Dowden has said.

When asked what Lord Cameron meant by his “sustainable ceasefire” comments, the Deputy Prime Minister told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “In order for a ceasefire to be sustainable, we have to ensure we remove the threat of Hamas from Israel, and indeed the wider Middle East.

“You saw what happened on that terrible day on October 7 when Hamas were able to penetrate the border of Israel and indiscriminately murder 1,400 men, women and children, and until we deal with that any ceasefire will not ultimately be sustainable.

“So, that’s why we continue to support Israel in its right to self-defence, to remove the threat of Hamas, and at the same time to get those hostages back. Those are the two things that ensure we have a sustainable ceasefire.”

He added: “The difference between those calling for a ceasefire now and the position of the UK Government is that ceasefire can’t be sustainable until we’ve dealt with Hamas.”

Asked if the change of tone was because the UK Government believes Israel has gone too far, Mr Dowden replied: “I wouldn’t characterise it as Israel going too far. Israel is dealing with a very difficult situation.”

09:52 AM GMT

Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital is a 'bloodbath,' says WHO

The emergency department at the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, devastated by Israeli bombardments, is “a bloodbath” and is “in need of resuscitation”, the World Health Organisation has said.

In a statement, the WHO said that “tens of thousands of displaced people are using the hospital building and grounds for shelter”, and that there is “a severe shortage” of drinking water and food.

“The team described the emergency department as a ‘bloodbath’, with hundreds of injured patients inside, and new patients arriving every minute,” the organisation said, adding that “patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor... (and) no pain management is available”.

09:44 AM GMT

Pictured: A hostage rally in Tel Aviv

09:37 AM GMT

French foreign ministry says worker killed by an Israeli attack in Rafah

The French foreign ministry said one of its workers had died as a result of injuries sustained from an Israeli attack in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The man was seeking refuge in the house of one of his colleagues from the French consulate alongside two other colleagues and a number of their family members, the ministry statement issued late on Saturday said.

“The house was hit by an Israeli air strike on Wednesday evening, which seriously hurt our agent and killed about 10 others,” it said, adding he had later died of his injuries.

The statement said France condemned the bombing of a residential building.

“We demand that the Israeli authorities shed full light on the circumstances of this bombing, as soon as possible,” it said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military when approached for a response by Reuters.

09:34 AM GMT

Israel carries out fresh strikes in Gaza

Israel carried out fresh strikes on Gaza as its leaders came under growing pressure to secure the release of hostages still held in the Hamas-run territory more than two months after the October 7 attacks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced protests on Saturday by relatives of hostages who called for an urgent deal to secure their freedom after the army admitted mistakenly killing three captives in Gaza.

The trio were among an estimated 250 people taken hostage during Hamas’s October 7 raids into Israel, which also killed about 1,140 people, according to the Israeli authorities’ latest figures.

According to Hamas, Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed 18,800 people, mostly women and children.

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