Israel-Hamas war: Rockets fired on Jerusalem in rare attack
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Hamas has fired rockets on Jerusalem from Gaza for the first time in two months.
Air raid sirens blared shortly after 3pm as Israel’s Iron Dome anti-air defence system intercepted three missiles.
One rocket was reported to have landed near the Ramallah hospital.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for the first missile attack on the city since 16 October.
Israel’s paramedics service said it was en route to a number of “reported scenes”.
There have been no reports of casualties or deaths at 6pm local time (4pm GMT).
04:06 PM GMT
That's all for today
Thank you for following our live coverage of the war in Gaza.
04:05 PM GMT
Today's headlines
Three hostages were found dead in Gaza
Hostage families confronted United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres
Jake Sullivan said Israel will shift to a new phase of war centred on eliminating Hamas’s leadership
Britain and the EU urged Israel to curb settler violence in the West Bank
Unicef said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was worsening every day
Israel said it would open a second border checkpoint for aid to cross into Gaza
Shipping giant Maersk suspended operations in the Red Sea amid a spate of Houthi rebel attacks
03:48 PM GMT
Sullivan welcomes Kerem Shalom opening
Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden’s national security adviser, has said the US welcomes Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to open the Kerem Shalom border post to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza (see post at 2.57pm), US Editor Tony Diver reports.
“We welcome this significant step. President Biden raised this issue in recent phone calls with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and it was an important topic of discussion during my visit to Israel over the past two days,” he said in a statement released by the White House on Friday afternoon.
“The United States remains committed to expanding and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
“We will continue to work closely with Egypt and other partners on the delivery and distribution of humanitarian assistance through Rafah crossing, and we hope that this new opening will ease congestion and help facilitate the delivery of life-saving assistance to those who need it urgently in Gaza.”
03:42 PM GMT
Pictured: Friday prayers under IDF guard
03:39 PM GMT
Maersk suspends Red Sea shipments after Houthi attacks
Shipping giant Maersk has suspended all freight shipments in the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
“Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice,” the company said in a statement.
It will instead send its vessels all the way around Africa.
Approximately 40 per cent of global shipping goes through the Red Sea.
03:27 PM GMT
IDF commandos fight at Sinwar's house
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commandos have fought at the ruins of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s home.
The IDF said its Commando Brigade’s Maglan unit were operating at one of Mr Sinwar’s homes in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
“In one of the battles, the troops operated above the ruins of one of his houses where he had lived in recent years, which was attacked from the air at the beginning of the war,” it said.
03:15 PM GMT
French hostage found dead in Gaza
A French hostage kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 has been found dead by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza.
Elya Toledano, 28, was abducted from the Supernova music festival near Re’im where he was partying with his friend Mia Shem, 21, who has since been released.
Catherine Colonna, France’s foreign minister, said she was “deeply saddened” by the news.
The dual French-Israeli citizen is the sixth hostage found dead by the IDF in Gaza and his body has since been brought back to Israel.
Israel estimates that 134 hostages remain in captivity.
03:07 PM GMT
Jerusalem air raid sirens blare after rockets fire
Air raid sirens are blaring in Jerusalem for the first time since mid-October.
Long-range rockets have been fired on the city from Gaza.
02:57 PM GMT
Israel to open second aid crossing, Netanyahu confirms
Israel will allow aid to cross its border into Gaza for the first time, Benjamin Netanyahu has announced.
Aid has until now only been allowed to enter the strip via the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border but will now cross directly from Israel via Kerem Shalom.
Backlogs have built up at the crossing and an average of 100 aid deliveries have crossed per day. 500 trucks were crossing into Gaza every day before the war.
“We welcome this significant step,” said Jake Sullivan, the American national security adviser.
IDF soldiers will inspect every truck before it enters Gaza.
02:20 PM GMT
Israel 'set to open second aid crossing'
Israel will open a second aid crossing into Gaza on Friday, Haaretz has reported.
The Israeli newspaper said concerns about delays at the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border prompted a proposal to open Israel’s Kerem Shalom checkpoint which the cabinet is “expected to approve”.
Trucks will reportedly be brought from Egypt to the crossing, where they will be searched before being allowed to cross into Gaza.
02:04 PM GMT
US must stop Israel's West Bank 'aggression', Abbas tells Sullivan
The United States must stop Israeli “aggression” in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has told Jake Sullivan.
The official WAFA news agency said Mr Abbas told the national security adviser that the US must “intervene to force Israel to stop its aggression against our people in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem”.
01:46 PM GMT
Gantz: If world doesn't remove Hezbollah threat, Israel will
Israeli minister Benny Gantz has demanded the world remove the threat of Hezbollah from Israel’s northern border.
“If the world does not remove Hezbollah from the border, Israel will,” he said.
“We are ready for political discourse but also ready for military action here in the north.”
Mr Gantz said he had discussed the threat posed by Hezbollah with Britain, France, Germany and the United States last week.
01:11 PM GMT
Gaza humanitarian crisis worsening every day, says Unicef
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening every day, Unicef spokesperson James Elder has said.
“The sewage system has broken down and at the same time children are down to less than a litre of clean safe water,” he told Sky News.
“Disease is rushing through with water, diarrhoea is off the charts, and they can’t go to hospitals because they are treating children with mortar [injuries] and amputations, and so they know that is not a place [to go to].”
He added: “Only a ceasefire enables us to get that aid at the scale we need to.”
12:42 PM GMT
Freed hostage visits destroyed home in Kibbutz Be'eri
A freed hostage who was abducted at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 has returned to her destroyed home.
Noga Weiss, 18, lit candles with her sister Meital in the ruins of their house.
Their mother Shiri, 53, was also abducted on October 7 but has since been freed.
Their father Ilan remains missing.
12:21 PM GMT
Pictured: Search and rescue in Gaza
11:41 AM GMT
Britain and EU urge Israel to curtail settler violence
Britain, the European Union, Canada and Australia have issued a joint statement urging Israel to curtail violence by settlers in the occupied West Bank.
“This rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians is unacceptable,” the countries said in a joint statement published by the British government on Friday.
“Proactive steps must now be taken to ensure the effective and immediate protection of Palestinian communities.”
It added that since the start of October, 343 violent attacks by Israeli settlers have killed eight, injured 83 and forced 1,026 out of their homes.
11:07 AM GMT
Hezbollah threat must be neutralised, says US
The threat posed by Hezbollah to Israel must be neutralised, Jake Sullivan has said.
The US national security adviser said citizens evacuated from near the Lebanon border “have to be able to return to their homes”.
“And that means dealing with the threat that comes from the other side of the border,” he said, adding that it “can be dealt with through diplomacy and does not require the launching of a new war”.
10:29 AM GMT
Houthi rebels strike ship in Red Sea
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have struck a cargo ship in the Red Sea.
The Liberia-flagged Al-Jasrah, a 370-metre (1,200-foot) container ship built in 2016, is said to have been set alight in the attack.
A spokesman for Hapag-Lloyd, its owner, said there were no casualties and the ship is continuing to its destination in Singapore.
Some 40 per cent of international trade passes by Yemen via the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait.
Houthi rebels have tried to hijack and capture several ships since the war in Gaza began.
09:48 AM GMT
Sullivan: IDF will target Hamas leadership in new phase
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is set to transition to a new phase in the war in which it will focus on killing Hamas’s leadership, Jake Sullivan has said.
“The conditions and the timing for that was obviously a subject of conversation that I had with prime minister Netanyahu,” the US national security adviser said.
The apparent shift in tactics appears to be in response to growing global discomfort with the heavy civilian casualties being caused by IDF operations in Gaza.
09:27 AM GMT
Israel cannot govern Gaza after the war, says Sullivan
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said Israel cannot govern Gaza after the war.
“Ultimately, the control of Gaza, the administration of Gaza, the security of Gaza, has to transition to the Palestinians,” he said.
He added that Israel has not drafted any serious long-term plans to occupy the strip.
09:08 AM GMT
IDF destroys Hamas battalion HQ in northern Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) found and destroyed the headquarters of the Hamas battalion in Shejaiya, northern Gaza.
Spokesperson Avichay Adraae said soldiers had uncovered a tunnel opening and killed a member of Hamas.
He added that in other raids the IDF found motorcycles which were used in the October 7 attacks.
08:51 AM GMT
Ben Gvir condemns suspension of IDF soldiers for mosque prayer
Hard-Right Israeli security minister Itamar Ben Gvir has condemned the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for suspending soldiers who broadcast a Jewish prayer and Hanukkah songs over a mosque loudspeaker.
The men’s actions at the mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin were deemed by the army to be “serious and completely contrary to IDF values”.
Mr Ben Gvir said defence minister Yoav Gallant had forced the IDF “to a shameful decision to depose heroic fighters who risked their lives for us in the operation in Jenin”.
“is a shameful decision, which hurts the morale of our fighters,” he said.
08:33 AM GMT
Pictured: Terror suspects taken for questioning
08:25 AM GMT
Hostage families confront UN chief
Families of the hostages taken by Hamas on October have confronted United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres.
Ye’ela David, whose brother Eviatar remains in captivity, reprimanded him for not visiting Israel since October 7 and for saying the attacks “did not happen in a vacuum”, the Channel 12 television channel reported.
“If you want peace that’s fine, but you can’t say something that justifies the massacre,” he said.
“Look me in the eyes. You need to come to the kibbutzim and the location of the [Supernova] party, to visit Israel and see what our loved ones went through. That’s what a real leader does.”
Mr Guterres is said to have told the families he expressed “full solidarity” for Hamas’s “terrible crime”.
08:14 AM GMT
Two Israeli hostage soldiers found dead
Israel has found the bodies of two soldiers abducted on October 7.
Corporal Nick Beizer and Sergeant Ron Sherman, both 19, were abducted from their base by Hamas.
The date and cause of their deaths have not been disclosed.
08:09 AM GMT
Watch: Gaza civilians search for bodies in rubble
08:04 AM GMT
Sinwar’s days numbered, says US
Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s “days are numbered”, a US official has said.
“He has American blood on his hands,” the official said in anonymous remarks reported by AFP.
“It doesn’t matter how long, justice will be served.”
06:15 AM GMT
Strikes hit central and southern Gaza
The Hamas-run health ministry says dozens of people were killed or injured in Israeli strikes on Khan Yuni in southern Gaza overnight.
Witnesses also reported that several people had been killed in air strikes on Nuseirat in central Gaza.
Late Thursday in the southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, crowds of Palestinians used flashlights to search under the rubble of buildings for survivors following an Israeli strike.
“This is a residential neighbourhood, women and children live here, as you can see. This residential neighbourhood has been reduced to rubble,” said Abu Omar, who is living in Rafah.
“Three missiles on a residential neighbourhood that has nothing to do with any militant activities.”
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops were engaged in fighting with militants in two districts of Gaza City late Thursday.
“There will be more tough battles in the days to come,” he said.
06:06 AM GMT
Hostage found dead in Gaza
The Israeli military says it has recovered the body of 28-year-old Elya Toledano, one of the hostages taken by Hamas during the terror group’s massacre of festival-goers in southern Israel on Oct.7.
His cause of death was not made public.
It is believed 134 hostages remain in Gaza. It is not known how many of them are still alive.
05:59 AM GMT
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