Diplomats pushing for days-long ceasefire in Gaza to release hostages – sourcesOfficials and diplomats are negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, the Guardian understands.
The discussions include the possibility of a one- to three-day ceasefire, although nothing has been agreed, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have said.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly said there will be no ceasefire in Gaza until hostages – of which there are believed to be more than 240 – are released. Hamas says hostages will not be released until a ceasefire is agreed.
Netanyahu said on Wednesday night: “I want to put to the side all sorts of idle rumours that we are hearing from all sorts of directions, and repeat one clear thing: there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages.”
Qatar has been mediating between Israel and Hamas.
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Summary of the day so farIt’s 5.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a look at latest developments:
Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in return for the release of some of the hostages held in the territory, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Officials and diplomats are still negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, although no agreement has been reached.
French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting an international humanitarian conference on Gaza today in Paris. Macron said: “we must work towards a ceasefire”.
At the same conference, UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said the world body must not help push Palestinians out of their homes, after Israel called for civilians to evacuate northern Gaza.
Belgium’s deputy prime minister has called for sanctions against Israel and to investigate the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps in Gaza. The Belgium government is a coalition and has not imposed sanctions.
The World Health Organization has warned about the rapid spread of infectious diseases. WHO said that more than 33,551 cases of diarrhoea had been reported since mid-October, the bulk of which were among children under five. The pre-war recent average in that age group is 2,000 in Gaza.
Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians and wounded 13 others during a raid on Jenin city and refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Late on Wednesday, Syrian media reported strikes in southern Syria, which it said were carried out by Israel.
The health ministry in the Gaza Strip has said the number of people killed in Gaza by Israeli military actions since the start of the war on 7 October has risen to 10,569. It says 4,324 of these were children, and that a further 26,457 Palestinians have been injured.
Netanyahu rejected deal for ceasefire in return for some hostages, say sourcesBenjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in return for the release of some of the hostages held in the territory, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The sources said the Israeli prime minister rejected the deal outright in early negotiations after militants from Hamas staged an unprecedented incursion into Israeli territory on 7 October, killing an estimated 1,400 people.
Negotiations have continued after the launch of the Israeli ground offensive on 27 October, but the same sources said Netanyahu had continued to take a tough line on subsequent proposals involving ceasefires of different durations in exchange for a varying number of hostages.
Others indicated that negotiations which took place prior to the ground invasion involved a far larger number of hostages, with Hamas proposing the release of dozens of foreign nationals captive in Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister’s office was asked to comment on the hostage negotiations but had not given a response by Thursday evening.
An estimated 240 people were taken hostage after fighters from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other groups based in Gaza, as well as civilians, crossed the reinforced border fence separating the territory from Israeli towns and kibbutzim.
A Palestinian nurse, working at Nasser hospital, mourns after he receives on duty his brother has killed aftermath of Israeli attacks in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu/Getty ImagesAn unidentified drone has hit a building in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, the military has said.
Israel usually announces if attacks come from Gaza, suggesting the drone may have come from elsewhere.
The Israeli military said earlier this month it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea as reinforcements, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and vowed to carry out more.
The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said calls for a ceasefire in Gaza are understandable. The UK has backed Israel’s war and not called for a ceasefire itself despite intense international pressure.
“Well, what we have said, is that calling for a ceasefire is understandable,” Cleverly said during a visit to Riyadh, where he met Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
“But what we also recognise is that Israel is taking action to secure its own stability and its own security. Of course, we want to see this terrible situation resolved as quickly as possible,” he added. “The immediate challenge is the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza.”
At least 10,812 Palestinians, including 4,412 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza has said in its latest update.
The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, will visit the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a Middle East trip starting on Friday, her ministry has said.
Reuters is reporting that a trilateral meeting was held in Qatar on Thursday between CIA and Mossad chiefs and the Qatari prime minister to discuss the parameters of a deal for hostage releases and a pause in the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Citing a source said to be briefed on the meeting, Reuters said the talks also included a discussion over allowing humanitarian imports of fuel into Gaza.
Nato allies support humanitarian pauses in the war to allow aid to reach Gaza, the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said.
International law must be respected and civilians be protected in the conflict, he told reporters in Berlin as he addressed the media before a meeting with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, Reuters reported.
“The war in Gaza must not turn into a major regional conflict. Iran and Hezbollah must stay out of this fight,” Stoltenberg added.
Tom Phillips
The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, has called for “the immediate and unconditional” release of the estimated 240 hostages taken by Hamas, which include 21 Argentine citizens – the youngest of whom is reportedly just nine months old.
In a full-page advertisement published in many of Israel’s major newspapers on Thursday, Fernández wrote: “Argentina demands the immediate and unconditional release of the people who were abducted by the group Hamas, and in particular our fellow citizens.”
The Argentinian baby is reportedly the youngest of all the hostages taken by Hamas when the militant group launched its attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October.
Fernández said he was working with other countries in the region to secure the freedom of the hostages and “to bring an end to the terrible consequences the conflict is having on Palestinian and Israel women, children and civilians”.
As well as the kidnapped Argentinians, at least nine Argentine citizens were reportedly killed during the Hamas assault. Citizens of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay were also killed. Argentina is home to Latin America’s largest Jewish community with about 180,000 Jews.
Fernández’s advert – which appeared in newspapers including Haaretz, Israel Hayom and the Jerusalem Post – will reportedly be published in other countries, including the US, on Friday.
The defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said Israel is in a “prolonged war”.
“We need to resolve things quickly, even if not perfectly,” Gallant said during a meeting with directors general of government ministries and local officials, according to the Times of Israel news outlet.
He said the military’s plan was to stop Hamas rocket fire so that Israeli public life near Gaza could continue.
“We are in a prolonged war, and the issue of the [Israeli] civilian economy is a main factor in the management of the war,” he was quoted as saying.
Speaking at the aid conference in Paris, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has criticised Israel’s war on Gaza.
Here is the tweet, quoting Philippe Lazzarini:
LIVE | @UNLazzarini: Thousands of children killed cannot be collateral damage.
Pushing a million people from their homes and concentrating them in areas without adequate infrastructure is forced displacement.
Severely limiting food, water and medicine is collective punishment. pic.twitter.com/e5rJUhXsH3
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 9, 2023 Two former international prosecutors have called on the international criminal court to issue arrest warrants for political and military leaders of Israel and Hamas.
Carla Del Ponte served as chief prosecutor of the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Graham Blewitt was deputy prosecutor of the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
They write in Politico:
Thousands of lives have already been lost, and many more have been destroyed. Respect for international law is in short supply, with attacks on civilians, hostage taking, and the indiscriminate bombing of urban areas. Such acts can constitute international crimes.
We have prosecuted such war crimes before, as well as crimes against humanity and genocide. It is never an easy task, but it is a vital one.
Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians and wounded 13 others during a raid on Jenin city and refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry has said.
Israel’s military said it was conducting raids in Jenin, but gave no further details.
Here are more photos from today:
Palestinian children look out from a window with a grill at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/ReutersSmoke and flames rise during Israeli strikes, in Gaza City. Photograph: ReutersIsraeli army handout image shows ground operation in location given as Gaza. Photograph: Israel Defense Forces/Reuters