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Israel-Hamas war live: Rafah border crossing reopens for limited evacuation; Israel to pause fighting daily in Gaza, says White House [1]
['Léonie Chao-Fong', 'Oliver Holmes', 'Helen Sullivan']
Date: 2023-11-09
From 36m ago 12.43 EST Rafah border crossing reopens for limited evacuation The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has opened today to allow the evacuation of injured Palestinians requiring hospital treatment and foreign passport holders after being suspended for a day. Several dozen foreign passport holders and dependents, along with 12 medical evacuees, were able to cross the border on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing Egyptian security and medical sources. The limited evacuations through the crossing resumed after it was closed on Wednesday due to what the US state department referred to as unspecified “security circumstance”. On 1 November, the Rafah crossing opened for an estimated 7,000 foreign passport holders, dual nationals and their dependents, as well as a limited number of people needing urgent medical treatment, according to Reuters. People cross into Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Rafah is also the entry point for humanitarian aid going into Gaza. On Wednesday, 106 trucks carrying food, medicines and water crossed into Gaza, bringing a total of 756 aid trucks that have entered since 21 October, according to UN figures. That is compared to an average of 500 trucks a day that crossed into Gaza before the conflict began.
Updated at 12.50 EST
36m ago 12.43 EST Rafah border crossing reopens for limited evacuation The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has opened today to allow the evacuation of injured Palestinians requiring hospital treatment and foreign passport holders after being suspended for a day. Several dozen foreign passport holders and dependents, along with 12 medical evacuees, were able to cross the border on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing Egyptian security and medical sources. The limited evacuations through the crossing resumed after it was closed on Wednesday due to what the US state department referred to as unspecified “security circumstance”. On 1 November, the Rafah crossing opened for an estimated 7,000 foreign passport holders, dual nationals and their dependents, as well as a limited number of people needing urgent medical treatment, according to Reuters. People cross into Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Rafah is also the entry point for humanitarian aid going into Gaza. On Wednesday, 106 trucks carrying food, medicines and water crossed into Gaza, bringing a total of 756 aid trucks that have entered since 21 October, according to UN figures. That is compared to an average of 500 trucks a day that crossed into Gaza before the conflict began.
Updated at 12.50 EST
54m ago 12.25 EST Sammy Gecsoyler Students at 15 UK universities, including Oxford and the London School of Economics (LSE), staged a coordinated walkout on Thursday calling for a ceasefire and to protest the “increased securitisation and monitoring of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students”. The action was organised by a collective of 30 Palestine societies from universities across the UK. They released a joint statement, which claims: “The hostile environment that is being encouraged by university administrators has effectively banned Palestinians from their right to publicly grieve the catastrophe befalling their people in Gaza.” They added that: Palestinians are being forced to hide their identities on campuses, with administrators banning their national flag and blocking events to even grieve their dead. In supposed bastions of free speech and intellectual exchange, Palestinians and pro-Palestinian voices are experiencing chilling restrictions on speech. Students walked out of their classes, seminars and lectures, calling on their institutions to demand an immediate ceasefire. At LSE, more than 100 students staged a walk out to join the action. Another 13 universities are set to stage walkouts on Friday. The London School of Economics (LSE) university students joined other academic institutions in a nationwide "Walk Out" earlier today to denounce their institution's involvement in Israel's occupation of Palestine. pic.twitter.com/0ERHPCk5o4 — MintPress News (@MintPressNews) November 9, 2023
Updated at 12.27 EST
1h ago 12.12 EST Italy is sending a hospital ship to the Middle East to help treat Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Italian defence ministry. The navy ship Vulcano, carrying 30 medical staff and equipped with operating rooms, is heading initially to Cyprus, AFP reported. The ship is expected to arrive “in a couple of days, weather permitting”, the news agency reported, citing an Italian defence ministry spokesperson, who did not confirm how close the ship would get to Gaza. Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, told reporters that the ship would “be outside Gaza waters as quickly as possible, ready to admit and take care of injured civilians”. On Wednesday, Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said the hospital ship was leaving from the western Italian port of Civitavecchia with 170 staff, including 30 people trained for medical emergencies. Italy was also working to send a field hospital to Gaza, he added.
Updated at 12.16 EST
2h ago 11.46 EST The White House’s announcement that Israel will begin implementing four-hour pauses in fighting each day in the northern Gaza Strip offers “precious little” to the people in Gaza who have been “displaced, injured and traumatised” by a month of relentless bombardment, an international charity has said. In a statement, Riham Jafari, the advocacy and communication coordinator for ActionAid Palestine, said: What use is a four-hour pause each day to hand communities bread in the morning before they are bombed in the afternoon? What use is a brief cessation in hostilities when hospital wards lie in ruins and when roads used to deliver medical supplies and food are destroyed? ActionAid has called for a permanent ceasefire to help those whose lives are “hanging on by a thread”. The statement continued: While a humanitarian pause might offer a brief respite for a few days, it is nowhere near enough time to repair the damage to Gazan communities and their homes and lives.
Updated at 11.50 EST
2h ago 11.40 EST Palestinian Islamic Jihad says it is prepared to release two Israeli hostages The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, has said it is prepared to release two hostages held in Gaza if conditions on the ground permit. A spokesperson for the al-Quds Brigades said it was ready to release two Israeli hostages – a woman and a boy – for humanitarian and medical reasons. He said the initiative would take place once measures were met.
Updated at 11.50 EST
2h ago 11.32 EST 15 Palestinians killed during Israeli raid in West Bank, says Palestinian health ministry The Palestinian health ministry has updated the death toll after raids by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. It says 15 Palestinians were killed and at least 20 others were injured after a raid by Israeli forces on Jenin city and refugee camp and in other Palestinian towns. The Israeli military said it was conducting counter-terrorism raids in Jenin and gave no further details. At least 178 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since 7 October, according to Palestinian health ministry figures.
Updated at 11.35 EST
2h ago 11.23 EST Joe Biden says Netanyahu 'taking a little longer than I hoped' when asked about Israel's response to US requests Joe Biden has told reporters he has asked Israel for a three-day pause in Gaza, and a pause much longer than that to get hostages being held by Hamas out, Reuters reported. The US president was asked by a reporter if he was “frustrated” with Benjamin Netanyahu. Here’s how he responded: Reporter: “Mr. President, are you frustrated with Prime Minister Netanyahu that he has not listened more to some of the things you have asked him to do?”
President Biden: “It’s taking a little longer than I hoped.” pic.twitter.com/alFSJqLXA3 — The Recount (@therecount) November 9, 2023
Updated at 12.53 EST
2h ago 11.07 EST White House says daily pauses are 'significant first steps'; US 'does not stand for' ceasefire Here’s more on the White House’s announcement that Israel will begin four-hour pauses in fighting in northern Gaza. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the pauses will begin today to allow people to flee hostilities and for deliveries of humanitarian aid, Reuters reported. The pauses resulted from discussions between US and Israel officials in recent days, including between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, he said. He said: We’ve been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pause, and that this process is starting today. We understand that Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza with an announcement to come three hours in advance. He described the news as “significant first steps” and that the US would “want to see them continued for as long as they are needed”. Kirby went on to say that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants is not in order because it would help Hamas and “legitimise what they did on 7 October and we simply are not going to stand for that at this time.”
2h ago 10.59 EST Israel has not received a substantial offer from Hamas on a deal to free the hostages being held in Gaza, its president, Isaac Herzog, has said, rejecting reports of an impending deal. In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Herzog said there was no deal on the table to secure the freedom of the hostages taken on 7 October. He said: There is no real proposal that is viable from Hamas’ side on this issue. Whilst there are many, many people who are third parties who are sending optimistic messages to the news reels, I’m saying outright: according to my knowledge, up to now, there is no real substantial information that is showing any real offer of any process on the table. His comments came amid reports that Israel is considering a proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar for a humanitarian pause in exchange for the release of hostages. A source told AFP on Wednesday that Qatar is mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the potential release of 10-15 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a humanitarian pause in fighting. A separate source said talks are under way for the release of a dozen hostages, including six Americans, in return for a three-day ceasefire. Herzog, in the NBC interview, said Israel had “thousands” of officials working on the hostage issue and that it was “working both on the military fronts and on all other fronts to bring them back home.” In an @NBCNews exclusive, Israel President Isaac Herzog sits down with @rafsanchez and opens up about negotiations to free hostages held by Hamas. pic.twitter.com/KRQAEaR0hL — TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 9, 2023
Updated at 11.10 EST
3h ago 10.39 EST Israel to begin daily four-hour pauses in fighting in northern Gaza – White House Israel will begin implementing four-hour pauses in fighting each day in the northern Gaza Strip, the White House has said. White House national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said an announcement would be made three hours beforehand. He added: We’ve been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pause and that this process is starting today.
Updated at 10.51 EST
3h ago 10.31 EST Leyland Cecco The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, says a spike in hate crimes “is not who we are” as Jewish and Muslim communities both face a rise in violence and threats. “Molotov cocktails thrown at synagogues, horrific threats of violence, targeting Jewish businesses, targeting Jewish daycares with hate,” Trudeau said on Wednesday. This needs to stop. This is something that is not acceptable in Canada, period. He also lamented the “unacceptable” rise of Islamophobia including “against Palestinians, against anyone waving a Palestinian flag”. The Israel-Hamas war has sharply divided Canada, with a growing number of residents calling for a ceasefire in the conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives. Earlier this week, the remains of two molotov cocktails were found outside a synagogue and Jewish community centre. Montreal police said they had seen a rise in antisemitic hate crimes, as well as crimes against Muslims in the city. In Toronto, which has the largest Jewish population and Muslim populations in Canada, the city’s police chief warned of a “very significant rise” in hate crimes. For most of October, reports were more than double compared with the same period last year. In the British Columbia city of Surrey, a man threw eggs at a rabbi’s house and drew a swastika on the building. In Ottawa, faeces were smeared on the doors of a mosque. “Canadians are scared in our own streets right now. We need to make sure that Canadians are doing what we do best, which is listening to our neighbours, understanding and acknowledging our neighbors’ pain, even though it may be diametrically opposed in its cause, to the same pain that we are feeling,” said Trudeau. Forget about leading on the world stage – here at home, we need to model how we get through this. That’s the responsibility of every single Canadian, to see how we are recognising each other’s pain and fear and move forward.
Updated at 10.36 EST
3h ago 10.25 EST Summary of the day so far It’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.
3h ago 10.22 EST Netanyahu rejected deal for ceasefire in return for some hostages, say sources 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. 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.
3h ago 10.14 EST 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 Images
3h ago 09.49 EST An 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.
Updated at 10.04 EST
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[1] Url:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/nov/09/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-who-disease-gaza-us-strikes-iran-site-syria?page=with:block-654cf33e8f08098a870705a6#block-654cf33e8f08098a870705a6
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