Israel-Hamas war live: 260 bodies recovered from music festival, says Israeli rescue service | Israel

AFP reports:

Numerous members of the UN Security Council denounced Hamas on Sunday over its massive assault on Israel but the United States regretted the lack of unanimity.

At an emergency session, the United States and Israel urged strong condemnation of the Palestinian Islamists, who rule the blockaded Gaza Strip and launched a surprise assault on Saturday in fighting that has claimed more than 1,000 lives.

“There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all,” senior US diplomat Robert Wood told reporters after the closed-door session.

“You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” said Wood, in a clear allusion to Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since its invasion of Ukraine.

Diplomats said the Security Council did not consider any joint statement, let alone a binding resolution, with members led by Russia hoping for a broader focus than condemning Hamas.

“My message was to stop the fighting immediately and to go to a ceasefire and to meaningful negotiations, which was told for decades” by the Security Council, said Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations.

“This is partly the result of unresolved issues,” he said.

China, generally Russia’s ally at the Security Council, said it would support a joint statement.

“It’s abnormal that the Security Council doesn’t say anything,” Ambassador Zhang Jun said, who earlier promised Chinese support for a condemnation of “all attacks against civilians.”

Entering the session, Israel’s ambassador, Gilad Erdan, showed graphic pictures of Israeli civilians being taken captive by Hamas.

“These are war crimes – blatant, documented war crimes,” Erdan said.

“This unimaginable – unimaginable – atrocity must be condemned,” he said of the Security Council.

“Israel must be given steadfast support to defend ourselves – to defend the free world.”

The Palestinian ambassador – who represents the West Bank-centered Palestinian Authority and not rival Hamas – called on the Security Council to focus on ending Israeli occupation.

“Regrettably, history for some media and politicians starts when Israelis are killed,” said the envoy, Riyad Mansour.

“This is not a time to let Israel double-down on its terrible choices. This is a time to tell Israel it needs to change course, that there is a path to peace where neither Palestinians nor Israelis are killed.”

It is slightly past 1am in Gaza. Here is where the day stands:

• More airlines have suspended flights into Tel Aviv following Hamas’s attacks on Israel over the weekend. Those airlines include Delta, American Airlines, United and Air France.

• Iran helped Hamas plan its surprise attacks against Israel over the weekend, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas,which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, they said.

• Israeli rescue service Zaka said that its parademics have removed approximately 260 bodies from a music festival that was attacked by Hamas. Videos posted online showed festival goers running frantically and getting into cars following the attacks.

• The permanent observer mission of the state of Palestine to the UN has issued a response on Sunday to the Israel-Hamas war, saying that “these developments did not occur in a vacuum”. “They are preceded by the killing this year of hundreds of Palestinians … and preceded by decades of Israel’s unrelenting military raids on Palestinian villages, towns, cities and refugee camps,” it said.

• At least three American citizens have been killed in the violence following Hamas’s attacks on Israel on Saturday, Reuters reports CNN saying on Sunday, citing a US memo. In an earlier interview on CBS today, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said that the US “got reports that several Americans are among the dead, we’re working very actively to verify those reports”.

• The United States defence secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford to head its “strike group” of forces as it sails to the eastern Mediterranean to be closer to Israel following Hamas’s “heinous” attacks. “In addition, the United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions,” he added.

• Joe Biden has told the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday that “additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces is now on its way to Israel with more to follow over the coming days.” Following the call between the two leaders, the White House released a statement, saying: “The President…pledged his full support for the Government and people of Israel in the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists.”

• The UN’s World Food Programme has called on the establishment of humanitarian corridors to deliver food supplies into Gaza following Israeli air strikes in response to Hamas’s attacks. “As the conflict intensifies, civilians, including vulnerable children and families, face mounting challenges in accessing essential food supplies,” the WFP said.

• The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has told the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday that Britain stands with Israel “unequivocally”. “[Sunak] reaffirmed that the UK will stand with Israel unequivocally against these acts of terror, Sunak’s office said in a statement.

• The UK Foreign Office has issued a travel advisory advising against all but essential travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories. British nationals requiring consular assistance should call the following numbers: +972 (0)3 725 1222 or +972 (2) 5414100, the advisory said.

• The Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, has said Iran supports the Palestinians’ right to self-defence, Agence France-Presse reports.“Iran supports the legitimate defence of the Palestinian nation,” Raisi said on Iranian state television.

• Mexican foreign secretary Alicia Bárcena has announced that two Mexican citizens, a man and a woman, have allegedly been taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza on Saturday. “We are in contact with authorities in Israel and family members to provide follow-up, support and care,” Bárcena said.

• Eight hundred Hamas targets were struck in Gaza with hundreds of Hamas fighters killed, Reuters reports an Israeli military spokesperson saying. Dozens more had been captured, added the spokesperson.

• The UN’s relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said thousands of people were sheltering in its 44 schools around Gaza and food distribution for more than 112,000 families had had to be put on hold.

• The German government said on Sunday it was reviewing its hundreds of millions of euros of aid for Palestinians after the militant group Hamas attacked Israel. Development minister Svenja Schulze said the government had always been careful to check that the money was only used for peaceful ends. “But these attacks on Israel mark a terrible fracture,” she said.

• Up to 100 Israeli hostages, including women and children, may have been taken into Gaza by Hamas, hugely complicating any Israeli military operation to free them. Thewhereabouts and fate of the captives has become one of the most pressing issues for military planners.

An Israeli airstrike has killed 19 members of a Palestinian family in a Gaza refugee camp.

The Associated Press reports:

The evacuation warning came shortly after dark. The Israeli military fired the shot just a short distance from Nasser Abu Quta’s home in the southern Gaza Strip, a precautionary measure meant to allow people to evacuate before airstrikes.

Abu Quta, 57, thought he and his extended family would be safe some hundred meters (yards) away from the house that was alerted to the pending strike. He huddled with his relatives on the ground floor of his four-story building, bracing for an impact in the area.

But the house of Abu Quta’s neighbor was never hit. In an instant, an explosion ripped through his own home, wiping out 19 members of his family, including his wife and cousins, he said. The airstrike also killed five of his neighbors who were standing outside in the jam-packed refugee camp, a jumble of buildings and alleyways.

The airstrike in Rafah, a southern town on the border with Egypt, came as Israeli forces intensified their bombardment of targets in the Gaza Strip following a big, multi-front attack by Hamas militants Saturday that had killed over 700 people in Israel by Sunday night. Hamas also took dozens of Israelis hostage and fired thousands of rockets toward Israeli population centers, although most were intercepted by the country’s Iron Dome defense system.

So far, the waves of airstrikes had killed over 400 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, health officials reported Sunday. There appeared to be several similar deadly airstrikes on crowded residential buildings.

The Israeli military said late Saturday that it had struck various Hamas offices and command centers in multi-story buildings.

But Abu Quta doesn’t understand why Israel struck his house. There were no militants in his building, he insisted, and his family was not warned. They would not have stayed in their house if they were, added his relative, Khalid.

“This is a safe house, with children and women,” Abu Quta, still shell-shocked, said as he recalled the tragedy in fragments of detail.

“Dust overwhelmed the house. There were screams,” he said. “There were no walls. It was all open.”

Israeli rescue service Zaka said that its parademics have removed approximately 260 bodies from a music festival that was attacked by Hamas.

Videos posted online appeared to show festival goers running frantically and getting into cars following the attacks.

“We didn’t even have any place to hide because we were at [an] open space,” festival goer Tal Gibly told CNN.

“Everyone got so panicked and started to take their stuff,” she added.

The permanent observer mission of the state of Palestine to the UN has issued a response on Sunday to the Israel-Hamas war, saying that “these developments did not occur in a vacuum”.

“At the writing of this letter, the death toll in Gaza stands at: 313 Palestinians killed, including at least 20 children, over 2,000 injured and thousands of families displaced, now over 20,000 civilians, in just the past 24 hours …

These developments did not occur in a vacuum. They are preceded by the killing this year of hundreds of Palestinians … and preceded by decades of Israel’s unrelenting military raids on Palestinian villages, towns, cities and refugee camps … arrest, detention, imprisonment and abuse of thousands of Palestinian civilians, including children and women, a suffocating 16-year air, land and sea blockade of more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza …”

Noa Yachot

Israelis have been sharing posts on social media about missing family members and relatives, asking for help identifying the whereabouts of people feared dead or abducted following the Hamas incursion into the south of the country.

The posts describe mothers and their small children loaded by militants into vehicles, elderly grandmothers who were taken to Gaza and young party-goers seized from the desert rave that was infiltrated by militants early Saturday morning. Israeli medical services said about 260 dead bodies were retrieved from the scene of the party.

It is unclear how many Israelis were abducted and taken to Gaza, but the government has said that the number has exceeded 100. Israeli media reports Egypt is involved in early negotiations to broker the release of the elderly and children among them.

It’s around 10pm in Gaza, where explosions have been lighting up the night sky in the last hour. Frantic diplomatic calls are still being made between various world leaders and the situation in southern Israel is very tense.

Here’s where things stand:

• The United States defence secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford to head its “strike group” of forces as it sails to the eastern Mediterranean to be closer to Israel following Hamas’s “heinous” attacks.

• US president Joe Biden told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces is now on its way to Israel with more to follow over the coming days.”

• The United Nations World Food Programme has called on the establishment of humanitarian corridors to deliver food supplies into Gaza following Israeli air strikes in response to Hamas’s attacks.

• British prime minister Rishi Sunak told Netanyahu that Britain stands with Israel “unequivocally against these acts of terror,” adding that “no-one wants to see regional escalation.”

• Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi said Iran supports the Palestinians’ right to self-defence and that “Iran supports the legitimate defence of the Palestinian nation” and added “the Zionist regime and its supporters are responsible for endangering the security of nations in the region.”

• Israel said 800 Hamas targets have been struck in Gaza since the Palestinian militant attacks erupted and hundreds of Hamas fighters have been killed, with dozens more captured.

• The UN’s relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said thousands of people were sheltering in its 44 schools around Gaza and food distribution for more than 112,000 families had had to be put on hold.

• Up to 100 Israeli hostages, including women and children, may have been taken into Gaza by Hamas, hugely complicating any Israeli military operation to free them. The US government is investigating reports of American hostages also being taken, as well as some other nationalities.

• More than 1,000 dead. At this hour, the Israeli death toll after the surprise attack by the militant group Hamas on communities in the country’s south has risen to at least 600, including 44 soldiers. In Gaza, which was pummelled by Israeli airstrikes, officials reported at least 413 deaths.

• The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the country was at war and would exact a heavy price from its enemies. Hamas leaders said they were prepared for further escalation.

• Israel military officials said “hundreds of terrorists” had been killed and dozens captured as the fighting broke out in the streets and continued on Sunday.

• In northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.

• In neighbouring Egypt, a police officer shot dead two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian at a tourist site in Alexandria.

• The UN security council is expecting to meet at some point after the secretary general, António Guterres, urged “all diplomatic efforts to avoid a wider conflagration”.

Joanna Walters

US secretary of defense Lloyd Austin has issued a short statement about decisions by the Pentagon that amount to “several steps to strengthen Department of Defense posture in the region”. He called the Hamas attacks on Israel “heinous”.

Austin’s statement said:

My thoughts continue to be with the people of Israel and the many families who have lost loved ones as a result of the abhorrent terrorist attack by Hamas. Today, in response to this Hamas attack on Israel, and following detailed discussions with President Biden, I have directed several steps to strengthen Department of Defense posture in the region to bolster regional deterrence efforts.

I have directed the movement of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean. This includes the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), as well as the Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS Carney (DDG 64), and USS Roosevelt (DDG 80). We have also taken steps to augment U.S. Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons in the region. The U.S. maintains ready forces globally to further reinforce this deterrence posture if required.

In addition, the United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions. The first security assistance will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days.

Strengthening our joint force posture, in addition to the materiel support that we will rapidly provide to Israel, underscores the United States’ ironclad support for the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people. My team and I will continue to be in close contact with our Israeli counterparts to ensure they have what they need to protect their citizens and defend themselves against these heinous terrorist attacks.”

The Associated Press adds that the Ford carrier strike group has been ordered to sail to the eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel after the attack by Hamas that has left more than 1,000 dead on both sides. Americans were reported to be among those killed and missing.

A US official says preliminary reports indicate that at least four American citizens were killed in the attacks and an additional seven were missing and unaccounted for.

The USS Gerald R Ford and its approximately 5,000 sailors and deck of warplanes will be accompanied by cruisers and destroyers in a show of force that is meant to be ready to respond to anything, from possibly interdicting additional weapons from reaching Hamas to conducting surveillance.