Closing summary
The United Nations voiced grave concerns on Wednesday about food and other supplies running out in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people were already experiencing famine, after Israel closed the only crossing there last week. Israel began its long-expected ground assault on Gaza City in the north on Tuesday and is stepping up efforts to empty the city of civilians by opening an additional route southwards.
At least 50 people were killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including 39 in Gaza City, local health authorities said. They said the latest fatalities took the Palestinian death toll from the two-year war between Israel and Hamas past 65,000.
The Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has described the Gaza Strip as a “real estate bonanza” and said he is in talks with the US about dividing it up after the war, The Times of Israel reports. Speaking at a real estate conference in Tel Aviv, Smotrich said the destruction in Gaza is “the first stage in the city’s renewal”.
The Gaza health ministry said an Israeli drone had dropped grenades on one floor of the Rantissi children’s hospital on Wednesday. No casualties were reported but the ministry said 40 families took their children away, reports Reuters.
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday condemned “in the strongest terms” the Israeli ground operation in Gaza City, a day after Israel unleashed a long-threatened ground assault on the territory. The kingdom also urged members of the UN security council to act to halt what it described as Israel’s killing, starvation and forced displacement of Palestinians, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been in touch to share an update on the situation from Gaza via a Palestinian staff member in the territory. Writing on Wednesday, Ahmed Al Waheidi said those fleeing the north for the south face “congested, damaged and dangerous” roads, with journeys taking “hours”.
A Catholic priest in Gaza city has vowed to stay in his church compound to help look after 450 people who have taken refugee there in the face of the ground assault launched by Israel. Carlos Ferrero told RTÉ they were “scared” and many of them felt that even if they did follow Israeli instructions and evacuate to the south of the City they were in peril.
The European Commission has proposed suspending some of the trade parts of the EU-Israel association agreement, 18 months after Ireland and Spain asked the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to review the agreement in light of the war in Gaza. Following her state of the union speech last week indicating a shift at the top of the EU, the commission’s presented a proposal today.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it had supported the medical evacuations of 10 “critical” children from Gaza to the UK. These children were evacuated with 50 companions, the WHO said. The PA news agency reports that the UK government said that it is working to make sure families receive “appropriate support” during their stay. More children are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
The Israeli army said it has struck more than 150 targets in Gaza City since launching a major ground offensive on the Gaza Strip’s main urban hub early on Tuesday. “Over the past two days, the [Israeli air force] and artillery corps troops struck over 150 terror targets throughout Gaza City in support of the manoeuvring troops in the area,” the military said in a statement issued on Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
China said on Wednesday it “firmly opposes” the escalation of military operations in Gaza after Israel launched a major ground assault on Gaza City. “China firmly opposes Israel’s escalation of military operations in Gaza and condemns all acts that harm civilians and violate international law,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said of the massive bombardment of Gaza City, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Pope Leo XVI expressed solidarity with the population of Gaza on Wednesday, saying that civilians had been “once again” forced from their land and were living in “unacceptable conditions”, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). “I express my deep solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza who continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, being forcibly displaced once again from their lands,” said the 70-year-old pope after his general audience.
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, southern Israel, earlier today.
The Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has described the Gaza Strip as a “real estate bonanza” and said he is in talks with the US about dividing it up after the war, The Times of Israel reports.
Speaking at a real estate conference in Tel Aviv, Smotrich said the destruction in Gaza is “the first stage in the city’s renewal,” adding:
We’ve already started negotiations with the Americans.
The comments echo past suggestions by US president Donald Trump to redevelop Gaza as a luxury coastal area.
At least 50 people were killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including 39 in Gaza City, local health authorities said.
They said the latest fatalities took the Palestinian death toll from the two-year war between Israel and Hamas past 65,000.
Palestinian officials and rescue workers say the true figure is likely to be higher as many people’s remains are trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
A Catholic priest in Gaza city has vowed to stay in his church compound to help look after 450 people who have taken refugee there in the face of the ground assault launched by Israel.
Carlos Ferrero told RTÉ they were “scared” and many of them felt that even if they did follow Israeli instructions and evacuate to the south of the City they were in peril.
“Some people, they say, ‘we don’t want to go. where are we going? There’s no safe place anywhere. That’s the truth,” he told RTÉ in an interview with News at One’s Rachel English.
“Sometimes on the road there can be attacks. Sometimes you reach a place you don’t have a tent, you don’t know what to very bad situation, really, for everybody.”
The Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City has been bombed multiple times despite the IDF’s declaration it does not target religious sites.
Among those living in the compound are elderly people with dementia who do not understand what is going on, disabled children and sick people, Ferrero said.
“We are all experiencing some concern and fear. Danger is there and on top of that the current situation, it adds a little more realism to the danger. People are scared. Everybody is scared, we are all scared,” he said.
Children ran to collect evacuation order leaflets dropped by Israel’s military on 17 September, asking people to move towards the south of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said it was opening an additional route for 48 hours that Palestinians could use to leave Gaza City as it stepped up efforts to empty the city of civilians.
UN warns on supplies for famine-stricken north Gaza after Israel shuts crossing
The United Nations voiced grave concerns on Wednesday about food and other supplies running out in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people were already experiencing famine, after Israel closed the only crossing there last week.
Israel began its long-expected ground assault on Gaza City in the north on Tuesday and is stepping up efforts to empty the city of civilians by opening an additional route southwards.
Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in the city and many are reluctant to follow Israel’s orders to move because of the dangers along the way, dire conditions, a lack of food in the southern area, and fear of permanent displacement.
“There are grave concerns over fuel and food stock depletion in a matter of days as there are now no direct aid entry points into northern Gaza and resupply from south to north is increasingly challenging due to mounting road congestion and insecurity,” the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said in a statement.
The Zikim Crossing was shut on 12 September and no aid groups have been able to import supplies since, it said.
Palestinians flee toward southern Gaza along al-Rashid Street, carrying belongings on foot and in vehicles after intensified Israeli attacks and evacuation orders in the northern Gaza Strip.
Gaza health ministry accuse Israel of drone attack on children's hospital, report no casualties
The Gaza health ministry said an Israeli drone had dropped grenades on one floor of the Rantissi children’s hospital on Wednesday. No casualties were reported but the ministry said 40 families took their children away, reports Reuters.
Fikr Shalltoot, Gaza director at the UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said:
This hospital is the only specialist facility for children with cancer, kidney failure, and other life-threatening conditions – but even these gravely ill children are not spared from relentless bombardment.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.
Updated
The UK’s Green party leader Zack Polanski said he would be “standing up to the bully Donald Trump and his poodle, Nigel Farage” before joining protesters in London later on Wednesday. He also accused Trump of seeking to “whitewash his own complicity in the genocide unfolding in Gaza”.
Polanski, who is in the lineup for a rally on Parliament Square organised by the Stop Trump Coalition, said:
Donald Trump comes to Britain seeking credibility and to whitewash his own complicity in the genocide unfolding in Gaza.
While the vast majority unite against Trump and everything he stands for, there will be one man who wants us to welcome him with open arms: Nigel Farage. Farage pretends to be a man of the people, but he’s really just a man of the super rich. Like Trump he seeks power, influence and money over all else.
Our country has a proud tradition of standing up for the underdog. Today, that means standing alongside every child in Gaza; with all those in detention camps on the borders of the United States and with each and every one of those growing up in poverty here in Britain. And standing up to the bully Donald Trump and his poodle, Nigel Farage.
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday condemned “in the strongest terms” the Israeli ground operation in Gaza City, a day after Israel unleashed a long-threatened ground assault on the territory.
The kingdom also urged members of the UN security council to act to halt what it described as Israel’s killing, starvation and forced displacement of Palestinians, the foreign ministry said in a statement,
Israel on Tuesday started a ground offensive to seize control of Gaza’s main urban centre. There has been a wave of criticism from countries around the region including Qatar, which has been hosting and mediating ceasefire talks.
Qatar described the Israeli ground offensive as a continuation of its “war of genocide” against the Palestinians.
After a UN commission of inquiry concluded on Tuesday that Israel had committed
genocide in Gaza, Israel’s ambassador in Geneva, Daniel Meron, called the report “scandalous” and “fake”, saying it had been authored by “Hamas proxies”.
Today’s proposal by the European Commission to suspend trade parts of the EU Israeli association would not mean Israeli goods disappearing from European supermarkets, factories, or hospitals.
If adopted by the member states, who need to agree to it under qualified majority vote system (QMV), it would merely mean goods would no longer be duty free and subject to tariffs that apply to all non-EU countries that do not have a trade agreement with the bloc.
The EU is responsible for 32% of Israel’s total trade in goods with the world, selling some €16bn in 2024.
Israeli exports include everything from jet engines to pharmaceuticals including those from Teva. However, not all goods are exported under tariffs, as they are for example not imposed on pharmaceuticals under a longstanding World Trade Organization agreement.
Under the QMV system two conditions have to be met. 55% of member states need to back to the move. This means 15 out of 27 member states, but the bigger barrier is that the proposal must be supported by member states representing 65% of the total EU population.
Germany represents 18% of the EU population, France 15% and Italy 11%.
Maroš Šefčovič, the trade commissioner, admitted that the impact of the removal of free trade access, would be “modest”, as he told reporters that their suggestions that tariffs would amount to an additional cost of just €227m a year were “correct”.
Whatever its economic consequences, it can be seen as a hugely symbolic move.
“I would say the whole context of the decision was very political. … I think there was strong expectations that European Union have to use the tools at its disposal to address the humanitarian crisis,” he said.
EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, was also asked about whether she was confident about getting the suspension approved by the member states.
She said:
“You know very well, how is the situation the council, although we see that … the public opinion in member states is really shifting because the suffering in Gaza and people really want to see [this stopped].
I think we will have the discussions after these proposals are made, but I think the political lines are very much in the place where they have been so far.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been in touch to share an update on the situation from Gaza via a Palestinian staff member in the territory.
Writing on Wednesday, Ahmed Al Waheidi said those fleeing the north for the south face “congested, damaged and dangerous” roads, with journeys taking “hours”.
In his update, he wrote:
I left my wife and children in the north yesterday and travelled six hours to come and look for somewhere we could stay in Deir al-Balah. I want to call them every five minutes and check that they are OK or not – it is a constant fear knowing the hostilities are so close to them. The other day, a building was damaged within only fifty metres of them. The constant sound of explosions is terrifying for them, and they can feel the blast impacts – shaking walls and shock waves of dust – from hundreds of meters away. This is what it’s like every day for people. Many wake thinking the situation cannot get worse, but it continues to deteriorate.
When I find somewhere, I will go back and get my family, but we don’t know yet how we will move our belongings down here. There are not enough trucks for people to use, and it’s too expensive for many people. Hundreds of families are losing their homes every day, and the vast majority cannot afford the cost of being displaced and moving to the south, so they are sleeping in the streets.
My wife’s nephew was severely injured recently, and we are his last remaining family. I don’t know how we will move him from the north down to here. My mind is overwhelmed with all the decisions we have to make and the lack of choices for any of them.
The roads are congested, damaged, and dangerous, with the few working vehicles in poor condition. Journeys take hours, often on foot, with no clear destination. Elderly or sick family members arrive exhausted in the south, where even here, many are left to sleep along the roads until they can find shelter.
Towards the end of the press conference, Kallas rejected suggestions that the EU has not done enough to put pressure on Israel and insisted the public opinion has shifted on this in recent months, as reflected by the proposed measures.
“The proposals [are] now on the table to put more pressure on Israeli government … now it’s up to the member states to discuss [them] in the council, which is problematic, as we know of the lines.
But what it shows, really, it shows that the public opinion in all the member states has, has really shifted. And when we have the discussions, all the member states or representatives, foreign ministers, agree that the situation is untenable.
So if we all agree on this, then the question is, what do we do about this; what are the tools in our hands?
And that’s why we have proposed, then from our commission, to go with these proposals. If these do not fly, then we can find other things, if we all agree that we need to do additional steps in order to have really change on the ground.”
This concludes the press conference.
Officials from the European Commission say the proposed measure would hit more than a third of Israel’s exports to the EU worth around €6bn, including key agricultural produce such as dates and nuts.
“Today marks a critical turning point in holding Israel accountable,” said Irish foreign minister Simon Harris.
But opposition from key member states, especially Germany and Italy, means it will struggle to get the backing of enough EU countries to go through.
Israel has already urged Brussels against pushing ahead.
“Pressure through sanctions will not work,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote in a letter to Ursula von der Leyen.
Measure from Israel's largest trading partner 'appropriate and proportionate', says Šefčovič
EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is now speaking about the practical consequences of the proposed measures.
“In practice, this means that imports from Israel to the EU will lose the preferential access to the EU market, and that these goods will be charged duties at the level applied to any other third countries with whom the EU has no free trade agreement. We regret having to take this step. However, we believe it is both appropriate and proportionate given the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
Šefčovič said the total trade in goods amounted to €42.6bn in 2024, making the EU Israel’s number one trading partner.
“In light of these figures and the principles at stake, the proposed partial suspension is a carefully considered response to an increasingly urgent situation,” he says.
He says the EU “believes that now is the time that we must work together to end also the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
“This means unrestrained access for humanitarian aid, the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas and an urgent ceasefire to stop the bloodshed.”
He says the member states will decide on this measure by a qualified majority.
Trade curbs not aimed 'to punish Israel', says EU foreign policy chief
The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has spoken more on the proposals by the European Commission to curb trade with Israel.
She said:
I want to be very clear, the aim is not to punish Israel. The aim is to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“The war needs to end. The suffering must stop, and all hostages must be released.”
The European Commission has proposed suspending some of the trade parts of the EU-Israel association agreement, 18 months after Ireland and Spain asked the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to review the agreement in light of the war in Gaza.
Following her state of the union speech last week indicating a shift at the top of the EU, the commission’s presented a proposal today.
In addition it has announced it had put bilateral support for Israel on hold with the exception of contributions to support civil society and the Yad Vashem holocaust museum.
And it has proposed sanctions on Hamas, extremist ministers and violent settlers.
In a statement, the EU said the proposal on the trade agreement follows a review of Article 2 of the deal following “the blockade of humanitarian aid, the intensifying of military operations and the decision of the Israeli authorities to advance the settlement plan in the so-called E1 area of the West Bank”.
The proposed suspension must be ratified by member states who are already blocking a European Commission proposal to suspend Israel from part of the Horizon European science research programme.
Brussels proposes suspension of free trade on Israeli goods
The European Commission has proposed to suspend free-trade arrangements on Israeli goods due to the war in Gaza, Reuters reports.
It comes even though the measure does not currently have sufficient support among the European Union’s member countries to pass.
The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, also proposed a package of sanctions on two Israeli ministers, as well as violent settlers and Hamas members.
We will bring you more details as we have them.
Sally Rooney, Deborah Levy, Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux and Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen are among 20 authors urging French president Emmanuel Macron to resume a “lifeline” programme for evacuating Palestinian writers, scholars and artists from Gaza.
The Pause programme for writers and artists in emergency situations, as well as a student evacuation programme, were abruptly suspended by the French government at the beginning of August over a Palestinian student’s allegedly antisemitic online remarks, a decision that the letter-writing authors said amounted to a “collective punishment”.
“As writers, we urge you to restore this lifeline as soon as possible, and to call on other heads of state to create similar programmes”, says the letter, which was sent to Macron’s office on Friday.
Further signatories include Nobel laureates Abdulrazak Gurnah and JMG Le Clézio along with Anne Enright, Leïla Slimani, Madeleine Thien, Édouard Louis, Isabella Hammad, Didier Eribon, Naomi Klein, Max Porter, Alain Damasio, Mathias Énard, Kapka Kassabova, Karim Kattan and Rashid Khalidi.
The Pause programme was set up by the French government and the Collège de France in 2017 to help foreign researchers, scientists, intellectuals and artists who find themselves in emergency situations. It has since been used to offer French talent visas and give practical support for people from Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries.
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, a total of 31 Palestinian artists, writers and academics and their families have been sheltered in France through Pause and France’s student evacuation programme.
However, on 1 August, foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that “no evacuation of any kind” would continue while authorities were investigating allegedly antisemitic statements shared by a female student who had arrived in France from Gaza in July and was due to start attending classes at Sciences Po Lille University in the autumn.
“This suspension of evacuation programmes on the basis of one case of a racist social media post is a form of collective punishment at a time when all signatories to the Genocide Conventions should be doing their utmost to save Palestinians from annihilation and should refuse to be complicit in crimes against humanity”, the appeal to the president says.
Germany’s government has not yet formed a final view on EU proposals to impose sanctions on Israel over its war on Gaza, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
When asked about the plans at a press conference, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said:
We are aware of the plans for sanctions. The [European] Commission has been discussing them for several days. They will be presented today and the German government has not yet formed a final opinion on them.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it had supported the medical evacuations of 10 “critical” children from Gaza to the UK. These children were evacuated with 50 companions, the WHO said.
The PA news agency reports that the UK government said that it is working to make sure families receive “appropriate support” during their stay. More children are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
On Monday it was reported that two children and their families arrived in Scotland from Gaza for treatment.
A small number of children have already been brought to the UK for specialist medical care via an initiative by Project Pure Hope, and they are being treated privately.
In the UK, a cross-government taskforce has been working over recent weeks to coordinate the evacuation of these children, with officials describing it as a “complex humanitarian operation”.
Officials said that the children and their immediate family members were evacuated from Gaza to Jordan, where they were supported by British embassy staff and “robust” security checks were undertaken prior to their arrival into the UK. It comes as the UK government said that it is pushing Israel to ensure better protection for healthcare workers and medical infrastructure in Gaza.
UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said:
As we welcome the first group of children to the UK for urgent treatment, their arrival reflects our determined commitment to humanitarian action and the power of international cooperation.
We continue to call for the protection of medical infrastructure and health workers in Gaza, and for a huge increase in medicines and supplies to be allowed in.
The government is grateful to all partners who have assisted this operation, including the World Health Organization for their support with the evacuation process, the government of Jordan and Royal Jordanian for facilitating safe transit and the UK-emergency medical team and NHS clinical teams for their dedication in providing life-saving medical care to these young patients.
Pope denounces forced removal of Palestinians 'once again'
Pope Leo XVI expressed solidarity with the population of Gaza on Wednesday, saying that civilians had been “once again” forced from their land and were living in “unacceptable conditions”, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“I express my deep solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza who continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, being forcibly displaced once again from their lands,” said the 70-year-old pope after his general audience.
Hundreds of thousands of residents of Gaza City have been trying to evacuate the northern city since a massive bombardment by Israeli forces, which they say is aimed at crushing Hamas.
The pope added:
I renew my appeal for a ceasefire, for the release of hostages, for a negotiated diplomatic solution, and for the full respect of international humanitarian law.
I invite everyone to join my heartfelt prayer that soon a dawn of peace and justice will rise.
Israeli troops and tanks were pushing deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday, the second day of a ground offensive that was widely condemned internationally, as Palestinians fled the devastated area en masse.
Palestinians have streamed out of the city – some by car, others on foot. Israel pledged to open another corridor along a road hugging Gaza’s coastline for two days on Wednesday to allow more people to evacuate.
Updated
Australian broadcaster SBS has indicated it will not follow the lead of a growing number of European Union countries and boycott next year’s Eurovision song contest if Israel is permitted to compete.
The decision on Israel’s inclusion will be made by the contest’s governing body in December, but SBS told the Guardian on Tuesday it intended to participate in the 2026 event in Vienna, regardless of December’s decision.
The deadline for broadcasters to file their applications for participation was initially to expire on Monday, followed by a 28-day grace period during which a country could subsequently withdraw its application without incurring a financial penalty.
But earlier this month the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the Eurovision song contest reference group had decided to extend the deadline to mid-December, with the event’s director, Martin Green, issuing a statement saying he wanted to provide “additional flexibility and clarity” while the group undertook consultation with member broadcasters about country participation in next year’s event.
Ireland, Slovenia, Spain, the Netherlands and Iceland have already signalled they are unwilling to participate if the EBU permits Israel to compete, as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to intensify.
The EBU excluded Russia from the competition shortly after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Updated
Israel says struck more than 150 targets in Gaza City since Tuesday
The Israeli army said it has struck more than 150 targets in Gaza City since launching a major ground offensive on the Gaza Strip’s main urban hub early on Tuesday.
“Over the past two days, the [Israeli air force] and artillery corps troops struck over 150 terror targets throughout Gaza City in support of the manoeuvring troops in the area,” the military said in a statement issued on Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said on Wednesday morning that Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 12 Palestinians overnight. However, Gaza hospital officials said on Wednesday that 16 people, including women and children, were killed overnight on the territory.
The army told AFP it was looking into the Gaza civil defence agency’s reports.
The UK government has announced that a group of ill and injured children have been evacuated to Gaza and brought to the UK for NHS medical treatment.
According to the PA news agency, the UK health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said:
No one can fail to be distressed by the devastating impact the war has had on the children of Gaza, and I cannot imagine the fear and anguish their families have endured. It is a soul-destroying situation that compels us to act.
Every child deserves the chance to heal, to play, to simply be able to dream again. These young patients have witnessed horrors no child should ever see, but this marks the start of their journey towards recovery.
British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper added:
In Gaza, where the healthcare system has been decimated and hospitals are no longer functioning, there are severely ill children unable to get the medical care they need to survive.
As we welcome the first group of children to the UK for urgent treatment, their arrival reflects our determined commitment to humanitarian action and the power of international cooperation.
We continue to call for the protection of medical infrastructure and health workers in Gaza, and for a huge increase in medicines and supplies to be allowed in.
China said on Wednesday it “firmly opposes” the escalation of military operations in Gaza after Israel launched a major ground assault on Gaza City.
“China firmly opposes Israel’s escalation of military operations in Gaza and condemns all acts that harm civilians and violate international law,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said of the massive bombardment of Gaza City, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israeli strikes overnight kill at least 16 across the Gaza Strip
Gaza hospital officials said on Wednesday that women and children were among the 16 killed in overnight on the territory, reports the Associated Press (AP).
More than half of the dead were killed in strikes on Gaza City, including a child and his mother at their apartment in the Shati refugee camp, according to officials from the al-Shifa hospital, which received the casualties.
In central Gaza, the al-Awda hospital said an Israeli strike hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, killing three, including a pregnant woman. Two parents and their child were also killed when a strike hit their tent in the Muwasi area west of the city of Khan Younis, said officials from the Nasser hospital, where the bodies were brought.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to the AP’s requests for comment on the strikes.
Updated
Qatar’s ministry of foreign affairs released a statement on Wednesday saying they condemned “in the strongest terms” Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza.
The ministry wrote on X that the operation marked an “extension of the war of genocide” against the Palestinians and a “flagrant violation of international law”.
In its statement Qatar’s ministry of foreign affairs said:
The ministry of foreign affairs warns that the Israeli occupation is seeking to undermine the prospects for peace in the region through systematic plans that pose a threat to both regional and international peace and security. These include its brutal genocidal war on Gaza, as well as its settlement, colonial and racist policies based on a logic of arogance, agression, and treachery.
This situation requires decisive international solidarity to compel it to comply with international legitimacy resolutions.
Updated
More than 350,000 Palestinians so far have fled south from Gaza City, say Israeli military
The United Nations estimated at the end of August that around one million people lived in Gaza City and its surroundings.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists say thet have observed a fresh exodus in recent days, and the Israeli army said on Wednesday that “more than 350,000” had so far fled south. The Guardian has been unable to independently verify these figures.
Many Palestinians interviewed by AFP in Gaza insist there is no safe place in the territory and say they would rather die in their homes than be displaced yet again.
On Tuesday, people spoke of relentless bombing in Gaza City, much of which is already in ruins after nearly two years of Israeli strikes.
Only huge piles of rubble remained of a residential block in the north of the city hit by Israel’s bombardment, reports AFP.
“Why kill children sleeping safely like that, turning them into body parts?” Abu Abd Zaquout told AFP. “We pulled the children out in pieces.”
On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had launched a major ground operation in Gaza City to oust Hamas from one of its last strongholds in the war-ravaged territory.
The Israeli military estimates there are 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas militants in central Gaza City, and that about 40% of residents have fled.
Updated
AFP have a bit more detail on the Israeli military’s ‘temporary’ route for Palestinians to flee Gaza City (see 7.48am BST).
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it was opening “a temporary transportation route” via Salah al-Din street. Its Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee said the corridor would remain open for just 48 hours from midday (9am GMT) on Thursday.
Until now, the army had urged residents to leave Gaza City via the coastal road towards what it calls a “humanitarian zone” farther south, including parts of al-Mawasi.
Salah al-Din street runs down the middle of the Gaza Strip from north to south.
Updated
Aid groups call for stronger efforts to stop Israel's Gaza City offensive
A coalition of leading aid groups on Wednesday urged the international community to take stronger measures to stop Israel’s offensive on Gaza City. It also highlighted findings by a commission of UN experts that found Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
According to the Associated Press (AP), the statement read:
What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but what the UN commission of inquiry has now concluded is a genocide.
States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.
The message was signed by leaders of more than 20 aid organisations operating in Gaza, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, Anera and Save the Children.
Updated
The bombardment of Gaza City has been growing louder and more deadly for weeks, but in the early hours of Tuesday it felt like an earthquake that would never stop.
“Even when the bombings are not right next to us, we can clearly hear them, and the ground shakes beneath us with the intensity of the explosions,” said Fatima al-Zahra Sahweil, 40.
Sahweil, a media researcher, said the dead and wounded from the night’s barrage had been taken to al-Shifa medical complex, where she heard the situation was “catastrophic”.
She had lost track of the latest news, however, as she tried to make the near-impossible decision of what to do to best protect her four children.
The Rashid coast road, the Israeli-designated “escape” route to the south, was jammed with the exhausted and desperate. Anyway, the cost of a ride was too high.
“On top of that, I don’t own a tent to give us shelter, and they are too expensive to buy. I would not be able to take all of the belongings and supplies I have already bought several times before,” Sahweil said. “Then there is the suffering we would face in searching for water and the lack of empty spaces to stay in. So if I leave, I would simply be going into the unknown.”
Like more than 90% of people in Gaza, the family has been displaced by the war. An overwhelming majority have been forced to move numerous times. Sahweil and her family have already been displaced 19 times.
Now, with the launch of a ground offensive, the Israeli army is calling on the estimated 1 million people sheltering in Gaza City to move south once more. But Sahweil and her family, and many others, have been to the south before and are aware it is no haven from violence.
Israel announces ‘temporary’ route for residents to flee Gaza City
Israel announced on Wednesday a “temporary” new route for residents to flee Gaza City, as it launched an intense ground offensive after massive bombardment of the Palestinian territory’s main city.
The Israeli military “announces the opening of a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din street”, spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Adraee added that “the route will be open for 48 hours only”.
On Tuesday, Israel unleashed its long-threatened ground offensive in Gaza City, sending tanks and remote-controlled armoured cars packed with explosives into its streets, in defiance of international criticism and the findings of a UN commission that it was committing genocide in the Palestinian territory. Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the commission’s report as “distorted and false”.
Israel’s military said that it expects its Gaza City offensive to take “several months” to complete, marking the first timeline it has given for its plan to take control of the territory’s largest population centre.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the goals of the offensive were “defeating the enemy and evacuating the population”, omitting any mention of the freeing of the remaining Israeli hostages, which was been a constantly stated war aim until now. Hostage families and their supporters protested near Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence on Tuesday, accusing him of abandoning their loved ones.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said it was clear that Israel had no interest in a peaceful outcome.
“Israel is determined to go up to the end and [is] not open to a serious negotiation for a ceasefire, with dramatic consequences from Israel’s point of view,” Guterres said.
More on this story in a moment. Here are other recent developments:
The health ministry in Gaza reported on Tuesday afternoon that 59 people had been killed and 386 wounded in the previous 24 hours, bringing the official toll of Palestinians from nearly two years of war to almost 65,000. The actual number is feared to be significantly higher.
On Wednesday, the European Commission is due to present a plan to member states to impose “measures to pressure the Israeli government to change course over the war in Gaza”, said the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.“Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza will make an already desperate situation even worse,” Kallas said, adding: “It will mean more death, more destruction [and] more displacement.”
Iranian authorities hanged a man on Wednesday after convicting him of spying for Israel’s the Mossad intelligence agency since 2022, the judiciary said. “Babak Shahbazi … was executed by hanging this morning following due legal process and the confirmation of his sentence by the supreme court,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website said.
Australian broadcaster SBS has indicated it will not follow the lead of a growing number of European Union countries and boycott next year’s Eurovision song contest if Israel is permitted to compete. The decision on Israel’s inclusion will be made by the contest’s governing body in December, but SBS told the Guardian on Tuesday it intended to participate in the 2026 event in Vienna, regardless of December’s decision.
Sally Rooney, Deborah Levy, Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux and Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen are among 20 authors urging French president Emmanuel Macron to resume a “lifeline” programme for evacuating Palestinian writers, scholars and artists from Gaza. The Pause programme for writers and artists in emergency situations, as well as a student evacuation programme, were abruptly suspended by the French government at the beginning of August over a Palestinian student’s allegedly antisemitic online remarks.
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