Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians struggled Saturday to flee from areas in Gaza targeted by Israeli bombardments after Israel warned residents in the north to evacuate ahead of an expected ground offensive. Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed at least 324 people over the past 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said. In total, 2,215 people have been killed in Gaza amid the ongoing strikes, which have followed Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,300 people. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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12:30am: Iran warns of 'far-reaching consequences' if Israel not stopped
Iran warned on Saturday that if Israel's "war crimes and genocide" are not halted immediately, "the situation could spiral out of control and ricochet far-reaching consequences," Tehran's mission to the United Nations in New York posted on X.
"If the Israeli apartheid's war crimes & genocide are not halted immediately, the situation could spiral out of control & ricochet far-reaching consequences — the responsibility of which lies with the UN, the Security Council & the states steering the Council toward a dead end," the post read.
12:13pm: Five injured in Israeli strikes on Syria airport, says monitor
Israeli strikes targeted the airport of Syria's government-held city of Aleppo injuring five people on Saturday, a war monitor said, days after a similar strike hit Aleppo and Damascus airports.
The air strikes came "from the direction of the sea", Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP, without specifying whether the five injured were civilians.
12:00am: France calls on Hezbollah to stay out of Israel-Gaza conflict
France on Saturday urged the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia to stay out of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, expressing concern at the situation on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Paris also called for reporters covering the Israel-Hamas war to be protected after one journalist was killed and six others wounded in firing along the Lebanese border on Friday.
Hezbollah and Lebanon must "exercise restraint to avoid opening a second front in the region", of which "the first victim will be Lebanon", the French presidency said in a statement Saturday.
11:38pm: In first call with Palestinian president Abbas, Biden discusses support for humanitarian aid to Gaza
President Joe Biden on Saturday spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging the leaders to allow humanitarian aid to the region and affirmed his support for efforts to protect civilians.
Biden reiterated to Abbas that “Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination,” according to the readout.
10:53pm: Israeli strike hits Syrian airport, says monitor
An Israeli airstrike targeted the airport of Syria's government-held city of Aleppo, a war monitor said, days after a similar strike hit Aleppo and Damascus airports.
"An Israeli air strike coming from the direction of the sea struck Aleppo airport," Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
10:43pm: US State Department says at least 29 American citizens killed in Hamas attack
A US State Department spokesperson told journalists they can confirm the death of 29 American citizens in last week's attack by Hamas against Israel.
They added that the US was aware of 15 US citizens still unaccounted for, as well as one lawful permanent resident.
10:39pm: Biden reiterates US support for Israel in call with Netanyahu, says White House
US President Joe Biden reiterated unwavering US support for Israel in a call on Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said.
"President Biden discussed with Prime Minister Netanyahu US coordination with the United Nations, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and others in the region to ensure innocent civilians have access to water, food, and medical care," the White House said in a statement. "President Biden affirmed his support for all efforts to protect civilians."
10:38pm: Iranian FM meets with Hamas leader in Qatar's Doha, Al Jazeera reports
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met with the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar's Doha, Al Jazeera TV reported on Saturday.
10:24pm: 'I’m not so sure that Israel is thinking beyond the war'
Yossi Mekelberg, associate fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the Chatham House think-tank, talks to FRANCE 24 about the challenges facing Israel's expected ground assault on Gaza, and the price the country could pay for employing "massive force" in the process.
“I think the aim – and the Israelis are completely about their aim – is to eliminate Hamas and ensure that it won’t have ever again the military capacity to inflict what they did, the kind of massacre they inflicted on Israel last week," he said.
"The question, of course, is whether it’s possible, does it mean re-occupying Gaza … I’m not so sure that Israel is thinking beyond the war, or what the impact is if it uses too much force in this.”
Click on the video player below to watch the full interview.
9:52pm: Biden holds separate calls with Israel's Netanyahu, Palestinians' Abbas
US President Joe Biden held separate phone calls on Saturday with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, statements from the Israeli and Palestinian leaders' offices said.
Netanyahu told Biden that "unity and determination" were needed to achieve Israel's combat goals against Gaza's Hamas rulers, Netanyahu's office said, adding that he thanked the president for his support.
Abbas' office said the Palestinian leader told Biden he completely rejects the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, as Israel retaliates for a deadly Hamas attack on its territory.
Abbas also reportedly told the US president that he rejects the killing of civilians from both sides.
9:50pm: Doctors Without Borders urges Israel to 'show humanity' in Gaza
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Saturday urged Israel to show basic humanity in its military operations in the Gaza Strip, saying the situation was "as absurd as it is intolerable".
MSF said it feared those unable to move from the northern Gaza Strip, such as the sick, wounded and medical staff, would be "wiped out" after Israel urged Palestinians to flee the area ahead of an expected ground offensive.
MSF also called for people to be able to flee the blockaded and besieged Palestinian enclave into neighbouring Egypt.
"As the Israeli army has been bombarding the Gaza Strip without restraint for a week, we are calling for the most elementary humanity to be shown," MSF said in a statement.
Israel's order for 1.1 million residents to evacuate northern Gaza, in an "already overpopulated territory with precarious access to food, water and healthcare is as absurd as it is intolerable", the organisation said.
"We are extremely worried about the fate of those who will not be able to move, such as the wounded, the sick and the medical staff, who we fear will be wiped out in view of the statements made by the Israeli military authorities."
9:38pm: Israel bombs Syria after air raid sirens sound in annexed Golan Heights: IDF
Israel shelled Syria on Saturday after air raid sirens sounded in settlements on the annexed Golan Heights, the army said.
"Following the initial report regarding sirens sounded in the communities of Avnei Eitan and Alma, IDF (Israeli) artillery is currently striking the origin of the shooting in Syria," an army statement said.
9:23pm: EU leaders to hold emergency virtual summit on Middle East on Tuesday
European Council President Charles Michel said on Saturday that he had convened a video conference summit of European Union leaders on Tuesday to discuss the Hamas attacks on Israelis and Israel's response.
Michel said the bloc stood in "full solidarity" with the people of Israel after the "brutal terrorist attacks" of a week ago.
In an invitation letter to EU leaders, Michel said Israel had the right to defend itself in compliance with international law.
He said the siege of the Gaza Strip was raising alarm bells in the international community, prompting him to convene a video conference meeting on Tuesday at 1730 CET (1530 GMT).
"It is of utmost importance that the European Council, in line with the treaties and our values, sets our common position and establishes a clear unified course of action that reflects the complexity of the unfolding situation," he wrote.
9:10pm: 'The idea of a second front is a real nightmare idea for the Israeli army'
FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Nadia Massih offers her analysis of the exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanon, and the likelihood of Hezbollah entering the conflict in the event of an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza.
"This is a really scary moment for Israel," she said. "Could it be facing an attack not just from the Gaza Strip, from the Palestinian militants there, but on a second front with Lebanon in a really serious way?"
"The idea of a second front is a real nightmare idea for the Israeli army," she said.
Click on the video player below to watch the full interview.
8:20pm: 'The people who are paying the price are the civilians in Gaza and Israel'
FRANCE 24 correspondent Irris Makler is reporting from Jerusalem on the rising tension in the region as Israel continues to call for more than a million Palestinians to leave their homes in Gaza's northern half ahead of an expected ground assault by Israeli forces.
"Israel says that the reason it wants the civilians out of the way is because they're planning a ground offensive," she said. "But for Palestinians the taking of their possessions – not even all their possessions, what they can fit in their car or on a buggy or on their back – is so painful and traumatic, and so reminiscent of the original Nakba, as they call it."
Click on the video player below to watch the full interview.
8:09pm: Israel says bodies of hostages found in Gaza
The Israeli military said for the first time Saturday that the bodies of some hostages abducted by Hamas militants had been found during operations inside Gaza this week.
"We have found and located some bodies in the perimeter in the Gaza Strip of Israelis that were abducted," a military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, told a briefing.
8:08pm: Lebanon's Hezbollah says fighter killed by Israeli fire
Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said one of its fighters in south Lebanon was killed on Saturday by Israeli fire.
A Hezbollah statement said the fighter was "martyred while performing jihad". A spokesperson told AFP he was killed in south Lebanon "either in Israeli strikes or in clashes".
8:01pm: France calls for humanitarian corridor out of Gaza for French nationals
President Emmanuel Macron has urged Israel and Egypt to open a humanitarian corridor out of the besieged Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing for French nationals, his office said Saturday.
Paris had contacted all those concerned to try to ensure that French nationals could cross out of the southern Gaza Strip and into Egypt and that the crossing could also be used for "humanitarian operations" to Gaza, said the statement.
7:32pm: Gaza holds its breath ahead of expected Israeli ground offensive
FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Nadia Massih talks about what Gaza could expect from Israel's expected ground assault on the besieged enclave.
“Of course Israel is the greater military power here,” she said. “Not only does it have more soldiers, it has control of the air as well – we know from conflicts like Ukraine how important it is to have control over the skies.”
Click on the video player below to watch the full interview.
7:11pm: Israeli national security adviser admits intelligence 'mistakes' in failing to predict Hamas attacks
A senior Israeli official on Saturday admitted "mistakes" in intelligence assessments ahead of a brutal Hamas attack last weekend that took the country by surprise.
"It's my mistake, and it reflects the mistakes of all those making (intelligence) assessments," national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told a press briefing when asked about his recent remarks predicting no Hamas aggression.
"We really believed that Hamas learned the lesson from" its last major war with Israel in 2021, Hanegbi said.
Hanegbi rejected negotiations towards any prisoner swap deal with Hamas.
"There's no way to negotiate with an enemy we have sworn to obliterate," he said.
6:58pm: Israeli military preparing for 'significant ground operations'
The Israeli military said on Saturday its forces were preparing to implement a wide range of operational offensive plans as expectations grew of an imminent invasion of the Gaza Strip, a week after Hamas gunmen launched a devastating attack on Israel.
In a statement, the Israeli military said its forces were deployed across the country, increasing operational readiness for the next stages of the war, "with an emphasis on significant ground operations".
6:48pm: EU to triple humanitarian aid to Gaza to 75m euros
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Saturday the EU is tripling humanitarian aid to 75 million euros for the Gaza Strip, which is facing a retaliatory bombardment by Israel over the deadly attack by Hamas.
Israel has warned 1.1 million people to evacuate northern Gaza before an expected large-scale ground offensive against Hamas, a week after the Islamist group launched an attack on Israeli soil.
"We will continue our close cooperation with the UN and its agencies to ensure that this aid reaches those in need in the Gaza strip," von der Leyen said in a statement, following a call with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The United Nations on Thursday issued an emergency appeal for $294 million to address "the most urgent needs" in Gaza and the occupied West Bank due to the recent fighting.
6:46pm: ‘There is no space safe in Gaza’: Oxfam calls for ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid
Oxfam spokesperson Mustafa Tamaizeh spoke to FRANCE 24 from the West Bank city of Ramallah about the worsening humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's blockade of Gaza following last week's attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
"We believe that this kind of full siege of Gaza, cutting off electricity and water and these basic rights, is against international humanitarian law," he said.
Click on the video player below to watch the full interview.
6:09pm: Situation in Gaza 'fast becoming untenable', says UN aid chief
The humanitarian situation in Gaza, already critical, is now "fast becoming untenable", UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said in a statement on Saturday.
There is no power, water or fuel in Gaza, and food is running dangerously low, Griffiths said, urging all countries with influence to use it to ensure respect for the rules of war, and avoid further escalation.
In Gaza, families have been bombed while inching their way south along congested, damaged roads, following an evacuation order by Israel that left hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for safety but with nowhere to go, Griffiths said.
"Civilians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory are suffering from a week of utter anguish and devastation," Griffiths said. "I fear that the worst is yet to come."
"The past week has been a test for humanity," he said, "and humanity is failing."
5:52pm: Palestinians will not leave Gaza, says Hamas leader
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, said in a televised speech that Palestinians will not leave Gaza or the West Bank and migrate to Egypt.
"Our decision is to remain in our land," Haniyeh added, while addressing Egypt in that part of the speech.
5:44pm: ‘What is happening is not an evacuation, it’s a forcible transfer,’ says Norwegian Refugee Council
Ahmed Bayram, media advisor with the Norwegian Refugee Council in the Middle East, spoke to FRANCE 24 on Saturday about Israel's ultimatum demanding that the 1.2 million people living in the north of Gaza leave ahead of an expected ground assault by the Israel Defense Forces.
Click on the video player below to watch the full interview.
5:33pm: Two civilians killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon, says local official
Two Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli shelling of the southern village of Shebaa on Saturday, its mayor told AFP, as border tensions rise over Israel's war with Hamas.
"A man and his wife have been killed in their home by Israeli shelling," Mayor Mohammad Harb told AFP.
5:26pm: 'Highest regard' for Gaza humanitarian plight needed, says Germany
Germany's foreign minister said Saturday that Israel's war against Hamas must be carried out with the greatest care for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, so that the suffering of the population does not foment further hate.
"In the fight against Hamas, highest regard must be placed on the humanitarian situation of innocent women, children and men," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told journalists after talks in Cairo with her Egyptian counterpart.
Israel has been bombarding Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in a bid to "destroy" the Islamist group after the Islamists stormed Israel's southern border a week ago, shooting dead civilians in their homes, on the roads and at a rave party.
A total of 1,300 people were killed in Hamas's attack on Israeli soil, while Gaza authorities said bombardments by Israel have killed 2,215 people in the coastal enclave.
5:17pm: Iran's foreign minister warns Israel from Beirut it could suffer 'a huge earthquake'
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Saturday called on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, warning that the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, and that would make Israel suffer “a huge earthquake”.
Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in Beirut that Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has taken all the scenarios of a war into consideration and Israel should stop its attacks on Gaza as soon as possible.
Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel. The group, which has thousands of battle-hardened fighters who participated in Syria’s 12-year conflict, also has different types of military drones.
5:03pm: Turkey rejects 'exile' of Palestinians from Gaza
Turkey stands with Egypt in rejecting the exile of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in the face of Israel's war with the Hamas militant group, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said alongside his counterpart in Cairo on Saturday.
Fidan, on his first trip as minister to Egypt, said it is important to act to stop the conflict from spreading and to re-start peace talks centred on achieving a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
"We reject the policy of Palestinians being removed from their homes in Gaza and exiled into Egypt. We are fully against it and stand with Egypt," Fidan said.
"The loss of civilian life must be stopped regardless of which side they're on," he said. "We see that some states try to justify Israel's attacks on Gaza as some sort of justifiable act. We invite Israel to stick to international law and humanitarian values."
4:50pm: US encourages its citizens in Gaza to move closer to Rafah crossing with Egypt
The US government on Saturday encouraged its citizens in Gaza to move south toward the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to be ready for its possible reopening amid the humanitarian crisis in the coastal enclave after a Hamas attack in Israel drew Israeli military retaliation.
Washington has been working with Egypt, Israel and Qatar to open the Rafah crossing on Saturday afternoon to allow Palestinian-Americans to leave, a senior State Department official said earlier.
"We have been trying to facilitate access for it to be open from 12 to five today. The Egyptians, the Israelis and the Qataris have been working with us on that," the official told reporters travelling with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
As the window for the crossing to open was about to expire, US officials were unable to confirm whether any US citizens were able to exit, the official added later.
"We have informed US citizens in Gaza with whom we are in contact that if they assess it to be safe, they may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing," a US State Department spokesperson said. "There may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time."
The number of dual-citizen Palestinian-Americans in Gaza has been estimated at several hundred among the strip's population of 2.3 million.
4:33pm: 'Next stage is coming,' Netanyahu tells Israeli soldiers outside Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited infantrymen outside the Gaza Strip on Saturday, his office said in a statement, and an accompanying video showed him telling them: "You ready for the next stage? The next stage is coming."
He did not elaborate in the video, which showed the infantrymen nodding in response to his question.
4:29pm: Israelis rally in Tel Aviv to demand return of hostages
FRANCE 24 correspondent Andrew Hilliar is reporting from today's demonstrations in Tel Aviv, where crowds of Israelis are calling for the release of hostages taken by Hamas in its assault on southern Israel a week ago.
The Israeli military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza on Friday to battle militants and hunt for traces of some 150 people captured by Hamas.
Hamas's armed wing said on Saturday that nine hostages have been killed in the past 24 hours by Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
Click on the video player below to watch the full report.
4:03pm: Blinken asks China to use 'influence' to push for calm in Middle East
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on China, a partner of Iran, to use its influence to push for calm in the Middle East.
The top US diplomat, who was visiting Saudi Arabia, had a "productive" one-hour telephone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
"Our message was that he thinks it's in our shared interest to stop the conflict from spreading," Miller told reporters on Blinken's plane from Riyadh to Abu Dhabi.
"He thought it could be useful if China could use its influence."
China has a warm relationship with Iran, whose clerical leadership supports both Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group ruling Gaza that carried out grisly attacks inside Israel a week ago, and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that could open a second front against Israel.
Wang for his part said that the United States should "play a constructive and responsible role, pushing the issue back on track for a political settlement as soon as possible", according to a readout published by the Chinese foreign ministry.
"The fundamental outlet for the Palestinian issue lies in implementing a 'two-state solution'," said Wang.
3:54pm: Lebanon's Hezbollah says it fired on Israeli positions
Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it shelled Israeli positions in a contested border area on Saturday, as tensions rise over Israel's war with Hezbollah's Palestinian ally Hamas.
Hezbollah and other Palestinian factions in Lebanon have exchanged cross-border fire with Israel since Hamas's surprise October 7 attack on Israel that killed more than 1,300 people and ignited a war.
Palestinian gunmen also seized an estimated 150 hostages during the attack, while Israel's massive retaliatory air and artillery strikes have killed nearly 2,200 people in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah "attacked Zionist positions in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms ... with guided missiles and mortar shells, hitting them", the Shiite group said in a statement.
An AFP correspondent near Shebaa Farms reported shelling and saw clouds of smoke rising in the area.
Israel has traded fire with Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions in Lebanon on a near-daily basis since Sunday, although the tit-for-tat attacks have remained limited.
Lebanon's army said Saturday that Israel was behind cross-border fire that killed a Reuters journalist and wounded six others near the border the previous day.
3:49pm: ‘Hamas in a state of disarray as our operations increase,’ IDF spokesman tells FRANCE 24
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, the chief international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, has discussed the progress of Israeli forces in their operations against Hamas in an interview with FRANCE 24.
“Hamas are currently in a state of disarray as our operations increase and we are currently doing everything to be prepared for a potential ground operation,” Lerner said, without going into details about the expected ground assault.
Confirming the killing of Hamas militant Ali Qadi, one of the leaders of last week’s deadly incursion into Israeli territory, he added: “They should all know, from the mastermind of the massacre (…), right at the top, all the way down to the individual terrorist that conducted this massacre, we will not cease until they take them.”
Touching on the subject of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, the IDF spokesman said Israeli forces were operating close to the border with the Hamas-held enclave, “with small operations in order to localise, find and try to identify people that were abducted to the Gaza Strip and take them home”.
Lerner said the Israeli army was taking extensive measures to “mitigate civilian strife”, including by ordering civilians in the northern Gaza strip to urgently evacuate the area – a step condemned by human rights organisations and neighbouring countries. A total of 2,215 people in Gaza have been killed amid Israel's air strike campaign, including at least 324 people in the past 24 hours.
“We are instructing people in the area of our operations to go south so that they are in a safer area and away from Hamas’s heart of operations,” he said. “If you are not a terrorist, you have nothing to worry about.”
Asked about the death of a Reuters reporter on Friday during shelling at the border with Lebanon, for which the IDF has said it was “deeply sorry”, he said the Israeli army was still investigating the incident to determine who was responsible.
Click on the video player below to watch the full interview.
3:32pm: Blinken calls for protection of civilians as Israel prepares for expected assault on Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Saturday for the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip and Israel as the Israeli military ordered half of the Palestinian territory's population to evacuate in advance of an expected ground assault.
Blinken met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan as America's top diplomat held a third day of talks across the Middle East aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into a regional conflict and worsening the humanitarian crisis.
“As Israel pursues its legitimate right, to defending its people and to trying to ensure that this never happens again, it is vitally important that all of us look out for civilians, and we’re working together to do exactly that,” Blinken said before heading to the United Arab Emirates for further discussions.
A US official said Saturday that Washington did not ask Israel to slow or hold off on the evacuation order. The official said the discussions with Israeli leaders did stress the importance of taking into account the safety of civilians as Israel’s military moved to enforce the evacuation demand.
3:25pm: Israel’s Sderot sees ‘intensification’ of rocket attacks from Gaza
The Israeli town of Sderot, roughly 3 kilometres from the Gaza Strip, has seen an 'intensification' of rocket attacks from the Palestinian coastal enclave over the past 24 hours. Authorities have been urging people to leave, but some are choosing to stay. FRANCE 24's Luke Shrago reports.
2:29pm: Hamas says Israeli air strikes have killed nine hostages in past 24 hours
The armed wing of Hamas has said in a statement that nine captives, including four foreigners, were killed due to Israeli air strikes in Gaza over the past 24 hours.
A statement from Al Qassam Brigades on its Telegram channel said the captives were killed "because of the zionist bombardment on the areas they were staying in".
The latest deaths bring to 22 the overall number of fatalities among the estimated 150 hostages – Israelis, foreigners and dual-nationals – seized by Hamas gunmen on October 7.
2:15pm: Israel gives Palestine's Red Crescent until 1300 GMT to evacuate Al-Quds hospital in Gaza
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society received an order from Israeli forces on Saturday with a new deadline to evacuate its Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City by 1300 GMT (4pm local time), according to a statement.
An initial deadline was given for 0300 GMT (6am local time) but was later extended.
But the association said they cannot evacuate the hospital, and it is obliged under a humanitarian mandate to continue providing services to the sick and wounded, the statement added.
1:50pm: Israel behind rocket fire that hit journalists, says Lebanese army
Israel was behind cross-border rocket fire that killed a Reuters journalist and wounded other journalists from AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera, the Lebanese army said on Saturday.
"The Israeli enemy fired a rocket shell that hit a civilian car belonging to a media team, leading to the death of Issam Abdallah," a Reuters journalist, and wounding several others on Friday, it said in a statement.
1:22pm: Lebanon to make formal complaint at UN over 'deliberate killing' of Reuters journalist
Lebanon's foreign ministry said it will submit a formal complaint to the UN Security Council over what it called "Israel's deliberate killing" of Issam Abdallah, a Lebanese national and Reuters visual journalist, state media reported on Saturday.
Abdullah was killed in southern Lebanon on Friday when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck a group of journalists, a Reuters witness at the scene has said.
12:43pm: Qatar says it rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip
Qatar said on Saturday that it categorically rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
A statement from the Qatari foreign ministry said that the state of Qatar calls "on lifting the siege of Gaza Strip" and providing "full protection for the Palestinian civilians according to the international and humanitarian laws".
11:55am: Israeli army says it killed Hamas elite unit commander
A Hamas militant who Israel said led a unit of commando forces that gunned down civilians in last week's attack on southern Israel has been killed in an air strike, the military said Saturday.
Israeli military "aircraft killed Ali Qadi, a company commander of the Hamas 'Nukhba' (elite) commando force," a statement said without specifying the location or timing of the strike.
A Hamas official told AFP the Palestinian group had "no comment" concerning the Israeli claim.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Qadi, 37, was a unit commander in the elite Hamas force.
Both the Palestinian official and the Israeli military statement said Qadi was one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in 2011 in exchange for a soldier, Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas in 2006.
Qadi was arrested by Israel in 2005 over the kidnapping and murder of an Israeli man who media reports at the time identified as a broker for the Shin Bet internal security agency.
Hamas militants who broke through the militarised security barrier around the Gaza Strip on October 7 killed more than 1,300 people in southern Israel, triggering retaliatory Israeli bombardment that has killed at least 2,215 people in Gaza.
11:52am: US working to get Gaza crossing to Egypt open, official says
The United States has been working with Egypt, Israel and Qatar to open the Rafah crossing from Gaza into Egypt on Saturday afternoon, a senior State Department official said on Saturday.
"We have been trying to facilitate access for it to be open from 12 to five today. The Egyptians, the Israelis and the Qataris have been working with us on that," the official told reporters travelling with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
11:08am: Australia cancels repatriation flights from Israel due to 'highly challenging' situation
Australia has cancelled two planned flights to repatriate citizens from Israel and the Palestinian territories due to the "highly challenging" situation, the foreign affairs department said on Saturday.
Repatriation flights scheduled for Saturday and Sunday will not depart as planned amid a "highly challenging and rapidly changing" situation, the department of foreign affairs and trade (DFAT) said in a statement on social media.
Australia continues to work with citizens in the area to help them return home and will communicate about future flights, DFAT added.
The first in the planned series of repatriation flights left on Friday local time, with over 200 Australians and their families arriving safely in London, according to SBS News.
11:07am: Jordan's King Abdullah heads to Europe to garner support to end Gaza conflict
Jordan's King Abdullah leaves on Saturday for a European tour to garner support from the region's leaders for an end to the Israeli "war on Gaza", Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told state media.
The monarch, who met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, has had intensive contacts with leaders in the region and in the West to de-escalate the violence and prevent the region from being dragged into a wider war, officials say.
10:53am: Israeli air strikes kill at least 324 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, health ministry says
Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours have killed at least 324 Palestinians and wounded 1,000 others, the Palestinian health ministry reported on Saturday.
According to the report, the dead included at least 126 children and 88 women.
This brings the total death toll in Gaza to 2,215, including 724 children, according to the health ministry.
10:32am: Israel army says 'very sorry' for journalist's death in Lebanon
The Israeli army said Saturday that it was "very sorry" for the death of a Reuters journalist killed when caught in cross-border shelling along the frontier with Lebanon.
"We are very sorry for the journalist's death," military spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters when asked about the killing of the Reuters videographer on Friday. The Israeli military did not acknowledge responsibility, however. "We are looking into it," Hecht said of the incident in which six other journalists, including two from AFP, were also injured.
9:59am: Saudi Arabia pauses talks on normalisation with Israel
Saudi Arabia has suspended talks on potentially normalising ties with Israel, a source told AFP on Saturday, amid the warfare between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
"Saudi Arabia has decided to pause discussion on possible normalisation and has informed US officials," a source familiar with the discussions told AFP.
Saudi Arabia in the weeks before the attacks had spoken of progress in US-led diplomacy to normalise relations with Israel – which would be a landmark step for the conservative kingdom that is guardian of Islam's two holiest sites.
But Riyadh has voiced increasing disquiet about the fate of Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where Israel has launched thousands of strikes and ordered the evacuation of the territory's north, prompting thousands to flee.
9:54am: Jordan says Palestinian displacement pushes region to 'abyss' of wider conflict
Jordan on Saturday said any move by Israel to impose a new displacement of Palestinians would push the region to the "abyss" of a wider conflict.
Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also said Israel's blocking of humanitarian aid to Gaza and forcing its residents to leave their homes as it escalates its military action were a "flagrant" breach of international law.
9:49am: Plane with medical supplies lands in Egypt, says WHO chief
A plane loaded with medical supplies to support urgent health needs in Gaza has landed in Al Arish, Egypt, near the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip, the chief of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday in a post on the messaging platform X.
"We're ready to deploy the supplies as soon as humanitarian access through the crossing is established," he said.
9:34am: More than 1,300 buildings destroyed in Gaza, says UN
More than 1,300 buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, the United Nations said Saturday, after nearly a week of fierce bombardment by Israeli forces.
The UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said "5,540 housing units" in those buildings were destroyed and nearly 3,750 more homes were so badly damaged they were uninhabitable.
9:12am: Israel says it killed 'terrorists' trying to cross from Lebanon
Israeli forces on Saturday killed several "terrorists" trying to cross the border from Lebanon, a military spokesman said.
The military "identified a terrorist cell which attempted to infiltrate from Lebanon into Israeli territory", the spokesman said, adding that a drone strike "targeted the terrorist cell and killed a number of the terrorists".
7:59am: Israeli air strikes kill senior Hamas military commander, says army
A senior military commander of Hamas who headed the Islamist group's aerial operations in Gaza City has been killed in Israeli air strikes, the military said Saturday.
Murad Abu Murad was killed over the past day when fighter jets struck an operational centre of Hamas from where the group carried out its "aerial activity", the military said. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas.
7:10am: Thai death toll in Israel-Gaza conflict hits 24, says PM
Three more Thai nationals have died in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, bringing the death toll to 24, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said Saturday.
"I have been informed that there are three more people who died, making it a total of 24," Srettha told reporters.
Two additional Thai nationals have been wounded, the Thai foreign ministry said, bringing the total to 16.
About 30,000 Thais are working in Israel, mostly in the agriculture sector, according to the kingdom's labour ministry.
6:08am: Israel says more than 120 civilians held hostage in Gaza
The Israeli Defense Forces have confirmed that more than 120 civilians are currently being held hostage in the Gaza Strip. Their families have been notified.
5:58am: EU foreign policy chief says Gaza evacuation 'utterly impossible'
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Saturday that the notion of more than 1 million people evacuating out of northern Gaza in a single day was "utterly impossible to implement".
"I am saying that, representing the official position of the European Union ... (the evacuation plan) is utterly, utterly impossible to implement," Borrell told a press conference in Beijing on the final day of a three-day diplomatic visit to China.
"To imagine that you could move 1 million people in 24 hours in a situation like Gaza can only be a humanitarian crisis," he added.
3:17am: 16 Palestinians killed in West Bank on Friday, health ministry says
The Palestinian health ministry reported that 16 Palestinians were killed Friday in the occupied West Bank, bringing to 51 the total number of West Bank Palestinians killed since Hamas waged its brutal assault on Israel last Saturday.
The United Nations says attacks by Israeli settlers have surged there since the Hamas assault.
1:48am: Russia calls for ceasefire during UN Security Council meeting
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations called for a "humanitarian ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, while blaming the United States for the ongoing conflict.
The Russian draft resolution, presented to the Security Council and seen by AFP, calls for an "immediate" ceasefire and the secure release of all hostages, and "strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism".
The document did not specifically name Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza and whose fighters on Saturday burst through the heavily militarized border into Israel and killed 1,300 people, mostly civilians.
Here's the latest from FRANCE 24's Washington correspondent Fraser Jackson.
1:30am: Protesters in New York City call for a 'free Palestine'
Cries of "Free Palestine" rang out in New York City on Friday, as thousands of protesters took to the streets to denounce Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip.
Calling for an end to "Israeli occupation" and the "liberation" of the Palestinian territories, protesters took up multiple blocks in a city that serves as a crossroads for religions and nationalities spanning the world.
The largely youthful protest – which drew demonstrators of all origins, some sporting Palestinian flags and keffiyehs – accused Israel of "genocide" and called for the US to withdraw support for its Middle East ally.
Key developments from Friday, October 13:
The Israeli military on Friday dropped flyers on Gaza warning residents to flee "immediately" to the south, AFP correspondents in the Palestinian territory said. "Evacuate your homes immediately and go south of Wadi Gaza", read flyers dropped by drones and seen by AFP.
The deputy chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Friday that the powerful Iran-backed group was "ready" and would "contribute" to confrontations against Israel according to its own plan, despite foreign powers asking them to stay on the sidelines.
The Reuters news agency has said that one of its journalists was killed during shelling in southern Lebanon that also injured several other reporters. "We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed," Reuters said, adding that he "was part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon".
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
