Closing summary
The US state department has said that secretary of state Marco Rubio will head to Qatar after meeting with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. The visit announced Monday comes as the region is still reeling from Israel’s strike targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha.
Rubio said international efforts to recognise the Palestinian state “emboldens [Hamas]” and makes it harder to end the war, at a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu in Jeruslaem. He said the US has expressed this view to its allies, which includes the UK, France and Canada. He warned that if Hamas sees it is getting support globally, it can walk away from deals it has “tacitly agreed to” and says it could put the release of Israeli hostages at risk.
An emergency meeting of Arab and Islamic states is taking place in Qatar in response to Israel’s deadly airstrike in Doha last week that caused panic in nearby countries who feel Israel is acting with impunity. At the meeting, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said Israel had sought to derail Gaza talks by striking Hamas negotiators in his country last week.
Gulf leaders said on Monday that the Gulf Cooperation Council’s joint defence body will meet in Doha following Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital last week. In a statement, the leaders called for measures to activate the bloc’s “joint defence mechanism,” without providing further details.
UN expert Francesca Albanese on Monday warned that Israel’s assault on Gaza City would devastate Palestinians and that the city could be rendered unlivable. “Israel is bombing using unconventional weapons ... it is trying to forcibly evacuate Palestinians. Why? This is the last piece of Gaza that needs to be rendered unlivable,” Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, told reporters in Geneva.
The permanent mission of Israel to the UN has rejected Albanese’s comments regarding Israel’s assault on Gaza City. “Her numerous statements have showcased her willingness to go to extreme lengths in [the] delegitimization of the state of Israel,” the mission said in a statement.
Families of Israeli hostages have pleaded that their loved ones not be “abandoned” and for no more living hostages to be “murdered in captivity” as a result of Israeli “military pressure”. In a post on X, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the military must provide a “clear policy to the public and families”.
The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate in Geneva on Tuesday on Israel’s 9 September attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, the council said on Monday. The 9 September airstrike, which Hamas says killed five of its members but not its leadership, has prompted US-allied Gulf Arab states to close ranks, adding to strains in ties between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, which normalised relations in 2020.
Britain has banned Israelis from attending a prestigious London defence studies college due to the escalation of the war in Gaza, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday, prompting an angry response from Israel. While Britain remains a close ally of Israel’s, it has recently tried to pressure its government over the conflict, threatening in July to recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in the enclave.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday that Israel’s current actions hindered any chances of new peace treaties in the Middle East. In remarks aimed at Israel, he told the Arab-Islamic summit in Doha: “What is happening right now hinders the future of peace, threatens your security and the security of the peoples in the region and adds obstacles to chances for any new peace agreements and even aborts existing ones.”
Doctors and medical staff at the largest hospital still functioning in Gaza say they will be overwhelmed by a wave of new wounded and sick patients if hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee the north of the devastated territory in the face of an intensifying Israeli offensive. Dr Mohammed Saqr, the director of nursing at the Nasser medical complex near Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, said there were not enough staff to cope with even existing demand and that supplies of medicine and fuel were running low.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday said Israel and Russia should be banned from international sports competitions until “barbaric acts” end, referring to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Sanchez said he condemned the violent protests by pro-Palestinian on Sunday in Madrid which disrupted the La Vuelta cycling race and ultimately led to the cancellation of the final leg and the podium ceremony.
Gulf leaders said on Monday that the Gulf Cooperation Council’s joint defence body will meet in Doha following Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital last week.
In a statement, the leaders called for measures to activate the bloc’s “joint defence mechanism,” without providing further details.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Gaza City, as seen from the Israeli side of the border earlier today.
Rubio to head to Qatar after meeting with Netanyahu in Israel
The US state department has said that secretary of state Marco Rubio will head to Qatar after meeting with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
The visit announced Monday comes as the region is still reeling from Israel’s strike targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha.
The US has sought to ease tensions between Israel and Qatar, two close American allies.
While speaking at a summit over Israel’s attack last week, Qatar’s ruling emir accused Israel of not caring about its hostages held in the Gaza Strip and instead only working to “ensure Gaza is no longer livable.”
The permanent mission of Israel to the UN has rejected UN expert Francesca Albanese’s comments regarding Israel’s assault on Gaza City (see post 13.57).
“Her numerous statements have showcased her willingness to go to extreme lengths in [the] delegitimization of the state of Israel,” the mission said in a statement.
“According to her, Hamas doesn’t embed itself in civilian infrastructure, doesn’t cynically use civilians as human shields, and generally doesn’t really exist,” it added.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday that Israel’s current actions hindered any chances of new peace treaties in the Middle East.
In remarks aimed at Israel, he told the Arab-Islamic summit in Doha:
What is happening right now hinders the future of peace, threatens your security and the security of the peoples in the region and adds obstacles to chances for any new peace agreements and even aborts existing ones.
As we have been reporting throughout today’s blog, an emergency meeting of Arab and Islamic states is taking place in Qatar in response to Israel’s deadly airstrike in Doha last week that caused panic in nearby countries who feel Israel is acting with impunity.
At the meeting, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said Israel had sought to derail Gaza talks by striking Hamas negotiators in his country last week.
“Whoever works diligently and systematically to assassinate the party with whom he is negotiating, intends to thwart the negotiations … Negotiations, for them, are merely part of the war,” he told the leaders gathered in the Qatari capital.
He also said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “dreams of turning the Arab region into an Israeli sphere of influence, and this is a dangerous illusion”.
Updated
Marco Rubio to visit Qatar after Israeli strike on Doha
A US official has confirmed that the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will travel to Qatar on Tuesday, a week after Israel attempted to kill Hamas’s negotiating team while they were in Doha.
Rubio will stop in the Gulf country on his way to London where he will join Donald Trump on a state visit, the official said.
Qatar has condemned the strike in its capital as an act of “state terror”, with the international community, including the US, denouncing the bombing.
Hamas has said its top leaders survived the attack but some of its members were reportedly killed.
The US relationship with Israel remains unaffected despite Qatar being a close ally to Washington and acting as a key mediator of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
Updated
Gaza City is being gripped by famine caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid and the expanded assault will only deepen the widespread suffering of the civilian population there and could forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people, many of whom are ill or frail.
Families of Israeli hostages have pleaded that their loved ones not be “abandoned” and for no more living hostages to be “murdered in captivity” as a result of Israeli “military pressure”.
In a post on X, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the military must provide a “clear policy to the public and families”.
A total of 251 people were taken hostage and about 1,200 killed by Hamas in its cross-border attacks on 7 October 2023.
About 48 Israeli hostages, of whom 20 are reported to remain alive, are being held by Hamas in Gaza.
"We demand that the fate of our loved ones not be abandoned! The IDF must present a clear policy to the public and families: no more living hostages murdered in captivity as a result of military pressure, and no more bodies disappearing under rubble, losing any chance to locate… pic.twitter.com/IBD4qrEWZO
— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) September 15, 2025
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in a fight for his own political survival, has been accused of stalling on negotiations and thereby preventing a peace deal from being reached.
“We demand that the fate of our loved ones not be abandoned! The IDF must present a clear policy to the public and families: no more living hostages murdered in captivity as a result of military pressure, and no more bodies disappearing under rubble, losing any chance to locate them and return them for proper burial,” the social media post read.
“The Hostages and Missing Families Forum appealed this morning to Chief of Staff Zamir, demanding an urgent meeting with hostage families out of genuine concern for the fate of their loved ones in light of plans to execute Operation Chariots of Gideon II,” referring to the IDF’s plans to expand its deadly assault on Gaza City in defiance of international criticism.
Israel’s military has ordered 1 million people living and sheltering in Gaza City, the territory’s largest city, to leave before an expected ground offensive. Intense Israeli bombardments have levelled several neighbourhoods in the city in recent weeks.
Updated
Israel seeks to make Gaza City unliveable, says UN expert Francesca Albanese
UN expert Francesca Albanese on Monday warned that Israel’s assault on Gaza City would devastate Palestinians and that the city could be rendered unlivable.
“Israel is bombing using unconventional weapons ... it is trying to forcibly evacuate Palestinians. Why? This is the last piece of Gaza that needs to be rendered unlivable,” Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, told reporters in Geneva.
Britain has banned Israelis from attending a prestigious London defence studies college due to the escalation of the war in Gaza, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday, prompting an angry response from Israel.
While Britain remains a close ally of Israel’s, it has recently tried to pressure its government over the conflict, threatening in July to recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in the enclave.
The latest move means from next year Israeli students will be refused entry to the Royal College of Defence Studies, which offers a post-graduate course in international strategic studies to students from Britain and around the world.
Doctors and medical staff at the largest hospital still functioning in Gaza say they will be overwhelmed by a wave of new wounded and sick patients if hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee the north of the devastated territory in the face of an intensifying Israeli offensive.
Dr Mohammed Saqr, the director of nursing at the Nasser medical complex near Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, said there were not enough staff to cope with even existing demand and that supplies of medicine and fuel were running low.
“We have been working for more than 23 months in an emergency situation so we are all exhausted,” Saqr said in a voice note sent from the complex on Friday. “Some of us are still in Israeli jails and others were killed inside the hospital and outside and others had to leave [the] Gaza Strip to escape death, so our numbers are not like before the war.”
There appears little chance of any new ceasefire after Israel’s strike on Qatar last week. The attack targeted the leadership of Hamas, who were meeting in the Gulf state to consider new terms for a deal set out by Donald Trump.
Israel’s military has ordered 1 million people living and sheltering in Gaza City to leave before a new offensive. On Saturday the Israel Defense Forces said more than 250,000 people had already fled, though Gaza’s civil defence agency said the figure was closer to 68,000.
Footage and photographs published over the weekend showed exhausted families moving along the coastal road near Nuseirat, south of Gaza City, with their belongings stacked high in vehicles.
Guy Pearce, Annie Lennox and Vanessa Redgrave are among the celebrities calling for an end to the “normalised horror” of children being killed in Gaza, as part of new short film.
Released by Save the Children and Choose Love, it features the stars reciting the words to a poem by Michael Rosen. Titled Don’t Mention the Children, the poem was written in 2014 in response to a Guardian article about the Israeli government banning a radio advert naming children killed in Gaza. It begins:
Don’t mention the children.
Don’t name the dead children.
The people must not know the names
of the dead children.
“The first time I read Michael Rosen’s poem, not only was I profoundly moved, I was also in shock,” Pearce told the Guardian.
“Rosen’s brutal commands stare directly into our soul and force us to confront the cruelty of erasing a child, erasing their name, their memory and their life.”
Others featured include the actors Ambika Mod, Joely Richardson, Juliet Stevenson, Denise Gough, Khalid Abdalla, Zawe Ashton and Indira Varma; as well as the presenters Laura Whitmore and Nadia Sawalha, the model Poppy Delevingne, the emergency doctor Dr Mo Mustafa, the activist Stephen Kapos, and the poem’s creator, Michael Rosen.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday said Israel and Russia should be banned from international sports competitions until “barbaric acts” end, referring to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Sanchez said he condemned the violent protests by pro-Palestinian on Sunday in Madrid which disrupted the La Vuelta cycling race and ultimately led to the cancellation of the final leg and the podium ceremony.
UN Human Rights Council to hold urgent debate on Israeli airstrike on Qatar
The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate in Geneva on Tuesday on Israel’s 9 September attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, the council said on Monday.
The September 9 airstrike, which Hamas says killed five of its members but not its leadership, has prompted US-allied Gulf Arab states to close ranks, adding to strains in ties between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, which normalised relations in 2020.
The debate was requested by Pakistan on behalf of member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and by Kuwait on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Reuters reported.
The request came as leaders of Arab and Islamic states were meeting in Doha on Monday, where they were expected to warn that Israel’s attack on Qatar and other “hostile acts” threaten coexistence and efforts to normalise ties in the region, according to a draft resolution of that gathering.
The Israeli mission in Geneva described the decision to hold an urgent debate - the 10th of its kind since the Council’s creation in 2006 - as “absurd”.
“Any product it renders will be a stain on the human rights mechanisms,” the mission said in a statement.
That brings the press conference to a close, as Netanyahu takes a moment to acknowledge both his and Rubio’s staff who are sat in the front row.
The main takeaways from the event, which lasted just over half an hour, are that the US views international efforts to recognise the Palestinian state as a hindrance to peace efforts and that Netanyahu refuses to rule out future strikes on Hamas leaders – wherever they are.
However, almost a week on from that attack in Qatar, the Israeli prime minister was unable to say whether his forces successfully killed any of the Hamas leadership.
Rubio: international efforts to recognise Palestinian state makes it 'harder' to end war
Rubio says international efforts to recognise the Palestinian state “emboldens [Hamas]” and makes it harder to end the war.
He says the US has expressed this view to its allies, which includes the UK, France and Canada.
He warns that if Hamas sees it is getting support globally, it can walk away from deals it has “tacitly agreed to” and says it could put the release of Israeli hostages at risk.
Rubio describes Hamas as “barbaric animals” in relation to 7 October and says: “This is where this all began.”
Updated
Rubio says the US has strong relationships with its Gulf allies and that it is a “fundamental fact” that the people of Gaza deserve a peace that cannot happen until all Israeli hostages are released.
He swerves the BBC News reporter’s actual question about whether Israel’s attack on Qatar represents a “crisis in US diplomacy”.
Netanyahu compares the attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar to the American attack on Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
He says Israel is not “bringing down towers to intimidate people”, the towers “serve Hamas” and that they want to use civilians as human shields.
“We are telling them [citizens] to leave,” he says, and claims: “They shoot women and children in the legs … to keep them in harm’s way.”
He adds that the world’s media “should get their facts right” but does not answer the actual question, which was whether the operation killed any Hamas leaders.
Updated
The pair are now taking questions from journalists, with Rubio telling an Israeli reporter that he still believes Hamas can be disarmed.
The US is “not counting on” the military group “laying down its weapons” voluntarily, he says.
It may require a “concise military operation” to eliminate Hamas, Rubio adds, which he describes as “barbaric”.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio says the people of Gaza cannot live in peace until “Hamas is eliminated” and that it remains an objective.
He says the threat of Iran extends beyond the Gulf and into Europe, given the potential range of the missiles that the US believes Iran is developing.
Rubio says “whatever happens or has happened,” all Israeli hostages must be returned and that Hamas must be eliminated.
He reaffirms the US and Trump’s “unwavering commitment” as an ally of Israel.
The joint press conference between Rubio and Netanyahu has started with the latter saying that the US is Israel’s most reliable ally.
The Israeli prime minister tells journalists in Jerusalem that US president Donald Trump told him in a conversation recently: “Remember October 7.”
He says he wishes to extend personal gratitude to Trump and says “the American-Israeli alliance has never been stronger than it is now” and that “he is the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.”
“We will forever cherish this friendship,” Netanyahu tells Rubio.
Rubio and Netanyahu joint press conference due to begin shortly
US secretary of state Marco Rubio is due to hold a joint press conference with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem imminently.
You can follow along here, with the live stream due to start shortly:
And we will bring you any significant news lines here in the blog.
At least 16 Palestinians killed in two strikes on Gaza City
Israel destroyed a score of buildings in Gaza City, killing at least 16 Palestinians, local health authorities said on Monday, while US secretary of state Marco Rubio discussed the war with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Witnesses said strikes from the air and the ground hit several areas, spreading panic and prompting thousands to flee encampments established in streets and open areas, Reuters reported.
Israel says the offensive to take control of Gaza City is part of a plan to defeat Hamas for good, and that it has warned civilians to head south to a designated humanitarian zone.
However, the UN and numerous countries say its tactics amount to forced mass displacement and that conditions in the humanitarian zone are dire, with food in short supply.
“Do you know what is displacement? It is extracting the soul from your body, it is humiliation and another form of death,” said Ghada, 50, a mother of five from Sabra neighbourhood in Gaza City who was refusing to leave.
“They tell us to go south, and when we do, there is no guarantee they won’t bomb us there, so why bother?” she said via a chat app.
Israeli forces have been operating in at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, of which three have been largely razed. They are advancing on the centre and appear poised to move towards the west, where most of the displaced are sheltering.
Rubio in Israel for talks to limit diplomatic damage over Qatar strikes
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has held talks in Israel with Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at limiting the diplomatic damage to both countries by Israel’s attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar, its continued demolition of Gaza, and the accelerated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli prime minister took Rubio on a tour of the Western Wall, where both men placed written prayers between the stones, before taking his American visitor underground to view archeological excavations.
“This alliance has never been stronger,” Netanyahu told reporters. “It’s as strong, as durable as the stones in the Western Wall that we just touched.”
He paused in apparent expectation that the secretary of state would speak, but Rubio said nothing. Part of his mission on this two-day visit is to convey Donald Trump’s irritation at the Tuesday’s Israeli missile strike on Doha that was aimed at Hamas leadership but killed their aides and a Qatari security officer.
The attack has shaken faith among Washington’s allies in the Arab world that the US can protect them, and particularly infuriated Qatar, a close ally who the US has encouraged to host Hamas officials and broker negotiations.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Middle East crisis live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines throughout the day.
We start with news that Qatar is preparing to host a summit later today over Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha last week. It is hoping that a group of Arab and Islamic nations will offer a way to restrain Israel, AP reports.
The attack on Hamas leaders came as Qatar serves as a key mediator in an effort to reach a ceasefire in the war, something Doha insisted it will continue to do even after the assault.
“It is time for the international community to stop applying double standards and punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, told a meeting Sunday.
However, it remains unclear just what the summit will be able to achieve, given some nations already have diplomatic recognition deals with Israel and may be reluctant to sever ties.
“Considering the deep tensions between the Gulf states and other regional actors, assembling the summit in less than a week, especially given its scale, is a notable achievement that underscores a shared sense of urgency in the region,” the New York-based Soufan Center said.
“The key question is whether ... [the summit will] signal a shift toward more consequential measures against Israel, including diplomatic downgrades, targeted economic actions and restrictions on airspace and access.”
In other developments:
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has held talks in Israel with Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at limiting the diplomatic damage to both countries by Israel’s attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar, its continued demolition of Gaza, and the accelerated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli prime minister took Rubio on a tour of the Western Wall, where both men placed written prayers between the stones, before taking his American visitor underground to view archeological excavations.
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said on Sunday. Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the militant group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called the last bastion of the militant Palestinian group.
Doctors and medical staff at the largest hospital still functioning in Gaza say they will be overwhelmed by a wave of new wounded and sick patients if hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee the north of the devastated territory in the face of an intensifying Israeli offensive. Dr Mohammed Saqr, the director of nursing at the Nasser medical complex near Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, said there were not enough staff to cope with even existing demand and that supplies of medicine and fuel were running low.
A growing number of universities, academic institutions and scholarly bodies around the world are cutting links with Israeli academia amid claims that it is complicit in the Israeli government’s actions towards Palestinians. According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 63,000 people have been killed in the territory – the majority of them civilians – with the true toll likely far higher. UN-backed experts have confirmed parts of Gaza, much of which has been reduced to rubble, are now in a “man-made” famine.
Palestinian Oscar-winning director Basel Adra said Israeli soldiers conducted a raid at his home in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, searching for him and going through his wife’s phone. Israeli settlers attacked his village, injuring two of his brothers and one cousin, Adra told The Associated Press. He accompanied them to the hospital. While there, he said that he heard from family in the village that nine Israeli soldiers had stormed his home.
