Middle East crisis live: Iran sounds warning on Israeli ‘aggression’ in Lebanon
Supporters of Iran-backed Hezbollah chant slogans in Beirut.
LIVE – Updated at 12:01
Islamic republic’s UN mission says an ‘obliterating war will ensue’ if Israel launches ‘full-scale military aggression’ in Lebanon.
Lunchtime summary
12:01
At least 37,834 Palestinians have been killed and 86,858 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The United States has proposed new language for parts of the proposed hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in an effort to reach a deal, Axios reported on Friday, citing three sources with direct knowledge.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations has warned that if Israel embarks on a “full-scale military aggression” in Lebanon, “an obliterating war will ensue”. The Iranian mission also said in the post on X on Friday that in such an event, “all options, incl. the full involvement of all resistance fronts, are on the table”.
Israeli forces deepened their incursion into two northern and southern areas of Gaza on Friday, and Palestinian health officials said tank shelling in Rafah killed at least 11 people. Residents and Hamas media said tanks advanced further west into the Shakoush neighbourhood of Rafah, forcing thousands of displaced people there to leave their tent camps and head northward to nearby Khan Younis.
Airstrikes hit five homes in Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighbourhood, killing at least three people and injuring another six, civil defence responders said. Rescuers were still digging through the rubble for survivors, it said. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said the number killed in Shijaiyah by Israeli strikes was at least seven.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it conducted several strikes in northern Gaza and that “dozens of terrorists who were hiding in Unrwa schools and facilities were eliminated”. It also said a fighter jet struck a Hamas operative in a building in central Gaza’s Deir al Balah, within the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone”. Ahead of the strike, it said, it worked to evacuate the civilian population from the area of the building.
Israeli soldiers have destroyed 11 homes and other structures in an isolated community in the West Bank, leaving 50 people homeless, amid a reported increase in house demolitions and spiralling violence in the occupied territory. Contractors with bulldozers accompanied by IDF troops arrived in Umm al-Kheir, a village mostly home to shepherds, on Wednesday and about a third of the village’s infrastructure was destroyed.
An intervention by the UK government at the international criminal court is expected to delay a decision over whether an arrest warrant can be issued against Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, for alleged war crimes in Gaza. ICC judges ruled on Thursday they would allow the UK to make legal arguments in the case as they consider whether to approve requests made by the ICC’s chief prosecutor for warrants against Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
The Biden administration has sent Israel large numbers of munitions – including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles – since the start of the war in Gaza, Reuters reported two US officials as saying. Between October and recent days, the US has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 small-diameter bombs, and other munitions, according to the officials, who had been briefed on an updated list of weapons shipments but were not authorised to speak publicly. The officials didn’t give a timeline for the shipments but the totals suggest there has been no significant drop-off in US military support for its ally, despite a recent administration decision to pause a shipment of powerful bombs.
Accumulating garbage and sewage across Gaza, combined with hot temperatures and a lack of clean water, are accelerating the spread of diseases, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has warned. “The stench in Gaza is enough to make you kind of immediately nauseous,” Sam Rose, a director at Unrwa, told the Associated Press. Hepatitis A cases are rising and doctors fear a cholera outbreak is likely.
US forces destroyed seven drones and a control station vehicle in Houthi-controlled areas of in Yemen over the past 24 hours, the US military said on Friday. The drones and the vehicle “presented an imminent threat to US coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region”, US Central Command posted on X.
A senior Palestinian official has rejected a move by Israel’s hardline finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who said the Israeli government would promote West Bank settlements and punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority in response to Palestinian moves against Israel on the international stage. Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said the settlements were “illegal colonies that violate all international resolutions”.
11:12
10:10
At least 37,834 Palestinians have been killed and 86,858 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
09:41Harry Davies
In case you missed it, an intervention by the UK government at the international criminal court is expected to delay a decision over whether an arrest warrant can be issued against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Judges at the ICC ruled on Thursday they would allow the UK to make legal arguments in the case as they consider whether to approve requests made by the ICC’s chief prosecutor for warrants against Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
According to court papers, after the prosecutor made the requests the UK argued that the judges hearing the case must address “outstanding” questions about the ICC’s jurisdiction over Israeli citizens before deciding whether to issue the warrants.
The decision to allow the UK to submit arguments in the case has caused concern among some international law experts that Britain’s intervention is politically motivated and an attempt to reopen legal issues many argue have previously been settled.
09:15
08:37
The United States has proposed new language for parts of the proposed hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in an effort to reach a deal, Axios reported on Friday, citing three sources with direct knowledge.
Opening summary
08:14
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and wider Middle East crisis. Here’s a snapshot of the latest news.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations has warned that if Israel embarks on a “full-scale military aggression” in Lebanon, “an obliterating war will ensue”.
The Iranian mission also said in the post on X on Friday that in such an event, “all options, incl. the full involvement of all resistance fronts, are on the table”.
The assault ship USS Wasp entered the eastern Mediterranean Sea this week as the US positions warships to try to keep fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia from escalating into a wider war in the Middle East.
In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, the US military’s aid pier has once again been removed because of sea conditions. The Pentagon also said on Friday that it did not make sense for it to return until aid was moved from a nearby marshalling area to people in Gaza.
In other developments:
Israeli forces deepened their incursion into two northern and southern areas of Gaza on Friday, and Palestinian health officials said tank shelling in Rafah killed at least 11 people. Residents and Hamas media said tanks advanced further west into the Shakoush neighbourhood of Rafah, forcing thousands of displaced people there to leave their tent camps and head northward to nearby Khan Younis.
Airstrikes hit five homes in Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighbourhood, killing at least three people and injuring another six, civil defence responders said. Rescuers were still digging through the rubble for survivors, it said. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said the number killed in Shijaiyah by Israeli strikes was at least seven.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it conducted several strikes in northern Gaza and that “dozens of terrorists who were hiding in Unrwa schools and facilities were eliminated”. It also said a fighter jet struck a Hamas operative in a building in central Gaza’s Deir al Balah, within the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone”. Ahead of the strike, it said, it worked to evacuate the civilian population from the area of the building.
Israeli soldiers have destroyed 11 homes and other structures in an isolated community in the West Bank, leaving 50 people homeless, amid a reported increase in house demolitions and spiralling violence in the occupied territory. Contractors with bulldozers accompanied by IDF troops arrived in Umm al-Kheir, a village mostly home to shepherds, on Wednesday and about a third of the village’s infrastructure was destroyed.
An intervention by the UK government at the international criminal court is expected to delay a decision over whether an arrest warrant can be issued against Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, for alleged war crimes in Gaza. ICC judges ruled on Thursday they would allow the UK to make legal arguments in the case as they consider whether to approve requests made by the ICC’s chief prosecutor for warrants against Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
The Biden administration has sent Israel large numbers of munitions – including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles – since the start of the war in Gaza, Reuters reported two US officials as saying. Between October and recent days, the US has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 small-diameter bombs, and other munitions, according to the officials, who had been briefed on an updated list of weapons shipments but were not authorised to speak publicly. The officials didn’t give a timeline for the shipments but the totals suggest there has been no significant drop-off in US military support for its ally, despite a recent administration decision to pause a shipment of powerful bombs.
Accumulating garbage and sewage across Gaza, combined with hot temperatures and a lack of clean water, are accelerating the spread of diseases, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has warned. “The stench in Gaza is enough to make you kind of immediately nauseous,” Sam Rose, a director at Unrwa, told the Associated Press. Hepatitis A cases are rising and doctors fear a cholera outbreak is likely.
US forces destroyed seven drones and a control station vehicle in Houthi-controlled areas of in Yemen over the past 24 hours, the US military said on Friday. The drones and the vehicle “presented an imminent threat to US coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region”, US Central Command posted on X.
A senior Palestinian official has rejected a move by Israel’s hardline finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who said the Israeli government would promote West Bank settlements and punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority in response to Palestinian moves against Israel on the international stage. Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said the settlements were “illegal colonies that violate all international resolutions”.