Key events
Israel orders evacuations of former humanitarian safe zone in Gaza
The Israeli army ordered a fresh evacuation of areas in southern and central Gaza previously designated as a humanitarian safe zone on Friday, saying the areas had been used by Hamas as a base for firing mortars and rockets towards Israel.
It said warning flyers and text messages had been sent out in the area north of the southern city of Khan Younis and in the eastern part of Deir Al-Balah, where tens of thousands of people have sought shelter from fighting in other parts of Gaza.
“The advance warning to civilians is being issued in order to mitigate harm to the civilian population and to enable civilians to move away from the combat zone,” the military said in a statement seen by Reuters.
Earlier the military said it had hit an area in Khan Younis from where rockets were fired towards the community of Kissufim on Thursday, finding weapons including shoulder-fired missiles and explosives.
As they struggled to recover bodies from the ruins of yet another air strike on Thursday, Palestinians in north Gaza questioned why, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s team was in Qatar.
“Why did Netanyahu send a delegation to the talks while we are being killed here?” in Jabalia, Mohammed al-Balwi said as rescuers around him pulled bodies from the concrete wreckage.
They had found “limbs on the ground”, he told AFP.
Fears of a wider Middle East war have soared since the July 31 killing of Hamas political leader and truce negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran and its allied groups in the region blamed Israel and vowed revenge.
David Lammy and French minister to hold joint meeting with Israeli ministers
Foreign Secretary David Lammy is to take part in intensified efforts for international diplomacy to prevent the war in Gaza from spreading into a wider regional conflict today, with he and the French foreign minister making a joint trip to Israel while internationally mediated cease-fire talks in Qatar were expected to enter their second day.
The new push for an end to the Israel-Hamas war came as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza climbed past 40,000, according to Gaza health authorities, and fears remained high that Iran and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon would attack Israel in retaliation for the killings of top militant leaders.
“This is a dangerous moment for the Middle East,” Lammy said. “The risk of the situation spiraling out of control is rising. Any Iranian attack would have devastating consequences for the region.”
Lammy and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné were expected hold a joint meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.
A Jordanian citizen residing in Orlando, Florida, was charged with threatening to use explosives and destruction of an energy facility after threats against businesses for their perceived support of Israel, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Incidents of hate against Jews, Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians and Israelis in the U.S. have risen since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Israel subsequently launched its now more than 10-month old military assault on Hamas-governed Gaza that has caused a humanitarian crisis.
“We allege that the defendant threatened to carry out hate-fueled mass violence in our country, motivated in part by a desire to target businesses for their perceived support of Israel,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Thursday.
A 43-year-old man has been arrested and FBI Director Christopher Wray added that “the defendant allegedly attacked a power facility and threatened local businesses, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.”
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Negotiators were set to meet again in the Qatari capital Doha on Friday in an effort to hammer out a Gaza ceasefire agreement. A US official briefed on the discussions in Doha, who declined to be identified, told Reuters that Thursday’s talks were “constructive.”
“This is vital work. The remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we must bring this process to a close,” US national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House.
In a statement issued late on Thursday, Hamas politburo member Hossam Badran said Israel’s continuing operations in Gaza were an obstacle to progress on a ceasefire. Hamas officials did not join Thursday’s talks.
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Gaza’s health ministry said 40,005 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza after the 7 October attack by Hamas last year. In an update on Thursday, the ministry said 92,401 Palestinians had been injured. The majority of casualties are civilians, though Gaza’s health ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its figures.
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The UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, said the death toll in Gaza passing 40,000 is a “grim milestone”. Türk accused the Israeli army to repeatedly failing to “comply with the rules of war”. The numbers do not necessarily reflect all victims as many are still missing under the rubble, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
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The international charity ActionAid said it was “outraged and heartbroken” following the news that more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s offensive. It accused “most governments across the world” of having “refused to do the bare minimum to protect civilian life”, adding that it is “to our collective shame”.
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Dozens of Israeli settlers, some wearing masks, attacked a Palestinian village near the city of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, burning cars and killing at least one person. The Palestinian health ministry said one Palestinian was killed and another critically wounded by Israeli settlers’ gunfire during the attack in the village of Jit, the latest in a series of attacks by violent settlers in the West Bank.
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The Israeli military said police and army units intervened and arrested one Israeli. It condemned the attack, which it said diverted security forces from other responsibilities. It said it was examining reports about the death of the Palestinian. The office of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a statement saying he viewed the attack with “utmost severity”. “Those responsible for any offence will be apprehended and tried,” it said.