Gaza without Hamas is a ‘delusion’, says militant group’s leader
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has said any plan for post-war Gaza that does not involve the Palestinian militant group is just a “delusion”.
“Any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion,” Haniyeh said in a televised speech on Wednesday.
Agence France-Presse also reports that his comments came a day after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would not allow “the entry into Gaza of those who … support terrorism and finance terrorism”.
Haniyeh, however, said he was open for talks for ending the Israeli assault and “putting the Palestinian house in order both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip”.
He said Hamas was ready for talks that could lead to a “political path that secures the right of the Palestinian people to their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital”.
Key events
Here are some of the latest images coming in from Gaza and Israel as Israeli forces continued their bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza in its war with Hamas since 7 October have been unguided, otherwise known as “dumb bombs,” a new US intelligence assessment says, according to a report by CNN.
The network’s report says:
The assessment, compiled by the office of the director of national intelligence and described to CNN by three sources who have seen it, says that about 40-45% of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used have been unguided. The rest have been precision-guided munitions, the assessment says.
Unguided munitions are typically less precise and can pose a greater threat to civilians, especially in such a densely populated area like Gaza. The rate at which Israel is using the dumb bombs may be contributing to the soaring civilian death toll.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said Israel has been engaged in “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza.
Asked for comment on the assessment, Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson Nir Dinar told CNN: “We do not address the type of munitions used.”
Maj Keren Hajioff, an Israeli spokesperson, said on Wednesday that “as a military committed to international law and a moral code of conduct, we are devoting vast resources to minimising harm to the civilians that Hamas has forced into the role of human shields. Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza.”
But experts told CNN that if Israel is using unguided munitions at the rate the US believes they are, that undercuts the Israeli claim that they are trying to minimize civilian casualties.
“I’m extremely surprised and concerned,” said Brian Castner, a former explosive ordnance disposal officer who now serves as Amnesty International’s senior crisis adviser on arms and military operations.
He said:
It’s bad enough to be using the weapons when they are precisely hitting their targets. It is a massive civilian harm problem if they do not have that accuracy, and if you can’t even give a benefit of the doubt that that the weapon is actually landing where the Israeli forces intended to.
Israeli strike in Rafah kills 24, Hamas media says, as Gaza barrage continues
Israel kept up its barrage of the Gaza Strip on Thursday despite intensifying international calls to reduce civilian casualties and address a mounting humanitarian catastrophe.
Reuters reports that in central Rafah, in the south, 24 people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit two houses, according to Hamas media early on Thursday.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Palestinian health ministry.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who is visiting the region and will be in Israel on Thursday and Friday, would discuss with the Israelis the need to be more precise with their strikes against Hamas targets, spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
Sullivan met with officials of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and discussed “broader diplomatic efforts to maintain stability across the region and prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from expanding”, another US official said.
The conflict was sparked when Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 Israelis and seizing 240 hostages. Since then, Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 18,608 people and injured 50,594, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The coastal strip is now facing a public health disaster due to the collapse of its health system and the spread of disease, the UN humanitarian office said.
Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territory, said:
We’ve got a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster.
Gaza without Hamas is a ‘delusion’, says militant group’s leader
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has said any plan for post-war Gaza that does not involve the Palestinian militant group is just a “delusion”.
“Any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion,” Haniyeh said in a televised speech on Wednesday.
Agence France-Presse also reports that his comments came a day after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would not allow “the entry into Gaza of those who … support terrorism and finance terrorism”.
Haniyeh, however, said he was open for talks for ending the Israeli assault and “putting the Palestinian house in order both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip”.
He said Hamas was ready for talks that could lead to a “political path that secures the right of the Palestinian people to their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital”.
The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has met with the Saudi crown prince and prime minister, Mohammed bin Salman, in Riyadh and they discussed the humanitarian response in Gaza, including efforts to increase the flow of critical aid, Reuters quoted the White House as saying.
Sullivan will also head to Israel this week to discuss a timetable for the Israel-Gaza war – and what happens if Hamas is defeated – with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reports have said.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war – I’m Adam Fulton and I’ll be with you for the next couple of hours.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has said any plan for post-war Gaza that does not involve the Palestinian militant group is “a delusion”.
He said in a televised speech: “Any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion.”
The comments from the militant group’s most senior political leader came a day after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he would not allow “the entry into Gaza of those who … support terrorism and finance terrorism”.
Netanyahu said later that the military would fight on, telling soldiers in Gaza over radio: “I say this in the face of great pain but also in the face of international pressures – nothing will stop us.”
Haniyeh, however, said he was open for talks for ending the Israeli assault and “putting the Palestinian house in order both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip”.
More on that story shortly. In other news as it just passes 7am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv:
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The White House went on the defensive over President Joe Biden’s comments to Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing” and that Netanyahu should change his hard-right dominated government. US security spokesman John Kirby tried to play down the remarks when asked if Biden’s comments were the official position of the US government.
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Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant acknowledged the differences with the US but said he was confident the two sides would find a way for Israel’s military operation to continue. Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen said earlier that his country would continue its war in Gaza “with or without international support”.
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The Biden administration is delaying the sale of more than 20,000 US-made rifles to Israel over concerns about attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, two sources familiar with the matter have said. The state department sent an informal notification for the sale to Congress several weeks ago but the sale has not gone ahead, despite being cleared by Senate and House committees.
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Israel has announced its worst combat losses in six weeks after an ambush in the ruins of Gaza, saying on Wednesday that 10 of its soldiers had been killed over the past 24 hours. Two senior Israeli commanders and seven other soldiers were killed by Hamas in a complex ambush in the Gaza City suburb of Shejaiya, in one of the most lethal incidents for Israeli soldiers during the two-month-long war.
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The head of the United Nations relief and works agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said conditions in Gaza were “a living hell”. Philippe Lazzarini told a meeting of the UN global refugee forum in Geneva that his third visit to Gaza since 7 October was distressing. “There is no more food to buy, even for those who can pay. In the shops, the shelves are empty,” he said. Lazzarini’s comments came amid fears of a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in the territory as heavy winter rains and cool weather hits the region.
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Israel’s army website was briefly hacked on Wednesday by a pro-Palestinian group that warned of more attacks against Israeli forces, including further cyber-attacks.
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Family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza say they are “shocked” by a report that Israel’s war cabinet has decided against sending the head of Mossad to Qatar for negotiations on a new hostage deal and are demanding an “immediate explanation” from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Times of Israel is reporting.
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US president Joe Biden was “moved” by a White House meeting with families of some of the eight US hostages being held by Hamas, said John Kirby, the US security spokesman. Secretary of state Antony Blinken was also present. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, told reporters: “It was a terrific meeting and conversation.”
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A United Nations study said economic cost of the war on Arab neighbours Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan could rise to at least $10bn (£7.9bn) this year and push more than 230,000 people into poverty. The cost for the three states in terms of loss of GDP may amount to $10.3bn, or 2.3%, and could double if the conflict lasts another six months, the UN development program (UNDP) paper saus.