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The UN secretary general has invoked a rarely used article to push for a ceasefire; Israeli military says job is to ‘find Sinwar and kill him’
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war with me, Reged Ahmad. It’s currently 6:45am in Gaza and Tel Aviv.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has invoked a rarely used clause in the UN charter to warn that the conflict “may aggravate existing threats to international peace and security”. Guterres, in a letter to the Security Council, said he expects “public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions” in Gaza as the territory comes under constant bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In response, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said Guterres “reached a new moral low” and once again called for the UN chief to resign.
Israeli forces have surrounded the Gaza house of top Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, Benjamin Netanyahu has said. “It’s only a matter of time before we get him,” the Israeli prime minister said on Wednesday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sinwar, who Israeli officials have described as the architect of the 7 October attacks, is hiding underground. A senior Netanyahu adviser described the operation as a “symbolic victory”.
Israeli forces and Hamas are fighting house-to-house battles along the length of the Gaza Strip. As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been fighting their way through badly bomb-damaged urban areas in northern and southern Gaza, Hamas has increasingly relied on improvised bombs to inflict casualties and slow down the assault. The focal points of the fighting over the past two days have been the Jabalia refugee camp and the Shuja’iyya district in northern Gaza, and Khan Younis and Bani Suheila in the south.
Israeli forces have surrounded the city of Khan Younis are now operating “in the heart” of the southern Gaza city, the IDF said on Wednesday. The IDF called on residents of Khan Younis to flee the city for safer areas on Wednesday morning, noting that there would be a pause until 2pm in the bombardment of Rafah, immediately to the south on the Egyptian border. Residents reported that the IDF dropped leaflets quoting a verse in the Qur’an on the area. The UN and aid agencies say nowhere in Gaza is safe any more.
The United States has discussed with Israel its timeline for military operations in Gaza and “how this falls into a longer-term strategy for addressing this issue that goes beyond just military means,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has told Reuters in a telephone interview. “We have talked to them about timetables. I don’t want to share that because Israel has already kind of telegraphed precisely the location of its ground operation and I don’t want to be the one telegraphing timetables”
British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will use a trip to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to push for humanitarian aid to be delivered faster, including by sea directly into Gaza, his office said on Thursday. “We are working to find the best way to get aid and support to those in desperate need in the quickest and most direct route. That includes options by land, sea and air,” Shapps said.
Gaza’s health ministry has said 1,207 Palestinians had been killed since the collapse of a temporary ceasefire at the beginning of the month, and that 70% of the dead were women and children. At least 16,248 people, including 7,112 children and 4,885 women, in Gaza since 7 October, according to a statement from the Hamas media office on Tuesday. There are reported to be more than 7,600 people missing. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures issued during the conflict. The Gaza ministry said more than 100 bodies were currently awaiting burial inside the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, which it said was without fuel and was coming under fire.
Israel’s security cabinet has agreed to allow a “minimal addition” of fuel for entry to the Gaza Strip “to prevent a humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of disease” in the territory’s south, a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office said on Wednesday. The “minimal amount” will be determined by the war cabinet, it said.
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