Israel-Hamas war LIVE: Hamas leadership ‘dead men walking – inside and outside Gaza’, IDF warns, as Israeli troops battle terrorists deep in the city

As Israeli troops enter Gaza City to crush Hamas militiamen and eradicate the terror group’s power base, the future of the Gaza Strip – and millions of Palestinians – hangs in the balance.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday declared that the Jewish state would assume ‘overall security responsibility’ for Gaza once Hamas is defeated – something that is likely to take months to achieve.

But his comments on what the future of Gaza under Tel-Aviv’s control would look like were very vague, sparking rampant speculation over the hard-right Israeli government’s plans for the embattled Palestinian territory.

MailOnline has spoken to experts who have given their take on what an Irsaeli occupation of the Gaza Strip might look like. Read the full story below…

More than 150 British nationals have left Gaza via the Rafah crossing as of Tuesday night, a Foreign Office minister said, PA reports.

Making a statement in the Commons on the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Andrew Mitchell said:

Immediately after Hamas’ brutal assault, the Government brought home almost 1,000 British nationals safely on charter and military flights, but the safety of all British nationals is our utmost priority and so we are in regular contact with those in Gaza registered with us since the conflict began. Working with partners, we have been engaging intensively with Israel and Egypt to allow foreign nationals to leave Gaza via the Rafah border crossing. This has proved possible on five of the last seven days and I can confirm to the House that as of late last night, over 150 British nationals have made it through to Egypt.

Mitchell also said the evacuees would be met with a team of consular officials, and that the UK has set up a reception centre in Cairo to recieve them.

A forward deployed team of consular officials is … close to Rafah to meet them and provide the medical consular and administrative support they need. We have also set up a reception centre for British nationals in Cairo and have arranged accommodation. We will do everything we can to ensure all remaining British nationals in Gaza can leave safely.

Reuters news agency is reporting that Italy is set to deploy a hospital ship near the Gaza coast, citing the country’s defence minister.

The ship will have 170 staff on board, it said.

Reports have previously suggested countries were considering this as an option to help alleviate the deepening humanitarian crisis in the strip.

This is a breaking news update. More to follow…

Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has said the IDF extended the evacuation window from north Gaza by an hour.

‘Due to the substantial response, the IDF has extended the evacuation corridor by an extra hour, until 15:00 today (1300 GMT), allowing many more Gazans to move south for their safety,’ the division of the Israeli military said on X (formerly Twitter).

As many as 15,000 people fled the north of Gaza Strip yesterday, according to UN figures, with numbers rising each day.

The Israeli military has released footage of Israeli airstrikes destroying a Hamas target where terrorists had launched anti-tank missiles at soldiers.

The strikes destroyed the building, which was connected by an underground passage to a munitions warehouse, and killed terrorists who had fled to the roof of the building.

Qatar is negotiating the release of some hostages in return for Gaza ceasefire, according to a source briefed on the talks.

This is a breaking news update, more to follow…

Israel’s military today said it had extended the operation of its ‘evacuation corridor’ where Palestinians will be able to move from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south by one hour.

The corridor was supposed to close at 2pm local time but will now be open until 3pm local time (1pm GMT).

Earlier, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari posted footage which he claimed showed scores of Palestinians moving from the north to the south.

Israel today said it killed a Hamas weapons boss and cornered the mastermind of the horrific October 7 massacre in his bunker as Israeli forces continue to advance ‘deep inside’ Gaza City.

Israeli airstrikes ‘eliminated’ leading Hamas armourer Mahsein Abu Zina and several terrorists who were attacking IDF troops with ground-to-ground rocket fire, the military said today.

Israeli troops also managed to corner Yahya Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader in Gaza and believed to be a key planner of the October 7 attacks that left 1,400 Israelis dead, in his bunker.

Sinwar’s fate is not yet known but Israel’s coordinated attacks on Hamas’s stronghold in the north of the Gaza Strip comes as the Israeli military warned the terror leaders they are ‘dead men walking’.

Israeli troops are now advancing ‘deep inside’ Gaza City where they are fighting intense and bloody battles against Hamas terrorists.

Read our full report by clicking the link below.

Israeli representatives will not participate at a Thursday ‘humanitarian conference’ for Gaza in Paris organised by French President Emmanuel Macron, his office said, according to AFP news agency.

Like other governments, Israel nevertheless has ‘an interest in the humanitarian situation improving in Gaza’, an official in Macron’s office, who asked not to be named, told reporters today.

Yesterday, Macron spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the pair will talk again once the aid conference is over, the Elysee Palace added.

The pace of Palestinians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up pace in recent days as Israel’s air and ground campaign intensifies, UN figures reported by AP suggest.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that about 15,000 people fled on Tuesday.

That is compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday.

Israel has been opening humanitarian evacuation corridors down Gaza’s main highway in an attempt to persuade Palestinians still living in the north to flee to the south, which is seen as being slightly safer.

However, the UN and Palestinian officials in the territory have said thousands are still in the north of Gaza as fighting rages in the city.

The corridor has been opening between 10am and 2pm local time (0800GMT and 1200GMT), meaning Wednesday’s corridor will be closing shortly.

Footage shared by Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, an Israeli military division that deals with civilian engagement, posted another video showing hundreds of people walking down the corridor.

In the clip, men, women and children can be seen waving white flags and taking with them only what they could carry. Satellite images over the corridor on Tuesday also showed a stream of people making their way from Gaza’s north to south.

At least 10,569 Palestinians including 4,324 children, have been killed and 26,457 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Wednesday.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said all roads are closed heading to the al-Quds hospital and that ‘medical teams are unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured persons’ due to ‘Israeli bombardment’.

The IDF said it had arrested 37 people in the West Bank last night and seized ‘many’ weapons belonging to Hamas.

The Israeli military said 10 of those arrested were associated with the terror group Hamas.

Two heartbroken fathers have described how they have been living a nightmare ever since their daughters were taken from them by Hamas during the terror groups’ bloodthirsty raid on Israel.

Thomas Hand, whose eight-year-old daughter Emily is thought to be among the 240 hostages held by Hamas, today pleaded with the terror group to ‘show humanity’ and release the little girl in time for her ninth birthday in two weeks.

For Nissim Louk, he spent weeks helplessly hoping that his daughter Shani Louk had survived the Hamas terrorist attack on the Nova electronic festival.

After weeks of waiting, Mr Louk and his heartbroken wife Ricarda were told by Israeli soldiers they had found Shani’s skull and she had been killed ‘on the spot’ by Hamas terrorists as she fled the festival in her car with friends.

For Mr Louk, that has provided some sense of solace – to know that his daughter isn’t suffering unknown horrors at the hands of Hamas terrorists.

Read the full report by clicking the link below.

Israeli ‘security responsibility’ in Gaza should only be temporary, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has cautioned at the G7 meeting in Japan.

It comes after PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would maintain ‘overall security responsibility’ in Gaza for an ‘indefinite period’ after defeating Hamas.

Mr Cleverly indicated that the UK wanted a ‘peace-loving Palestinian leadership’ in the strip, suggesting he agreed with the US over any reoccupation of Gaza.

The United States is opposed to any reoccupation of the territory, from which Israel removed soldiers and settlers in 2005. The US has suggested that a revitalised Palestinian Authority (PA) could govern Gaza.

But the internationally recognised PA, whose forces were driven out of Gaza by Hamas 16 years ago, says it would only do so as part of a solution that creates a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

According to Press Association, Mr Cleverly said today:

What we’re seeing at the moment is an Israeli military operation in Gaza. Their explicit aim is to remove Hamas as the government of Gaza. The UK Government’s position has long been that we want to see a Palestinian leadership for the Palestinian people, committed to peace and committed to a two state solution. In the short term, it is inevitable that Israel, because they have the troops in Gaza, will need to have a security responsibility. But our view is as soon as practicable, a move towards a peace-loving Palestinian leadership is the most desired outcome. The UK position is clear. It is unchanging. We want to see a two-state solution where a Palestinian state and an Israeli state are living side by side in peace and prosperity.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he will hold London’s Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley ‘accountable’ for his decision to greenlight a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Armistice Day, PA reports.

The pair will meet later on Wednesday, he added.

Speaking during a visit to a school in Lincolnshire, the PM told broadcasters:

This is a decision that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has made. He has said that he can ensure that we safeguard remembrance for the country this weekend as well as keep the public safe. Now, my job is to hold him accountable for that. We’ve asked the police for information on how they will ensure that this happens. I’ll be meeting the Metropolitan Police Commissioner later today to discuss this. More broadly, my view is that these marches are disrespectful and that’s what I’ll be discussing with the police commissioner later today.

IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has shared a video of what he said shows an Israeli attack on a Hezbollah target last night.

The landscape filmed from the air is quickly illuminated by a flash, followed by huge ball of fire that rises into the sky.

The blast is shown for a second time, this time with a thermal imaging camera.

It was not clear from Hagari’s post on social media what the target was, but the size of the explosion suggests it could have been ammunition or explosives.

In Jerusalem last night, sobs pierced memorial ceremonies and crowds lit candles while mourning the victims of Hamas’s attack a month ago.

‘There’s not one person not impacted by these horrible attacks,’ said 52-year-old Sharon Balaban, one of thousands of Israelis attending the vigils.

‘Everyone knows somebody who was hurt, killed, murdered or impacted.’

Tel Aviv also hosted a candlelight vigil around photos of the hostages at Habima Square. Some people wept, some sang or prayed.

‘I came to look at the faces of the hostages, to feel part of it. … I want to be by the sides of the families whose loved ones are’ in Gaza, said Valeria Nesterov.

In addition to his comments earlier (see update at 09:10) in which he said the White House did not support an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has hinted at support for a ‘traistion period’ after the war.

‘Gaza cannot be continued to be run by Hamas,’ he said.

‘That simply invites repetition of 7 October. It is also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza. Now, the reality is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict. We don’t see a reoccupation and what I’ve heard from Israeli leaders, is that they have no intent to reoccupy Gaza.’

Air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed a top Hamas weapons maker and several fighters, the Israeli military said on Wednesday, as its air and ground offensive targeted the militants’ vast tunnel network beneath the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Gaza City, the Hamas militant group’s main stronghold in the territory, is encircled by Israeli forces. The military said troops have advanced to the heart of the densely-populated city while Hamas says its fighters have inflicted heavy losses.

The Israeli military statement said two separate strikes eliminated a leading Hamas armorer, Mahsein Abu Zina, and fighters engaged in anti-tank or ground-to-ground rocket fire.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said a humanitarian convoy carrying medical supplies came under fire in Gaza City on Tuesday, AFP reports.

The incident leaving two trucks damaged and a driver lightly wounded. The ICRC did not specify who had fired at its convoy or from what direction the fire came.

‘These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work,’ said William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza.

Separately, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Tuesday one of its employees was killed in Gaza along with several family members.

Mohammed Al Ahel, a laboratory technician, was killed in his home in the Shati refugee camp, MSF said.

G7 foreign ministers have said they support ‘humanitarian pauses and corridors’ in the Israel-Hamas war, but have refrained from calling for a ceasefire.

The ministers said in a joint statement after talks in Japan:

We stress the need for urgent action to address the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza… we support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement, and the release of hostages.

The statement also said the ministers ’emphasise Israel’s right to defend itself and its people in accordance with international law as it seeks to prevent a recurrence’ of the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, and urged Iran to refrain from supporting Hamas and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

We call on Iran to refrain from providing support for Hamas and taking further actions that destabilize the Middle East, including support for Lebanese Hezbollah and other non-state actors, and to use its influence with those groups to de-escalate regional tensions.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has said Israel should not ‘reoccupy’ Gaza when the war with Hamas has ended.

His statement followed comments by Isreal’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night, who said Israel would maintain ‘overall security responsibility’ in Gaza for an ‘indefinite period’ after defeating Hamas.

The US state department also said it opposed any reoccuppation.

‘Generally speaking, we do not support the reoccupation of Gaza and neither does Israel,’ State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

‘Our viewpoint is that Palestinians must be at the forefront of these decisions and Gaza is Palestinian land.’

Israel removed its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005.

Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing south on foot with only what they can carry after running out of food and water in the north, a United Nations agency said Wednesday, as Israel said its troops were battling Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City.

• Over 70 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have already fled their homes, but the growing numbers making their way south point to an increasingly desperate situation in and around Gaza’s largest city, which has come under heavy Israeli bombardment.
• About 15,000 people fled northern Gaza on Tuesday – triple the number that left Monday – according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. They are using Gaza’s main north-south highway during a daily four-hour window announced by Israel.
• Those fleeing include children, older people and people with disabilities, and most walked with minimal belongings, the U.N. agency said. Some say they had to cross Israeli checkpoints, where they saw people being arrested, while others held their hands in the air and raised white flags while passing Israeli tanks.
• Residents reported loud explosions overnight into Wednesday across Gaza City and in its Shati refugee camp, which houses Palestinian families who fled from or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its establishment.
• ‘The bombings were heavy and close,’ said Mohamed Abed, who lives in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood. He said residents panicked when they heard the news late Tuesday that Israeli ground forces were fighting deep inside the city.

Israeli troops are battling Hamas terrorists deep inside Gaza City, according to the IDF, as thousands of Palestinians flee south on foot with only what they can carry.

Retaliating for a deadly October 7 attack by Hamas gunmen, Israeli soldiers have been advancing towards the heart of the city, which was home to 650,000 people before the war and is Hamas’ stronghold in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Underlining Israel’s determination to destroy Hamas, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant described Gaza City as ‘the largest terrorist base ever built’. Israel says Hamas has its central command and a vast labyrinth of tunnels built under the city.

Separately, Jonathan Conricus – the acting spokesperson for the Israeli military, described the Hamas leadership both inside and outside of Gaza as ‘dead men walking’ when speaking to Sky News Australia.

Read our full report by clicking the link below…

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s liveblog covering the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. As the conflict enters its 33rd day, here’s what you need to know:

• Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 10,300 people have been killed in the territory since the war began on October 7, when the group attacked Israel and killed over 1,400 people and took 240 more hostage.
• Israeli troops are now battling Hamas terrorists deep inside Gaza City as they continue with their ground operation into the strip. The dense metropolis is home to Hamas’s stronghold in the north of the coastal strip.
• Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said soldiers ‘are in the heart of Gaza City,’ adding Israel was ‘tightening the noose’ on the terror group. Hamas’ most senior leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was isolated in his bunker, Gallant said.
• Thousands of Palestinians evacuated from the north of Gaza to the south of Tuesday, heeding Israel’s warning to move to the safer part of the territory
• The Hamas-run interior ministry said 900,000 Palestinians were still sheltering in northern Gaza, including in Gaza City, as troops close in
• The UN says the north has been without running water for weeks, and hospitals running low on supplies are performing surgeries – including amputations – without anaesthesia
• Palestinian health officials said at least 23 people were killed in two Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday in the southern Gaza
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that Israel would maintain ‘overall security responsibility’ in Gaza for an ‘indefinite period’ after defeating Hamas
• The US is opposed to Israel’s reoccupation of the territory
• Meanwhile, in Israel, Israelis marked one month since the Hamas attack with candlelit vigils around photos of the hostages taken by Hamas