Israel Hamas war live: Gaza is 24 hours from ‘catastrophe’, warns WHO

There is no doubt the heinous massacres carried out by Hamas in Israeli communities were war crimes, writes Donald Macintyre. But is Israel’s response proportionate, legal or – in the eyes of the world – legitimate?

Mr Higgins said the EU Commission president was “not speaking for Ireland and she wasn’t speaking for the opinions that they hold”.

He was speaking at the World Food Forum in Rome, where he joined criticism of Ms von der Leyen’s comments on the Middle East conflict where she did not urge Israel to ensure its retaliation for the Hamas attacks conforms with international law.

Read more on the criticism from the Irish president here:

The UN Security Council met on Monday evening to vote on rival Russian and Brazilian resolutions that reflect deep divisions over the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict and the latest Hamas’ attacks and Israeli retaliation.

But immediately after the meeting was gaveled to order, the United Arab Emirates ambassador, Lana Nusseibeh, asked for members to go into closed consultations, and the 15 council ambassadors left the room. Several diplomats said they wanted a delay in the vote, especially on the Brazil resolution.

They range from babies to the elderly. Most are civilians. Israel says at least 199 people taken during the Hamas attack are being held captive in Gaza.

Some of their families received frantic phone calls or texts during the attack. Others heard nothing and later saw video evidence their loved ones were taken.

For now, they wait, desperate to find out whether the hostages are even alive. And they tell their stories. Here are some of them.

Two teenage sisters are among the British citizens still missing following Hamas’s attacks on Israel as efforts continue to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

According to reports, the girls, named only as Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, disappeared from their home in Kibbutz Be’eri after it was stormed by militants and their mother Lianne was killed.

Rishi Sunak told MPs on Monday at least six Britons were killed and a further 10 missing in the “pogrom” on 7 October and called for the immediate release of the around 200 hostages taken by the militant group.

Last week, Republican officials and right-wing figures amplified warnings of a “global day of jihad” across social media platforms, joining the already-toxic flood of viral mis- and disinformation from the fog of the Israel-Hamas war.

After growing increasingly concerned for his safety after listening to right-wing media and fearing a “day of jihad” attack against him, a 71-year-old landlord attacked the Palestinian-American tenants in their home, according to prosecutors in Illinois.

Joseph Czuba fatally stabbed a six-year-old boy 26 times and severely injured his mother, who was stabbed at least a dozen times, according to law enforcement officials. Wadea Al-Fayoume was buried on 16 October.

False claims about a “global day of jihad” joined increasingly violent on- and offline rhetoric surrounding the crisis in Gaza, with members of Congress calling on Israel’s military to “level” the Palestinian territory and prominent far-right personalities calling on Americans to arm themselves.

More in this report from my colleague Alex Woodward:

Richard Madeley has come under heavy criticism after comparing Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza to innocent Germans bombed by Britain during the Second World War.

The Good Morning Britain presenter sparked controversy on Monday (16 October) during a discussion on the Israel-Hamas war, which has so far claimed the lives of 2,750 Palestinians from aerial strikes in reponse to a terror attack on Israel ten days ago.

Madeley asked his co-host Susanna Reid if it was “fair” to draw a “parallel” between the deaths of civilians in Palestine and the deaths of German civilians in Nazi Germany.

President Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced early on Tuesday morning from Tel Aviv.

It will include meetings with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as a stop the same day in Amman, Jordan, for discussions with King Abdullah, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, which partially governs the West Bank, according to the White House.

A lack of clean water in the Gaza Strip is raising major concerns for human health.

“Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life,” said Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the U.N. agency for Palestinians.

Gaza normally gets its water supplies from a combination of sources, including a pipeline from Israel, desalination plants on the Mediterranean Sea and wells. Those supplies were slashed when Israel cut off water, along with the fuel and electricity that power water and sewage plants, in the wake of the Hamas attacks.

The prime minister, the leader of the opposition, the leader of the SNP parliamentary group, the Liberal Democrat Layla Moran and others spoke eloquently and movingly for the nation as a whole, and the people suffering in Gaza and Israel.

The critics of Israeli policy were temperate and the prime minister careful in his language about Israel’s right to defend itself. He resisted the temptation to polarise: if only the rest of his cabinet had the sense to.