Israel Gaza live news: ‘At least 500 killed’ in hospital bombing

Jas, who lives in Birmingham with her husband Ali after moving to the UK in 2014, told The Independent she has been enduring “endless nights” terrified of the news the morning may bring about her parents and siblings after they were forced to flee from Israeli air strikes.

The 34-year-old said her mother, 61, who needs a wheelchair, 75-year-old father, two brothers, two sisters and eight nieces and nephews – one as young as two – were given a two-minute warning in a call from the IDF last week ahead of their home being bombarded with missiles.

My colleague Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:

The conflict in Gaza could inspire terrorist acts in the UK, the head of MI5 has said.

At least 1,400 people were killed, many of them civilians, and thousands more injured in Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October.

About 2,778 Palestinians have died as Israel launched air strikes on Gaza in response and cut off fuel, water, food and medical supplies from entering the cramped territory, which is home to more than two million people.

“There clearly is the possibility that profound events in the Middle East will either generate more volume of UK threat and/or changes in shape in terms of what is being targeted, in terms of how people are taking inspiration,” said MI5 director-general Ken McCallum at an event hosted by the FBI on Tuesday.

The UN Security Council scheduled a Wednesday vote on a resolution that initially condemned “the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas” on Israel as well as all violence against civilians, while calling for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver desperately needed aid to millions in Gaza.

Negotiations on the wording of the draft resolution sponsored by Brazil continued throughout Tuesday, and the final version to be voted on had not been released by late Tuesday.

The vote follows the council’s rejection on Monday evening of a Russian-drafted resolution that condemned violence and terrorism against civilians and called for a “humanitarian cease-fire” but made no mention of Hamas.

Joe Biden’s Middle East summit has been cancelled following the deadly strike on a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds of Palestinians, the White House has confirmed.

A White House official said Mr Biden would still travel to Israel, but the planned second leg of the trip to Jordan will be postponed for now.

“After consulting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, President Biden will postpone his travel to Jordan and the planned meeting with these two leaders and President Sisi of Egypt,” the official said in a statement.

Antisemitic incidents in the UK have increased by almost 600 per cent since Hamas’s attack on Israel, according to a Jewish security group.

The Community Security Trust (CST), which represents British Jews on issues of racism and policing, said it had recorded 320 antisemitic incidents between 7 and 16 October, a sevenfold increase on the 47 antisemitic incidents recorded over the same period last year.

CST said 15 of the 320 incidents recorded were assaults, 14 referred to damage to Jewish property and 244 were related to abusive behaviour, with 86 taking place online.

At present there are “no immediate plans” to stop arms export licences to Israel, a Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said, after a Palestinian NGO threatened the UK with legal action if it did not stop arms sales to Tel Aviv.

“All export licences are kept under continual review, with applications assessed on a case-by-case basis against strict criteria,” the spokesperson said.

The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), which previously brought an unsuccessful case against Britain over allowing arms exports to Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday also called for the immediate suspension of all licences for arms exports to Israel.

A Palestinian rights group has threatened legal action against Britain unless it revokes all arms export licences to Israel, which it says has violated international law with its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

West Bank-based Al-Haq, which documents alleged rights violations by Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, asked in a letter sent on Monday to trade minister Kemi Badenoch for Britain to confirm that no British “weapons are being used in Israel/Palestine or against Palestinians.”

Or, Britain should “immediately suspend and/or revoke all extant licences to Israel and undertake not to grant any further licences until Israel ceases to violate international law”.

If it does not receive a full response by 30 October, Al-Haq’s lawyers said the group will consider taking legal action against Britain for unlawfully licensing arms exports that could be used in breach of international law.

The group said there is “clear evidence that Israel has repeatedly and gravely breached international law in these last 10 days alone” since the Hamas assault on Israel.

There have been competing claims and denials from Israeli and Palestinian officials over who was responsible for the attack on a hospital in Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority’s health minister, Mai Alkaila, accused Israel of a massacre.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu minced no words in blaming Palestinian militants for the explosion.

“The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF,” he said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. “Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children.”

The IDF blamed a Palestinian militant group called Palestine Islamic Jihad which, like Hamas, is viewed by the United States as a terrorist organisation.

“Following an additional review and cross-examination of the operational and intelligence systems, it is clear that the IDF did not strike the hospital in Gaza,” IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement.

“The hospital was hit as a result of a failed rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation,” he said.

Daoud Shehab, a spokesperson for Islamic Jihad, told Reuters: “This is a lie and fabrication, it is completely incorrect. The occupation is trying to cover for the horrifying crime and massacre they committed against civilians.”

During Monday’s The Five, Watters discussed the recent Hamas terror attack on Israel, in which more than 1,400 people were killed, while many more were injured and dozens were taken back to Gaza as captives.

“I don’t like how people try to differentiate between the Palestinians and Hamas,” he said.

The Fox News host went on: “To me, I see people with guns. That’s Hamas. The people without the guns are the Palestinians. They believe the same thing. The Palestinians hire Hamas to run their government. You poll them; they all love killing Jews. It’s in their charter. They say they believe in suicide bombings.”

Martha McHardy reports on the controversy.