Live blog: Qatar refutes withdrawing from Gaza ceasefire mediation

Saturday, November 9, 2024

1847 GMT –– Reports about Qatar’s withdrawal from mediation efforts in the Gaza ceasefire are inaccurate, the Qatari foreign ministry has said in a statement.

It clarified that while Qatar’s mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas are "currently on hold," they will resume when there is "enough seriousness to end this brutal war."

Additionally, Qatar also refuted reports concerning the status of Hamas's political office in Doha, calling them inaccurate.

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1903 GMT –– Israel kills Palestinian detainees in Gaza City

Three Palestinian detainees have been killed by Israeli army gunfire shortly after their release in the Al Sudaniya area, northwest of Gaza City, according to medical source.

1825 GMT –– Israel kills medics, volunteers in southern Lebanon

At least 11 ambulance staffers and civil defence volunteers have been killed, 5 others wounded in Israeli air strikes in Tyre, southern Lebanon, according to official sources.

1818 GMT –– Lebanon says Israeli strikes kill 11 people in south

Lebanon's health ministry has said Israeli strikes on the country's south killed at least 11 people, including six rescuers.

Five people were killed in a strike on the southern village of Hanouiyeh, the ministry said in a statement, separately reporting that six rescuers were killed in a strike on the village of Deir Qanun.

1729 GMT –– Israel kills at least 16 people in eastern Lebanon

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 16 in the towns of Kniseh, and Hadath in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, Baalbek-Hermel governor has said.

1630 GMT –– Death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks rises to 3,136

Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,136 people and wounded 13,979 in Lebanon, with 19 fatalities reported on Friday, the Lebanese health ministry has said in a statement.

1514 GMT –– Hamas official says 'not received' request to leave Qatar

A senior Hamas official has said that the group had received no indication from Qatar that it should leave the country, where its political office has been based for years.

"We have nothing to confirm or deny regarding what was published by an unidentified diplomatic source and we have not received any request to leave Qatar," the official said from Doha.

1437 GMT –– Qatar reportedly out of Gaza talks: diplomatic source

Qatar reportedly has withdrawn as a key mediator for a possible Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal and warned Hamas that its Doha office "no longer serves its purpose", according to a diplomatic source.

"The Qataris informed both the Israelis and Hamas that as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith, they cannot continue to mediate," the source claimed on condition of anonymity.

"As a consequence, the Hamas political office no longer serves its purpose."

1417 GMT –– Deadly Israeli strike hits Gaza’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital

Two Palestinians have been killed and 26 others wounded in an Israeli air strike targeting tents sheltering for journalists and displaced people within al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, central Gaza, media office in the enclave has said.

Among the injured were two journalists, said the office in a statement.

The Israeli army has, for the ninth consecutive time since Oct. 7, 2023, bombed tents for journalists and displaced people within the hospital grounds, the office said.

1302 GMT –– Air sirens sounded in central Israel, military says

Air sirens were activated in central Israel following a "hostile aircraft infiltration", with details currently under review, the Israeli military has said.

1240 GMT –– French court rejects plea to cancel pro-Israel Paris gala

A French court has rejected a request to cancel an upcoming gala in Paris with the participation of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, despite opposition from multiple rights groups and lawmakers.

Lawyer Rafik Chekkat from the EuroPalestine, a French non-governmental organisation, said the Paris Administrative Court dismissed the bid to halt the event scheduled for Nov. 13 by the Israel Forever Foundation.

Chekkat criticised the court's decision, stating that this ruling allowed galas that support and finance a genocidal army and colonialism in France.

1142 GMT –– UAE, US discuss efforts to reach ceasefire in Gaza, Lebanon

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Emirati counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan have discussed increasing efforts to establish a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon in a phone call.

Al Nahyan and Blinken exchanged views on the recent developments in the Middle East, particularly the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the UAE Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The phone call focused on "intensifying efforts to reach an immediate cease-fire and end the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” and the recent developments in Lebanon, it added.

1050 GMT –– Israeli army kills Palestinian in northern occupied West Bank

A Palestinian has been killed as the Israeli army bombed the northern West Bank city of Tubas with an anti-tank Energa shell.

Adham Zaid Izzat al-Masri was killed by Israeli soldiers after they besieged his home, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The Israeli army stormed the town of Aqaba early in the morning, surrounded a house, and attacked it with an Energa shell, eyewitnesses said.

1043 GMT –– Hamas urges Arab-Islamic summit to stand against 'Judaisation'

Palestinian resistance group Hamas called the next week’s joint Arab-Islamic follow-up summit to take responsibility for the occupied city of Jerusalem, which is undergoing a “systematic Israeli Judaisation campaign.”

"It is time for the Islamic nations to fulfil their religious and political duties towards the holy city, which is facing an extensive Judaization campaign by the Israeli occupying government,” Hamas political bureau member Haroun Nasser al-Din said in a statement.

The official emphasized that Islamic countries “possess the necessary resources to exert pressure on global powers to curb Israel’s occupation and halt its crimes against the Palestinian people and Islamic sanctities.”

1013 GMT –– Iran warns of risk of 'expansion of war' beyond Middle East

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where Israel is battling Tehran-backed groups, could spill over beyond the Middle East.

"The world should know that in case of the expansion of war, its harmful effects will not be limited only to the West Asia region; insecurity and instability can spread to other regions, even far away," Araghchi said in speech aired on state TV.

1026 GMT — Death toll in Gaza rises to 43,552 amid Israeli attacks

At least 43,552 Palestinians have been killed, with 102,765 others wounded, since Israel's military offensive on Gaza on October 7, 2023, the Health Ministry in Gaza has said.

0949 GMT — Israel claims 10 rockets fired from Lebanon towards Upper Galilee, Haifa Bay

The Israeli army claimed that 10 rockets were launched from Lebanon towards the Upper Galilee and Haifa Bay in northern Israel.

The daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that one of the rockets landed in an open area near Kiryat Bialik in Haifa Bay.

Israeli Channel 12 also reported that five more rockets were fired from Lebanon towards the city of Safed in Upper Galilee.

The Israeli army intercepted some of the missiles, while others landed in open fields without causing injuries.

0905 GMT –– Thousands in northern Gaza denied humanitarian, medical care amid Israeli 'genocide, ethnic cleansing'

Thousands of civilians in northern Gaza are deprived of essential humanitarian and medical support amid an ongoing "genocide and ethnic cleansing" in the region, the Gaza Civil Defence said.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defence in Gaza, announced in a statement: “Our work has been forc ibly suspended for 18 days due to relentless targeting, depriving thousands of citizens in northern Gaza of critical care.”

The spokesperson detailed that Israeli forces attacked Civil Defense teams on October 23, seizing their vehicles and displacing most personnel to central and southern Gaza. Nine Civil Defence members were also detained in the assault, he added.

0731 GMT — Israeli jets continue bombing Beirut’s southern suburb

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that three fresh Israeli air strikes targeted residential zones, including Hay al-American and surrounding areas, causing plumes of smoke to rise over the region.

The strikes followed an evacuation order from the Israeli army, demanding that residents leave due to alleged Hezbollah presence nearby.

0726 GMT — Death toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon's Tyre rises to 9

At least nine people have been killed in Israeli air strikes on Tyre in southern Lebanon, with dozens more wounded, according to the official news agency.

0554 GMT — 14 more Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza

At least 14 more Palestinians were killed and several others injured when Israeli air strikes targeted a school and a tent sheltering displaced people in Gaza City and Khan Younis.

Medical sources at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis told Anadolu that they received the bodies of nine people killed in an Israeli attack on a tent shelte ring displaced people in Khan Younis.

Separately, five more Palestinians were killed and others injured in an air strike targeting the Fadi Al-Sabah School, which had been used as a shelter for displaced families on Yafa Street, east of Gaza City. The injured and deceased were taken to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.

2300 GMT — Israel's genocidal war on besieged Gaza enters its 400th day

Israel's war on besieged Palestinians of Gaza has entered its 400th day.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 43,500 Palestinians, 70 percent of them women and children, and wounded over 102,700 others, according to local health authorities.

Analysts say the estimate is conservative and the actual death toll could be around or beyond 200,000, as thousands of Palestinians remain missing or buried under the debris of bombed homes and shops. Another 10,000 have been abducted and jailed at Israeli torture sites.

2300 GMT — Famine imminent in northern Gaza, hunger experts say

There is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in parts of northern Gaza, where Israeli occupation forces are conducting a major invasion, hunger experts warned.

An alert issued by the four experts called the humanitarian situation throughout the war-torn Gaza "extremely grave and rapidly deteriorating" and worst in the north.

The Famine Review Committee warned that "famine thresholds may have already been crossed or else will be in the near future."

The committee's four independent experts are part of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, which is made up of a network of 15 UN and other organisations that monitor global hunger and food security.

The experts said all actors in the war in Gaza must take immediate action "within days not weeks … to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation."

2210 GMT — Israel bombards Beirut suburb

The Israeli army's warplanes carried out a wave of heavy air strikes on the southern suburb of Beirut, amid a deadly onslaught against Lebanon.

The Lebanese state news agency, NNA, reported at least five "violent airstrikes" on the areas of Borj al-Barajneh, the Hadath area near the Lebanese University and Haret Hreik.

No casualties have been reported.

2200 GMT — Racist Israeli hooligans ignite Amsterdam violence

A city councillor has confirmed that Israeli hooligans instigated the violence in Amsterdam.

Noting that the Dutch government and the Amsterdam municipality initially described the incident as "anti-Semitic," Jazie Veldhuyzen, a senior city councillor, stressed the need for a thorough and objective examination.

"On Wednesday night, Maccabi hooligans initiated to attack houses with Palestinian flags and pro-Palestine Amsterdammers. That's when the violence started," he noted.

On Thursday, Maccabi fans chanted a song that mocked the deaths of children in Gaza and encouraged the Israeli army to "win over Arabs," Veldhuyzen added.

He emphasized that the hooligans included former Israeli soldiers. "These are trained people and potential war criminals. Remember, they attacked pro-Palestinian civilians in Athens in March. They should have been let in Amsterdam," he said.

2154 GMT — Israel carries out massacre in Lebanon's Tyre

Israel killed at least six people and wounded 38 in two heavy air strikes that struck the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, according to media reports.

A medical source in Tyre told the Lebanese state news agency, NNA, that the toll is preliminary as search efforts continue.

It added that rescue teams managed to recover three survivors from under the rubble.

Hospitals in Tyre urged residents to donate blood.

The news agency also reported more air strikes against southern Lebanon, including in the towns of Kafr Rumman, Safad El-Battikh and Yohmor al-Chaqif.

For our live updates from Friday, November 8, 2024, click here.