Israel’s war on Gaza updates: 26 killed in Israeli attacks in one day

Why did the UAE say it won’t back post-war Gaza plans without a Palestinian state? Read more here.

What’s the latest on the protests in Israel and reaching a captive deal? See here to find out.

And follow along with all our coverage of Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, here.

Here’s a quick look at the latest news:

• Israeli forces arrested 23 Palestinians trying to return to their workplaces in Israel at a checkpoint near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report.
• Israel’s Channel 13, citing an unnamed senior official, reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu is planning to launch a major attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon soon.
• Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence, says that at least 26 people have been killed today.
• Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has offered condolences to the family of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the US-Turkish activist killed by Israeli forces during a protest in the occupied West Bank.
• The United Arab Emirates says it will not support Israel in its “day-after” plan in Gaza unless a Palestinian state is established.

Dozens of Israeli settlers – escorted by Israeli troops – entered the Old City of Hebron in the southern West Bank, forcing Palestinians to hastily flee the area.

Badr al-Daour, a merchant in the Old City, told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency that “the storming of Hebron by settlers aims to drive out the [Palestinian] residents”.

“When settlers come through the area, it means that life comes to a halt,” he said, adding that the incursions are marked by “violations, offensive language, thefts, and vandalism”.

“Despite the heavy military presence, life in the area of our ancestors and grandparents will not stop, no matter how much they try to create a hostile environment,” said al-Daour.

The joint statement from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy also addressed broader regional conflicts Israel is fighting, including on its border with Lebanon.

Both countries underlined their “support for Israel’s security” adding that it was important to avoid regional escalation “which would undermine the prospect for peace and progress towards a two-state solution”.

Both countries also expressed a “shared commitment to securing a political agreement for a lasting security solution along the Blue Line that will allow Israeli and Lebanese civilians on both sides to return to their homes with safety and security”.

The statement comes after Hezbollah said Israeli settlers who fled their homes near the border with Lebanon would not be able to return to the north “except by stopping the war on Gaza”.

The United Kingdom and United States have issued a joint statement after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met in London.

Here’s what the statement said on Gaza:

• The United Kingdom expressed “clear support” for “ongoing mediation efforts by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar to conclude the agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages”.
• Both countries called for “all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and for Israel to facilitate the flow of aid, including ensuring the UN and humanitarian partners can deliver their operations safely.”
• Both countries also welcomed “the ongoing polio vaccination campaign and underlined the importance of cooperation from all parties with the WHO and health agencies to ensure that all children who need to be are vaccinated”.

Israeli forces arrested 23 Palestinians trying to return to their workplaces in Israel at a checkpoint near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting, citing local sources.

According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, Israeli forces have arrested more than 10,700 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem since October 2023, including many people who are held in administrative detention without charge.

Israel’s Channel 13, citing an unnamed senior official, reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu is planning to launch a major attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon soon.

Israel is “on the verge of a broad and strong operation on the northern front”, it quoted the official as saying.

“No date has yet been set but it is expected in the near future,” the report said. Israel’s cabinet is expected to meet this week to discuss the situation.

The Kan public broadcaster reports that Netanyahu believes a full-scale war in Lebanon won’t diminish Israel’s military pressure on Hamas in Gaza. However, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant disagrees and has said forces will need to be redeployed from the war-battered Palestinian territory.

Palestinians returned to Zeitoun, in the southern part of Gaza City, following the retreat of Israeli forces after a destructive incursion.

Khalil Murad said he barely got out alive. “We left under gunfire and missiles. Thank God we are still alive. Everything there has been destroyed. Dead bodies are all over the place there.”

Another resident, Samira Abu Negela, said that ethnic cleansing is Israel’s goal.

“I can’t understand the behaviour of the Israeli forces. There is no resistance in the area so why is it massively attacked and wiped out? The Israelis, if they can, would drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza. They want to get rid of all of us.”

Ahmed Awoda told Al Jazeera: “I used to have a tailor shop where I sewed people’s clothes. The Israelis destroyed my shop. Now I sell drinking water to people.”

Israelis are growing increasingly frustrated with the government for not reaching a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the remaining captives home.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis streamed into the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities demanding Netanyahu bring the abductees back.

At one of the rallies, Anat Angrest – the mother of kidnapped soldier Matan Angrest – shared a voice recording from her son while in captivity asking Netanyahu to make a deal. “I want to see my family and friends,” said Matan in the message.

Anat Angrest then addressed the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency. “Where is your negotiation team? There is no deal for over eight months, so what are you doing?”

Israeli protesters gathered outside army headquarters and other government buildings, chanting slogans against Prime Minister Netanyahu and urging him to reach a deal with Hamas to ensure the return of about 100 captives still held in the war-battered Strip.

Mass protests kicked off again in Israel over the past two weeks after the bodies of six captives were recovered from Gaza. An estimated 750,000 people attended last weekend’s rally.

“This deal-sabotaging government is forsaking the captives and abandoning them to die,” said Yotam Cohen, the brother of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier held in Gaza.

“As long as Netanyahu is in power, this war will go on indefinitely and there will be no hostage deal. To save the hostages’ lives, Netanyahu must be replaced.”

Read the full story here.

Some of the largest protests demanding the release of captives in Gaza continue in Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is refusing to accept a ceasefire deal with Hamas, which includes the release of captives. What could force his hand or force him out of office – if anything?

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.

Hundreds of thousands are on the streets of Tel Aviv and elsewhere throughout the country. It comes just a week after the largest demonstration in Israel’s history – half a million people in Tel Aviv and 250,000 others elsewhere throughout the country, calling for a deal to bring back the remaining Israeli captives.

They’re blaming the government. They’re blaming Netanyahu, specifically, saying he’s neither capable nor willing to secure a deal, and that too much time has gone by without a deal. We are now in the 12th month of this war and there are still nearly 100 captives being held in Gaza.

It’s worth mentioning that Netanyahu has said – in the face of any sort of pressure, whether that’s domestic or international – that he’ll continue to prosecute the war however he sees fit, until “all of the goals” are achieved. He has repeatedly said that military pressure is the only way to ensure the release of the captives.

But family members of captives speaking tonight in Tel Aviv said military pressure has only killed the captives and not brought about their release. As time goes by, nearly a year later, there aren’t going to be that many captives left to save, and that’s according to Israel’s army chief.

One of the six captives killed in Gaza this month was Alexander Lobanov. His wife Michal addressed a large crowd in Tel Aviv and asked why the government didn’t “do everything” to bring him back alive.

“It was possible to save them, to rescue them through a deal,” she said, according to excerpts of her remarks provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group. “True, it’s not as heroic as a military rescue, but it’s a different kind of bravery.”

As the war has raged on for more than 11 months with no end in sight, “there is no point to it any more”, demonstration organiser Noa Ben Baruch said. “This war has to end yesterday. It’s futile.”

Around her, people waved Israeli flags and signs reading, “Bring them home”, “Seal the deal”, “End the bloodshed,” and “They trust us to get them out of hell”.

Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence, says that at least 26 people have been killed today.

In northern Gaza:

• Two people were killed when the Israeli military shelled Beit Hanoon

In Gaza City:

• Eleven people were killed, including four children and three women, in an Israeli air attack on a house in the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.
• Five people were killed, two children and one woman, in an Israeli attack on another school-turned-shelter for war-displaced civilians, this time in northern Gaza City.
• Five other people were killed in Israeli shelling near a school located west of Gaza City.

In central Gaza:

• Two people were killed when the Israeli army struck a house in the Maghazi refugee camp.

In southern Khan Younis:

• At least one person was killed when the Israeli military shelled a tent city for the internally displaced.

Israeli fighter jets continue to pound southern Lebanon with the latest strikes over the past hour on the Bekaa and Baalbek regions.

“In addition, warplanes attacked military depots and a military structure of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in seven different areas in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.

Three children were among four people wounded in Bekaa’s Hermel district, 140km (85 miles) from the Israeli border, Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry said.

On October 8, Hezbollah began launching attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza as Israel waged war on the enclave.

Israel has carried out nearly four times more attacks than Hezbollah, tallying more than 7,800 strikes along the 120km (75-mile) border.

Former Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz says, “Netanyahu’s paralysed and fragmented government continues to neglect northern residents” – referring to people living near the border with Lebanon who have fled their homes as Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire.

Writing on X, the State Party leader said: “It is time to exercise power and authority against Hezbollah and return the residents to their homes safely.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, to condemn a speaking engagement for an Israeli soldier who participated in the war on Gaza.

“Inviting any individual who has allegedly documented their presence in the homes of families suffering from forced displacement and genocide perpetuates a narrative of oppression, exacerbates tensions on campus, and fosters an unhealthy academic environment,” CAIR’s Zainab Chaudry said in a statement about the invitation extended by Johns Hopkins Hillel, a Jewish students group.

“The university should be a place where all students feel safe and valued, not where the pain and trauma of oppressed communities is trivialized and compounded.”

Rob Sadler of the International Solidarity Movement says despite the killing of its volunteer Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, he and other foreign activists will continue to highlight Israel’s deadly violence and land theft in the occupied West Bank.

“Clearly Israel is gearing up to subjugate the West Bank and the Palestinian people even further with the view of increasing their military control over the territory,” Sadler told Al Jazeera.

“We’re here because we’ve been invited to expose this programme of destruction against the Palestinian people and support them in practical and nonviolent ways. Clearly the international community cannot be trusted to do this as we’ve seen by the Americans’ complicity in the genocide in Gaza.

“So it’s more important than ever for us to show the world that Palestine does not stand alone. The existence of this terrorist state and their genocidal campaign should be a disgusting affront to all of humanity. And if our governments won’t stand against it, we will.”

Israel’s foreign minister has again accused EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell of “anti-Semitism” after he expressed outrage at the killing of UN staff in Israeli air strikes in Gaza.

“Josep Borrell is an anti-Semite and Israel-hater who consistently tries to pass resolutions and sanctions against Israel in the EU, only to be blocked by most member states,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

On Thursday, Borrell said he was “outraged” by the killing of six employees from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after Israel attacked a UN school-turned-shelter for displaced people in central Gaza the day before.

The attack flattened part of the al-Jaouni school. Gaza’s Civil Defence agency said at least 18 people were killed.

UNRWA said six of its staff were among the dead. It was the deadliest single incident for the agency.