civilians told to leave northern Gaza ahead of ground operation

“We attacked above the ground and under ground, we attacked terror operatives of all ranks, everywhere,” he said in a video statement. “The instructions for the forces are clear: the operation will continue until a new order.”

The IDF said 150 “underground targets” were hit in the strikes.

Hagari also issued an urgent evacuation order for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. He said: “This is an urgent military advisory. For your immediate safety, we urge all residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to temporarily relocate south.”

He added: “The impending IDF operation is set to neutralise the threat of Hamas with precision and intensity.”

Humanitarian organisations have lost touch with staff on the ground and hospitals are struggling to operate without communications, energy, food, water and medication. The IDF said aid trucks from Israel carrying some of these resources would arrive in Gaza today.

As Israeli families of hostages in Gaza demanded to meet with the government’s war cabinet, Hamas said it would find and release eight people it took hostage after a request from Russia to free Russian-Israeli captives.

In the UK, thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand a ceasefire, with police expecting 100,000 people in London alone.

The Palestinian death toll has risen to 7,650 since the attacks on October 7, according to unverified figures from the Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza.

It has been exactly three weeks since Hamas launched an attack on Israel.

Gaza has been under a near-total communications blackout since telephone and internet lines were apparently cut last night (Louise Callaghan writes).

Sireen Beseiso, a 36-year-old Palestinian-American, is one of few people there with a foreign Sim card, allowing her to contact the outside world.

She fled from Gaza City to Khan Yunis in the south with her ten-year-old son and parents after Israel told civilians to evacuate. This is her story.

Gaza’s largest hospital is unlikely to be bombed but ground troops may try to enter it, a former head of Israel’s defence intelligence has said (Delara Shakib writes).

In a press conference, retired Major General Amos Yadlin said: “Knowing the rules of engagement that the IDF is using, I would be very much surprised if the Shifa hospital will be bombed.”

Giving analysis on the war’s progression, Yadlin said Israel would not attack the hospital “without making sure that the 50,000 [or so] people that are now among the building will not be targeted”.

“It’s a low-intensity conflict,” Yadlin said. “It’s not a ‘blitzkrieg’. It’s inch by inch, metre by metre, trying to avoid casualties.”

He suggested Israel needed five months to dismantle Hamas’s military infrastructure but raised concerns the IDF would be only given weeks to achieve its objectives due to international pressure. “I’m not thinking that we are going into a five-year war but five months makes sense,” he said. “At least give the IDF five weeks.”

The shadow minister for crime has offered the most direct challenge yet to Labour’s position on the Israel-Gaza war (Gabriel Pogrund writes).

Naz Shah, who ousted George Galloway to become Bradford West MP in 2015, said: “What we are seeing is not defence, it is disproportionate attacks on a civilian population.” She continued: “I continue to call for a ceasefire to stop the killings of innocent civilians. We cannot be silent.”

Shah, 49, is part of a group of Labour MPs who this afternoon either called for an immediate ceasefire or reposted demands for one. Sir Keir Starmer has said Israel should allow a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid to enter Gaza but defended Israel’s right to defend itself and ensure Hamas cannot mount another attack like that of October 7.

Shortly before 3pm, the party reissued a statement saying it “of course” understood why dissenters had called for a ceasefire while affirming its stance. A source would not say if Starmer intended to discipline those who had broken ranks publicly.

The list of frontbench rebels also includes: Sarah Jones, shadow industry minister; Yasmin Qureshi, shadow women and equalities minister, Mary Foy, a parliamentary private secretary to Angela Rayner; Imran Hussain, a shadow minister who also holds a Bradford seat; and Paula Barker, who holds a devolution brief.

Organisers of the pro-Palestinian march in London claimed it was the largest march to date (Megan Agnew writes).

“Thousands of people are still joining us,” said the vice-chairman of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Kamel Hawwash.

The Labour MP Diane Abbott said on stage on Parliament Square: “This country, sadly, has a government which is part of the global minority. The British government supports the siege, supports the blanket bombing.

“Over and over again, this country’s political leadership talk about Israel having a right to defend itself. And I have to sit in parliament and listen to that. Of course, like any sovereign country, Israel would have a right to defend itself. But what is really happening? Israelis are bombing sites we should be protecting.”

She went further than the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, who has been criticised by some within his party for not calling for a ceasefire. Abbott said: “Our leaders do not speak for the vast majority of the people of our country… We demand a ceasefire on all sides.”

Jeremy Corbyn also addressed the crowd, introduced as “the people’s prime minister”. “It’s not much to ask, a ceasefire, when children are being killed,” said the former Labour leader. “But to their eternal shame, the British government abstained on [voting for a ceasefire at the UN yesterday].”

He called for “peace and justice for the Palestinian people” and said he stood against “Islamophobia, antisemitism, any form of racism”. Earlier in the year Corbyn was banned from standing as a Labour candidate amid allegations of antisemitism within the party when he was leader.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a policeman on Whitehall after Palestinian supporters threw punches and kicks at officers patrolling today’s protest (Dipesh Gadher writes).

The Metropolitan Police tweeted: “The suspect is in custody and the police officer is being looked after by police medics en route to hospital.”

Separately, scores of demonstrators staged an impromptu sit-in on the concourse of Waterloo station, chanting: “Ceasefire now!”

Their actions came after thousands of Jewish New Yorkers last night took part in a similar protest, chanting “Not in our name”, bringing the city’s Grand Central station to a standstill.

Police have clashed violently with pro-Palestinian protesters close to Downing Street.

Officers appeared to be detaining someone before demonstrators began scuffling with them.

Punches and kicks were thrown and officers ordered the demonstrators to move away.

One person was taken to the floor and carried away to chants of “let him go” from other protesters.

Cries of “Allahu akbar”, the Arabic phrase for “God is great” also rang out.

A woman has been knocked over by a police horse that was startled by fireworks at a pro-Palestinian protest in London (Katie Tarrant and Megan Agnew write).

The woman was knocked to the floor and trampled on after horses bolted at the sound of fireworks let off near the Houses of Parliament. The Metropolitan Police said she sustained minor injuries.

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have taken to the streets of London demanding a ceasefire. Rallies have also been organised elsewhere in the UK including Manchester and Glasgow.

Protesters climbed on to phone boxes and bus stops. “Why is our government endorsing genomics,” read signs, and there were chants for a “ceasefire now”. Another sign read: “Sir Kid Starver starves Gaza.”

Tensions in London mounted when a group interrupted the march by the War Memorial on Whitehall holding Union Jack flags and Israeli flags. They were quickly surrounded by riot police. The pro-Palestine supporters shouted “shame on you” at them as they passed.

Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman, has issued a fresh warning to Gaza residents to evacuate the north of the territory ahead of an Israeli operation (Katie Tarrant writes).

“For your immediate safety, we urge all residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to temporarily relocate south,” Hagari said.

The IDF said Hamas has put civilians in danger by placing weapons and forces in schools, hospitals and mosques. “The impending IDF operation is set to neutralise the threat of Hamas with precision and intensity,” Hagari said.

The IDF has used dropped leaflets from the air and used radio and the internet in an attempt to communicate its latest warning, according to the BBC.

The Lebanese authorities have issued precautionary guidance for evacuating Beirut international airport and the surrounding area in case of emergency (Katie Tarrant writes).

Israel’s military says it has hit a terror cell in southern Lebanon that was preparing to carry out fresh attacks on northern Israel, according to Israeli press reports. This comes after Israel struck a number of Hezbollah positions in Lebanon in response to rocket fire.

In Egypt, President Sisi confirmed that drones fell on two Egyptian Red Sea towns yesterday after they were intercepted in Egyptian air space.

Israel’s foreign ministry claimed they were launched by the Houthi movement in Yemen with the intention of “harming Israel”. President Sisi said his country’s sovereignty should be respected. He warned against any expansion of the conflict in Gaza, saying the region risked becoming a “ticking time bomb”.

Jordan’s foreign minister last night described Israel’s increased military action as a “ground war” and said on X/Twitter, that the conflict was “pushing [the] region into the abyss”.

By a remote country road near the edge of the Gaza strip, Israeli tanks fired artillery rounds into Gaza every few seconds. The shells whistled as they flew overhead. Towns and villages around the strip were ghostly quiet, emptied of civilians (writes Louise Callaghan, Sderot, Israel).

While most areas were untouched, some roads were scattered with broken glass and marked with scorches from the impact of the few rockets that have made it through the Iron Dome air defence systems.

Scotland’s first minister has been unable to contact his family amid a communication blackout in Gaza (Katie Tarrant writes).

Humza Yousaf’s parents-in-law, who live in Dundee, and more of his wife’s family have been trapped in Gaza for almost three weeks.

His mother-in-law, Elizabeth El-Nakla, sent a video two weeks ago sharing their struggles to get food and water amid Israeli airstrikes. The first minister said earlier this week that she had “lost hope”.

“Gaza is under intense bombing. Telecommunications have been cut,” the first minister said on X/Twitter. “We can only pray they survive the night.”

He confirmed on Saturday morning that he had still not heard from his family, adding: “If you did not vote for peace, while children are dying, then I do not know how you sleep at night.”

Yousaf has written to party leaders across the UK urging them to back his calls for an immediate ceasefire to allow a humanitarian corridor to open.

There were chants of “we are all Palestinian” and “Israel is a terror state”, with calls for a ceasefire “now” from thousands of protesters gathering in central London this morning for the third weekend in a row (Megan Agnew writes).

Kamlesh Makwana, 62, had travelled from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, with his wife to be there. He said he had become engaged in the issue of Israel and Gaza after watching the news in recent weeks.

“We want to show our disgust at the Western world for backing Israel,” he said, adding that he wanted Sir Keir Starmer’s “socialist party” to back a ceasefire.

“How many Palestinians have been killed over the years, there is no justification,” Makwana said.

Abeer, 31, has been to the protests for three weeks. She said she has a “responsibility” to be here. “The government are not doing anything, they are simply waiting for it to escalate. We are the voices for those who don’t have them,” she said.

The crowd called for “boycotts”, “action”, “sanctions” and “justice”, and carried billboards demanding a “socialist intifada”.

The Israeli military has said that trucks with food, water and medicine will be sent into Gaza today.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman, said its forces are “still in the field” after entering northern Gaza overnight.

Hagari said that Israel’s goals include the “dissolution of Hamas, border security and a national effort to return the abducted”.

He said that there had been 311 IDF fatalities since the Hamas attack on October 7 but did not specify when troops had been killed. He said there had been no casualties to the IDF military overnight.

The families of the hostages taken from Israel by Hamas on October 7 have demanded a meeting with the Israeli prime minister as the intensified bombardment of Gaza raises further concerns for their loved ones (Seren Hughes writes).

The main group representing the hostages said they will begin protesting if Binyamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, do not meet them today.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said relatives were angry over the “absolute uncertainty regarding the fate of the hostages held”.

“None of the war cabinet bothered to meet with the families to explain one thing — whether the ground operation endangers the well being of the 229 hostages in Gaza,” the group said.

Four hostages have already been released — an American mother and her daughter and two elderly Israeli women. Israel has said more than half of the hostages have foreign passports from 25 countries.

James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, has said “abstract” calls for a ceasefire “aren’t going to help the situation” as there is no indication from Hamas that they would cooperate (Katie Tarrant writes).

“As yet, I have seen or heard nothing from Hamas that gives me any confidence that they either desire or would abide by calls for a ceasefire,” he said. The UK has consistently advocated for “pauses” to facilitate the passage of humanitarian aid and the release of hostages, he added.

Cleverly reiterated support for Israel’s right to self-defence within the bounds of international humanitarian law. The UK has increased its commitment to humanitarian aid to the Palestinians to “alleviate that suffering” and the UK is in conversation with Israel about the “preservation of civilian life”, he said.

Thick clouds of smoke and dust are rising from Gaza as the relentless Israeli bombardment continues. Jets are zipping overhead and loud booms sounding every few seconds (Louise Callaghan writes).

Less than a mile from Gaza, Israeli soldiers waiting at a checkpoint said they were waiting to move further into the strip.

“Inshallah,” one said, when asked whether they were going to be going into Gaza soon.

The president of Turkey called on Israel to “immediately stop this madness” after the country intensified its bombardment of Gaza overnight (Seren Hughes writes).

Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote on Twitter/X: “The Israeli bombardments on Gaza intensified last night and once again targeted women, children and innocent civilians and worsened the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

“Israel must immediately stop this madness and end its attacks.”

Earlier today, the Israeli military released videos showing columns of armoured vehicles moving slowly in open sandy areas of Gaza.

Israeli tanks can be seen operating inside Gaza, with tanks firing on unspecified targets, the first visual confirmation of operations by ground troops.

The Palestinian death toll has passed 7,700 since the attacks on October 7, according to unverified figures from the ministry of health. Some 640,000 Palestinians have been displaced by the conflict and are sheltering in 150 United Nations Relief and Works Agency facilities, which are often overcrowded. These figures are disputed by Israel (Seren Hughes writes).

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Friday that the humanitarian system in Gaza is facing “total collapse” with needs growing “ever more critical and colossal” as the bombardment intensifies.

Guterres outlined how in recent days an average of 12 trucks per day have entered Gaza compared to about 500 trucks before the October 7 attacks. Oxfam said that only 2 per cent of the usual supplies of food had been delivered.

Doctors in Gaza say conditions have reached catastrophic levels. They say a lack of basic supplies has left them struggling to maintain hygiene and sanitation. Medicine stocks are critically decreasing, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Nebal Farsakh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Red Crescent, expressed concern that the continuing communications blackout meant people could not call an ambulance. The International Committee of the Red Cross said that without communication services, civilians cannot access information on where to go for safety.

Israel’s military last night claimed that Gaza’s biggest hospital was a legitimate target, suggesting an attack on the medical centre may be imminent — which could potentially constitute a war crime.

The Israel Defence Forces identified several areas of the al-Shifa hospital they claimed were used by Hamas to co-ordinate attacks on Israel.

They alleged that Hamas has command-and-control centres both inside and underneath the hospital. The military did not use real images and would only show mock-ups of the hospital, which they released as an animated video on Twitter/X.

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Binyamin Netanyahu, and a former Israeli ambassador to the UK, said that the goal of Israel’s intensified attacks on Gaza overnight was to “destroy Hamas’s military machine” (Katie Tarrant writes).

“We’ve beefed up our operations against Hamas. The pressure has increased and we will destroy Hamas’ military machine and end their political control over the Gaza strip. They are the goals of our operation,” Regev told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Civilians “in their hundreds and thousands” had moved to the south of Gaza amid increased military activity in the north, he said.

Hamas is holding about 200 people hostage in the Gaza Strip who were taken during the attack on Israel on October. The group claims that 50 have been killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Regev told the BBC that increasing pressure on Hamas through military action was “the most effective way of seeing the hostages come home”.

The number of civilian casualties so far has been disputed. The health ministry in Gaza has said there have been more than 7,000 civilian deaths, including 3,000 children.

When asked about the figures, Regev said that these had been provided by Hamas. “I urge you to be very very cautious with these numbers,” he said, but added that it would be “irresponsible” of him to provide his own.

About 100,000 people are expected to join a pro-Palestinian demonstration in London from midday today, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Thousands more are expected to join rallies being organised elsewhere in the UK, including in Manchester and Glasgow.

The Metropolitan Police said officers will be expected to intervene if protesters chant the word “jihad” this weekend.

The prime minister said calls for jihad on British streets are a threat to our democratic values, however Max Hill, the outgoing director of public prosecutions, has said that calling for jihad is not automatically a criminal offence.

Two million people in Gaza today are still cut off from the world as a communications blackout imposed last night continued into the morning (writes Louise Callaghan in Ramallah, West Bank).

During the Israeli strikes overnight, people were unable to contact their families and loved ones. Messages sent last night were still not delivered this morning. The few people, some of them journalists, who still had limited access to the internet wrote of their relief at surviving the night.

For weeks, it has been incredibly difficult to reach people across the Gaza Strip. Calls are disconnected; internet is cut then returns for a moment. Since last night, it is almost impossible.

Hundreds of Jewish people took part in a sit-in at New York’s Grand Central station during rush hour last night calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Gaza (Seren Hughes writes).

Organisers called the peaceful sit-in “the largest civil disobedience New York City has seen in 20 years”.

Hundreds of protesters filled the main concourse of the iconic station, chanting slogans and displaying banners. Their black T-shirts read: “Jews say ceasefire now” and “not in our name”.

At least 200 demonstrators were detained by the New York Police Department. The police said the protesters were briefly taken into custody, issued summonses and released.

The remaining protesters moved outside after the arrests.

“Hundreds of Jews and friends are taking over Grand Central Station in a historic sit-in calling for a ceasefire,” the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace said on social media.

The IDF has instructed troops to find and destroy the hideouts used by Hamas, specifically the labyrinth of tunnels, nicknamed the “Gaza metro”, which, according to some reports, runs to 311 miles in length.

The challenges of that operation, and the other unique difficulties of urban warfare are analysed here.

The Israel Defence Forces wrote on Twitter/X that its fighter jets had killed Asem Abu Rakaba, the head of Hamas’s Aerial Array, overnight (Seren Hughes writes).

The IDF said Abu Rakaba was responsible for Hamas’ drones, paragliders, aerial detection and defence.

“He took part in planning the massacre in the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip on October 7th. He directed the terrorists who infiltrated Israel on paragliders and was responsible for the drone attacks on IDF posts,” the IDF claimed.

Lieutenant Colonal Gilad Keinan, the chief of the Israeli Air Force, said: “About a hundred fighter jets dropped hundreds of weapons and destroyed hundreds of targets of the Hamas terrorist organization.

“ The Air Force is prepared for the continued development of the campaign, and works together with all the bodies in the IDF when the goal is clear – to destroy everything touched by the hand of Hamas”

Israel’s defence minister said it would take “a long time” to dismantle Hamas’s vast network of tunnels.

Yoav Gallant told reporters that Israel expected a long and difficult ground offensive into Gaza soon, with a long phase of lower-intensity fighting as Israel destroys “pockets of resistance”.

He said Israel believed Hamas would confiscate any fuel that entered Gaza as it uses generators to pump air into its tunnels.

“For air, they need oil. For oil, they need us,” he said.

Israel halted the import of fuel, among other essentials, into Gaza after the October 7 attacks. Lorries have crossed from Egypt carrying food, water, and medical supplies – but not fuel. Not much is known about the tunnel network, but Hamas has previously claimed it stretched to 310 miles — about 60 miles longer than the London Underground network, most of which lies above ground.

Hamas said it was ready to confront Israel’s increased attacks with “full force” and vowed that Israel would not win (Seren Hughes writes).

In a statement early this morning, Hamas said: “The Al-Qassam brigades and all the Palestinian resistance forces are completely ready to confront (Israel’s) aggression with full force and frustrate its incursions.

“Netanyahu and his defeated army will not be able to achieve any military victory.”

The Hamas media centre reported heavy clashes with Israeli forces at several locations overnight, including what it said was an Israeli incursion east of the refugee camp of Bureij in the central Gaza Strip.

Asked about the report, the Israeli military reiterated early this morning that it had been carrying out targeted raids and expanding strikes with the aim of “preparing the ground for future stages of the operation.”

Hamas accused Israel of cutting all internet connections and communications across Gaza “to perpetrate massacres with bloody retaliatory strikes from the air, land and sea”.

Human Rights Watch also warned the near-total telecommunications blackout in Gaza risked providing cover for “mass atrocities”.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communications outage had disrupted ambulance services.

“We have completely lost contact with the operations room in the Gaza Strip and all our teams operating there,” it said on X/Twitter.

The UN humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories said hospitals and humanitarian operations could not continue while communications were down.