Israel-Gaza war live: IDF carries out ‘fresh raid’ inside Gaza as US strikes Syria sites

Israel has killed a senior Hamas commander, according to the Israeli Defence Forces.

“The IDF and the Shin Bet tonight killed Midhat Mabasher, the commander of the West Khan Yunis Battalion in the terrorist organization Hamas,” the IDF said.

The Israeli military said Mabasher took part in sniping attacks and used large explosives against IDF forces and Israeli settlements.

Up to 1,000 people are still stuck under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza, according to a World Health Organisation official.

“We also get these estimates that there are still 1,000 plus people under the rubble which have not been identified yet,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in response to a question about the death toll in Gaza.

More than 7,000 people have been killed by Israeli bombardments in response to deadly cross-border attacks on Israel by Hamas gunmen on 7 October, Gazan health authorities say.

Up to 57 staff members from the United Nations have been killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said.

“At least 57 colleagues of mine are confirmed killed,” said Mr Lazzarini. “Wonderful people who have just dedicated their lives to their communities.”

Mr Lazzarini also said Gaza’s death figures, which were challenged by the US, had been accurate in previous conflicts between Israel and Hamas.

“In the past, the five, six cycles of conflict in the Gaza Strip, these figures were considered as credible and no one ever really challenged these figures,” he said.

London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Thousands of innocent civilians have already been killed in Israel and Gaza,” he said.

“With the humanitarian crisis set to deteriorate even further, I’m calling for a ceasefire.”

Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians during raids in the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said. Two of the dead were identified by militant factions as their members.

As it wages a now three-week-old war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel has also stepped up operations against Islamist groups in the West Bank, killing scores of Palestinians and arresting hundreds. One Israeli soldier was killed in a clash.

The Israeli military said that during West Bank arrest operations its troops came under attack in the city of Jenin and fired back, killing Ayser al-Amar of the Islamic Jihad faction.

Islamic Jihad confirmed al-Amar belonged to the group. Hamas said one of its men, Jawad al-Turki, was killed during the Jenin fighting.

The number of hostages currently being held by Hamas militants as 229, the Israeli said.

It brings the number up from the previously confirmed 224. So far, four hostages have been released.

An American mother and daughter have been released, as well as two elderly Israeli women. Qatari negotiators hope for a full release within the next few days.

Eight lorries carrying food, medicine and water are expected to cross into the Gaza Strip on Friday, a senior United Nations official said.

“We have gotten in approximately 74 trucks. We’re expecting another eight or so today,” Lynn Hastings, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said.

Aid workers have said repeatedly that the convoys meet only a tiny fraction of the territory’s mounting humanitarian needs. Prior to the war, an average of 500 trucks entered Gaza each day, according to reports.