Israel Hamas war: Blinken to push Netanyahu for ‘concrete steps’ to protect Gaza civilians as IDF warns ‘time is up’

Tens of thousands of demonstrators calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s attacks on Gaza are planning to take to the streets of London on Armistice Day.

Tom Tugendhat has said the idea of a demonstration on 12 November would not be “acceptable” and was “a matter of great concern to me”.

Dr Abdel Hammad released a video after becoming one of the first Britons to cross at Rafah into Egypt.

The Liverpool surgeon told Sky News, it was “big relief” to be out of Gaza as he was met with members of British Embassy hoping to be taken to Cairo.

“It has been four weeks of a terrible situation. I am very pleased to be out,” he said.

Around 100 people including 92 Brits are expected to cross in the coming hours, according to sources on the Sinai side.

Israel is on “very, very high alert” along its northern border with Lebanon, a military spokesman has said.

It comes as Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will make his first public comments since the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel went to war, a speech that will be scrutinised for clues on how the group’s role in the conflict might evolve.

The militant group claimed to have launched 19 consecutive strikes on Israel yesterday.

A formidable military force backed by Iran, Hezbollah has been engaging Israeli forces along the border, where 55 of its fighters have been killed in the deadliest escalation since it fought a war with Israel in 2006.

Around 100 people have arrived at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in two buses, according to sources on the Sinai side.

No one has crossed yet but according to the list 92 Brits alongside 32 Palestinians, two Irish and a Moroccan dependent on the UK are expected to leave Gaza.

It came as Israeli forces have surrounded Gaza City from several directions, after weeks of airstrikes followed by a ground invasion.

Two Labour council leaders have called on Keir Starmer to quit as party leader over his refusal to back a ceasefire in Gaza.

The families of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza are pleading for their safe release in a press conference.

Emotional tributes and home videos of captured Israelis were played to reporters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now holding a private meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the Kirya in Tel Aviv. They will also meet with the members of the War Cabinet.

Blinken, on his second trip to Israel in a month, is due to discuss concrete steps to minimise harm to civilians in Gaza, where food, fuel, water and medicine are running out.

It came as The White House said any pauses in fighting should be temporary and localised. It has dismissed calls from Arab and several other nations for a full ceasefire in the war.

“When I see a Palestinian child – a boy, a girl – pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building, that hits me in the gut as much as seeing a child from Israel or anywhere else,” Blinken told reporters before leaving for Israel.

Allied militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters had detonated explosive devices against advancing troops, dropped grenades from drones, and fired mortars and anti-tank rockets in fierce urban warfare around destroyed buildings.

Fares Akam, a former AP correspondent in Gaza, said he suffered 12 hours of uncertainty to find out four members of his family had been killed amid a media blackout.

He posted on X: “Bad news spreads fast, and it lingers even when we hope it’s not true.

“After 12 hours of uncertainty, the heartbreaking confirmation came: my three nieces and their father were lost in an Israeli airstrike on their #Gaza City home.

“May they rest in peace.”

It came as a Hamas commander has been killed in a joint operation, the Israel Defence Forces claimed.

In a statement on Telegram, the IDF said its fighter jets acted on “precise” intelligence and killed Mustafa Dalul, the commander of the Hamas Sabra Tel al-Hawa Battalion.

It claimed Dalul took a “central part in managing the combat against IDF troops in the Gaza Strip”.

“In recent years, Dalul held a number of positions in the Hamas battalion and brigade of Gaza City,” it added.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in Israel entering a diplomatic maelstrom as he seeks release of hostages and draws up plans for Gaza after end of war.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken would once again underscore the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself but also stress the importance of minimising civilian casualties and ensuring that humanitarian assistance reaches innocent Palestinians in Gaza.

Securing the release of hundreds of Israelis and others held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, easing the transit of dual Palestinian nationals and foreigners currently in Gaza into Egypt and preventing a broader regional war from erupting will also be key agenda items, Miller said.

At the same time, Blinken wants to begin a conversation with Israel and with Jordan about an end game for the Gaza conflict once it is over, Miller said.

To that end, Blinken will push Israeli officials on reigning in violence being committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank and will be re-stating U.S. backing for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, he said.

Tens of thousands of protesters calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s attacks on Gaza are planning a march through central London on November 11.

The demonstration could disrupt the two-minute silence commemorating the war dead and the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall usually attended by members of the royal family.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat said: “For me and fellow veterans, 11th of November is not just another day, it’s not just even a day of remembrance, it’s a day of grief.

“For many of us it’s a day when we remember friends who are not standing with us anymore, some who fell at the time and some who sadly have taken their own life since.

“It can be a very painful moment and I think that is why this is not an appropriate time, this is not an approprite venue for protest.

“It’s a time for us to come together and to remember all those who served our country with courage and distinction in many conflicts around the world and gave us the freedoms and liberties that we are lucky enough to enjoy today.”