Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
After delivering a fiery speech to the US Congress that was boycotted by dozens of Democratic lawmakers, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold meetings with US president Joe Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris.
A senior US official said on Wednesday that negotiations on a ceasefire-for-hostages deal in the Gaza conflict appeared to be in their closing stages and that Biden and Netanyahu would discuss remaining gaps on Thursday.
The official, briefing reporters ahead of their talks, said the remaining obstacles were bridgeable and that there would be more meetings aimed at reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas over the next week, Reuters reported.
The official said both Israel and Hamas still have some issues to resolve but that a deal is close in which a six-week ceasefire would take place in exchange for the release of women, elderly men and wounded hostages over a 42-day period.
“It’s a very different negotiation now than just a month ago when we had some fundamentally unbridgeable issues,” the official said.
More on that soonest. In other developments:
Thousands of protesters demonstrated around Capitol Hill voicing opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu, who addressed a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday. Officers on streets surrounding the Capitol sprayed teargas on demonstrators who chanted anti-war slogans including “Netanyahu, you can’t hide. You’re committing genocide”.
In his speech, which was boycotted by dozens of Democratic lawmakers, Netanyahu called for “total victory” in the nine-month-old war, dashing hopes among some that he would announce progress toward a ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages. He brushed aside humanitarian concerns for the civilian population of Gaza, denying that Israel was blocking shipments of food aid to Palestinians and issuing an appeal for the US to fast-track military aid to Israel: “Give us the tools and we’ll get the job done faster.”
Netanyahu claimed without evidence that the anti-war protesters stood with Hamas and may be backed by Iran. The protesters “should be ashamed of themselves,” he said, adding: “For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now outside this building.”
He also blamed reports of hunger in Gaza on Hamas, the militant group that rules the Palestinian territory, and insisted Israel was protecting civilians there. About 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, including many women and children. Aid agencies have consistently accused Israel of hindering aid delivery.
Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Netanyahu’s speech showed he does not want to conclude a ceasefire deal. “Netanyahu’s speech was full of lies and it will not succeed in covering up for the failure and defeat in the face of the resistance to cover up for the crimes of the war of genocide his army is committing against the people of Gaza,” Abu Zuhri said.
Senator Bernie Sanders, who was among those boycotting the speech, said that “it will be the first time in American history that a war criminal has been given that honor.” Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who also boycotted the speech said Netanyahu’s presentation “was by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.”
Democratic senator Chris Murphy said he thought Netanyahu’s speech set back the two countries’ relationship. “The downplaying of the humanitarian crisis was astonishing to hear,” he said on X. “Netanyahu would have been better off spending this time finalizing a deal to bring the hostages home and end the war, instead of coming here to comment on US politics,” he said.
Australia has imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israelis and a youth group who Canberra says have been involved in violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law and a “significant obstacle to peace in the Middle East”.
Israeli forces recovered on Wednesday the bodies of five people killed in Hamas’ 7 October attack and held in Gaza since then, the Israeli military said. The hostages included a 56-year-old kindergarden teacher was killed during the attack on her kibbutz, while the three other were two reserve soldiers and two conscript soldiers who were killed in combat.
In an Oval Office speech explaining his decision not to seek reelection, Biden said he would “keep working to end the war in Gaza, bring home all the hostages and bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war.” Critics have accused Biden of fuelling the war in Gaza by refusing to end military aid to Israel; earlier this year he approved a foreign aid package that included $26bn in additional wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian aid.
The Israeli men’s football team was booed at a half-full Parc des Princes stadium in the team’s first match at the Paris Olympics. About 1,000 French police officers and dozens of soldiers from the anti-terrorism operation codenamed Sentinelle lined the streets before and after the evening tie.
Key events
Israeli forces advanced deeper into some towns on the eastern side of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US lawmakers he was actively engaged in bringing hostages home.
Fighting in recent days has centred around the eastern towns of Bani Suaila, Al-Zanna, and Al-Karara, where the army said on Wednesday it had found the bodies of five Israelis who were killed in Hamas’ attack on Israel and held in Gaza since, Reuters reported.
Hamas militants took more than 250 hostages in the early morning raid into southern Israel and killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel retaliated by vowing to eradicate Hamas in Gaza in a nine-month war that has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say.
Several were wounded in the eastern towns during Israeli tank and aerial shelling, while an airstrike east of Khan Younis killed four people, Palestinian health officials said.
Israeli bombardment intensified in several areas in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, as tanks operated north, west and in the town centre, residents and medics said. Several Palestinians were also wounded in Israeli fire earlier on Thursday.
The Israeli military said forces operating in Khan Younis killed dozens of militants and dismantled around 50 military infrastructures, while it continued activities in Rafah, killing two militants.
Daniel Hurst
It’s the bombshell legal ruling that made it politically impossible for the Australian government to continue to delay imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers.
While much of the Australian media were focused on the latest twists in the US presidential election, the international court of justice delivered sweeping findings against Israel’s conduct in the occupied Palestinian territories, ratcheting up pressure on all governments to take a firmer line.
The ICJ ruling comes at a time of significant legal peril for the Israeli government over the way it has conducted its military response to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attacks.
Andrew Roth
On his third day in Washington, Benjamin Netanyahu finally got the attention he so desperately wanted in the US capital.
Republicans and their guests in the House chamber stamped their feet and whistled as a joint session was gaveled into order, while the Democrat lawmakers who chose not to boycott someone whom colleagues had called a “war criminal” looked on in sullen silence.
In a 56-minute speech punctuated with 50 rounds of applause, the Israeli prime minister dashed hopes of a quick end to the war in Gaza and dispensed red meat to the Republican faithful, blasting anti-war protest culture and vowing to fight until “total victory”.
For two days, Netanyahu had mostly been ignored at the Watergate hotel, passed over for the spectacle of a US political cycle averaging a West Wing season finale per week. Joe Biden had dropped out of the presidential race amid rumours of his cognitive decline, endorsing the vice-president, Kamala Harris, weeks before the convention and reinvigorating the Democratic party overnight.
A bullet had grazed Donald Trump’s ear in an assassination attempt just 11 days ago, sparking comparisons to the resurrection of Lazarus and Jesus Christ. America has been living decades in just weeks; was there even room on the cable TV schedule for Netanyahu to deliver another incendiary speech?
Israeli forces retrieve bodies of five hostages from Gaza, military says
Israeli forces recovered on Wednesday the bodies of five hostages killed in Hamas’ 7 October attack and held in Gaza since, the Israeli military said.
Maya Goren, a 56-year-old kindergarden teacher, was killed during the attack on her kibbutz, Nir Oz, according to Israeli Army Radio, one of the communities worst hit in the deadly attack in southern Israel that triggered the devastating war.
The other four hostages were two reserve soldiers and two conscript soldiers killed in combat during the 7 October attack, the military said.
Their bodies were retrieved from the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where Israeli forces launched new raids this week, Reuters reported.
The five had been listed among 120 hostages still in Gaza, about a third of whom Israel has declared dead in absentia, based on forensic findings, intelligence, interrogations of captured militants, videos and testimony of released hostages.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
After delivering a fiery speech to the US Congress that was boycotted by dozens of Democratic lawmakers, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold meetings with US president Joe Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris.
A senior US official said on Wednesday that negotiations on a ceasefire-for-hostages deal in the Gaza conflict appeared to be in their closing stages and that Biden and Netanyahu would discuss remaining gaps on Thursday.
The official, briefing reporters ahead of their talks, said the remaining obstacles were bridgeable and that there would be more meetings aimed at reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas over the next week, Reuters reported.
The official said both Israel and Hamas still have some issues to resolve but that a deal is close in which a six-week ceasefire would take place in exchange for the release of women, elderly men and wounded hostages over a 42-day period.
“It’s a very different negotiation now than just a month ago when we had some fundamentally unbridgeable issues,” the official said.
More on that soonest. In other developments:
Thousands of protesters demonstrated around Capitol Hill voicing opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu, who addressed a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday. Officers on streets surrounding the Capitol sprayed teargas on demonstrators who chanted anti-war slogans including “Netanyahu, you can’t hide. You’re committing genocide”.
In his speech, which was boycotted by dozens of Democratic lawmakers, Netanyahu called for “total victory” in the nine-month-old war, dashing hopes among some that he would announce progress toward a ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages. He brushed aside humanitarian concerns for the civilian population of Gaza, denying that Israel was blocking shipments of food aid to Palestinians and issuing an appeal for the US to fast-track military aid to Israel: “Give us the tools and we’ll get the job done faster.”
Netanyahu claimed without evidence that the anti-war protesters stood with Hamas and may be backed by Iran. The protesters “should be ashamed of themselves,” he said, adding: “For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now outside this building.”
He also blamed reports of hunger in Gaza on Hamas, the militant group that rules the Palestinian territory, and insisted Israel was protecting civilians there. About 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, including many women and children. Aid agencies have consistently accused Israel of hindering aid delivery.
Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Netanyahu’s speech showed he does not want to conclude a ceasefire deal. “Netanyahu’s speech was full of lies and it will not succeed in covering up for the failure and defeat in the face of the resistance to cover up for the crimes of the war of genocide his army is committing against the people of Gaza,” Abu Zuhri said.
Senator Bernie Sanders, who was among those boycotting the speech, said that “it will be the first time in American history that a war criminal has been given that honor.” Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who also boycotted the speech said Netanyahu’s presentation “was by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.”
Democratic senator Chris Murphy said he thought Netanyahu’s speech set back the two countries’ relationship. “The downplaying of the humanitarian crisis was astonishing to hear,” he said on X. “Netanyahu would have been better off spending this time finalizing a deal to bring the hostages home and end the war, instead of coming here to comment on US politics,” he said.
Australia has imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israelis and a youth group who Canberra says have been involved in violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law and a “significant obstacle to peace in the Middle East”.
Israeli forces recovered on Wednesday the bodies of five people killed in Hamas’ 7 October attack and held in Gaza since then, the Israeli military said. The hostages included a 56-year-old kindergarden teacher was killed during the attack on her kibbutz, while the three other were two reserve soldiers and two conscript soldiers who were killed in combat.
In an Oval Office speech explaining his decision not to seek reelection, Biden said he would “keep working to end the war in Gaza, bring home all the hostages and bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war.” Critics have accused Biden of fuelling the war in Gaza by refusing to end military aid to Israel; earlier this year he approved a foreign aid package that included $26bn in additional wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian aid.
The Israeli men’s football team was booed at a half-full Parc des Princes stadium in the team’s first match at the Paris Olympics. About 1,000 French police officers and dozens of soldiers from the anti-terrorism operation codenamed Sentinelle lined the streets before and after the evening tie.
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