Israel Hamas war live: Gaza just 24 hours from ‘catastrophe’, warns WHO

A landlord charged with fatally stabbing a six-year-old Palestinian American boy and wounding his mother had been listening to right-wing talk radio coverage of the Israel-Hamas war before the shocking attack, say prosecutors.

Joseph Czuba, 71, appeared in Will County court outside of Chicago on Monday, accused of murdering Wadea Al-Fayoume after attacking the youngster and his mother, Hanan Shaheen.

Prosecutors told the court that the suspect had become increasingly concerned for his safety as he listened to conservative radio coverage of the Middle East conflict before his violent attack on Saturday.

Just one day after Hamas launched an attack on Israel, 56-year-old Abdel Naser Shamalakh and his entire family were killed after rockets hit their home in Gaza.

“The whole family was buried under the rubble. They only found two whole bodies. The others were in parts or unrecognisable,” his British-Palestinian niece, 37-year-old Waf’a Shamalakh, told The Independent.

“Ten people were killed. My uncle, his wife, his five sons, his daughter-in-law, and two grandsons.

“They have nothing to do with Hamas or the military,” she tells my colleague Maryam Zakir-Hussain:

There is no doubt the heinous massacres carried out by Hamas in Israeli communities were war crimes, writes Donald Macintyre. But is Israel’s response proportionate, legal or – in the eyes of the world – legitimate?

Mr Higgins said the EU Commission president was “not speaking for Ireland and she wasn’t speaking for the opinions that they hold”.

He was speaking at the World Food Forum in Rome, where he joined criticism of Ms von der Leyen’s comments on the Middle East conflict where she did not urge Israel to ensure its retaliation for the Hamas attacks conforms with international law.

Read more on the criticism from the Irish president here:

The UN Security Council met on Monday evening to vote on rival Russian and Brazilian resolutions that reflect deep divisions over the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict and the latest Hamas’ attacks and Israeli retaliation.

But immediately after the meeting was gaveled to order, the United Arab Emirates ambassador, Lana Nusseibeh, asked for members to go into closed consultations, and the 15 council ambassadors left the room. Several diplomats said they wanted a delay in the vote, especially on the Brazil resolution.

They range from babies to the elderly. Most are civilians. Israel says at least 199 people taken during the Hamas attack are being held captive in Gaza.

Some of their families received frantic phone calls or texts during the attack. Others heard nothing and later saw video evidence their loved ones were taken.

For now, they wait, desperate to find out whether the hostages are even alive. And they tell their stories. Here are some of them.

Two teenage sisters are among the British citizens still missing following Hamas’s attacks on Israel as efforts continue to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

According to reports, the girls, named only as Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, disappeared from their home in Kibbutz Be’eri after it was stormed by militants and their mother Lianne was killed.

Rishi Sunak told MPs on Monday at least six Britons were killed and a further 10 missing in the “pogrom” on 7 October and called for the immediate release of the around 200 hostages taken by the militant group.

Last week, Republican officials and right-wing figures amplified warnings of a “global day of jihad” across social media platforms, joining the already-toxic flood of viral mis- and disinformation from the fog of the Israel-Hamas war.

After growing increasingly concerned for his safety after listening to right-wing media and fearing a “day of jihad” attack against him, a 71-year-old landlord attacked the Palestinian-American tenants in their home, according to prosecutors in Illinois.

Joseph Czuba fatally stabbed a six-year-old boy 26 times and severely injured his mother, who was stabbed at least a dozen times, according to law enforcement officials. Wadea Al-Fayoume was buried on 16 October.

False claims about a “global day of jihad” joined increasingly violent on- and offline rhetoric surrounding the crisis in Gaza, with members of Congress calling on Israel’s military to “level” the Palestinian territory and prominent far-right personalities calling on Americans to arm themselves.

More in this report from my colleague Alex Woodward:

Richard Madeley has come under heavy criticism after comparing Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza to innocent Germans bombed by Britain during the Second World War.

The Good Morning Britain presenter sparked controversy on Monday (16 October) during a discussion on the Israel-Hamas war, which has so far claimed the lives of 2,750 Palestinians from aerial strikes in reponse to a terror attack on Israel ten days ago.

Madeley asked his co-host Susanna Reid if it was “fair” to draw a “parallel” between the deaths of civilians in Palestine and the deaths of German civilians in Nazi Germany.

President Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced early on Tuesday morning from Tel Aviv.

It will include meetings with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as a stop the same day in Amman, Jordan, for discussions with King Abdullah, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, which partially governs the West Bank, according to the White House.