IDF hits West Bank with drone strike as ‘700 killed’ in Gaza – Israel-Gaza latest

An Arab-Israeli paramedic who helped to treat wounded survivors at the desert music festival massacre was shot dead by Hamas militants, his family has revealed.

Awad Darawashe, 22, was manning a first aid tent at the Supernova festival, when Hamas launched its deadly attack In the early hours of 7 October.

His ambulance was captured by the militants and driven back to Gaza with hostages inside, his cousin, Kazim Khalileh, told The Independent.

Mr Darawashe, from Iksal – a small Arab-majority town near Nazareth – was seen treating victims with gunshot wounds just moments before militants completely overran the overnight rave.

A third of Gaza’s hospitals are closed and more will shut down within hours due to lack of fuel, the United Nations has said, as medics warn wards could turn into ”mass graves”.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has begged for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and safe passage of supplies and generator fuel to the 42km-long strip, which is being pounded by Israeli airstrikes and a punishing siege.

The WHO said that supplies were so low that six hospitals had already closed across the strip. Many more will halt operations in the coming hours if fuel is not delivered.

Our chief international correspondent Bel Trew reports from Tel Aviv:

British families of those being held hostage by Hamas are continuing to hold out hope, amid global diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The Foreign Office said officials were working “tirelessly” to save UK nationals, as the release of a Briton’s mother sparked hope of similar breakthroughs for other families.

Downing Street on Tuesday said that at least 12 British nationals were killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel and a further five are still missing, with some of them believed to have been kidnapped.

Sir Keir has faced a backlash from Muslim and left-wing members over previous comments on Israel, after he appeared to suggest in an LBC interview that “Israel does have that right” to cut off power and water.

The Labour leader has since denied he ever backed Israel withholding humanitarian aid from Gaza and has sought to clarify his remarks about the Israeli-imposed siege of Gaza, which has sparked concerns about a humanitarian crisis in the region.

The centre’s statement said: “We wish to stress Keir Starmer’s social media post and images gravely misrepresented our congregants and the nature of the visit.

“We affirm, unequivocally, the need for a free Palestine. We implore all those with political authority to uphold international law, and to end the occupation of Palestine.”

The centre said it wanted to “apologise for the hurt and confusion that our hosting of this visit has caused”.

It added: “Our intention was to raise the concerns of the Muslim community around the suffering if Palestinians, and so we hosted an event initially with local representatives on the issue, and the knowledge of Keir Starmer’s attendance was given at short notice.

“There was a robust and frank conversation which reflected the sentiments Muslim communities are feeling at this time. Members of the community directly challenged Keir on his statements made on the Israeli Government’s right to cut food, electricity and water to Gaza, warranting war crimes as well as his failure to call for an immediate ceasefire.”

Doctors in Gaza say patients arriving at hospitals are showing signs of disease caused by overcrowding and poor sanitation after more than 1.4 million people fled their homes for temporary shelters under Israel’s heaviest-ever bombardment.

All hospitals say they are running out of fuel to power their electricity generators, leaving them increasingly unable to treat the injured and ill. More than 40 medical centres have halted operations, a health ministry spokesman said.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, warned in a post on messaging platform X that it would halt operations in Gaza on Wednesday night because of the lack of fuel.

However, the Israeli military reaffirmed it would bar the entry of fuel to prevent Hamas from seizing it.

French president Emmanuel Macron, visiting Israel on Tuesday, told prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that France stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Israel in its war with Hamas but that it must not fight “without rules”.

Mr Netanyahu said Israel would try to protect civilians as it worked to ensure they “will no longer live under Hamas tyranny”.

There appeared to be little prospect of a ceasefire any time soon in the bloodiest chapter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades, with civilian suffering spreading.

After an air strike in Khan Younis in south Gaza, Abdallah Tabash held his dead daughter Sidra, refusing to let go as he held her bloodstained face and hair. “I want to look at her as much as I can,” he said.

Israeli tanks and troops are massed on the border between Israel and Gaza awaiting orders for an expected ground invasion. It is an operation that may be complicated by fears for the hostages’ welfare and by militants heavily armed by Iran dug into a crowded urban setting using a vast network of tunnels.

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of having “gravely misrepresented” a meeting with Muslim leaders in south Wales over the weekend, amid anger among some in Labour over the party leader’s position on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

In a statement published late on Tuesday by the South Wales Islamic Centre, it apologised for the “hurt and confusion” caused by hosting Sir Keir.

The Labour leader visited the centre on Sunday, posting images showing him meeting figures from the local community.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: “I was grateful to hear from the Muslim community of the South Wales Islamic Centre.

“I repeated our calls for all hostages to be released, more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, for the water and power to be switched back on, and a renewed focus on the two state solution.”

He said he was “questioned by members” and “made clear it is not and has never been my view that Israel had the right to cut off water, food, fuel or medicines. International law must be followed”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded on Tuesday for civilians to be protected, voicing concern about “clear violations of international humanitarian law” in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Security Council: “Palestinian civilians are not to blame for the carnage committed by Hamas,” referring to the militants’ killing of 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and capture of over 200 in a one-day rampage through Israeli communities near Gaza.

“Palestinian civilians must be protected. That means Hamas must cease using them as human shields … It means Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians,” Mr Blinken said.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau echoed Mr Blinken.

“There are a lot of conversations going on now about the need for humanitarian pauses and I think that’s something Canada supports,” he told reporters in Ottawa. “We must remain anchored on the priorities of protecting innocent (people) and freeing the hostages.”

The World Health Organization, in the latest of increasingly desperate UN appeals, called for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” to prevent food, medicines and fuel supplies from running out in Gaza.

The United Nations, United States and Canada appealed on Tuesday for a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war to allow safe deliveries of aid to civilians short of food, water, medicine and electricity in the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip.

UN agencies were pleading “on our knees” for emergency aid to be let into Gaza unimpeded, saying more than 20 times current deliveries were needed to support the narrow strip’s 2.3 million people amid widespread devastation from Israel’s aerial blitz.

Eight trucks containing water, food and medicine entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt late on Tuesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The United States is negotiating with Israel, neighbouring Egypt and the UN to smooth emergency deliveries into Gaza, but have wrangled over procedures for inspecting the aid and over bombardments on the Gaza side of the border.