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With updates from Rushdi Abualouf in Gaza; Paul Adams, Yolande Knell, Yogita Limaye, Nick Beake, Joel Gunter and Orla Guerin in Jerusalem; Jeremy Bowen and Mark Lowen in southern Israel; and Hugo Bachega in Lebanon
Police say at least six of their officers have been injured after scores of demonstrators clashed with the authorities outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) offices in Washington.
Officers in riot gear used pepper spray to disperse the protesters, who were calling for an end to Israel’s military activity in Gaza.
At least one person has so far been arrested, US Capitol Police say.
California lawmaker Brad Sherman was among those who had to be evacuated from the DNC.
“Protestors grew violent, pepper spraying police officers and attempting to break into the building,” he wrote on social media.
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Biden ‘mildly hopeful’ about Gaza hostage release
Copyright: ReutersUS President Joe Biden says he is “mildly hopeful” there will be a deal to free the more than 200 people being held hostage in Gaza.
He told a press conference in California earlier that he didn’t want to speak prematurely but that the US had seen “great co-operation” from Qatar, which has been leading the ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
Speaking about the recent operation by Israel in Gaza’s largest hospital – Al-Shifa – the president says Hamas committed a “war crime” by having a base under there.
Israel has displayed what it claims are weapons and other equipment belonging to Hamas that were recovered from the hospital.
Hamas denies that it uses medical facilities as a cover for its operations.
Biden says the US has urged Israel to be careful that civilians are being kept safe during the search for Hamas strongholds.
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IDF raid Gaza hospital on 40th day of war
Copyright: Getty ImagesImage caption: Israeli flares over the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday It is hard to know what is going on in Gaza City tonight but we are hearing occasional explosions over a live video feed from the area, which is shrouded in darkness.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were launching a “precise and targeted” operation at the Al-Shifa hospital.
During the raid, a journalist inside the hospital told the BBC that commandos had entered the main emergency department.
Soldiers moved from room to room questioning patients and staff, while younger men were ordered into the courtyard and told to strip down to their underwear for interrogation, he said.
Fourteen hours later, reports reached the BBC that the troops were beginning to withdraw. The IDF then published a video on Wednesday evening which it said showed weapons and equipment stashed inside various departments by Hamas.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of housing a command-and-control centre in a tunnel network underneath the hospital – a claim the US says its own intelligence supports but Hamas denies.
In Gaza’s south, the onset of torrential rain and colder weather is compounding the suffering of the tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering there, the UN has said.
In Rafah, Israel has allowed a delivery of 25,000 litres of fuel to cross into Gaza for the first time since the start of the war.
Away from the territory, there are reports that Qatari mediators have been attempting to broker a deal between Hamas and Israel over the release of some of the hostages kidnapped by the militants during their 7 October attack.
Also on the diplomatic front, the UN Security Council has voted to back a resolution calling for “extended humanitarian pauses” in Gaza, after failing to agree on four previous votes.
In the UK, politicians rejected against an opposition party motion which called for a ceasefire in Gaza by 293 votes to 125.
Israel says 1,200 people have been killed since the 7 October attack by Hamas militants, and 239 are still being held captive in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has not issued new figures for dead and injured Palestinians for several days now. Its most recent count said more than 11,000 people had been killed during Israel’s retaliation – of whom more than 4,500 were children.
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Israel to display ‘more material’ from hospital raid
Mark Regev, who is a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has told the BBC News Channel he is sure “more and more material” from what he says is Hamas’s subterranean network under the Al-Shifa hospital will be shared.
It comes after the Israel Defense Forces published footage from inside the hospital, which purported to show Hamas weapons and technological assets found during its day-long operation at the medical facility in Gaza City.
Regev went on to tell the BBC’s Newshour programme on the World Service that mounting a military operation at the hospital was justified:
Quote Message: International law specifically says that the minute your enemy uses a humanitarian site like a hospital for its military machine then you can target that site… It doesn’t mean you do so lightly or irresponsibly but under international law it loses its immunity.”
Hamas has denied Israeli claims that it has a command-and-control centre beneath the Al-Shifa hospital and on Wednesday night described such allegations as “lies and cheap propaganda”.
Copyright: Israel Defense Forces via ReutersImage caption: The Israel Defense Forces provided a hand-out image of soldiers inside the Al-Shifa hospital which it says has a Hamas HQ underneath – an allegation denied by the group
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Israeli envoy dismisses UN Security Council resolution
Copyright: EPAWe’ve got some reaction coming in after the UN Security Council backed a resolution calling for “extended humanitarian pauses” in Gaza.
It passed with 12 members voting for it, and three abstaining – the US, UK and Russia.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, says the resolution is “disconnected from reality and meaningless”.
He says Israel will “continue acting according to international law” and criticises the motion for not mentioning Hamas’s attack on the country on 7 October.
That sentiment was echoed by the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who says she is “horrified that a few members of this Council still cannot bring themselves to condemn the barbaric terrorist attack that Hamas carried out against Israel”.
“What are they afraid of?”
Louis Charbonneau, the UN director at Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation, welcomed the resolution.
It “sent a rare and powerful message to Israel, Hamas and other armed groups that compliance with international humanitarian law is non-negotiable”, he said.
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What’s happening to premature babies in Al-Shifa hospital?
Ethar Shalaby
BBC Arabic
Copyright: ReutersImage caption: Dr Abu Saada says the hospital has been unable to take any new premature babies over the last five days “There are 36 surviving premature babies. There were 39, but we lost three,” Dr Marwan Abu Saada, the head of Al-Shifa’s general surgery department, tells me down a faint phone line.
Those who remain have no surviving parents or guardians, and in the chaos of war, their relatives cannot be found, he said.
Two of the babies were found alone in the aftermath of Israel Defense Force shelling, and brought to the hospital. Four others were born by Caesarean section after their mothers had died.
Due to lack of fuel, the babies have been moved from their incubators in the neo-natal unit to the cardiac surgery operating theatre, Abu Saada tells me.
There they lie, eight or 10 to a bed, on top of heated blankets and covered in foil to keep them warm.
Labels are attached to each baby, saying “the son of” or “the daughter of” alongside their mother’s names – if its known.
With limited access to water, doctors are struggling to maintain sterile conditions, and Dr Abu Saada worries the babies could develop sepsis due unclean oxygen tubes.
“That’s why we’re calling for these babies to be evacuated,” he says.
He tells me that since the IDF stormed the complex, a connecting bridge between the general surgery and specialised surgery buildings have been hit – cutting off his contact with the neonatal unit.
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Tonight’s headlines
Copyright: ReutersIt’s approaching 10 past midnight in Israel and Gaza and 22:10 here in our London newsroom. For those of you just joining us, here’s a look at today’s key developments:
- The Israeli military has carried out an operation at the Al-Shifa Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, where it accused Hamas of operating a command and control centre
- A journalist inside the facility told the BBC the troops have now withdrawn, but this has not been independently verified
- Earlier in the day, he said IDF soldiers had entered the main emergency department and were interrogating patients
- The IDF has since released images and footage which it says shows Hamas weapons and equipment found inside Shifa
- In the south, heavy rain is continuing to fall on Khan Younis – while Rafah has seen the first delivery of fuel with 25,000 litres allowed to cross into Gaza
- Elsewhere, the UN Security Council has voted in favour of a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors” throughout Gaza
- And in the UK, the House of Commons has voted against calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, by 293 votes to 125. Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer faced a major rebellion after he ordered his MPs to abstain
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Al-Shifa official speaks of ‘major destruction’ after Israeli raid
Tom Bateman
Middle East correspondent
Dr Marwan Abu Saada, head of surgery at Al-Shifa hospital, has described “major destruction” in the radiology unit following today’s raid.
“The Israeli army invaded the radiology department in the subspeciality surgical building,” he said in messages sent to the BBC.
“They isolated male people in one room in tied hands and made major destruction of the CT [scanner], and also to the MRI machine and to multiple [ultrasound] and to furniture.
“Two people from the maintenance team have been arrested.”
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What does the Israeli military’s video from Al-Shifa hospital show?
As we’ve reported, the Israeli military says it’s continuing to operate in Al-Shifa hospital and it shared images and a video of what is says are weapons found during its search operation at the hospital.
The seven-minute video shows IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus at part of Al-Shifa hospital. He begins outside – with sounds of firing heard in the background – and then moves through different rooms in the MRI department.
He says what troops found there shows that “Hamas systematically uses hospitals in their military operations”.
Copyright: IDFHe points to security cameras that appear to have been covered.
Conricus also shows weapons that he says are AK47 rifles which were found behind MRI scanners.
He shows three bags he says were military “grab bags”, and equipment he says was found in them including “a live grenade, ammunition, a fighting vest with insignia” and also a military vest with a green banner on it, from which he reads out the name of Hamas’s military wing.
Conricus also shows a laptop, which he says was found in the MRI room.
He shows a photo which he says was found on the laptop and is of Israeli soldier Pte Ori Megidish who was taken hostage in Gaza but later freed by Israeli forces.
The BBC has not verified the location of the video or the claims made in it – though we are working to bring you more detail.
Copyright: IDFCopyright: IDF -
Hamas claims Israeli military planted weapons found at hospital
Earlier we showed you photos released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) which it said showed Hamas weapons it found during its operation on the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza – although neither the BBC nor other media were present at the site.
Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the Israeli military’s update is “ridiculous and worthless” adding that Hamas could not rule out that Israel’s army “brought weapons and put them in the Al-Shifa complex”.
He said Israel’s goal is to “pressure” hospitals and medical centres and to displace Gaza’s population – adding that 25 hospitals in the territory are now out of service through “bombing, siege and destruction”.
Hamas has denied claims it operates from within the hospital. The BBC can’t independently verify the claims made by either side.
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BREAKINGUN Security Council backs ‘extended humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza
Nada Tawfik
Reporting from New York
The UN Security Council has voted in favour of the resolution put forward by Malta which calls for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors” throughout the Gaza Strip “for a sufficient number of days”.
Twelve members voted for the resolution with three abstentions from permanent members the US, UK and Russia.
The resolution also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups. It demands that all parties comply with their obligations under international law and it calls on the UN secretary-general to monitor and report back on its implementation.
In October, the Security Council failed four times to pass resolutions calling for either a ceasefire or humanitarian pauses.
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Analysis Israel appears not to have much to show for its Al-Shifa operation
Orla Guerin
Reporting from Jerusalem
After besieging and then storming the largest hospital in Gaza, Israel doesn’t have too much to show for its efforts. This controversial operation – which provoked international criticism – did not net a major arsenal of weapons. Unless Israel has more to reveal.
The video material released by Israel so far tonight shows about a dozen old assault rifles – neatly laid out on a carpet.
There are a few bullet proof vests, three hand grenades, some CDs, a handgun, a laptop, a rucksack, and a few knives.
It didn’t look sufficient for a “command centre” but Israel claims Hamas was running one in a labyrinth beneath Al-Shifa hospital.
Copyright: Israel Defense ForcesImage caption: The IDF shared images of what it says are Hamas weapons it found at Al-Shifa That said there was no element of surprise. Hamas knew Israel was coming. If it was operating beneath the hospital it had weeks to clear out through Gaza’s extensive tunnel network.
Did Israeli troops find more than they are showing us at this stage? Perhaps. And an Israel Defense Forces spokesman says what has been found so far is “only the tip of the ice-berg”.
But it seems likely that the army would want to show the maximum at this point, to justify its assault on the hospital.
No international media have had access to the hospital today – or since 7 October – so we cannot confirm Israel’s claims.
Hamas has said Israel’s allegation that weapons have been found was “lies and cheap propaganda”.
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UK MPs vote against calling for ceasefire – but dozens defy Labour stance
Copyright: ReutersImage caption: Protesters gathered outside Parliament as the vote happened More now on tonight’s vote by the UK House of Commons which voted against calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, by 293 votes to 125.
Neither Prime Minister Rishi Sunak nor Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer back a ceasefire – and have called for humanitarian pauses to let aid through. Pressure has been building on Starmer for days to change his position, but he refused to.
Tonight, 56 Labour MPs disobeyed Starmer’s instruction not to vote for the ceasefire motion, which was put forward by the Scottish National Party.
And several of Starmer’s top team quit their roles in order to vote for the SNP motion (they wouldn’t have been able to vote for it otherwise).
Among them, Jess Phillips is probably the most high-profile. Others include Yasmin Qureshi, Naz Shah, Afzal Khan and Paula Barker.
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Ceasefire rally held in London ahead of crunch Commons vote
Asad Ahmad
Reporting from London
Copyright: BBCIn the UK, MPs have rejected an opposition party’s call for a ceasefire in the Middle East by 293 votes to 125.
Ahead of the vote a ceasefire rally was held in Parliament Square, Westminster.
It was a fraction of the size of recent weekend protests, but it is mid-week and a working day for many who might otherwise like to be here.
Nevertheless, thousands of people of all ages came to central London close to the Houses of Parliament to voice their support for a ceasefire.
The crowd was made up of Christians, Muslims, Jews, people of other faiths and no faith.
“Our shared future is based on the belief that all human beings are equal, and deserving of respect and safety,” one attendee, Magnen Inon, whose parents were killed by Hamas on 7 October, told me.
“This is how I was raised and how I am raising my own children.”
A minutes’ silence was held for victims on both sides of the war and I saw imams and rabbis hug each other in the name of humanity.
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Palestinian doctor says conditions at north Gaza hospital ‘extremely critical’
We’ve been reporting on the tense situation at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City but BBC News has received a voice message via the group Medical Aid for Palestinians from Dr Ahmed Muhanna, director of the Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, which is in the north of Gaza.
Dr Muhanna describes the conditions at the hospital as “extremely, extremely critical”. According to him, Israeli bombardment within the vicinity of the hospital has been ongoing.
In the voice message, he explains that all hospitals in northern Gaza and Gaza City are now unable to provide medical services.
Dr Muhanna adds that the Al-Awda hospital is receiving “about 40 to 50 patients per day approximately” from “all northern areas”.
He says staff at the hospital have not been able to leave for 39 days and the facility has not had fuel for a week.
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IDF says it has found Hamas weapons and equipment in Al-Shifa hospital
Copyright: Israel Defense ForcesAn update from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) now on the operation it launched at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
In a statement, the IDF says it discovered “an operational command centre, weapons, and technological assets” belonging to Hamas inside the MRI building at the facility.
It says it found “technological assets, along with military and combat equipment” in one department and “an operational command center and technological assets” in another.
It says the “technological assets and extensive intelligence information” have been “transferred for full review by the relevant authorities”.
It adds that as the soldiers entered the hospital complex, they engaged with a number Hamas members and killed them, without elaborating.
The IDF says it is “continuing to operate in the hospital complex, while extracting intelligence information and preventing harm to the medical teams and civilians sheltering there.”
It has also shared several images and some video footage – which the BBC has not independently verified – showing what it says are weapons found during the operation.
Hamas denies operating from the hospital, The BBC can’t independently verify claims made by either side about what has been taking place there.
Copyright: Israel Defense Forces -
BBC Verify
Paul Brown
What does IDF video from Al-Shifa hospital show?
One of the only pieces of footage to emerge from Al-Shifa hospital since last night’s raid has come from the IDF itself.
The edited video begins with a military vehicle and a number of soldiers carrying boxes and equipment, including what looks like an incubator.
It is not clear what is in the boxes. Most are marked “medical supplies” (in English). Another box is labelled “baby food”.
The soldiers walk between what BBC Verify has confirmed as the hospital’s Specialist Surgery Building and Emergency Ward. We know this because the buildings and distinctive walkway in the video match satellite imagery. The IDF has previously said that part of Hamas’s “underground complex” is underneath the ward.
We don’t know exactly when the video was filmed, but given the footage was shot in daylight suggests it happened several hours after the raid first began.
Remnants of tents and other temporary structures can also been seen in the hospital grounds. But no civilians or medical staff are in the video.
While one soldier raises his weapon briefly at one point, they otherwise appear calm.
A final aerial shot shows them leaving towards the north-western part of the hospital complex. At least three military vehicles are also seen on the road outside the hospital
Copyright: IDF -
Netanyahu’s wife says Israeli hostage has given birth in captivity
An Israeli woman taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October has given birth in captivity in Gaza, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said in a public letter addressed to US First Lady Jill Biden.
In the letter, released by the president’s office, Sara Netanyahu writes: “You can only imagine, as I do, what must be going through that young mother’s mind.”
Netanyahu also notes the 32 children who have been held in the territory now for over a month. “These children are surely suffering untold trauma,” she adds.
She identifies among them a 10-month-old baby “kidnapped before he learned how to walk or talk”.
“The children need our help,” Netanyahu says in her plea to Biden, saying they “must call for the immediate release of them and all being held”.
Here’s her letter in full:
Copyright: Israeli Prime Minister’s Office -
The latest headlines
Good evening.
It’s coming up to 20:00 in Israel and Gaza, and 18:00 in our London newsroom. Here are the headlines:
- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have launched a “precise and targeted” operation at Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa
- Multiple news agencies have reported in the last few minutes that its troops have now withdrawn – and we are working to verify this
- Earlier on, a journalist inside the hospital told the BBC that commandos had entered the main emergency department
- He said the soldiers were going room to room and questioning people, and that younger men were told to leave the hospital buildings and strip down to their underwear for interrogation
- Israel has accused Hamas of operating a command and control centre underneath the facility – a claim the US says its intelligence supports. Hamas denies this
- In Gaza’s south, torrential rain is making life harder for the tens of thousands of displaced people living in tents, the UN says
- For the first time since the start of the war, Israel allowed the delivery of 25,000 litres of fuel into southern Gaza through the Rafah crossing
- Away from the territory, Reuters cites an official as saying that Qatari mediators have been trying to broker a deal between Hamas and Israel over the release of some hostages
- And in other news, the UN Security Council is due to vote later today on a draft resolution that calls for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors”
Copyright: Reuters -
Reports Israeli troops leaving Al-Shifa hospital
A journalist who is trapped inside Al-Shifa hospital says troops have now left the building and have moved outside its walls.
The Israel Defense Forces have not officially commented on the claim or said when the operation is due to end.
The BBC has not been able to independently confirm whether the troops have left Al-Shifa.
Separately, BBC Arabic’s Ethar Shalaby spoke to Dr Mohamed Abu Salamiya, director-general of Al-Shifa hospital, who said soldiers had left the hospital’s speciality surgery building.
However, he couldn’t confirm whether they had also vacated other buildings in the complex.
He said: “I can still see lots of tanks at the gates of the hospital”.
Dr Salamiya also accused the Israeli troops of damaging specialist medical equipment during the raid.
BBC News
