Middle East latest: Israeli hostage speaks in Hamas video; defiant Netanyahu hits out at UK arms ban (2024)

Palestinian medical staff are back working at the Al Shifa hospital after the repair and reopening of its emergency department.

It was damaged in an Israeli offensive five months ago in Gaza City.

Once the biggest and most advanced medical facility in Gaza, it became a battleground in the war after Israel claimed there was a Hamas headquarters hidden in tunnels below the building. Hamas and hospital workers denied the claims.

After the UK's ban on some arms sales to Israel, our military analyst Sean Bell says the timing of the decision is noteworthy.

Coming after the active phase in Gaza has largely come to an end, he says it can be largely seen as "a political move, to placate some of the pro-Palestinian members of the Labour Party".

Bell highlights three key details around the significance of the policy change.

"Firstly, the UK relationship with Israel is not just about the arms trade, it's about intelligence, and that vital regional intelligence, together with the US is something we need to preserve.

"Secondly, UK exports are relatively small anyway in the defence space. But by turning off the tap a little bit further, it makes future exports a lot more difficult, both military and other.

"Thirdly, defence exports are a multibillion-pound revenue for the UK. Critics would say it's profiteering from war, but the number one priority of any government is protection of your nation. The Brits actually not only provide weapons, but also vital training to make sure people operate them within international law."

As for the growing pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages, Bell says: "Statistically, by far and away the most effective way of getting hostages out is through political negotiation.

"I think with the fighting phase of the Gaza conflict largely abating, that's why we're seeing such huge protests in Israel saying if we're going to get our people out, [we need to put] pressure on Netanyahu to deliver on his commitment that it was a priority to get those hostages out."

Ninety-seven hostages are believed to remain in Gaza, with 35 of those understood to be dead.

Germany's main airline will restart flights to Tel Aviv this week after suspending them last month over fears of an escalation in the Middle East conflict.

Lufthansa's flights to the Israeli city will resume on Thursday, though its flights to Beirut, the Lebanese capital, will stay suspended until 30 September, it said in a statement.

The war in Gaza has stoked parallel hostilities between the Israeli military and the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed Hezbollah, with fire traded almost daily over the border between Israel and Lebanon.

British Airways, Wizz Air, Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Swiss Airlines are all currently offering flights to Tel Aviv.

But budget airline easyJet has suspended all flights to the city until at least 27 October.

The polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has surpassed targets, the World Health Organization has said.

Rik Peeperkorn, a WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territories, told reporters that it had vaccinated more than 161,000 children under 10 in the central area of the enclave in the first two days of its campaign.

The projected target was 150,000.

"Up until now things are going well," he said, adding: "We still have 10 days to go."

The campaign began last week and aims to reach around 640,000 children in total.

For context: Polio, which had been nearly eradicated globally until recent years, causes paralysis of limbs mainly in children under five. In the middle of last month, a 10-month-old became partially paralysed in Gaza after contracting the disease - the first case in the enclave for 25 years.

Campaigners say Israel's destruction of water and waste management infrastructure is helping spread the highly contagious disease. Israel has agreed to limited pauses in the fighting to facilitate the campaign.

Benjamin Netanyahu has called the UK government's decision to suspend 30 arms licences to Israel "shameful".

In a number of posts on X, the Israeli leader said the decision will "not change Israel's determination to defeat Hamas", who "savagely murdered 1,200 people on 7 October, including 14 British citizens".

He added: "Instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain's misguided decision will only embolden Hamas.

"With or without British arms, Israel will win this war and secure our common future."

His foreign minister, Israel Katz, also condemned the decision - which the UK said was made because the arms could be being used to break international law - saying the ban "sends a very problematic message to Hamas and its backers in Iran".

"Israel is a law-abiding state that operates in accordance with international law and has an independent and respected judicial system - we expect friendly countries, such as the UK, to recognise this all year round," Mr Katz said.

Reacting to the decision earlier, ourMiddle East correspondent Alistair Bunkallsaid the ban would make little difference in practical terms asIsrael imports tiny amounts of arms from the UK, but diplomatically the move is "hugely symbolic" - you can read his full comments in our post at 9.43am.

An EU military operation in the Red Sea has released new images of a tanker that was attacked by the Houthis.

The photos, taken yesterday, showed several fires on the deck of the MV SOUNION, which the Yemeni group claimed to strike last week.

Operation Aspides said the vessel presents a "significant environmental threat" because it is carrying a large amount of crude oil.

"Currently, several fires continue to burn on the vessel's main deck. The vessel remains anchored without drifting, and there are no visible signs of an oil spill," it added. A salvage operation is due to start.

The Houthis have launched repeated attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, which they claim have links to Israel.

However, the vessels have often had no, or very limited, links to the country.

The Houthis are part of an Iran-aligned regional alliance, which also includes Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

They govern swathes of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, more than a thousand miles from Israel.

The group has blamed Israel for instability in the Middle East, saying the "circle of conflict" in the region was driven by its "continued crimes".

Speaking from Tel Aviv as the UK government defends its ban on some arms exports to Israel (see our previous post), our Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall calls the decision is an "interesting move".

It is another indication, he says, that Sir Keir Starmer's government holds a completely different view on Israel than the previous Conservative government.

"It is not the first change in policy towards Israel that we have seen from Starmer's administration," he says.

"The government has restored funding to the UN agency that works with Palestinians, despite opposition from Israel. It has also removed any objection that the previous government put in place to the International Criminal Court pursing arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant."

Ultimately, however, the decision will make little difference in practical terms asIsrael imports tiny amounts of arms from the UK - but diplomatically, Bunkall says, the move is "hugely symbolic".

"The last year of record shows that 0.02% of Israel's total arms import comes from the UK." Bunkall says.

"Practically speaking it will make very little difference to the war, but of course diplomatically it is hugely symbolic. Symbolic because it happened yesterday, on the day funerals of two of the six hostages took place and when Netanyahu doubled down on his position to refuse to compromise any further with Hamas."

More now on the UK's partial ban of arms exports to Israel.

As we have been reporting David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has announced 30 out of around 350 export licences would be suspended over concerns they could be used to break international law.

Now John Healey, the defence secretary, has defended the decision, pointing out "there is no blanket ban".

He told Sky News that the UK has a "duty to the rule of law" and a "legal responsibility to review arms export licences".

He said legal advice stated there was a "clear risk" that the 30 military components could be liked to a "serious violation of international humanitarian law".

"We've suspended the export licences on those components and not affected any of the 300 plus other exports that we put into Israel that may be used for defensive purposes or have nothing to do with the conflict," he added.

"There is no blanket ban. There's no arms embargo. This is a question item by item, licence by licence," he said.

He added that the suspensions could be lifted if the components were deemed to no longer pose a risk to international law being breached.

He also reiterated the need for a ceasefire in the region, saying that's the way hostages will be released and aid will get into Gaza.

"That's the way we pave a longer-term path to lasting peace in the region," he said.

A Hamas commander who helped orchestrate the 7 October attack on a settlement in southern Israel has been killed in a strike in Gaza, the Israeli military has reported.

In a post on Telegram, the IDF said Ahmed Fawzi Nasser Muhammad Wadiyya was among eight Hamas militants "eliminated" in the attack.

It said Wadiyya invaded the village of Netiv HaAsara using a paraglider and "took command of the massacre of civilians".

It said he was pictured drinking inside the home of an Israeli family in front of two children whose father had been killed in the attack.

The strike in which he was killed targeted a Hamas compound that was located near Gaza's al Ahli Hospital, Israel said.

"Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence," it said.

Hamas has released a video of one of six Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered by the IDF at the weekend.

The two-minute clip shows Eden Yerushalmi, whom Israel says was murdered by Hamas, delivering a message directed at Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and saying she missed her family.

It is not clear when the footage was taken or the circ*mstances of how it was filmed.

It was released on Hamas's social media channels late last night.

After its release, Ms Yerushalmi's family issued a statement, calling the clip a "shocking psychological terror video".

Sharing their comments through the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, they responded to the comments made by Ms Yerushalmi, saying: "Our Eden, we love you too and we miss you like crazy. You are forever in our hearts."

The 24-year-old was abducted by the militant group while working as a bartender at the Nova music festival in southern Israel on 7 October.

On that day, she sent a video of rocket fire to her family group chat and said she was leaving the festival, the forum said.

She then called the police and pleaded with them to "find me, okay?", as she relayed details of the unfolding massacre.

For four hours afterwards, she spoke with her sisters May and Shani, who heard everything she went through as she tried to escape.

"Her last words were, 'Shani, they've caught me'," the forum said.

Last week, the Israeli military confirmed Ms Yerushalmi was one of six hostages killed in Gaza, along with Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino.

The military said they had all been "brutally murdered" a short time before forces found them.