Israel’s defence minister tells ground troops to be ready to enter Gaza Strip

Key points

• It was reported late on Thursday night that humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on Friday
• Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant has told troops to ‘get organised, be ready’ for a ground invasion of Gaza
• Israel will enforce a buffer zone within the Gaza Strip once the war with Hamas is over, an Israeli minister said
• Varadkar: EU leaders ‘almost appeared to give Israel carte blanche’ after Hamas attacks
• Joe Biden has said Israel will allow humanitarian aid to cross from Egypt into the southern Gaza Strip
• Netanyahu confirms food, water and medicine would be allowed for Gaza refugees in south of the strip

Top reads

• Protesters occupy European Commission offices in Dublin over ‘support’ for Israel in conflict
• Ripple effects from Israel-Hamas war are felt by Europe’s Muslims
• Biden says Israel will allow humanitarian aid to cross from Egypt into southern Gaza
• ‘It was like a live feed’ – Irish-Israeli woman on nephew who survived Hamas attack
• Motion calling for immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza passed in Dáil
• Dáil shows its colours with widespread TD support for Palestine
• We may never have seen a propaganda and disinformation war like this one
• The Irish Times view on the EU and Israel/Gaza: who speaks for Europe?

The Rafah crossing will be opened to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on Friday, Egyptian state media reported.

Egyptian security officials at the border crossing told CNN that Egypt is preparing to open its side of the crossing on Friday morning. A UN flag will be raised at the Rafah crossing to protect against Israeli air strikes under a UN-brokered deal between Israel and Egypt to allow aid into the Palestinian territory, AP reported.

The UN, along with the Egyptians and Palestinian Red Crescent societies, will oversee the aid to ensure it is given to civilians and not used by Palestinian militants, it said. Israel, the White House and Egypt have confirmed that limited aid will be allowed to travel into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The World Health Organisation earlier said its trucks are “loaded and ready to go” at the crossing. – Guardian

Violence in the occupied West Bank has surged since Israel began bombarding the Gaza Strip and clashing with Hizbullah at the Lebanon border, fuelling concerns the flashpoint Palestinian territory could become a third front in a wider war.

Israel is waging war against the militant Hamas group in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, but Israeli soldiers and settlers pulled out of Gaza in 2005. Israel still occupies the West Bank, captured with Gaza in a 1967 Middle East war.

Western countries supporting Israel fear a wider war that would open up Lebanon, with its Iran-backed group Hizbullah, as a second front and the West Bank as what Israeli media call a potential third front.

Clashes between Israeli soldiers and settlers and Palestinians have already turned deadly. More than 70 Palestinians have been killed in West Bank violence since October 7th and Israel has arrested more than 800 people.

Israeli forces raided and carried out an air strike in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank on Thursday, killing at least 12 people, Palestinian officials said, and Israeli police said an officer was killed during the raid.

The violence poses a challenge to both Israel and to the Palestinian Authority (PA), the only Palestinian governing body recognised internationally which is headquartered there. The Israeli military said it was on high alert and bracing for attacks including by Hamas militants in the West Bank.

Hamas was trying to “engulf Israel in a two- or three-front war”, including the Lebanese border and the West Bank, military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told Reuters. “The threat is elevated,” he said. – Reuters

Israel will enforce a buffer zone within the Gaza Strip once the war with Hamas is over, Israel’s agriculture minister Avi Dichter said on Thursday.

Israel has been bombarding Hamas targets in Gaza since the Palestinian militant group carried out a devastating attack on Israel almost two weeks ago, and is widely expected to launch a ground operation in the territory.

But while prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that Israel’s goal is to destroy Hamas, his government has been reticent about its plans for the enclave – which Israel and Egypt have subjected to a crippling blockade since Hamas seized power in 2007 – once the war has ended. In comments that appeared to refer to establishing a buffer zone in the coastal strip, Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, said on Wednesday that “at the end of this war, not only will Hamas no longer be in Gaza, but the territory of Gaza will also decrease”.

Asked about these comments and the possibility of establishing a buffer zone inside Gaza, Mr Dichter – who was previously head of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency – said on Thursday that the current situation, in which the bulk of Israel’s border security infrastructure was several hundred metres inside Israeli territory, was no longer tenable.

Read the full story here.

Two large multinational companies, Intel and Siemens, have pulled out of this year’s Web Summit following comments made by the tech conference’s founder Paddy Cosgrave on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

In a previous post on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Cosgrave said: “War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are.”

He said he was “shocked at the rhetoric and actions of so many western leaders & governments, with the exception in particular of Ireland’s Government, who for once are doing the right thing”.

The post was widely criticised by supporters of Israel, leading Mr Cosgrave to issue a lengthy apology in recent days.

In a statement on Thursday, German industrial giant Siemens said “following recent developments” around the Web Summit it had decided not to attend the conference this year.

A spokeswoman for Intel, the US chip manufacturer who has a large plant in Leixlip, Co Kildare, confirmed the company “has withdrawn from this year’s Web Summit”.

In response to a request for comment, a spokeswoman for the Web Summit said “is looking forward to welcoming 70,000 attendees from around the world with a full programme this November”.

Read Jack Power’s full story here.

Next month’s MTV Europe Music Awards in Paris have been cancelled, organisers said on Thursday, citing “the volatility of world events” amid the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza.

The awards ceremony, scheduled to be broadcast live and at which the likes of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny and the Foo Fighters were among nominees, was due to be held on November 5th at Paris Nord Villepinte.

“Given the volatility of world events, we have decided not to move forward with the 2023 MTV EMAs out of an abundance of caution for the thousands of employees, crew members, artists, fans, and partners who travel from all corners of the world to bring the show to life,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“The MTV EMAs are an annual celebration of global music. As we watch the devastating events in Israel and Gaza continue to unfold, this does not feel like a moment for a global celebration. With thousands of lives already lost, it is a moment of mourning. We look forward to hosting the MTV EMAs again in November of 2024.”

France is on its highest state of alert after the October 13th murder of a schoolteacher in a suspected Islamist attack.

On Wednesday, eight French airports faced security alerts and several were evacuated for checks, the DGAC aviation authority said, and the Palace of Versailles closed again due to its third security scare in five days.

The annual MTV Europe Music Awards are held in a different city each year and were held in Dublin in 1999. – Reuters

What we know so far today

• Israel’s defence minister has told troops to be ready for an imminently expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip
• Humanitarian aid trucks, lined up at the Rafah border crossing in Egypt, are expected enter Gaza on Friday
• British prime minister Rishi Sunak has met with Israel’s prime minister and president as well the Saudi crown prince
• Gazan officials have said some 3,500 have been killed and more than 12,000 wounded in the region since October 7th. More than 1,400 have died in Israel
• United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire
• Activists occupied the offices of the European Commission in Dublin, in protest over its support for Israel at the outset of the conflict

Aid agencies have warned that the help set to arrive in Gaza could be too little too late for many of the territory’s desperate population as preparations were being made for a small convoy of lorries carrying humanitarian aid to enter Gaza on Friday, under a deal between the US, Israel and Egypt.

The US president, Joe Biden, brokered an agreement during his one-day visit to Israel on Wednesday for an initial convoy of 20 trucks to pass through the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza on Friday. Under conditions demanded by the Israelis, further consignments of relief supplies would be dependent on whether the first delivery was distributed without Hamas involvement.

The aid delivery planned for Friday will take place under the shadow of a threatened ground offensive by Israeli troops massed along Gaza’s borders.

Aid agencies have said delays in agreeing the relief shipment had undoubtably cost the lives of Palestinians who have been under bombardment and total blockade since the October 7th Hamas attack. They also said it was a pitiful amount for a population of 2.3 million who were heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance even before basic supplies, water, fuel and electricity were cut off. More than 3,000 people have been killed in the past 12 days, according to Gaza officials.

The emergencies director of the World Health Organisation, Michael Ryan, said aid needed to get in “every day”, and called the initial convoy of 20 trucks “a drop in the ocean of need right now”.

“There will be many injured who will lose their lives if sufficient fuel, medical supplies and life-saving aid is not delivered to hospitals in Gaza which are full of injured civilians from the continuous bombing and Israeli air strikes,” said Riham Jafari, the communications and advocacy coordinator at ActionAid Palestine.

“Insufficient aid will cause health disasters and starvation as patients with chronic diseases and pregnant women and their infants will be unable to receive the medical care and nutrition they need, and this will endanger their lives. We know that the 20 trucks of aid currently promised is simply not enough.”

Humanitarian organisations have stockpiled life-saving supplies on the Egyptian side of the border, waiting for the crossing to open. The UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, told the UN security council on Wednesday that the organisation sought to bring aid deliveries to Gaza back to 100 trucks a day, the level before the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Griffiths told the security council: “There is simply nowhere to go for civilians to escape the destruction and privation, both of which grow by the hour as missiles continue to fly and essential supplies, including fuel, food, medical items, water run low.

“Due to the scarcity of water, UNRWA [the UN relief agency] in some locations ... is being forced to ration down to providing one litre of water per person per day. Bear in mind that the minimum by international standards should be 15 litres, and they’re getting one – and they’re the lucky ones.”

More than 1 million Palestinians, roughly half of Gaza’s population, have fled their homes since the war began. Those fleeing the north to move south have crowded into UN schools or the homes of relatives.

The Gaza health ministry said 3,478 people had been killed in Gaza since the war began and more than 12,000 wounded, mostly women, children and elderly people.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have died, mostly civilians killed during Hamas’s deadly incursion on October 7th. – Guardian

Former Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said on Thursday that the group has a number of Israeli soldiers, held as hostages, which are enough to negotiate releasing all the Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Meshaal, who heads Hamas’ diaspora office, made the remarks during an exclusive interview to Al Arabiya TV.

Earlier, Mashaal said Hamas’s Israeli captives include high-ranking officers from the Gaza Division. – Reuters

Israel has continued to pound locations across Gaza on Thursday, including firing on parts of the southern strip that had been declared safe zones.

A residential building in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had sought shelter, was among the places hit.

Thousands in Gaza have died since retaliatory Israeli strikes started in the aftermath of Hamas’s incursion.

Many among Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have cut down to one meal a day and have been left to drink dirty water amid dwindling supplies. – PA

British prime minister Rishi Sunak has arrived in Saudi Arabia for the second leg of his Middle East tour after a visit to Israel where he met its prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Mr Sunak is set to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday evening as he urges leaders in the region not to allow the Israeli-Hamas battle escalate into a wider conflict.

He travelled from Tel Aviv after meetings with Mr Netanyahu and Israel’s president Yitzhak Herzog.

Mr Netanyahu told Mr Sunak that he hoped for the UK’s “continuous support” in his country’s “long war” as it fought back against Hamas.

The Israeli prime minister said his forces were fighting against the “worst monsters on the planet” during the “world’s darkest hour” as he warned there would be “ups and downs” during the war.

Mr Sunak, speaking at a joint press conference after discussions with his counterpart lasting about two hours, said he was “proud” to stand with Israel and that the UK government “wants you to win”. – PA

United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres called on Thursday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

“Gaza needs aid at scale and on a sustained basis,” Mr Guterres said during a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry.

He called on Hamas to release the hostages it seized on October 7th, and on Israel to give unrestricted access for aid.

He said “rapid, unimpeded humanitarian access”, is needed for Gaza’s 2.2 million people.

“Humanitarians need to be able to get aid in and they need to be able to distribute it safely.” – Reuters

Director general of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said he aid supplies may be able to enter Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah tomorrow, Friday.

The WHO once again urged Israel to allow fuel supplies to be included in the aid shipment.

Barak: Tens of thousands of boots on the ground

More on the likely ground invasion from the former Israeli prime minister who was in charge during the last major incursion:

Israel is likely to launch a bloody ground assault on the Gaza Strip in the coming days, the former prime minister Ehud Barak said. In an interview with NBC News, Barak warned that Israel Defence Forces (IDF) would “need to deploy on the ground tens of thousands of pairs of boots” in order to “eliminate every launching pad, every rocket, every weapon, every training site” of Hamas.

He said: “I don’t like to use the word inevitable, but that’s the most probable development, namely that in a few days, a much wider force will enter into the Gaza Strip. He acknowledged how difficult a ground invasion would be for Israeli forces. We would love to have it [the incursion] in the meadows of Oxfordshire. But it’s not; it’s Gaza. It’s a built-up area with fighters there, and they will fight back. I don’t want to idealise it or say it’s going to be a cakewalk. But with enough force and enough enthusiasm, we will win.”

Barak was Israel’s defence minister during the country’s largest Gaza ground incursion in 2009, after serving as a special forces commando, commander-in-chief of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), and then as prime minister once and defence minister twice. He said any ground operation must follow international law, but “you cannot ignore the fact that already there are many citizens killed, and probably there will be more”. – Guardian

Israel’s defence minister tells ground troops to be ready to enter Gaza Strip

Israel’s defence minister has told ground troops to be ready to enter the Gaza Strip, though he did not say when the invasion will start.

In a meeting with Israeli infantry soldiers on the Gaza border, Yoav Gallant urged the forces to “get organised, be ready” for an order to move in.

“Whoever sees Gaza from afar now will see it from the inside,” he said.

“I promise you.”

Israel has massed tens of thousands of troops along the border following a bloody October 7th cross-border massacre by Hamas militants. – AP

Five trucks of medical supplies are ready at the border between Gaza and Egypt, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday, welcoming Israel’s announcement that it will not block the entry of aid into the Palestinian territory.

“Our trucks are loaded and ready to go,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference. He said he hoped the supplies would be delivered as soon as the Rafah crossing opened, “hopefully tomorrow”.

The delivery of aid is set to be the first after Israel said it would impose a “total blockade” on the narrow Gaza Strip that is home to 2.3 million people, cutting electricity supplies and halting flows of food and fuel, in response to a devastating attack from Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7th.

There have also been heavy Israel air strikes in the war with Hamas. The UN has warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe”. – Reuters

EU Commissioner Mairead McGuiness has said that the European Union speaks with one voice about the importance of humanitarian aid for Gaza while also being very clear in its condemnation of the Hamas attack on Israel.

It was important and crucial that a way to talk about peace was found and to stick to the rules of law, she told RTÉ Radio’s News at One.

It was also true to say that among the member states, there were differing, nuanced views about this issue, she added.

“But I think that everyone stands on two basic principles. One is that what happened to Israeli families, and not only the death and destruction, but now the hostages that are in Gaza. And secondly, and that was appalling and nobody in their right mind would say other than that. But equally to Israel, that they, in response, in self-defence, have to abide by humanitarian the laws of war. And I think that lesson and that message was repeated in the European Parliament. It’s been repeated by the leaders right across the European Union, and indeed by the president.”

Ms McGuiness said that the EU realised that it needed to speak with one voice for human rights, for the Palestinians and families with no access to water and food.

While the visit of the US President Joe Biden had had an impact, equally the EU was committed to finding a peaceful solution. “We need to find a way where peace can prevail in a region where sadly, we have so many of decades of where peace has not prevailed.

“And I go back to October 7th, and we absolutely acknowledge the pain that was suffered by Israel and its families. But also we have to acknowledge that the families, the young children who cannot have access to water, who may not have access to medical care, who are being asked to move because Israel has so far delayed going into Gaza that their lives are at risk now. And our absolute objective as one Europe is to get humanitarian aid flowing.”

When asked about the comments by Ursula von der Leyen and subsequent criticism by President Michael D Higgins, Ms McGuinness said she had great respect for both presidents, neither of whom was reckless, nor thoughtless.

“I think that in this case, the president [von der Leyen] took a decision to go and to give solidarity with Israel. But equally, I think, clarified very strongly yesterday in her statement to the European Parliament that we have to make sure that humanitarian laws are abided by Israel as they go to defend themselves.

“And it is, I suppose, a small, again, welcome that there is no [ground] invasion,” she added.

“The hospitals seem to be in a terrible state. So I think with one voice we can say that this situation in the Middle East, in this part of the world, has the risk of going from very bad to much worse unless we speak with one voice. So wherever there might have been some sense that that was not the case, I think now it’s very clear. I think we are united in trying to help in this very, very difficult situation.” – Vivienne Clarke

US embassy in Lebanon urges its citizens to leave ‘while commercial options are still available’

The US embassy in Lebanon urged its citizens on Thursday to “make plans to depart as soon as possible while commercial options are still available”.

In an emailed advisory to citizens, the embassy said it was closely monitoring the security situation in Lebanon.

“We recommend that U.S. citizens who choose not to depart prepare contingency plans for emergency situations,” the embassy said.

On October 17th, the State Department issued a travel advisory urging its citizens not to travel to Lebanon due to the “unpredictable security situation”. – Reuters

Activists occupy Dublin European Commision offices calling for Gaza ceasefire

A group of activists occupied the offices of the European Commission in Dublin, in protest over its support for Israel at the outset of its deadly conflict with Hamas.

A small group of protesters occupied the reception of the EU offices on Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2, while others demonstrated outside the building.

Carrying Palestinian flags and umbrellas in the country’s colours, the protesters held up placards calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where air strikes by Israel have killed thousands of people.

One of the group – David Landy, an assistant professor of sociology in Trinity College Dublin – said Israel was killing civilians in the Gaza Strip with the “full support” of the European Commission.

“Currently, they have already killed thousands of Palestinians, uprooted hundreds of thousands and are announcing that they want to destroy and level Gaza,” he said.

Mr Landy said he was “stunned” by the unconditional support commission president Ursula von der Leyen had offered to Israel in the wake of the initial attacks in southern Israel, where Hamas militants crossed from Gaza to kill more than 1,000 people earlier this month.

The academic said he was taken aback by the “level of unstinting support” for Israel as the conflict escalated. “They were publicly announcing they were going to starve everybody of water and food,” he said.

The group behind the protest, Dublin for Gaza, had been set up in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict in recent days. – Jack Power

At least 3,785 Palestinians have been killed and 12,493 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7th, the health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday.

Of the total death toll, 1,524 were children and 1,000 were women, ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra told a press conference.

He added that 44 health workers had been killed in Gaza while four hospitals were out of service and 14 basic healthcare services had stopped functioning.

“There are no medicine stocks in any of the hospitals in Gaza,” he said, calling on the international community to expedite the delivery of aid to Gaza. – Reuters

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the comments by President Michael D Higgins about European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen did not put him in a difficult position.

“I don’t actually think what the president said is hugely different from what the Government have been saying over the last couple of days,” he told RTÉ Radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.

“I think it’s well understood around the world that we have a constitutional president, not an executive president. That’s the case in other European countries, that essentially policy is decided on by government. And, you know, somebody has said that it hasn’t been hugely far off the mark.

“I took the view as well that the initial response from quite a number of European leaders in the days after the Hamas attack on Israel almost appeared to give Israel carte blanche. It wasn’t tempered by a call for restraint, wasn’t tempered by saying that Israel has a right to defend itself, but within the confines of international human rights.”

While the Taoiseach had regular meetings with the President and would know of his views on some matters, President Higgins had not alerted him in advance of his comments about Ms von der Leyen, he said, adding quite often their views were aligned.

“I respect the President. I think he’s doing a really good job as President, discharging his constitutional functions very well, representing us exceptionally well overseas. And I understand that from time to time he is going to express his views. And we’ve never, never had a row about that.”

When asked if he thought Israel saw Ireland as ‘the most anti-Israeli state in Europe”, Mr Varadkar said he did not know if Ireland was viewed as the most anti-Israeli state, but he acknowledged Ireland was among a group of countries that would be seen as the “least favourable to Israel” largely because of the strong sympathy the Irish people feel for Palestinians.

“Something that goes back to our own history. People tend to see the world through their own experience and through their own history. A lot of Irish people identify with Palestinians because of occupation, because of settlements, because of their fight to establish their state.” – Vivienne Clarke

Several prominent Irish writers have signed an open letter demanding “an end to the violence and destruction in Palestine”.

Sally Rooney, Kevin Barry and Anne Enright are among the 600 artists and writers who signed the letter, published in the London Review of Books on Wednesday.

“The deliberate killing of civilians is always an atrocity. It is a violation of international law and an outrage against the sanctity of human life. Neither Israel, the occupying power, nor the armed groups of the people under occupation, the Palestinians, can ever be justified in targeting defenceless people,” the letter read. The writers expressed grief and heartbreak for the victims of the recent violence in the region.

The letter said that the state of Israel is committing “grave crimes against humanity” in its continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

“Nothing can retrieve what has already been lost. But the unprecedented and indiscriminate violence that is still escalating against the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, with the financial and political support of western powers, can and must be brought to an end.

“We plead for an end to all violence, an end to all oppression and denial of human rights, and a path towards a just and sustainable peace for all.”

Reuters has a piece wrapping up all of the latest developments on Egypt reopening its borders:

Egypt has agreed to reopen its border crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow aid to reach Palestinians, the US said, as the humanitarian crisis worsened for the 2.3 million people trapped in the enclave and anti-Israel protests flared across the Middle East.

The region remained volatile in the aftermath of an explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital late on Tuesday, which Palestinian officials said killed 471 people and blamed on what they said was an Israeli air strike.

Israel and the US said the cause was a failed rocket launch by Islamist militants in Gaza who denied responsibility. Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lior Haiat, said the death toll from the blast was only “several dozen”.

Read the full piece here

Associated Press is reporting:

Israeli air strikes pounded locations across the Gaza Strip early on Thursday, including parts of the south that Israel had declared safe zones, heightening fears among more than two million Palestinians trapped in the territory that nowhere is safe.

In the nearly two weeks since Israel began attacking in response to Hamas’s assault on towns across southern Israel, air strikes have relentlessly hit the densely populated territory. Strikes have continued across the entire territory, even after Israel told Palestinians to evacuate the north and head to what it called “safe zones” in the south.

The bombardments came after Israel agreed on Wednesday to allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid to Gaza. Many among Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have cut down to one meal a day and have been left to drink dirty water amid dwindling supplies.

Palestinians in the southern city of Khan Younis said bombings were relentless overnight, with air strikes hitting several homes, according to the Hamas-led interior ministry. In Rafah, on Egypt’s border, Israel hit several homes. Medical staff at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said they received at least 12 dead and 40 wounded.

Homes along the Gaza border with Israel in the northern evacuation zone were also hit, the ministry said.

Israel has massed troops in the area and is expected to launch a ground invasion into Gaza, though military officials say no decision has been made.

Air strikes also hit three residential towers in al-Zahra, within the area that was told to evacuate, the interior ministry in Gaza said.

The Gaza health ministry said 3,478 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, and more than 12,000 wounded.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians slain during Hamas’s deadly incursion on October 7th.

Following his meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, US president Joe Biden shared this message on his social media channels:

British prime minister Rishi Sunak arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday morning.

“Above all, I’m here to express my solidarity with the Israeli people. You have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism and I want you to know that the United Kingdom and I stand with you,” he told reporters on arrival.

In an early statement, he said the Gaza hospital blast on Tuesday that caused mass Palestinian casualties should be “a watershed moment for leaders in the region and across the world to come together to avoid further dangerous escalation of conflict”.

Mr Sunak will also urge the opening up of a route to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt as soon as possible.

“Every civilian death is a tragedy. And too many lives have been lost following Hamas’s horrific act of terror,” he said.

The British PM shared the below tweet after arriving in Israel.

Political correspondent Harry McGee was reporting on Wednesday night’s parliamentary party meetings:

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has expressed concern that Russia is already taking advantage of the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Mr Varadkar told his parliamentary party that the grave situation in the Middle East could lead to reduced focus and attention on Ukraine.

He said the European Union needed to ensure that our political and financial support for Ukraine is not diminished in any way.

Echoing his earlier comments to the Dáil, Mr Varadkar called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, demanded that Hamas freed the hostages it seized during its deadly attack on Israel on October 7th, and also called on Israel to respect international law and “basic common decency” by turning power and water back on.

He also warned infectious diseases, such as typhoid and cholera, could break out in Gaza if the siege was to continue.

At the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting, Tánaiste Micheál Martin also called for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and said the Government continued to work with multiple countries and agencies to secure safe passage for the estimated 40 Irish citizens trapped in Gaza.

He also told the meeting he had sanctioned additional funding of €13 million in aid to Palestine.

Mr Martin accepted the initial EU response was “unsteady and the balance wasn’t where it should be”. This reference was received as being related to the actions of EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi.

Mr Martin told colleagues that some EU states viewed the conflict through a different historical perspective.

He told colleagues that all atrocities should be fully investigated and those responsible held accountable, if necessary by the International Criminal Court.

Gaza aid could start arriving from Friday, according to US president Joe Biden.

Twenty trucks carrying aid for Gaza will start moving through the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Friday at the earliest, White House officials said, because Egypt must first repair the road across the border that was cratered by Israeli air strikes.

More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid are positioned at or near the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt, said the head of the Red Crescent for North Sinai, Khalid Zayed.

“The people of Gaza need food, water, medicine and shelter,” Mr Biden said, while vowing to continue to provide for Israel’s security needs.

The Dáil motion calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire was passed by 121 votes to 14.

The motion, which was put forward by the Government, also says Israel’s right to defend itself from attack must be line with international law and that it had responsibilities in respect of the “basic needs” of the population of Gaza including food, water, medical and energy supplies and called for them to be urgently restored.

Sinn Féin had put forward amendments seeking to condemn “Israel’s brutal assault” on the civilian population of Gaza and the “forced displacement of Palestinians” by Israel to the south of Wadi Gaza Line.

Sarah Burns and Naomi O’Leary have the full story here.

Good morning.

US president Joe Biden has said Israel will allow humanitarian aid to cross from Egypt into the southern Gaza Strip. Mr Biden announced the breakthrough following talks with Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv.

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu confirmed that food, water and medicine would be allowed for Gaza refugees in the south of the strip, but stressed that Israel would prevent the assistance reaching Hamas, without elaborating.

Palestinian officials said Tuesday’s explosion at a Gaza hospital, which they said killed 471 people, was caused by an Israeli air strike. Israel said it was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.

In the Dáil, a motion calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to meet the “urgent humanitarian needs of all civilians in Gaza” was passed late on Wednesday night.

Follow all the latest updates from the Israel-Hamas war here.