The death toll of Israel’s strike on the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Saturday has risen to at least 73, the Gaza media office has said.
Earlier UK prime minister Keir Starmer spoke to Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu after reports of an attempted drone attack on his holiday home. According to a Downing Street spokesperson, Mr Starmer told Mr Netanyahu he was alarmed to hear about what Mr Netanyahu called an “assassination attempt” on his life.
A statement says they discussed the situation in the Middle East following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who the prime minister said was a brutal terrorist and that the world is a better place without him. Mr Starmer also discussed the opportunity presented by Sinwar’s death to halt the fighting and get the hostages out. The British leader stressed the importance of getting much more aid into Gaza.
The phone call follows comments made by Mr Starmer in Berlin on Friday urging the international community to “make the most of” the “opportunity” presented by Sinwar’s death to secure a ceasefire.
But he also warned the world would not tolerate “any more excuses” for not allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, where more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive.
The United States has also expressed concern about the amount of aid entering Gaza, warning in a letter to the Israeli government that it could suspend military funding for Tel Aviv if the humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate.
So far, both Israel and Hamas have signalled an unwillingness to call a ceasefire in the wake of Sinwar’s death, while Hizbullah continues to carry out rocket attacks on northern Israel.
Mr Netanyahu said the attack on his home, which he blamed on Hizbullah, had been a “grave mistake”.
He said: “This will not deter me or the state of Israel from continuing our just war against our enemies in order to secure our future.”
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has also vowed that Hamas will fight on. Both Hamas and Hizbullah are backed by Iran, which carried out its own attack on Israel with ballistic missiles earlier this month. - (Reuters/PA)