p4h ago
05.01 BST
Opening
summary
Hello and
welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Gaza and the wider Middle
East crisis.
Israel is
set to hold a nationwide general strike on Monday as part of efforts to
pressure the government to strike a hostage deal with Hamas, two days after the
bodies of six Israeli hostages were discovered in a tunnel underneath Gaza.
Crowds
estimated by Israeli media to number up to 500,000 demonstrated in Jerusalem,
Tel Aviv and other cities, demanding that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu do
more to bring home the remaining 101 hostages, about of a third of whom Israeli
officials estimate have died.
Scores
were released during a one-week truce in November, but relatives believe not
enough is being done to free those still held.
Campaign
group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said a negotiated “deal for the
return of the hostages” was urgently needed. “Were it not for the delays,
sabotage and excuses” in months of mediation efforts, the six hostages “would
likely still be alive”, a statement said.
The
families called for a nationwide general strike to force the government to
reach a deal.
Shortly
afterwards, the head of Israel’s powerful Histadrut trade union ordered a
“complete strike” beginning at 6am (0300 GMT) on Monday in support of the
hostages. Government and municipal offices were due to close, as well as
schools and many private businesses. Israel’s international airport, Ben
Gurion, is due to shut down at 8am local time (0600 BST) for an unknown period.
At least
40,738 Palestinians have been killed and 94,154 injured in Israel’s military
offensive in Gaza, its health ministry said on Sunday. The count, which doesn’t
include the thousands thought to be buried under the rubble, includes thousands
of Palestinian children.
In other
developments:
Israeli
forces continued their deadly offensive on the city of Jenin, in the occupied
West Bank, and its refugee camp for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday. The
total number of Palestinians killed since Israeli forces began large-scale
raids in the northern West Bank on Wednesday is now 24, according to the
Palestinian health ministry. Israeli forces and settlers have killed almost 680
Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 October, including about 150 children.
Three
Israeli police officers were killed after their vehicle was shot at near the
city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities. The
Israeli military later confirmed it had killed the suspected attacker.
Gaza
health officials said an Israeli airstrike targeting a school sheltering
displaced Palestinians killed at least 11 people on Sunday. “Eleven people,
including a woman and girl, were killed when an Israeli airstrike struck the
Safad school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people,” civil defence agency
spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding several people were also wounded.
The Israeli military claimed it had struck a Hamas command centre.
Palestinian
health authorities and UN agencies have begun a large-scale campaign of
vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip. More than 150,000 Palestinians in
Gaza are estimated to be affected by infectious conditions such as dysentery,
pneumonia and severe skin diseases, according to the World Health Organization
(WHO), due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel and its destruction of
health facilities as part of its campaign against Hamas.
The head of the Christian political party Lebanese Forces on Sunday accused Hezbollah of dragging the country into a war with Israel without consulting the people. In a speech attacking the Shiite Muslim group, Samir Geagea, who heads the main Christian bloc in parliament, accused Hezbollah of “confiscating the Lebanese people’s decision on war and peace, as if there were n
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