- Intense street battles continue in Gaza’s southern Rafah and Jabalia in the north as Israeli troops advance into both areas packed with terrified civilians.
- Israeli military says its Nahal Brigade joined a division of troops surrounding Rafah as it plans to launch further attacks into the city.
- UN says displaced “families living among the rubble” after more than 800,000 Palestinians flee Rafah as Israeli forces attack.
- Israeli officials react with outrage after Spain, Ireland and Norway announce their recognition of the State of Palestine, promising to continue the attack on Gaza and build new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
- At least 35,709 people killed and 79,990 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack is 1,139 with dozens still held captive.
- Which countries recognise Palestine?Norway, Ireland and Spain have announced they will formally recognise Palestine as a state.By doing so, they will join 143 countries that have already made that recognition.Check out our explainer for a full list of countries that recognise Palestine.Click here to share on social media
- Video of female Israeli soldiers heaps pressure on war cabinetReporting from Amman, Jordan, because Israel’s gov’t has banned Al JazeeraThe Bring Them Home campaign, which advocates on behalf of the captives’ families, has released a heavily edited video. It shows five female soldiers taken captive by Hamas at the Nahal Oz military base.The campaign released the video to try to pressure the war cabinet to resume negotiations over the captives. And it worked.The video went viral and was the only topic discussed on the talk shows, in editorials and in newspapers this morning.Netanyahu and his war cabinet simply had to listen to the Israeli public on this particular issue for once. So they’ve pushed the negotiating team to go back and try to come up with a new draft.Now, there have been several drafts in place to try and get these captives out and get Palestinian prisoners released as well. But it’s always fallen at the very last hurdle. It will be interesting to see if the negotiators can push Hamas towards a deal.Hamas has been very clear that there has to be either a truce or a ceasefire, leading to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.That’s something the Israelis don’t want to do. They want to carry on the war, but they want these captives released as well.
Israel’s war on Gaza live news: Attacks increase in Gaza City, Nuseirat
