Israel-Hamas war live: Israeli night attacks target Rafah, Jabalia

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, has said that its fighters targeted Israeli forces in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City with “highly explosive devices”.

The group said in a statement on Telegram that the attack killed at least 10 Israeli soldiers.

The Qassam Brigades also said that its forces attacked four Israeli Merkava tanks and four military personnel carriers in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City.

It added that its fighters used al-Yassin 105 rockets in the attack.

The Israeli army said fighting continued in Gaza in the past day – in particular, in Shujayea and Jabalia in the north of the enclave, and Khan Younis in the south.

Soldiers killed “many terrorists in the north of the Gaza Strip in the past day,” said a statement in Hebrew by the army on X.

In one incident, the armed forces detected Hamas fighters “observing its soldiers, fired at them and eliminated them,” the statement said.

In another case, the army located and destroyed overnight a firing position in a school complex that served as a base of Hamas’s Shujayea battalion.

In Khan Younis, soldiers conducted raids in various locations and found a variety of weapons, including grenades and rifles, and destroyed two shafts, a rocket launch pit and a weapons warehouse.

Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza have been unguided, otherwise known as “dumb bombs,” according to a new US intelligence assessment reported by CNN.

The US news outlet said the assessment was compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and described to CNN by three sources who have seen it.

About 40 to 45 percent of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used have been unguided and the rest have been precision-guided munitions, the CNN report added.

“Dumb bombs” do not contain a guidance system and they usually follow a ballistic trajectory or are dropped from aircraft.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden warned that Israel risks losing international support over its “indiscriminate bombing” of civilians.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in Saudi Arabia to discuss efforts to create a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians, according to the White House.

“They discussed a number of bilateral and regional matters, including ongoing efforts to create new conditions for an enduring and sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” a White House statement said.

They also discussed the humanitarian response in Gaza, including how to increase the flow of critical aid to the Palestinian enclave, it added.

Iran’s defence minister has warned that a proposed US-backed multinational task force to protect shipping in the Red Sea would face “extraordinary problems”, Iranian media reported.

“Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance,” Mohammad Reza Ashtiani told the official Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA). “If they make such an irrational move, they will be faced with extraordinary problems.”

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have staged attacks on ships they claim had links to Israel.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters last week that Washington was in talks with “other countries” over forming a maritime task force to ensure the safe passage of ships in the Red Sea, but did not give further details.

The families of those who are being held captive in Gaza have demanded an urgent meeting and explanation from Netanyahu, wondering why he is not exploring every single angle to get a ceasefire and the release of more hostages.

According to various reports, two out of three in Israel’s war cabinet decided that it was not a good idea to send someone from Mossad to Qatar to start talking about the release of captives – only former Deputy Prime Minister Benny Gantz was in favour of doing so.

What was said is that the war cabinet thinks they should continue with their show of force in Gaza and force Hamas to the negotiating table. They believe that is a way to negotiate – from a position of strength.

But it is clear that the families of the captives want some answers, and they would like to see someone from Israel head to Qatar to at least examine the possibility of getting more of the captives out of Gaza sooner rather than later.

A young man has died from his wounds following an Israeli military raid on the West Bank city of Jenin for the third day in a row, Wafa news agency reported, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry.

This raises the death toll to 11, with at least 10 people injured, including two seriously.

The Israeli military has said its troops were operating “to expose explosive devices planted under roads to attack the security forces”.