Middle East crisis live: Biden, Starmer and Macron say ‘immediate necessity’ to end Gaza war

Biden and European leaders call for immediate end to Gaza war

The leaders of France, Germany, the UK and the US released a joint statement after meeting in Berlin on Friday where they stressed the “immediate necessity” for ending the war in Gaza.

Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Keir Starmer and Joe Biden discussed events in the Middle East, particularly the “implications” of the death of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who they said was responsible for the “bloodshed of the October 7th terrorist attack”.

The leaders also discussed “the immediate necessity to bring the hostages home to their families, for ending the war in Gaza, and ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians”, according to the statement.

The leaders also “reiterated their condemnation of Iran’s escalatory attack on Israel and coordinated on efforts to hold Iran accountable and prevent further escalation”, it said, adding:

They discussed the situation in Lebanon and agreed on the need to work towards full implementation of UNSCR 1701 and a diplomatic resolution that allows civilians on both sides of the Blue Line to return safely home.

Great Britain prime minister Keir Starmer, US president Joe Biden, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron in Bundeskanzleramt, Berlin, Germany. Photograph: DTS/Rex/Shutterstock

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Summary of the day so far

It’s 2am in Gaza, Beirut and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

At least 72 Palestinians were killed on Friday as Israel launched new airstrikes and sent more troops into Gaza, dashing brief hopes among many residents of the territory that the killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, could bring an end to the devastating conflict. The most intense recent clashes have come in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historical refugee camps and the site of fierce fighting in recent weeks between Israeli forces and Hamas militants who have regrouped there. At least 33 people were killed and 85 wounded in Israeli strikes that hit several houses at a square on Friday in Jabalia, according to medics. Among the dead are at least 20 women and children, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Other Israeli strikes killed at least 39 Palestinians across Gaza on Friday, 20 of them in Jabalia, the Gaza health ministry said.

More than 42,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began, according to the Palestinian health ministry on Friday. Most are civilians. Almost 100,000 have been injured. Six medical humanitarian groups were informed this week that their medical missions will now be denied entry into Gaza. The notice was delivered to organisations whose emergency medical missions in Gaza have collectively treated over 15,000 patients since October 2023.

Israeli military officials said Israel was sending reinforcements to bolster its operation in Jabalia, raising fears of an escalation of violence there. Israel has issued evacuation orders for inhabitants in almost all of northern Gaza, but many cannot or do not want to comply. Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped in Jabalia, where conditions are deteriorating. Health officials have appealed for fuel, medical supplies and food to be sent immediately to three northern Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by the number of patients injured in Israeli attacks.

Hamas confirmed the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, in a defiant message that vowed the group would be undeterred by his killing. Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said Sinwar’s death “will only increase the strength and solidity of our movement”, adding that the group will not release the hostages it is holding captive in Gaza until Israel ends the war. Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam brigades, vowed to keep fighting Israel until the “liberation of Palestine” as it mourned Sinwar’s death. A senior Hamas official told the BBC that the group will meet soon to choose a new leader. Experts have told Reuters that Hamas will likely replace Sinwar with a new political leader based outside Gaza, with Sinwar’s brother, Mohammed Sinwar, expected to assume a bigger role directing the war against Israel in Gaza.

Sinwar, 62, was killed on Thursday by tank fire directed at a building in Rafah in the far south of Gaza after exchanging fire with an Israeli patrol. An Israeli autopsy on his body found that he was killed by a gunshot to the head, according to an Israeli pathologist who led the autopsy. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also said it killed the bodyguard of Sinwar, Mahmoud Hamdan, approximately 200 metres from where Sinwar was killed in southern Gaza on Friday.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, reportedly plans to convene a special meeting with government ministers to discuss hostage negotiations in the light of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s killing. It is unclear when the meeting will be held or what exactly is on the agenda. Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting, telling Israelis that the killing provided an opportunity to “stop the axis of evil.”

The leaders of France, Germany, the UK and the US released a joint statement on Friday where they stressed the “immediate necessity” for ending the war in Gaza. The leaders discussed events in the Middle East, particularly the “implications” of Sinwar’s death, as well as the need to “bring the hostages home to their families, for ending the war in Gaza, and ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians”.

Joe Biden, the US president, said the killing of Sinwar raises “the prospect of a ceasefire” and “represents a moment of justice”. Biden on Friday said Sinwar’s death hopefully opens “the concrete prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, of an agreement to release the hostages held by Hamas”. He also said there was an opportunity to “deal with Israel and Iran in a way that potentially ends the conflict for a while” in the Middle East. He added that he has an understanding of how and when Israel will retaliate against missile attacks by Iran but declined to elaborate.

Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages following the killing of Sinwar. “Sinwar’s death also provides an extraordinary opportunity to achieve a lasting ceasefire, to end this awful war, and to rush humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Austin told a press conference at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Friday. White House spokesperson John Kirby said Sinwar was the main obstacle to securing a ceasefire in Gaza and his killing creates an “inflection point” that could accelerate talks.

The Palestine Liberation Organization, seen internationally as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, called for unity among all Palestinian factions after Sinwar’s death. A statement by the PLO on Friday expressed its condolences on the “martyrdom” of Sinwar. In a separate statement, Fatah, the party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, said Israel’s policy of “killing and terrorism will not succeed in breaking the will of our people to achieve their legitimate national rights to freedom and independence”.

World leaders continued to respond to news of Sinwar’s death. Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he hoped it would open the door to a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the Hamas leader fought and died “like a hero” but that “the martyrdom of commanders, leaders and heroes will not make a dent in the Islamic people’s fight against oppression and occupation.” Keir Starmer, the UK’s prime minister, said “no one should mourn the death” of the Hamas leader who has “the blood of innocent Israelis” on his hands. Speaking on Friday, Starmer said the UK continues to support Israel’s right to self-defence and that allies will continue to work to de-escalate violence in the Middle East. “The answer is diplomacy and now we must make the most of this moment,” he said.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are facing an increase in Israeli settler attacks and Israeli army violence at the start of the important olive harvest season, the UN has said. The international body’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) accused Israel on Friday of using “war-like” tactics in the West Bank amid a rise in killings and settler attacks since the olive harvest got under way last week. Nine people were killed by Israeli forces between 8-14 October, OCHA said.

The Israeli army urged residents of 23 villages in southern Lebanon on Friday to evacuate northward as it intensifies its attacks in the region. In a post on X, the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that residents are “prohibited from going south” and that doing so “could be dangerous to your life”. Lebanon’s health ministry said 45 people were killed and 179 injured in Israeli attacks across the country on Thursday alone.

Israeli airstrikes killed several Lebanese citizens and injured others across Lebanon on Friday morning, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported on Friday, without specifying the number of casualties. A number of civilians were reportedly killed in the town of Ansar, a village in southern Lebanon, as a result of the Israeli attacks. Wafa reported the strikes also targeted various towns including al-Duwayr, Baraachit, Dabbal, Haneen, Khiam and Ramiyah.

Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief, said Hezbollah “continues to shrink and shrink” after the group said the war with Israel was entering a new phase. Halevi said Israeli forces have killed about 1,500 Hezbollah operatives since the conflict escalated. The Israeli air force says it “attacked” Muhammad Hossein Ramal, a Hezbollah commander, in Taybeh, southern Lebanon, in an airstrike. Numerous outlets reported Ramal as being killed in the attack. In a statement, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a “barrage of rockets” fired at northern Haifa, and said it dedicated one of the salvoes to the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike last month.

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said she planned to hold talks with Netanyahu after her current visit to Lebanon and Jordan. Meloni, typically one of Israel’s most vocal western European supporters, has spoken out against recent Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Israel Katz, the Israeli foreign minister, accused the UN secretary general, António Guterres, of “leading an extreme anti-Israel and anti-Jewish agenda”. Earlier this month, Katz said he was barring Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel.

Al Jazeera journalist Fadi Al-Wahidi has fallen into a coma more than a week after being shot in the neck by an Israeli sniper in northern Gaza, the broadcaster reported on Friday, adding that Israel has not responded to requests to allow his evacuation for medical treatment.

We reported earlier than at least 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes that hit several houses at a square on Friday in Jabalia in north Gaza.

That figure has since risen to at least 33 people and 85 others wounded, according to Reuters.

At least 69 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, says health ministry

At least 30 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes that hit several houses at a square on Friday in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, according to medics.

Among the dead are at least 20 women and children, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Medics said at least 50 other people were wounded, Reuters reported.

Before the latest strikes, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 39 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli military strikes across Gaza on Friday, 20 of them in Jabalia.

Biden and European leaders call for immediate end to Gaza war

The leaders of France, Germany, the UK and the US released a joint statement after meeting in Berlin on Friday where they stressed the “immediate necessity” for ending the war in Gaza.

Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Keir Starmer and Joe Biden discussed events in the Middle East, particularly the “implications” of the death of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who they said was responsible for the “bloodshed of the October 7th terrorist attack”.

The leaders also discussed “the immediate necessity to bring the hostages home to their families, for ending the war in Gaza, and ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians”, according to the statement.

The leaders also “reiterated their condemnation of Iran’s escalatory attack on Israel and coordinated on efforts to hold Iran accountable and prevent further escalation”, it said, adding:

They discussed the situation in Lebanon and agreed on the need to work towards full implementation of UNSCR 1701 and a diplomatic resolution that allows civilians on both sides of the Blue Line to return safely home.

Here are some of the latest images sent from the newswires from Lebanon, where authorities said at least six people were killed and 69 others wounded on Friday.

The latest figures raise the total toll over the past year of conflict in Lebanon to 2,418 people killed and 11,336 wounded, according to the country’s health ministry.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), seen internationally as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, has called for unity among all Palestinian factions following news of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s death.

In a statement, the PLO committee expressed its “condolences” to the Palestinian people on the “martyrdom of the great national leader”.

Sinwar killed by gunshot to the head – reports

An Israeli autopsy on the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar found that he was killed by a gunshot to the head.

Dr Chen Kugel, the chief pathologist at Israel’s Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv, told multiple outlets that he was confident that Sinwar died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Kugel, who signed Sinwar’s death certificate, told CNN on Friday:

The cause of death is (a) gunshot wound in the head. He has a bullet in his head and there’s a severe traumatic brain injury.

He told the New York Times that Sinwar was first wounded in the arm by shrapnel, maybe from a missile or tank shell.

Sinwar then tied an electric cable around his arm in an apparent makeshift tourniquet, but Kugel said: “It wasn’t strong enough, and his forearm was smashed.”

Asked about his approximate time of death, Kugel told CNN that it was likely late afternoon on Wednesday.

The Israeli military said it had intercepted a suspicious “aerial target” approaching from Syria on Friday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the drone was launched by the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq group.

In a statement reported by AFP, the war monitor said:

Israeli air defences in the occupied Syrian Golan targeted two drones launched by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, coming from Iraq through Syrian territory.

Here’s more on the airstrikes launched by Israel on Gaza in the wake of the death of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Several airstrikes were reported overnight on Thursday and on Friday morning. At least 62 deaths have been recorded since Thursday, according to Palestinian health authorities in Gaza.

The most intense recent clashes have come in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historical refugee camps and the site of fierce fighting in recent weeks between Israeli forces and Hamas militants who have regrouped there. Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped in Jabalia, where conditions are deteriorating.

You can read Jason Burke and Malak Tantesh’s latest report here:

The body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could be used as a “bargaining chip” in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, CNN is reporting, citing Israeli sources.

Sinwar’s remains are currently being held in a secret location in Israel after he was killed by Israeli forces in southern Gaza, according to local media reports.

An Israeli diplomatic source told the outlet:

If Hamas wants to swap his remains for Israelis, dead or alive, then fine.

The source said returning Sinwar’s remains to Gaza risks rallying Hamas supporters, adding that a swap for hostages would likely be the only way that Sinwar’s remains return to the Palestinian territory.

Faisal Ali

Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s foreign minister, met with Muhammad Ismail Darwish, chair of the Hamas shura council, which represents all members of the group across the occupied Palestinian territories and in the diaspora, and is tasked with appointing the organisation a new leader.

A statement posted on X by Turkey’s foreign ministry said that Fidan, Darwish and members of the Hamas political bureau discussed the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, ceasefire negotiations and the reconciliation of differing Palestinian factions.

The statement also mentioned that Fidan expressed his condolences for the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Donald Trump, the Republican US presidential candidate, has applauded the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and said it would make prospects for peace easier in Gaza.

Asked about the potential for peace in Gaza after Sinwar’s death, Trump replied on Friday:

I think it makes it easier. I’m glad that Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister] decided to do what he had to do.

Trump claimed that Joe Biden, the US president, has been “trying to hold [Netanyahu] back and he probably should be doing the opposite, actually”.

From Reuters’ Hümeyra Pamuk:

We reported earlier that a Palestinian woman was killed this week when she was shot in the chest by Israeli forces while picking olives with her family on their land near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

The UN’s humanitarian office has accused Israel of using “war-like” tactics against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, citing killings by soldiers and attacks on Palestinian olive groves by Israeli settlers.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it had received reports of attacks on 32 Palestinians, including farmers, and their property by Israeli settlers.

OCHA spokesperson Jens Lærke noted that the olive harvest is an “economic lifeline” for tens of thousands of Palestinian families in the West Bank, adding:

It is, frankly, very concerning that it’s not only attacks on people, but it’s attacks on their olive groves as well.

A report by the OCHA said about 600 mainly olive trees have been burnt, vandalised or stolen by settlers since the start of the harvest.

A senior Hamas official has told the BBC that the group will meet soon to choose a new leader, after the killing of Yahya Sinwar by Israeli forces.

The Hamas official told the outlet that a new leader will be chosen according to the standards and regulations required by its institutions.

He added that Hamas’s conditions for ending the war and concluding a prisoner exchange deal – which include withdrawing from all land in Gaza, stopping the war, allowing in aid and rebuilding – have not changed with Sinwar’s death.

Experts have told Reuters that Hamas will likely replace Sinwar with a new political leader based outside Gaza.

Sinwar’s brother, Mohammed Sinwar, is expected to assume a bigger role directing the war against Israel in Gaza, the news agency reports.

IDF says it killed Yahya Sinwar's bodyguard, Mahmoud Hamdan

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it killed the bodyguard of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in southern Gaza on Friday.

In a statement, the IDF said Israeli forces killed Mahmoud Hamdan approximately 200 metres from where Sinwar was killed.

It said Hamdan was responsible for guarding Sinwar and was also the commander of Hamas’s Tal al-Sultan Battalion.

Summary of the day so far

It’s nearly 10pm in Tel Aviv, Beirut and Gaza. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

At least 62 Palestinians were killed since Thursday as Israel launched new airstrikes and sent more troops into Gaza, dashing brief hopes among many residents of the territory that the killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, could bring an end to the devastating conflict. Several airstrikes were reported overnight and on Friday morning. Among the civilians killed in overnight strikes on Gaza were children, according to reports. The most intense recent clashes have come in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historical refugee camps and the site of fierce fighting in recent weeks between Israeli forces and Hamas militants who have regrouped there.

Israeli military officials said Israel was sending reinforcements to bolster its operation in Jabalia, raising fears of an escalation of violence there. Israel has issued evacuation orders for inhabitants in almost all of northern Gaza, but many cannot or do not want to comply. Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped in Jabalia, where conditions are deteriorating. Health officials have appealed for fuel, medical supplies and food to be sent immediately to three northern Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by the number of patients injured in Israeli attacks.

More than 42,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began, according to the Palestinian health ministry on Friday. Most are civilians. Almost 100,000 have been injured. Six medical humanitarian groups were informed this week that their medical missions will now be denied entry into Gaza. The notice was delivered to organisations whose emergency medical missions in Gaza have collectively treated over 15,000 patients since October 2023.

Hamas confirmed the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, in a defiant message that vowed the group would be undeterred by his killing. Sinwar, 62, was killed on Thursday by tank fire directed at a building in Rafah in the far south of Gaza after exchanging fire with an Israeli patrol. Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said Sinwar’s death “will only increase the strength and solidity of our movement”, adding that the group will not release the hostages it is holding captive in Gaza until Israel ends the war. Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam brigades, vowed to keep fighting Israel until the “liberation of Palestine” as it mourned Sinwar’s death.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, reportedly plans to convene a special meeting with government ministers to discuss hostage negotiations in the light of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s killing. It is unclear when the meeting will be held or what exactly is on the agenda. Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting, telling Israelis that the killing provided an opportunity to “stop the axis of evil.”

Joe Biden, the US president, said the killing of Sinwar raises “the prospect of a ceasefire” and “represents a moment of justice”. Biden on Friday said Sinwar’s death hopefully opens “the concrete prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, of an agreement to release the hostages held by Hamas”. He also said there was an opportunity to “deal with Israel and Iran in a way that potentially ends the conflict for a while” in the Middle East. He added that he has an understanding of how and when Israel will retaliate against missile attacks by Iran but declined to elaborate.

Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages following the killing of Sinwar. “Sinwar’s death also provides an extraordinary opportunity to achieve a lasting ceasefire, to end this awful war, and to rush humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Austin told a press conference at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Friday. White House spokesperson John Kirby said Sinwar was the main obstacle to securing a ceasefire in Gaza and his killing creates an “inflection point” that could accelerate talks.

The Palestine Liberation Organization, seen internationally as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, called for unity among all Palestinian factions after Sinwar’s death. A statement by the PLO on Friday expressed its condolences on the “martyrdom” of Sinwar. In a separate statement, Fatah, the party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, said Israel’s policy of “killing and terrorism will not succeed in breaking the will of our people to achieve their legitimate national rights to freedom and independence”.

World leaders continued to respond to news of Sinwar’s death. Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he hoped it would open the door to a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the Hamas leader fought and died “like a hero” but that “the martyrdom of commanders, leaders and heroes will not make a dent in the Islamic people’s fight against oppression and occupation.” Keir Starmer, the UK’s prime minister, said “no one should mourn the death” of the Hamas leader who has “the blood of innocent Israelis” on his hands. Speaking on Friday, Starmer said the UK continues to support Israel’s right to self-defence and that allies will continue to work to de-escalate violence in the Middle East. “The answer is diplomacy and now we must make the most of this moment,” he said.

The Israeli army urged residents of 23 villages in southern Lebanon on Friday to evacuate northward as it intensifies its attacks in the region. In a post on X, the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that residents are “prohibited from going south” and that doing so “could be dangerous to your life”. Lebanon’s health ministry said 45 people were killed and 179 injured in Israeli attacks across the country on Thursday alone.

Israeli airstrikes killed several Lebanese citizens and injured others across Lebanon on Friday morning, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported on Friday, without specifying the number of casualties. A number of civilians were reportedly killed in the town of Ansar, a village in southern Lebanon, as a result of the Israeli attacks. Wafa reported the strikes also targeted various towns including al-Duwayr, Baraachit, Dabbal, Haneen, Khiam and Ramiyah.

Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief, said Hezbollah “continues to shrink and shrink” after the group said the war with Israel was entering a new phase. Halevi said Israeli forces have killed about 1,500 Hezbollah operatives since the conflict escalated. The Israeli air force says it “attacked” Muhammad Hossein Ramal, a Hezbollah commander, in Taybeh, southern Lebanon, in an airstrike. Numerous outlets reported Ramal as being killed in the attack. In a statement, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a “barrage of rockets” fired at northern Haifa, and said it dedicated one of the salvoes to the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike last month.

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said she planned to hold talks with Netanyahu after her current visit to Lebanon and Jordan. Meloni, typically one of Israel’s most vocal western European supporters, has spoken out against recent Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Israel Katz, the Israeli foreign minister, accused the UN secretary general, António Guterres, of “leading an extreme anti-Israel and anti-Jewish agenda”. Earlier this month, Katz said he was barring Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel.

Al Jazeera journalist Fadi Al-Wahidi has fallen into a coma more than a week after being shot in the neck by an Israeli sniper in northern Gaza, the broadcaster reported on Friday, adding that Israel has not responded to requests to allow his evacuation for medical treatment.

Faisal Ali

Besides Iran and Israel, governments across the Middle East have been curiously muted about Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s killing.

Israel and Iran have respectively celebrated and mourned Sinwar’s death.

The Taliban however has released a statement also mourning – with “profound sorrow” – the killing of the former Hamas leader.

In a statement, government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said:

May Allah Almighty accept the martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar and bestow patience and immense reward upon his family, companions, and all those connected to him.

Hezbollah said it targeted the northern Israeli city of Haifa and areas to its north with rockets on Friday.

In a statement, the Iran-backed group said Hezbollah fighters launched “a salvo of rockets … that targeted the city of Haifa”.

It dedicated one of the salvos to the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike last month.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in an update on Friday that 75 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel by Hezbollah today.

It said it intercepted three rockets that were fired at the Haifa bay area.

Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to convene a special meeting with Israeli government ministers to discuss hostage negotiations in the light of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s killing.

It is unclear when the meeting will be held or what exactly is on the agenda, AP reports.

After news of Sinwar’s death broke on Thursday, hundreds gathered in Tel Aviv to call on the government to use his killing as a way to restart talks to bring home the hostages still held in Gaza.

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