Israel-Gaza war news: UN aid trucks enter Gaza through Rafah crossing from Egypt

The death toll in Gaza has risen to 4,385 dead with 13,651 injured since the conflict between Hamas and Israel escalated two weeks ago, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The dead include 1,756 children and 976 women, the health ministry added.

The border crossing between Egypt and Gaza has opened to let desperately needed aid flow to Palestinians for the first time since Israel sealed off the territory following Hamas’ bloody rampage two weeks ago.

Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom have fled their homes, are rationing food and drinking filthy water. Hospitals say they are running low on medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators amid a territory-wide power blackout.

Israel has launched waves of airstrikes across the territory that have failed to stem ongoing Palestinian rocket fire into Israel.

The opening came after more than a week of high-level diplomacy by various mediators, including visits to the region by US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Israel had insisted that nothing would enter Gaza until some 200 people captured by Hamas were freed, and the Palestinian side of the crossing had been shut down by Israeli airstrikes.

More than 200 trucks carrying roughly 3,000 tons of aid, which had been positioned near the crossing for days, began heading into Gaza. Hundreds of foreign passport holders also waited to cross from Gaza to Egypt to escape the conflict.

Aid workers on the Egyptian side of the crossing could be seen chanting and clapping as trucks passed through the main gate to Gaza.

UN agencies have reiterated calls for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access throughout Gaza, after 20 trucks carrying a shipment of aid reached the enclave through the Rafah crossing.

“We call for a humanitarian ceasefire, along with immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access throughout Gaza to allow humanitarian actors to reach civilians in need, save lives and prevent further human suffering,” the joint statement from the UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP and WHO said.

“Flows of humanitarian aid must be at scale and sustained, and allow all Gazans to preserve their dignity.”

Police have made two arrests after fireworks were launched at officers in Trafalgar Square.

The Metropolitan Police said: “Whitehall is now mostly clear with a small demonstration remaining at the gates to Downing Street.

“Officers are now focusing their efforts on clearing Trafalgar Square, as fireworks have been launched at officers from within the crowd.

“Two arrests have been made for offences under the Explosives Act 1875.”

Arab leaders at a Cairo peace summit condemned the Israeli bombardment of Gaza – but with Israel and senior US officials absent there was no agreement towards containing the violence.

Egypt, which called the meeting and hosted it, said it had hoped participants would call for peace and resume efforts to resolve the decades-long Palestinian quest for statehood.

But the meeting ended without leaders and foreign ministers agreeing a joint statement.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians would not be displaced or driven off their land, while France called for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza that it claimed could lead to a ceasefire, the UK and Germany both urged Israel’s military to show restraint, and Italy said it was important to avoid escalation.

European Council President Charles Michel said the main goal of the summit was “to listen to each other”. However, “we understand that we need to work more together” on issues including the humanitarian situation, avoiding a regional escalation and a Palestinian-Israeli peace process, he added.

There has been one arrest in relation to an incident last week, as tens of thousands of people gathered in London to show solidarity with Palestinians.

“We thank everyone for their cooperation and have made only one arrest in relation to an incident last week,” the Metropolitan Police said.

Twelve people in a single household and five others are feared trapped under the rubble of a house in central Gaza which was hit by an Israeli airstrike, witnesses have said.

People clambered on slabs of concrete and twisted metal looking for survivors among the rubble, where a woman in a bloodstained headscarf was helped out of the wreckage, the Associated Press reported.

Men carried a body on a stretcher to an ambulance, and another man ran, carrying the limp body of a small child. Others helped lead away shocked-looking people covered in dust, including a boy with a bloody face.

The house was some 200 metres from the Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

British Transport Police is investigating footage appearing to show a London Tube driver leading chants of “free, free Palestine” among demonstrators travelling on the Underground.

Assistant Chief Constable Sean O’Callaghan said the force was “aware of footage circulating on social media which suggests chants are led by driver of a train in London earlier”.

“BTP are working with Transport for London and investigating the matter.”

Former US Representative Justin Amash, the first Palestinian-American member of Congress, said several of his family members were killed in Gaza following an Israeli airstrike at a Greek Orthodox church that was housing displaced Palestinians during the ongoing crisis.

Mr Amash, who represented parts of west Michigan in the House from 2011 to 2021, said his relatives were among hundreds of people seeking shelter in St Porphyrios Orthodox Church in Gaza City.

Bombs struck two halls where people were sleeping and killed at least 18 people overnight, according to the Order of St George, an associated order of the church.

Palestinian militant faction Hamas said on Saturday it won’t discuss the fate of Israeli army captives until Israel ends its “aggression” on the Gaza strip.

“Our stance with regards to Israeli army captives is clear: it’s related to a (possible) exchange of prisoners, and we will not discuss it until Israel ends its aggression on Gaza and Palestinians,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan, speaking from Lebanon, told a televised presser.