Israel Hamas war: Gaza airstrikes increase as hostages still captive

A third aid convoy has entered Gaza from Egypt over the Rafah border crossing.

It comes after a second aid convoy that reached Gaza on Sunday was welcomed as “a small glimmer of hope” by the UN. But it warned the enclave needed “much more” food, water and medical supplies.

“The 20 trucks brought in desperately needed items such as medical supplies, tins of tuna and tomato paste, wheat flour, and enough drinking water for 22,000 people for a day,” it said.

An Israeli ground force in Gaza was repelled by Hamas as the terrorist group destroyed IDF equipment, it claimed.

“Fighters engaged with the infiltrating force, destroying two bulldozers and a tank and forced the force to withdraw, before they returned safely to base,” Hamas said in a statement.

It comes after Israel said it had carried out more “limited” ground raids into Gaza to target Hamas gunmen and locate hostages.

The Israel Defence Forces was contacted for comment.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman will urge Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley to use the “full force of the law” after video emerged of a pro-Palestinian protester chanting “jihad”.

The Home Secretary will make clear the police should “crack down on anyone breaking the law” amid concern over footage from a demonstration by the Hizb ut-Tahrir fundamentalist group, which was separate to the main rally.

The Met has pointed out that jihad has “a number of meanings”, and said that specialist counter-terrorism officers had not identified any offences arising from the specific clip from Saturday. Instead, officers spoke to the man to “discourage any repeat of similar chanting”.

The number of captives held in Gaza has been confirmed as 222, according to the Israeli Defence Forces.

The Israeli military also said it had conducted more “limited raids” into Gaza to kill Hamas gunmen and search for hostages.

It comes after thousands of protesters at a rally in London demanded the release of hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas.

It is “not the right time” for the UK to consider accepting Gazan refugees, the UK’s transport secretary has said.

“Reaching for the tool of refugees at this stage is not the right one to do. I think the most important thing is to support people in the region and that’s why we’ve been urging the Israeli government and the Egyptian government to make sure that aid can get into Gaza,” Mark Harper told Sky News.

It comes after 35 aid trucks reached Gaza from Egypt. This is compared to the usual 435 aid trucks which crossed over from Egypt before October 7.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief has backed calls for a pause in the conflict between Israel and Hamas to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“Now the most important thing is for humanitarian support to go into Gaza,” Josep Borrell said as he arrived at a meeting with EU foreign ministers.

“Personally, I think a humanitarian pause is needed in order to allow humanitarian support to come in and be distributed,” he added.

Israel’s attack on Gaza could last “a month, two or three”, its defence minister said.

“In terms of the operational aspects of manoeuvring, at the end of the day, nothing will stop the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)”, he said.

“This should be our last manoeuvring operation in Gaza, for the simple reason that afterwards there will be no more Hamas.”

The Israel Defence Forces has attack over 320 targets in Gaza in the last 24 hours, it said.

“In the last day, the IDF attacked over 320 targets throughout the Gaza Strip. In the last day, the IDF continued to attack terrorist infrastructures and military targets in the Gaza Strip,” it wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

It comes as Israel attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including a military compound and observation post.