The USA is providing Israel with new military aid. Iran does not see the ceasefire negotiations as being at risk. All developments in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
10.16pm: In Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, thousands of people demonstrated for an agreement to release 115 hostages held by the Islamist Hamas. “Military pressure on Hamas will lead to even more hostages dying,” said a speaker at the rally in Tel Aviv, whose uncle was abducted to the Gaza Strip, the newspaper Haaretz reported. The mother of another abductee shouted to the crowd: “This is our last chance to reach a deal that will save lives.”
According to media reports, there were further protests in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba and in Caesarea in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private villa. The indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas about a ceasefire in the Gaza war and the release of hostages in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons have been dragging on for months. The USA, Egypt and Qatar are mediating.
20:41: Israel rejects reports from the civilian rescue service in the Gaza Strip that around 100 people were killed in the attack on a school complex. The military says the number is too high. “The attack was carried out with three precise missiles that cannot cause the damage that has been reported.” The target was not seriously damaged. The military presents aerial photographs and videos that are supposed to prove this.
It is also said that the complex and the mosque that were hit served as an active military facility of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The part of the mosque that was hit was reserved for men. Among the dead were 19 militants. The area’s civil emergency service has a credible record of reporting casualty figures.
8.15 p.m.: The US government is “deeply concerned” about the reports of civilian casualties following the Israeli airstrike on a school campus in Gaza City. “We are in contact with our Israeli counterparts who have said they targeted senior Hamas officials and we are requesting further details,” a National Security Council spokesman said.
It is known that Hamas uses schools as a meeting place and for its operations, but it has also been repeatedly and consistently pointed out that Israel must take measures to minimize harm to the civilian population. “Far too many civilians continue to be killed and wounded.” This underlines the urgency of a ceasefire and a hostage agreement.
10.44 am: According to the Israeli army, the school that was attacked in the Gaza Strip was used by high-ranking terrorists. Around 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters are said to have carried out terrorist attacks from the site, army spokesman Nadav Shoshani said via X.
According to initial findings from the army, the casualty figures reported by the Hamas-led government information office cannot be confirmed. Shoshani did not give a specific number of injured or dead. However, there is other information about the accuracy and type of ammunition used. The information cannot be independently verified.
10.39 am: Egypt has strongly condemned Israel’s attack on a school building in Gaza City, which left dozens dead. The attack was an “unprecedented violation of international law,” the Foreign Ministry in Cairo said. It was a “continuation of large-scale crimes” in which “huge numbers of unarmed civilians” were killed. The attack came at a time when mediators were trying to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. This was “clear evidence” that there was no will on the Israeli side to end the brutal war in the Gaza Strip.
