At least 103 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.
Fifty-six people, including women and children, were killed when homes and tents sheltering displaced families were bombed overnight in the southern city of Khan Younis, the local Nasser hospital said. Local journalists said its corridors were crowded with casualties and that its mortuary was full.
A spokesman for the Civil Defence later reported deadly strikes in the northern town of Jabalia, including an attack on a health clinic and prayer hall in Jabalia refugee camp that he said killed 13 people.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
But it has been intensifying its bombing of what it has said are Hamas fighters and infrastructure ahead of a planned expansion of its ground offensive in Gaza.
It comes as US President Donald Trump visits the region and indirect negotiations on a new ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel continue.
The streets of Khan Younis were filled with funeral processions and grieving families on Thursday morning, following what residents said were the deadliest set of air strikes in the city since Israel resumed its offensive almost two months ago.
One video shared by a local activist showed medics laying dozens of bodies on the ground at a local cemetery. An imam stood nearby leading prayers for hundreds of mourners gathered behind him in orderly rows.
Other footage showed men carrying the bodies of two small children wrapped in blood-stained shrouds outside Nasser hospital, which published a list of the names of the 56 people who medics said were killed.
Safaa al-Bayouk, a 42-year-old mother of six, said the children were her sons Muath, who was only six weeks old, and Moataz, who was one year and four months.
“I gave them dinner and they went to sleep. It was a normal day… [then] the world turned upside down,” she told Reuters news agency.
Reem al-Zanaty, 13, said her uncle’s family, including her 12-year-old cousin Menna, were killed when their two homes were bombed.
“We didn’t feel or hear anything until we woke up with rubble on us,” she said. “The Civil Defence did not come. I will tell you honestly we pulled ourselves [out]. My father helped us.”
Medics also said local journalist Hassan Samour, who worked for Hamas-run al-Aqsa Radio, was killed along with 11 members of his family when their home in the eastern Bani Suheila neighbourhood was struck.
A local hospital says at least 48 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli air strikes in northern Gaza overnight.
The Indonesian hospital reported that 22 children and 15 women were among the dead after several homes in Jabalia town and a refugee camp were hit.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports, noting that it had warned residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas to evacuate on Tuesday night after a Palestinian armed group launched rockets into Israel.
It came as the UN’s humanitarian affairs chief urged members of the UN Security Council to take action to “prevent genocide” in Gaza.
Speaking at a meeting in New York on Tuesday, Tom Fletcher accused Israel of “deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians”.
He called on Israel to lift its 10-week blockade on Gaza and criticised the Israeli-US plan to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid in the territory.
The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told the council that foreign aid was being used to help Hamas’s war effort.
Meanwhile, US Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler said they would travel to Qatar for fresh negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to expand its military offensive against Hamas which includes the “capture” of Gaza and the holding of its territory, according to an Israeli official.
It is also said to include moving the 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza towards the south, which could worsen the humanitarian crisis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “good plan” because it would achieve the goals of defeating Hamas and returning its remaining hostages, the official said.
The cabinet also approved, in principle, a plan to deliver and distribute humanitarian aid through private companies, which would end a two-month blockade the UN says has caused severe food shortages.
The UN and other aid agencies have said the proposal would be a breach of basic humanitarian principles and that they will not co-operate.
Hamas said Israel’s proposal amounted to “political blackmail”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet met on Sunday evening to discuss the Gaza offensive, which resumed when Israel ended a two-month ceasefire on 18 March.
An Israeli official who briefed the media on Monday said that ministers voted unanimously to approve a plan proposed by the Israeli military’s Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir to “defeat Hamas in Gaza and return the hostages”.
“The plan will include, among other things, the capture of the Strip and holding the territories, moving the Gazan population south for its defence, denying Hamas the ability to distribute humanitarian supplies, and powerful attacks against Hamas,” the official said.
Israeli media reported that the plan would take months and that the first stage included the seizure of additional areas of Gaza and the expansion of the Israeli-designated “buffer zone” running along the territory’s borders. It would aim to give Israel additional leverage in negotiations with Hamas on a new ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Security cabinet member, Zeev Elkin told public broadcaster Kan that there was “still a window of opportunity” for a new hostage release before the end of President Trump’s 13-16 May trip to the Middle East “if Hamas understands we are serious”.
During a visit to a naval base on Sunday, Lt Gen Zamir told special forces that tens of thousands of reservists were being called up “in order to strengthen and expand our operations in Gaza”.
“We are increasing the pressure with the aim of bringing our people home and defeating Hamas. We will operate in additional areas and destroy all terrorist infrastructure – above and below ground,” he said.
However, critics say this is a failed strategy, as none of the 59 remaining hostages has been freed since the offensive resumed six weeks ago.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents hostages’ relatives, said the plan was an admission by the government that it was “choosing territories over the hostages” and that this was “against the will of over 70% of the people” in Israel.
Nine Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a police station in northern Gaza, health officials and first responders say.
Several other people were also wounded when missiles hit the market area of Jabalia town. Video footage showed crowds gathered around the remains of a flattened building.
The Israeli military said it struck a “command-and-control centre” for Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Jabalia that was being used to plan attacks.
At least 17 other people were reportedly killed elsewhere in Gaza on Thursday.
They included a family of six – a couple and their four children – whose home in the northern Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City was bombed, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.
A relative, Nidal al-Sarafiti, said the family had been asleep at the time of the strike.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) identified the man who was killed as Ali al-Sarafiti, who it said was a member of the armed group and a former prisoner who was jailed for 13 years in Israel after being convicted over an attempted suicide attack.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Palestinian media also said three displaced people were killed when their family tent was hit near Nuseirat, in central Gaza, and that two children died in a strike on another tent in the southern Khan Younis area.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says at least 1,978 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas on 18 March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire.
Israel says it is putting military pressure on Hamas to release the 59 hostages it is still holding, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.
It has also blocked all deliveries of humanitarian aid and other supplies to Gaza for seven weeks, which the UN says is “further depriving people of the means for survival and undermining every aspect of civilian life”.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 51,300 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health Ministry.
BBC/Adebukola Aluko
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The Israeli government has approved a temporary extension of the Gaza ceasefire for the next six weeks, covering the Muslim Ramadan and Jewish Passover periods.
Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office made the announcement shortly after the first phase of the previously agreed ceasefire expired at midnight on Saturday.
Netanyahu’s office said that under a ceasefire proposal by US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, half of the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza – both alive and dead – would be released on the first day.
The remaining hostages would be freed “if an agreement on a permanent ceasefire is reached”.
Hamas has not publicly commented on the latest Israeli move.
On Friday night, Hamas said it would not agree to any extension of phase one without guarantees from American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators that phase two would eventually take place.
The Israeli government backed the ceasefire extension after a four-hour meeting called by Netanyahu.
The prime minister’s office claimed that Hamas “has so far refused” to back the Witkoff plan, adding that Israel would immediately start negotiations if the group changed its position.
The US envoy’s plan envisages that Israel could return to fighting after 42 days if it believed negotiations on a second phase had failed.
Israel and Hamas have agreed on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal following 15 months of war, mediators Qatar and the US say.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said the agreement would come into effect on Sunday so long as it was approved by the Israeli cabinet.
US President Joe Biden said it would “halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal’s final details were still being worked on, but he thanked Biden for “promoting” it. Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said it was the result of Palestinian “resilience”.
Many Palestinians and Israeli hostages’ families celebrated the news, but there was no let-up in the war on the ground in Gaza.
The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency reported that Israeli air strikes killed more than 20 people following the Qatari announcement. They included 12 people who were living in a residential block in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, it said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and others – in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 46,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Most of the 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there is widespread destruction, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter due to a struggle to get aid to those in need.
Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are presumed dead. In addition, there are four Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead.
Qatar’s prime minister called for “calm” on both sides before the start of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire deal, which he said would see 33 hostages – including women, children and elderly people – exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israeli forces will also withdraw to the east away from densely populated areas of Gaza, displaced Palestinians will be allowed to begin returning to their homes and hundreds of aid lorries will be allowed into the territory each day.
Negotiations for the second phase – which should see the remaining hostages released, a full Israeli troop withdrawal and a return to “sustainable calm” – will start on the 16th day.
The third and final stage will involve the reconstruction of Gaza – something which could take years – and the return of any remaining hostages’ bodies.
Israel’s cabinet has to meet on Thursday morning to give its final approval.
The ceasefire and the release of the first three Israeli hostages is expected to come on Sunday although a senior Hamas official has told the BBC there are talks ongoing to bring the start forward to Thursday night.
Sheikh Mohammed said there was “a clear mechanism to negotiate phase two and three”, with the agreements set to be published “in the next couple of days, once the details are finalised”.
He also said Qatar, the US and Egypt, which also helped broker the deal, would work together to ensure Israel and Hamas fulfilled their obligations.
“We hope that this will be the last page of the war, and we hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement,” he added.
President Biden said the plan, which he first outlined eight months ago, was “the result not only of the extreme pressure Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and the weakening of Iran – but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy”.
“Even as we welcome this news, we remember all the families whose loved ones were killed in Hamas’s 7 October attack, and the many innocent people killed in the war that followed,” a statement added. “It is long past time for the fighting to end and the work of building peace and security to begin.”
At a later news conference, Biden also acknowledged the assistance of President-elect Donald Trump, who put pressure on both parties by demanding hostages be released before his inauguration on Monday.
“In these past few days, we’ve been speaking as one team,” he said, noting that most of the implementation of the deal would happen after he left office.
Trump was the first to confirm reports the agreement had been reached, beating the White House and Qatar to a formal announcement.
In a later post on social media, he attempted to take the credit for the “epic” agreement, saying it “could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office thanked Trump “for his help in promoting the release of the hostages, and for helping Israel end the suffering of dozens of hostages and their families”.
“The prime minister made it clear that he is committed to returning all the hostages by any means necessary,” it said, before adding that he had also thanked Biden.
Later, the office said an official statement from Netanyahu would “be issued only after the completion of the final details of the agreement, which are being worked on at present”.
Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog, said the deal would bring with it “deeply painful” moments and “present significant challenges”, but that it was “the right move”.
The agreement is expected to be approved by the Israeli cabinet, possibly as soon as Thursday morning, despite opposition from Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners.
Then the names of all the Palestinian prisoners due for release will be made public by the Israeli government, and the families of any victims will be given 48 hours to appeal. Some of the prisoners are serving life sentences after being convicted of murder and terrorism.
Hamas’s chief negotiator and acting Gaza chief, Khalil al-Hayya, said the agreement represented “a milestone in the conflict with the enemy, on the path to achieving our people’s goals of liberation and return”.
The group, he added, would now seek to “rebuild Gaza again, alleviate the pain, heal the wounds”.
But he also warned “we will not forget, and we will not forgive” the suffering inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza.
Celebrations erupted across Gaza as news of the agreement spread
As news of the agreement emerged, pictures showed people cheering and waving Palestinian flags in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah and the southern city of Khan Younis.
Sanabel, a 17-year-old girl living to the north in Gaza City, told BBC OS: “All of us are delighted.”
“We have been waiting for this for a long time,” she said. “Finally, I will put my head on my pillow without worrying… It is time to heal.”
Nawara al-Najjar, whose husband was among more than 70 people killed when Israeli forces launched an operation to rescue two hostages, said: “After the ceasefire I want to give my children the best life.”
“I want them to get over the fear we lived. My children are really scared. The terror has settled in their hearts.”
Supporters of the Israeli hostages’ families also celebrated in Tel Aviv
Sharone Lifschitz is a British-Israeli woman whose 84-year-old father Oded is among the remaining hostages. Her mother, Yocheved, was also abducted in the 7 October attack but was released after several weeks in captivity.
She told the BBC in London as news of the deal came through that it felt “like a bit of sanity”, but she admitted: “I know that the chances for my dad are very slim.”
“He’s an elderly man, but miracles do happen. My mum did come back, and one way or another, we will know. We will know if he’s still with us, if we can look after him.”
She warned: “There are more graves to come and traumatised people to come back, but we will look after them and make them see light again… May this be the start of something better.”
Moshe Lavi, the brother in-law of Omri Miran, a 47-year-old father-of-two young children, told the BBC that it was “a very mixed day for most families of hostages”.
“We want to see our families come home from their mass captivity. But we also understand that this is a phase deal. Only the first phase was agreed upon,” he said.
“We’ll have to keep fighting, keep advocating as families with all leaders with our own government to understand they have to release all the hostages.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the “priority now must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict”.
US President Joe Biden has urged Hamas to accept a new Israeli proposal to end the conflict in Gaza, saying that “it’s time for this war to end”.
The three-part proposal would begin with a six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza.
There would also be a “surge” of humanitarian aid, as well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
The deal would eventually lead to a permanent “cessation of hostilities” and a major reconstruction plan for Gaza.
Hamas said it views the proposal “positively”.
Speaking at the White House on Friday, Mr Biden said that the first phase of the proposed plan would include a “full and complete ceasefire”, the withdrawal of IDF forces from populated areas and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
“This is truly a decisive moment,” he said. “Hamas says it wants a ceasefire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it.”
The ceasefire, he added, would allow more humanitarian aid to reach the beleaguered territory, with “600 trucks carrying aid into Gaza every single day”.
The second phase would see all remaining living hostages returned, including male soldiers. The ceasefire would then become “the cessation of hostilities, permanently.”
Among those who have urged Hamas to agree to the proposal was UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who said on X that the group “must accept this deal so we can see a stop in the fighting”.
“We’ve long argued a stop in the fighting can be turned into a permanent peace if we are all prepared to take the right steps,” Lord Cameron added. “Let’s seize this moment and bring this conflict to an end.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also welcomed the development in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter. He said the world had “witnessed too much suffering [and] destruction in Gaza” and said it was “time to stop”.
“I welcome [President] Biden’s initiative [and] encourage all parties to seize this opportunity for a ceasefire, release of all hostages, guaranteed unhindered humanitarian access [and] ultimately a durable peace in the Middle East,” he added.
In his speech, Mr Biden acknowledged that negotiations between phases one and two would be difficult.
As recently as a few days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was letting it be known that he was implacably opposed to agreeing to end the war as part of a ceasefire deal – making Mr Biden’s reference to the war’s end particularly significant.
While the plan includes many of the details from previous, ultimately failed rounds of talks, the US calls for a permanent ceasefire appear to be a significant concession designed to try and draw Hamas back to negotiations on terms they have already said they would agree to. A permanent ceasefire has been one of the group’s key demands.
The third phase of the proposal would see the final remains of any deceased Israeli hostages returned, as well as a “major reconstruction plan” with US and international assistance to rebuild homes, schools and hospitals.
In his remarks, Mr Biden acknowledged that some Israelis – including officials within Israel’s government – would likely be opposed to the proposal.
“I’ve urged the leadership in Israel to stand behind this deal,” he said. “Regardless of whatever [political] pressure comes.”
The US president also directly addressed the Israeli people, telling them that “we can’t lose this moment”.
Notably, Mr Biden said that Hamas has now been degraded to the extent that it can no longer repeat an attack such as that which its fighters conducted on 7 October – a likely signal to the Israelis that Washington sees the war as done.
In a statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu insisted that the war would not end until its objectives were achieved, including the return of all hostages and the elimination of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities. He said the latest plan would allow Israel to uphold these principles.
Hamas, for its part, said that it views the proposal “positively” because of its call for a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, reconstruction and the exchange of prisoners.
The group said it was ready to “deal positively and constructively” with any proposal centred on a permanent ceasefire, provided that Israel “declares its explicit commitment to that”.
Another Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations who has seen the new Israeli proposal said that the document did not include a guarantee that the war will end, nor that IDF troops would withdraw from Gaza completely.
The proposal has been transmitted to Hamas through mediators based in Qatar.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his counterparts in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to try to build a wider support for the proposal.
Mr Blinken “emphasized that Hamas should accept the deal and that every country with a relationship with Hamas should press it to do so without delay,” state department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Friday night.
Faced with mounting civilian casualties in Gaza, President Biden has faced growing domestic criticism over the level of US support for Israel, and calls to do more to encourage the warring sides to negotiate.
Earlier this week, however, the White House said that it does not believe that Israeli operations in Rafah amount to a “major ground operation” that could cross a red line and trigger a possible change in US policy.
The statement came after an Israeli air strike and resulting fire killed at least 45 Palestinians on Sunday.
In a separate announcement on Friday, US lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum formally invited Mr Netanyahu to address Congress in Washington.
It is unclear when the address would take place.
More than 36,000 have been killed across Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The war began in October when Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 252 back to Gaza as hostages.
The war in Gaza is being fought on many fronts. One of them is aid. According to report, months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys.
In recent weeks, social media has been flooded with images of aid lorries being blocked and ransacked.
Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.
“It’s important to stop the aid,” one activist says. “It’s the only way we’ll win. The only way we’ll get our hostages back.”
Many argue that Gazans should receive nothing while Israeli hostages remain in captivity, and that providing aid to Gaza merely serves to prolong the war.
In one video, a group of jubilant protesters dance and celebrate on top of a looted lorry.
In another, one of the stranded lorries is ablaze. Other videos show Israeli vigilantes stopping lorries in Jerusalem and demanding that drivers show papers proving they are not transporting aid to Gaza. Their faces are uncovered and they appear to be acting with complete impunity.
In the West Bank, at least two drivers who were not carrying goods bound for Gaza were dragged from their cabs and beaten.
Palestinian lorry drivers say they’re traumatised. “I’m terrified to reach the crossing point,” Adel Amro told the BBC.
“I fear for my life.”
Mr Amro was carrying commercially purchased goods from the West Bank to Gaza when he was set upon. Other targeted drivers are involved in transporting aid from Jordan, which has to cross the West Bank and Israel before it reaches Gaza. “We’re now taking side roads, far from the main routes, because we fear the aggressiveness of the settlers,” he said.
But after a series of well-documented attacks, some Israelis are fighting back.
Peace activists have taken to tracking their opponents’ movements on social media and making sure they’re present at key crossing points.
At Tarqumiya checkpoint, where lorries enter Israel from the southern West Bank, members of the group Standing Together are now mounting regular vigils.
Tarqumiya was the scene of one of the most dramatic recent attacks.
“People in Gaza are starving and aid should get to Gaza,” said Suf Patishi, one of Standing Together’s founding members.
“Israeli society should say in a loud and clear voice that we are opposed to these acts,” he said of the recent attacks on convoys.
“It’s not a lot to ask, not to die from hunger, you know.”
The group brings together Jews and Arabs from all over Israel. For Nasser Odat, an Israeli Arab from Haifa, coming to Tarqumiya provided a welcome opportunity to feel useful, after more than seven months of helplessly watching the war in Gaza. “I feel very empowered,” he said. “Now, finally, I have something to do to help. To help these people that are starving.”
As the peace activists sheltered from the fierce sun under palm trees at the centre of a roundabout, passing lorry drivers waved and sounded their horns in gratitude.
A small group of right-wing demonstrators arrived but were heavily outnumbered by Mr Patishi’s volunteers.
The two sides debated their differing positions in discussions that became increasingly heated. Police officers stood nearby, ready to keep the opposing camps apart if it came to blows.
The peace activists have accused the police, under the control of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the most hardline members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, of doing little to stop the attacks.
They say there’s evidence that settlers are receiving help from the authorities and point to text messages in which groups organising attacks on aid lorries solicit and receive help from the police and army.
Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of three hostages from Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say.
The bodies were those of Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, and Itzhak Gelerenter, it said. The IDF said they had been murdered on 7 October and their remains taken back to Gaza.
Local media reported that the bodies were found in a Hamas tunnel.
About 1,200 people were killed in an unprecedented attack when Hamas gunmen burst into Israel. They took 252 others back to Gaza as hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the news “heart-breaking”.
“We will return all of our hostages, the living and the deceased alike,” he said.
In a statement, the IDF said the bodies had been recovered in an operation overnight. It said it had acted on intelligence gleaned from “interrogations of terrorists” who had been detained in Gaza.
It said the three victims had been killed at an intersection near the site of the Nova festival massacre in southern Israel, before their bodies were taken to Gaza.
More than 360 people were killed at the festival. About 125 hostages remain unaccounted for, with the others having been released or rescued.
In October, the mother of Shani Louk – a joint German-Israeli citizen – said the Israeli military had confirmed her daughter had died after a piece of her skull bone was found.
However, it was hoped that Amit Buskila and Itzhak Gelerenter were still alive.
Ms Buskila was a fashion stylist and social media influencer, who had been on the phone to her uncle while trying to hide when she was kidnapped on 7 October.
Mr Gelerenter was a father and grandfather who arrived at the Nova festival only hours before the attacks began.
The Hostages Family Forum, a group bringing together relatives of those being held, said they “bow their heads in deep sorrow and with broken hearts following the announcement”. They said the three had been killed by “Hamas terrorists”, adding, “may their memories be a blessing”.
Under a deal agreed in November, Hamas released 105 hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
It is not clear how many of those unaccounted for are still alive.
Following the IDF’s announcement, the armed wing of Hamas said the captives they hold would return only through an “honourable exchange deal for our people”.
Long-running talks in Cairo aimed at securing a truce and further hostage releases are currently stalled.
After the 7 October attacks, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 35,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
About 2.2 million Palestinians are facing chronic food shortages and are in urgent need of shelter and other assistance, the UN says.
Seven aid workers have been killed in Gaza in what their charity’s founder said was an Israeli air strike.
World Central Kitchen (WCK) said workers from countries including the UK, Poland and Australia were killed.
WCK founder and chef José Andrés said they were killed “in an IDF air strike”. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was conducting a “thorough review”.
Gaza’s Hamas-run media office also blamed Israel.
The alleged strike could not be immediately verified independently.
A journalist working for the BBC in Gaza has seen the bodies of three international aid workers and a Palestinian driver, recovered from the site of the alleged air strike. Foreign passports were also shown.
WCK later said in a statement that seven of its team had been killed and were Australian, Polish, British, Palestinian and a dual US-Canadian citizen.
“I am heartbroken and appalled that we – World Central Kitchen and the world – lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF,” the charity’s CEO Erin Gore said in a statement.
“The love they had for feeding people, the determination they embodied to show that humanity rises above all, and the impact they made in countless lives will forever be remembered and cherished”.
Ms Gore said WCK was pausing its operations immediately in the region.
She added that those killed were part of a convoy that was hit while leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse in central Gaza, “where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route.”
Further details of the alleged attack are still emerging.
Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said on X: “We are heartbroken and deeply troubled by the strike that killed [WCK] aid workers in Gaza.
“Humanitarian aid workers must be protected as they deliver aid that is desperately needed, and we urge Israel to swiftly investigate what happened.”
Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese has confirmed that aid worker Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom was among those killed and has offered his condolences to family and friends.
In a statement, he said: “This is someone who was volunteering overseas to provide aid through this charity for people who are suffering tremendous deprivation in Gaza. And this is just completely unacceptable.”
He said Australia expected “full accountability”, adding that it was a “tragedy that should never have occurred”.
A Palestinian medical source told the BBC the workers had been wearing bullet-proof vests bearing the WCK logo. The charity is currently providing meals for thousands of people in Gaza.
In a post on X, Mr Andrés, a celebrity chef, called on the Israeli government “to stop this indiscriminate killing”.
Jersey’s States Assembly has supported calls for “an immediate suspension of hostilities” leading to “a permanent ceasefire” in Gaza.
Politicians unanimously agreed to a proposition from Deputy Montfort Tadier, after it had been amended by the External Relations Minister.
Earlier, around 60 people had gathered in the Royal Square in St Helier to call for peace.
Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have been at war since early October.
States Members concluded: “An immediate suspension of hostilities should be established to enable the unconditional release of hostages and those held under unlawful detention, the urgent provision of humanitarian assistance, and a permanent ceasefire.”
They also agreed: “To express their profound sadness and dismay at the extent of loss of civilian lives in Gaza and Israel and to condemn the taking of hostages and all acts of aggression which violate international law and result in death and harm to civilians, especially women and children.”
The wording of the proposition underwent a number of changes before it was put to a final vote.
Mr Tadier wanted to include the words “international law should be adhered to in order to stop further significant loss of civilian lives and to avoid potential acts of genocide”.
He referred to an interim ruling of the UN’s top court, which last month ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.
The Israeli army says 24 of its soldiers were killed in Gaza on Monday, the deadliest day for its forces since their ground operation began.
That includes 21 reservists who died in an explosion likely caused by mines that Israeli forces had placed in two buildings to demolish them, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.
It is thought a missile fired by Palestinian armed fighters hit a tank near the buildings.
The IDF is investigating what happened.
Its Chief Spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the reservists were killed in central Gaza at around 16:00 (14:00 GMT) on Monday close to the kibbutz of Kissufim on the Israeli side of the border.
He said they were involved in an operation to allow for residents of southern Israel to safely return to their homes after tens of thousands were evacuated after the Hamas attack on 7 October.
On Monday, Israel’s military had already confirmed that three officers were killed in a separate attack in southern Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu described the deaths on Monday as “one of the most difficult days since the war erupted”.
“In the name of our heroes, for the sake of our lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Israeli President, Isaac Herzog said it had been an “unbearably difficult morning” learning about the extent of the death toll.
“On behalf of the entire nation, I console the families and pray for the healing of the wounded,” he said.
Israel launched the war with the declared aim of destroying Hamas after waves of its gunmen killed 1,300 people mostly civilians and took about 250 others hostage in the unprecedented attack.
According to the IDF website, 217 soldiers have been killed since the beginning of Israel’s ground invasion on 27 October out of a total of 545 killed since 7th October.
At least 25,295 people mainly woman and children have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Palestinians must not be pressured into leaving Gaza, and must be allowed to return to their homes on terms and conditions.
Report says, Mr Blinken condemned statements by some Israeli ministers, who called for the resettlement of Palestinians elsewhere.
The US official was in Qatar on his latest Middle East tour.
His comments come following reports that dozens of people were killed at a refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Footage from Jabalia shows bodies lying in the rubble of a destroyed building – many of them women and children.
The Israeli military has not yet responded to the reports.
More than 60 Palestinians have reportedly also been killed in the past day in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Jabalia camp has been hit several times since Israel began its war against Hamas following the unprecedented attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on 7 October.
Some 1,200 people were killed – most of them civilians – and about 240 others taken hostage in the Hamas raids.
More than 22,000 people – mostly women and children – have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. It has reported at least 113 deaths over 24 hours of Israeli bombardment.
“Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow,” Mr Blinken said on Sunday. “They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza.”
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for Palestinians to leave Gaza and make way for Israelis who could “make the desert bloom”.
And National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir this week issued a call “to encourage the migration of Gaza residents” as a “solution” to the crisis.
The official line from the Israeli government is that Gazans will eventually be able to return to their homes, though it is yet to outline how or when this will be possible.
Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. Health officials said even medical facilities including hospitals are now unsafe.
Three international medical aid groups announced they were pulling out of the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza after Israel issued evacuation orders.
A representative of the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme that they were “hugely concerned by this development”.
“What it means is that a hospital that was already over-crowded and overloaded and well beyond its capacity is now without absolutely critical reinforcement to support it as it deals with an ever-increasing number of casualties,” said Gemma Connell.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that, more than 600 patients and health workers were forced to leave the hospital, according to its director.
“Their locations are not currently known,” said Mr Tedros in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Mr Blinken’s latest trip to the Middle East comes amid rising tensions in the region, with concerns that the war in Gaza could spread.
Saleh al-Arouri, a top Hamas official, was assassinated in a suspected Israeli attack in southern Beirut on Tuesday along with six others – two Hamas military commanders and four other members.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed movement in Lebanon, described Arouri’s assassination as a “flagrant Israeli aggression” that would not go unpunished.
Hezbollah then fired rockets into Israel on Saturday as a “preliminary response” to the killing of Arouri.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has outlined proposals for the future governance of Gaza once the war between Israel and Hamas is over.
According to him, there would be limited Palestinian rule in the territory.
Hamas would no longer control Gaza and Israel would retain overall security control, he added.
The Hamas-run health ministry says, fighting in Gaza continued alongside the plan’s publication, with dozens of people killed in the past 24 hours.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due back in the region this week. He is expected to hold talks with Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank and Israeli leaders.
His visit comes amid heigh tensions in the region following the assassination of top Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri on Tuesday in Lebanon’s capital Beirut. His killing has widely been blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
Under Mr Gallant’s now “four corner” plan, Israel would retain overall security control of Gaza.
A multi-national force would take charge of rebuilding the territory after the widespread destruction caused by Israeli bombing.
Neighbouring Egypt would also have an unspecified role to play under the plan.
But the document adds that Palestinians would be responsible for running the territory.
“Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel,” Mr Gallant said.
Talk of the “day after” in Gaza has led to deep disagreement in Israel.
Some far right-wing members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have said that Palestinian citizens should be encouraged to leave Gaza for exile, with the re-establishment of Jewish settlements in the territory – controversial proposals that have been rejected as “extremist” and “unworkable” by other countries in the region and by some of Israel’s allies.
While Mr Gallant’s proposals may be regarded as more practical than those suggested by some of his cabinet colleagues, they are likely to be rejected by Palestinian leaders who say that Gazans themselves must be allowed to take full control of running the territory once this devastating war is over.
Mr Netanyahu has not publicly talked in any detail about how he thinks Gaza should be governed.
He has suggested that the war in Gaza may yet last several months, with the avowed goal being to completely crush Hamas.
Mr Gallant’s plan also outlined how the Israeli military aims to proceed in the next phase of the war in Gaza.
He said the Israel Defense Forces, IDF, would take a more targeted approach in the north of the Gaza Strip, where operations will include raids, demolishing tunnels and air and ground strikes.
He said in the south, the Israeli military would continue to try to track down Hamas leaders and rescue Israeli hostages.
On Thursday, the IDF said it had hit areas in Gaza’s north and south, including Gaza City and Khan Younis.
It said it had conducted strikes on “terrorist infrastructure” and had killed people who it described as militants, who it said had tried to detonate an explosive next to soldiers.
It also announced that it had killed a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative, Mamdouh Lolo, in an air strike.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 125 people had been killed in the past 24 hours across the Strip.
A health ministry official said 14 people – including nine children – were killed by Israeli air strikes in al-Mawasi, to the west of Khan Younis.
The small town has been designated a “safe space” by Israeli forces for displaced Palestinians. The IDF has not commented on the claims made by Hamas.
“We were sleeping at midnight when a strike hit the camp on the tents, 4×2 tents where people were sleeping, most of them children,” eyewitness Jamal Hamad Salah told Reuters news agency. “We found one body there that flew 40 metres away.”
“There is nowhere safe in Gaza,” aid agency Save the Children’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, Jason Lee, said. “Camps, shelters, schools, hospitals, homes and so-called ‘safe zones’ should not be battlegrounds.”
The total number of people killed in Gaza since the start
The Hamas-run health ministry said the total number of people killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s retaliatory campaign had reached more than 22,400 by Thursday – comprising almost 1% of the enclave’s 2.3 million population, Israel’s offensive started after Hamas gunmen launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking about 240 people hostage.
Israel vowed early Wednesday to “continue its war” against Hamas following a truce in Gaza, according to an official statement sent to AFP by the prime minister’s office.
“The Israeli government, the Israeli army and the security forces will continue the war to bring back all those kidnapped, eliminate Hamas and ensure that there is no longer any threat to the State of Israel from Gaza,” the statement said.
Around 240 people were abducted during an attack on October 7 in which Israel says Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
In retaliation, Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza. According to the Hamas government, the war has killed more than 14,100 people, including nearly 6,000 children and close to 4,000 women.
Wednesday’s deal includes the release of 50 hostages in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinians held prisoner in Israel, according to sources close to the talks.
A six-hour window issued by the military ordering Palestinian civilians to finish evacuating from Gaza City to the southern part of the strip ended at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) yesterday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told residents to move towards the Gaza Valley, in a message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. It is unclear how widely the messaging has been received on the ground given the current electricity and internet blackout.
The order from the Israeli military came a day after it told 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes.
The IDF has saturated the border with troops and military equipment amid a relentless onslaught on the territory, in retaliation to a large-scale incursion by the militant group Hamas on October 7.
Earlier, yesterday, IDF spokesperson Leuitenant Colonel Richard Hecht said Israel’s air, land and sea blockade on Gaza will continue into a seventh day.
“We are preparing for the next stages,” he added, but shared no information if that could be a ground incursion and when.
The IDF’s Arabic spokesperson, Avishay Adraee, said the military will permit safe movement on specified streets between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time (3 – 9 a.m. ET). Residents were advised to use this window to move southward from Beit Hanoun to Khan Yunis.
Additionally, residents of the Al-Shate, Al-Rimal and West Al-Zaytoun areas are “permitted to move” along Daldul and Al-Sana streets towards Salah Al-Din and Al-Bahr streets, Adraee said. Israel launched a complete blockade on food, fuel and water entering Gaza on Monday. Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for a complete siege on Monday as a form of “collective punishment” and a “war crime.”
Thinning electricity supplies have severely damaged communication along the strip. In an interview with CNN, IDF Spokesperson, Maj. (Res.) Doron Spielman said the IDF is dropping leaflets about the new safe passages, given most people in Gaza City don’t have internet access now
Israel’s health ministry says at least 545 people have been injured in the Palestinian attacks, according to the Reuters news agency.
Dozens of gunmen from the Islamist militant group Hamas appear to have infiltrated southern Israel in a surprise attack from the Gaza Strip
It comes as thousands of rockets were launched into Israel from Gaza, according to a Hamas leader, Mohammed Deif – “we’ve decided to say enough is enough”, he said
The Israel Defence Forces said “a number of terrorists” had infiltrated Israeli territory from Gaza
Israel’s security cabinet will meet at 1pm local time (11:00 BST), and the IDF has begun striking Hamas targets
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has posted a video statement saying “we are at war”
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas has “made a grave mistake”, declaring that the “state of Israel will win this war”
Gun battles between Israeli and Palestinian forces are still under way in various locations in southern Israel, according to Israeli media
Hospitals in Israel say they are treating people injured in the surprise attacks – at least one person has died
A barrage of rockets has reached an area close to Jerusalem for the first time in four days of fighting between Israel and militants in Gaza.
Local media say a rocket from Gaza landed near the Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin in the occupied West Bank, about 16km (10 miles) south of Jerusalem. No injuries were reported.
Israel says it has attacked rocket-firing sites in Gaza in response.
It comes as Egypt mediates a ceasefire between the two sides.
Thirty-one people – about half of them civilians – have been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza since Israel carried out a surprise attack killing three Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militants on Tuesday, the health ministry in Gaza says.
One Israeli has been killed and five wounded by rocket fire in the same period, Israeli’s Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service says.
PIJ said “The firing of rockets at Jerusalem is a message, and everyone should understand its aim”. Israel considers Jerusalem its capital and its targeting marks a significant escalation by the militants. It is the first time rockets have landed near there since a 10-day conflict between the two sides in May 2021.
The resumption of fighting comes after hours of relative calm, which gave rise to hopes for a ceasefire. Israel carried out an air strike of militant sites in the early hours of Friday, but there had been no rocket attacks overnight. Rockets also hit two houses in the towns of Sderot and Nir Am during the barrage on Friday, though without causing injury.
This week’s fighting is the heaviest since three days of hostilities between Israel and PIJ last August, in which 49 Palestinians were killed in Gaza.
PIJ is the biggest militant group after Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is sworn to Israel’s destruction.
Israel said the three PIJ commanders were planning attacks when they were killed in an air strike on Tuesday morning. It killed two further commanders – the head of PIJ’s rocket force and his deputy – in strikes on Thursday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says more than 850 rockets have been fired at it from Gaza over the past four days, most of which it says have been intercepted or have landed in open areas. It says about a fifth have fallen short and landed in Gaza. According to the IDF, four people, including three children, have been killed in Gaza by failed rockets, though this has not been corroborated by Palestinian sources.
It says it has hit 215 militant targets with air strikes in Gaza.
