Middle East crisis: US warns Israel and Iran that conflict must not escalate – as it happened

3.53pm BST

Here is a summary of today's events

• Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau, elevating the hardline militant to the group’s top post after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader.

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Tuesday that it was up to Sinwar to help achieve a ceasefire as he “has been and remains the primary decider”.

• The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders Wednesday for an area in northern Gaza that was heavily bombed at the start of the war some 10 months ago.

• More than 39,677 Palestinians have been killed and 91,645 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement on Wednesday.

• Later on Wednesday, 10 Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Reuters reports.

• Turkey was due to submit on Wednesday a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, a diplomatic source told Reuters.

3.29pm BST

Reuters has spoken to a Palestinian girl whose blinding ended her hopes of becoming a doctor or teacher. Maisa al-Ghandour was blinded almost two weeks ago in an Israeli strike in war-ravaged Gaza.

“Now, I wish to die. We are not living a life in Gaza anymore; we are just hoping to die, our lives have become death,” said Maisa, aged 14.

Maisa was wounded in an Israeli artillery strike at Eilabun High School in Al-Karara town, east of Gaza’s Khan Younis city, on July 26, the family said.

“There are shrapnel fragments in our chests, abdomens, and faces,” Maisa said, referring to wounds also suffered by sister Yara, 9, and brother Mohammed, 11.

“I hope we can go outside (of Gaza) to receive treatment because there are no medicines here.”

2.53pm BST

Later on Wednesday, 10 Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Reuters reports.

Medics said one strike killed three people on a motorcycle west of Khan Younis, while seven others were killed in tank shelling that hit a tent encampment in Abassan town, east of the city.

Updated at 2.54pm BST

2.29pm BST

Israelis railed against new Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday, with some hoping he will meet the same fate as his predecessor who was killed last week.

Near Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square, whose circular fountain is ringed with tributes to Israel’s Gaza hostages and war dead, Sinwar’s appointment was met with disquiet.

The Palestinian movement’s Gaza chief, an alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack, was named as the movement’s head late on Tuesday after Ismail Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran.

“The choice speaks for itself,” said Hanan, manager of a logistics company, who did not want to give his family name.

“It means that they chose Sinwar and did not see fit to look for someone less militant, someone with a less murderous approach.

“I really hope that his (Sinwar’s) future will be just like the one before him, and quickly,” he said.

1.51pm BST

Palestinians inspected damage caused to buildings and tents in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah on Wednesday after an overnight Israeli strike killed and wounded several people, Gaza’s health ministry said.

People searched through rubble to find their belongings. Nidal Ashour, a Palestinian man in the area, said he saw a number of casualties in the aftermath of the strike.

‘The majority of them had their legs dismembered, their legs were amputated,’ he said.

1.29pm BST

War-weary Gazans voiced concern on Wednesday after Hamas appointed Yahya Sinwar as its new supremo, fearing his past as the movement’s military commander might hamper efforts for the ceasefire they yearn for.

“We don’t know how Hamas is thinking or what led them to choose Yahya Sinwar as their chief, especially when his whereabouts are unknown”, 29-year-old Mohammad al-Sharif told AFP in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah.

“He is a fighter. How will negotiations take place?”, asked the displaced man originally from Gaza City, adding: “We want nothing but the end of the war”.

Ibrahim Abu Daqa, 35, echoed Sharif’s disappointment over the choice of Sinwar to succeed Haniyeh, who was regarded by some as a pragmatist.

“In my opinion, appointing Yahya Sinwar as the head of Hamas was inappropriate at this critical stage”, he told AFP.

1.12pm BST

Army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted the evacuation orders for several districts in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, two now largely demolished towns into which Israeli tanks swept at the outset of Israel’s ground invasion.

“Hamas and terrorist organisations are firing rockets from your area towards the State of Israel. The IDF will act forcefully and immediately against them,” Adraee said in the message sent by text or social media to Palestinian residents.

“For your own safety, evacuate immediately to the known shelters in the centre of Gaza City,” the army spokesperson said.

In a nearby Gaza City neighbourhood, Al-Tuffah, an Israeli airstrike on a house killed three Palestinians, medics said.

Updated at 1.19pm BST

12.30pm BST

Warning: this post contains images of injured children that some readers may find upsetting

Here are some of the latest images from photographers on the ground in Israel and Gaza:

Updated at 12.34pm BST

12.03pm BST

The day so far

It has just gone 2pm in Jerusalem. If you’re just joining us, here are the day’s developments:

• The United States has communicated to Iran and Israel that conflict in the Middle East must not escalate, secretary of state Antony Blinken said. The Middle East is bracing for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies after last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah .

• The Israeli military has issued new evacuation orders for an area in northern Gaza that was heavily bombed at the start of the war some 10 months ago. The IDF said it would respond to a Hamas rocket attack from the Beit Hanoun area the day before and urged residents to relocate to Gaza City, large areas of which have been destroyed.

• More than 39,677 Palestinians have been killed and 91,645 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement on Wednesday.

• Protesters have disrupted an Israeli supreme court hearing about a shadowy military facility where Israel has held Palestinian detainees throughout the war in Gaza. The protesters yelled “Shame!” as the attorney for a number of Israeli human rights groups argued that the Sde Teiman facility should be closed permanently over repeated allegations of detainee abuse. An Associated Press investigation into the facility, as well as others by rights groups, found detainees endured abysmal conditions there.

11.33am BST

Protesters disrupted an Israeli supreme court hearing Wednesday about a shadowy military facility where Israel has held Palestinian detainees throughout the war in Gaza.

The protesters yelled “Shame!” as the attorney for a number of Israeli human rights groups argued that the Sde Teiman facility should be closed permanently over repeated allegations of detainee abuse. An Associated Press investigation into the facility, as well as others by rights groups, found detainees endured abysmal conditions there.

The Israeli military said on 29 July that it detained nine soldiers for questioning following allegations of “substantial abuse” of a detainee at Sde Teiman, located in southern Israel. The arrests prompted an outcry from right-wing government officials, and several hundred protesters swarmed the military base where the detained soldiers were held, calling the arrests an affront to their service.

On Tuesday night, Israel’s Channel 12 aired what it said was security camera footage from Sde Teiman that showed several soldiers moving a detainee to the side of a large hall where other detainees are seen laying on the floor on their fronts with their hands over their heads. In footage from a different angle, the soldiers are shown in a huddle and lifting up protective shields, apparently concealing the detainee from view, the report said. Channel 12 said the video was part of the investigation into alleged sexual assault.

The military has generally denied ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees, though a United Nations human rights office issued a report accusing Israel of mistreating Palestinian prisoners. Following the accusations of harsh treatment that prompted this court case, Israel said it was transferring the bulk of Palestinian detainees out of Sde Teiman and upgrading it. According to testimony during the hearing, there are now about 30 Palestinians being held at Sde Teiman on a daily basis.

Updated at 11.39am BST

10.46am BST

More than 39,677 Palestinians have been killed and 91,645 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement on Wednesday.

The toll includes 24 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 91,645 people as having been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.

Updated at 11.04am BST

10.17am BST

US Representative Cori Bush, a fierce critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, has lost her Democratic congressional primary, according to results called by US media.

Bush, seen as one of the most prominent progressives in Congress, was defeated by Wesley Bell, a county prosecutor who enjoyed the backing of the influential pro-Israel lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), according to AFP.

“We will stand up for what is right, no matter the cost,” the Missouri congresswoman, who was voted into the House in 2020, said in a concession speech on Tuesday night posted on her account on social media platform X.

“I just hope he (Bell) actually takes time to learn about our Palestinian, our Arab and Muslim community... and that he sees the beauty in what we have created,” she said .

Bush introduced a resolution in Congress calling for a ceasefire in Gaza just weeks after the start of the war triggered by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Updated at 10.19am BST

9.46am BST

Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau, elevating the hardline militant to the group’s top post after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader.

Sinwar’s appointment was announced in a brief statement by Hamas on Tuesday that was aired on pro-Hamas Iranian state media channels.

Sinwar, the Hamas military leader who is seen as the mastermind behind the 7 October attack against Israel , is believed to be hiding in the series of tunnels underneath Gaza. He is the group’s chief decision-maker in Gaza, and is believed to hold control over the estimated 120 Israeli hostages who are still in Hamas’s custody.

Read our full report here:

Related: Hamas names Yahya Sinwar, architect of 7 October attack, as new leader

8.56am BST

Israeli army issues new evacuation orders in north Gaza

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders Wednesday for an area in northern Gaza that was heavily bombed at the start of the war some 10 months ago.

The military said it would respond to a Hamas rocket attack from the Beit Hanoun area the day before and urged residents to relocate to Gaza City, large areas of which have been destroyed.

Beit Hanoun, which is close to the border, was one of the first targets of the massive bombardment and ground invasion launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the war.

Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to areas where past air and ground operations caused widespread destruction, as militants have regrouped. The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced within the narrow coastal strip since the start of the war - often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are sheltering in crowded tent camps.

Updated at 12.17pm BST

8.30am BST

Ambassadors from Western countries including the United States will skip a ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki after Israel was snubbed, officials said Wednesday.

Nagasaki’s mayor last week said that Israel’s ambassador Gilad Cohen was not invited to Friday’s event in the southern Japanese city because of the risk of possible protests over the Gaza conflict.

The US and British embassies said on Tuesday that their ambassadors would not take part as a result, and that their countries would be represented by lower-ranking diplomats.

Media reports said that Australia, Italy, Canada and the European Union, who together with the US, Britain and Germany signed a strongly worded joint letter to Nagasaki’s mayor last month, would follow suit.

US ambassador Rahm Emanuel will not attend “after the mayor of Nagasaki politicised the event by not inviting the Israeli ambassador”, an embassy spokesperson told AFP.

8.20am BST

Turkey will submit on Wednesday a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, a diplomatic source told Reuters.

The declaration will happen at 2.30pm, the source added, after Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said this week that Turkey would make the declaration on Wednesday.

“Turkey’s intervention pushes the international community to recognise and address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the source said.

In May, Turkey said it had decided to join the case launched by South Africa as it stepped up measures against Israel over the assault on Gaza, adding that its bid would follow the necessary legal preparations.

8.06am BST

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Tuesday that it was up to Yahya Sinwar, the new head of Hamas’s political bureau, to help achieve a ceasefire as he “has been and remains the primary decider”.

The US has sent extra warships and fighter jets to the region in support of Israel, and President Joe Biden called Jordan’s King Abdullah II, whose country helped down Iranian drones and missiles in an attack on Israel in April.

This was followed by a call with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and another with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, whose countries have been the key intermediaries seeking a ceasefire in the 10-month Gaza war.

Blinken also called top officials in Qatar and Egypt.

“We are engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message - all parties must refrain from escalation,” Blinken said after joining other top officials in a White House meeting.

7.58am BST

US warn Israel and Iran over escalation of conflict

The United States has communicated to Iran and Israel that conflict in the Middle East must not escalate, secretary of state Antony Blinken said. The Middle East is bracing for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies after last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

He said:

We’ve been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We’ve communicated that message directly to Israel.

The United States will continue to defend Israel against attacks, Blinken added, but noted that everyone in the region should understand the risks of escalation and miscalculation.

Further attacks only raise the risk of dangerous outcomes that no one can predict and no one can fully control.

More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.

• Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau , elevating the hardline militant to the group’s top post after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Sinwar’s appointment was announced in a brief statement by Hamas on Tuesday that was aired on pro-Hamas Iranian state media channels.

• Vladimir Putin has reportedly told Iran to avoid civilian casualties in any retaliatory attack on Israel , an underlining of the constraints it faces as it frames its response. It is a call for restraint that is likely to be echoed by many foreign ministers from the 57 countries inside the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at a meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday as tensions in the Middle East grow.

• UN peacekeepers on the Israeli-Lebanese border have never been more crucial, the force’s global chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Tuesday, as fears soared of an escalation in the Middle East. Since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Lebanese movement Hezbollah , a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire.

• Israeli forces backed by drone strikes killed at least 12 people in the occupied West Bank, medics said on Tuesday, after raids around two flashpoint cities in the north led to gunbattles with Palestinian militants. The Israeli military said it conducted two separate airstrikes in the volatile city of Jenin, hitting armed militant cells, but gave no details.

• Israeli forces killed 45 Palestinian fighters in Gaza over the past day, the military said on Tuesday, after heavy fighting in which militant group Hamas said it destroyed two armoured personnel carriers during an ambush near the city of Rafah. The Israeli military said the Hamas official in charge of smuggling operations was among those killed and that his death significantly hit their ability to bring weapons and military equipment into the besieged enclave.

• Air France said Tuesday that its flights and that of its low-cost subsidiary Transavia to Beirut will be suspended through at least Thursday because of fears that the Gaza war could spread. The resumption of flights to Lebanon’s capital, which have been halted since 29 July, “will be subject to a new assessment of the local situation,” the airline told AFP.

• Lebanon is working to ensure any response to the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut does not trigger total war in the Middle East, its foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday. Tensions in the region have spiralled in the last week following the killing in Tehran of Palestinian militant group Hamas’ leader, and an Israeli strike on Beirut’s suburbs that killed the senior commander Fuad Shukr.

Updated at 9.34am BST