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The Guardian
Israel-Gaza war live: Body of US-Turkish citizen killed by Israeli troops in occupied West Bank due to arrive in Turkey
By Amy Sedghi,
3 hours ago
The body of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last week, is due to arrive in Turkey, where her funeral will take place. Photograph: AP
10.58am BST
US president Joe Biden and UK prime minister Keir Starmer will meet on Friday to discuss the wars in Ukraine and Gaza .
Starmer is scheduled to meet Biden in the Oval Office at 4.30pm (8.30pm GMT) but has no scheduled meetings at this stage with Donald Trump or Kamala Harris , both of whom will be on the campaign trail on Friday.
Starmer’s visit is his second to Washington since his Labour party stormed to victory in July after 14 years.
His government last week announced restrictions on some weapons to Israel , voicing concern that they could be used to violate international humanitarian law.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the White House has declined to criticise the UK’s decision, but Politico reported that Washington had asked London what it would take to change its decision – with the answer being a ceasefire in Gaza.
10.33am BST
Here are some of the latest images on the newswires:
10.07am BST
An opinion poll on Friday showed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s rightwing Likud party would form the largest single party in parliament if an election were held now, underlining a gradual recovery since the 7 October attacks last year, reports the Reuters news agency.
The poll, published in the left wing Ma’ariv daily, showed Likud winning 24 seats, against 32 at present, its highest score in the Ma’ariv poll since 7 October. It put the National Unity party led by centrist former general Benny Gantz on 21.
Netanyahu’s rightwing coalition with a clutch of nationalist-religious and ultra-Orthodox parties would lose any election held now, with 53 seats in the 120-seat parliament, against 58 for the main opposition bloc, according to the poll.
But Likud’s advance shows how far Netanyahu has moved since last year when his standing was hit by public fury at the security failures when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.
According to Reuters, earlier in the war against Hamas in Gaza, opinion polls regularly showed Likud gaining no more than 16-18 seats in parliament.
The survey also showed Netanyahu’s personal standing as prime minister recovering, with respondents favouring him over any alternative potential candidate apart from former prime minister Naftali Bennett , who is now out of politics.
Despite coalition tensions between Netanyahu and several ministers, and regular protests by Israelis demanding a deal to bring home the Gaza hostages, the government has held together for almost two years. An election is not due until 2026.
9.40am BST
Relatives of hostages in Gaza and their supporters have blocked a main road in Tel Aviv , demanding a deal to release captives held by Hamas , the Times of Israel reports.
Demonstrators painted yellow ribbons along Namir Road in Tel Aviv, chanted “why are they still in Gaza?” and vowed not to abandon hostages held by Hamas, according to a report by the Israeli online newspaper.
The Times of Israel reports that border police officers arrived and attempted to clear the demonstrators from the road.
9.19am BST
Aid not reaching Gaza, say relief groups as ‘more than a million go without food’
Relief groups have said more than 1 million people in Gaza will not have enough food this month, while trucks loaded with fresh vegetables or meat spoil waiting to cross Israeli checkpoints, and thousands of aid packages of food, medical supplies and even toothbrushes and shampoo remain stuck in a backlog of lorries unable to enter from Egypt .
“We estimate that over a million Gazans will go without food in September,” said Sam Rose , a senior deputy director of UN’s relief agency for Palestinians (Unrwa) , in Gaza . “Over half the medicines in our health centres are running low, as is chlorine for water purification and other basic supplies.”
He added that Unrwa had resorted to trying to import single items such as soap, because kits containing a range of items such as washing powder alongside it have been blocked from entering.
“We believe we’re better served by bringing in bars of soap than trying for anything more complicated,” he said. “This shows how desperate the situation has become – we’re reduced to aiming for the absolute bare minimum to improve hygiene conditions, which is an atrocious state of affairs in a situation where there is a growing risk of infectious disease.”
“So little aid is getting in that we can’t meet basic needs,” he said.
Amed Khan , the founder of the Elpida relief organisation , said his group had unsuccessfully attempted to bring medical supplies into the territory for several months.
The amount of aid entering, he said, “is the absolute minimum needed to ensure that people don’t die immediately from starvation. They could die three years from now from extended malnutrition, but this is the minimum amount of trucks needed to ensure people don’t die immediately, and avoid international outrage.”
Turkish officials held a brief ceremony on Friday at Istanbul International airport where the body of a Turkish-American activist killed by Israeli gunfire arrived ahead of her funeral and burial in a town on the Aegean coast.
Istanbul governor Davut Gul and other officials held prayers in front of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi ’s coffin, which was draped in the Turkish flag, before helping carry it to another plane for the city of Izmir , the Associated Press (AP) reports. Her funeral is expected to be held Saturday in the town of Didim , near Izmir.
The 26-year-od activist from Seattle was killed on 6 September after a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank , according to an Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces. Turkey announced it will conduct its own investigation into her death.
Updated at 9.01am BST
8.49am BST
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar thanked Lebanon ’s Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah for his support in the ongoing war with Israel in a letter released on Friday by Hezbollah’s media office, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Sinwar’s letter came in response to a message sent earlier by Nasrallah in which he paid his condolence for the July killing of top Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Iran .
In the letter, dated Monday, Sinwar thanks Nasrallah for the “blessed acts” of Iran-backed groups in their support for Hamas since 7 October, when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted another 250. Sinwar called the war “one of the most honorable battles for the Palestinian people”.
On 8 October, Hezbollah started attacking Israeli military posts along the border, triggering an ongoing exchange of fire that has left hundreds dead.
According to the AP, more than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since 8 October, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups, but also more than 100 civilians. In northern Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed by strikes from Lebanon.
8.31am BST
Six UN aid workers among 18 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school
Israel has bombed a UN school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza , killing at least 18 people, including the shelter manager and five other Unrwa staff.
The al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat is home to about 12,000 displaced people, mostly women and children, the UN said. It has been hit five times since the start of the war in Gaza .
The UN secretary general, António Guterres , called the attack “totally unacceptable” and said it broke international laws that protect civilians in war. “These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now.”
The EU ’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell , said he was “outraged” by the bombing. “The disregard of the basic principles of international humanitarian law, especially protection of civilians, cannot and should not be accepted by the international community.”
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken , said Washington would continue to urge Israel to do more to spare humanitarian sites. “We need to see humanitarian sites protected,” he told reporters while on a visit to Poland . “That’s something we continue to raise with Israel.”
Germany ’s foreign ministry also condemned the attack and called on Israel to protect UN staff and aid workers.
The UN Palestinian relief agency, Unrwa, has turned its schools across Gaza into shelters as Israeli airstrikes and ground operations forced most residents to flee their homes. An estimated 90% of people in Gaza are displaced, many moving to try to stay alive.
A pro-Israel rally in a Boston suburb turned violent on Thursday evening when a passerby was shot during a scuffle after confronting a group of demonstrators, authorities said.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that police were called at 6.40pm, local time, to the scene of what they described as a small rally in Newton. Words were exchanged before a passerby rapidly crossed the street and tackled one of the demonstrators, Middlesex county district attorney Marian Ryan said.
“A scuffle ensued. During that scuffle, the individual who had come across the street was shot by a member of the demonstrating group,” Ryan said during a news conference late on Thursday.
Scott Hayes , 47, of Framingham , was arrested on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury, reports the AP. He is scheduled to be arraigned in district court Friday, Ryan said.
The shooting victim, who was not identified, was being treated at a hospital for life-threatening injuries, Ryan said.
Acting Newton police chief George McMains asked witnesses to provide investigators with photos or videos of the confrontation. He said police would provide extra patrols at “houses of worship” over the next several days.
7.55am BST
Head of Israeli spy agency Unit 8200 resigns over 7 October failings
The commander of Israel ’s military surveillance agency, Unit 8200 , has announced his resignation, publicly accepting responsibility for failings that contributed to the deadly 7 October attacks.
Yossi Sariel said on Tuesday that he had informed his superiors of his intention to step down after the completion of an initial investigation into Unit 8200’s role in failures surrounding the Hamas -led assault last year.
In an emotional four-page letter to staff, Sariel said: “I did not fulfil the task I expected of myself, as expected of me by my subordinates and commanders and as expected of me by the citizens of the country that I love so much.”
He added: “The responsibility for 8200’s part in the intelligence and operational failure falls squarely on me.”
Sariel is the latest Israeli senior defence and security official to announce their resignation over failures relating to the attacks last year on southern Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed nearly 1,200 people and kidnapped about 240.
After the assault, Unit 8200 – and Sariel’s leadership of the once vaunted military unit – came under intense scrutiny over its role in what is widely considered to have been one of the Israeli intelligence community’s biggest failures .
Sariel’s identity as the commander of Unit 8200 – which is comparable to the US National Security Agency or GCHQ in the UK – was previously a closely guarded secret in Israel. However, in April the Guardian revealed how the spy chief had left his identity exposed online for several years.
Israeli forces mischaracterised events leading to fatal shooting of US activist, says Washington Post
Israeli security forces mischaracterised the events that led up to the fatal shooting of a Turkish-American protester in the West Bank , according to an investigation by the Washington Post .
The Israel Defense Forces claimed that their soldiers were targeting the leader of a violent protest when they shot Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi , a 26-year-old member of the International Solidarity Movement who had come from her native Washington state to Israel to protest against settlements in the West Bank.
In a statement, Joe Biden cited evidence provided in the IDF’s initial inquiry, saying the “preliminary investigation has indicated that it was the result of a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation”. The US president also told reporters that Eygi was killed probably as the result of a bullet ricochet, and “apparently it was an accident”.
But a Washington Post report said that protests had subsided before Israeli forces opened fire, indicating that there was no immediate threat to the soldiers and little justification to target Eygi or any other protesters with live fire.
According to the investigation, Eygi was “shot more than a half-hour after the height of confrontations in Beita, and some 20 minutes after protesters had moved down the main road – more than 200 yards (183 metres) away from Israeli forces”.
The potential target, a Palestinian teenager who was wounded by Israeli fire, was standing about 18 metres away from Eygi, witnesses told the Post.
The body of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi , the US-Turkish citizen who was killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last week, is due to arrive in Turkey on Friday, the foreign ministry has said, a day after Ankara said it would open an investigation into her killing and request international arrest warrants.
Her father said the funeral was set for Saturday in the Turkish Aegean coastal city of Didim .
Israel has said it was highly likely its troops had fired the shot that killed Ezgi Eygi, who was killed last Friday while taking part in a protest against Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, but said it was an accident .
Justice minister Yilmaz Tunç said the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office is investigating “those responsible for the martyrdom and murder of our sister Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi”.
He told reporters that Turkey had evidence regarding the killing and would make international arrest requests.
The foreign ministry said she “was deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli soldiers during a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians”.“We will make every effort to ensure that this crime does not go unpunished,” it said.
US president Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris said on Wednesday that her killing was unacceptable and Israel must do more to make sure such an event never happens again. However, they have not ordered an independent investigation despite requests from her family.
Mehmet Suat Eygi , Ezgi Eygi’s father, told reporters he welcomed Turkey’s investigation into the murder and said he expected the same from the US government.
“When there is an injustice against one of its own, or a murder of its own citizens, America, like the eagle on its emblem, swoops down. But when it comes to Israel, there is an effort to evade it,” Turkish media cited him as saying. Eygi added that his daughter was 10 months old when she moved to the US.
In other developments:
The US Department of State has said it will unconditionally release $1.3bn in military aid to Egypt, despite criticising its government in the past over alleged human rights abuses. Last year, the US had made the release of part of this annual aid conditional on progress being made on respecting human rights in Egypt, a country where ruler Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been accused of suppressing dissent. This year, however, the state department said Egypt had made “progress” in certain areas of human rights. It also explicitly mentioned Cairo’s help in mediating between Israel and Hamas on the war in Gaza.
Israeli security forces mischaracterised the events that led up to the fatal shooting of a Turkish-American protester in the West Bank, according to an investigation by the Washington Post . The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that their soldiers were targeting the leader of a violent protest when they shot Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi . But a Washington Post report said that protests had subsided before Israeli forces opened fire, indicating that there was no immediate threat to the soldiers and little justification to target Eygi or any other protesters with live fire.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said at least one quarter, or about 22,500, of those Palestinians injured by Israel’s bombardment in the Gaza conflict had suffered life-changing injuries, such as missing limbs that would require rehabilitation services for years to come . WHO said that on Wednesday it evacuated nearly 100 people from Gaza to the UAE for medical reasons, the largest such operation so far of the war.
Israel has bombed a UN school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza, killing at least 18 people, including the shelter manager and five other Unrwa staff. The al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat is home to about 12,000 displaced people, mostly women and children, the UN said. It has been hit five times since the start of the war in Gaza .
Israel’s government press office (GPO) has announced it is revoking the press cards of all Al Jazeera journalists working in Israel . Nitzan Chen, the director of the GPO, claimed the network constitutes “a threat to IDF soldiers”.
Yossi Sarel, the head of the IDF’s unit 8200, a prestigious IDF intelligence unit, has announced that he is to resign . In his statement he said on 7 October last year “I failed my mission”. In April this year the Guardian revealed that Sariel left his identity exposed online when he secretly authored a book published in 2021.
The IDF have launched an investigation into claims in the Israeli media that the London-based Jewish Chronicle published stories based on “fabricated intelligence” relating to Hamas , amid claims that they may have been planted as part of a disinformation campaign.
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