Israel condemns UN chief for not ‘welcoming’ Yahya Sinwar killing: US pushes for Gaza ceasefire – Middle East crisis live

10.57am BST

Israeli military orders 23 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately

The Israeli army has urged residents of 23 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate northward, past the Awali river , which flows from the western Bekaa valley into the Mediterranean, as it intensifies its attacks in the region.

The affected villages are: Qozah, Beit Lif, Yater, Jabal al-Batm, Zebqin, Marouhin, Sheheen, Umm Tuta, Bustan, al-Zalutiya, Yarin, al-Dhahiriya, Matmoura, Majdal Zun, Shamaa, Tayr Harfa, Abu Shash, al-Jabbin, Biyadh, al-Mansouri, Kafr, Alma al-Shaab and al-Naqoura.

In a post on X, the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that residents are “prohibited from going south” and that doing so “could be dangerous to your life”.

“Anyone who is near Hezbollah elements, facilities or weapons is putting his life in danger,” the post read.

The UN refugee agency’s Middle East director, Rema Jamous Imseis, has said Israeli repeated evacuation orders to scores of villages in southern Lebanon meant over a quarter of the country was now affected. About a million people lived in southern Lebanon before the conflict escalated almost a year ago.

Tens of thousands of people have fled north since Israeli airstrikes in the region intensified late last month. Lebanon’s health ministry said 45 people were killed and 179 injured in Israeli attacks across the country on Thursday alone.

Updated at 10.58am BST

10.42am BST

The Israeli military said it killed two attackers who had crossed the border into Israel from Jordan on Friday, while a third fled the scene.

“Two terrorists who crossed from Jordan into Israeli territory, south of the Dead Sea, were eliminated by IDF (Israeli army) soldiers,” the military said in a statement.

In an update, the IDF said more fighters have been dispatched to “reinforce the area”, adding that the military are searching on the ground and in the air for the third fighter “who likely fled the scene”.

10.37am BST

Israeli airstrikes killed several Lebanese citizens and injured others across Lebanon this morning, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported , without specifying the number of casualties.

A number of civilians were reportedly killed in the town of Ansar , a village in southern Lebanon, as a result of the Israeli attacks. Wafa reported the strikes also targeted various towns including al-Duwayr , Baraachit , Dabbal , Haneen , Khiam and Ramiyah .

Updated at 10.46am BST

9.57am BST

Israel’s foreign minister condemns UN chief for not 'welcoming' Hamas leader's killing

Israel Katz , the Israeli foreign minister, accused the UN secretary general, António Guterres , of “leading an extreme anti-Israel and anti-Jewish agenda”.

“Guterres did not welcome the elimination of arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar, just as he refused to declare Hamas a terrorist organisation after the October 7th massacre,” he said in a post on X. “We will continue to designate him as persona non grata and bar his entry to Israel.”

On 2 October, Katz said he was barring Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel the night before (the strikes, which Iran said were aimed at military bases, were largely thwarted by Israel’s aerial defences ).

Guterres had issued a brief statement after the missile attack condemning “the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation”, but Katz said this did not go far enough.

Updated at 10.01am BST

9.35am BST

The UN security council has called for the full implementation of its resolution 1701, which was adopted in 2006 after helping to bring an end to the month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel .

Iran’s parliament speaker recently said his country was ready to negotiate with France on the resolution, which calls for the border area of southern Lebanon to be free of weapons or troops other than those of the Lebanese state.

The US and France have said that strengthening Lebanon’s army would be crucial to fully implementing resolution 1701.

In reference to the comments made by Iran’s parliament speaker, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said earlier today that he rejected Iranian interference in a Lebanese matter, according to Reuters.

Updated at 9.40am BST

8.59am BST

Benjamin Netanyahu to convene security meeting

The Israel Daily Haaretz is reporting that Benjamin Netanyahu , the Israeli prime minister, will meet with ministers and heads of security agencies at around midday local time (10:00 BST) at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Other Israeli media say the security meeting will take place around 1pm local time (11:00 BST).

Among the topics of discussion will be how the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will affect negotiations on releasing hostages held captive in Gaza.

Sinwar was the main architect of the 7 October 2023 attack, led by Hamas, on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage. 97 hostages remain in Gaza, including 34 who Israeli officials say are dead.

Israeli officials said Sinwar was found by infantry soldiers searching an area in the Tal El Sultan area of southern Gaza on Wednesday, where they believed senior members of Hamas were located.

You can watch a video released by the Israeli army which shows Sinwar’s last moments here:

Updated at 10.06am BST

8.25am BST

In a post on Telegram, Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, says it shelled the coastal Zvulun area, north of the Israeli city of Haifa, with a “large rocket salvo” this morning (at about 7am local time).

8.01am BST

Health officials said yesterday that Israeli airstrikes on the Abu Hussein school in Jabalia on Thursday killed 28 people, including doctors and several children, and injured dozens more.

Sam Rose, deputy director of Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, was asked about the attack this morning by the BBC. Rose said Israel must do more to protect civilians as there is “nowhere for them to go”. He called for an independent investigation into the attack, which he said was among a series targeting Unwra schools.

7.30am BST

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, is reporting that children are among civilians who were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza overnight and into this morning.

It said the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported recovering the bodies of children after a house was targeted by a missile strike on al-Nasr street, northwest of Gaza City.

Two people were reportedly killed after being shot by Israeli soldiers in the Wadi al-Aryes area, southeast of Gaza City. These reports have not been independently verified by the Guardian.

The Wafa report continues:

Earlier in the night, further casualties were reported after Israeli airstrikes targeted a home in the al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City.

Medical sources confirmed the arrival of several bodies, including those of children, as a result of the bombing on the al-Qudairi family home.

In a related incident, Israeli naval forces opened fire on western areas of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

7.22am BST

The Israeli air force says it has “attacked” Muhammad Hossein Ramal , a Hezbollah commander, in Taybeh, southern Lebanon, in an airstrike. Numerous outlets have reported Ramal as being killed in the attack.

“In the territory of Lebanon, an air force aircraft directed by the 98th division attacked the terrorist Muhammad Hossein Ramal, the commander of the A-Taiba compound in the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”

Updated at 7.32am BST

7.10am BST

As the US pushes for a fresh round of diplomacy aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, secretary of state Antony Blinken has been speaking to Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani , who has played a key role in negotiations.

In a statement after the phone call, the US state department said the pair had discussed “the death of Yahya Sinwar and the need to redouble efforts to end the conflict and secure the release of hostages”.

Blinken also reaffirmed US commitment to a diplomatic resolution to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

In September, the US had backed calls for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, but in the wake of the killing of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, appeared to greenlight Israel’s air and ground offensive.

6.56am BST

Biden urges Netanyahu to 'move on' towards ceasefire

Joe Biden has urged Israel’s prime minister to “move on” and make progress towards a ceasefire in Gaza after the killing of Yahya Sinwar , the Hamas leader and mastermind of the 7 October attack, as world leaders renewed a push for an end to the conflict.

Hours after the killing on Thursday in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost town, the US president congratulated Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Sinwar “has a lot of blood on his hands – American blood, Israeli blood, and others”.

Speaking as he arrived in Germany to meet European leaders, Biden said he felt “more hopeful” about the prospects of a ceasefire and would send the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to Israel in the next four or five days.

Biden joined figures including his vice-president, Kamala Harris, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in urging progress towards a ceasefire .

Blinken held separate phone calls on Thursday with the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, and the Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, on ending the conflict in the Middle East, the US state department said.

The push came as Iran’s mission to the UN said the killing would strengthen the “spirit of resistance” and inspire future generations, while Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group in Lebanon, announced “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with Israel”.

At time of writing, Hamas was yet to comment on the death of its leader.

Read our full report on the killing of Yahya Sinwar:

Related: Biden leads international push for Gaza ceasefire after killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

6.42am BST

France’s president late on Thursday accused some of his ministers of lacking in professionalism and spreading false information, while taking a swipe at the media over how they reported comments he allegedly made on Israel during a cabinet meeting. AFP reports:

A visibly angry Emmanuel Macron berated journalists over comments they had reported that suggested he had brought into question the creation of Israel at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, and denied he had made the remarks.

“I must tell you how astonished I was to read so many comments, reactions, including from foreign or French political leaders, to remarks that I allegedly made without asking the question of what they were saying and what exactly I said,” he said at a press conference after a European Council meeting in Brussels.

“There is therefore no ambiguity. All those who would like to make it exist through this type of manipulation are not only mistaken, but are hurting some people and weakening France,” he said. “France has always stood by Israel. The existence and security of Israel are intangible for France and the French.”

The reported comments earlier this week led to a vitriolic response from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu , who linked them to the Vichy government that had collaborated with Nazi Germany, the latest round in diplomatic sparring between the two men over Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.

“All this is proof, in essence, of a breakdown in public debate and a lack of professionalism on the part of ministers who repeated distorted statements, of journalists who took them up, of commentators who did not dwell on the reality and veracity of such statements,” Macron said.

“If words that are reported, truncated and distorted are put in quotation marks, there is no point in holding press conferences or answering your questions.”

6.31am BST

The assassination of Yahya Sinwar was just the latest in a series of killings of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and other militants by Israel since the war on Gaza began last year.

My colleague Jason Burke has pulled together this list, which includes Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah :

Related: The Hamas and Hezbollah leaders killed by Israel since 7 October attack

And although Sinwar’s killing was not a targeted assassination as such, if you’re interested in Israel’s decades long history of killing its enemies, check out Jason’s piece from last month on the Israeli Mossad:

Related: From Munich 72 to 7 October attack: the chequered history of the Mossad

6.21am BST

The Israeli military said it had expanded its military assault on the Jabalia area in northern Gaza overnight, claiming to have “dozens of terrorists in incidents and airstrikes” without providing any evidence.

Israel has been sealed off the area for almost two weeks now, attacking schools and hospitals and killing dozens of civilians including women and children while refusing to allow aid in.

As we reported earlier , at least 28 people including children and doctors were killed on Thursday when Israel attack a school housing displaced people, with the death toll expected to rise.

Al Jazeera reported, citing the Palestinian Wafa news agency, that Israeli fighter jets bombed a home in the Shati refugee camp in the west of Gaza City overnight, killing a “number of citizens” and injuring others. It was not immediately possible to verify the details of the attack.

6.02am BST

A bit more from that ABC interview with Daniel Levy , the former Israeli peace negotiator. When asked whether Yahya Sinwar ’s death would break the morale of Hamas, or the broader Palestinian resistance movement, he replied:

I find that very hard to imagine …. Hamas did not have popular support because Yahya Sinwar had a mesmerising, charismatic personality: resistance movements have that base of support because they are speaking to the very real suffering of a people. That’s not talking to the legitimacy or the illegitimacy of actions that are carried out …

When you live under an occupation in history, anywhere, as a people denied rights for decades and generations, living as refuges because you were expelled from your homes 76 years earlier, resistance does not end when one leader ends.

If anything this is going to guarantee … generations more of people who will be willing – if those conditions don’t change – … who will be willing to sign up for the resistance.

Levy added that “this is the exactly the ending [Sinwar] would have expected.” He said:

In the job description of leader of an armed resistance movemtent like Hamsa, in these conditions, you’re pretty much volunteering for martyrdom.

It’s not like Sinwar’s pension plan and retirement home where he was going to live out his dotage with his grandchildren have suddenly been upended.

5.43am BST

Key event

Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy , who is now the president of the US/Middle East Project, has said the killing of Yahya Sinwar will not make an end to the war in Gaza more likely, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “slammed shut” any opportunity for a ceasefire. In an interview with Australia’s ABC broadcaster Levy said:

“He made it quite clear that the war on Gaza, on the Palestinians there, would continue and he set down a condition which everyone who hears this will immediately understand is not a negotiating, achievable thing, by saying that ‘if Hamas fighters want to come up with their hands up wave a white flag and give back the hostages then we can move forward’.

He said to the people of Gaza ‘we are freeing you’ – those are the same people all of whom essentially have been displaced, many living under conditions of starvation, 40,000 killed, everything destroyed.

What he is setting down there is a position that, if anyone thought a crack had appeared, an opening to maybe say ‘mission accomplished, let’s do the deal, let’s also bring the Israelis home’ – that was slammed shut straightaway despite American attempts to say ‘hey there’s an opportunity here’.

Unfortunately it’s been slammed shut in everyone’s face by the Israeli prime minister.

5.22am BST

Charles Lister , an academic at the US-based Middle East Institute, suggests that Yahya Sinwar ’s killing could make the situation of the remaining hostages “extremely fragile”.

In a post on X he wrote:

There will be a Hamas desire for revenge.

Hostage families are rightfully putting pressure for a ceasefire already -- but will Netanyahu listen? Unlikely.

5.06am BST

Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini has refuted reports that one of the UN body’s workers was killed alongside Yahya Sinwar . In a post on X he wrote:

Earlier today, reports circulated on social & Israeli media that an UNRWA staff member was killed together with the Hamas head in Gaza. I confirm that the staff member in question is alive.

He currently lives in Egypt where he traveled with his family in April through the Rafah border. Time to put an end to disinformation campaigns.

Israel has been at odds with the UN agency for decades, and Lazzarini has accused the Israeli government of trying to drive it out of existence .

4.49am BST

Al Jazeera journalist shot by Israeli forces falls into coma

Al Jazeera journalist Fadi Al-Wahidi has fallen into a coma more than a week after being shot in the neck by an Israeli sniper in northern Gaza, the broadcaster has reported , adding that Israel has not responded to requests to allow his evacuation for medical treatment.

Al-Wadidi was wearing a vest that clearly marked him as a member of the press when he was shot last week while covering the Israeli siege of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Doctors at the Public Aid Hospital in Gaza City said they were unable to treat him and prevent complete paralysis, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday. The broadcaster wrote that he had suffered damage to his arteries, veins and shattered bones.

The attack on al-Wahidi came days after his Al Jazeera colleague, cameraman Ali al-Attar , was shot and severely wounded while covering the conditions of displaced Palestinians in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

Earlier this week three press freedom organisations – the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) – issued a rare joint appeal to Israel to allow the two journalists to be evacuated.

Palestinian scholar Jehad Abusalim condemned mainstream media for failing to offer solidarity to Al-Wahidi. In a post on X, he wrote:

It is a deep shame that a journalist who heroically documented one of this century’s most tragic episodes of ethnic cleansing and extermination receives no solidarity, no support, and no calls to save his life from major mainstream media outlets and institutions.

The world owes a debt to these journalists, who have risked their lives for over a year to cover one of the first wars in history where media coverage is tightly and severely restricted, with no international journalists allowed to enter or report from the Gaza Strip.

4.34am BST

Who was Yahya Sinwar?

Within days of the 7 October attacks last year, Israeli investigators had identified Yahya Sinwar , then the military leader of Hamas in Gaza, as the mastermind. To their increasing astonishment, they learned that not only had Sinwar conceived of what he called Operation al-Aqsa Flood but he had planned and organised the assault almost alone.

Only a handful of close aides had been let in on the plans, some with only days to go before the attack, in which about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 abducted, and which triggered an Israeli offensive that has so far killed 42,500 people, also mostly civilians, and left swaths of Gaza in ruins.

Born in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, to parents who had been forced to flee their homes in what became Israel in 1948, Sinwar was drawn into Islamist activism as a teenager. Across the Middle East, a religious resurgence was gathering momentum. As a science student at the Islamic University of Gaza in the early 1980s, Sinwar was drawn to Ahmed Yassin, a charismatic cleric who set up a local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 1987, Yassin drafted Sinwar into the newly created group Hamas and made him head of its nascent intelligence service. Duties included uncovering and punishing spies or other “collaborators” with Israel, as well as people in Gaza who infringed Hamas’s strict “morality” codes. This Sinwar accomplished with implacable determination, confessing later to multiple murders of Palestinians.

Arrested in 1988 and given four life sentences for attempted murder and sabotage, he spent 22 years in Israeli jails. In prison, Sinwar refused to talk to any guards and personally punished inmates who did, pressing the face of one into a makeshift stove, according to one Israeli former interrogator who worked at the institution where Sinwar was held. “He’s 1,000% committed and 1,000% violent, a very, very hard man,” the former interrogator said.

Read on below:

Related: Yahya Sinwar: ruthless operator who plotted Hamas 7 October attack

4.18am BST

Many Palestinians reacting to the death of Yahya Sinwar have taken note of the fact that he died fighting. They have also noted that Israel has assassinated many generations of Palestinian leaders – but they have not managed to quash resistance, and new leaders have replaced the dead.

The prominent author Susan Abulhawa wrote in a post on X ,

He died fighting on the front lines with his soldiers against zionist tyranny and barbarity. he was not hiding in a tunnel as they said. he certainly was not hiding in fortified buildings, comfortable in a suit and wealth. he died a martyr and hero in pursuit of freedom.

In a further post, she added:

They think the resistance dies with the martyrdom of leaders, as if the burning yearn for liberty, home and heritage in our chests can be extinguished when they break our hearts. farewell noble son.

Ali Abunimah , a Palestinian-American journalist and founder of the Electronic Intifada website, wrote that “history shows that martyrdom of leaders only ever strengthens the people’s determination to be free.”

In a separate post, he added:

If reports are correct, Yahya Sinwar died as he would wish, fighting honorably with and for his people, against the evils of Zionism, colonialism and genocide.

Updated at 5.01am BST

4.08am BST

Israelis have been celebrating after news of Yahya Sinwar’s killing in Gaza:

Update: a previous version of this post included an image of people celebrating what the photographer said was the death of Sinwar, but could also have been related to Sukkot. As such, we have removed the image.

Updated at 10.35am BST

3.54am BST

At least 28 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school

At least 28 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school turned shelter in the Jabaliya neighbourhood of Gaza City, amid accusations Israel intends to forcibly expel the remaining population in a renewed ground campaign.

The bombing of Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya on Thursday killed 28, including doctors and several children, and injured dozens more, according to health officials, who warned the final toll was likely to be higher. Another 11 people were killed in two separate airstrikes in Gaza City, and it was unclear how many were killed in other strikes in central and southern Gaza.

The attack on the Jabaliya school also caused a fire. “There is no water to extinguish the fire. There is nothing. This is a massacre,” said medic Medhat Abbas.

“Civilians and children are being killed, burned under fire.”

The Israeli military said the strike targeted militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operating from within the school, claiming dozens of fighters were present when the strike took place. In a statement, Hamas denied any militants were using the school as a base.

Thursday’s attacks came as Israel’s latest campaign in Jabaliya, a district of Gaza City, reaches its second week. An estimated 400,000 people are trapped by the fighting, with dwindling humanitarian supplies. Israel has nominally controlled Gaza City since the beginning of the year, but has repeatedly been forced to re-engage in areas under its control as Hamas has regrouped.

Related: Dozens killed in Israeli airstrike on school used as shelter in Gaza City

3.26am BST

Hezbollah launching 'new and escalatory phase' in war against Israel

Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah has said it is launching a new phase in its war against Israel, saying it has used precision-guided missiles against troops for the first time. AFP reports:

Hezbollah “announces a transition to a new and escalatory phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy, which will be reflected in the developments and events of the coming days,” the group said in a statement.

The announcement came after the Israeli military on Thursday said its forces killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, which is a Hezbollah ally.

The statement, however, made no mention of the Hamas chief.

It said “hundreds of fighters...are fully prepared to counter any Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanese villages,” noting that attacks against Israel have increased in recent days.

It said its rocket strikes continue “to escalate day by day,” with “precision-guided ones...being deployed for the first time”.

Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in a Beirut air strike on 27 September. It has has repeatedly called for Hezbollah to be pushed away from the border to ensure its citizens could return to their homes in northern Israel.

Earlier on Thursday, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said that the Israeli army was not fully in control of any village in south Lebanon.

3.12am BST

The mother of one of the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza has reacted to the news of Yahya Sinwar’s death by calling on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal for their release.

Einav Zangauker , mother of Matan Zangauker, was quoted in the Haaretz newspaper as saying, “You got your image of victory. Now reach a deal.” She added:

A year after the failure [on 7 October], this is the time to leverage the accomplishments and use [Sinwar’s] elimination to take a diplomatic step that will bring our loved ones back home ...

If Netanyahu does not take advantage of the momentum and does not stand up now and take a new Israeli initiative, even at the cost of ending the war, it means that he has decided to abandon my Matan and the other hostages, with the aim of prolonging the war and entrenching his rule.

Updated at 3.24am BST

2.55am BST

Drone footage shows apparent last moments of Yahya Sinwar

The Israeli military has released drone footage it says shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s final moments : alone in a ruined Gaza apartment with the walls blown out from shelling, sat hunched in a chair covered by dust, with his head and face obscured by a scarf.

With his right arm appearing severely wounded, the video shows Sinwar flinging a stick over his head in the direction of the approaching drone. The Guardian has not independently verified the footage.

When the footage was taken, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Sinwar was only identified as a fighter . The military then fired an additional shell at the building, causing it to collapse and kill him, Hagari said. He said Sinwar was found with a bulletproof vest, grenades, and 40,000 shekels ($10,707).

According to the Jerusalem Post, Hagari told reporters: “Sinwar fled alone into one of the buildings. Our forces used a drone to scan the area, which you can see here in the footage I’m presenting.”

“Sinwar, who was injured in his hand by gunfire, can be seen here with his face covered, in his final moments, throwing a wooden plank at the drone,” he said.

“He tried to escape and our forces eliminated him.”.

Hamas has not commented on the killing of Sinwar.

Photos circulating online showed the body of a man resembling Sinwar with a gaping head wound, dressed in a military-style vest, half buried in the rubble of a destroyed building.

Israeli officials said Sinwar was found by infantry soldiers searching an area in the Tal El Sultan area of southern Gaza on Wednesday, where they believed senior members of Hamas were located.

The troops saw three suspected militants moving between buildings and opened fire, leading to a gunfight during which Sinwar escaped into a ruined building.

Related: IDF video appears to show final moments of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, throwing stick at drone

2.39am BST

Earlier on Wednesday, a Palestinian woman was reportedly shot dead by the Israeli military while she was picking olives with her family on their land near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

The 60-year-old woman was shot in the chest with live ammunition, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported , citing the director of the Red Crescent Society in Jenin, Mahmoud al-Saadi.

A Palestinian health ministry statement said Hanan Abdel Rahman Abu Salama “was killed by (Israeli) occupation bullets” in Faqoua village.

“An Israeli in military clothing arrived at the place in a white car and fired about 10 bullets at the Abu Salama family, who were picking olives on their land,” Faqoua village councillor Munir Barakat told AFP.

“A few days ago, the council published an invitation to the village residents to go to their agricultural lands to pick olives,” said Barakat.

He added that the shooting occurred near a wall erected by Israeli authorities in the area.

The Israeli military told AFP it was “checking” the report.

Attacks by settlers and the Israeli military on Palestinians trying to harvest their olives have been particularly intense this year. UN experts this week warned that Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank were “facing the most dangerous olive season ever”. In a report, it added:

Last year, Israel also seized more Palestinian land than in any year in the past 30 years.

Wafe reported that earlier on Wednesday settlers had also “opened fire on participants in an event organized by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission to help farmers from the village of Kafr al-Labad, east of Tulkarm, pick olives from their lands”.

In other incidents this harvest season, settlers and the military had burnt and cut down olive trees, stolen the crop and prevented farmers from reaching their land, Wafa wrote.

Israeli violence in the West Bank has soared since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October last year. Since then, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 738 Palestinians in the West Bank including more than 100 children, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.

During the same period, 23 Israelis, including 16 members of the Israeli military, have been killed in the West Bank.

Updated at 2.44am BST

2.24am BST

Analysis: Sinwar killing seems down to chance, not planning

In the end, after a year-long, multi-agency manhunt involving the latest technology, Israel’s best special forces and American assistance, Yahya Sinwar appears to have been killed by regular soldiers who had stumbled into him and had no idea whom they had killed.

According to the initial reports, they were not there on an assassination operation and had no prior intelligence that they could be in the vicinity of the elusive Hamas leader, architect of the 7 October attacks, the man Israel most wanted to kill. It was only after they took a closer look at his face and found identity documents on him that the troops realised they had got Sinwar .

Along the way, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have smashed much of Gaza and are estimated to have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, driving two million from their homes, a humanitarian disaster Sinwar set in motion with the sheer brutality of the initial surprise assault a year ago, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostage.

Sinwar’s last reported sighting had been just a few days after the 7 October attack, when he appeared out of the subterranean gloom in a Gaza tunnel when a group of hostages were been held.

In fluent Hebrew, perfected over more than 22 years in an Israeli prison, Sinwar reassured them that they were safe and would soon be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. One of the hostages, Yocheved Lifshitz , an 85-year-old veteran peace campaigner from the Nir Oz kibbutz, had no time for his show of concern for their welfare and challenged the Hamas leader to his face.

“I asked him how he wasn’t ashamed to do something like this to people who had supported peace all these years?” Lifshitz told the Davar newspaper after her release following 16 days in captivity. “He didn’t answer. He was quiet.”

A video recorded on Hamas security cameras at about the same time, on 10 October, and found by the Israeli military some months later, shows Sinwar following his wife and three children through a narrow tunnel and disappearing into the murk.

Read more analysis here:

Related: Israel kills its prime target – but Sinwar’s death seems down to chance, not precise planning

2.10am BST

Netanyahu says Sinwar's death does not mean the end of the war in Gaza

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after news of Yahya Sinwar’s death that “we will not stop the war” in Gaza. He said it would continue until the remaining hostages were brought home.

Sinwar, who was named as Hamas’ overall leader following the assassination of political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, was killed during a gun battle in southern Gaza on Wednesday by Israeli troops who were initially unaware of his identity, Israeli officials said.

Updated at 7.10am BST

1.56am BST

Harris says Sinwar death 'an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza'

Kamala Harris has hailed the death of Yahya Sinwar as an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza and prepare for “the day after” when Hamas no longer dominates the territory.

The US vice-president and Democratic nominee said “justice has been served” with the death of the Hamas leader, adding that the US, Israel and the wider world were “better off as a result”.

Harris also pressed for an end to the year-long hostilities that have killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza and left a trail of destruction in the territory.

“Hamas is decimated and its leadership is eliminated,” she said. “This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.” The end of the conflict had to be accompanied by security for Israel, the release of the remaining hostages and an end to suffering in Gaza, she said.

She also hinted at her support for Palestinian statehood by saying it should herald Palestinians’ rights to “dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”.

Her comments chimed with those of Joe Biden , who has been criticised by progressives for unstinting support for Israel even while Benjamin Netanyahu had ignored his entreaties to avoid civilian casualties and ease humanitarian suffering in the tiny coastal territory.

“Israel has had every right to eliminate the leadership and military structure of Hamas ,” Biden said in comments that appeared designed to answer criticisms of his support.

He said Sinwar had represented an “insurmountable obstacle” to a better future for Israelis and Palestinians. “That obstacle no longer exists. But much work remains before us,” he said.

Biden said he would talk to Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders about “ending this war once and for all”.

Read the full story here:

Related: Harris says death of Yahya Sinwar is chance to finally end Israel-Gaza war

1.45am BST

Iran says manner of Sinwar's death will strengthen 'spirit of resistance'

Iran’s mission to the UN has said the circumstances of Yahya Sinwar ’s death will strengthen the “spirit of resistance”.

Sinwar was apparently killed while fighting Israeli forces in Rafah, rather than hiding in a bunker as Israel had consistently portrayed him.

The Israeli military posted drone footage of the Hamas leader, apparently having lost part of his arm, sitting in an armchair wearing battle fatigues and a keffiyeh in a ruined apartment in Rafah. As he watches the drone, he throws an object at it.

It said in a statement posted on X, the Iranian UN mission said:

When US forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed.

When Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield – in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy – the spirit of resistance will be strengthened.

He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.

1.33am BST

Opening summary

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon.

Iran has said that the circumstances of Yahya Sinwar ’s death will strengthen the “spirit of resistance”, after the Israeli military (IDF) confirmed it had killed the Hamas leader in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

A drone video released by the IDF appeared to show Sinwar, apparently severely injured, sitting in an armchair in a ruined apartment, wearing a keffiyeh and battle fatigues. He throws an object at the drone.

It said in a statement posted on X, Iran’s UN missions said:

When Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield – in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy – the spirit of resistance will be strengthened.

He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.

Meanwhile, the US signalled it would begin a new push for a ceasefire, with US vice president Kamala Harris stating that Sinwar’s killing was “an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza” and that it was “time for the day after to begin”.

She echoed similar comments from President Joe Biden, who said it was “time for this war to end and bring these hostages home” as he arrived in Germany.

He added that he was “hopeful” about the prospects of a ceasefire and would be sending secretary of state Antony Blinken to Israel in the coming four to five days to discuss securing Gaza and what the “day after” the war will look like.

In Lebanon, the militant group Hezbollah said it was launching a new and escalating phase in its war against Israel, and that it had used precision-guided missiles against troops for the first time.

Hezbollah “announces a transition to a new and escalatory phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy, which will be reflected in the developments and events of the coming days,” the group said in a statement.

In other developments:

• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sinwar had been “eliminated” in Tel Sultan, a neighbourhood of Gaza’s southernmost town, Rafah, on Wednesday . The bodies of three militants were taken to Israel for DNA and dental record testing. Sinwar’s death brings to an end to a year-long hunt for the mastermind of the 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

• Israel’s Kan Radio reported that the Hamas leader had been killed “by chance”, and not as a result of intelligence gathering . Photos and video from the scene, broadcast on Israeli media, showed what appeared to be Sinwar’s body lying in a pile of rubble on the floor of a destroyed building.

• Hundreds of people gathered in Tel Aviv to call for the release of hostages held in Gaza after the news of Sinwar’s assassination broke .

• The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said his country “will not mourn” Sinwar’s death, as he called for the release of hostages, an immediate ceasefire and an increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza . The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said his death “is certainly weakening Hamas”. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said he was thinking “with emotion of the victims” of the 7 October Hamas attacks for which Sinwar was the mastermind. Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, called on Hamas to “immediately release all hostages and lay down its arms, the suffering of the people of Gaza must finally end”. Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, said he hoped that that Sinwar’s killing “will lead to a ceasefire in Gaza”.

• At least 28 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school turned shelter in the Jabaliya neighbourhood of Gaza City on Thursday. Among those killed in the bombing of Abu Hussein school included doctors and several children, according to health officials, who warned the final toll was likely to be higher. The attack on the Jabaliya school also caused a fire.

• Another 11 people were killed in two separate airstrikes in Gaza City on Thursday, as Israel’s latest campaign in Jabaliya, a district of Gaza City, reaches its second week. Jabaliya residents said on Thursday that several streets were blown up in bombings, by tank fire and controlled detonations, and that Jabaliya, together with the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, are now under a complete siege. An estimated 400,000 people are trapped by the fighting, with dwindling humanitarian supplies.

• The entirety of northern Gaza is under Israeli evacuation orders. Among those who have remained in the north are disabled or elderly people and their families, who say it is too dangerous and difficult to move. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, warned Israel that any “large-scale forcible transfer” of civilians out of conflict-wracked north Gaza could constitute a war crime if not done on “imperative military grounds”.

• Israel allowed 50 lorries carrying food, water and medical equipment to enter northern Gaza on Wednesday, following a warning from the US that Israel must allow more aid to reach Gaza or face a cut off in military support . Israel had previously not allowed any aid to enter the north since the start of the month, leading the UN World Food Programme to once again raise the alarm of imminent famine.

• It was unclear how many Palestinians were killed in other strikes in central and southern Gaza on Thursday. At least 42,438 Palestinians have been killed and 99,246 injured since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday. The toll includes 29 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 99,246 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.

• Lebanon’s crisis response unit said 45 people were killed and 179 were wounded in the past 24 hours on Thursday. The latest figures raise the total death toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,412 killed, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. In addition, 11,285 people have been injured.

• Al Jazeera staff evacuated their offices in downtown Beirut on Thursday afternoon after receiving messages warning them to leave the building, similar to past evacuation warnings from Israel that preceded bombings, the network reported. Two embassies, one of which is the Norwegian embassy , is also housed in the same building were also evacuated.

• The US carried out B-2 stealth bomber strikes on Houthi underground weapons facilities in Yemen for the first time. Local television in Houthi-run areas of the country reported 15 strikes hit five sites near the capital, Sana’a, and in the northern governorate Saada, the traditional Houthi homeland, on Thursday around dawn. The move appears in part to be a warning from Washington to Houthi’s backers in Tehran. The Houthi rebels vowed to retaliate.

• The US announced a new “temporary protected status” allowing Lebanese nationals in the US to remain in the country and apply for work permits. The designation will last 18 months “due to ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Lebanon that prevent nationals of Lebanon from returning in safety”, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.