Live: Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 26,000

Palestinian group Hamas said on Sunday that its 7 October attacks in southern Israel were a "necessary step" against Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

But the group admitted in a 16-page report about the attack that "some faults happened… due to the rapid collapse of the Israeli security and military system, and the chaos caused along the border areas with Gaza".

The document was the group's first public report released in English and Arabic explaining the background to the attack, when the militants broke through Gaza's militarised border. The attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people and the taking of around 250 hostages.

The militant group said the attack was "a necessary step and a normal response to confront all Israeli conspiracies against the Palestinian people".

"If there was any case of targeting civilians it happened accidently and in the course of the confrontation with the occupation forces," Hamas said in the report.

"Many Israelis were killed by the Israeli army and police due to their confusion."

In the statement, Hamas urged “the immediate halt of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the crimes and ethnic cleansing committed against the entire Gaza population”.

“We stress that the Palestinian people have the capacity to decide their future and to arrange their internal affairs,” the statement said, adding that “no party in the world” had the right to decide on their behalf.

Support for Israel around the world has plummeted dramatically since its assault on Gaza began, a new survey has found.

According to figures released by the data-gathering company Morning Consult and published in Time magazine, the percentage of people viewing Israel positively after subtracting the percentage viewing it negatively, dropped an average of 18.5 percentage points globally between September and December.

Out of 43 countries surveyed on all six continents, including Brics nations China, South Africa and Brazil, support for Israel dropped in all but one.

The steepest decline in support was recorded in wealthy countries that already had a negative view of Israel. These included Japan, which dropped from -39.9 to -62.0, South Korea, which dropped from-5.5 to -47.8, and the UK, which went from -17.1 to -29.8.

“The data shows just how tough of a road Israel has right now in the international community,” said Sonnet Frisbie, deputy head of political intelligence at Morning Consult.

According to the survey, the US was the only country in the developed world to retain a net positive view of Israel, with net favourability dropping just 2.2 percentage points from 18.2 to 16 between September and December.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Sunday that his country is "very focused on de-escalation in Gaza", in an CNN interview. 

He added that the only way to normalisation with Israel is "regional stability and resolving the Palestinian issue".

Around 1,000 people from Gaza have been treated in a French field hospital aboard a ship off the coast of Egypt, its captain said, providing care for some as health infrastructure in the war-devastated enclave collapses, Reuters reported. 

The Dixmude, a French helicopter carrier, has been docked in the Egyptian port of al-Arish, 50 km west of the Gaza Strip, since November. The vessel is equipped with wards, operating theatres and 70 medical staff.

Around 4,000 pro-Palestine protesters in Australia's Melbourne rallied on Saturday and Sunday for the 15th week in a row, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and blocking a major freight terminal.

The protest came amid an ongoing blockade of an Israeli ship at the city dock. 

The blockade at the Port of Melbourne has been ongoing for over two days, starting on Friday, and has prevented an Israeli-owned ship from being unloaded. It resulted in four cargo ships being stranded along with 30,000 containers. 

Mohammed Helmy, one of the protest organisers, told Middle East Eye that the protest and blockade has been effective so far and is intended to pressure the government to take action on the atrocities unfolding in Gaza as a result of Israeli aggression. 

"The action has completely blocked the port at the moment to send a strong message to the government that Melbournians are not happy with Zim ships being loaded from the Melbourne port," he said. 

"Currently, the port is completely blocked from loading and unloading ships and this was possible because of workers' unions support. It is intended to pressure the government to take action and stop the genocide in Gaza," he added.

Helmy said that police presence has been varied, but on Saturday riot squad police used pepper spray to try to disperse protesters but were unsuccessful.

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Read more: Pro-Palestine protesters block Israeli ship from port of Melbourne

The Israeli army said on Sunday that they are investigating the explosion of the Israa University in Gaza following widespread condemnation and questions from the Biden administration. 

Last week, footage widely shared on social media showed a large blast at the university campus.

In response to the query, the Israeli army said: "The collapse of the building and the approval process for the explosion are being investigated by the IDF [Israeli army]."

It says that the investigation will be shown to army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in the coming days.

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu will land tonight in Israel for meetings tomorrow with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu according to Israeli media.

He will also meet with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, war cabinet member Benny Gantz, and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.

According to the French Embassy, Lecornu will also meet with families of French captives held in Gaza.
Lecornu was last in Israel in November, and was recently in Egypt and Lebanon.

Israeli far right minister Itamar Ben Gvir slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, saying he "constantly moves the red line".

The criticism comes as Ben Gvir is the only Israeli minister opposing the transfer of tax funds to the Palestinian Authority, saying that there is no guarantee the funds won't be transferred to Gaza. 

"Sometimes they give fuel, sometimes they give up humanitarian aid in exchange for humanitarian aid. Last week they started transferring flour trucks, and now they are making a decision that does not guarantee the money will reach the Nazis from Gaza," he said.

Israel's finance ministry collects tax on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank.

But there have been constant wrangles over the arrangement, and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) said it wants the money in full and will not accept conditions that prevent it from paying its staff, including in Gaza.

Two Hezbollah members have been killed in a suspected Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon on Sunday, Reuters reported citing security sources.

Their ranks and names have not yet been identified, however, several others were wounded in the attack. 

US intelligence agencies estimate that Hamas has lost only 20-30 percent of its fighters since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza on 7 October.

The estimates, the first since the war, fall short of Israel's stated goal of "destroying" the Palestinian group, which was the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip before Israel's latest invasion. 

According to the intelligence report cited by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, Hamas is still capable of fighting Israeli troops and launching rockets into Israel "for months".

The report indicates that Israeli officials believe around 16,000 Hamas fighters have been wounded, with approximately half of them unlikely to return to the battlefield. However, US estimates suggest a range of 10,500 to 11,700 fighters, with the possibility of many returning to active duty.

The US newspaper reported that the Biden administration has therefore reduced their expectations for the war and urged Israel to change war tactics to carry out targeted operations against Hamas leaders. 

Read more here. 

A funeral was held for a 17-year-old Palestinian American on Saturday, after he was killed by Israeli forces near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

Dozens of Palestinians attended the funeral. 

The teenager was identified as Tawfiq Ajjaq.

Israel has killed at least 25,105 Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war on 7 October, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday.

In the same time period, at least 62,681 Palestinians have been wounded. 

About 178 Palestinians were killed and 293 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

Good morning MEE readers. 

Overnight and into the morning, Israel continued its heavy bombardment of Khan Younis, in Gaza. 

The attacks continued despite a significant protest which took place outside of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home over the captives held in Gaza, and another held in Haifa where Palestinian citizens of Israel and Israelis demanded an end to the war. 

Here are some of the latest updates from this morning.

• Israeli forces attack the vicinity of al-Nasser Hospital in Gaza with heavy bombardment. According to Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground, snipers have taken positions in high-rise buildings, shooting people on the street below. 
• A fire has broken out in Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza following an Israeli attack.
• Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz will depart for Brussels on Sunday evening to meet with European Union foreign ministers over the war on Gaza.
• ​​The UK’s military has announced plans to spend 405 million pounds ($514m) upgrading a missile system being used to counter Houthi drone attacks in the Red Sea.

Hello MEE readers, 

Israel continued on Saturday its bombing of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city. The Palestinian Red Crescent said that Israeli forces targeted the vicinity of the city’s al-Amal Hospital with air strikes and artillery shelling.

The Israeli army has claimed that captives are being held in tunnels in the area.

Meanwhile, Israelis took to the streets again today, calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down and for new elections to be held amid frustrations over how he has handled the recent crisis. 

Netanyahu directly contradicted US President Joe Biden in a statement on X, rejecting the US leader’s claim that his Israeli counterpart recently told him he was open to a possible two-state solution. Several top-level Israeli officials made similar statements against future Palestinian statehood.

The comments challenge long-held foreign policy stances of most Israeli allies, which place a two-state solution at the heart of Middle East policy. 

In response, US Senator Bernie Sanders called on Biden to end his administration’s :unconditional support to Israel" given the Netanyahu government’s "illegal and inhumane actions". 

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne stood firmly against Netanyahu's remarks, posting to X that Palestinians have the right to a state, and that France will "remain faithful to its commitment to achieve this goal".

Other developments today include: 

• Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, again called for a ceasefire in a post to X. "People in Gaza are dying not only from bombs and bullets, but from lack of food & clean water, and hospitals without power & medicine. This must stop," he said.

• US personnel suffered minor wounds and one member of Iraq's security forces was seriously wounded in an attack on Iraq's Ain al-Asad airbase on Saturday, a US official said, citing initial assessments.

• An Israeli missile strike killed five members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in Syria. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned that Israel's strike would not "go unanswered".

• Israeli planes dropped leaflets on Gaza's Khan Younis, showing photos of captives and asking people to come forward with information on their whereabouts.

Iran-backed groups fired ballistic missiles at a base in western Iraq that hosts US forces, the US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement.

The command, which oversees all US military in the Middle East, said that most of the missiles were intercepted by the defence system at the al-Asad base, but that damage assessments are ongoing. At least one Iraqi service member was injured.