Live: Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 26,000

Details of two curious flight paths of US military cargo planes have raised the possibility that Washington may be using a military base in Turkey to supply Israel in its war against Gaza.

 A US military C-130J cargo plane, with the call sign of HKY130 and the registration number 19-5932 registration, flew from US Aviano air base in Italy to Turkey’s Incirlik on 3 November.

The cargo plane later took off from Turkey and landed in RAF Akrotiri on 5 November, a major British military base in Cyprus.

The flight was noted by Declassified UK, an investigative website which first spotted the flight, that RAF Akrotiri had not received any flights from Incirlik in the two months before Israel’s bombing of Gaza, according to records.

The flight was also interesting for another reason: its original takeoff location, the Aviano air base, is home to the US 31st Munitions Squadron, which maintains combat ready stockpiles, people and equipment.

Read more: Do US military cargo planes carry arms to Israel though Turkey?

Israel’s military says it killed “dozens” of Palestinian fighters during fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours. The claim could not be independently verified.

“Over the past day, troops carried out an extensive operation during which they encircled Khan Younis and deepened the operation in the area. The area is a significant stronghold of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade,” the military said.

“Ground troops engaged in close-quarters combat, directed [air] strikes, and used intelligence to coordinate fire, resulting in the elimination of dozens of terrorists,” it said.

At least 25,490 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since the start of the war on 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Palestinian Health Ministry. 

It said 63,354 people have also been injured since October 7.

Attacks in the latest 24-hour reporting period killed at least 195 Palestinians and wounded 354 with more victims believed to be under the rubble and unreachable.

Israel’s foreign minister responded to pressure from European Union diplomats to end the war in Gaza and take steps towards a two-state solution with a futuristic video of an artificial island that Israel would control to monitor aid into war-ravaged Gaza.

According to a video of the plan, the international community would finance the project while Israel would retain overall security control of the island and inspection power of deliveries to the island. The bridge connecting the island to Gaza could be shut down, the video says, if the need arises.

Israel’s top diplomat, Israel Katz, has a history of backing mega-infrastructure projects.

He has long been a proponent of building an artificial island linked to Gaza by a bridge that would serve as a logistics hub and Israeli chokepoint for supplies into the besieged enclave.

During his visit to Brussels, Katz also gave a presentation about a pet project of his that the Biden administration endorsed, before war broke out on 7 October, of a railroad linking Israel to India via Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Read more: EU's top diplomat asks if Israel wants to kill all Palestinians, as it flouts two-state solution

The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, has warned that all of Gaza's children under five are not getting enough nutrition and are at risk of permanent physical and cognitive impairment.

“We’ve never seen 2.2 million civilians made to go hungry within weeks. We have never seen this degree of hunger used as a weapon so quickly and so completely, ever,” Fakhri told Al Jazeera.

“It doesn’t happen by chance. Starvation, wherever it happens, is always the result of political choices and this is the same case here,” Fakhri said.

“There was a 16-year blockade before this. So even before the war, half of the people in Gaza were food insecure and 80 percent depended on aid,” he said.

“Then [Israel] imposes a siege during the war. Then it destroys civilian infrastructure. So Israel has destroyed hospitals, homes, roads, making everyday life impossible. And finally, what I’m receiving reports of is the destruction of the food system itself,” he added.

Five Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, have relayed to Israel a proposal for the establishment of a Palestinian state, normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia and full diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem, according to a report Monday in the Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, the proposal, which is still being finalised, has been submitted to the United States.

The paper adds that the offer "has so far been rejected by Israel's government, with the creation of a Palestinian state the main sticking point."

Gaza is once more affected by a “near-total telecommunications blackout” amid relentless Israeli bombardment, according to an internet watchdog.

“The incident is likely to severely limit most residents’ ability to communicate, in the tenth such incident since the start of the war,” Netblocks said in a post on X.

Its data showed that the connectivity status for the Rafah governorate to the south was worst, with connectivity levels dropping to as low as 5 percent.

Israel has proposed a deal to Hamas whereby the organisation's Gaza-based leadership would be granted safe passage to leave the Strip, as part of a broader ceasefire agreement, according to CNN.

The US network's report cited two officials familiar with the ongoing international discussions.

Despite its nearly four-month war in Gaza, Israel has failed to capture or kill any of Hamas’s most senior leaders in Gaza. According to Israel’s own estimates, around 70 percent of Hamas’ fighting force remains intact. 

The Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced that 21 soldiers were killed in an incident in central Gaza. This adds to three deaths announced yesterday, so 24 soldiers killed in the last 24 hours.

According to Hagari, the forces entered on Monday afternoon into two two-story buildings in Gaza, about 600 meters from the Israeli kibbutz Kissufim, and rigged it with mines in order to blow it up.

Then, the spokesperson said, Hamas fired RPG missiles towards a tank that was securing the forces, and simultaneously an explosion occurred in the buildings, and they collapsed onto the soldiers.

This is the highest daily death toll for Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground offensive in late October.

Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, has described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “unprecedented” in a post on X.

“It’s unprecedented to make an entire civilian population go hungry this completely & quickly,” said Fakhri.

“Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system,” the UN expert added.

Israel controls the entry of food and water into Gaza, with access to northern Gaza even more severely restricted.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced on October 9 that food, water, fuel and medicine would not be allowed into Gaza.

Good morning readers of Middle East Eye,

We are on day 109 of the Israeli war on Gaza and the Palestinian death toll in the besieged strip stands at 25,295, the majority women and children.

In its latest update, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has said that at least 63,000 have been wounded in attacks by the Israeli military.

More than 8,000 are missing and believed to be dead and buried under rubble.

Here are the major developments from the last few hours: 

• Reports in Israeli media of a new proposal by Israel to Hamas offering a two-month truce in return for a phased release of Gaza captives
• Israeli forces kill and injure several Palestinians in an attack on a car in which the passengers were waving white flags as they attempted to flee Gaza’s Khan Younis city
• Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, described Israel’s restricting of food and water to Gaza as “unprecedented"
• Renewed US and UK air attacks have hit the Yemeni capital Sanaa

Good evening readers of Middle East Eye,

At least 25,295 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Its latest update says at least 63,000 have been wounded in attacks by the Israeli military.

The manager of the surgical division of Nasser Hospital, in the Gazan city of Khan Younis, speaking to Al Jazeera, said that the hospital has received at least 50 dead bodies and over 100 people wounded in Israeli army strikes over the past 24 hours.

The Pentagon announced that on Monday, the US and Britain conducted a further series of strikes against Yemen's Houthis, in response to their attacks on Red Sea shipping.

These strikes focused on an underground storage facility, missiles, and various other military capabilities of the Yemeni de factor ruling group.

In a joint statement with Britain, accompanied by Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, the Pentagon outlined the eight recent strikes. These countries also lent their support to the latest military action, the statement said.

"These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners," the statement said.

The UK Ministry of Defence also said in a statement on Monday that a British aircraft used precision-guided bombs to strike multiple targets near the Sanaa airfield. 

Three US officials said on Monday that American and British forces launched a new series of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

The officials, who requested anonymity, did not specify the number of targets struck. Historically, US and British forces have primarily targeted Houthi missile and radar installations.

The official news agency of the Houthis said early Tuesday that Britain and the US have conducted air strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and other regions in the country.

“American-British forces are launching raids on the capital of Sanaa,” and several other parts of Yemen, the Saba news agency said in an alert.

Yemen’s Houthis have declared that their assaults are in support of Palestinians facing hostilities from Israel in Gaza.

Israel has given Hamas a proposal, through Qatari and Egyptian mediators, which offers a fighting pause lasting up to two months. This is part of a broader multi-stage agreement that would also entail the release of all remaining captives held in Gaza, Axios reported on Monday.

The proposal, citing two Israeli officials, outlines that the deal would involve releasing all surviving hostages and returning the remains of those who died. In the initial phase, women, men above 60 years old, and hostages in critical medical condition would be released, as stated by the officials.

The next phases will involve the release of female soldiers, civilian men under 60, Israeli male soldiers, and returning the bodies of the hostages.

Axios reported that under the proposed deal, Israel and Hamas would pre-determine the number of Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged for each Israeli hostage in different categories. Following this agreement on numbers, separate discussions would then be held to decide on the specific identities of these prisoners, according to the officials.

The Israeli officials said the proposal makes clear Israel will not agree to end the war and will not agree to release all 6,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, Axios reported.

According to Israeli officials, the proposal entails a repositioning of the Israeli forces, with some units being relocated away from major population areas in the enclave. This would facilitate a phased return of Palestinian civilians to Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip as the deal progresses, the Axios report says.