Israel-Hamas war: Thousands raid Gaza aid centers, UN says

London's Metropolitan Police said five people were charged Sunday after being arrested during pro-Palestinian protests a day earlier.

The police said nine people were arrested at the huge rally, attended by more than a hundred thousand people.

Two were held on suspicion of assaulting officers and seven for public order offenses, including assaults on police officers.

Two others were detained on Sunday morning on suspicion of inciting racial hatred, a Met statement added.

On one case, the charges relate to the display of a placard that was "threatening and racist in nature."

The police said those charged ranged in age from 16 to 51.

The Israel-Hamas conflict has led to a sharp rise in racist incidents in the UK and elsewhere.

Antisemitic acts in London have multiplied about 14-fold, and Islamophobic acts by almost three, Scotland Yard chief Mark Rowley told Sky News on Sunday. 

Saturday's protest was the third consecutive weekend that London hosted a large rally in support of Palestinians.

Israel has called on Russian authorities to protect Israelis and Jews after a violent crowd stormed an airport in the Republic of Dagestan in southern Russia on Sunday evening in search of Israeli nationals.

Russian media said the incident happened after a plane from Tel Aviv landed at the airport in the city of Makhachkala.

Some people in the crowd shouted antisemitic slogans and tried to storm the plane.

Some protesters broke through the terminal doors and ran onto the runway, while others broke through barriers to check cars leaving the airport, according to footage uploaded to social media.

The airport was temporarily closed, and arriving planes were diverted to other airports.

The government of Dagestan said later that the situation was "under control."

Following the incident, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said it "views gravely attempts to harm Israeli citizens and Jews anywhere." It called for "robust action against the rioters."

Israeli forces killed five Palestinians Sunday across the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, raising to more than 110 the death toll in surging violence there since the start of the Gaza war.

Palestinian health officials said the five victims were aged 9 to 35 and were shot dead by Israeli forces at dawn, two of them in Nablus' Askar refugee camp.

The other incidents took place in Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, Bethlehem's Dheisheh refugee camp and in Tamun north of Nablus.
      
The Israeli military said that during an activity to demolish the home of a militant in Askar, "explosive devices were hurled at Israeli security forces and exchanges of fire took place with terrorists."

Israel routinely demolishes the homes of Palestinians it accuses of deadly attacks, arguing that such measures act as a deterrent.

Rights campaigners have said the policy amounts to collective punishment, as it can render non-combatants homeless.

US President Joe Biden emphasized the need for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza on Sunday amid fighting in the Palestinian territory during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said in a statement.

Biden also underscored Israel's right to defend its citizens from terrorism in a manner that protects civilians.

The call came as Israel's military expanded its attacks on Gaza, including on the ground.

In a separate call with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, Biden also agreed on the need for "the significant acceleration and increase of assistance flowing into Gaza beginning today and then continuously," a second statement said.

The White House said Biden briefed el-Sissi on US efforts to ensure the conflict does not expand in the region.

French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have underlined the importance of shipping urgent humanitarian support into war-torn Gaza, the UK government said.

The two leaders spoke by phone on Sunday following the expansion of Israel's military operation against the militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Macron and Sunak expressed "their shared concern at the risk of escalation in the wider region," said a Downing Street spokesperson.

"The leaders stressed the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support into Gaza," said the readout of the conversation. 

They agreed to work together on efforts both to get crucial food, fuel, water and medicine to those who need it and to get foreign nationals out.

"They underscored that Hamas does not represent ordinary Palestinians and that their barbarism should not undermine the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people," Sunak's spokesperson said.

According to France's presidential office, the pair also reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself within the limits of international law.

Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said the Islamic republic does not want the conflict to "spread out" following the deadly October 7 terrorist attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.

Amirabdollahian also dismissed claims by the United States that Iran knew that Hamas was planning operations against Israel, calling them "baseless."

"We always had political media and international support for Palestine. We have never denied this," he said.

"This is the truth, but in relation to this operation called the Al Aqsa Storm, there was no connection to that data between Iran and this Hamas operation, not my government nor part of my country."

Initial US intelligence reports showed that some Iranian leaders were surprised by the attacks — the deadliest day of Israel's 75-year history.

Amirabdollahian said linking Iran to any attack in the region, such as the targeting of US interests without providing proof, is "totally wrong."

US and coalition troops have been attacked at least 19 times in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed forces in the past week and have staged retaliatory strikes.

The armed wing of the Islamist militant group Hamas has said its fighters are involved in "heavy fighting" with Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip after Israel deployed more of its troops across the Palestinian territory. 

"Our fighters are currently engaged in heavy fighting with machine guns and anti-tank weapons with the invading occupation [Israeli] forces in northwest Gaza," the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.

Hamas said earlier that two Israeli tanks had caught fire after they were targeted by its fighters, a claim the army has not confirmed.

Israeli forces have made several smaller-scale ground incursions inside Gaza in recent days. But the current offensive is their longest presence since the latest violence erupted on October 7 after Hamas launched widespread terrorist attacks on Israel, killing some 1,400 Israelis.

Israeli forces continued to pound north Gaza with air and artillery shelling on Sunday evening.

The army said troops had "identified a number of terrorists exiting the shaft of a tunnel" near the Erez border crossing and "confronted the terrorists, killing and injuring them."

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, visited the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza on Sunday.

An Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Khan inspected the crossing and was briefed on the damage caused by Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian side.

Khan later posted a video on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, saying he hopes to visit the Gaza Strip and Israel while he is in the region.

He added that there should be no impediment to humanitarian relief supplies going to civilians.

Khan's office has opened an investigation into potential war crimes by Israel in Gaza in the 2014 war.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store has denounced a "catastrophic" humanitarian situation in Gaza and says the Israeli army's response to the deadly Hamas attack was disproportionate.

Hamas militants stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on October 7 in the deadliest attack in Israel's history, killing some 1,400 people. Most of those killed were civilians, while over 200 others were kidnapped, according to Israeli officials.

According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, the retaliatory Israeli bombardment has killed more than 8,000 people, mostly civilians.

"International law stipulates that it [the reaction] must be proportionate. Civilians must be taken into account, and humanitarian law is very clear on this. I think this limit has been largely exceeded," Store said on NRK public radio.

"Israel has the right to defend itself, and I recognize that it is very difficult to defend against attacks from an area as densely populated as Gaza," Store said. "Rockets are still being fired from Gaza into Israel, and we condemn this," he added. 

Norway was involved in secret negotiations that led to the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, heralding a short-lived period of optimism about possible peace in the region.

On Friday, the nordic country voted in favor of a nonbinding UN resolution that urged an "immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities."

The United Nations Interim Forces in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) has said a UN peacekeeper was injured on Saturday evening in the eastern part of its border region with Israel.

It wasn't clear who was responsible for the attack near the village of Houla, UNIFIL said in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. 

Confrontations on the border between Israel and Lebanon have been frequent since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, leading to casualties on both sides.

The powerful Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which operates in Lebanon, and Israeli forces have both launched strikes resulting in casualties on both sides.

"UNIFIL expresses serious concern over these two attacks on our troops who are tirelessly working 24/7 to restore stability in southern Lebanon and de-escalate this perilous situation," UNIFIL said.

"We strongly urge all parties involved in the conflict to immediately cease fire. Attacking UN peacekeepers is a crime, a violation of international law, and must be condemned."

UNIFIL said a team had evacuated the peacekeeper, whose nationality was not given, for medical treatment. 

The White House has said Israel must protect innocent Gaza residents by distinguishing between Hamas militants and civilians in the Palestinian territory.

The warning came ahead of a call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel's Western allies have urged the country to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, where health officials in the Hamas-run territory say more than 8,000 people have already died in three weeks of airstrikes.

Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on CNN that Israel had a "responsibility under international humanitarian law to distinguish between terrorists and civilians and to protect the lives of innocent people, and that is the overwhelming majority of the people in Gaza."

"We do believe that thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in this bombardment, and every single one of those deaths is a tragedy," as those in Israel are, Sullivan said, speaking to the broadcaster ABC.

"What we believe is that every hour, every day of this military operation, the IDF, the Israeli government, should be taking every possible means available to them to distinguish between Hamas — terrorists who are legitimate military targets — and civilians who are not."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly apologized for accusing security and intelligence officials of failing to warn him about the devastating terrorist attacks that sparked the war with Hamas. 

Netanyahu has faced strong opposition criticism over security failings ahead of the October 7 Hamas attacks, in which some 1,400 Israelis were killed. 

Netanyahu made his accusations in an overnight posting on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He later deleted the post, replacing it with an apology.

"Never, under any circumstance, was prime minister Netanyahu alerted to Hamas' intent to launch a war," he wrote in the now-deleted post.

He said that "all security officials" had agreed up until the attacks. 

"I was wrong," Netanyahu posted in an apology on Sunday morning.

"Things I said following the press conference shouldn't have been said, and I apologize for that.

"I fully back all the heads of the security establishment. I back the military chief of staff, and the commanders and soldiers of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] who are on the front and fighting for our home. Together we will win," he wrote.

Pope Francis has called for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas, renewing an appeal for the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.

"Let no one abandon the possibility of stopping the weapons," he said at his weekly blessing in St. Peter's Square.

"We say 'cease-fire, cease-fire'. Brothers and sisters, stop! War is always a defeat, always".

The pope referred to the "grave situation in Palestine and Israel."

"In Gaza, in particular, let there be room to guarantee humanitarian aid and may the hostages be freed immediately", he said, speaking about Israeli hostages seized by militant group Hamas in its devastating October 7 incursion into Israel.

Francis spoke as Israeli forces mounted ground operations against Hamas in Gaza in the second phase of a three-week-old war aimed at crushing the group.

Israeli peace activist and author Gershon Baskin has told DW that there are hurdles to overcome for the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas and other groups operating within Gaza.

Baskin said that when it came to the militant Islamist Hamas, Israel and Western countries are not able to communicate directly with the leadership of the group, which is listed as a terrorist organization in Germany, the United States and the European Union, along with many other countries..

"We're not speaking directly," Baskin said. "No one's speaking directly, apparently, to the military wing of Hamas."

With some 222 people being held in Gaza, Baskin said Hamas might not have the ultimate say on what happens to all of the hostages. 

He said hostages were also taken by the Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and other groups and individuals. 

An additional complication to the release would be the place to which Israel would release any Palestinians from custody, he said, in the event of an exchange.

"Israel will not release them to the West Bank, where they would pose a direct threat to Israel's security."

"Releasing them to Gaza seems like a possibility, but we're talking between 6,000 and 7,000 prisoners, of whom 600 of them have murdered Israelis already."

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said reports that the Palestinian Red Crescent had received warnings from Israeli authorities to immediately evacuate the Al-Quds hospital in the Gaza Strip were "deeply concerning."

"The Palestinian Red Crescent report of evacuation threats to Al-Quds hospital in Gaza is deeply concerning," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media platform X.

"We reiterate — it's impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives."

The Red Crescent has said an evacuation would affect 400 patients, along with some 12,000 displaced people staying there seeking a peaceful heaven.