The Israeli military has said 199 hostages are being held in Gaza – a figure that is higher than previously indicated.

The estimate came as a border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was expected to be reopened to allow aid into Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is worsening.

The Gaza Strip has seen days of Israeli strikes in retaliation for the surprise attack launched by the Hamas militant group on 7 October.

The Israeli military is expected to launch a ground offensive in the coming days.

In a speech to his cabinet this morning, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said: “We are people of a civilisation, we are not animals like they are painting us and our people will not surrender.

“We are appealing to the prime minister of Israel to stop the aggression… Our people will not migrate and will not leave their land.”

Other key developments include:
• Foreign national Palestinians told they would be able to use the Rafah border crossing to enter Egypt at 9am local time (7am BST) today;
• Israel denies humanitarian truce to allow foreigners out and aid in is imminent;
• Israel evacuates 28 towns on Lebanese border after clashes with Hezbollah fighters appear to have escalated
• The UN has warned fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip will only last for another 24 hours;
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “demolish Hamas”, during an expanded emergency cabinet meeting in Israel;
• Israel’s Defence Forces (IDF) said it has killed a commander of the Hamas militant group in an airstrike;
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to Israel after completing six-country tour.
• Sunak urges Netanyahu to ‘minimise impact on civilians’

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0:35

Palestinian PM: ‘We are not animals’

It came after US President Joe Biden said in an interview that Hamas should be eliminated, but warned it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza, calling instead for a “two-state solution”.

The US president said Israel has “to go after Hamas” but said he would not support Israeli occupation.

“I think it’d be a big mistake,” he said.

A two-state solution would involve the creation of an independent nation next to Israel for five million Palestinians who live in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel-Gaza latest: Hospital power running out ‘within 24 hours’

Palestinian children look at the building of the Zanon family, destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip Pic:AP
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A building destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip
Pic:AP

“What happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people,” Mr Biden said in an interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes programme.

He added: “Going in but taking out the extremists, the Hezbollah is up north but Hamas down south. It is a necessary requirement.”

The president also warned Iran not to escalate the situation after the country’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said “significant damages” would be inflicted upon America if the war expanded.

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The ‘fake city’ where Israeli troops train

Missing people believed to be buried under Gaza rubble

Gaza’s health ministry has said 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and another 9,700 have been wounded in Israeli attacks.

The figure is 80 more than the ministry’s previous update, when it said a quarter of those who died were children.

At least 1,000 people are missing and believed to be under rubble, according to the Palestinian civil defence team.

In Israel, more than 1,400 people have been killed – the vast majority in the series of attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October.

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Palestinians with dual citizenship gather outside Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the hope of getting permission to leave Gaza, amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip October 16, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Palestinians with dual citizenship gather outside Rafah border crossing

Israel and Hamas deny reports of truce

On Saturday, the deadline passed for up to 1.1 million people in the Gaza Strip to be offered safe passage south of the Wadi Gaza river by the IDF.

The Israeli military said some 600,000 Gazans had left the northern half of the territory, ahead of what is expected to be an all-out offensive by land, sea and air.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was expected to open today from 9am local time (7am UK time), allowing aid deliveries and the evacuation of foreign national Palestinians, according to Sky News’ US partner NBC.

Kamel Khatib, the Embassy of Palestine representative for the Rafah border, told NBC that foreign nationals were expected to fly to Cairo from Al Arish airport, 30 miles from Rafah, and then on to their final destinations.

Dozens of foreign nationals have massed at the Rafah border after news spread that an agreement was reached to allow foreigners to exit Gaza via the crossing – but they were left stranded as it remained closed.

But after the deadline had expired and the border remained closed, Israel denied a humanitarian truce to allow foreigners out was under way.

Israel has evacuated 28 towns along the Lebanese border
Image:
Israel has evacuated 28 towns along the Lebanese border

Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq has also said there was no truth to reports the border would open or a truce had been agreed.

It comes after Israel targeted Rafah with strikes on Sunday evening, with explosions seen across the border city during the attacks.

Egypt doesn’t want the people of Gaza to become their problem

By Nicole Johnston, Sky News journalist formerly based in Gaza

Rafah is Gaza’s only gateway to the rest of the world that’s not directly controlled by Israel. It is under the control of Egypt as part of an agreement with Israel and the European Union.

However, it has never been a normal fully open border crossing.

Over the years it has been closed for days, weeks and months at a time. When it does open it’s often intermittent and can suddenly close again.

The people of Gaza never know when it will open or for how long so it’s impossible for them to plan their lives.

If you are stuck outside Gaza when Rafah closes there is no chance to get back in again.

Even under the best of conditions the crossing is unreliable and unstable.

What always struck me when reporting from Rafah was the sheer despair and desperation of Gazans waiting to travel. When it was open the crossing would be packed with people, sometimes thousands, all unsure if they would actually make it.

Women would sit for hours on suitcases, children playing in the dirt, a cacophony of taxis, cars and donkey carts all jostling for space. And in the middle of it all the reunions and farewells of families who didn’t know when they’d see each other again. Never sure when the border would be open or closed.

Egypt tightly controls the Rafah crossing and Palestinians accuse it of being complicit in the siege on Gaza by refusing to keep the border permanently open 24 hours a day.

There is no incentive for Egypt to now open this crossing and allow hundreds of thousands of Gazans to escape from the war.

If it did, the people of Gaza would become Egypt’’s problem and that’s the last thing Cairo wants.

Israel ambassador denies there is a humanitarian crisis

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was working with Egypt, Israel and the United Nations to get assistance through the border.

Until now, a blockade had prevented fuel, food and water from entering Gaza and hundreds of tonnes of aid has also been stockpiling in Egypt, waiting for confirmation of its safe delivery into the area.

Smoke billows from buildings in Rafah after Israel airstrikes. Pic: AP
Image:
Smoke billows from buildings in Rafah after Israel airstrikes. Pic: AP

But Mr Netanyahu said he had agreed with President Biden to resume water supply to parts of southern Gaza.

When asked by CBS if he wanted to see a humanitarian corridor that allows Gazans out of the area safely, President Biden replied “yes”.

He added that he thought Israel would “act under the rules of war” and he was “confident” innocent people in Gaza would be able to access medicine, food and water.

It comes after the United Nations humanitarian office warned on Monday that reserves of fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip were expected to last only around 24 hours more, placing “the lives of thousands of patients at risk”.

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Israeli soldiers train for Gaza attack

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Netanyahu meets families of missing

Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the UK has told Sky News there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Tzipi Hotovely said: “Israel is in charge of the safety of Israelis, Hamas is in charge of the safety of the Palestinians.

“This is the time that Hamas need to pay the price.”

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Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovel, suggests to Sky’s Kay Burley that there is

She argued Hamas was now preventing its own people from evacuating, and that Palestinians had been given the chance to leave by Israel.

“When America started this fight against ISIS together with coalition forces, over 100,000 civilians got caught in the crossfire. Israel is trying to prevent that,” she added.

She said Israel was “better than any other army in the world” and had been alerting civilians in advance.