Israel says it has attacked gunmen inside Hamas tunnels – and releases ‘video from Gaza’
Israel has said its forces have attacked Hamas gunmen inside the militant group’s vast tunnel network beneath Gaza as fighting shows no sign of stopping.
After the first successful rescue of a hostage held by Hamas, Israeli troops appeared to push further into Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting calls for a ceasefire.
Hamas has so far released four civilians from the 240 hostages Israel says it captured during the militant group’s attack on 7 October – with many thought to be held in the tunnel network.
Israel releases images of troops inside Gaza – follow live
On Tuesday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) released footage it claims shows its ground operations in Gaza, while Hamas shared a video purportedly showing its fighters clashing with Israeli forces.
Hamas claims its footage shows one of its fighters climbing out of a tunnel in the west of the Israeli city of Erez – just north of the Gaza border, on Sunday.
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Hamas has shared a video that the group claims shows clashes with Israeli forces
In other key developments:
• A British teacher trapped in Gaza was told by the UK Foreign Office it ‘can’t do anything more’;
• Urgent ceasefire in Gaza is a ‘matter of life and death for millions’, a UN official has said;
• Sir Keir Starmer says a ceasefire could leave Hamas ’emboldened’;
• More than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza each day, UNICEF has said.
Amid fears of a widening conflict, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militant group has claimed it launched a “large number” of ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel in what it described as its third attack on the country.
A spokesperson for the group warned there are “more to come”.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military said there was no risk to civilians after it downed an approaching “aerial target” off the Red Sea city of Eilat.
As Israel’s Gaza offensive continues, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Authority (ISA) claimed to have killed a Hamas commander who directed the attack on their country.
In a statement shared on Telegram, the two agencies said the militant was Nasim Abu Ajina, the commander of Hamas’s Beit Lahia Battalion.
Meanwhile, Gaza faces an “imminent public health catastrophe” as the area struggles with mass displacement and damage to water infrastructure, the World Health Organisation warned on Tuesday.
The IDF also said it has struck about 300 targets over the past day “including anti-tank missiles and rocket launch posts below shafts” as well as military compounds underground.
Israeli soldiers jump from an armoured personnel carrier near the border between Israel and Gaza
Hamas said militants clashed early on Tuesday with Israeli forces “invading the southern Gaza axis, (including) with machine guns”.
A Sky News producer in Gaza said bombing continued in the north and west of Gaza City overnight.
According to calls received by the producer, the situation in Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, is “getting worse and worse” while heavy bombing was reported around al Quds hospital in Tel al Hawa, in the south of the city.
An ongoing fuel shortage is also forcing people to use donkey carts, they added, to take injured people to hospital and even dead bodies to graveyards.
Bakeries are also struggling to produce enough bread, the producer said, and are unable to cope with the demand.
An Israeli government minister said there had not been any strikes on Shifa hospital, which is the biggest medical facility in Gaza.
Amichai Chikli, the minister for Diaspora Affairs, said Israel will not bomb any hospital in Gaza with civilians inside, even if Hamas is operating out of such facilities.
Bombing reported around a hospital in Gaza, according to a Sky News producer
Ceasefire ‘matter of life or death’
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, says nearly 672,000 Palestinians are sheltering in its schools and other facilities, which is four times their capacity.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini accused Israel of “collective punishment”, and of forcing the Palestinians’ displacement from northern Gaza to the south, where they are still not safe.
At a UN emergency meeting on Monday, he also warned “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions”.
A Palestinian rescuer works at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Gaza City
The agency added 64 of its staff have been killed since the war began, including a man killed with his wife and eight children late on Monday.
“This is the highest number ever of UN aid workers killed in any conflict around the world in such a short time,” spokesperson Juliette Touma said.
“UNRWA will never be the same without these colleagues.”
Read more on this story:
Nowhere to hide in Gaza as bombing campaign splits area
Families of hostages say they are ‘constantly thinking’ about them
Few trust Netanyahu in Israel and he will struggle to convince West
At least 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes since the war began, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Tuesday.
The health ministry spokesman, Ashraf al Qudra, also claims 130 healthcare staff have been killed, with 15 hospitals now out of service along with 32 healthcare centres.
More than 1,400 people have been killed on the Israeli side, according to the country’s government, since Hamas’s initial attack.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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