Middle East live: 28 killed, 54 wounded in Israeli strike on Gaza school as Lebanon peace talks ‘intensify’

Israeli airstrikes have killed about 40 people in Jabaliya and another 14 from farther north between Sunday and Tuesday, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said yesterday.

The toll is likely higher as there are bodies buried under the rubble and in areas that can’t be accessed, it said.

Israel’s military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said that Israeli troops were operating in Jabaliya to prevent Hamas from regrouping and had killed about 100 militants, without providing evidence.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, the health ministry said.

A wounded Israeli soldier urged the UK not to forget the mistake of Neville Chamberlain by being more like Churchill and standing up against “the evil of Iran”.

Barak Deri, an Israeli Defence Force reservist, has been hailed as a hero in his country and is visiting London this week as part of a mission to win support for Israel’s struggle in the ongoing war on multiple fronts in the Middle East.

The 32-year-old, who was wounded and is likely to be disabled for the rest of his life, arrived in the UK with a simple warning that “Israel’s war is the West’s war” and the demand: “We cannot be quiet, we must send a clear message that another Holocaust is not an option.”

David Maddox reports.

Leaders from the Islamist group Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement will hold further unity talks in Cairo on Wednesday, a Hamas official said.

The media adviser of the Hamas political chief, the Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Tuesday, according to reports.

It was led by Khalil Al-Hayya, the group’s chief negotiator and Hamas’ second-in-command, currently based in Qatar.

“The meeting will discuss the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and the challenges facing the Palestinian cause,” Hamas officials said.

Two people were killed in a town in northern Israel that was hit by rocket fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon on Wednesday, Israeli authorities said.

Israel’s ambulance service said that a man and a woman had been killed in the town of Kirya Shmona. The military said about 20 projectiles had been launched from Lebanon in the barrage.

The Israeli military said it had destroyed an underground weapons store found seven metres below a residential building in southern Lebanon.

“The soldiers located hundreds of weapons, including an underground weapons storage facility approximately seven metres under a home within the village where the troops are operating,” it said.

“Within the weapons storage facility, the troops discovered sniper rifles and numerous weapons.”

Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday about a potential Israeli response to Iran’s missile strike last week.

Biden and Netanyahu talked about Israel’s plans in a call that lasted 30 minutes, the White House said.

The discussion was “direct and very productive,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, while acknowledging the two leaders have disagreements and are open about them.

Relations between Biden and Netanyahu have been tense over the Israeli leader’s handling of Gaza and Lebanon. The US has tried to prevent hostilities from escalating and has unsuccessfully sought to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel has promised that arch-foe Iran will pay for its missile attack, which caused little damage, while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the oil-producing region that could draw in the United States.

Biden last week made comments discouraging Israel from striking Iranian oil fields and said he would not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites.

Some analysts say Israel is most likely to respond to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack by targeting Iranian military installations, especially those that produce ballistic missiles like those used in the attack. It could also seek to destroy Iranian air defence systems and missile-launching facilities.

Over 100 Israeli soldiers have threatened to stop fighting if Netanyahu’s government does not secure a hostage release deal.

In a letter addressed to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant, 130 soldiers said: “If the government does not change course immediately and work towards securing a deal to bring the hostages home, we will not be able to continue serving.

“For some of us, the red line has already been crossed, and for others, it is rapidly approaching: the day when, with broken hearts, we will stop reporting for service.”

The group includes both reserve and regular soldiers, some of whom have served in Gaza and on Israel’s northern border since last year’s 7 October Hamas attacks.