Middle East crisis live: Biden suggests opportunity for Israel-Iran deal that ‘ends the conflict for a while’ | Israel-Gaza war

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it killed the bodyguard of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in southern Gaza on Friday.

In a statement, the IDF said Israeli forces killed Mahmoud Hamdan approximately 200 metres from where Sinwar was killed.

It said Hamdan was responsible for guarding Sinwar and was also the commander of Hamas’s Tal al-Sultan Battalion.

It’s nearly 10pm in Tel Aviv, Beirut and Gaza. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• At least 62 Palestinians were killed since Thursday as Israel launched new airstrikes and sent more troops into Gaza, dashing brief hopes among many residents of the territory that the killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, could bring an end to the devastating conflict. Several airstrikes were reported overnight and on Friday morning. Among the civilians killed in overnight strikes on Gaza were children, according to reports. The most intense recent clashes have come in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historical refugee camps and the site of fierce fighting in recent weeks between Israeli forces and Hamas militants who have regrouped there.

• Israeli military officials said Israel was sending reinforcements to bolster its operation in Jabalia, raising fears of an escalation of violence there. Israel has issued evacuation orders for inhabitants in almost all of northern Gaza, but many cannot or do not want to comply. Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped in Jabalia, where conditions are deteriorating. Health officials have appealed for fuel, medical supplies and food to be sent immediately to three northern Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by the number of patients injured in Israeli attacks.

• More than 42,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began, according to the Palestinian health ministry on Friday. Most are civilians. Almost 100,000 have been injured. Six medical humanitarian groups were informed this week that their medical missions will now be denied entry into Gaza. The notice was delivered to organisations whose emergency medical missions in Gaza have collectively treated over 15,000 patients since October 2023.

• Hamas confirmed the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, in a defiant message that vowed the group would be undeterred by his killing. Sinwar, 62, was killed on Thursday by tank fire directed at a building in Rafah in the far south of Gaza after exchanging fire with an Israeli patrol. Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said Sinwar’s death “will only increase the strength and solidity of our movement”, adding that the group will not release the hostages it is holding captive in Gaza until Israel ends the war. Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam brigades, vowed to keep fighting Israel until the “liberation of Palestine” as it mourned Sinwar’s death.

• Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, reportedly plans to convene a special meeting with government ministers to discuss hostage negotiations in the light of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s killing. It is unclear when the meeting will be held or what exactly is on the agenda. Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting, telling Israelis that the killing provided an opportunity to “stop the axis of evil.”

• Joe Biden, the US president, said the killing of Sinwar raises “the prospect of a ceasefire” and “represents a moment of justice”. Biden on Friday said Sinwar’s death hopefully opens “the concrete prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, of an agreement to release the hostages held by Hamas”. He also said there was an opportunity to “deal with Israel and Iran in a way that potentially ends the conflict for a while” in the Middle East. He added that he has an understanding of how and when Israel will retaliate against missile attacks by Iran but declined to elaborate.

• Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages following the killing of Sinwar. “Sinwar’s death also provides an extraordinary opportunity to achieve a lasting ceasefire, to end this awful war, and to rush humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Austin told a press conference at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Friday. White House spokesperson John Kirby said Sinwar was the main obstacle to securing a ceasefire in Gaza and his killing creates an “inflection point” that could accelerate talks.

• The Palestine Liberation Organization, seen internationally as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, called for unity among all Palestinian factions after Sinwar’s death. A statement by the PLO on Friday expressed its condolences on the “martyrdom” of Sinwar. In a separate statement, Fatah, the party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, said Israel’s policy of “killing and terrorism will not succeed in breaking the will of our people to achieve their legitimate national rights to freedom and independence”.

• World leaders continued to respond to news of Sinwar’s death. Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he hoped it would open the door to a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the Hamas leader fought and died “like a hero” but that “the martyrdom of commanders, leaders and heroes will not make a dent in the Islamic people’s fight against oppression and occupation.” Keir Starmer, the UK’s prime minister, said “no one should mourn the death” of the Hamas leader who has “the blood of innocent Israelis” on his hands. Speaking on Friday, Starmer said the UK continues to support Israel’s right to self-defence and that allies will continue to work to de-escalate violence in the Middle East. “The answer is diplomacy and now we must make the most of this moment,” he said.

• The Israeli army urged residents of 23 villages in southern Lebanon on Friday to evacuate northward as it intensifies its attacks in the region. In a post on X, the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that residents are “prohibited from going south” and that doing so “could be dangerous to your life”. Lebanon’s health ministry said 45 people were killed and 179 injured in Israeli attacks across the country on Thursday alone.

• Israeli airstrikes killed several Lebanese citizens and injured others across Lebanon on Friday morning, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported on Friday, without specifying the number of casualties. A number of civilians were reportedly killed in the town of Ansar, a village in southern Lebanon, as a result of the Israeli attacks. Wafa reported the strikes also targeted various towns including al-Duwayr, Baraachit, Dabbal, Haneen, Khiam and Ramiyah.

• Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief, said Hezbollah “continues to shrink and shrink” after the group said the war with Israel was entering a new phase. Halevi said Israeli forces have killed about 1,500 Hezbollah operatives since the conflict escalated. The Israeli air force says it “attacked” Muhammad Hossein Ramal, a Hezbollah commander, in Taybeh, southern Lebanon, in an airstrike. Numerous outlets reported Ramal as being killed in the attack. In a statement, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a “barrage of rockets” fired at northern Haifa, and said it dedicated one of the salvoes to the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike last month.

• Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said she planned to hold talks with Netanyahu after her current visit to Lebanon and Jordan. Meloni, typically one of Israel’s most vocal western European supporters, has spoken out against recent Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

• Israel Katz, the Israeli foreign minister, accused the UN secretary general, António Guterres, of “leading an extreme anti-Israel and anti-Jewish agenda”. Earlier this month, Katz said he was barring Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel.

• Al Jazeera journalist Fadi Al-Wahidi has fallen into a coma more than a week after being shot in the neck by an Israeli sniper in northern Gaza, the broadcaster reported on Friday, adding that Israel has not responded to requests to allow his evacuation for medical treatment.

Besides Iran and Israel, governments across the Middle East have been curiously muted about Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s killing.

Israel and Iran have respectively celebrated and mourned Sinwar’s death.

The Taliban however has released a statement also mourning – with “profound sorrow” – the killing of the former Hamas leader.

In a statement, government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said:

May Allah Almighty accept the martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar and bestow patience and immense reward upon his family, companions, and all those connected to him.

Joe Biden, the US president, said on Friday there was an opportunity to deal with Israel and Iran in a way that potentially ends their conflict in the Middle East for a while.

Speaking to reporters at the end of a visit to Berlin, Biden also said he has an understanding of how and when Israel was going to retaliate against missile attacks by Iran but declined to elaborate.

“There’s an opportunity in my view and my colleagues agree that we can probably deal with Israel and Iran in a way that ends the conflict for a while. That ends the conflict, in other words, that stops the back and forth,” he said.

The United States has reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages following the death of Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar.

U.S. defense secretary Lloyd Austin said Sinwar’s killing by Israeli forces was a major achievement, given his role as the architect of last year’s Hamas’s cross-border assault on Israel that triggered the conflict.

His death, Austin said “removes a huge obstacle.”

“Sinwar’s death also provides an extraordinary opportunity to achieve a lasting ceasefire, to end this awful war, and to rush humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Austin told a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

His comments followed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to keep fighting, telling Israelis that the killing provided an opportunity to “stop the axis of evil.”

Asked about Netanyahu’s remarks and whether Israel was perhaps missing an opportunity, Austin said: “Of course there is (an opportunity) and we would hope we can work together to take advantage of that opportunity.”

“Clearly there are opportunities for a change in direction, and we would hope that parties would take advantage of that, both in Gaza and in Lebanon,” he said, without directly addressing Netanyahu’s remarks.

Austin said the top priority was securing the release of the hostages still being held by Hamas, including Americans.

“They have been through hell, and so have their families,” Austin said. “Those who are holding hostages should release them immediately.”

Hamas said hostages would only be released with a halt of hostilities in Gaza, an Israeli withdrawal and the release of its prisoners.

Israel’s government has rejected several attempts by the U.S. at brokering ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Israeli military chief says Hezbollah “continues to shrink and shrink” after the Lebanese paramilitary group said the war with Israel was entering a new phase.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi says Israeli forces have killed around 1,500 Hezbollah operatives since conflict with the Lebanese forces escalated.

“We are very determined to hit Hezbollah as hard as possible,” The Times of Israel reports.

“We have taken out their entire command layer,” he says, referring to airstrikes that killed former Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and other top leaders. “And you are taking out the local command structure.”

“Hezbollah is hiding casualties, hiding dead commanders. We estimate that we have killed some 1,500 Hezbollah operatives and our estimates are conservative, I imagine there are more that we don’t know about from dozens of strikes.”

Halevi adds that Hezbollah continue to surrender. “It says a lot about their morale and the level of fighting.”

Halevi claims that Hezbollah’s Iranian backers “also don’t understand what is happening here to Hezbollah. And they are their main arm that they have been counting on, and that is very important.”