Note to reader: We wanted to give you a trigger warning on what you may read below. We have chosen, as with every night of these briefings, to not share horrific images, however we want to alert you as sensitively as we can to the reports coming out of Israel and Gaza.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reaffirms UK support to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed their shared belief that “Hamas can have no role in the future governance of Gaza” on a call on Thursday, according to a Government press release.
Sunak emphasised the UK’s support for Israel’s right to self-defence against Hamas’ terror and “ensure its long-term security”, the press release outlined.
He conveyed that the UK stood ready to support on the full opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing and the delivery of aid for Gaza through Ashdod port.
Sunak also updated Netanyahu on his recent meeting with the families of British hostages held by Hamas, and the two discussed urgent efforts to safely return the hostages home, as well as steps to ensure any remaining British nationals who wish to leave Gaza are able to do so.
The leaders also discussed the UK’s efforts to de-escalate tensions on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
Home Secretary James Cleverly: 589% rise in antisemitism “utterly deplorable”
Home Secretary James Cleverly said the substantial rise in antisemitism since the 7 October terror attacks is “utterly deplorable”.
“The recent surge in antisemitism is beyond contempt. No one should be subject to hatred because of who they are”, he said on X.
Since the Hamas terror group attacked Israel on 7 October, antisemitism has increased by 589% in the UK, compared to the number of incidents of the same period in 2022, according to a new Community Security Trust (CST) report.
The number of antisemitic incidents spiked on 7 October, with CST recording 31 incidents that day, and 80 on 11 October – the highest total ever recorded by CST in a single day.
4,103 antisemitic incidents were recorded in 2023, with two thirds recorded after 7 October.
“Our increased funding for CST UK has offered additional protective security to over 480 Jewish community locations. We will always support our Jewish communities”, Cleverly stated on X.
CFI Parliamentary Vice Chair Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP said that, “it is absolutely repellent that this upsurge in antisemitism started to occur on the day of the Hamas terror atrocity. We must all redouble our efforts to stamp out anti-Jewish racism wherever it occurs”.
Education Minister Robert Halfon called the 203% increase in antisemitic incidents in universities “shameful”, and said “universities must get a grip of this situation”, warning that “if they do not, I will not hesitate to take further action”.
Seal of quality and Expert Adviser on Antisemitism in Higher Education will tackle campus antisemitism, pledges Government
Education Minister Robert Halfon outlined Government plans for a “seal of quality”, awarded to universities that deal in “the highest standards in dealing with antisemitism”. A new government position will be established for tackling the issue, called the Expert Adviser on Antisemitism in Higher Education.
The plans come as the Jewish Chronicle recently reported that Jewish students were facing death and rape threats, resulting in the need for police protection. A Jewish chaplain at Leeds University had been advised by the police to go into hiding, and pro-Palestinian protesters reportedly called for Zionists to “burn” at Birmingham University.
“There’s been at best the turning of a blind eye to antisemitism, and at worst appeasing it, and perhaps also not knowing how to deal with it. That’s not acceptable”, said Halfon.
He also welcomed the updated statement from Leeds University on the antisemitic events leading to the antisemitic attack on the Hillel House and on the University chaplain, Rabbi Zecharia Deutsch.
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron: “Get the Hamas leaders out of Gaza”
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said in the House of Lords this week that in order for there to be a two-state solution, “you have to get the Hamas leaders out of Gaza—otherwise, any ceasefire will not last because the problem will still be there. You have to dismantle the operation of terrorist attacks”. “You have to have a new Palestinian Authority Government in place. You have to give the Palestinian people a political horizon to a better future and a two-state solution. Crucially, you have to release all the hostages—and do that very quickly”, he added.
In response to Lord Robathan, who raised Hamas’ inaction on protecting children in Gaza, Cameron noted that “it is right that we in this House keep asking what else Israel should do, but at the very same time we should also say what Hamas should do, which is to lay down its weapons and stop right now. It could stop this fight immediately”.
Lord Jackson of Peterborough stated that “Hamas is a genocidal terror group: for the benefit of the BBC, they are not militants. The Palestinian Authority has lost control of large cities in the West Bank to Iranian-backed terror groups, openly pays salaries to convicted terrorists, and is deeply corrupt and repressive”. He emphasised that, “premature, unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state now risks rewarding Hamas, playing into Iran’s hands, and perhaps jeopardising the chances for a long-term, sustainable peace”.
Separately this week, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said that the UK will need “an absolute guarantee” that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will not employ terrorists following evidence that they helped to perpetrate the 7 October attacks.
Cameron added that reports of UNRWA employees partaking in acts of terror is “unacceptable”.
Housing Minister Lee Rowley: “If Hamas laid down their weapons today, there would not be a shed of additional blood dropped”
“If Hamas laid down their weapons today, there would not be a shed of additional blood dropped”, said Housing Minister Lee Rowley on Sky News. Hamas’ surrender would be “the easiest way to stop this right now”.
He noted that “Hamas started this on the 7 October, Hamas murdered 1200 people, Hamas have written into their charter virulently antisemitic things, Hamas are demonstrating that they would do it time and time and time again”.
The country has a right to defend itself against those that “want to murder [its] citizens just because of their religion”, added Rowley.
Andrew Percy MP: UK citizens understand that Hamas “hate everything we stand for in the West”
The UK’s support for Israel has been “tremendous”, said CFI Parliamentary Vice Chair Andrew Percy to Israeli media this week, adding that “people in Britain” understand that Hamas “hate everything we stand for in the West”.
Andrew Percy MP spoke of his visit to Kfar Aza, where he heard stories from people who live there and his meetings with hostage families, to “bear witness to those horrendous events that shocked the world on October 7th, and also take those testimonies” back to Parliament, and make sure the UK understands the “ongoing trauma” faced by those in Israel.
Over 85% of major medical facilities in Gaza used by Hamas
Over 85% of major medical facilities in Gaza are used by Hamas, according to recent IDF reports.
“As was proven with the Shifa Hospital, Rantisi Hospital, Al Amal Hospital, and many other hospitals across Gaza, Hamas systematically uses hospitals as terror hubs”, said IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
20 terrorists who took part in the 7 October terror attacks have been apprehended from Nasser hospital, Khan Younis, according to the IDF.
Photos were also released of weapons and medication with the names of hostages were also reportedly found at the hospital, which the IDF is currently probing.
“Because Hamas terrorists are likely hiding behind injured civilians inside Nasser hospital right now and appear to have used the hospital to hide our hostages there too, the IDF is conducting a precise and limited operation inside Nasser hospital”, Hagari commented.
He added that “credible evidence” points to the “bodies of our hostages in the Nasser hospital”.
“We have been urging other Gazans, in Arabic, on the phone and via loudspeakers, to move away from the danger that Hamas puts them in — via a humanitarian corridor we opened for this purpose,” Hagari continued, although Israel has made clear that patients are not obligated to evacuate.
“Soldiers arrived at the second floor of the emergency called on all those on the upper floors, including doctors and nurses, to come down”, reported BBC journalist Rushdi Abualouf. Local media supported reports that patients were ordered to evacuate the hospital premises.
The UK, U.S. and EU have condemned Hamas’ use of hospitals for military purposes, which Israel maintains necessitates Israel’s operations at the facilities, within international law.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar caught on camera in Khan Younis
Footage of Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, moving through a tunnel beneath the Gazan neighbourhood of Khan Younis with his brother, wife and two daughters, was released by the IDF on Tuesday.
The minute-long clip, dated 10 October, marks the first time the terror chief has been seen since 7 October.
“Every resident of Gaza [can] see how Hamas leaders live underground and how they don’t think about anything other than themselves, their families and their money”, said IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari to the Al Arabiya news agency.
“The hunt for Sinwar will not stop until we catch him”, he added during a press conference.
Earlier this month, troops detained close relatives of Sinwar, and those of other senior Hamas officials.
The tunnels where the footage was discovered contained “bedrooms of senior Hamas officials and the office of the commander of the Khan Younis Brigade’s Eastern Battalion, from where he directed the attack on October 7”, said Hagari. A video of the tunnel also showed two bathrooms, a stocked kitchen, sleeping area, and a room belonging to Sinwar himself harbouring a safe with millions in cash.
“He was staying with other senior officials, hiding underground … in comfortable conditions”.
Israel’s security establishment believes Sinwar has been “out of contact” for at least 11 days, leading to a slowdown in negotiations, according to recent Israeli media reports.
Hamas have hinged a possible hostage deal on the “approval of the Hamas leadership in Gaza”.
Gaza-based journalist: “Hamas terrorists used my family and hundreds of our neighbours as human shields”
“Hamas terrorists used my family and hundreds of our neighbours as human shields”, said Gaza-based journalist Jehad Saftawi on Tuesday in The Jerusalem Post.
“Hamas continues to hold the people of Gaza captive. There should be no reconstruction of my family’s home while a stockpile of weapons lies underneath”, he added.
Admitting that this is the first time in over ten years that Saftawi has been able to speak publicly about the issue, he said that “the case for removing Hamas is not to fuel escalation but to prevent it, which is why they should never be allowed to retake control of Gaza”.
He went on to accuse the terror group of normalising “violence and militarisation in every aspect of public and private life” in the Strip.
Describing his families reaction to the construction of tunnels beneath his family home, Saftawi said that “my family was too afraid to speak about this with anyone, so it was our secret. It felt shameful even though we knew we were deeply opposed to whatever Hamas had done on the other side of that cement slab”.
“Gazans deserve a true Palestinian government, which supports its citizens’ interests, not terrorists carrying out their own plans. Hamas is not fighting Israel. They’re destroying Gaza”, said the journalist.
Hezbollah strike kills one and injures nine others
11 unguided Grad rockets were fired towards Safed in Israel, around eight miles from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Rockets landed nearby a hospital as well as the city’s industrial zone, and at an army base.
The strike at the Northern Command headquarters base in Safed, killed 20-year-old Staff Sgt. Omer Sarah Benjo, from Moshav Ge’a, and injured nine others, who were all evacuated to Ziv Hospital.
Two structures within the base were severely damaged.
In response, the IDF targeted buildings, command centres, and infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and its elite Radwan Force.
Targeted strikes result in the death of three Hezbollah officials including
Radwan commander Ali Muhammad al-Dabs -who masterminded the March 2023 Megiddo terror attack and managed significant aspects of Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since 7 October, and Hassan Ibrahim Issa
20 additional rockets were reportedly fired from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, yesterday.
Six civilians and 10 IDF soldiers, reservists have been killed by Hezbollah since 7 October. Over 1,000 munitions have been fired by Hezbollah at Israeli targets since that date, according to the IDF.
Hostage families lodge legal complaint against Hamas at the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Around 100 family members of hostages held by Hamas, as well as two released hostages, arrived at The Hague on Wednesday to lodge a legal complaint against Hamas at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“The human monsters who harmed us and the members of our family are the successors of Hitler, Eichmann, and Goebbels”, said Ofri Bibas, sister of hostage Yarden Bibas, who was abducted with his wife and two young children on 7 October.
The families will present their legal submission to the ICC; a 1,000-page testimony evidencing the crimes of Hamas terrorists on 7 October, including murder, sexual abuse, kidnapping and mutilation.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum (HMFF) led the calls for the ICC to prosecute Hamas’s officials for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“I hope we will stop this evil and get justice, for our family and for all the families that are waiting for their loved ones that are there – the ones that are still alive and the ones that unfortunately are not”, said Moran Ben Ishay, daughter of 80-year-old hostage Gadi Moses.
Crowds greeted the families, waving Israeli flags and chanting: “Bring them home, now!”
After the submission, the families marched with supporters and delivered harrowing accounts of the events of 7 October, in front of big screens showcasing the atrocities committed by Hamas.
134 hostages are still being held by Hamas in Gaza, 31 of which have been killed in captivity, according to IDF intelligence.
Two killed, four wounded in terror attack in southern Israel
Two Israelis were killed and four wounded when a terrorist opened fire at a bus stop in Re’em junction, southern Israel, on Friday afternoon, Israel’s police said.
Israel’s Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu said, “I send my condolences from the bottom of my heart to the families of those murdered in the attack at Re’em Junction”, and added that “we will continue to fight until complete victory with all our strength, on every front, everywhere, until we restore security and peace to all citizens of Israel”.
Yishai Gertner, 23, from Modiin Illit, and another victim unidentified at the time of writing, were declared deceased at the Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot. The assailant was killed by police forces during the attack.
Israeli media has reported that the terrorist was a resident of the Shuafat camp, East Jerusalem.
A 65-year-old woman and another person were listed in moderate condition.
