Israel-Hamas war LIVE: Communications are shut off again in Gaza as Israel announces 11 IDF troops were killed fighting Hamas yesterday

Britons trapped in Gaza may be able to leave through the border crossing with Egypt.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said teams are ready to help British nationals able to flee the territory, which has been subjected to bombardment by Israel and shortages of food, water and fuel.

As Tel Aviv’s forces step up operations against the Hamas group, which carried out the October 7 atrocities in Israel, Mr Cleverly stressed the need for humanitarian aid to get into Gaza.

Dozens of people were seen using the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt on Wednesday, the first time foreign passport holders have been allowed to leave the besieged territory since the start of the conflict.

Mr Cleverly said: ‘UK teams are ready to assist British nationals as soon as they are able to leave. It’s vital that lifesaving humanitarian aid can enter Gaza as quickly as possible.’

Hamas’ armed wing al-Qassam Brigades has said seven civilian hostages were killed in Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camp, including three foreign passport holders.

Hamas, the terrorist Islamist group that governs Gaza, has so far released four civilians among the 240 believed to be held in the enclave.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said ‘the entire nation of Israel embraces’ the families of soldiers killed in the country’s fight against Hamas.

In a video message posted to X (formerly Twitter), he said: ‘We are in a tough war. It will be a long war. We have important achievements in it, but also painful losses.

‘We know – each of our soldiers is a whole world. The entire nation of Israel embraces you, the families, from the bottom of our hearts. We are all with you in your time of great sorrow. Our soldiers fell in an unjust war, the war for the house.

‘I promise you citizens of Israel: we will continue until we fulfill the mission – we will continue until victory.’

The message comes after Israel announced 11 IDF soldiers were killed fighting Hamas terrorists yesterday (see 07:34 update).

Israel’s air strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp, targeting a Hamas commander, are part of the ‘terrible nature’ of the conflict in the Middle East, Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said today.

Asked by Sky News whether Israel had broken international law with the strikes, he said: ‘This is the reality of the conflict with an organisation like Hamas.

‘Hamas is a terrorist organisation that has murdered in cold blood over 1,000 innocent Israeli men, women and children, and now seeks to hide amongst the civilian population. This is a very difficult conflict.

‘We continue to urge the Israeli government to abide by international law. I believe that the Israeli government is continuing to do so against an enemy that hides among civilians. It is the terrible nature of this appalling conflict.’

Hundreds of foreign passport holders and wounded trapped in Gaza have started leaving the war-torn territory through the Rafah crossing to Egypt, AFP correspondents have reported.

The crossing has opened for the first time since the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Convoys of desperately needed aid have passed between Egypt and Gaza but no people have been allowed through the Rafah crossing until today.

The Daily Mail’s Richard Pendlebury and Jamie Wiseman heard the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Palestinian man who attacked policemen in the city of Jerusalem.

They discovered a story that epitomises the seemingly endless cycle of violence that hangs over Israel….

Israel has slammed Bolivia’s decision to cut diplomatic ties over its war in Gaza after a deadly Hamas attack as a capitulation to ‘terror’.

‘The government of Bolivia’s decision to cut diplomatic ties with Israel is a surrender to terrorism and to the Ayatollah’s regime in Iran,’ foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said in a statement.

‘By taking this step, the Bolivian government is aligning itself with the Hamas terrorist organisation.’

• Bolivia said Tuesday it was severing relations with Israel over ‘the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive’ in the Gaza Strip.
• Two other Latin American countries – Colombia and Chile – recalled their ambassadors to Israel over the war and its mounting humanitarian crisis.

Here’s what you need to know on the 26th day of the Israel-Hamas conflict:

• Palestinians reported another widespread outage of internet and phone service in Gaza early this morning.
• Israeli airstrikes leveled apartment buildings near Gaza City and ground troops battled Hamas militants inside the besieged territory.
• The Palestinian telecoms company Paltel reported a “complete disruption” of internet and mobile phone services.
• This came after a barrage of airstrikes leveled apartment buildings in a refugee camp near Gaza City on Tuesday. Rescuers frantically dug through the destruction to pull men, women and children from the rubble.
• Israel said the strike, which targeted senior Hamas military leader Ibrahim Biari, destroyed a militant command centre and an underground tunnel network, and killed dozens of other terrorists.
• In recent days, Israeli troops have advanced toward the outskirts of Gaza City from the north and east as the IDF continues its efforts to eradicate Hamas and free the roughly 240 hostages being held in the enclave.
• Israel has been vague about its operations in Gaza, but residents and spokesmen for militant groups say troops appear to be trying to take control of the two main north-south roads – suggesting the IDF is trying to split the territory in two.
• An estimated 800,000 Palestinians have fled south from Gaza City and other northern areas following Israeli orders to evacuate, but hundreds of thousands remain in the north.
• Israel has allowed international aid groups to send more than 200 trucks carrying food and medicine to enter from Egypt over the past 10 days. Aid workers say a minimum of 100-per-day is needed to supply the population.
• More than 8,500 Palestinians have been killed in the war, mostly women and minors, the Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday.
• Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’ initial attack, also an unprecedented figure.

The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza is ‘likely’ to open to foreign nationals on Wednesday, Britain’s Foreign Secretary says.

In a post on X (Twitter), James Cleverly said: ‘The Rafah crossing is likely to open today for a first group of foreign nationals.

‘UK teams are ready to assist British nationals as soon as they are able to leave.

‘It’s vital that lifesaving humanitarian aid can enter Gaza as quickly as possible.’

Israeli missile ships were deployed in the Red Sea on Wednesday as reinforcements, the military said in a statement, following long-range missile and drone attacks claimed by Yemen’s Houthis.

Images disseminated by the military appeared to show Saar-class corvettes patrolling near Eilat port in the Red Sea, which Israel sees as a new front as its war in Gaza draws retaliation from Iran-aligned pro-Hamas forces elsewhere in the region.

The Israeli military said 11 soldiers were killed fighting against Hamas in Gaza on Tuesday, the biggest one-day loss for the armed forces since the terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 300 soldiers and some 1,100 civilians.

Israel’s Army Radio said most of the dead were infantrymen whose vehicle was struck by an anti-armour missile.

All of the 11 soldiers who died yesterday were aged between 19 and 24.

The Gaza Strip was plunged into a communications blackout again today after internet and phone networks were cut.

‘To our good people in the beloved country, we are sorry to announce that communications and internet services have been completely cut off in Gaza,’ the Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) said on X.

Global network monitor Netblocks confirmed that Gaza ‘is in the midst of a new internet blackout with high impact to the last remaining major operator, Paltel.

‘The incident will be experienced as a total loss of telecommunications by most residents,’ it said in a post on X.

Internet and phone networks were completely cut last week but were restored at the weekend.

Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation in Gaza.