Middle East latest: Gaza ceasefire talks 'likely to go into tomorrow' as Israel comments on Lammy visit (2024)

That's all our coverage on the Israel-Hamas war for today - we'll be back tomorrow with all the latest updates.

Before we go, here's a reminder of today's key events:

• More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel's offensive in the region, the Hamas-run health ministry said;
• Gaza ceasefire talks began in Doha, with the White House saying they are likely to run into tomorrow;
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told Turkey's parliament he has decided to visit Gaza and Jerusalem to protest against Israel's war on the enclave;
• A diplomatic source told Sky News that Foreign Secretary David Lammy will travel to Israel to holds talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In our previous post, we told you that Israeli settlers had thrown Molotov co*cktails and set fire to vehicles in the village of Jit in the West Bank.

The Palestinian health ministry, which is not run by Hamas, said one man had been killed.

Now, Benjamin Netanyahu's office has commented on the incident, saying the Israeli prime minister viewed it with the "utmost severity".

"Those responsible for any offence will be apprehendedand tried," it said.

Palestinians regularly accuse Israeli security forces ofstanding by and allowing groups of violent settlers to attacktheir houses and villages.

The incidents have attractedincreasing concern internationally, with the US and a number of European countries imposing sanctions on violent settlers and repeatedly calling on Israel to do more to curb the attacks.

Dozens of Israeli settlers have attacked a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, burning cars and killingat least one person, authorities have said.

One Palestinian waskilled and another critically wounded by Israeli settlers'gunfire during the incident in the village of Jit, according to the Palestinian health authority.

It marks the latest ina series of attacks by violent settlers in the West Bank.

Footage shared on social media showed cars and houses onfire following the attacks.

The Israeli military said police and army unitsintervened and arrested one Israeli.

In a post on X, the Israel Defence Forces said Israeli citizens had thrown Molotov co*cktails and set fire to vehicles and buildings in the village.

It condemned the incident,which it said diverted security forces from otherresponsibilities.

It said it was examining reports about the death of thePalestinian.

As we've reported this evening, Foreign Secretary David Lammy is heading to Israel for talks with the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel, Qatar, Egypt, and the US are all currently engaged in ceasefire talks in Doha as they try to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East.

While the UK is not directly involved in the talks today, Sir Keir Starmer and the Westminster government is still working to try to lower the temperature in the region.

Over the weekend, Sir Keir picked up the phone and rang Iranian PresidentMasoud Pezeshkian - urging him to "de-escalate and avoid further regional confrontation", according to Downing Street.

But the president rejected that, saying retaliation against Israel is a "right", according to an Iranian news agency, with Israel an "aggressor".

Starmer's top ministers on diplomatic offensive

Elsewhere, the likes of Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey have both been engaged in diplomatic efforts.

On Wednesday, Mr Lammy met with the Saudi foreign minister in London - where the pair discussed working together towards de-escalation, a ceasefire, and a release of hostages.

While Saudi Arabia and Iran have had sometimes complicated relations, Riyadh still wields significant influence in the Middle East.

Mr Healey, meanwhile, spoke to US defence secretary Lloyd Austin yesterday, with the pair discussing the "urgent need for restraint and de-escalation" in the Middle East.

By Alex Crawford, special correspondent in Beirut, camera Jake Britton, specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Lebanon producer Jihad Jineid

Lebanon is preparing for all-out war even as the Gaza ceasefire talks begin.

We joined the Lebanese health minister, Firas Abiad, as he toured hospitals to see their disaster plans and hear about their preparations for a potential major emergency.

"Part of what we are doing is to make sure our hospitals are ready to receive patients and casualties and plans are enacted in these different regions if there is a large number of internally displaced population," the minister told us.

He said they'd identified key centres for mass evacuations and tried to bolster the nation's health infrastructure despite already depleted government funds due to a string of recent crises.

These include the coronavirus pandemic, an economic collapse and the huge explosion at Beirut Port four years ago. The country can ill-afford a war right now.

But most people in Lebanon that we spoke to are increasingly pessimistic about the prospect of a resolution to the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

The country's collective blood pressure went up several notches with the twin assassinations of key Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Tehran and Beirut about a fortnight ago.

Iran and Hezbollah are blaming Israel for both bombings, although Israel has neither denied nor confirmed it was responsible for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Since then, the Iranian Supreme Leader and the head of Hezbollah have both vowed revenge on Israel.

If retaliation is carried out as promised, the Lebanese people are bracing themselves for another round of Israeli attacks and anticipating the cycle of violence to continue.

Many of the country's doctors and nurses have been given extra training to cope with war injuries which they may not ordinarily have much widespread experience in - injuries such as bullet wounds, traumatic amputations and catastrophic bleeding caused by bomb blasts and shrapnel.

"We are scared," one young nurse told us. "Of course, we are all scared. We don't know what is going to happen."

The disaster planning has been going on for the past month - building up a nationwide stockpile of medicines in case there's a sea and air blockade.

The health minister told us: "In past wars like in 2006 (when Israel and Hezbollah were involved in a 34-day conflict) our airport was bombed and our ports blockaded, so we've been building up stores in case this happens. I believe we have enough for about four months."

At the Mazboud Government Hospital in Mazboud city in Aley Governate, about a half hour's drive out of the capital, the hospital administrator told us the main priority has been planning for a swift evacuation if the hospital itself is attacked.

"We can evacuate the hospital in about a half hour," Shadi Hanouni told us. "We think if there's a war, Israel will attack us here.

"They don't treat anything differently, whether it is a hospital or a school, they just attack everything."

He went on to say: "All the hospital staff are worried. They don't know if they’ll be able to return to their homes if there's war, or if they will stay here for 24 hours all the time. But they are ready for it."

The streets are noticeably less busy, with many families retreating to mountain areas they view as safer.

Multiple embassies - including Britain's - have warned their citizens to leave the country or not to travel to Lebanon. Several airlines have restricted their flights for a period, with some cancelling them altogether.

Water supply shops are reporting an increase in sales of up to 10% as residents stockpile water.

But for the poor, who live from day to day, there are few options.

Ali Zangar who earns a small living picking up garbage, said: "The rich can afford to leave the country. It's only the poor like us who will be left behind if there's war."

One Palestinian has been killed and another has been critically wounded by gunfire in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry has said.

The authority, which is not run by Hamas, said Israeli settlers had fired guns near the city of Qaliqilya in the West Bank.

The Palestinian WAFA news agency reported that armed settles had attacked a village and fired live bullets at citizens.

Hamas, which carried out the 7 October attacks, is not in charge in the West Bank.

There are regular clashes and riots in the West Bank aggravated by Israeli settlers both threatening and inflicting violence on Palestinians if they do not give up their land - which has been condemned by even the strongest international supporters of Israel, like the US.

France's foreign minister Stephane Sejourne has said he hopes for continued non-escalation from Lebanon after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut last month.

In a meeting with Lebanese caretaker premier Najib Mikati, Sejourne expressed appreciation for "self-restraint in this difficult period" in the region, according to Lebanese state news agency NNA.

"We can only be silent, patient and praying in this difficult period," NNA also cited Mr Mikati as saying following the meeting.

For context: Earlier this month, Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah confirmed the death of one of its top military commanders Fuad Shukr.

The IDF blamed him for an attack in July which left 12 children and teenagers dead in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah has denied involvement.

Benjamin Netanyahu praised the IDF for its strike on Beirut as he described Shukr as "one of the most wanted terrorists in the world".

There are reports of imminent Iranian and Hezbollah retaliation on Israel,as the US moves military assets to the region.

Joining Niall Paterson on the Sky News Daily is our Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall, and military expert Michael Clarke, to hear about the mood in Jerusalem, the risks of war, and what Iran what might be about to do.

Over 17,000 Palestinian militants in Gaza have been "eliminated" since the start of the war, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said this evening.

The military declined to say if the word "eliminated" referred to those who had been killed or whether it included those captured or injured.

But the figure comes after the Gaza health ministry said 40,005 Palestinians have died since 7 October last year.

Another 92,401 people have been injured, the authority added.

The Gaza ministry statistics do not distinguish between civilians and militants.

Post-war plans when it comes to the war in Gaza "are more appropriate for a galaxy far, far away", an expert has told Sky News.

Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former state department Middle East analyst, said traditionally negotiations in the Middle East have only two speeds "slow and slower".

Mr Miller said the problem with any negotiation is "urgency" and "that's been the problem all along".

He said he was "pessimistic" about what would come as the final objectives of Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar were "irreconcilable".

"Sinwar will keep the hostages, even if he agrees to a limited phase one release, he'll keep the 40 or 50 males until he gets what he wants which is a permanent cessation of hostilities," the expert said.

"Netanyahu I know will not agree to that."

Mr Miller said all of the post-war plans "frankly right now are more appropriate for a galaxy far, far away rather than the realities back here on planet Earth when it comes to Gaza".

"Hamas is going to survive - possibly as an insurgency - but with enough political influence to have a major say with who or what governs Gaza," he said.

Mr Miller said the talks could lead to a break in the battlefield but it would hard.

"But again, if you could get six weeks of ceasefire coming out of Doha, it would be a minor miracle. It'd be a miracle actually," he added.

He also said if he was to take a guess he would "suggest that by the end of August, you could imagine an agreement that would move us through phase one - that would be a cessation of hostilities and limited hostage release.

Mr Miller also said it would be "hard for him to imagine" either side would be able to move beyond that.