Live blog update| Israel's war on Gaza
This is an entry from: Israel-Palestine live: Week three ends with over 7,000 Palestinians killed

Evening recap

24 October 2023 22:59 BST

Good evening MEE readers, 

As we come to the end of the 18th day since the war started, Israel's heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues. 

Earlier this evening, Israel killed around 50 people in the space of just one hour, as it struck targets across several areas of the enclave, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

A small number of aid trucks entered Gaza late in the evening, but UN agencies have warned that supplies delivered via the Rafah crossing so far were a small fraction of what was needed to support civilians. 

Officials from around the world met in New York for a UN Security Council meeting, with the situation in Israel and Palestine top of the agenda. 

Here's a summary of what you may have missed from the last few hours: 

  • Israeli air strikes killed 704 Palestinians in the space of 24 hours - the highest death toll in a single day, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 
     
  • At the UN Security Council summit in New York, UN chief Antonio Guterres said Hamas' attacks on Israel "did not happen in a vacuum", and cited "56 years of suffocating occupation". Israel reacted angrily to the address, with its UN ambassador calling for Guterres to resign and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen refusing to meet the top UN official.
     
  • Elsewhere at the UN summit, Jordan's foreign minister said Israel "appeared" to be above international law, while Saudi Arabia called for an immediate ceasefire.  
     
  • Unrwa said that it could halt its operations by Wednesday night due to a lack of fuel
     
  • The US and Canada have called for a "humanitarian pause" on hostilities to allow for the safe delivery of aid into Gaza, but fell short of calling for a ceasefire
     
  • Eight trucks carrying water, food and medicine entered Gaza late on Tuesday night via Egypt
     
  • A second Palestinian has died in Israeli prison in two days. Israeli authorities said Arafat Hamdan, 25, died after taking ill, but the Palestinian Detainees Affairs Commission said it was a "systematic assasination". 

We at Middle East Eye are doing our best to continue providing you with up-to-date information around the clock. Internet connectivity in Gaza has dropped by nearly half as of 13 October, and we've lost contact with our correspondents there.

You can also find our coverage across Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.