Gaza live: Israeli protesters demand ceasefire as war enters 10th month

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Here are some of the day's key developments:

• A senior Hamas official told AFP that the group is ready to hold talks about releasing hostages in Gaza without a “complete and permanent ceasefire,” which was previously set by Hamas as a prerequisite to reach a deal.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listed five conditions for a ceasefire deal with Hamas, stating that any deal reached must allow his country to continue its fighting on Gaza until war objectives are attained.
• New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke on the phone with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the first time after he was elected.
• The Palestinian Prisoners Society reported that four Palestinian prisoners were killed by Israeli soldiers upon their release at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing leading to Gaza.
• Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that a deal with Hamas does not require halting Israel’s military operations in northern Gaza unless an agreement is also reached with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
• Hundreds of anti-government protesters have taken to the streets of Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighbourhood, aiming to reach the residence of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling for a hostage swap deal and government resignation.

Fire shots are being heard as crowds of residents and displaced Palestinians are forced to evacuate their homes in the Tuffah, Daraj and the Old City neighbourhoods of Gaza City, al-Jazeera English reported.

Intense airstrikes have been hitting these areas, after the Israeli army had issued an evacuation order in areas in the western part of Gaza City earlier today.

It was reported earlier that heavy fighting has been taking place near the areas, which were close to the Shujayea neighbourhood.

“Civilians have nowhere to go and the suffering continues,” the l-Jazeera reporter said.

Israeli Security Service Chief Ronen Bar will lead a delegation heading to Egypt tomorrow for talks on the ceasefire deal and control over Rafah crossing, the Times of Israel reported.

Bar will reportedly take part in negotiations about the potential hostage deal which include talks about the names of the Palestinian prisoners that are supposed to be released from Israeli detention centres and prisons.

The talks will also include the future control of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which has been shut since the Israeli army invaded Rafah in May.

Earlier, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had listed five conditions for the talks, which included a vow of banning weapon smuggling through Gaza from Egypt.

Hundreds of anti-government protesters are taking to the streets of Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighbourhood, aiming to reach the residence of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Demonstrators are calling for a hostage swap deal and for Netanyahu to resign.

Barricades have been erected to prevent the marches from reaching Netanyahu’s house.

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah says it carried out "its biggest drone attack" against Israel since its war on Gaza began on 7 October.

“We attacked, with drones, a technical and electronic reconnaissance centre in Mount Hermon in the occupied Syrian Golan,” it said in a statement.

The site was targeted for the first time since the 1973 war, the statement added.

“We hit spy and intelligence equipment and technical systems and destroyed part of them,” it said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that any ceasefire deal reached must allow his country to continue its fighting on Gaza until war objectives are attained.

Netanyahu listed – in a statement- Israel’s five conditions that he says are non-negotiable when reaching a deal with Hamas.

He says the deal must ban weapon smuggling to Hamas through the Gaza-Egypt border, and should not allow thousands of fighters to go back to the north of the Strip.  

Israel will also “maximise” the number of live captives returned, the statement added.

A senior Hamas official told AFP that the group is ready to hold talks about releasing hostages in Gaza without a “complete and permanent ceasefire”.

“This step was by-passed as the [Qatari] mediators pledged that as long as the prisoner negotiations continued, the ceasefire would continue,” the top Hamas official told AFP.

The group has previously put a permanent ceasefire as a requirement to start talks on a hostage swap.

The new UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and  “set out the clear and urgent need for a ceasefire” in Gaza, and “the return of hostages and an immediate increase in the volume of humanitarian aid reaching civilians”.

This comes as Starmer vows to continue his country’s “vital cooperation” with Israel against “malign threats”.

In a readout of the call, Downing Street said Starmer said that it was "also important to ensure the long-term conditions for a two-state solution were in place, including ensuring the Palestinian Authority had the financial means to operate effectively".

In his first telephone call with Netanyahu since his election as prime minister, Starmer also called for “caution” on the Lebanese-Israeli border saying that the “situation on the northern border of Israel was very concerning,” according to a spokesperson for his 10 Downing Street office.

Earlier, it was reported that Starmer has also spoken on the phone also with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday.

Abbas told Starmer of the urgent need for international efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave, and the release Palestinian tax funds held by Israeli authorities.

The Israeli army said that a commander in the Combat Engineering Corps’ 601st Battalion has been killed in the southern city of Rafah, earlier on Sunday.  It named the officer as Jalaa Ibrahem, aged 25.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that a deal with Hamas does not require halting Israel’s military operations in northern Gaza unless an agreement is also reached with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, according to the Israeli news outlet Haaretz.

"Even if there's a ceasefire, we will continue fighting here and do all that needs to be done," Gallant said. 

New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke on the phone with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday.

Abbas told Starmer of the urgent need for international efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave, and the release Palestinian tax funds held by Israeli authorities.

Abbas said he was ready to work with the UK on a two-state solution, and stressed the importance of British recognition of a Palestinian state.

Starmer reiterated his support for a ceasefire, for providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, and for the release of Israeli captives.

He said that new Foreign Secretary David Lammy would soon visit Palestine to continue political discussions and enhance cooperation.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society reported that four Palestinian prisoners were killed by Israeli soldiers upon their release at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing leading to Gaza.

“The bodies of one of the men was recovered yesterday and the rest this morning, and pictures taken show that their hands were bound, and there was evidence of torture on their bodies,” the rights group said, describing their killing as a “field execution”.

Since the war broke out on 7 October, Israel has detained at least 9,700 Palestinians, with 3,380 placed in “administrative detention” without charges or trials, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

Hamas is waiting for a response from Israel on a ceasefire proposal, two officials from the Palestinian group told Reuters on Sunday

"We have left our response with the mediators and are waiting to hear the occupation's response," one of the officials said, five days after Hamas accepted key parts of a US truce plan. 

The three-phase plan was put forward by US President Joe Biden, and is being mediated by Qatar and Egypt. It seeks to end the war and free around 120 Israeli captives being held in Gaza.

Another Palestinian official, with knowledge of the truce talks, said Israel was in talks with the Qataris.

"They have discussed with them Hamas' response and they promised to give them Israel's response within days," the official told Reuters.

Citing an unnamed source, the newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel had presented new demands in the ongoing ceasefire talks after Hamas agreed to the latest terms. The new Israeli demands could delay the agreement, Haaretz said. 

An Israeli air strike in Gaza City has killed the Palestinian deputy minister of labour, according to Gaza's civil emergency service.

Ehab al-Ghussein was killed along with three other people in the attack, it said.