Middle East latest: Netanyahu holding rare news conference after hostage killings, mass protests and Biden criticism (2024)

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in anger after the bodies of six more hostages were discovered in Gaza on Saturday.

Some blocked a main road in Tel Aviv earlier today to protest the failure to return the remaining captives being held by Hamas.

The protest is part of a rare general strike called by Israel's largest trade union, the Histadrut - which the country's labour court ordered an early end to at 12.30pm UK time.

The UK's decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel sends a problematic message to Hamas and its Iranian backers, Israel's foreign minister has said.

Israel Katz said in a statement that Israel was "disappointed by a series of decisions" by the UK government, including its move to halt some exports which it believes are intended for use in the Gaza war.

"A step of the type taken by Britain now sends a very problematic message to the terrorist organisation Hamas and its agents in Iran," Mr Katz said.

Earlier, foreign secretary David Lammy said the government was suspending around 30 arms export licences to Israel amid concerns a "clear risk" exists that they could be used to breach international humanitarian law (see 16.28 post).

Anger has returned to the streets of Israel as a "few thousand" people rally outside the Israeli defence ministry demanding a ceasefire, says our Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall, in Tel Aviv.

"Organisers think that there's around a half million between here and in Jerusalem out on the streets," he says.

"I don't know whether we'll get similar numbers tonight [as last night] - but that speaks to how hour-by-hour this is."

Protesters feel like they have momentum for the first time "in many months", Bunkall says.

"They've been out in the streets every week in very large numbers but they think they've been ignored by the government.

"Well now they think that momentum is on their side, both domestically, but also internationally, buoyed by what President Biden had to say in Washington earlier."

Bunkall says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to take questions from the media when he addresses the nation in less than an hour - something he has done very rarely during the war.

"I've spoken with senior aides of his to try and get a sense of what he might say, and they said he will repeat the facts and he will put forward the message he always has done.

"That doesn't sound to me like the Israeli prime minister has any mood, to change course or that the pressure is starting to build to such an extent, that he will make different decisions," Bunkall adds.

Joe Biden has "expressed his devastation and outrage" at the murder of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages in Gaza, the White House has said.

The US president and vice president Kamala Harris met in the White House situation room with Washington's hostage deal negotiation team after the six hostages' bodies were found by the Israeli military in Gaza.

"President Biden expressed his devastation and outrage at the murder, and reaffirmed the importance of holding Hamas’s leaders accountable," a readout of the meeting said.

It said that during the meeting, Mr Biden and Ms Harris "received an update from the US negotiation team on the status of the bridging proposal outlined by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt".

"They discussed next steps in the ongoing effort to secure the release of hostages, including continuing consultations with co-mediators Qatar and Egypt."

A partial ban on arms exports from the UK to Israel is "powerful symbolism" and sends a "clear message", says our international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn.

The statement by UK foreign secretary David Lammy in the last few moments is a "big deal" despite being "caveated with various other reassurances", he says.

"It is powerful symbolism and it sends a clear message to Israel and it is undoubtedly a blow to Israeli prestige and to Israeli diplomacy," Waghorn adds.

He says it's clear there is "a lot of concern in the government" about the way things are going in Israel.

"The feeling is that Israel is not doing enough to to reassure other people, the countries it's buying its weapons from, that they are meeting the requirements for licensing those sales," says Waghorn.

He notes that it comes at a time where there is a "great unease" and "growing disquiet on both sides of the Atlantic".

Foreign secretary David Lammy has announced the UK will halt some arms sales to Israel.

Making a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Lammy said around 30 of roughly 350 exports to Israel would be suspended.

The exports include equipment intended for use in the war in Gaza, such as components for military jets, helicopters and drones and items which "facilitate ground targeting", he said.

Mr Lammy said following independent legal advice, there exists a "clear risk" some UK exports to Israel could be used to commit a "serious violation of international humanitarian law" in Gaza.

He said Israel's actions in Gaza "continue to lead to immense loss of civilian life, widespread destruction to civilian infrastructure and immense suffering".

The Hamas-run health ministry says at least 40,786 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October - figures disputed by Israel.

Mr Lammy said the government had assessed that Israel "could reasonably do more to ensure life-saving food and medical supplies reach civilians in Gaza in light of the appalling humanitarian situation".

He said the suspension of some exports was not "a blanket ban" or an "arms embargo".

"A number" of exports which the government has assessed will not be used in the Israel-Hamas war will continue, added Mr Lammy.

He also said there was "no doubt" that UK "continues to support Israel's right to self-defence", and that the arms sales suspension was "not a determination of innocence or guilt".

A senior Hamas official says Joe Biden's comments about Benjamin Netanyahu point to acknowledgement by the US that the Israeli prime minister was undermining efforts to secure a ceasefire.

Sami Abu Zuhri said any proposal for a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal would be received positively.

But senior Israeli sources have told the Reuters news agency that it is "remarkable" Mr Biden is putting pressure on Mr Netanyahu - who they say has agreed to US proposals - and not Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

They said the US president's statement that the Israeli leader is not doing enough to secure the release of hostages is dangerous as it came days after six hostages, including an Israeli-American, were killed in Gaza.

Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a rare news conference at 6.15pm UK time.

It comes after mass criticism over the Israeli prime minister's handling of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza and his US counterpart Joe Biden telling reporters he is not doing "enough" to secure their release.

Earlier we reported a merchant ship had been hit by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea (7.21am post).

But we've now had an update that two tankers - one Saudi-owned and the other Panama-flagged - were struck off the coast of Yemen on Monday.

According to the UK Maritime Trade Organisation, there were no injuries in either incident.

For context: Ships are facing regular harassment and attacks by the Houthi rebel group in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The Yemen-based, Iran-backed Houthis say they are targeting any and all ships they believe are linked, operated, owned, flagged or travelling to or from Israel. 

US and British destroyers are among an international naval taskforce set up to combat the attacks in the area. 

Joe Biden's remarks that Benjamin Netanyahu is "not doing enough" to broker a hostage deal with Hamas are "significant", our US correspondent James Matthews says.

Mr Biden told reporters as he was travelling back to the White House this morning that "we are very close to a hostage deal" - but that the Israeli prime minster is not "doing enough" (see 2.30pm post).

"We've heard American criticism of Israel in the past - that is a consistent line," Matthews says.

"But the change will come in Netanyahu. That's where the pressure will come from the Americans from now on."

He says this morning's "snatched remarks" to the press were a sign of a "clear change in dynamic" around the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.

Before this weekend - and the news of six hostages found murdered - the deal was being offered as "take it or leave it" one.

But Matthews adds: "Clearly that has been hardened by what we have seen.

"But that's the challenge for Biden right now. How does he progress a situation towards a deal that can work - where he has failed to do so far - how does he use the change in dynamic to change the nature of that deal?"

For context: Negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas have been mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar since war broke out last October.

Today Joe Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, are meeting the hostage deal negotiation team in the White House situation room.