Israel orders new evacuation in Gaza after rocket attacks

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The IDF has ordered the evacuation of residential areas in northwest Gaza, where it said Palestinian fighters had fired rockets towards the nearby town of Ashkelon.
Colonel Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, said “the specified area has been warned many times in the past” and is “considered a dangerous combat zone”.
The evacuation order came after a rocket attack triggered air raid sirens in Ashkelon on Sunday, when the military said it intercepted one missile and another fell in the sea.
There have been some pauses in fighting across Gaza in recent weeks due to an ongoing campaign to vaccinate children against Polio, though clashes between the IDF and Palestinian fighters have still occurred.  
Israel ordered the evacuation of all of northern Gaza in the immediate aftermath of the war, which was triggered by Hamas’ terror attack on Oct 7.
The majority of residents complied with the orders, though around 300,000 residents remained in the north, where Israel’s air and ground operations have focused. Around 90% of Gaza’s population (2.3 million people) has been displaced by the war.
Meanwhile, an Israeli official told the Times of Israel that a new US ceasefire proposal is expected to be presented in the coming days.
“We are waiting,” an official said. “The Americans are being cautious, they don’t want to put forward a deal that they know will be rejected by Hamas. They know that Hamas is the one putting obstacles in the way.”
“Just because it’s not happening soon doesn’t mean it won’t happen,” they added.
Thank you for following today’s live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
We’ll be back soon with more updates and analysis from the conflict. 
Thirteen suspects have been arrested by Israeli officers after intelligence suggested they were planning to carry out a terror attack.
The main suspect, who was arrested on Route 6, is a Palestinian man who illegally entered from the West Bank, according to KAN.
Israel Police said on Monday afternoon that the incident had been dealt with.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog chief said on Monday he hopes to hold talks with Masoud Pezeshkian, the new Iranian president, by November, in a bid to improve cooperation.
There are a number of issues complicating relations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, including its failure to explain uranium traces being found. 
“He (Pezeshkian) agreed to meet with me at an appropriate juncture,” Rafael Grossi said. 
“I encourage Iran to facilitate such a meeting in the not-too-distant future so that we can establish a constructive dialogue that leads swiftly to real results,” he added.
Kyiv has urged the West to let its forces strike Iranian missiles which are being held in Russia.
It comes after Iran confirmed that it had sent ballistic missiles to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine in exchange for soybeans and wheat.
Andrii Yermak, the head of the president’s office in Ukraine, wrote on Monday: “In response to the supply of ballistic missiles to Russia, Ukraine must be allowed to destroy warehouses storing these missiles with Western weapons in order to avoid terror.”
Israel is against a broader ceasefire with Lebanon even if the war in Gaza ends, Abdallah Bou Habib said on Monday. 
Lebanon’s foreign minister made the claims after Nissim Vaturi, a member of the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defence committee, claimed war between the two countries is a “a matter of days” away.
The new school year in the Palestinian territories officially began on Monday, with all schools in Gaza shut after 11 months of war and no sign of a ceasefire.
The Palestinian Education Ministry said all Gaza schools were shut and 90% of them had been destroyed or damaged since war broke out following the Oct 7 attacks by Hamas.
A drone fired from Lebanon has hit a building in Nahariya, a city in northern Israel. 
Around 15 rockets were fired at the north. No injuries were reported.
Tehran has accused Israel of carrying out a “criminal attack” on central Syria, where state media said strikes killed at least 16 people and injured dozens more.
Israeli strikes hit a research centre used by Iranian military experts for chemical weapons production located near the city of Masyaf, according to two regional intelligence sources.
“We strongly condemn this criminal attack by the Zionist regime on Syrian soil,” Nasser Kanani, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said.
It comes after an increase in the number of clashes between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah near the Lebanese border, including on Sunday, when Israeli strikes hit several sites and a rocket launcher belonging to the militant group in southern Lebanon.
Israel’s attack on Iranian targets comes weeks after the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader, in Tehran, and leading Hezbollah figure Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Iran had vowed to respond at the “right time” in the “appropriate” manner following the attack, sparking fears of a regional conflict, though a large-scale response is yet to materialise.
Tehran has accused the West of engaging in “psychological warfare” after it was accused of transferring missiles to Russia. 
The Kremlin did not deny the Wall Street Journal report, which detailed how Iran had sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.
“We have seen this report, it is not every time that this kind of information is true. Iran is our important partner, we are developing our trade and economic relations, we are developing our cooperation and dialogue in all possible areas, including the most sensitive areas,” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, said.
The IDF has ordered the evacuation of some residential areas in northwest Gaza, where it said Palestinian fighters had fired rockets on the nearby town of Ashkelon.
Around 300,000 Gaza residents remained in the northern part of the strip, despite Israel’s orders to evacuate towards the south.
Moving to Middle East-related matters in the UK, a senior Scotland Yard officer has admitted the force made mistakes in its handling of pro-Palestinian protests.
Matt Twist, the assistant commissioner of the Met Police responsible for public order policing, said the force “didn’t get everything right, particularly in the early stages in October”.
In an interview with the Policy Exchange think tank for a report on the protests, published on Monday, Mr Twist cited the decision not to immediately arrest demonstrators shouting “jihad”.
“On occasion we did not move quickly to make arrests, for example, the man chanting for ‘jihad’, which was a decision made following fast-time advice from lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service,” he said.
Read the full story here.
Earlier we reported that the chances of a hostage-ceasefire deal were perceived to be “close to zero” by negotiators (see 8.44am post).
An Israeli official has told the Times of Israel that a new US ceasefire proposal is expected to be presented in the coming days.
“We are waiting,” an official said. “The Americans are being cautious, they don’t want to put forward a deal that they know will be rejected by Hamas. They know that Hamas is the one putting obstacles in the way.”
“Just because it’s not happening soon doesn’t mean it won’t happen,” they added.
Israeli airstrikes on an Iranian ‘chemical warfare centre’ in Syria late Sunday killed 16 people and injured at least 40 others, according to the Syrian news agency Sana.
Syrian air defences “confronted an aggression that targeted several points in the central region,” according to the state-run news agency.
A major military research centre for chemical arms production located near the city of Masyaf was hit several times, two regional intelligence sources told Reuters.
It is believed to house a team of Iranian military experts involved in weapons production. The city has been repeatedly targeted in recent years in attacks that have largely been attributed to Israel.
Asked about the report, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it did not comment “on reports in the foreign media”.
The UN’s human rights chief has called for countries to act on what he called Israel’s “blatant disregard” for international law in the Palestinian territories.
“Ending that war and averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority,” Volker Turk said in a speech at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The Allenby bridge crossing between Israel and Jordan has reopened to pedestrians after Sunday’s terror attack, in which three Israelis were killed.
It came after Israeli representatives from the Shin Bet and IDF met with their Jordanian counterparts to coordinate their response to the attack. 
It is the only crossing between the West Bank and Jordan.
Iran has accused Israel of carrying out a “criminal” attack in central Syria, where state media said strikes killed at least 16 people.
“We strongly condemn this criminal attack by the Zionist regime on Syrian soil,” Nasser Kanani, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said in Tehran.
Mr Kanani also called on Israel’s western allies to stop funding them.
Several of the six Israeli hostages who were killed by Hamas and found by the IDF in a Gaza tunnel last month attempted to fight off their killers moments before dying, their families have been told.
Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s spokesperson, reportedly showed the hostages’ families “forensic” evidence detailing their final moments, Channel 12 and 13 reported.
“Several of the six are assessed to have defended themselves and struggled with those who shot them,” a briefing note read.
The chances of achieving a hostage-ceasefire agreement are “close to zero”, according to those close to the negotiations.
There is “very broad pessimism” among the negotiators, both in the US and in Israel, Channel 12 reported.
The US had been planning to present a new proposal in the coming days but this is now unlikely to occur, according to reports.
Israeli strikes hit several sites and a rocket launcher belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Kafr Kila, Taybeh, Hanine, and Yarine, the IDF said on Monday.
A separate strike on Sunday in Khirbet Selm targeted a building used by Hezbollah, the military added.
מטוסי ומסוקי קרב תקפו במהלך הלילה מבנים צבאיים ומשגר של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחבים כפר כילא, א-טייבה, חנין ויארין שבדרום לבנון. בנוסף, מטוסי קרב תקפו אתמול, מבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב ח’רבת סלם שבדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/Ya6vvzL5lf
Benny Gantz, a former member of Mr Netanyahu’s war cabinet, has urged Israel to shift its focus away from Gaza and towards Hezbollah and Lebanon.
“We have enough forces to deal with Gaza and we should concentrate on what is going on in the north,” Mr Gantz said from a Middle East forum in Washington. 
“The time of the north has come and actually I think we are late on this.”
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been exchanging fire near the Lebanese border in recent weeks. Hezbollah says it is a supporter of Hamas amid the war in Gaza.
A member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling party has said full-on war between Israel and Lebanon will take place in “a matter of days”.
Nissim Vaturi, a member of the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defence committee, said that when war occurs, Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb “will look like Gaza”.
“There is no other way,” Mr Vaturi said, before adding that the Israeli prime minister is of the same opinion and that “this is something that will develop in the coming days”.
Mr Netanyahu reportedly briefed military officials Sunday and told them “we must end this saga”.
Tel Aviv believes the Syrian city of Maysaf, which was hit in overnight strikes, is used as a base for Iranian forces and pro-Iranian fighers, the Times of Israel reported. 
It hosts the Scientific Studies and Research Centre, which Israel says is used by Iran to produce surface-to-surface missiles.
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage. 
We’re bringing you the latest from the Middle East after an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian ‘chemical warfare centre’ in Syria killed at least 14 and injured dozens more.