Israel-Hamas live updates: 6,500 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza

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For the latest live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, follow along here.

You can read about the Israeli air raid that killed family members of Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza correspondent here, as well as an analysis of why Israel has not yet launched its expected ground invasion here.

We’re going to close this live page soon. Here’s a recap of today’s top events:

• An Israeli air raid has killed the wife, son, daughter and infant grandson of Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh.
• Duelling UN Security Council resolutions – drafted by the US and Russia – both failed to pass, with deadlock at the United Nations continuing.
• Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu reiterates that Israel is preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza while acknowledging for the first time that he would have to provide “answers” for security lapses on October 7.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has pushed back on Israeli criticism of his recent remarks, saying it is false to say he was arguing that Hamas’s attacks were “justified”.
• Daily Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank are expected to increase, with an Israeli army official vowing to target “terrorist nests”.
• Gaza’s healthcare system is in a state of complete collapse, the Ministry of Health said; At least 6,546 people have been killed in the enclave since October 7.

Another day here at the UN and another failed UN Security Council resolution – not one, [in fact], but two.

It’s not over yet. Malta, one of the elected members of the Security Council, said they’re getting together with other Security Council members, not the US and not Russia, with countries like Brazil and others. They’re saying these 10 non-permanent members are going to come up with their own resolution.

They’re still going to have to deal with the issue of a ceasefire versus a humanitarian pause. But, [Malta and these other countries] say the situation is so bad, that they have to get some sort of resolution that everyone can agree upon and that in the coming days, will have something to put out publicly.

Also, Jordan is taking a resolution to the General Assembly. All members of the UN are expecting to vote on that on Friday. But a vote by the General Assembly has less legal binding than a resolution by the Security Council.

The US congresswoman says she opposed a pro-Israel resolution that was overwhelmingly approved in the House of Representatives because the measure ignored Palestinians.

Tlaib said while the resolution “rightly” mourned Israeli civilians who have been killed in the war, it failed to acknowledge the thousands of innocent Palestinian victims.

The congresswoman, who is of Palestinian descent, also reiterated that she denounces “the killing of civilians, no matter their faith or ethnicity”.

“How does treating Palestinian civilians as less than fully human, as legitimate targets for retribution, bring us closer to a just and lasting peace?” Tlaib said in a statement.

Al-Aqsa Radio in Gaza has said one of its journalists, Doaa Ashraf, has been killed in an Israeli air strike that struck her home in central Gaza’s al-Zawiya neighbourhood.

Her killing brings the total number of journalists killed in Gaza since October 7 to 24.

We’ll bring you more details once we have them.

The ICRC’s Robert Mardini has said journalists should not be targeted and should be protected as stipulated under international humanitarian law.

His comments come after Wael Dahdouh – Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza bureau chief – lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in an Israeli air strike on the home they were sheltering in, in southern Gaza.

23 #journalists have reportedly been killed since the escalation of the #Israel–#Gaza conflict on 7 October.
This is simply unacceptable – journalists are protected under international humanitarian law #IHL and should not be targeted. pic.twitter.com/pXssnukeai

— Robert Mardini (@RMardiniICRC) October 25, 2023

Our correspondent in Gaza, Tareq Abu Azzoum, says the fire is located in Gaza City.

Flames and massive plumes of smoke are billowing into the sky.

We’ll bring you more on this as soon as we get more information.

Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), has said that the Palestinian death toll provided by the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip is reliable.

US President Biden had cast doubt on the number of Palestinians killed in the conflict, saying that he has “no confidence in the numbers that the Palestinians are using”.

The ministry has reported that more than 6,500 Palestinians have been killed since October 7.

Shakir said when HRW previously conducted its own investigations into certain attacks, it did not find major discrepancies with the numbers of the Health Ministry.

“Human Rights Watch has been working in the occupied Palestinian territories for three decades. We’ve covered rounds of escalations and hostilities, and we’ve always found the numbers from the Ministry of Health to be generally reliable,” Shakir told Al Jazeera.

He added that the Ministry of Health has access to data from hospitals and morgues, which allows it to assess the death toll. Shakir also noted that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) relies on the health authority’s data, which has also been cited in US State Department reports.

In the current war, the Israeli military has said it dropped thousands of bombs on Gaza.

“We’ve been looking at satellite imagery. We’ve been looking at what’s taking place; the numbers coming out of the ministry are not beyond reason,” Shakir said. “They’re within the range of what one would expect from air strikes of this intensity.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the “immediate release” of all captives held in the Gaza Strip on humanitarian and health grounds.

“We are gravely concerned by the humanitarian and health situation facing approximately 200 people, including health workers and up to 30 children,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, in a post on social media.

He called for urgent access to each of them and the delivery of medical care.

“Many of the hostages, including children, women and the elderly, have pre-existing health conditions requiring urgent and sustained care and treatment,” he added.

My team and I met today with families of people abducted from southern #Israel on 7 October by Hamas and heard firsthand the tragedy, trauma and suffering they are facing.

We are gravely concerned by the humanitarian and health situation facing approximately 200 people,…

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 25, 2023

Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu, who has known Dahdouh since 2006, tells us about his work and life in the Gaza Strip:

“I don’t think people quite understand what life is like in the Gaza Strip.

“Foreign journalists are not allowed to enter into the Gaza Strip because Israel bars them, and so all of the images, all of the reporting that we see, is coming from brave Palestinian journalists who are literally risking their lives in order to make sure that the world sees what is happening.

“And unlike foreign journalists, who … have the ability to leave, at the end of the day, Palestinian journalists have to live in these spaces that had been so decimated by Israel.

“Wael is such a brave reporter … We’ve referred to him as being a ‘mountain’ because he is unfaltering in his coverage. He continues, he persists in such beautiful classical Arabic as though nothing can bring him down.”

The appeal comes after the US House of Representatives elected a speaker – Republican Mike Johnson – following three weeks of deadlock.

Biden has requested over $14bn in military aid for Israel, with US officials continually promising to increase security assistance to their close ally.

The pledge of weapons has prompted criticism from within the US president’s own administration, with State Department official Josh Paul, who worked in the wing that oversees arms transfers, resigning in protest last week.

While House Republicans spent the last 22 days determining who would lead their conference, I proposed a historic supplemental funding package that advances our bipartisan national security interests in Israel and Ukraine, secures our border, and invests in the American people.…

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 25, 2023

Nearly three weeks after the Hamas attacks in southern Israel, Israel has not yet responded with its promised ground invasion.

The reasons are unclear, with different theories abounding, but the lull may be an indication of a standoff between Israel’s government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the military.

The potential central issue: a lack of a clear plan from Israel’s political leaders.

Read more here.

The UN agency for refugees in Gaza is hours away from running out of fuel and is desperately trying to get a shipment of fuel into the enclave, despite Israeli assertions that no fuel will be allowed in.

Juliette Touma, the UNRWA’s director of communications, told Al Jazeera that the coming hours were critical.

“If we do not get this shipment of fuel tonight, [by] tomorrow morning, Thursday morning, we are going to take very tough decisions, depriving people, depriving the communities that we serve, from humanitarian assistance,” Touma said from occupied East Jerusalem.

Touma said that, without fuel, the UNRWA would be unable to deliver assistance, pick up the supply of aid coming through the border, send wheat to bakeries, assist medical facilities and keep water pumping stations running.

“It’s a chain,” Touma said. “Fuel for Gaza is life.”

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of paediatrics at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, has warned that the hospital “will rapidly become a mass grave” when fuel runs out tomorrow.

“Today has been among the bloodiest days for Kamal Adwan Hospital, and we are overwhelmed with dozens of wounded, dying and dead children coming in,” Abu Safiya said.

“The pace of strikes is escalating, and our supplies are near depletion. When the fuel runs out tomorrow, this hospital will rapidly become a mass grave.”

As we go into another night, we expect more raids from Israeli military here in the occupied West Bank.

Thus far, since the October 7 attacks, 1,350 Palestinians have been arrested from the occupied West Bank, with at least 104 killed, including children and one woman.

Today, the top Israeli commander for the occupied West Bank, Brigadier General Avi Bluth, in a meeting with secular leaders, said that ‘we have now taken our gloves off in our war with Hamas in Judea and Samaria’ – that’s how Israel describes the occupied West Bank.

He went on to say we’re going to see more offensive operations to cleanse – in his words – ‘terrorist nests’ like we saw being done in the Nur Shams camp. I’m referring to a raid last week by the Israeli military on that camp – 14 people were killed, including two children aged 10 years old.

There were areas of the camp that were completely destroyed by military-grade bulldozers. And a lot of people were arrested.

The US is firmly resisting calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, but as the war rages on – killing thousands and risking an all-out regional conflict – questions are arising over its aims in backing the Israeli offensive.

President Joe Biden has pledged unconditional support for Israel while warning against an expansion of the conflict, two goals that experts have said amount to competing priorities.

“Not only are they at odds with each other, but the higher priority of the administration appears to be supporting Israel, rather than making sure that there is no dangerous escalation,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute, a think tank that promotes diplomacy.

So what is the US plan beyond enabling the Israeli military campaign logistically with military aid and politically with diplomatic cover at international forums?

Read more here.

Celtic fans waved hundreds of Palestinian flags in the stands during the Scottish football club’s Champions League game against the Spanish side Atletico Madrid.

That’s despite a call from the board of the club for the fan group behind the pro-Palestinian display, the Green Brigade, to not wave the flags.

People of Palestine, you’ll never walk alone 🇵🇸🫶🏻💚 pic.twitter.com/TOl3rpn4vY

— Chloe Reilly (@ChloeReilly21) October 25, 2023

Fans of Celtic, a club that is rooted in Glasgow’s Catholic community and immigrants from Ireland, are traditionally supportive of the Palestinian cause, even as the club’s hierarchy fears the impact it may have on sponsorship deals.

It has been confirmed that Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh’s infant grandson was also among the family members killed in an Israeli attack on the home they were staying in.

Dahdouh was able to hold his grandson’s body in the wake of the tragic loss of his wife, son and daughter.

Following weeks of deadlock to select a leader for the US House of Representatives, newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson has brought his first bill to the floor – a pro-Israel resolution.

The bill, which Johnson described as being “in support of our dear friend Israel”, condemns Hamas without mentioning civilians or calling for restraint.

It passed with 412 legislators voting in favour, 10 voting against, six voting present (abstaining) and five not present.

The vote underscores the staunch support for Israel within the chamber, where only a handful of US legislators have called for a Gaza ceasefire.

Meanwhile, a report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has highlighted Johnson’s ties to the Israeli far-right. The evangelical legislator travelled to Israel in 2020 on a trip organised by a group whose leader lives in an illegal Israeli settlement, according to the newspaper.

He also visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque with right-wing groups and legislators, according to Haaretz.

The former head of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called the targeting of journalists and their families in the besieged Gaza Strip “shocking”.

Aidan White, who was IFJ’s general secretary for 25 years, told Al Jazeera that the killing of correspondent Wael Dahdouh’s family in Gaza will “shock journalists all around the world”.

“The state of the freedom of journalism in this war is catastrophic. The death of the family of our colleague shows that no place is safe and there’s no shelter for the innocent and that journalists are a target,” said White, who founded the Ethical Journalism Network in 2012.