Updates: 1 million in harm’s way in Gaza City as Israel escalates attacks

This live page is now closed. Thank you for joining us.

If you want to read more about Israel’s attack on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which killed eight people, check here.

And Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a virtual speech to the UN General Assembly today, said the people of Gaza were “facing a war of genocide”. Check here.

We will be closing the live page soon. Here is a recap of today’s main events:

• Medical sources at Gaza hospitals say at least 57 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since morning across the coastal enclave.
• Seven more hospitals and health facilities in Gaza City were forced to close in recent days because of heavy bombardment.
• Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says at the UN General Assembly debate: “Hamas will not have a role to play in governance”, and it and other armed groups must hand over their weapons. Hamas has condemned Abbas’s call to disarm.
• Abbas pledged to work with US President Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia, France and the United Nations on a peace plan for Gaza overwhelmingly backed by the world body.
• US President Donald Trump has said that he will not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank. He said a deal on Gaza was close.
• Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has said that Arab and Muslim leaders who met US President Donald Trump on Wednesday made clear their opposition to Israel annexing the occupied West Bank. The Saudi foreign minister announced $90m fund to help support the Palestinian Authority.
• At least eight people have been killed in the Israeli strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, according to the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV.

US President Donald Trump says he still has to meet with Israeli leaders, but that a deal to end the war in Gaza is close.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday that Trump had presented a peace plan to leaders of several Muslim-majority countries in a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Watch the video below:

The al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza, near Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah, is one of the most overcrowded areas in a landscape devastated by nearly two years of Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

Al-Mawasi, designated by the Israeli army as a “safe zone”, is an area of approximately 41sq km (15.83sq miles) lacking critical infrastructure and services, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

While the Israeli army has been telling residents of Gaza City – under intense military assault – to move to al-Mawasi, that area itself has been attacked multiple times by Israeli forces.

Conditions have been described as beyond dire, crowded, and under-resourced even before the latest mass displacements. Many Palestinians who have been forced to flee Gaza City say they are unable to find space to pitch their tents.

Moreover, the southern Gaza area has suffered several major Israeli attacks since the war began on October 7, 2023.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said that 86 percent of Gaza is either a militarised zone or subjected to displacement threats.

Earlier, we reported that UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned the organisation faced collapse due to funding shortfalls at a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, also present at the meeting, issued his own appeal.

Safadi said, “Nobody can do the job that UNRWA can do in Gaza because it has been there when others were not, because it knows every alley, every street, every home, every school, every clinic, every family that needs support. We need UNRWA.”

He also said that Israel’s violations of the UN Charter were “incomprehensible”, as it continues “to commit massacres against civilians and the world does nothing.”

Here are a few highlights published in recent hours:

Latest: Amid drone attacks, activists confront fear and hope on Gaza flotilla

Opinion: From Auschwitz, to Bosnia, to Gaza: The price of silence

Video: Why is Britain being sued for the Israel-Palestine crisis?

And there’s plenty more here.

The Americans are confident they are going to decide the future of the post-war governance in Gaza without the Palestinian Authority. And this explains the defiant tone of President Mahmoud Abbas, who had to deliver the speech remotely after his visa was denied by the US.

He said that his people will continue the fight until an independent, viable Palestinian state is established, and that there is absolutely no way they will allow for Palestinians to be forced out of Gaza. But he also said – and this was his attempt to try to build bridges with the international community – that he wants to be part of the architecture which they want to put into place in Gaza. And he insisted that Hamas will not be allowed to take part in any governance, but this is something that ultimately he won’t be able to have a say about it.

The last few days, I’ve been talking to Western officials about whether they think a rejuvenated Palestinian Authority should be part of the political establishment. Most of them told me they don’t want to see Mahmoud Abbas any more as Palestinian president, but at the same time, they want to see genuine reforms of the Palestinian Authority, because the Americans and the Israelis still insist it has to happen before there’s any comprehensive political settlement.

For the live coverage of the diplomatic activity in New York and the UN General Assembly meeting, click here.

Saudi Arabia has announced the launch of an emergency international coalition to fund the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Speaking at a news conference in New York on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said the coalition would provide direct financial support to the PA “with a number of important partners”.

He also said that Saudi Arabia will contribute $90m for the effort.

The Palestinian group has released a statement after the UNGA speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Here are the translated comments:

• Resistance is a national and moral responsibility that derives its legitimacy from our people.
• The Palestinian Authority’s assertion that Hamas will have no role in government is an infringement on the Palestinian people’s inherent right to self-determination.
• The resistance’s weapons cannot be touched as long as the occupation remains on our land, and we condemn the PA president’s demand to hand them over.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has said that Arab and Muslim leaders who met US President Donald Trump on Wednesday made clear their opposition to Israel annexing the occupied West Bank.

“Some countries made very clear to the president the danger of annexation of any type in the West Bank and the risk that poses not just to the potential of peace in Gaza, but also to any sustainable peace at all,” he said.

“And I feel confident that President Trump understood the position of the Arab and Muslim countries.”

Israeli officials have repeatedly said they would annex the territory following a wave of European countries joining a global position by recognising a Palestinian state.

According to several US outlets, Trump committed to not allowing Israel to annex the territory.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini delivered a stark warning to a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that the agency faces complete operational collapse within months due to a severe funding crisis.

Speaking at a ministerial meeting hosted by Jordan, Spain and Brazil, Lazzarini said the shortfall between now and early 2026 exceeds $200m, threatening services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region.

“In the absence of a significant influx of new funding, the delivery of critical services will be compromised before the end of the year,” he warned.

Lazzarini accused Israel of conducting “a fierce and well-funded disinformation campaign” designed to “dismantle the Agency to end the refugee status of Palestinians.” He said at least 370 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza, with most premises destroyed.

Lazzarini also warned that history would judge the international community’s response to Gaza, saying that “with the warnings issued by the International Court of Justice last year, and the publication of the Commission of Inquiry report last week,” the question of why leaders failed to prevent genocide “must now be asked of us”.

This all came from a joint investigation by the Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call, who in early August revealed that in 2021 the CEO of Microsoft had a meeting with the head of unit 8200, at the military spy agency of Israel.

And shortly after that, Israel began using Microsoft’s massive data storage, cloud computing servers in the Netherlands and Ireland to basically hoover up all of the communications on cellphones in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and then store them. It became a search for the Israeli military.

However, once the Gaza bombardment began, the Israeli military reportedly used this database for military targeting. At the time, Microsoft said it had no idea this could be happening and that its massive data centres were being used for that purpose.

An internal review began, and this is the first result [Microsoft on Thursday said it disabled a set of cloud and AI services used].

Greece’s Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis says his country’s navy will secure the safe passage of ships in the Global Sumud Flotilla, which has entered its territorial waters.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Gerapetritis told Reuters that “There are a small number of boats currently in the waters of Crete, and we will guarantee the safe sailing”.

He also said that Greek authorities have “already informed the Israeli government about the participation of Greek citizens in this, and we will make sure that everything goes well.”

Earlier this week, a handful of Western nations recognised Palestine as a state in what is seen as a largely symbolic move intended to “revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution,” as United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer put it.

The gesture comes against the backdrop of a staggering, but undercounted death toll in Gaza, with at least 65,000 people killed, including more than 19,000 children and more than 165,000 people injured, together accounting for more than 10 percent of Gaza’s population.

While governments have made diplomatic statements, voices from the cultural world have also grown louder. For almost as long as the war has continued, musicians, actors, writers and others have been calling for a ceasefire, advocating for Palestinian rights and calling on governments to hold Israel accountable, often facing condemnation and even blacklisting.

As the war has dragged on, more artists are using their unique influence to amplify support for Gaza. Al Jazeera visualises some of the artists who have spoken out and lists the signatories of at least 11 open letters calling to stop the destruction of Gaza and its people.