Hamas used hospital as a military base, says ambulance driver

Hamas was heavily embedded inside a hospital in northern Gaza, using its offices and ambulances for their operations, according to an ambulance driver.
Speaking under interrogation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the driver said Hamas military operatives were known to operate “at the gates of buildings [and] in the offices” of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabalia.
“They operate ambulances to transport their wounded military operatives and transport them for their missions. And this is instead of using ambulances for the benefit of civilians,” he said in a video released by the IDF.
The driver was arrested after Israeli special forces stormed the hospital over the weekend, during which 100 suspected Hamas fighters were captured.
Israel said it raided the hospital as part of its new offensive in northern Gaza in response to a “regrouping” of Hamas in and around Jabalia.
Gaza health officials have denied Israeli claims of any militant presence at the hospital.
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We’ll be back soon with more updates and analysis. In the meantime, here are the updates from today: 
Israeli troops have withdrawn from the Kamal Adwan hospital after a three-day raid, the military has confirmed. 
The military stormed the hospital, which it says was used by Hamas, on Friday. 
Israel launched a renewed military campaign in northern Gaza around Jabalia, saying Hamas had “regrouped” in the area.
Hezbollah claims it ambushed Israeli troops near a Lebanese border village on Monday. 
The Iran-backed terror group said it “ambushed… the Israeli enemy’s vehicles and soldiers as they advanced towards” Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon.
It said deadly clashes then broke out. The IDF has not commented on the claims.
The IDF said it struck Hezbollah weapons depots and observation posts in Tyre, southern Lebanon.
“The Hezbollah terror organisation advanced terror activities against Israeli citizens and IDF troops from these compounds,” the military said in a statement.
Hezbollah fired around 30 rockets into Israel from Lebanon in an hour on Monday, according to the IDF.
The Israeli military confirmed sirens were sounded in the Western and Upper Galilee areas at around 2.30pm in Israel (12.30pm UK time).
“Approximately 30 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.
Some of the rockets were intercepted, while others landed, it added. There were no reported injuries.
We’re getting pictures in from Tyre, southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military launched a series of air strikes on Monday. 
Israel is seeking to bolster its missile defences by developing a new laser interception system known as the “Iron Beam”. 
Around $530m has been set aside to develop the system, which is intended to improve the interception of drones and other projectiles, supplementing other capabilities such as the Iron Dome.
It comes amid concerns that a rise in successful drone attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as from Syria and Yemen, has exposed a possible flaw in the Iron Dome: it wasn’t designed to deal with drones.
While most of the focus has been on Hezbollah’s huge collection of precision-guided missiles, Israel has found that much smaller and less aggressive drones are posing just as big of a challenge, if not bigger.
You can read more about Israel’s struggle to deal with drone attacks here.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said more than 43,000 people have been killed since war broke out last October. 
The ministry says at least 43,020 people have been killed and 101,110 others wounded since the war started on Oct. 7, 2023. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.
An ambulance driver at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza said Hamas was known to have used its premises as a military base.
“Hamas military operatives are present; they are in the courtyards, at the gates of the buildings, in the offices of the Kamal Adwan Hospital,” the driver said in an interrogation which was released by the IDF. 
“They operate ambulances to transport their wounded military operatives and transport them for their missions. And this is instead of using ambulances for the benefit of civilians.”
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has called for new workers to join the Kamal Adwan hospital to “help save as many wounded and patients as possible” following Israel’s raid.
“The ministry urgently calls on international organisations to promptly dispatch surgical teams to the hospital,” the ministry said. 
It comes after Israel said it captured 100 Hamas fighters who had “barricaded” themselves inside the hospital.
“A few of the fully identified terrorists disguised themselves as medical staff so we didn’t have any alternative but to check the medical staff as well,” a military official told journalists in an online briefing.
The number of people killed in a strike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, has risen from five to seven, according to the country’s health ministry.
Some 17 people were injured, up from the earlier figure of 10.
Lebanon has submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council over an Israeli strike which killed three journalists in the south of the country.
The strike early Friday hit a complex in the Druze-majority town of Hasbaya in south Lebanon where more than a dozen journalists from Lebanese and Arab media outlets were sleeping.
The Israeli army said Friday that the strike was “under review”, maintaining it had targeted Hezbollah militants.
The IDF has also released footage showing its soldiers carrying out a raid on the Kamal Radwan hospital in northern Gaza.
“Before beginning scans in the compound, the soldiers enabled civilians to leave the hospital,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
Hamas is open to reaching a ceasefire deal with Israel in Gaza, a senior official from the terror group’s political bureau has said.
Husam Badran said Hamas’s demands are “clear and known and a deal can be reached” so long as “Netanyahu remains committed to what was already agreed upon”.
It comes after David Barnea, the head of Mossad, flew to Doha on Sunday to discuss attempts to secure a hostage release deal, alongside Bill Burns, CIA director, and senior Qatari politicians.
According to Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, Mr Barnea will discuss “the various possibilities to restart negotiations for the release of hostages from Hamas captivity, based on recent developments”.
Israel’s killing of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader, was described by Western countries as an opportunity to jump-start ceasefire talks, which have not occurred since August.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet will no longer meet at his office or the IDF’s headquarters due to “security concerns”, according to reports in Hebrew media.
A new protocol was put into effect on Monday, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
It follows a rise in attempted attacks on politicians and symbolic government sites.
Russia is working to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East, the Kremlin said on Monday.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said Russia was doing “everything it could” to calm tensions, adding that Moscow was in touch with all sides of the conflict.
Last week, Vladimir Putin said the Middle East was on the brink of all-out war as he spoke at the Brics summit in Kazan, Russia.
Israeli air strikes damaged a military base linked to Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons programme on Saturday, satellite images show.
The attack appears to have hit a ballistic missile site in Parchin, where it is suspected Iran has previously conducted tests of high explosives that could be used in a nuclear weapon.
Photographs taken on Sunday morning by satellite firm Planet Labs also showed that an Israeli strike destroyed two buildings at the nearby Khojir base, where analysts believe solid fuel for ballistic missiles was mixed.
Israel did not target Iran’s nuclear facilities or oil refineries, after pressure from US and other Western countries. 
Read the full story here.
As Israel and Hamas prepare to resume negotiations, a short-term deal has been presented by Egypt which would see a two-day ceasefire in return for the release of four hostages and an undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas is reportedly onboard with the terms, which would serve as a bridge for a more comprehensive deal.
But the questions over Hamas’ post-war role in Gaza and presence of Israeli soldiers in the enclave are still the main sticking points.
Israel has achieved most of its military goals in Gaza and knows that the hostages can only be freed via a deal.
If Israel can somehow strike a deal which convinces the public that Hamas is no longer going to play a role in a post-war Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu could go ahead with it.
The sole priority for Hamas is to ensure its survival in Gaza, either through entering a unity government with Fatah, or rebuilding its military capabilities under the radar.
But neither scenario is acceptable to Israel. The only actor capable of strong-arming Hamas into a deal is Qatar, which finances the terror group and currently hosts its most senior members.  
X, formerly Twitter, has suspended the account of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.
A note on Khamenei’s account said it had been suspended for violating X’s rules.
It came hours after the account posted a message about Israel’s attack on Tehran.
The post, written in Hebrew, said: “The Zionist regime made a mistake. It erred in its calculations on Iran. We will cause it to understand what kind of strength, ability, initiative, and will the Iranian nation has.”
Iran will use “all available tools” to respond to Israel’s attack, the foreign ministry in Tehran has said.
It follows warnings by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that Israel would face “bitter consequences” for its attack.
Iraq has condemned Israel’s use of its airspace to attack neighbouring Iran in a protest letter sent to Antonio Guterres, the United Nations chief, and the UN Security Council, Baghdad said on Monday.
A statement from government spokesman said the letter condemns “the Zionist entity’s blatant violation of Iraq’s airspace and sovereignty by using Iraqi airspace to carry out an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran on October 26”.
At least five people are dead and 10 injured after an Israeli strike in the centre of the southern city of Tyre, according to Lebanese health authorities.
An “Israeli enemy strike this morning on a building” in the centre of the coastal city “led to a provisional toll of five dead and 10 wounded”, a health ministry statement said, adding that “work is ongoing to remove the rubble”.
Israel will face “bitter consequences” after its attack on Iranian military sites, the top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday.
Guards chief Hossein Salami, quoted by Tasnim news agency, said Israel had “failed to achieve its ominous goals” with its air raids on Saturday. 
Salami described it as a sign of “miscalculation and helplessness” and warned that “bitter consequences will be unimaginable” for Israel.
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. 
We’ll be bringing you updates and analysis across the day.