Reha Kansara
Global religion reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Let's turn to the West Bank, where violence against Palestinians has risen sharply since war broke out in Gaza. The UN says Israeli settlers have killed eight people and injured a further 85.

Recent steps by the UK and US governments to ban "extremist" settlers responsible for violence from entering their countries has put this group in the spotlight.

The militant settlers belong to a much wider section of settlers motivated by a religious belief that they are returning the biblical land of Judea and Samaria - the modern-day West Bank - to Israel.

Their belief in a perceived higher calling distinguishes them from other settler communities who move to the occupied territories for economic or nationalistic but less religious reasons.

All settlements in the West Bank are regarded as illegal under intentional law, although Israel disputes this.

Today the religious settler movement is embedded in the political fabric of Israel.

Underpinning this is the catapult of far-right parties into the mainstream through Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government.

Among the government's senior figures are far-right leaders and settlers like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from the Religious Zionist party, who has consistently called for more settlements in the West Bank.

Fellow cabinet member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from the Otzma Yehudit party, has previously been convicted of inciting racism and supporting terrorism.

Image source, Reuters

It's just after 19:00 in Israel and Gaza and 17:00 here in London. Here's a quick recap of what's been happening today:

• Rocket attacks have been launched against Jerusalem for the first time since 30 October. The country's Iron Dome defence system intercepted the missiles
• Earlier, Israel said it would allow aid into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, a move praised by the White House
• The Israeli offensive has continued in Gaza on Friday, with residents reporting fighting in northern, central and southern Gaza

• Israeli military said it had recovered the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Nik Beizer and Ron Scherman, and civilian Elia Toledano, who had all been taken hostage by Hamas when the group launched its cross-border attacks on southern Israel on 7 October

• Elsewhere, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who said Gaza must remain an "integral part" of the Palestinian state
• In other news, Danish shipping company Maersk said it was pausing all journeys through the Red Sea after a spate of attacks on vessels from a part of Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis. The Houthis, who have declared their support for Hamas, say they have been targeting ships travelling to Israel

Image source, Getty Images

Danish shipping company Maersk has said it is pausing all journeys through the Red Sea.

The decision comes after a spate of attacks on vessels launched from a part of Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis.

The group has declared their support for Hamas and say they are targeting ships travelling to Israel.

The Red Sea is one the world's most important routes for oil and fuel shipments. Avoiding it means vessels must take much longer routes, for example navigating around southern Africa.

You can read the full article here.

Here's a bit more on the rocket attacks on Jerusalem we've been reporting on.

Israel's national alert service warned of "massive rocket alerts", in an update on X, formerly Twitter, at 17:00 local time.

ILRedAlert, which updates on rocket alerts targeting Israeli communities, warned of 31 rocket alerts.

Beit Zayit, Mevasseret Zion, West, Motza Illit and Ein Kerem Boarding School in Jerusalem and Almon, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, were included in the rocket alerts.

According to news agencies, sirens were heard in the city of Jerusalem for the first time since 30 October.

Image source, X / ILRedAlert

Image source, .

Israel is to allow aid to pass through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint into Gaza for the first time since the war began on 7 October.

The Israeli prime minister's office said the opening would enable Israel to maintain its commitments to allow 200 lorries of aid to enter per day, which was agreed upon in a hostage deal last month.

Israel had previously insisted that no Israeli border crossings into Gaza would be opened until all hostages held by Hamas were released.

Until now aid has only been able to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt – which can only process a limited number of vehicles.

The US praised the move and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called it a "significant step".

It marks a change from Israel's stance last week, when Israel said the Kerem Shalom crossing would only open for the inspection of aid lorries before the trucks would go to Rafah to cross into Gaza.

Image source, AFP

While US officials were visiting the West Bank today, people took to the streets of Ramallah and Hebron in solidarity with civilians in Gaza.

Protesters were pictured carrying Hamas flags, and chanted slogans in support of the people of Gaza.

Some people held up pictures of Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi during the protest. The Houthis, who rule large parts of Yemen, have been attacking ships that they claim are going to Israel or are owned by Israeli companies since the start of the war in Gaza. The Iranian-backed group says that they will continue with their attacks until Israel stops its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

An opinion poll carried out between 22 November and 2 December by a respected Palestinian think-tank, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, found that support for Hamas had more than tripled in the West Bank compared to three months ago - read more on that here.

Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Jerusalem

Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem at around 17:00 local time, and the country’s Iron Dome defence system intercepted rockets over the city.

It was the first rocket attack to target the city in weeks, as the war in Gaza continues.

“After 70 days of nonstop rocket fire throughout the country, as Shabbat comes in, sirens are sounding in Jerusalem,” the IDF said.

We are hearing from AFP and Reuters news agencies that multiple rockets have been fired, targeting Jerusalem.

Air raid sirens have been heard and rockets have been intercepted in central Jerusalem, according to witnesses.

Image source, Reuters

Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy has called on the US and other allies to "stand by us as we push for total victory over Hamas".

Speaking at a press conference, Levy insisted that the US and Israel were "fully aligned" on their mission to destroy Hamas, and that the US shared Israel's belief that Hamas was "pure evil".

Responding to a question on whether the US was putting pressure on Israel to bring the war to an end, Levy said: "The only clock that matters is that every second Hamas still exists after (7 October). It is a ticking time bomb that we must defuse or it will explode in our faces again."

Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, Getty Images

The White House says it wants the war in Gaza to be over as soon as possible.

Visiting Israel, the US national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, said he had discussed with the country’s leadership a transition for the Israeli military to more precise and targeted attacks against Hamas. But no details, including a timetable, have been made public.

Under international pressure over the high number of deaths in Gaza, Israel says it needs more time – months, not weeks – to achieve its goal of destroying Hamas. And there are no signs its offensive is slowing down despite growing criticism even from its main ally, the US.

Two months of war have killed thousands of Palestinians – more than 18,000, according to the local, Hamas-run, health authorities – and displaced hundreds of thousands of others, while large parts of Gaza now lie in ruins. Those who have not been killed by the bombs are struggling to survive amid widespread shortages of basic supplies and a collapsed health system.

Hamas is still fighting back. Reports indicate Israel’s ground offensive is facing intense resistance in northern Gaza, where the military said last month that fighting had diminished, as well as in central areas and in parts of Khan Younis in the south, where the Israeli authorities believe members of the Hamas leadership are hiding.

Israel says around 7,000 Hamas fighters have been killed so far, from an estimated 20,000 the group had before the war. Its military may be able to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure, but its ideology is likely to resist. There are signs, for example, of growing support for the group in the occupied West Bank.

Image source, EPA

We've got some more from the meeting in the West Bank between senior US official Jake Sullivan and President Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority.

Abbas insisted that Gaza was an "integral part" of the Palestinian state, his office told the AFP news agency, and he "underscored that separation or any attempt to isolate any part of it" was "unacceptable".

Al Jazeera is reporting that two of its journalists have been wounded in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to Reuters, Wael al-Dahdouh and Samer Abu Daqqa were wounded by a missile fired from a drone near Haifa school in the centre of Khan Younis.

Al-Dahdouh previously lost his wife, teenage son, young daughter and a grandson in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip.

63 journalists and media workers have been killed due to the fighting in Gaza in 7 October, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

We're now hearing some lines from the meeting between the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, and the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.

According to the Palestinian News Agency Wafa, quoted by Reuters, President Abbas has told Sullivan that the Israeli attacks in Gaza must stop.

Abbas has also asked the US to intervene to force Israel to halt attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

As soon as we get more reports from the meeting in Ramallah we'll bring them to you here, stick with us.

Image source, EPA

A handout photo has been made available by the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, showing Abbas meeting the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Ramallah in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority is based in the West Bank and does not exercise control over the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas.

Sullivan is on a two-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories. He met with the Israeli prime minister and top government officials on Thursday. He said his meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu about shifting to a more precise phase of military operations had been "constructive"

Stay with us and we'll bring you more from Sullivan's meeting with Abbas once we have it.

Mouners in Israel have attended the funeral of Sergeant Oz Shmuel Aradi, a 19-year-old IDF soldier, from Kibbutz Hatzor near Ashdod, who was killed in action in southern Gaza on Thursday.

His death brings the number of Israeli troops killed in the ground offensive against Hamas to 118.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Frank Gardner
Security Correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

The sight of billowing black smoke rising up from a tanker in the Red Sea sends shivers through the shipping industry.

A decade ago it was Somali maritime piracy that made navigating through the narrow Bab El-Mandeb Strait that separates Africa from the Arabian peninsula a hazardous undertaking.

Today, it is a case of running the gauntlet of drones and ballistic anti-ship missiles fired by Iranian-backed Houthis from the part of Yemen’s coast that they control.

The Houthis, a tribal militia that seized power illegally nine years ago, have declared their support for Hamas by announcing their intention to attack any Israeli-owned vessel or one visiting Israeli ports.

The latest attacks follow several earlier ones in the southern Red Sea, pushing up insurance premiums and potentially making some ships go all the way round Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Red Sea.

The US is under pressure from Israel to do something about these attacks but Washington is reluctant to target the Houthi missile sites for fear of widening the Israel-Hamas conflict and triggering retaliation by Iran.

Instead, we are likely to see a multinational naval coalition forming to protect shipping and shoot down any incoming missiles and drones.

Israel has continued its heavy bombardment of Gaza with the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah hit.

Here are some images from this morning showing the destruction in the area.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The UK and more than a dozen partner countries have issued a joint statement calling on Israel to take "immediate and concrete steps to tackle record high settler violence" in the occupied West Bank.

"This rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians is unacceptable," a joint statement published by the British government said.

The countries, including Australia, Canada and France, said: "Proactive steps must now be taken to ensure the effective and immediate protection of Palestinian communities."

The statement, external also said the partner nations believe Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us, here's the latest on the situation in the Israel-Gaza conflict this morning:

• The bodies of three Israeli hostages have been recovered including two Israeli soldiers, Nik Beizer and Ron Scherman who were taken by Hamas on 7 October
• It follows the retrieval of the body of hostage Elia Toledano, 28, who was abducted from the Supernova music festival on 7 October by Hamas
• US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, will meet the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank later today
• Speaking in Israel this morning, Sullivan said the US wants to see results on Israel's intent to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, but added "the United States stands with Israel"
• Meanwhile, a missile launched from an area of Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels has hit a cargo ship in the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Houthis have said they'll target any vessels travelling to Israel
• The intense bombardment of Gaza continues with reports of dead and wounded including children in the southern Strip
• Israeli forces say they have wiped out a Hamas base in northern Gaza, the HQ of the group's Shejaya Battalion

Anna Holligan
Hague correspondent

The Dutch government is not obliged to stop the supply of F-35 fighter jet parts from a US-operated warehouse in the Netherlands.

The district court in The Hague has published a judgement in response to a legal challenge brought by a number of NGOs - Oxfam Novib, peace movement PAX Netherlands and The Rights Forum.

The NGOs argued the Netherlands is violating international law by supplying Israel with parts intended for combat equipment, while according to the groups the Dutch government knows that Israel is thus violating fundamental principles of the law of war.

Dutch ministers said they'd weighed up the situation on the ground along with Israel’s right to self defence.

The judge came to the conclusion that government had made reasonable decisions to allow the supply the parts to continue.