19:50 GMT - US Capitol police arrest Jewish protestors demanding Gaza cease-fire outside senator's office
US Capitol Police arrested Jewish activists outside Senator Bernie Sanders' office, who were demanding a cease-fire in Gaza.
The demonstrators, seated in front of the door, urged an immediate halt to hostilities in Gaza.
"Capitol Police are arresting American Jews & allies outside @BernieSanders office. Thousands are already dead, and Israeli officials are talking about leveling Gaza and forcing Palestinians into the desert, sacrificing Israeli hostages in the process," the American Jewish group IfNotNow, wrote on X on Wednesday.
Video footage showed a Capitol police officer handcuffing demonstrators while others sat and chanted: "Cease-fire now."
18:00 GMT - 'We must keep raising our voice for immediate ceasefire,' says UK's former Labour Party leader
Former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
"An entire culture, history, and people are disappearing under the rubble – buried by the moral cowardice of our political leaders," Corbyn said on X on Wednesdaym adding his voice to the growing international chorus for an end to the ongoing conflict.
"Artists whose work we will never know. Teachers whose lessons we will never learn. Children whose laughter we will never hear."
"We must keep raising our voice for an immediate ceasefire. For the universal application of international law. For our shared humanity. For the only path to a just and lasting peace: an end to the occupation of Palestine," he added.
17:27 GMT - 'Massive' Israeli ground op in Gaza would be 'an error' — Macron
A "massive" Israeli ground incursion into Gaza would be "an error", French President Emmanuel Macron has said in Cairo, warning it would harm civilians without ensuring Israel's long-term security.
"If it's a massive intervention that would put civilian lives at risk, I think it's an error... for Israel too because it is unlikely to protect Israel in the long term, and because it is incompatible with... international humanitarian law and the rules of law," Macron said after meeting Egypt's Abdel Fattah el Sisi, who also urged Israel to avoid an invasion.
"The international law applies to everyone. France has always supported the universal values of humanism. All lives matter and there is no hierarchy. All victims deserve our compassion, our engagement in a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East," he said on Wednesday.
17:14 GMT - 37 Palestinians killed as Israel launches new airstrikes on Gaza
At least 37 Palestinians were killed in new Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, according to the Interior Ministry in the blockaded enclave.
A statement said 26 were killed and more than 100 injured in the strikes that targeted the al-Yarmouk neighborhood in Gaza City.
Many were still trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings in the area, it said. Several residential buildings were destroyed in the attacks, according to witnesses.
Eleven Palestinians were also killed and scores injured when Israeli warplanes struck a house in the Tal al-Zaatar neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip, the ministry said in a separate statement.
16:08 GMT - Israel delays Gaza invasion to accommodate US deployment of missile defenses: Report
Israel agreed to postpone its invasion of Gaza to allow the US to deploy missile defenses to the region, according to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
The report said Israel has, for now, accepted a US request to position its air defenses before the anticipated ground operation, citing American and Israeli officials.
US officials convinced Israel to delay the invasion until the air-defense systems can be deployed, potentially by later this week, according to the newspaper.
The report said the Pentagon is working urgently to send nearly 12 air-defense systems to locations where US troops are stationed, including Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to shield them from missiles and rockets.
16:03 GMT - 11 Palestinians killed as Israeli warplanes strike house in northern Gaza
At least 11 Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry in the blockaded enclave said.
Scores of people were also injured in the strikes that targeted a house in Tal al-Zaatar neighborhood, the ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli bombardment caused widespread destruction in the area, according to eyewitnesses.
15:10 GMT - Hezbollah member killed in clashes on Lebanon-Israel border
Lebanese group Hezbollah said one of its members was killed in clashes with Israeli forces on Lebanon’s southern border.
A statement by the group on Wednesday did not provide any details about the circumstances leading to its member’s death.
The border clashes have been the deadliest since Hezbollah and Israel fought a full-scale war in 2006, when the Lebanese group struck major Israeli cities with rockets, causing significant damage.
At least 43 Hezbollah members had been killed since the outbreak of clashes between the two sides along the borderline on October 7.
14:17 GMT - First UK aid flight for Palestinians headed to Egypt: Defense chief
The first UK aid flight for Palestinians is headed to Egypt, defense chief Grant Shapps announced.
"The UK is committed to help those suffering in the humanitarian crisis Hamas created. Our Armed Forces stand ready to support our aid response," Shapps wrote on X on Wednesday.
Twenty-one tons (23 tons) of life-saving supplies will be distributed by the Egyptian Red Crescent to meet the most urgent needs of Gaza residents, including wound care packs, water filters and solar lights, according to a government statement.
14:17 GMT - Turkish President Erdogan cancels plan to visit Israel over ongoing Gaza conflict
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he had canceled a plan to visit Israel in light of the ongoing Gaza conflict.
At the Justice and Development (AK) Party's parliamentary group meeting in Ankara on Wednesday, Erdogan said that before October 7, when the conflict erupted, he had planned to visit Israel but then canceled his plans.
Saying that Türkiye has no problem with the Israeli state, Erdogan added, however, that Ankara would never approve of Tel Aviv committing atrocities.
Noting that almost half of those killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza are children, Erdogan said this showed that "the aim is deliberate brutality to commit crimes against humanity."
12:29 GMT - Libya's parliament calls for halting oil exports to supporters of Israel amid Gaza conflict
Libya’s parliament called for halting oil exports to backers of Israel amid relentless airstrikes on Gaza.
“We demand the government halt oil and gas exports to countries supporting Israel in case the Israeli massacres are not stopped,” parliamentary spokesman Abdullah Belihaq said in a statement on Wednesday.
The East Libya-based assembly also called on ambassadors of countries supporting Israel’s “crimes” in Gaza to leave Libya immediately.
Read more here
12:29 GMT - Struggle against foreign occupation cannot be equated with terrorism, Pakistan tells UN
Condemning the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, Pakistan told the UN that a struggle against foreign occupation cannot be equated with terrorism.
During a high-level debate at the UN Security Council over the situation in the Middle East on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Munir Akram said that his country condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
However, under international law, the struggle against occupation, for self-determination, and national liberation is legitimate and cannot be equated with terrorism, he said, according to a transcript released by the Pakistani mission at the UN.
“It is the suppression of this struggle, which is illegal,” Akram said while referring to Israeli actions in Gaza.
11:22 GMT - Gaza’s death toll soars to 6,546 amid Israeli airstrikes
The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza has soared to 6,546, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
“The fatalities included 2,704 children, 1,584 women, and 364 elders,” the ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told a press conference in Gaza City.
He said 17,439 other people were injured in the assaults, while 1,600 people remained trapped under the rubble, including 900 children.
The spokesman said 73 medics were killed and 25 ambulances destroyed in the Israeli attacks.
10:48 - Türkiye saddened by UN's inaction as killing of children continue in Gaza - Erdogan
Türkiye is deeply saddened by helplessness UN has fallen into and no one takes it seriously as it turns blind eye to brutal killing of children, says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The silence over massacre in Gaza of those who stood against the Russian war on Ukraine is most concrete expression of hypocrisy, he further said.
He also said that all parties in Palestine-Israel should take their fingers off trigger, declare ceasefire immediately.
Erdogan said he was cancelling plans to visit Israel because of its "inhumane" war in Gaza.
"We had a project to go to Israel, but it was cancelled, we will not go," Erdogan told ruling party politicians in parliament.
08:53 GMT - Humanitarian access to Gaza 'not enough,' says Australia
Australia said on Wednesday that the humanitarian access to Gaza is "not enough," calling for safe passage for civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Expressing concern over "dire humanitarian situation" of Palestinians, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the human suffering in Gaza is "widespread."
"We have consistently called for safe, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access, and safe passage for civilians," Wong said on X, adding: "There has been access in recent days but nowhere near enough."
4:35 GMT - Israel targets West Bank with drone strikes
Israeli military has killed four Palestinians in drone strikes on occupied West Bank's Jenin city, Palestine TV reported. A number of people were also wounded, some of whom are in "serious condition," it added.
Separately, a Palestinian teenager who was shot by Israeli troops last week succumbed to his wounds. The strike was at least the third use of Israeli air power in the area since October 7.
With the new killings, Palestinian death toll in the occupied West Bank tops 100 since October.
4:00 GMT - Hezbollah says 2 more members killed in clashes with Israeli army
Lebanon's Hezbollah group has announced that two more of its members were killed in clashes with the Israeli army.
The latest fatalities pushed the death toll of the group to 36. Hezbollah has been engaged in clashes with Israel along Lebanon's southern border since October 8.
The clashes have been ongoing due to the Israeli war on besieged Gaza, in which Israel has been relentlessly bombarding the blockaded enclave.
3:31 GMT - Australia deploys more aircraft, personnel to Middle East
Australia has deployed two more military aircraft and a "significant number" of defence personnel to the Middle East to help support its citizens there if the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine escalates.
Australia sent a Boeing C-17 aircraft and an air refueller plane that has the capacity to carry passengers, taking the total to three, Defence Minister Richard Marles said.
He did not disclose the total number of personnel deployed and where the aircraft would be based due to security reasons but said they would not be based in Israel.
3:00 GMT - More US warplanes arrive in Mideast
The New Jersey Air National Guard’s 119 Expeditionary Fighter Squadron has arrived in the Middle East, Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters. The squadron has F-16 fighter jets, and officials would not say where exactly it went.
Ryder also said the US is preparing for an increase in violence, noting that there have already been at least 13 attacks against troops and installations in Iraq and Syria.
"What we are seeing is the prospect for more significant escalation against US forces and personnel across the region in the very near term coming from Iranian proxy forces and ultimately from Iran," he said during a Pentagon briefing.
2:34 GMT - Macron says fight must be 'without mercy'
French President Emmanuel Macron has visited Israel in the latest trip by a Western leader to express support for the country amid its relentless bombardment on besieged Gaza, offering an assurance that Israel is "not left alone in the war against terrorism."
At a news conference in West Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Macron stressed Israel's right to defend itself.
"The fight must be without mercy, but not without rules," Macron said, because democracies "respect the rules of war," an apparent reference to criticism of Israeli air strikes that have killed thousands of Palestinian civilians in the blockaded enclave.
2:03 GMT - Ex-Israeli PM accuses media of favouring Hamas
Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has accused international media of displaying bias in its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, favouring the Palestinian resistance group Hamas over Israel.
"If the international media is objective and shows both sides, it serves Hamas," Lapid said. "My argument is that the media cannot just claim to bring both sides of the story. If you do that, you are only bringing one — Hamas's side," he said.
"It is an insult to the victims, including the Palestinians," Lapid noted. "it is an insult to the core idea of journalism," he added.
1:50 GMT - Malaysia says will not be scared off to condemn Israel
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said that no one can intimidate and stop his country from condemning Israeli "aggression" and supporting Palestinians.
Ibrahim noted he had received criticism from "some circles in Europe, the US" along with Israel.
"I said as long as I am given a mandate by the people, I do not accept threats. We will still fight," he said at a Solidarity with Palestine rally at Axiata Arena Stadium.
He wanted anyone to not even "dream of threatening" his country because Malaysians know what freedom is.
For our live updates from Tuesday (October 24), click here.
