Thousands flee Gaza assault as Arab states welcome UK Palestine recognition

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Israel will skip an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Gaza scheduled for Tuesday because of the Jewish New Year, its envoy to the UN said calling the timing "regrettable."

As a country directly affected by the deliberations of the UN's top security body, Israel had been invited to address the Council's discussion of the devastating conflict in Gaza on the sidelines of the UN's high-level week.

"I wish to inform you that the delegation of Israel will not participate in this meeting, as it coincides with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year," Ambassador Danny Danon said in a separate letter to the rotating Security Council president.

"Despite Israel's request to the Presidency and Council members to reschedule, the meeting remains set for that date -- one of the most significant in the Jewish calendar, marking the start of the High Holy Days."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address the UN General Assembly on Friday amid a slew of recognitions of a Palestinian state by Western countries. Israel has angrily denounced these big policy changes.

"It's unfortunate that the Security Council will meet without Israel," Danon in a video statement issued Monday.

Israel vowed on Monday that it would not allow a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid to break its blockade of the Palestinian territory.

"Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade," the foreign ministry said in a statement, accusing Hamas of organising the flotilla to serve the militant group's purpose.

Hamas have executed three men accused of collaborating with Israel, a Palestinian official said, as the group seeks to crush rising challenges from Palestinian militias it says are working against it with Israeli support.

In a video circulated on social media showing the executions, a masked man is seen issuing a warning to "all collaborators" before the three men, kneeling and blindfolded, are kicked onto their fronts and shot in front of a crowd.

Reuters confirmed the location as Gaza City by the buildings, a gas station, road layout, and signs seen in the video which matched file and satellite imagery of the area.

The Palestinian security official from the Gaza government said the executions were carried out on Sunday by the "Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian resistance".

The videos showed "revolutionary rulings" being implemented against people for security collaboration with Israel, it said.

The executions aimed to send "a clear message and serve as a deterrent to anyone tempted to collaborate with the occupation".

The Palestinian security official said some of the men executed on Sunday had ties to Yasser Abu Shabab, based in Rafah in southern Gaza, an area controlled by Israel.

Citing a senior US official and a source involved in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, Fox News has said that Hamas has written a letter to Donald Trump asking for his guarantee of a 60-day ceasefire for the release of half the Israeli captives held in the enclave.

This report was confirmed by Axios, whose reporter, citing a source with knowledge of the letter, said that "Hamas leaders haven't signed the letter yet, but it might happen in the coming days".

"The source says Hamas doesn't believe a comprehensive deal is possible at the moment and wants to go back to a partial deal as a first step," the Axios reporter added.

Hamas' armed wing released a video on Monday showing an Israeli-German captive alive, the second such footage of him shared by the militants this month.

The Israeli campaign group Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified the captive as Alon Ohel, who was abducted by Palestinian militants during their 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

The forum cited his family as urging the media not to use his photograph or excerpts from the video.

In the video Ohel, 24, dressed in a black t-shirt, appeals to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of all captives still held in Gaza.

He is also heard urging his family to continue protesting against Netanyahu and his government in order to press for their release.

The clip also shows a militant holding a gun, also dressed in black, tapping Ohel's shoulder.

The footage, released by the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, shows Ohel speaking while watching a television screen displaying Netanyahu.

AFP was unable to immediately verify the video or the date it was filmed.

Israel's military said on Monday it will demolish the homes of two Palestinian gunmen who shot and killed six people at a bus stop in Jerusalem earlier this month in one of the deadliest attacks in the city in the past few years.

The shooting took place against the backdrop of Israel's nearly two years of war on Gaza that has devastated the enclave, and amid a surge in attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Jerusalem attackers were shot dead at the scene. Israel says demolishing the homes of relatives of attackers and their fellow villagers is a deterrent to future attacks.

Palestinians and human rights groups say it is a form of collective punishment prohibited by international law.

Earlier this month, Israel ordered the demolition of all homes built without permits in Qatanna and Qubeiba - the hometowns of the attackers, and said 750 people from the town would have their work permits revoked.

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, told AFP Monday that diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program were at a "difficult juncture."

"It's obviously quite a difficult juncture. It's a very difficult situation we are facing right now," the International Atomic Energy Agency chief said, adding that talks between involved parties were planned in New York for Monday.

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 31 Palestinians since Monday, sources told Al Jazeera.

The toll also includes 27 in Gaza City, where Israel has intensified its attacks and launched an unprecedented invasion of the region.

Singapore said on Monday it will impose targeted sanctions on leaders of Israeli settler groups and would recognise a Palestine state under the right conditions.

Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, speaking in parliament, chided those Israeli politicians who have spoken about annexing parts of the West Bank or Gaza, the two Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

"We call on the Israeli government to cease settlement construction and expansion," he said, citing the so-called E1 settlement project as fragmenting the West Bank.

"We oppose ongoing attempts to create new facts on the ground which undermine the prospects for a two-state solution."

More details on the sanctions would be released at a later date, he said.

The al-Rantisi Children's Hospital and the St John Eye Hospital have been closed because of Israel's bombardment of Gaza City, which has been occurring around the hospitals, according to Al Jazeera, citing Gaza's Ministry of Health.

"The occupation is deliberately and systematically destroying the health care system in the Gaza Strip as part of its policy of genocide against the Strip," the ministry said.

The Israeli military said a projectile was launched on Monday from Gaza City, which the army is currently pressing a major ground offensive to capture.

"A short while ago, a projectile that was launched from Gaza City toward the area of Nahal Oz was identified," an army statement said, referring to a community near the Gaza border. "An attempt was made to intercept the projectile, and the results are under review."

An Israeli army officer has been wounded by gunfire from Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, according to The Times of Israel, citing the military.

The Palestinian mission to the UK has now become an embassy following the UK's recognition of the State of Palestine on Sunday.

Palestinian ambassador to the UK Hosam Zomlot gave a speech outside the embassy welcoming the change, with the embassy's account on X quoting him as saying it was a courageous step, and gave his thanks to those who marched across the country demonstrating the war: "We thank you and we will always remember how you stood by our side."

Raising the Palestinian flag, Zomlot says: "We raise it in honour of the long journey of the Palestinian peopel towards freedom and justice."

At the end of his speech, Ambassador @hzomlot raises the flag of #Palestine 🇵🇸 as the Palestinian national anthem is played back. pic.twitter.com/aLV6svRNs9

— Palestine in the UK (@PalMissionUK) September 22, 2025

Gaza's Ministry of Health has said that in the last 24 hours Israeli attacks have killed 61 Palestinians and wounded a further 220.

The death toll of Israel's war in Gaza has increased to 65,344 Palestinians killed and 166,795 wounded.

Russia still believes that a two-state solution is the only way to settle the conflict in the Middle East, the Kremlin said on Monday, after it was asked about a decision by some Western countries to recognise a Palestinian state.

Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal all recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday in a move borne out of frustration over the Gaza war and intended to promote a two-state solution, prompting a furious response from Israel.

"We remain committed to the fundamental resolutions of the UN Security Council and remain committed to the international position on the possibility of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli problem on the basis of a two-state approach," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"This remains our approach, and we believe that it is the only possible way to find a solution to this extremely complex, long-standing conflict, which is now perhaps at its most acute and tragic stage in its entire history."

The Jordanian field hospital in the city's southwestern neighbourhood of Tal al-Hawa received orders to evacuate on Monday morning, according to a senior health official.

The military has already ordered all Palestinians in Gaza City to head south, to central and southern Gaza Strip. It has told aid workers in private messages that all humanitarian sites - except hospitals - must evacuate.

The military didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dr. Muneer al-Boush, director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that the hospital has at least 300 patients, as well as medical staff and family members of the patients.

The order came as residents reported that troops were approaching the facility, with dozens of families trapped in their homes and shelters around the hospital.

Malta will announce its formal recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, the Prime Minister's Office said, joining a group of countries in making the move.

Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela first announced plans for the recognition of a Palestinian state in May, but the UN conference was later postponed.

The Mediterranean EU island has a history of support for Palestinian causes and has backed efforts for a two-state solution, while maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel.

The wife of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat lived on the island for several years.

Late on Sunday Abela hailed the delivery of a consignment of flour donated by Malta to Gaza "on the eve of Malta's recognition of a Palestinian state", in a Facebook post.

He said that the recognition of a Palestinian state was "historic" and Malta remained committed to reaching peace in the region.

The Israeli military said on Monday it had reinforced all combat fronts with air, land and naval forces across the country during the Jewish New Year holiday.

Earlier this year, Israeli media reported that the military had ended its long-standing practice of granting unit-wide leave during holidays.

The decision followed a military investigation that found Hamas took advantage of the reduced troop presence along the Gaza border on 7 October 2023, during a Jewish holiday, to launch its attack, according to media reports.

The Jewish New Year starts on Monday, 22 September and ends Wednesday.

Germany on Monday reaffirmed its position that it would not recognise a Palestinian state until the Israelis and Palestinians negotiate a two-state solution.

As he left for the UN in New York, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that "a negotiated two-state solution is the path that can allow Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security and dignity."

"For Germany, recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of the process. But this process must begin now," he said.

The comments came ahead of the United Nations general assembly, where France is expected to become the latest country to recognise a Palestinian state, following Australia, Britain, Canada, and Portugal, who did so on Sunday.

The Allenby crossing, the sole gateway between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jordan, has reopened for passenger traffic, a spokesperson for the Israeli authority managing the land border said on Monday.

Israel officially closed the crossing on 19 September, a day after a Jordanian truck driver opened fire there, killing two Israeli soldiers. The border crossing is also the main route for transporting commercial goods between Jordan and the West Bank.

Qatar on Monday welcomed the recognition of a Palestinian state by Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal, saying the move supported efforts to achieve a lasting peace in the region.