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Sweden has temporarily halted development aid to Palestinian territories, the country’s development minister, Johan Forssell, said.
Denmark has also announced that it would pause its aid.
EU foreign ministers have convened an emergency meeting today to discuss decisions on funding, a day after the European Commission appeared to backpedal on an announcement that it was to suspend “all payments” to Palestinians as a result of Hamas’s attacks on Israel.
The number of Britons caught up in the violence in Israel and Gaza has yet to be confirmed, with ministers wary that official estimates of casualties and those injured are still being compiled.
Rishi Sunak said he understood there were families in the UK “anxious about their loved ones in the region”. He added:
I want to reassure them we’re doing everything we can, working very closely with the Israeli authorities to establish what is happening on the ground, provide support to people where it’s needed.
I’d urge anyone there to contact the Foreign Office so that they have their details, follow the advice locally from the Israelis but also from the Foreign Office, and we stand ready to support everyone as best we can.
Waving a Palestinian flag or singing a chant advocating freedom for Arabs in the region may be a criminal offence, the UK’s home secretary, Suella Braverman, has told senior police officers.
In a letter to chief constables in England and Wales, Braverman urged them to clamp down on any attempts to use flags, songs or swastikas to harass or intimidate members of the Jewish community.
Her words, which follow deadly attacks by Hamas on Israelis and a military response, will deeply concern freedom of speech advocates and members of the Muslim community. She also wrote:
It is not just explicit pro-Hamas symbols and chants that are cause for concern. I would encourage police to consider whether chants such as: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ should be understood as an expression of a violent desire to see Israel erased from the world, and whether its use in certain contexts may amount to a racially aggravated section 5 public order offence.
Braverman’s letter was sent after Rishi Sunak vowed that anyone in the UK supporting Hamas would be “held to account” in the aftermath of the attack on Israel.
Sunak confirmed his support for Israel, saying he stood in solidarity with the state and its people “in the face of these barbaric acts of terrorism”.
The Israeli air force has claimed that it intercepted four out of 15 rockets launched into the north of Israel from Lebanon. In a statement on social media, it posted:
Following the initial report regarding launches in northern Israel, approximately 15 rockets were launched from Lebanese territory. The IAF aerial defence array successfully intercepted four rocket launches. Ten launches fell in open areas.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Israel and Palestine.
A salvo of rockets was fired on Tuesday from southern Lebanon towards Israel, three security sources told Reuters, in the third consecutive day of violence along the Lebanese-Israeli border since Hamas launched an attack on the south of Israel on Saturday.
The Israeli military said it was responding with artillery fire to launches coming from Lebanese territory.
Six people were killed on the border on Monday. The UN peacekeeping force in the south of Lebanon said it was verifying reports of rockets being fired.
A Catholic priest in Gaza, Gabriel Romanelli, has recounted to the Vatican news website how Pope Francis had been in contact with him since violence between Hamas and Israel escalated on Saturday.
He told the website: “The pope called me a few minutes ago. He expressed his closeness and offered his prayers.”
Romanelli said the pope had called him twice.
The Vatican news website reports Romanelli said that the Gaza parish is home to about 150 people who have lost their homes or are seeking a safe place from the Israeli bombardments.
IDF Brig Gen Dan Goldfuss has confirmed an earlier report that 1,000 people have been killed by Palestinian militants since Saturday’s surprise attack.
Goldfuss told journalists in a briefing that the “last four days were very tough days for us”, adding that his forces were facing “a cruel, vicious enemy”.
“Unfortunately they have succeeded this time to kill over 1,000 people, over 1,000 people. It’s just ... you can’t imagine.”
Goldfuss did not give a breakdown of the nationalities of the deceased, and some foreign nationals are known to have been killed in the violence. He did not say what proportion were civilian or military.
Sirens have been reported in northern Israel, close to Lebanon.
🚨Sirens sounding in Northern Israel🚨
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 10, 2023
Hamas is attacking the Israeli city of Ashkelon with rocket fire.
Earlier, the militant group warned civilians to leave before 5pm local time, which was almost 20 minutes ago.