Israel-Gaza war live: Netanyahu rebukes IDF after army spokesperson warns that Hamas cannot be eliminated | Israel-Gaza war

The leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a war “without rules or ceilings” in the event of a full-scale Israeli offensive against the Lebanese militia, as he threatened that Cyprus could become a target if it allowed Israel to use its territory in any conflict.

Cyprus and Israel have a bilateral defence cooperation agreement which has seen the countries conduct joint exercises.

“Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war, and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war,” the Hezbollah chief said.

Nikos Christodoulides, the island’s president, responded on Wednesday evening: “Cyprus remains uninvolved in any military conflicts and positions itself as part of the solution rather the problem.”

He sought to emphasise the humanitarian role the EU’s easternmost state had played in the Middle East, facilitating the opening of a sea corridor to transport desperately needed aid to Gaza.

“Our humanitarian corridor is a testament to our commitment to peace and stability,” he told reporters at a University of Cyprus graduation ceremony.

He added: “Such statements are not pleasant, but they do not reflect reality. Cyprus is not participating in any military engagements.”

Christodoulides said the threat would be raised through diplomatic channels.

Israeli forces pounded areas in the central Gaza Strip overnight, killing three people and wounding dozens of others, according to medics, while tanks deepened their invasion into Rafah in the south, residents said.

Israeli planes struck a house in Al-Nuseirat camp, killing two people and wounding 12 others, while tanks shelled areas in Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij camps, wounding many other people, health officials said. Nuseirat, Maghazi, and Bureij are three of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps.

In Deir al-Balah, a city packed with displaced people in the central Gaza Strip, an Israeli air strike killed one Palestinian and wounded several others on Thursday, medics said.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that forces were continuing their operations across the enclave targeting militants and military infrastructure in what it described as “precise, intelligence-based” activities, Reuters reported.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.

Israel’s government has said that the IDF is committed to the destruction of Hamas, after the IDF’s top spokesperson said that the Gaza militant group is an “ideology” which cannot be eliminated.

“To say that we are going to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in people’s eyes. If we don’t provide an alternative, in the end, we will have Hamas,” Rear Adm Daniel Hagari told Israel’s Channel 13 broadcaster.

His comments were quickly rebuffed by the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose cabinet has stated its Gaza offensive will not end until Hamas is defeated.

“The political and security cabinet headed by prime minister Netanyahu defined as one of the goals of the war the destruction of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities,” his office said in a statement, adding “the IDF is of course committed to this.”

In a separate statement on its Telegram channel, the military clarified that Hagari had addressed Hamas “as an ideology … and his statements were clear and explicit”.

More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.

• The leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a war “without rules or ceilings” in the event of a full-scale Israeli offensive against the Lebanese militia, as he threatened that Cyprus could become a target if it allowed Israel to use its territory in any conflict. Cyprus and Israel have a bilateral defence cooperation agreement which has seen the countries conduct joint exercises.

• In a report published on Wednesday, the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) concluded that Israel’s use of heavy bombs in Gaza raised “serious concerns” under laws of war. The OHCHR provided details on six Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, which it said were emblematic of a concerning pattern, involving the suspected use of up to 2,000-pound bombs on residential buildings, a school, refugee camps and a market.

• In its reports, the OHCHR also said that Israeli forces may have repeatedly violated fundamental principles of the laws of war and failed to distinguish between civilians and fighters in their Gaza Strip military campaign. “The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid or at the very least minimise to every extent civilian harm appears to have been consistently violated in Israel’s bombing campaign,” said UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk.

• Israel’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva characterised the OHCHR analysis as “factually, legally, and methodologically flawed.” The Israeli diplomatic mission said: “Since the OHCHR has, at best, a partial factual picture, any attempt to reach legal conclusions is inherently flawed.”

• Israeli airstrikes and clashes between troops and Palestinian militants in Gaza took place on Wednesday. Witnesses and the civil defence agency in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip reported Israeli bombardment in western Rafah, where medics said drone strikes and shelling killed at least seven people.

• Israel sent a column of tanks into the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City and residents reported heavy fire from tanks and warplanes but also sounds of gun battles with Hamas-led fighters.