‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets

Israeli intelligence sources reveal use of ‘Lavender’ system in Gaza war and claim permission given to kill civilians in pursuit of low-ranking militants

The Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza used a previously undisclosed AI-powered database that at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets based on their apparent links to Hamas, according to intelligence sources involved in the war.

In addition to talking about their use of the AI system, called Lavender, the intelligence sources claim that Israeli military officials permitted large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed, particularly during the early weeks and months of the conflict.

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Middle East crisis: UN human rights council to consider call for Israel arms embargo – as it happened

If draft brought forward by Pakistan is adopted, it would mark the first time that the UN’s top rights body has taken a position on the war in Gaza

The UK should stop arming Israel, a former national security adviser has said, after seven international aid workers were killed in Gaza in an Israeli airstrike.

Lord Ricketts, who was also the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Sometimes in conflict, you get a moment where there’s such global outrage that it crystalises a sense that things can’t go on like this.”

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Education ‘will grind to halt’ unless pay rises address recruitment crisis, union leader warns – UK politics live

National Education Union leader says morale among teachers is at ‘an all time low’ in radio interview

There is widespread agreement in the UK and the US that Israel has “gone too far” in its war against Hamas, Darren Jones, a Labour Treasury spokesperson, said this morning.

In an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Jones said:

I think what we’ve seen from President Biden, from Keir Starmer, and now from Lord Cameron, our own foreign secretary, is that countries that supported Israel’s right to defend itself and to recover its hostages from Hamas terrorists in Gaza, which clearly is their right to have done in the first place, have all said that you’ve gone too far, that we need to bring this war to an end, we need to get around the negotiating table, we need to aid to get to people who desperately need it in Gaza.

This latest situation, not only has it resulted in the death of aid workers, which is unacceptable, but it’s now making it much harder for aid to be made available to people who are in the most desperate situations.

The fact of the matter is if the UK, for example, stopped supplying arms, the war would not end. What we need to do is get the parties to a position where the fighting can stop.

As always, on questions of international law, it’s for judges and courts to make that decision, not for politicians.

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UK government under pressure from Tories to stop arming Israel

Lib Dems also call for action to suspend arms exports to Israel after seven aid workers killed in Gaza

Ministers are under pressure from Tory MPs and peers to stop arming Israel after seven humanitarian workers were killed by an airstrike in Gaza.

Four Conservatives told the Guardian on Wednesday that the UK should stop exporting arms to Israel after its strike, which killed three British aid workers.

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Sunak calls for investigation as British aid workers killed in Israeli airstrike named

PM demands ‘transparent investigation’ from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as names emerge of three Britons killed in Gaza

Rishi Sunak has called for an urgent investigation into the deaths of three British aid workers working for the charity World Central Kitchen who were killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit an aid convoy in Gaza.

WSK confirmed that British victims John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, who were working for the charity’s security team, were among seven of its staff killed.

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Biden says Israel is not doing enough to protect aid workers and calls for inquiry

US president ‘outraged and heartbroken’ after IDF drone attack killed seven people working for World Central Kitchen in Gaza

Joe Biden has said that Israel is not doing enough to protect aid workers and has called for a swift investigation into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) drone attack in Gaza which killed seven people working for the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity.

“This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed,” the US president said, in comments that were highly critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

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Bernie Sanders to Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘Stop murdering innocent people’

Vermont senator makes remarks after Israeli strike kills seven aid workers, amid war that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians

The Vermont senator and former US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has a message for the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu: “Stop murdering innocent people.”

Sanders delivered his blunt message in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday, a day after seven aid workers were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza.

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Charities halt Gaza aid after drone attack that killed seven workers

Humanitarian groups say they cannot operate safely after Israeli targeting of food charity convoy prompts international outcry

The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza seems likely to worsen after charities announced they are suspending operations in the territory in the aftermath of an Israeli drone attack which repeatedly targeted a clearly identified convoy of international aid workers, killing seven.

The strikes on a team from World Central Kitchen (WCK) led the charity – along with other aid organisations such as Anera, which helps refugees around the Middle East, and the US-based Project Hope, which focuses on healthcare – to announce that it would pause operations in Gaza to protect its staff.

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Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu says deaths of seven aid workers in Gaza is ‘tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people’

World Central Kitchen to pause operations immediately after deadly convoy strike by Israel; workers from UK, US, Australia, Poland and Palestine among dead

We’ve launched this video report on the Gaza strike, including footage of people being transported on stretchers as ambulances flash nearby.

Australia’s prime minister says the death of an Australian aid worker in Gaza is “completely unacceptable” and “beyond any reasonable circumstances”, saying the government will call in the Israeli ambassador and contact Israel’s government.

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‘Not a normal war’: doctors say children have been targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza

IDF says it ‘completely rejects’ charge that its soldiers deliberately fired on any of the thousands of civilians killed in Israeli offensive

Dr Fozia Alvi was making her rounds of the intensive care unit on her final day at the battered European public hospital in southern Gaza when she stopped next to two young arrivals with facial injuries and breathing tubes in their windpipes.

“I asked the nurse, what’s the history? She said that they were brought in a couple of hours ago. They had sniper shots to the brain. They were seven or eight years old,” she said.

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Rishi Sunak criticised for laughing off question about timing of general election – UK politics live

Liberal Democrats say PM is ‘laughing in the face of people crying out for change’

At the weekend the Observer splashed on a story by Toby Helm saying government lawyers have told ministers that Israel is breaking international humanitarian law in Gaza.

In an interview today, asked about the legality of what Israel is doing, Rishi Sunak said the government believes Israel has “the intention and the ability” to comply with international law. He said:

Our view is longstanding that Israel has both the intention and the ability to comply with international humanitarian law, I’ve made that very clear to prime minister Netanyahu whenever I’ve spoken to him.

There have been too many civilian deaths in Gaza, of course we want to see an immediate humanitarian pause so that we can get the hostages out and more aid into the region.

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Artists call on Manchester venue to reinstate event celebrating Palestinian voices

More than 300 artists and cultural workers write open letter to Home venue over cancellation of Voices of Resilience event

More than 300 cultural workers, theatre and film artists, including Maxine Peake and Asif Kapadia, have called for a Manchester arts venue to reinstate an event celebrating Palestinian voices.

Home Manchester last week cancelled the Voices of Resilience evening, scheduled for 22 April, citing “recent publicity” and safety concerns for audiences and artists.

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Seven Gaza aid workers including UK, US and Australian citizens killed in Israeli strike, charity says

Israeli military investigating after World Central Kitchen workers were in convoy struck in central Gaza

Seven people working with World Central Kitchen, a charity spearheading efforts to alleviate looming famine in Gaza, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike, the charity said, throwing humanitarian relief efforts in the Palestinian territory into chaos as the organisation said it would suspend operations.

The workers were travelling in two armoured vehicles branded with the charity’s logo, according to a statement released early on Tuesday. World Central Kitchen (WCK) said those killed were from the UK, Australia, Poland and Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.

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Call for Ukraine-style visa scheme for Palestinians in Gaza with family in UK

Charities and law firms sign letter to home secretary saying existing immigration routes are not working

A letter signed by almost 60 charities, law firms and organisations will be sent to the home secretary calling for the creation of a Ukraine-style visa scheme for Palestinians trapped in Gaza who have family in the UK.

The letter, signed by the Refugee Council, Care4Calais and the Helen Bamber Foundation, says “existing immigration routes are insufficient and not working” and describes how a Gaza family scheme would “enable Palestinians in Gaza to reunite with their immediate and extended family members in the UK”.

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Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital after two-week raid

Palestinian organisations allege torture and ‘executions’ as video footage shows heavily damaged and charred buildings

Israeli forces announced their withdrawal from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza on Monday after a two-week raid, amid claims from Hamas that the Israel Defense Forces killed 400 people in the compound and allegations from the Palestinian Red Crescent of torture and “executions”.

According to the IDF, the facility – Gaza City’s main hospital before the war – was used to harbour Hamas fighters. The army described the operation as one of the most successful of the nearly six-month conflict and cited the killing of of 200 militants including senior operatives. The claim they were all militants could not be confirmed.

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Middle East crisis: Israel withdraws from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza as Hamas-run media office says hundreds of Palestinians killed – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. To read the latest news about the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, head to our new live blog:

Here is a video of the destruction left in the wake of the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City:

“During [the Israeli] siege inside al-Shifa hospital, we did not have the means to treat patients … We could not treat or bury them,” a nurse with the hospital told Al Jazeera.

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Fears grow that Gaza could become ‘Mogadishu on the Mediterranean’

Aid officials and people in territory describe erosion of civil order and gangs filling power vacuum after months of war

Gaza is facing deepening anarchy as the last remnants of civil order break down, leaving a vacuum increasingly filled by armed gangs, clans, powerful families and criminals, dozens of interviews with senior aid officials, experts and people in the territory reveal.

The interviewees described the continuing threat of famine and bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) but also a brutal new world in which guns, knives and intimidation often determine who gets desperately needed humanitarian assistance.

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Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters call for Netanyahu’s removal

Demonstrators join families of hostages in cities across country and vow to persist until he is ousted as PM

Tens of thousands of people across Israel joined the families of hostages this weekend to protest against the government and call for the removal of Benjamin Netanyahu, as the Israeli prime minister grappled with one of the most serious threats yet to his coalition.

The protesters in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Be’er Sheva, Caesarea and other cities on Saturday – and at a further demonstration outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on Sunday – demanded the release of those still held captive in Gaza after close to six months, and labelled Netanyahu an “obstacle to the deal”, vowing to persist until he leaves power.

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Israel lodges proposal with UN for dismantling of Palestinian relief agency

Exclusive: Aid officials warn that transferring Unrwa’s functions to other bodies with famine looming would be disastrous

Israel has given the UN a proposal to dismantle Unrwa, its relief agency in the Palestinian territories, and transfer its staff to a replacement agency to make large-scale food deliveries into Gaza, according to UN sources.

The proposal was presented late last week by the Israeli chief of the general staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, to UN officials in Israel, who forwarded it to the organisation’s secretary general, António Guterres, on Saturday, sources familiar with the discussions said.

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Middle East crisis live: Gaza ceasefire talks to resume, reports say; 75 Palestinians killed overnight by Israeli attacks – health ministry

Truce talks to begin again in Cairo on Sunday; most victims of overnight attacks were women and children, Gaza health ministry says

Talks aimed at brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will reportedly resume in Cairo today, days after Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, gave the green light for fresh negotiations. “An Egyptian security source confirmed to Al-Qahera news the resumption of negotiations on a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Egyptian capital Cairo tomorrow,” an anchor for the channel, which is close to country’s intelligence services, said in a broadcast. Egypt, Qatar and the US have mediated previous rounds of negotiations, but a workable agreement has remained elusive.

The Gaza health ministry said 107 patients remained inside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, including 30 people with disabilities, and that the Israeli army had stopped attempts to evacuate them. Israeli military operations were also ongoing at two hospitals in the southern city of Khan Yunis – at Nasser hospital, according to the Hamas government press office, and at al-Amal hospital, according to the Red Crescent.

A bomb exploded in a shopping area in a northern Syrian city held by pro-Turkish forces on Sunday morning, killing eight people and injuring more than 20 others, a war monitor said. At least “eight people were killed and 23 others wounded” when “a car bomb exploded in the middle of a popular market” in Aleppo province’s Azaz, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It is unclear who carried out the attack in the town which is run by pro-Turkish militias fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Rather than provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, the US should ensure it is subjected to atomic bombing the way that “Nagasaki and Hiroshima” were at the end of the second world war, Tim Walberg, a Republican congressman, said in shocking remarks that by all indications were recorded recently at a gathering with a relatively small group of his constituents.

Rather than provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, the US should ensure it is subjected to atomic bombing the way that “Nagasaki and Hiroshima” were at the end of the second world war, a Republican congressman said in shocking remarks that by all indications were recorded recently at a gathering with a relatively small group of his constituents.

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