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.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: second shipment of Gaza aid sets sail from Cyprus – as it happened

Cargo ship, salvage vessel and a platform carry 400 tonnes of food for region

Four UN observers were injured on Saturday when a shell exploded near them as they were carrying out a foot patrol in southern Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping mission said, adding it was still investigating the origin of the blast.

According to Reuters, the Unifil statement said the targeting of peacekeepers is “unacceptable.” Two security sources had told Reuters the observers were wounded in an Israeli strike but the Israeli military denied striking in the area.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: Israeli military says it has killed Hezbollah deputy commander – as it happened

IDF says Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missiles unit, was killed in airstrike in Lebanon

The Guardian’s Kaamil Ahmed, Damien Gayle and Aseel Mousa have been investigating the scale of environmental destruction in Gaza.

Satellite analysis revealed exclusively to the Guardian shows farms devastated and nearly half of the territory’s trees razed. Alongside mounting air and water pollution, experts says Israel’s onslaught on Gaza’s ecosystems has made the area unlivable.

Continue reading...

‘Famine is setting in’: UN court orders Israel to unblock Gaza food aid

Judges issue unanimous decision and say Palestinians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance

The international court of justice has ordered Israel to allow unimpeded access of food aid into Gaza, where sections of the population are facing imminent starvation, in a significant legal rebuke to Israel’s claim it is not blocking aid deliveries.

A panel of judges at the UN’s top court, which is already considering a complaint from South Africa that Israel is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, issued the ruling after an emergency measure in January obliging Israel to admit emergency aid.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: US and Israel in talks to revive Washington trip to discuss Rafah – as it happened

Israeli PM had cancelled officials’ US visit to discuss planned offensive in southern Gaza after the US refused to veto a UN security council vote on a ceasefire

The Palestinian Authority has announced the formation of a new Cabinet as it faces international pressure to reform, Associated Press reports.

President Mahmoud Abbas, who has led the PA for nearly two decades, announced the new government in a presidential decree on Thursday. None of the incoming ministers is a well-known figure.

We will make our contributions while ensuring that the conditions are met for UNRWA to fulfil its missions in a spirit devoid of incitement to hatred and violence.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: Israel intensifies strikes on southern Gaza as eight killed in fighting on Lebanese border – as it happened

Attacks around Rafah come despite growing pressure for ceasefire. This live blog is closed

The UK is facing legal action over its pause in funding for Unrwa, after Israel’s allegations that 12 staff at the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees were involved in the 7 October attacks against Israel.

London-based law firm Bindmans has sent a pre-action letter, the first stage in a legal claim, on behalf of a British-Palestinian man whose family are in Gaza and reliant on humanitarian aid provided by Unwra.

The UK government’s strategy for international development sets out four priorities, including to: ‘provide life-saving humanitarian assistance and work to prevent the worst forms of human suffering’.

Given the catastrophic situation in Gaza, including an impending, man-made famine, the ongoing decision to cease funding to Unwra is not only morally wrong but flies in the face of that strategy.”

The government knows that Unwra is the only effective means to deliver humanitarian aid, and it ought to know that it hasn’t given sufficient reason on how, or why, it decided to cut funding.”

Continue reading...

Israel-Gaza war: US condemns ‘cynical’ Russia and China veto of ceasefire deal; Israel to go into Rafah ‘with or without US support’ – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For more on the US’s vetoed UN resolution, you can read our latest reporting:

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that “hundreds of worshipers” were “blocked” from reaching the al-Aqsa mosque compound by Israeli forces on Friday.

According to Wafa: “Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces significantly increased their military presence around checkpoints in Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, al-Zaytouna, east of Jerusalem, and Bethlehem to the south. The forces turned back hundreds of worshipers, citing a lack of necessary entry permits.”

Continue reading...

World Bank report finds imminent risk of catastrophic famine in Gaza Strip

Findings come as UN secretary general calls on Israel to give unconditional access to Gaza for aid relief

Half the population of the Gaza Strip is at imminent risk of famine as food shortages approach catastrophic levels for more than a million people, the World Bank has warned.

Almost six months after the war between Israel and Hamas began, the Washington-based Bank said urgent action was needed to prevent widespread deaths from starvation within the next two months.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: no way to eliminate Hamas in Rafah without ground offensive, says Netanyahu – as it happened

Israeli prime minister reiterates that he plans to order a ground offensive in the southern Gaza Strip where a huge number of displaced Palestinians are living

At least 31,819 Palestinians have been killed and 73,934 injured since 7 October in Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip, the territory’s health ministry said on Tuesday.

About 93 Palestinians were killed and 142 injured in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-led ministry added.

Continue reading...

Israel’s Shifa raid shows its grip is slipping as a ‘forever war’ looms

Retaking of Shifa complex shows Hamas militants, despite heavy losses, are still operational in northern Gaza

The latest raid on al-Shifa hospital reveals that the Israeli military’s hold on the areas of Gaza supposedly cleared of Hamas militants is considerably more tenuous than the country’s political leaders have claimed – and suggests the region’s military superpower is facing its own “forever war” in the territory with enormous costs for everyone involved, particularly civilians.

The fighting around the Shifa hospital and its eventual seizure was the climactic moment of the first phase of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched last year after Hamas killed 1,200 and captured 250 people, mostly civilians, in a surprise raid on 7 October. There was bitter argument over whether the hospital’s buildings and basements had been used by Hamas as a covert command centre, as Israel claimed, but none over the strength of Israel’s control of the site when its soldiers moved in on 15 November.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: famine ‘imminent’ in northern Gaza, UN report says, as EU foreign policy chief calls area ‘open air graveyard’ – as it happened

Israel using starvation as weapon of war, says Josep Borrell, as UN report warns 1.1 million face ‘catastrophic’ food supply conditions. This live blog is closed

Oxfam has accused Israel of controlling “an unpredictable and chaotic regime of approval, scanning and inspection” of humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip.

In a new report, the NGO says “people living in Gaza will suffer mass death from disease and starvation far beyond the current 31,000 Palestinian war casualties unless Israel takes immediate steps to end its violations.”

The ICJ order should have shocked Israeli leaders to change course, but since then conditions in Gaza have actually worsened. The fact that other governments have not challenged Israel hard enough, but instead turned to less effective methods like airdrops and maritime corridors is a huge red flag, signalling that Israel continues to deny the full potential of better ways to deliver more aid.

Continue reading...

Netanyahu vows to press ahead with assault on Rafah

PM acknowledges international pressure is increasing but says it will not stop Israel achieving its goals

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with sending Israeli troops into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, rejecting deep international concerns over the risks to more than a million Palestinians who have sought shelter there.

The prime minister said no amount of international pressure would stop Israel from realising all of its war aims.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: Palestinian foreign ministry accuses Israeli government of ‘blind revenge’ – as it happened

Comments come after Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israeli military would go ahead with plans for operations in Rafah

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said Israeli forces released Tamer Fouad Salim Al-Qarm, a PRCS volunteer, yesterday after a “36-day detention during the occupation’s raid on al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis”.

The PRCS added in its post on X that Israeli troops continue to detain 13 PRCS members and volunteers, “whose fate remains unknown to this moment”.

Continue reading...

Gaza ceasefire hopes rise after Hamas abandons key demands

Israeli negotiators are heading to Qatar after the group dropped calls for a permanent end to hostilities and agreed a 40-day pause

Israeli negotiators are expected to arrive in Qatar on Sunday amid intense new efforts to bring the war in Gaza to at least a temporary halt, after Hamas abandoned key ceasefire demands last week following a series of setbacks.

In recent days, the militant organisation has been disappointed by the failure of its calls for a wave of protest during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, angered by the appointment without consultation of a new prime minister by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and suffered the possible death of a key military commander in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: ceasefire talks ‘expected to resume on Sunday’ – as it happened

Source tells Reuters that discussions would cover issues including prisoner-hostage exchanges and humanitarian aid

Record numbers of Palestinian detainees are filling Israeli prisons where they face “systemic abuse” and torture, rights advocates warned, calling for international action, reports AFP.

Members of several Israeli NGOs travelled to Geneva this week to raise concerns before the UN about a major “crisis” inside the country’s prisons.

Continue reading...

‘Everyone has friends in jail’: how Palestinian prisoners became central to Gaza ceasefire talks

Hamas seeks scaled-back release it can portray as victory as Israeli government weighs conflicting pressures over hostages

In a cafe on a dusty roundabout in the small West Bank town of Silwad, men sit and play cards, one eye on the large TV screen showing the latest news from Gaza. When there is any mention of a possible ceasefire deal – and so the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails – there is silence.

“Nobody tell us anything officially. We see on the news about a deal. So we just know that my brother might be released,” said Akhram Hammad, a 45-year-old blacksmith whose sibling Tayyer is serving multiple life sentences for shooting dead seven Israeli soldiers and three civilians at a checkpoint not far from Silwad in 2002. “It would be really good and everybody would be really happy; otherwise, he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu’s office ‘approves plan for Rafah operation’

Reuters reports that Israeli military is preparing to evacuate the population of Gaza border town

Reuters has a breaking news line about the Gaza aid ship, the Open Arms, that set off from Cyprus on Tuesday. According to the news agency, witnesses have reported that the ship is close to Gaza’s coast now.

More details soon …

Continue reading...

Israeli forces kill 20 Palestinians waiting for aid, Gaza health ministry says

Israeli military denies reports after officials say eight people killed in separate strike on aid distribution centre

Gaza’s health ministry has said Israeli fire killed 20 people waiting to receive desperately needed aid in the besieged Palestinian territory, but the Israeli military said the reports were “erroneous”.

Gaza officials said the attack occurred as a crowd gathered to receive aid from a truck at the Kuwait roundabout, a key interchange used by humanitarian convoys carrying food into northern Gaza. More than 150 people were wounded, they added.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: Netanyahu is ‘major obstacle to peace’ and should call election, says Schumer – as it happened

This blog is now closed. You can read the latest news and reaction to Schumer’s speech in our US politics blog:

Lebanon’s National News Agency reports Israeli planes have overflown Jezzine in southern Lebanon. There are unconfirmed images circulating social media appearing to show airstrikes have been carried out. Israel and anti-Israeli forces in Lebanon have repeatedly exchanged fire since 7 October.

The aid ship from Cyprus expected to arrive on Gaza’s shores is only “a drop in the ocean” of what is needed to address the acute crisis in the territory, the International Rescue Committee’s lead on the crisis said late yesterday.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: European Commission ‘hopeful’ first boat from Cyprus carrying aid to Gaza will set sail soon – as it happened

The EU says the ship is just one of three routes to getting life-saving supplies to the population of Gaza

Citing the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS), Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that overnight and into the morning Israeli security forces have detained at least a further 25 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It reports that most of the detentions happened in Ramallah.

The PPS now states that about 7,530 Palestinians have been detained since 7 October by Israeli security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Ensuring all the needs of the population in the Gaza Strip are met is not a favour from anyone; it is a guaranteed right under international humanitarian law even during times of war.

If the US administration is serious about solving the humanitarian crisis, the easiest and shortest path is to stop using veto power to allow a ceasefire to be reached, and to compel Israel to open all land crossings and allow entry of all required aid.

The occupation’s attempt to communicate with the leaders and clans of some families to operate within the Gaza Strip is considered direct collaboration with the occupation and is a betrayal of the nation that we will not tolerate. The occupation’s efforts to establish bodies to manage Gaza are a ‘failed conspiracy’ that will not materialise.

Continue reading...