Australians told ‘do not travel’ to Lebanon – as it happened

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No move on paying super to people on paid parental leave

But so far, the government has not moved on paying superannuation to parents (mostly women) on paid parental leave.

Super, of course, is really important and it’s something we would very much like to look to in the future when the budget can afford it. But this is a very big step forward, the current arrangements, but we’ll continue to look around superannuation into the future and consider it in each budget context.

I think with the reserved period as well, we’re going to see an increase in shared care, both parents taking some time out, which is really, really important if we want to get a more equal burden of, you know, of that share of care.

So that is really important as well.

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Rishi Sunak arrives in Israel for talks with Benjamin Netanyahu

PM left London on Wednesday evening and plans to visit other countries in the region for further discussions

Rishi Sunak has arrived in Israel for talks with its leaders, and will later travel to other countries in the region for further discussions, Downing Street has announced.

The prime minister left London on Wednesday evening, and was scheduled to hold talks on Thursday with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the country’s president, Isaac Herzog.

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Biden tells Israel not to ‘repeat mistakes’ made by US after 9/11

President reaffirmed US support but urged Israel not to be ‘consumed by rage’ as Netanyahu promises to allow aid into Gaza

Joe Biden has appealed to Israel not to be “consumed” by rage in its response to the attack by Hamas, as the US president pledged stalwart support for Israel for its self-defence and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to allow aid into Gaza via Egypt.

Speaking in Tel Aviv towards the end of his one-day visit to the region, which did not include any meetings with leaders from the Arab world, Biden compared Israel’s predicament after the massacre of more than 1,300 of its citizens to the US’s crisis 22 years ago after the 9/11 attacks. His country had “sought and got justice”, but also “made mistakes”, he said.

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Egypt’s president agrees to open the Rafah crossing – as it happened

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The UN Security Council scheduled the vote on a resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict for Wednesday morning.

The resolution initially condemned “the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas” on Israel as well as all violence against civilians, while calling for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver desperately needed aid to millions in Gaza.

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Starmer writes to Labour councillors in attempt to quash concerns he’s too pro-Israel – UK politics live

Letter from Labour leader stresses his concern for international law and sympathy with the plight of the Palestinian people

Rishi Sunak will be taking PMQs shortly. It will be his first exchange with Keir Starmer since the party conferences.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

We were the victims of an inside job by someone, we believe, who over a long period of time was stealing from the museum and the museum put trust in.

There are lots of lessons to be learnt as a result of that, the member of staff has been dismissed by us. The objects have started to be recovered … We have changed our whistleblowing code, changed our policy on thefts … tightened up security on thefts.

If someone is entrusted by an organisation to look after something and they are the person removing those objects, that is hard for any organisation, and it was hard for the museum, where there is a trusting culture.

If that trust is completely abused and as I think will become clear in the coming months quite a lot of steps were taken to conceal that, it wasn’t just that things were taken, records were altered and the like, it’s hard to spot.

We are intending to put on display the objects we have recovered, there is a lot of public interest in these objects.

350 have now been recovered and titles have been transferred to us so we have the makings of a good exhibition that was not previously planned.

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Israel faces blame from regional allies over Gaza hospital deaths

Several Arab states condemn Israel for explosion, which it blames on failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Israel is using media and diplomatic channels to try to convince leaders of Arab countries that Tuesday’s blast at a Gaza hospital was caused by a misfiring jihadist missile, after even its regional allies rushed to blame it for the explosion.

Tuesday’s explosion, which killed hundreds, was blamed by Palestinian officials on an Israeli airstrike. Israel said it was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.

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More protests expected across Middle East after Gaza hospital blast

Hezbollah calls for ‘day of rage’ as both sides in war continue to trade blame for deadly explosion

Further furious rallies and protests are expected across the Middle East and north Africa on Wednesday after the blast at a Gaza hospital that left hundreds dead and injured.

Hamas has blamed Tuesday’s explosion at al-Ahli Arab hospital on an Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military says the hospital was hit by a rocket barrage launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which has denied responsibility.

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‘We cannot lose our humanity’: Madonna addresses Israel-Hamas war on stage in London

Singer laments the deaths of children during war, as well as the Palestinian-American child to alleged hate crime in Chicago

Madonna has addressed the Israel-Hamas war in a long statement during a concert at London’s O2 Arena.

At the third date of her Celebration tour, she lamented the deaths of children in the conflict as well as alleged hate crimes related to it, expanding on comments she had made about the war at earlier concerts.

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Biden backs Israel’s stance on deadly blast at Gaza hospital

US president tells Benjamin Netanyahu evidence suggests ‘the other team’ is responsible for Tuesday night explosion

Joe Biden has backed Israel’s stance on the devastating blast at a Gaza hospital during a one-day visit to Israel intended to mitigate the humanitarian impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict and prevent it escalating into a regional war.

In remarks to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the US president said the evidence he had seen suggested it was “the other team” that was responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday night, which caused hundreds of casualties.

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‘They believed it was safe’: death toll rising after blast at Gaza hospital

Health officials say blast killed hundreds as footage shows fire engulfing medical centre owned by Anglican church

Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in a massive explosion at a crowded hospital in Gaza City, in the biggest single loss of life in the blockaded territory in all the five wars between Hamas and Israel since the militants took over the strip in 2007.

The Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said at least 500 people were killed on Tuesday night in what it said was an Israeli airstrike on al-Ahli al-Arabi, also known as the Baptist hospital. A spokesperson for the Gaza civil defence put the number of killed at about 300.

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EU leaders vow unified effort to mitigate humanitarian crisis in Gaza

After week of mixed messages in Brussels, Charles Michel stresses need for ‘clear unified course of action’

EU prime ministers have vowed to step up their efforts to mitigate a looming humanitarian crisis in Gaza in a bid to present a united diplomatic front after a week of dysfunction and mixed messages from leaders in Brussels.

After an emergency video conference to address the conflagration in the Middle East, the European Council leader, Charles Michel, stressed the need to present “a clear unified course of action that reflects the complexity of the unfolding situation”.

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US and UK spy chiefs warn Middle East crisis could raise domestic terror threat

Heads of MI5 and FBI say Jewish communities and other groups may face danger from lone actors, Iran or militants

The heads of MI5 and the FBI have issued an unprecedented joint warning that the threat of a domestic terrorist attack could rise as a result of the crisis in the Middle East.

The counter-terror chiefs said Jewish communities and organisations, as well as other groups, may face a heightened danger from lone actors, Hamas militants and Iran on British or US soil.

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Malaysia pulls out of Frankfurt book fair, blaming organisation’s pro-Israel stance

Representatives of the south-east Asian country stated that the event, the world’s largest, has allied itself with Israel in its war with Hamas, after an award due to be presented to a Palestinian writer was cancelled

Malaysia’s education ministry has pulled out of the Frankfurt book fair, citing the organisation’s pro-Israel stance in the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel.

In a statement published on Monday, the Malaysian ministry said that it “will not compromise with Israel’s violence in Palestine, which clearly violates international laws and human rights”. This came after an awards ceremony celebrating Palestinian author Adania Shibli that was due to be held at the world’s largest book fair was called off.

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US president’s visit to Jordan cancelled – as it happened

This blog is now closed. You can find all of our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here.

Japan will provide $10 million in emergency aid for civilians in Gaza, foreign minister Yoko Kamikawa said on Tuesday.

Japan is the current president of the Group of 7 developed nations and Kamikawa said it was monitoring the situation in Gaza “with concern”, adding that Japan expects the situation to be calmed down as soon as possible.

Kamikawa said she was also making final preparations for talks with her Iranian counterpart.

More from that AP analysis now:

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Hundreds feared dead after blast at Gaza hospital as Biden set to fly in

Health ministry run by Hamas says more than 500 were killed, while civil defence official puts figure at above 300

Hundreds of people are reported to have died in a massive explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, on the eve of Joe Biden’s arrival for a visit that was intended to fend off the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and prevent the conflict escalating into a regional war.

The Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, claimed that more than 500 people had been killed an Israeli airstrike on the al-Ahli Arabi Baptist hospital which, if confirmed, would make it the deadliest single bombing of all the five wars Israel and Hamas have fought over Gaza.

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Leaders to meet as EU struggles to put on united front over Israel-Hamas war

Emergency meeting called after a week of rows including over Ursula von der Leyen’s trip to Israel

An emergency meeting of the heads of EU member states has been called on Tuesday in an effort to “harmonise” the bloc’s response to the conflict in Israel and Gaza after a week of dysfunction and division.

As fears grow over the risk of a wider war and a humanitarian catastrophe in the region, EU member states admit they have struggled to put on a united front as they did in February 2023 when Russia invaded Ukraine.

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Hundreds of Israeli bodies remain unidentified 10 days after Hamas attack

Forensic anthropologists say many of the 350 human remains they are examining may never be identified

On a table, a jumble of bones and fragments are laid out carefully, some grey, others charred black. A skeleton hangs at the side of the room for reference.

Three forensic anthropologists peer over them with the intent focus of professionals trying to solve the most tragic of puzzles. Their job is to identify some of the most badly damaged remains of victims of the Hamas massacres of 7 October.

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Illinois community lays to rest ‘kind’ Palestinian boy killed in hate crime

As family and friends attended the six-year-old’s funeral, elected officials, including Joe Biden, condemned the brutal attack

Crowds of mourners in a Palestinian Chicago suburb paid respects on Monday to a six-year-old Muslim boy killed in an alleged anti-Islamic hate crime, hours after authorities revealed new details about the evidence used to charge the family’s landlord with stabbing the child and his mother.

Wadea Al-Fayoume, who had recently had a birthday, died on Saturday after being stabbed dozens of times in a brutal attack that drew condemnation from local elected officials to the White House. Authorities said the family’s landlord, Joseph Czuba, was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked them after the boy’s mother proposed they “pray for peace”.

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Jewish groups rally at White House urging Biden to push for Gaza ceasefire

At least 30 people reportedly arrested, with protestors accusing Israeli government of planning genocide

Leftwing US Jewish groups gathered outside the White House on Monday to urge the Biden administration to pressure Israel into dropping its plans for a military invasion of Gaza and instead declare an immediate ceasefire.

Accusing Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of planning “genocide”, several hundred volunteers from campaign groups IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace chanted slogans, carried placards and sang ancient Jewish songs in protest of what they said was an immoral response to the deadly assault on 7 October by the Palestinian group Hamas that killed at least 1,400 Israelis.

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Progressive Democrats bring resolution calling for ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war

Thirteen lawmakers call on Biden administration to facilitate de-escalation and send humanitarian aid into Gaza

A group of prominent progressive US lawmakers introduced a resolution on Monday calling for a ceasefire in the fast-escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas that has resulted in a death toll in the thousands, as fears grow that the war could spiral into a wider regional conflict.

The two-page resolution, brought by 13 Democratic members of Congress, urges the Biden administration to “immediately call for and facilitate de-escalation and a ceasefire to urgently end the current violence” as well as to “promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza”.

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