Category Archives: Israel

Middle East crisis: Biden says killing of more than 100 Palestinians near aid trucks will complicate ceasefire talks – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the Israel-Gaza war, read our most recent report:

CNN are reporting that concern is rising among Biden officials that Israel may launch an incursion into Lebanon.

In a politics piece published on its website on Thursday, CNN cite US administration and intelligence officials as being “concerned that Israel is planning a ground incursion into Lebanon that could be launched in the late spring or early summer if diplomatic efforts fail to push Hezbollah back from the northern border with Israel”.

While a final Israeli decision has yet to be made, the worry is acute enough inside the Biden administration that the prospect of an incursion has made its way into intelligence briefings for senior administration officials, according to one person who received a briefing and was told an operation could happen early summer.

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UK should impose sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers, says Ed Davey

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Lib Dem leader fears war will spread to West Bank if those pushing for more settlements are not penalised

The UK should impose sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers who have pushed for more settlements on Palestinian land, Ed Davey has argued, saying this is vital to stop the fighting in Gaza spreading to the West Bank.

The Liberal Democrat leader, who returned on Wednesday morning from a visit to Israel where he had spoken to charities, politicians and relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, said there was a risk of the prospect of a two-state solution collapsing.

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Humanitarian workers face deportation from Israel after freeze on visas

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Dozens of foreign staff have had to leave and new specialists can’t be brought in, says group representing aid agencies

Israel has stopped issuing visas for international staff of humanitarian organisations that work in occupied Palestinian territories, hampering efforts to get food and other vital supplies into Gaza.

Dozens of foreign aid workers, including heads of organisations, have had to leave Israel and the Palestinian territories, or are overstaying their visas and risking deportation so they can continue working, an alliance of aid groups has warned.

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One in five pregnant women in Gaza clinic are malnourished, doctors warn

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Women and children suffering acute malnutrition as territory faces ‘catastrophic conditions’, according to UN

One in five pregnant women treated at a central Gaza clinic are malnourished, doctors have warned, as fuel and medical supply shortages closed the last hospital operating in the north of the strip.

“Every day, we see women and children coming into our clinic suffering from acute malnutrition,” said Dr Maram, the lead physician for Project Hope.

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Middle East crisis: Hamas ‘showing flexibility’ in negotiations with Israel but ‘prepared to continue fighting’ – as it happened

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The two sides have been negotiating a deal that would reportedly see a six week pause in fighting and the release of hostages

Al Jazeera reports Gaza’s al-Awda hospital has had to suspend all surgical operations after its operating theatres were destroyed. Acting director Mohamed Salha told the news agency:

This means that all medical services related to obstetrics and gynaecology have stopped completely. We were the only hospital in northern Gaza for orthopaedic surgeries. There is no other alternative place in northern Gaza or Gaza City because the health ministry’s hospitals are out of service completely.

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Qatar and Egypt ‘will help form new Palestinian technocratic government’

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Palestinian ambassador to UK says Hamas will be consulted but would have no members in government

The formation of a new Palestinian technocratic government would be aided by both Qatar and Egypt and involves consultations with all Palestinian political factions – including Hamas, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, has said.

The move appears to be part of an attempt to show that a reformed interim Palestinian government that has roots in the entire Palestinian movement is ready to take over the governance of both Gaza and the West Bank soon after any ceasefire.

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Hamas and Israel pour cold water on Biden’s hopes of imminent ceasefire

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US president’s remarks that there could be truce by Monday are ‘premature’, says political head of Hamas in Gaza

Israeli and Hamas officials have downplayed hopes expressed by Joe Biden that a ceasefire in the war in Gaza is imminent, raising questions about whether a temporary truce can be implemented before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in two weeks’ time.

Basem Naim, the head of Hamas’s political division in Gaza, said over WhatsApp on Tuesday that the Palestinian Islamist movement had not yet formally received a new proposal for a ceasefire since last week’s indirect talks in Paris mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar.

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What we know so far about the draft Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal

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Agreements on fighting, hostage and prisoner releases and aid in Gaza are part of terms the two sides could sign up to

The US president, Joe Biden, said he hoped a deal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza and hostage release could be reached by next Monday, as negotiators for Israel and Hamas try to pin down the terms of a draft agreement.

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Middle East crisis: Biden comments on ceasefire are ‘premature’, says Hamas – as it happened

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Official tells media still ‘big gaps that need to be bridged’ after US president said ‘my hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire’

Israel says it has struck multiple targets inside Lebanon. In a message posted to its official Telegram channel, the IDF reported:

This morning approximately 35 launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into the area of Mount Meron in northern Israel. There were no injuries or damage to the IDF Aerial Control Unit in the area.

In response, IDF fighter jets struck a military site and Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Hanniyeh, Jibchit, Baisariyeh, and Mansouri. IDF artillery also struck in the area of Yaroun in order to remove a threat.

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Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, UN rights expert says

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Exclusive: UN special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri says denial of food is war crime and constitutes ‘a situation of genocide’

Israel is intentionally starving Palestinians and should be held accountable for war crimes – and genocide, according to the UN’s leading expert on the right to food.

Hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip, where about 2.2 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages resulting from Israel destroying food supplies and severely restricting the flow of food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies. Aid trucks and Palestinians waiting for humanitarian relief have come under Israeli fire.

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Joe Biden hopeful of Gaza ceasefire by Monday as details of proposal emerge

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US president appears upbeat as Hamas reportedly mulls 40-day halt in fighting with Palestinian prisoners swapped for Israeli hostages

Joe Biden has said he believes a new, temporary ceasefire in Gaza is possible by next Monday, as Hamas was reportedly considering a draft agreement for a 40-day pause in fighting and the exchange of dozens of Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, according to a Reuters source.

“My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close. We’re not done yet,” Biden told reporters during a visit to New York on Monday after taping an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers. “My hope is by next Monday, we’ll have a ceasefire.”

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Middle East crisis: Israeli government blocking ‘lifesaving aid’, Human Rights Watch says; Palestinian Authority PM resigns – as it happened

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Human rights body says Israel not following ICJ order on Gaza aid provision; Mohammad Shtayyeh submits resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas

The UN rights chief has decried disinformation and other attacks that aim to “undermine the legitimacy” and work of the UN and other institutions, describing them as “profoundly destructive”.

Speaking at the opening of the UN human rights council’s main annual session, Volker Turk criticised widespread “disinformation that targets UN humanitarian organisations, UN peacekeepers and my office”.

The UN has become a lightning rod for manipulative propaganda and a scapegoat for policy failures.

This is profoundly destructive of the common good, and it callously betrays the many people whose lives rely on it.

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SNP to push for another Commons vote on ceasefire in Gaza

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Move presents fresh challenge to speaker and Labour party after last week’s chaotic scenes in parliament

The Scottish National party will push for another vote on a Gaza ceasefire this week, creating a fresh challenge for the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, and the Labour party after last Wednesday’s chaotic scenes in the Commons.

Hoyle faced calls to quit after his decision to break with precedent and allow Labour to table a vote during an SNP debate calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which prompted a walkout by Conservative and Scottish Nationalist MPs.

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Israel should have a voice at Eurovision, says president amid row over lyrics

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Isaac Herzog said ‘haters try to drive us off every stage’ as lyrics to October Rain scrutinised by organisers

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, wants to ensure the country competes in the Eurovision song contest after the event’s organisers said they were examining whether the lyrics sung by the Israeli contestant were too political.

“I think it’s important for Israel to appear in Eurovision, and this is also a statement because there are haters who try to drive us off every stage,” Herzog said on Sunday, the Times of Israel reported. “Being smart is not just being right,” he added.

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Middle East crisis live: US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar agree ‘basic contours’ of hostage deal ahead of Hamas talks – as it happened

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US national security adviser says outline in place for proposal for temporary ceasefire in Gaza

Al Jazeera reports that six bodies have been recovered after Israeli bombing near the southern city of Khan Younis. The outlet writes:

The bodies of six people have been recovered from the al-Satr area east of Khan Younis after overnight Israeli bombardment, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

This follows reports of intense Israeli artillery shelling in and around the southern city, with attack drones.

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Ceasefire talks raise Gaza hopes but 1.5m trapped in Rafah fear the worst

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Closed-door negotiations in Paris and UN efforts in New York yield conflicting reports of progress, but city of Rafah remains in Israel’s firing line

A closed-door meeting of spy chiefs, military officials and diplomats has briefly renewed hopes of a potential ceasefire deal amid fierce debates at the United Nations, but observers have warned that time is running out to make progress and prevent a looming Israeli offensive on Gaza’s southernmost city.

The secretive talks at an unknown location in Paris involved David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, conducting separate meetings with Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel, head of the CIA William Burns and Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

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Middle East crisis: Mossad chief in Paris for hostage talks; food protests in Jabalia refugee camp – as it happened

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Pressure has mounted on Netanyahu government to negotiate a ceasefire and secure the release of those kidnapped on 7 October

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has defended the right to lobby UK MPs “in large numbers”, amid reports the group wanted so many protesters to turn up that parliament would “have to lock the doors”.

According to the Press Association (PA), the group said the issue of MPs’ security was “serious” but should not be used to “shield MPs from democratic accountability”.

This week over 80,000 people emailed their MPs ahead of the ceasefire debate. More than 3,000 came from across the UK to lobby their MPs in person, in one of the largest physical lobbies of parliament in history.

Shamefully, most were denied entry, ending up queueing for over four hours in the rain as extraordinary measures were introduced to limit the number who could meet their MPs face to face.

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UNRWA suspends aid to northern Gaza amid ‘collapse of civil order’

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Desperation of people searching for food in southern areas is making journeys north unsafe, says UN

The UN agency in charge of Palestinian affairs said it has been forced to pause aid deliveries to northern Gaza – where it is not “possible to conduct proper humanitarian operations” – amid increasing reports of famine among people in the area.

The UN began warning of “pockets of famine” in Gaza last month, with needs particularly acute in the north. Conditions have steadily worsened since, causing a spike in hungry people making fraught attempts to claim aid from passing trucks.

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Blinken calls new Israeli settlements inconsistent with international law

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Secretary of state’s characterization of West Bank settlements signals return to longstanding US policy reversed by Trump

Israel’s expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank was inconsistent with international law, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Friday, signaling a return to longstanding US policy on the issue, which had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

The Trump administration in 2019 in effect backed Israel’s right to build West Bank settlements by abandoning a long-held US position that they were “inconsistent with international law”.

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New hopes of Gaza ceasefire as Israeli negotiators head to Paris

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Pressure mounts on Israel and Hamas to make a deal before threatened Rafah offensive

An Israeli negotiating team arrived in Paris on Friday for talks about a potential ceasefire in Gaza in the latest sign of tentative progress towards an agreement that could end the five-month-old war.

The Israeli delegation, which includes the heads of its internal and external intelligence services, will meet the director of the CIA, Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s most senior intelligence official for talks over the weekend in what appears to be the most serious push for weeks to halt the fighting.

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