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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United Nations secretary general condemns explosion that injured UN observers in southern Lebanon

António Guterres expresses ‘grave concern’ over ongoing clashes at border after a shell exploded near the observers

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has condemned an explosion that left three UN military observers and a Lebanese interpreter wounded when a shell exploded near them while they were patrolling the southern Lebanese border.

The blast came as clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah militants escalated in recent weeks.

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Starvation in Gaza likely key to UK legal advice on war crimes

Accusations that Israel is committing war crimes mostly centre on failure to protect civilians or meet their basic needs

• UK government lawyers say Israel is breaking international law – leaked recording

Israel has faced questions about whether its war on Hamas inside Gaza broke international law ever since the first few days of the ­campaign, when it cut off all food, water and fuel shipments to the enclave.

As the scale of death, ­destruction and human suffering escalated, ­concerns hardened into warnings that Israel risked committing war crimes, including from key allies. In January, the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, said he was “worried” Israel may have breached international law.

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‘Death at any moment’: fights break out as Gazans compete over airdropped aid

Armed gangs take food and water from desperate locals, as critics say airdrops are dangerous and merely designed to divert public anger

Airdrops of humanitarian aid are leading to fatal fights in Gaza as the desperate and hungry battle to reach parachuted food and essentials, amid fears that little of the much-needed assistance is reaching those most threatened by a looming famine.

Eyewitness accounts, images and interviews with aid workers in Gaza suggest the high-profile airdrop operations are of limited help, and have contributed to growing anarchy there.

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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.

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Children among cancer patients fearing being sent back to Gaza by Israel

Moves to deport those receiving care in East Jerusalem have been called ‘a deliberate risk to innocent lives’

Cancer patients from Gaza, including children, are living in a state of limbo in a hospital in East Jerusalem after Israeli authorities threatened to send them back.

The Guardian was given access to the Augusta Victoria hospital, where at least 22 patients from Gaza in urgent need of advanced cancer treatment are living in fear of deportation. As with numerous others, they received authorisation prior to Hamas’s 7 October attack to receive medical care outside the strip, due to the inadequate facilities in Gaza.

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US reportedly approves transfer to Israel of bombs and jets worth billions

Sources say weapons package authorized even as Washington expresses public concern over anticipated offensive in Rafah

The US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.

The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.

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Gillian Keegan criticises union for ‘inappropriate’ Israel-Palestine motion

Education secretary says conference proposals describing Israeli government as racist ‘reflect NEU’s divisive ideology’

Gillian Keegan has strongly criticised the National Education Union over a motion to be debated at its annual conference describing Israel’s government as “racist” and “guilty of apartheid policies”.

The education secretary said the motion and amendments were “wholly inappropriate and completely ignore the horrific terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on 7 October … These motions reflect the NEU’s divisive ideology, which I don’t believe is representative of our teachers.

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Schools in England accused of closing down debate on Israel-Gaza conflict

Government adviser says teachers feel ill-equipped to talk about controversial topics but avoiding debate risks fuelling anger

Schools in England are closing down legitimate debate about the Israel-Gaza conflict because teachers feel ill-equipped and are concerned about political impartiality, the government’s independent adviser on social cohesion has said.

Dame Sara Khan said that if schools continued to shut down debate they risked “fuelling further anger, hate and polarisation”.

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Famine is now probably present in Gaza, US says

State department assessment comes after world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into territory

Famine is already probably present in at least some areas of northern Gaza, while other areas are in danger of falling into conditions of starvation, the US state department said on Friday a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into the territory.

“While we can say with confidence that famine is a significant risk in the south and centre but not present, in the north, it is both a risk and quite possibly is present in at least some areas,” a state department official told Reuters.

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Netanyahu faces huge challenge after court ruling on military exemption

Strain on coalition grows after Israeli supreme court orders end to subsidies for ultra-Orthodox men who avoid conscription

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing one of the most serious threats yet to his coalition government after the country’s supreme court ordered an end to government subsidies from Monday for many ultra-Orthodox men who do not serve in the army.

The ruling follows a series of delays by the government in presenting a proposal to the court aimed at enhancing the military enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men, who have historically been exempt from conscription.

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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.

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Eurovision: Olly Alexander and other competitors reject calls to boycott over Israel participation

The former Years and Years singer and star of It’s a Sin signed a joint response affirming a stance against ‘all forms of hate, including antisemitism and Islamophobia’

Britain’s Eurovision competitor Olly Alexander and several other entrants have rejected calls to boycott this year’s Eurovision song contest owing to its inclusion of Israel among the competitors, stating their belief in “the unifying power of music, enabling people to transcend differences and foster meaningful conversations and connections”.

Maxine Peake and the author Sarah Schulman were among a list of more than 450 queer artists, individuals and organisations who signed an open letter as Queers for Palestine calling on Alexander – the former Years and Years singer and star of Channel 4’s It’s a Sin – to pull out of the contest in solidarity with Palestine.

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Israeli airstrike in Syria kills more than 40 people, says war monitor

Strike near Aleppo weapons depot reportedly killed Hezbollah and Syrian troops, while civilians also said to be among dead

Israeli airstrikes on Syria’s Aleppo province have killed more than 40 people, including members of Hezbollah and a large number of Syrian soldiers in an area near the militant Lebanese organisation’s weapons depots, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

As many as 42 people were killed in what contradictory reports described as air and drone strikes in the early hours of Friday that hit missile depots for Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group in Aleppo’s southern suburb of Jibreen, near Aleppo’s international airport, and a nearby town that houses a military facility.

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‘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.

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Queer artists call on Olly Alexander to boycott Eurovision over Israel participation

Maxine Peake and Sarah Schulman among signatories of open letter asking singer to withdraw from contest

More than 450 queer artists, individuals and organisations have called on the UK’s Eurovision contestant, Olly Alexander, to boycott this year’s competition in solidarity with Palestine.

The actor Maxine Peake and the novelist and playwright Sarah Schulman are among the signatories of the open letter calling on the singer to withdraw from the contest in May due to the conflict in Gaza.

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Heavy fighting reported around Gaza’s al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals

Israeli forces also blockading al-Amal hospital amid mounting concern for the safety of patients, civilians and medical staff

Heavy fighting took place around two key hospitals in Gaza on Thursday, while a third was reportedly under Israeli siege, amid mounting international concern for the safety of patients, civilians and remaining medical staff in the facilities.

The most intense fighting once again appeared to be focused on the al-Shifa complex, Gaza City’s main hospital before the war, where the Israeli army said it continued to operate around the site after storming it more than a week ago.

Guardian Newsroom: The unfolding crisis in the Middle East

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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.

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Australian officials scrambled to understand allegations before Unrwa funding suspended, documents show

Exclusive: Dfat official said there was ‘precious nothing in the public domain’ on claims against aid agency hours before pause announced

Australian officials scrambled to “understand what the allegations are” against Unrwa staff and complained of “precious nothing in the public domain” hours before the government suspended funding to the “vital” aid agency.

New documents obtained by Guardian Australia show how the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade rushed to gather information after Israel alleged 12 Unrwa staffers were involved in the 7 October Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel.

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Ireland backs bid to include blocking of aid in definition of genocide

Dublin joins South Africa’s case in the international court of justice, arguing that stopping delivery of essentials may constitute ‘genocidal intent’

Ireland is to seek to widen the definition of genocide to include blocking humanitarian aid in a landmark international court of justice (ICJ) case against Israel.

The Irish government will intervene in the case taken by South Africa and argue that restricting food and other essentials in Gaza may constitute genocidal intent, the foreign minister Micheál Martin said on Wednesday.

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